Console makers sued over analog joysticks

Next up, The Sony SIXAXIS without analog sticks! "We err. couldn't make the tilting functionality work with analog sticks, besides . .joystiqs are so last gen".

Unlikely Sony-Bashing Prediction: The PS4 controllers will have neither analog sticks nor rumble.

Gotta love the american legal system. You can create a company that exists only to patent obvious technological leaps, then sue the bejesus out of other companies that are ACTUALLY building and creating things.

"analog sticks are so last gen"- big Ken talking about the PS4.

Don't forget Sega Saturn had analog, too!!

Funny thing is the company thats suing will probably end up with a buttload of legal fees and lose a sizeable sum of money.

Patents are very lame in todays age. You don't need to be the first to do it, you never even need to really make it, just explain how it is slightly different than the other thing then sue.

This isn't the first time this has happened and most of the time the company sueing hasn't even made the product.

Here's my dream:

Make a patent for something kinda simple and obvious.

Don't do anything.

Wait until lots of companies use something that would infringe.

Wait.

Wait longer (more sales, more sales generations).

Sue.

There should be some kind of statute of limitations, even if it's legit. You can't just sit back and let companies sell and sell and THEN sue. If MS knew they were infringing in a reasonable amount of time, they would have engineered around it I'm sure.

Why don't they sue the patent office for willful granting of duplicate patents?

Next-gen game console controller: keyboard/mouse.

"a low-voltage joystick port interface,"

hrm, joystick port interface, eh? You mean like the ones that the current companies are NOT using. Like the ancient joystick ports on the back of sound cards?

They have no case, and never have. Consoles do not have Joystick Port Interfaces.

This is a nusance suit, designed to receive greenmail. However because it is so absurd, I'd be surprised if it wasn't fought. It's not like we're talking about a relatively new function or something created in the last several years. This technology has been around 3 decades. Why didn't this company sue sooner?

I would not be surprised if Atari, IBM, or even Magnavox held an obscure patent on this one.

this company is dumb as shit Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony are going to crush these guys till there is nothing left. Haha Fenner Investments in a years time or so your company will no longer exist fools, I was gonna email these guys to laugh at them for there stupidity but I couldn't find an email addy but i did find this
(504) 581-6288

I'm suing every video game company there is because they stole my idea for a plastic outer shell, covering the entire console that keeps the internal hardware protected.

I'm suing for 80 gajillion dollars :)

And since I'll get the obvious idiot, who'll make a smart ass comment...... I'm joking people.

Well, it seems that most of you missed the second paragraph, the one with all the pertinent information. I suggest you go re-read it and see if that changes what you all think.

Although #1 beat me to it, this just means Sony will pull analog sticks from their next controller. It will be a ball without buttons and solely relies on motion control. Then they'll get sued for that and we'll have to control games with our minds.

Don't forget we had analog joysticks on the Atari-2600. FFS!! Anyway, I've just patented:

Wheel:
"A circular device to aid the movement of heavy objects"

Here I come world... get your wallet ready

Why don't they patent "a devise used to send electricity over a current whose polarity changes between 40 and 60 times per second?" No one would have developed that before they patented it, either.

Denny Crane.

Denny Crane = Matttt Daaaaamon

on a lighter note, all this is, is a big-kid version of "I thought of it first!"
"No! I did!"
"No, me, see? I drew it on paper years ago!"
"Oh yeah? Well, I emailed my mom a stick figure representation decades ago..." etc...

so the ps3 controller will be what? a wiimote? lmao!

well a wiimote without rumble! lol

This is the state of United States patent laws. Everyone and their mother has the ability to declare an item "intellectual property" and begin suing the pants off of everybody who has profited off a "facsimile" of their "patent".

Do patents have ex post facto clauses written into them or something?

suicide ninja, sony actually has the patent for that.

I just patented the use of hands to press buttons on controllers.

Weres my money Bitches!

CURSE YOU VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY!!! HOW MANY LIVES WILL YOU RUIN WITH YOUR RECKLESS PATENT INFRINGING!!!!

The game industry has to get together and do something about these law suits. They need to work together so no one attempts to screw ball them. Maybe get some international laws in place over what technologies can be patented. I'm no wiz at this stuff, but they need to do something.

Don't forget to get Sega!

To be fair, the patent isn't for analog joysticks, but a method for interfacing high-voltage analog instruments(joystick) with low-voltage computing equipment(console/pc/etc) via a low-voltage port. This is likely for safety/signaling reasons, not the analog reasons. Not that the patent has any merit or that it won't loose on prior art, but just wanted to clarify.

I can't wait 'till we start cloning humans and God or Evolution sues us for infringing on their patent for "primates with opposable thumbs". Then FutureSony would remove the thumbs from every clone and everyone would laugh at them while they stomped around saying "opposable thumbs are so last-gen! We are the superior species! We are Four-Dimensional!"

Of course then Sony would be sued by String Theory for infringing on the patent for the Fourth Dimension...

#15: Actually, the Atari 2600 joystick was digital, it only registered 8 directions. So did C64 and Speccy joysticks. The first analog joysticks I can remember were on the PC, although I'm sure some console probably had them before that.

#22: Brilliant! Although you probably won't control the PS5 with your mind, the PS5 WILL CONTROL YOU WITH ITS MIND - just ask Ken.

Here's the claim for a more detailed play by play...

9. A processor based system, comprising:
a processor;
a joystick device having a first source voltage; and
an interface interfacing said joystick device with said processor, said interface including,
a Resistor-Capacitor (RC) network, connected to the joystick device, said RC network having a capacitor that generates an analog joystick position measurement signal; and
an interface circuit having a second source voltage that is lower than the first source voltage, including
a buffer circuit, in a first operation mode of said interface, receiving said analog joystick position measurement signal, outputting a first logic state as a digital signal before said analog joystick measurement signal exceeds said predetermined threshold, and outputting a second logic state as said digital signal after said analog joystick measurement signal exceeds said predetermined threshold, and
a pulse generator generating a pulse based on said digital signal in said first operation mode of said interface, a width of said pulse representing a coordinate position of said joystick device, and outputting said pulse to said processor, wherein the capacitance value of said capacitor is a function of said predetermined threshold that prevents deviation of the width of said pulse from expected values.

Also #30, the dragon32 and C64 had analog joysticks,
Check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64

for the port specs (Very much the same as any Atari type joystick connector).

..and yes, I am old enough to remember... :(

Oops...missed a post
#30, Atari2600 did have analogue ports,

Check out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddle_%28game_controller%29

*sigh*

Sue-happy America strikes again! At least Immersion had a case. This should be thrown out of court.

@22 Sony actually had an "advertisement" for the PS9 where the console directly interacted with the player's brain. So yeah, that won't happen for another 6 Playstations if Sony has anything to say about it.