I think this could be somewhat futureproof for the Switch when SCD comes into play.
Why upgrade the tablet, when you can ad some sweet Tflops to the dock?
I mean, yes it could mean that, but the article mentions that they only confirmed it for launch, and received the explanation that they didn't want to confuse people. So I don't think this evidence tells us anything new, it just says they don't want bundles without the dock at launch. Still, I would love it if they added some beef in the dock, as I am not looking for an exclusively portable system, but rather a hybrid that packs as much power as possible when docked and is still portable (meaning no heat problems amongst other things).
I think my only issue with that idea would be the "Switch" concept. If I have a dock that adds that much power, what happens when I un-dock the console? That also wouldn't improve the "gaming on the go" side of things either. Unless... They release a "new" Nintendo Switch down the line with the SCD being a cheaper option for those who don't want to fully upgrade.
Let's begin:
1. A gaming system, comprising: a first game console comprising one or more processors configured to locally execute a first game and provide video output of the first game to a display and audio output of the first game to a speaker, the game console including a first physical communication interface and a first wireless communication interface; and a first supplemental computing device configured to detachably couple to the first game console via the first physical communication interface, the first supplemental computing device comprising: a second physical communication interface; a second wireless communication interface; one or more processors configured to provide, via the first and second physical communication interfaces, processing resources to the first game console to assist the first game console in locally executing the first game; and memory for receiving data associated with the first game from the first game console and storing the data for later access by the first game console; wherein the first game console is further configured to couple, via the first wireless communication interface, to a second supplemental computing device, the second supplemental computing device including one or more processors to provide processing resources to the first game console and memory for providing storage resources to the first game console; and wherein the one or more processors of the first supplemental computing device are configured to provide, via the second wireless communication interface, processing resources to a second game console for assisting the second game console in locally executing a second game on the second game console, the second game being different from the first game and the second game console being located remotely from the first game console.
Lawyer Boreucrat Translator:
If this patent is really being used for NX - then>
The Switch Handheld is the MAIN as stated already by nintendo, in the patent it's "first"
SO:
- The main console can connect to one SCD physically (Dock)
- The main console can connect to another SCD wirelessly (cloud assisted computing)
Which means, even if you don't have the dock you may be able to stream additional processing of your game according to your wireless speeds and connection stability.
With Cloud SCD, you could possibly choose from 2 options:
- Assist For Power Saving - Enhances battery life with same visuals
- Assist For Enhanced Visuals - Enhances visuals at no extra battery cost
The Cloud SCDs would be a global (regional - ping is an issue) network of NintenDocks being hooked to the internet at home (wired ethernet recommended), so yes you could assist your Switch Handheld from your Dock at home, however you may be far away so the Cloud will choose the closest available Dock to you to lower the connection latency, and the user who has his Dock at home sharing his SCD to the Cloud get's "incentives" and "rewards".
Who knows what nintendo will pick, they could pick a fixed option and only allow you to assist processing for battery saving purposes, so the swaying battery usage may not be so noticable (as the handheld takes over if cloud doesn't return results fast enough, timeout) versus an improved visuals where you'd just see weird things if the connection slows down, either you'd just have some details disappear or lighting effects or shadows cut-out in the middle, or the game itself would pause until connection is stable or worse just stutter like a slow loading video.
That is pretty much the purpose of the dock. Video outs, possible usb ports etc.
Actually, technically speaking, there is a big difference between "
not having a HDMI port" or "
not supporting external output" because it has to do with the whole HDMI standard and that takes additional hardware and firmware support, chips, circuitry, etc, Because you could have all the HDMI support inside, but just cut out the HDMI port, route the signal wires through another (proprietary) connector, passthrough the Dock, and have a HDMI output on the Dock and an average joe would call it "
only the dock supports HDMI" no it doesn't, the dock, in this example case, is only an "
HDMI extension cable enclosed in a box" - so it's is not the same, you can't interchange those two sentences, but this is how the media and technically unsavvy people talk, they interchange a lot of stuff, they don't even know it.
>>> Which means we cannot be sure of anything, that's why many rumors are off, because the information is degraded before it gets out, even the original source may be wrong in his communication, he may understand it better but when he says it he leaves out details that he thinks are "granted knowledge" or simply "enough", everybody does this unintentionally in daily life, or simply doesn't take time to explain it in detail, and when these sources talk to the media they take 20 mins, then when someone else reads that he assumes things in a way that his base knowledge can understand, so someone with a lower level of technical experience and knowledge will interpret the same words differently, then it gets down the line, to the public, and then the public adds another layer of reinterpretation to that ontop, half of those people that would get upset,enraged,mixed, or not interested may actually be as a result of their interpretation of the leak, so there's so many factors.
Everybody and on other forums is questioning this because the dock is actually quite big in the back side, for USB and HDMI out it seems way big and nintendo is always neurotic to make a console small, so it just doesn't make sense, I'm predicting there is either cooling or SCD and cooling inside there.
Continuing:
2. The gaming system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one the one or more processors of the first game console are further configured to: identify additional supplemental computing devices within a threshold network distance of the first game console, the additional supplemental computing devices including the second supplemental computing device; determine a network distance between the first game console and each of the additional supplemental computing devices; and select, for use in assisting the first game console in locally executing the first game, the second supplemental computing device based at least in part on the determined network distances.
Boom haha, I didn't even read this part and I already mentioned it, they call it "within a threshold network distance" and the wording could mean more than one SCD could be involved.
I was about to mention that in practise the SCDs in cloud would work as one big SCD basically all providing something to the handhelds, or at least SCDs who are near eachother, so maybe the Handheld could have more SCDs assisting it over the Cloud, may not mean bigger and better, may only mean that the workload is split.
This whole cloud assisted SCD is kinda elaborate, but I can't figure out if it means only for handheld undocked, or the whole dock, because it keeps mentiongin "second supplemental device" so the first one is Dock, the second is on the Cloud, so that would mean it's possible to add computing assistance ONTOP of an already physically assisted Docked console.
But it does sound a bit too good to be true, US internet infrastructure isn't that good compared to europe, it'll be seen if they even use this cloud assisting on launch, and even then it's going to depend if there's an available SCD near your position, and the connection would have to be quite stable, speed would need to be moderate, and the stuff that could be assisted is also in question, stuff that needs to happen quickly in a game can't be assited, you definitely won't be assisting the processing procedure of a button press, it will be those areas which have no effect on the gameplay, graphics, but even that is not everything, you're not going to render half a model and have mario without legs running around until Doe's SCD from arizona finishes supplementing right ?
3. The gaming system as recited in claim 1, wherein the one the one or more processors of the first supplemental computing device are further configured to: identify additional supplemental computing devices within a threshold network distance of the first supplemental computing device, the additional supplemental computing devices including the second supplemental computing device; determine a network distance between the first supplemental computing device and each of the additional supplemental computing devices; and select, for use in assisting the first game console in locally executing the first game, the second supplemental computing device based at least in part on the determined network distances.
So now the whay I think these 2. and 3. points are, is that the 2. speaks for the undocked mode, and 3. for docked mode.
If we believe the SCD is in the dock, hey, the SCD may just be a standalone sold brick, but im just going over this as if it were in the Dock.
4. The gaming system as recited in claim 1, wherein neither the first supplemental computing device nor the second supplemental computing device include a display driver, an audio driver, and a user-control interface.
So what do we have left, CPU, GPU and RAM - also this is big I'm not going to go over, I'm going to read for myself everything, but I can't comment on everything as some thing as straighforward.
The patent answers it here actually better than I could:
Thus in terms of network distance, a network computing device that is "close" has relatively low latency or hops, and one that is "far away" has relatively large latency or numbers of hops. Relatively close supplemental computing devices may be able to provide services at a nearly real-time speed (e.g. processing real-time graphics and sound effects), while relatively far away devices may only be able to provide asynchronous or supplementary support to the events occurring on the console (e.g. providing for weather effects in games, artificial intelligence (AI), etc.
Also there are terminology that there is a "second game, second memory" there is a chance that actually indeed the Dock or what could have more STORAGE MEMORY not just RAM, which means you could save games on there, but it also mentions "partly" which means being prcessed when game run thefefore it's just RAM, but the sound of it makes me think you could save an active game on it like a ramdisk without having to load it and just SWITCH between 2 games, putting one into pause/suspend, but that's probably a bit too optimistic, the "part" part comes in with big games, I don't see a 32GB dedicated switch memory on top of SCD (RAM,GPU,CPU)
More likely it could mean there's another GameCard port on the Dock and the "memory" points to the storage memory the card uses. Or it simply means internal storage, the mediocre flash storage space, or maybe it'll be fast this time around.
However this 2 Game Switch idea may not be far fetched, if they don't provide a lot of storage for installing or no storage at all, since making these GameCards supposably go 400MB/s it's the new tech it's probably not that cheap, they may only have some 4-8GB of internal flash space for savegames, OS, configs, profiles, social content - without game installing at all, so with 2 game cards, you could have the swithc support, but for bigger games you could have the limit increased, I said this earlier, don't think the maximum of game size is 32GB, if there's another GameCard port on the Dock, it's plausible some "assisting" may happen again and you'd be able to play games designed for double the space in mind and use both the GameCards without having to "please insert Disk 2" in the middle of the game.
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Ofcourse this is all my late explanation of this, it's probably nothing new to most of the gurus around the internet.
