Tag Archives: patent

Motiva has been unsuccessful in its bid to overturn a January decision ruling in Nintendo’s favour over contested Wiimote patents.

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A federal jury has ordered Nintendo to pay $30.2 million in a patent infringement case over the 3DS.

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Sony has filed a patent for a Vita equipped with a number of new input and output ports, including one for HDMI. The patent is detailed on Patentbolt, and patent was filed last year but has only recently been published; there’s nothing to suggest Sony isn’t just crossing legal T’s and dotting patent I’s, as PSN Stores reports the patent describes a Vita dev kit.

Thanks, Gamespot.

A patent application from published earlier this month shows a Move controller with a larger sensor ball, swappable buttons, a large handle, and the ability to attach two controllers together to form one interesting-looking concoction.

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Sony has patented a hybrid DualShock controller which breaks apart and has Move motion components attaches to it.

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Microsoft filed a Kinect patent back in April 2011 that would give the company free reign to monitor your movie-watching behaviour and shut down your viewing should an unauthorised person enter the room. Get more information from bizarro-world below.

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Sony filed a patent this week for a Move controller in which the bands wrapped around it become hot or cool depending on your in-game actions.

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In an interesting patent application, Sony Computer Entertainment proposes a system allowing a console to recognise who is using it. The patent mentions “fingerprint sensors, hand sensors, face recognition systems, iris scanners retinal scanners, voice pattern analyzers, and DNA analyzers” adding up to a detailed and unique user-print. Naturally there’s no guarantee at all that Sony would ever move on this, or precisely why, but people seem very excited about it, so check out the application for yourself here (PDF).

Thanks, Joystiq.

Pittsburgh district court judge David Cercone has ruled in Nintendo’s favour in a patent infringement lawsuit brought against the Big N by one Copper Innovations Group. The company had claimed the Wii and controllers violated its US Patent No. 5,640,152, but the judge dismissed the case without going to a jury trial. Nintendo of America’s deputy general counsel, Richard Medway, said Nintendo is “very pleased” and reiterated that the platform holder will continue to “vigorously defend” against what it has in the past labelled as patent trolls, something the Wii has been a bit a honeytrap for.

A patent application from Apple shows diagrams of a console-style game controller the firm may or may not be planning on releasing in the future. Such is the life of a lowly patent sometimes.

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A new patent filed by Sony Computer Entertainment America details software designed to interrupt the gameplay sessions of users with advertisements.

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A Microsoft patent filed in 2009 but granted this week shows a pretty neat controller idea. Sensors on the body of the control pad measure various uniquely identifying features, like the shape of the fingers and firmness of grip, to crete a signature for each user. Imagine picking up the pad and being logged into your Xbox 360 profile – and even better, keeping your save-file-deleting siblings out. Looks neat. Probably won’t happen.

Thanks, Polygon.

A schematic for what appears to be a charging dock for the Wii U’s controller has shown up online, courtesy of Nintendo Life. Found by the site over on NeoGAF, the drawing was uneartherd via a patent application from Nintendo showing a cradle similar to the one used by 3DS. Another patent schematic posted over on AGB shows what appears to be a gun-shell design for the controller. Have a look through the links.

Sony has filed a patent for a program which is a form of meet-up software which would put real-life names to MMO players and allow gamers to set up meet-and-greets with one another. Engadget dug the imformation up, and looking it over, it seems Sony would offer incentives for such fact-to-face meetings with that dwarf you, er um, converge with at Bridge Keep while everyone else is fighting mobs. Go have a look through the links.

Last year, Sony patented a steering wheel peripheral for Move which was published on April 3. It’s rather odd looking, and has a built-in thumbstick and face buttons. PlaystationLifestyle notes that the handlebar design depicted in the schematics looks similar to the Forza controller. You can look over the drawings through the link. Thanks, FahedJ.

The US Patents and Trademarks Office has granted Nintendo a patent it applied for in 2003 regarding the emulation of hardware bearing a built-in screen and accompanying software. The patent specifically mentions Game Boy titles, and the examiner took a good look at existing emulators before granting the patent. There’s nothing to suggest Nintendo will do anything with the patent besides sue the pants off everyone in sight, if that, but don’t be shocked if licensed Game Boy titles turn up on airlines some time in the future.

Thanks, Engadget.

All your 1990′s VR fantasies are embodied in Microsoft’s Gaming Helmet patent.

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A patent dating back to 2009 shows Valve has been cooking up a controller like the one mentioned in connection with its rumoured Steam Box.

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Gamespot reports Impulse Technologies has filed suit against Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, THQ, Konami, Namco Bandai, and Majesco over alleged patent infringement related to Wii exercise games.

Impulse, which makes the Trazer brand of gym equipment, has a 1996 patent for systems “where the motion of the player is tracked to effect movement of a virtual avatar, and the exertion of the user is monitored”.

The company filed similar suits against Microsoft and third-party Kinect developers earlier this year and has been met with counter-claims.

A US patent application filed by Nintendo earlier this year suggests the firm is interested in creating a “Massively Single-Playing Online Game,” or at the least owning the rights to the term.

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