Meta patents controller lights that help cameras track your hand position
Meta describes a handheld controller with specific light placements on its top surface to aid camera tracking. Some lights are placed where a user's finger usually rests, while others are on clear areas, ensuring the system can always see at least one light to determine the controller's position in 3D space.
In the filing’s own words
A handheld controller for an artificial-reality system may include a top cover having a surface surrounded by a perimeter. The surface has a digit-occluded region on which a digit of a user of the handheld controller can be placed and a different region separated from the digit-occluded region. A first illumination source is disposed within the digit-occluded region at a first position along the perimeter of the top cover. The first position is visible to a camera of the artificial-reality system while the handheld controller has one of a first set of orientations. A second illumination source is disposed within the digit-occluded region at a second position along the perimeter of the top cover while the handheld controller has one of a second set of orientations. A third illumination source is disposed within the different region at a third position away and distinct from the perimeter on the surface.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A handheld controller, the handheld controller comprising: a body having an outer surface including a first region configured to be in contact with a digit of a user who is holding the handheld controller and a second region different from the first region; a first illumination source disposed in the first region at a first location on the outer surface; a second illumination source disposed in the first region at a second location on the outer surface, the second location being different from the first location; and a third illumination source disposed in the second region at a third location on the outer surface, the third location being spatially distinct from the first location and second location, wherein two or more of the first illumination source, the second illumination source, and the third illumination source are configured to provide data detectable by a camera of an external system, the camera configured to monitor the data to determine, at least in part, a current position of the handheld controller in a three-dimensional space.
Facts
- Company
- Meta (Meta Platforms Technologies, LLC)
- Official title
- ARRANGEMENTS OF ILLUMINATION SOURCES WITHIN AND OUTSIDE OF A DIGIT-OCCLUDED REGION OF A TOP COVER OF A HANDHELD CONTROLLER TO ASSIST WITH POSITIONAL TRACKING OF THE CONTROLLER BY AN ARTIFICIAL-REALITY SYSTEM, AND SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF USE THEREOF
- Publication number
- US20260278966A1
- Application number
- 19683845
- Filed
- May 21, 2026
- Published
- Sep 17, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06T 19/006 Physics & computingG06V 10/141 Physics & computingMore from Meta in AR, VR & displays
- Meta patents VR avatars that mimic facial expressions from voice Sep 15, 2026
- Meta patents spatial mouse for pointing at and controlling real-world objects Sep 24, 2026
- Meta patents AR notifications that grow when you look at them Sep 1, 2026
- Meta patents AR glasses with antennas built into the lenses Sep 8, 2026
- Meta patents auto-pause for VR headsets when you take them off Oct 6, 2026
Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.