Sony has filed for a few patents lately that would make sense to most people. Whether it's paving the way for future features on the PS5 or patenting a design for a potential PlayStation VR 2 controller, Sony is actively keeping its successful and established hardware protected. But what about experimental patents for things that everyone has thought of but no one has actually tried? One of Sony's latest patents lays the groundwork for players to not only see incredible things in Sony games, but smell them as well.
Media experiences that treat the sense of smell aren't considered novel ideas these days. While live shows and amusement parks have been properly pungent experiences for years, one of the first instances of audiences smelling what they saw on screen was the experimental Smell-O-Vision in 1960. This technology tried to help theater audiences smell the movies they watched, but it saw use in one movie, Scent of Mystery, and wasn't touched again. Various companies have tried to work on digital scent technology since then, and it seems Sony is experimenting with adding it to existing PlayStation technology.
Sony's patent for digital scent technology not only attempts to provide smells to a user, it also tries to take into account the different ways humans perceive smell. The language in the patent indicates that Sony's idea might involve the release of competing scents that would have "positive, neutral, or negative interactions" with other scents in order to create the correct smell.
This makes sense, as smells in real life are rarely ever not influenced by other smells. A horrifying Clicker in The Last of Us 2 probably smells horrible, but its exact smell might be affected by the rotting building it calls its home or by the smell of burning metal nearby.
Finding the correct combination of smells is just one obstacle that limits more widespread use of digital scent technology. The differences in human olfactory senses aren't fully understood yet, and there are risks associated with the production of synthetic odors. Though smells in games would certainly add another level of immersion to the experience, Sony might be better off exploring other odd patent ideas like using a banana for a PS5 controller.
Alternatively, Sony's digital scent technology patent could provide benefits in the long run, especially when it comes to certain types of games. Imagine cooking games where players can smell the food or life simulator games where players can experience common household scents like pets or cleaning products. Bundling this digital scent tech with future versions of PlayStation consoles or even PlayStation VR headsets could really provide gamers with some amazing experiences.
Source: USPTO