Microsoft Has a Patent for A Wearable Controller

Between Google glasses and Valve’s R and D efforts, it’s becoming clear that wearable computing is quickly becoming a focus for major technology companies across the board.

Microsoft has secured the patent for a wearable “Electromyography-based controller” that would allow users to control smartphones, Xboxes and other gadgets with nothing more than their motions, reports Engadget. Microsoft imagines this kind of technology working with armbands, shirts, glasses, or attached directly to a person’s body.

It isn’t hard to imagine the various uses for this kind of technology, between adjusting the volume on an Mp3 player with a wave of the hand, hanging up a phone with a quick stop motion or playing an even more sensitive version of Dance Central. Microsoft has already shown a keen interest in non-traditional controlling with Kinect, and wearable devices are a natural outgrowth of that.

It’s also possible that Microsoft is just gathering ammunition for some future battle in the patent wars.