Support NeoGAF

[Rösti]

On July 27, 2016, an Issue Notification regarding Nintendo's Supplemental Computing Devices For Game Consoles patent was published, stating the patent would be issues (granted) on August 16, 2016. Today, on August 16, 2016, the patent was as expected issued.

Source: http://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair

I can't provide a direct link, but search application number 14/294704 and you will see the entry.

Issued Patents (Patent Grants) Data Products

A patent grant is an intellectual property right granted by the U.S. Government to an inventor "to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States" for a limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted.

A patent grant document contains a patent number, title, inventor name, assignee, application number, filing date, prior publication date, foreign application priority data (if applicable), classification information, references cited, examiner and attorney information, abstract, specification, claims, and drawings.

Source: https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-...ts/issued-patents-patent-grants-data-products

Small summary of the SCD patent:

• Supplemental computing device(s) configured to detachably couple to a game console in order to provide processing resources for an increase of speed or quality of a user's gaming experience.
  
• The supplemental computing device includes one or more processors, memory and one or more communication interfaces.
  
• In some instances, the functionality of the device may be basic in order to keep a cost of the device relatively low. As such, the device may be free from drivers, video cards, user-control interfaces, and the like.
  
• Users may share processing resources. Doing so can compensate a user in form of access to other supplemental computing devices maintained by other users, discounts on games, access to certain game content, points for redemption for digital or physical goods, social network badges, any form of value really.

Congratulations once again to Joe Bentdahl and Nintendo.

 

[purseowner]

Very interested to see what comes of this.

 

[BY2K]

Very interested to see what comes of this.

If they even use it at all.

 

[Soodanim]

The 2016 RAM pack?

 

[itshutton]

Is this not akin to the PSVR box?

 

[Asd202]

Is like the stand that people on gaf speculated that would overclock the NX just that?

 

[Nugg]

Could this be used with the NX? With some of the computing power in the dock/box, and some in the handheld, to boost performances when docked?

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Is like the stand that people on gaf speculated that would overclock the NX just that?

Yes some of us think that is what the dock is for

 

[LordOfChaos]

Reaaaaaly hoping for an active dock for the NX with an external GPU. Or a second Tegra.

A Pascal based Tegra sounds way above expectations for the mobile side, but likely wouldn't quite catch the base XBO for a stationary. Unless the dock has something more than HDMI passthrough to it.

Is like the stand that people on gaf speculated that would overclock the NX just that?

Yes some of us think that is what the dock is for

It's more than that, this is to add more hardware to the mix. Overclocking is just for the existing hardware in the tablet, if docked mode made it able to clock higher (and overclocking wouldn't be quite the right term - it's not pushing past a factory set speed, it just has two speed modes for docked and undocked). This is closer to multi-GPU than overclocking in concept.

 

[TheAngryMonkey]

If you remove the supplemental device in fig 1, isn't it just describing other consoles plus network services?

 

[KORNdoggy]

Could this be used with the NX? With some of the computing power in the dock/box, and some in the handheld, to boost performances when docked?

or would this also cover a sort of stackable power unit they could release every 3 years to boost performance for those who want it? basically what sony/MS are doing but without having to buy an entirely new system each time.

 

[Twenty7KVN]

Cool now Nintendo can go ahead and reveal the NX.

 

[Steejee]

Reaaaaaly hoping for an active dock for the NX with an external GPU. Or a second Tegra.

A Pascal based Tegra sounds way above expectations for the mobile side, but likely wouldn't quite catch the base XBO for a stationary. Unless the dock has something more than HDMI passthrough to it.

I'm hoping for a second Tegra. One X1 (assuming they're using X1 and not X2) in the Handheld would make for a pretty potent handheld. A second in the base station (which seems plenty doable based on the Tegra discussions) would be a nice boost and give it a pretty reasonable power level.

 

[Nugg]

or would this also cover a sort of stackable power unit they could release every 3 years to boost performance for those who want it? basically what sony/MS are doing but without having to buy an entirely new system each time.

So we're now literally duct taping Wiis together?

 

[deadlast]

2 SKUs incoming.

 

[WPS]

or would this also cover a sort of stackable power unit they could release every 3 years to boost performance for those who want it? basically what sony/MS are doing but without having to buy an entirely new system each time.

So we're now literally duct taping Wiis together?

This sounds like a pretty cool idea, but how well would it scale past one or two upgrades? If you only added on power without ever replacing any parts of it, you'd lose out on the advantage of technology getting smaller and eventually end up with a towering Nintendo NX &Knuckles &Knuckles &Knuckles &Knuckles &Knuckles &Knuckles monstrosity.

 

[Father_Brain]

So why is this patent being granted a bigger deal than any of the other patents Nintendo has filed in the past year or so?

 

[Asd202]

Nevermind just saw the discription.

 

[Retrobox]

Dude is the N64 expansion pak returning?

 

[recklesscognition]

Incentives module? What is that, trophies or something?

Edit:

The incentives module 124 may then provide compensation of any sort of value to users that have shared resources amongst users of the user community 106. In some instances, this compensation comprises access to other supplemental computing devices. That is, users that share resources may similarly utilize other supplemental computing devices, potentially in equal amounts of what they shared (measured in time or resource amounts). In other instances, the compensation comprises free or discounted additional access to game content, free or discounted games or applications, points or currency redeemable at an offering service for goods or services, a badge or other information sharable on a social-network site, or the like.

Is that sharing your resource module via the cloud or something with others?

 

[LelouchZero]

Wow this sounds incredible! I can't wait to see what becomes of this!

 

[KingBroly]

Dude is the N64 expansion pak returning?

This is a bit more...complicated than that.

I don't fully understand what this means, but my best guess is that it offers a cheaper alternative to system upgrades than buying a completely new system (at least initially).

 

[Serenitynow]

So why is this patent being granted a bigger deal than any of the other patents Nintendo has filed in the past year or so?

Because this one grants more powwa, which is what all Nintendo fans want. It's no surprise it's been talked about and built up more than the other patents.

There's still no evidence that it has a higher chance of becoming an actual product than say the mini jumbotron looking projector or whatever whacky patent the mouse amiibo was in.

 

[Snaku]

It's happening, isn't it?

 

[hoserx]

So we're now literally duct taping Wiis together?

Gamecubes, you mean.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Incentives module? What is that, trophies or something?

Edit:

No, useful things like store discounts or whatever.
Basically paid peanuts to seed torrents, or whatever this network would do that works out cheaper than paying for commercial servers.

 

[Deku89]

This and scrollable triggers/bumpers are my two big hopes for the NX. Amazing we still know next to nothing about it.

 

[Outrun]

The 2016 RAM pack?

I am waiting for MS to copy this.


They would call it the General RAAM pack...




This could be interesting from Nintendo.

 

[recklesscognition]

No, useful things like store discounts or whatever.
Basically paid peanuts to seed torrents, or whatever this network would do that works out cheaper than paying for commercial servers.

ah, was hopeful.

 

[Jackano]

Can't wait to see custom arduinos SCD's making your NX enter the PC master race.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

So why is this patent being granted a bigger deal than any of the other patents Nintendo has filed in the past year or so?

UNLIMITED POWER!!!

 

[BY2K]

This doesn't guarantee they are gonna use it right? Just that they can?

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

So why is this patent being granted a bigger deal than any of the other patents Nintendo has filed in the past year or so?

Well whats the other patents and how appealling do they look?

 

[Rösti]

This doesn't guarantee they are gonna use it right? Just that they can?

Correct.

 

[blu]

Good. The most interesting patent I've seen lately, would love to see it bear fruit.

 

[Castef]

Is this not akin to the PSVR box?

Same thing I was thinking about. This will get interesting.

 

[Jintor]

Each Nx cart will come with its own onboard computer

 

[King_Moc]

So...I guess the best outcome is that this is basically going to be a way of implementing SLI and nearly doubling the GPU? Would make sense if the handheld was 720p and then it renders at 1080p using the dock.

It's Nintendo though, so yes, it probably just runs the standard handheld device at a higher clock speed and has a HDMI port.

 

[Graphics Horse]

ah, was hopeful.

I guess 'social network badges' from the OP too, whatever they are.

 

[MuchoMalo]

Very interested to see what comes of this.

Most likely absolutely nothing.

ah, was hopeful.

TFW achievements are more appealing than discounts on games

 

[JimJamJones]

 

[spekkeh]

It's happening, isn't it?

Doubt it. Just seems like increasing patent portfolio.

 

[casey_contra]

As a frequent patent researcher, I really hope something incredibly tangible comes from this. I just think it's so cool to the something purely conceptual put to use - and how it differs from the mockups and public perception.

Rosti, thanks for having your hand on the pulse of Nintendo Patents!

 

[TheAngryMonkey]

If I'm understanding this document...the first section describes:

* A device (we'll call this the handheld) that has a physical connector and a wireless connector. Think, dock connector on the bottom plus wireless (wifi or like wifi).
* A device that accepts the handheld through a second physical interface (the dock connector) and its own wireless communication device (wifi or like wifi).
* Through the physical connection, the handheld gains additional memory and compute resources from the dock
* Simultaneously, the dock can wirelessly interact with other docks to provide additional resources to other handhelds that are located with an undefined range (I assume typical wireless distances but it isn't described in section 1, perhaps in a different section).
* Docks that are communicating with each other can, simultaneously, be providing additional compute resources for other docked handhelds running different games. This suggests that one person could be playing Mario Kart on a console being assisted by a remote dock while another handheld is playing Zelda while being assisted by the dock playing Mario Kart.

Basically, section 1 of this patent describes a mesh network super computer. The more consoles/docks you have in your house the more power you have.

The description at the bottom does a far better job describing what this is. This sounds incredible.

 

[recklesscognition]

So the supplemental unit does not have it's own power supply according to the chart.

 

[Clefargle]

If this ends up extending the power of next gen ninty consoles

Sign me up

 

[Rösti]

So the supplemental unit does not have it's own power supply according to the chart.

It is mentioned in the detailed description:

In some instances, the supplemental computing device(s) include power supplies, while in other instances these devices can utilize power provided by respective game consoles (e.g. provided through the wired connection)

 

[mocolostrocolos]

edit. Nvm

 

[casey_contra]

Fun question: how does Nintendo market/communicate this aspect (whether included or as an add-on)?



Someone mentioned in one of these crazy threads a revisit of "Now You're Playing with Power." I'm not sure an outright mention of power will really entice people, but maybe if they focus on the social aspect of the dock it could work?

 

[Blastoise]

Xiaomi will copy it and beat Nintendo to market.