Posted on Saturday, July 21 2007 @ 17:00 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Many people are interested in gaming on their cell phones but one of the problems is that the controls are mostly not that great. Samsung recently
filed a patent application called Joystick apparatus for mobile terminal, it describes a new way to control games on clamshell phones.
No more inconveniently placed keys for game operation, no more tiny pop-up joysticks that you can barely place a finger on. Just take the lower part of the clamshell phone and turn it into a joystick.
The implementation itself is pretty complex and uses clever engineering, multiple magnets and Hall effect integrated circuits to capture 3D movements of a joystick and turn them into the game control signals. (You’ll have to read the patent application for more details).
