No please no

Nobody except for Nintendo knows what they are doing,  but I highly doubt the patent for external processing units will be third party smartphones, tablets or pcs. They have 0 control over those.

Would you prefer little cubes that you can add to the NX that do nothing else than add power? The only thing I can think of that makes sense are their own handhelds, however they look like.

Of course the patent could have nothing to do with the NX.

In the end it will be a magical lunchbox that is controlled with your tongue.

Is there a possibility for the NX's controller to not have a screen/free form display, but maybe some other innovation ( maybe scrollable shoulder buttons)?

You have to remember that just because there's a patent of something, it doesn't mean that we'll get that something soon. For example, Nintendo invested in holographic storage and yet we haven't seen anything of that because the technology isn't there yet. And the same can be true for that external source of processing power.

Nowadays there's only one way to make that happen, and that is using Intel's own thunderbolt connectors. And given that Nintendo hasn't patented any other way to do it, it means that there is no alternative. Will Nintendo use a propietary technology from Intel in one of their consoles? I don't think so.

It's still depened on what they have in mind so ... But I don't think it couldn't be possible, waiting for more information about it, then 

I'm aware of that (the bolded), so I agree with you.

I do think that Nintendo is, and has been, working on tech to connect devices for a long time (GCN & GBA, Wii & DS, Wii U & 3DS connectivity, the Wii U gamepad) so maybe (big maybe) they have a (wireless) alternative to thunderbolt connectors and will manage to surprise us next year.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm just speculating.

By the way, the only thing I really want from the NX is a dedicated gaming device that plays games with a good controller and is a step up from the Wii U, which seems probable.

And if the controller has a screen again, I want way more RPGs.

Sure there is the possibility, even though I don't know what to do with scrollable shoulder buttons.
Have any ideas what they could be used for?

I've read on GAF that scrollable shoulder buttons would be very useful for navigating menus and things of nature!

So we are about to enter into 2016 and the NX will likely be announced within the next few months, lets discuss what would make the NX a success on day 1.

Reveal: March 2016 with the name, some launch titles, 2016 release date, and of course hardware reveal

Name: I personally love the name Nintendo NX so I wouldn't mind if they kept that, however seeing what we hard the console will be, i'd say Nintendo Cross could work too, or Fusion (but then again I feel Fusion is more of a hybrid name and we know it won't be that)

Launch Games:

The Legend of Zelda
Pikmin 4
Nintendo Land 2
Dragon Quest XI
Final Fantasy XIV
New IP
Activision/Ubi/EA games

Marketing: It obviosuly needs to not be what Wii U got and adviertised hugely, the cross between Console and Handheld could be huge so that's a good way, also it needs advertisment everywhere, billboards, Superbowl, movie theaters, etc. Nintendo needs to make sure this is huge.

What's your ideas and thoughts?

My thread was closed.

Reveal: It'll probably get revealed in Feb-April 2016 ( name, design and controller will be shown) and more details will be revealed during E3 ( like price point, launch date- probably late 2016, online, launch games, etc..)

Name: I'm not too sure about the name, but is certainly going to be better than WiiU!

Launch games: Zelda U, 3D Mario ( 3 years after 3D World and 6 after Mario Galaxy 2), Sonic 25th anniversary game, Dragon Quest XI, Call of Duty 2016, Pikmin 4

Marketing: Awful marketing was one of the things that killed the WiiU and Ninty would be insane not to fix it. It's not like they aren't capable of that! They marketed Splatoon extremely well and look at how well is doing!