We’ve been covering some of the potential future technology and features that we may see on the Xbox 720, such as wearable controllers and an even more immersive 3D experience, that have gotten a lot of fans excited. But if you’re wondering what’s going on at Sony’s side of the fence and what surprises they may be lining up for the Playstation 4, then you’re in luck today.
A report from Playstation Lifestyle reveals that they’ve uncovered a patent for a new user identification and tracking technology that would allow Sony to keep your biometrics data stored online. The technology seeks to solve the problem of making sure that the device, like the Playstation 4, is able to correctly identify the person who is logged in. Here’s a snippet of the patent’s abstract:
“A user of a device may be uniquely identified using a metric that is contingent upon the user using the device for its intended purpose without the user having to perform a separate step, function or operation for the express purpose of identifying the user. Context sensitive content may be provided to or from the device based on the user’s pattern of use of the device without requiring the user’s personal information. The context sensitive information depends on the user’s identity.”
In short, what this could mean is that the Playstation 4 or other devices Sony may decide to implement this on would immediately recognize you; no more passwords, usernames or other log-in requirements. It would simply know it was you based on a combination of your biometrics data and “usage patterns.”
The patent doesn’t exactly give specifics on how Sony intends to accomplish this other than possibly using biometrics sensors such as “fingerprint sensors, hand sensors, face recognition systems, iris scanners retinal scanners, voice pattern analyzers, and DNA analyzers.” At this point, it appears to be more of a concept paper and possibly something that is still in the early stages of development.
Looks like our gaming consoles are really starting to approach technology we’ve only seen in sci-fi movies. It would be interesting to see if Sony will be able to implement this within the Playstation 4’s lifetime.
Would you like your Playstation 4 to have this technology present? Share your thoughts in the comments below!