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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Nintendo files multiple Switch-related patents (Controllers, dock, tablet, possible VR)

Wyrdness on 15 December 2016
Stefan.De.Machtige said:
Wyrdness said:
That is quite a lot of features in one platform, portable gaming, home gaming, touch screen, rumble, motion control and VR out the box. When you factor in that the rumoured price point is £200 it starts to hit home how mad of a deal that is.

Yep. It seems almost to good to be true. It could mean you get decent (at best) and easy to setup VR for like 300-350$. Just a Switch and the headset part and you're ready to go. I'm not sure if all this will happen though.

I think that's what they'd go for as that set up wouldn't require much resources and if VR doesn't take off it can be easily dropped with out much care, it's also a good sales pitch as telling consumers they get all this out the box for £200/$250 is an easy sell.



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UB03 on 15 December 2016

-alt removed-



TheLight on 15 December 2016

Vein pattern recognition you never have to sign in manually I wonder how it would compare to face recognition and finger print pattern recondition in terms of speed. That is amazing if that sensor can be a vitality sensor and an ir pointer. It could emulate all Nintendo consoles besides the wii u and ds lines.



Frogger on 15 December 2016
bonzobanana said:
spemanig said:

VR isn't confirmed.

But I do admit that I was one of the naysayers, and this makes it way more likely than it ever seemed before. The rumor is that the screen resolution is 720p. There's no reason to believe it will be 1080p. 720p isn't a deal breaker, but it is not for VR, no matter how you slice it. It doesn't matter how bad Nintendo screens used to be. They weren't being used for VR. If this becomes a real product, the screendoor effect the 720p screen will bring is a very noticeable issue.

But like I stated in my post above, it might not be a deal breaker. Switch could very well be the Wii of VR. The cheap and accessable entry point that is inferior to the competition on a technical level, but massively successful regardless. Just thinking about playing Mario Kart VR locally (or online) with 4 friends makes me drool, regardless of if it's inferier to the competition on a technical level. If it's cheaper and more accessible, that might be enough to give it that critical edge. Especially if Nintendo are the ones to give VR its Wii Sports. And of all the companies in the world, they would be.

inb4 "Switch Sports"

Confirmed as in Nintendo are working on a VR visor rather than confirmed that it will get a commercial release.

I've used a 720p phone with a VR visor, the resolution was low but not terrible. Some graphics worked better with it than others. Where the textures were varied and the graphics reached a certain level it seemed much better than when it was a very basic android VR app which could run on very basic hardware. Still loved the experience and would rather play VR in low res than 2D in higher res.

I have one of these;

 

 

It has a built in 1080p screen (or so it claims) and doesn't seem a world apart in quality to the android phone in a visor solutions.

The Switch will do ok and there may be a way of slightly unfocusing the lenses to remove the screendoor effect which is commonly done on low res projectors to give a more natural image at the expense of sharpness.

Nintendo doesn't do state of the art but they do reliable workable solutions that people will be happy with.

 I'm talking more about the screen door affect. I definitely think this which is going to be powerful enough on the spec side for comparable VR. 



Frogger on 15 December 2016
Meelow said:
From Reddit, this should be in the OP

System features

Touch screen [T:0131]
SD card slot located on the bottom of the system [F:3]
Ethernet: example scenario given where dock has wired Internet connection; in console mode the system uses this connection, and in portable mode, the system can communicate wirelessly with the dock to access the wired connection [T:0560]
Sleep mode for both console and portable modes [T:0562]
"Share" button of some kind confirmed; referred to as a "record button" in the details for the left Joy-con; describes using it to take screenshots [T:0168]

Hardware/performance

Fan inside system, active in both portable mode and console mode [T:0419 + T:0556]
Dock does not appear to have a fan (thanks, /u/StinkBank) [F:32]
System uses CPU (and/or GPU) and fan at less than maximum in portable mode; in docked mode, it fully utilizes these. This enables outputting higher resolutions when docked [T:0556 - T:0558]
Ambient light sensor for controlling brightness [F:30]
System may be docked facing forwards or backwards (thanks, /u/MrMiyamoto) [T:0385]
Dock has 3 USB ports (thanks, /u/MrMiyamoto) [T:0464]

Controllers

Right Joy-con has IR and NFC capabilities; both have rumble and gyro [F:31]
Example: alternate Joy-cons with traditional dpads + sticks, or dpads + buttons [F:48 - F:49]
Small digital L/R buttons accessible on the "inside" of Joy-con (where it would attach to the system), for use when held like a sideways Wiimote [F:51] [T:0180 + T:0207]

Accessories

Example: head-mounted display accessory (simple VR headset) [F:60]
Joy-con Grip can charge attached Joy-cons (thanks, /u/Asuparagasu) [T:0672]
Various controller accessories given as examples, similar to Joy-con Grip [F:52 - F:53]

Gameplay

Multiplayer scenario example: 4 Joy-cons can be used on one system (does not specify a limit to the number of Joy-cons or Joy-con pairs usable at once) [F:37]

What the heck?

Vein authentication/vitality sensor: the IR sensor could be used to authenticate users by imaging their vein pattern; can also read their pulse [T:0495]

Missing/Unknown

Apparently no Ethernet port on the dock, but will almost certainly support USB adapter; see wired connection scenario above
Camera and microphone: not present
Analog triggers: unknown
Multi-touch/capacitive touch screen: unknown
Stylus: unknown; not sure if this would even be part of the patent?

"In other embodiments..."

The implications of passages like these are not clear. They are given as examples of things that may or may not change (differences or omissions) from the patent document to the final version, or future revisions.

4G/mobile: "Note that in other embodiments, the main unit 2 may have the function of implementing communication by connecting to a mobile communication network (in other words, a mobile telephone communication network), in addition to (or instead of) the function of implementing communication by connecting to a wireless LAN." [T:0400]
Camera: "Note that while the infrared image-capturing section 123 including an infrared camera is used in the present embodiment, a visible light camera (a camera using a visible light image sensor) or other image sensor may be used, instead of an infrared camera, as an image-capturing device, in other embodiments." [T:0451]
System itself could charge attached Joy-cons [T:0530]
System could output directly to a TV without the need for the dock [T:0542]

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/5ii58o/nintendo_switch_patent_megathread/

Thanks. Nice to have something official with regards to a possible data plan in the future.



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Raven on 15 December 2016
Meelow said:
From Reddit, this should be in the OP

System features

Touch screen [T:0131]
SD card slot located on the bottom of the system [F:3]
Ethernet: example scenario given where dock has wired Internet connection; in console mode the system uses this connection, and in portable mode, the system can communicate wirelessly with the dock to access the wired connection [T:0560]
Sleep mode for both console and portable modes [T:0562]
"Share" button of some kind confirmed; referred to as a "record button" in the details for the left Joy-con; describes using it to take screenshots [T:0168]

Hardware/performance

Fan inside system, active in both portable mode and console mode [T:0419 + T:0556]
Dock does not appear to have a fan (thanks, /u/StinkBank) [F:32]
System uses CPU (and/or GPU) and fan at less than maximum in portable mode; in docked mode, it fully utilizes these. This enables outputting higher resolutions when docked [T:0556 - T:0558]
Ambient light sensor for controlling brightness [F:30]
System may be docked facing forwards or backwards (thanks, /u/MrMiyamoto) [T:0385]
Dock has 3 USB ports (thanks, /u/MrMiyamoto) [T:0464]

Controllers

Right Joy-con has IR and NFC capabilities; both have rumble and gyro [F:31]
Example: alternate Joy-cons with traditional dpads + sticks, or dpads + buttons [F:48 - F:49]
Small digital L/R buttons accessible on the "inside" of Joy-con (where it would attach to the system), for use when held like a sideways Wiimote [F:51] [T:0180 + T:0207]

Accessories

Example: head-mounted display accessory (simple VR headset) [F:60]
Joy-con Grip can charge attached Joy-cons (thanks, /u/Asuparagasu) [T:0672]
Various controller accessories given as examples, similar to Joy-con Grip [F:52 - F:53]

Gameplay

Multiplayer scenario example: 4 Joy-cons can be used on one system (does not specify a limit to the number of Joy-cons or Joy-con pairs usable at once) [F:37]

What the heck?

Vein authentication/vitality sensor: the IR sensor could be used to authenticate users by imaging their vein pattern; can also read their pulse [T:0495]

Missing/Unknown

Apparently no Ethernet port on the dock, but will almost certainly support USB adapter; see wired connection scenario above
Camera and microphone: not present
Analog triggers: unknown
Multi-touch/capacitive touch screen: unknown
Stylus: unknown; not sure if this would even be part of the patent?

"In other embodiments..."

The implications of passages like these are not clear. They are given as examples of things that may or may not change (differences or omissions) from the patent document to the final version, or future revisions.

4G/mobile: "Note that in other embodiments, the main unit 2 may have the function of implementing communication by connecting to a mobile communication network (in other words, a mobile telephone communication network), in addition to (or instead of) the function of implementing communication by connecting to a wireless LAN." [T:0400]
Camera: "Note that while the infrared image-capturing section 123 including an infrared camera is used in the present embodiment, a visible light camera (a camera using a visible light image sensor) or other image sensor may be used, instead of an infrared camera, as an image-capturing device, in other embodiments." [T:0451]
System itself could charge attached Joy-cons [T:0530]
System could output directly to a TV without the need for the dock [T:0542]

https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/5ii58o/nintendo_switch_patent_megathread/

Ok I'll add this :)

Hmm vein authentication.. maybe the vitality sensor lives after all.



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Frogger on 16 December 2016
RavenXtra said:

Ok I'll add this :)

Hmm vein authentication.. maybe the vitality sensor lives after all.

For what? Something similar to fingerprint scanning?