From MaxConsole :

A patent filed by Sony on November 7 2002 went live on January 9 of this year. The patent describes some sort of VR GLOVE which fits in the palm of the hand. Control sensors are mounted in the ‘fingers’ extending from the focus, corresponding to each finger. It also seems to be motion and tilt sensitive with pressure sensitive functions too!

From the patent :

One of the shortcomings with the gloves is that manufacturers are finding that consumers do not like to wear a glove for entertainment applications. (…)

Another solution being offered as an alternative input device is computer vision systems. However, computer vision systems are limited in their applications for the entertainment environment. Computer vision systems do not provide for tactile feedback and are limited by lighting conditions. Furthermore, computer vision systems have the problem of “address”, i.e., the question of whether the gesture is intended for the computer. Also, parameters are inferred and hence are potentially inaccurate. In addition, the input device must be within view of a camera. Still another disadvantage of computer vision systems is that some gestures are self-occluding and are difficult to interpret.
Broadly speaking, the present invention fills these needs by providing an input device configured to be held by a user. It should be appreciated that the present invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as an apparatus, a method, a process, a system, program instructions or a device.

I’m not used to read patents, but it seems very broad to me and I fail to see the novelty. Appart maybe from the fact that it is heald and not attached, and the tactile feedback (which btw may be an evolution of the A.R.T FingerTracking ).

Does this patent threatens the existence of any VR Glove ?