Filed in 2014, the documents were published yesterday and contain a great amount of technical detail on a device that can use cameras and mirrors to read and detect objects around it. Presumably this is going to be applied to the new NX controller.
More info here:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04/05/nintendo-files-patent-for-device-with-object-detection
More info here:
http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/04/05/nintendo-files-patent-for-device-with-object-detection