Sony Files Patent for Interactive, Game-Like Commercials

Sony is apparently thinking of inventing a service that will, once and for all, make it unnecessary for companies and analysts to hold surveys or do anything else besides check sales figures when deciding if a product is successful or not, or how it should be changed.

GameNMotion has revealed to us all an abstract detailing a patent that Sony has filed for what is essentially the transformation of commercials into video games.

The technology is apparently dependent on a TV, a microphone and a PlayStation device (PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, PS Eye).

Commercials could theoretically become mini-games that viewers could play even while a TV show is still being displayed.

Consumers would have the option of providing feedback regarding a product being advertised or even suggest or outright change how the “commercial” itself behaves.

One image shows a person shouting “McDonald's!” in order to skip a commercial about the food store chain.

“[A] media player coupled to the broadcast or streaming media source identifies the existence of the interactive segment and presents the user with an enhanced and interactive mini-game commercial that can be played with other ‘viewers’ in a common or disperse demographic,” the abstract writes.

“Multiple methods for content delivery are provided, including a model where television commercial is inserted within consecutive frames of the television program, and a model where the commercial is overlaid on frames of the television program allowing the user to play the game while the television program is displayed.”

Sony's game console peripherals should be usable in “playing” the commercial games, as shown by the picture where a PS Move controller is employed to order a pizza. Similarly, a DualShock 3 controller helps a person vote for a favorite character on a TV show.

This all may or may not eventually be included in Smart TVs as well, considering that those things already have Internet connections and, thus, do not need a console or media player to help out. Alas, a substitute for the gamepads would be needed, perhaps some USB-connected controllers, or something like Kinect.