Valve has been awarded a patent for a new virtual reality motion controller. It looks a lot like the Meta Quest controller, with a ring-shaped design at the top instead of the flat plane of the previous Valve Index motion controllers. Its inclusion could be an extra hint that Valve’s next headset will work as a standalone without needing to be plugged into a PC.
patent number 11504615awarded by the US patent office and discovered by UploadVR, which describes a motion controller with a ring of tracking elements around it. These tracking elements “may” be detected by a “head-worn HMD” or a “permanent tracking beacon” that is “positioned around the user’s environment”.
That’s the broadest possible explanation of the function of the ring on the controller, and to be fair, the patent here is specifically called “Electronic Control Unit with Linear Wrist Strap Adjuster” . Most of the patent is devoted to describing the exact mechanics of the strap, with less detail given on every other part of the device.
As with all patents, the drawings therein may fairly accurately represent the end product, or they may only accurately reflect the specific parts to which the patent relates. Or, of course, Valve could scrap the whole thing – but here’s another hint in a series of small hints that Valve is seriously pursuing a successor to the now three-year-old Valve Index. A few months ago Valve advertised for someone to help them design and ship VR headsets, they mentioned standalone headsets in Steam Deck interviews, and they filed a similar patent for VR headset with strap back in june.
I love the Valve Index and I use it regularly, but I’m interested in a virtual reality headset that has a higher resolution screen and doesn’t need wires or sells my soul to the supermarket. I hope this all adds up to something.
