14 DAY TRIAL // Sony Computer Entertainment America has recently obtained a patent that details its plans to create, as the patent states, a "hand-held device with touchscreen and digital tactile pixels". This is the patent that will most likely lead to all those rumors regarding the PlayStation Portable 2.0 or the PlayStation Phone. Sony has listed a whole array of potential applications for the new patent, including phone, portable media player, e-mail device, web browser and navigation device.
The US Patent Application 0070174531 is interesting in many ways. It seems that there are plans for connectivity between a DualShock or a SIXAXIS controller and the new upcoming Sony handheld. The patent details are talking about a "control docking unit" which should "facilitate use of one or more controls provided on the control docking unit". It might look a little strange, but you could end up using a standard game pad to control the new handheld. With wireless tech now being the norm, both the pads from the PlayStation 2 and the PlayStation 3 could be used by the new gaming console.
There might also be a form of "tactile" feedback planned, with something called "digital tactile pixels" being implemented in the new handheld. A "rumble" like mechanics might be interesting for certain games, but it may also make the console hard to handle.
The patent application was filled in January 2008 and lists Sony executive Phil Harrison as being the "inventor" of the new handheld. Harrison no longer works there; he is now the head of Infogrames, a French based game developer and publisher.
The big question is if and when Sony plans to create and reveal a game device employing things described in the patent. The PlayStation Portable is enjoying a revival in Japan while not being very successful in the rest of the world, so we might see an announcement sooner rather than later.