Sony files patent for system to detect your laughter, yawns, tears

Freaked out by "Dead Space"? Bored by the latest version of "Madden"? Chortling your way (or not) through "The Hangover"? A proposed "laughter detection" system devised by Sony would feel your fright, sadness, or delight, and pass your emotions on to your PS3. Cool, or creepy?

Siliconera (by way of Joystiq and others) unearthed Sony's patent application for a laughter, sadness, and/or boredom detector, which would use a microphone and video cam mounted on your TV to scrutinize your expression and listen to your voice, then pass your "metadata" onto a gaming console (such as the PS3, which is depicted in the patent filing).

How would the software know what you're feeling? Apparently, it would look for such visual cues as, say, a high-five with a nearby buddy, a smile (using the same smile-detection technology in Sony's various CyberShot cameras), a yawn, or the fact that your eyes—and attention—have drifted away, according to Siliconera.

The system would also listen for laughter (illustrated in the patent filing by a helpful "Ha! Ha! Ha!" word bubble) or conversation over the game, movie, or other "presentation," which might indicate that you're losing interested in the program at hand, Siliconera reports.

OK, so ... what would Sony be doing with this emotional "metadata," then? That isn't quite clear from the patent filing (which, keep in mind, may or may not lead to an actual shipping product), but it's not hard to come up with some ideas—such as, say, in-game characters that react to your emotions.

Indeed, we already saw something like this during Microsoft's Project Natal demo at E3, when a game character saw a player's frown through the Natal video camera and asked, "Why so sad?"

And as Siliconera notes, Sony's proposed "laughter detection" system wouldn't be limited to games; theoretically, it could work with TV shows and movies as well, perhaps to gauge whether you're enjoying (or bored stiff by) the latest "Transformers" epic. Come to think of it ... advertising firms testing their latest commercials would probably love this thing, too.

So, what do you think: Would you want your PS3 to be able to detect your emotions? Cool? Creepy? Let us know.

Related:
SCEA Experimenting With “Laugh Detecting”, Emotional Tracking Software [Siliconera]