New rumoured Sony controller not so new?

Rumours as of late have Sony developing a new controller for their Playstation 3. According to Playstation Lifestyle, the controller had the following description:

"A mini-tripod that stood about 12 inches high. and what looked like 4 black PS3 “wiimotes”. Well they were essentially “wiimotes” for the PS3, but didn’t need a “nunchuck” attachment."
"The biggest concern of the demonstrator was that for these “PS3motes” to work they needed the tripod, which connected to the PS3’s USB port. It also needed to be set up in the middle of your gaming area."

Now they had a source to back up the evidence, so it is probably that such a controller is on the works. However, this is not the first time that such a scenario has occurred with Sony. We have heard the rumours of a Playstation 2 which bundled with a 'wiimote'-like device, the new transforming controller for Playstation 3, even the ultrasound controller whereby players would be able to actually expereince the game in its entirety. Yet, going back to late 2005, it was discovered that Sony had a patent for a device which worked on the Playstation 2, with the use of the Eyetoy by means of light displays from the controller:


It could be quite possible that this new controller has been in development for quite some time, with it being a modified version of the above screens of a patent filed back in December 2004. The only difference is that the eyetoy has been removed in form of a tripod which apparently is needed for the controller to work. A blatant evolution of hardware? It is a possibility. All which remains to be seen is whether the original exclusive story has any truth to it.
Now Sony, what about that ultrasound controller?