Nintendo Switch

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, deKay said:

Indeed. We literally don't know what the control scheme will be. We know what is likely, but we don't know.

But what can we deduct or deduce from that?

[Not Thread Owner]

We can deduct whatever we want

[Chosty]

Nintendo De(twoWiiUs)duct(aped together)

[Cyhwuhx]

Deduct.

Deduce.

DeKay.

Destruct.

[NEG]

& Knuckles

[Nespresso]

On 9-8-2016 at 12:26, Sarlaccfood said:

Fucking hell Nintendo need to announce something soon.

 

 

Mainly to make this thread bearable.

*throws more fuel on the fire*

 

United States Patent Application 20160231773

Publication Date: 08/11/2016
Filing Date: 01/29/2016

Abstract:

Quote

An example accessory can be attached to an information processing device. The accessory includes a housing, a movable operation section, and a movable portion. An inside of the housing is visible from an outside thereof through at least a portion thereof. At least a portion of the operation section is exposed on the outside of the housing. The movable portion is placed at a position inside the housing that is visible from the outside of the housing through the portion of the housing. A position and/or an attitude of the movable portion changes in response to the operation section being operated.

 

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY

Quote

There are conventional accessories which, when connected to a portable device, add functions to the portable device. For example, there are techniques where an external controller as an accessory is connected to a connector provided on a controller of a game device. This enables a wider variety of game operations using two controllers.

Conventional accessories have a circuit configuration for communicating with a portable device or a circuit configuration for performing an information process for generating information to be transmitted to a portable device, and there has been room for improvement in simplifying the configuration of the accessories.

Thus, the present specification discloses an accessory, an information processing device, an information processing system, a storage medium storing an information processing program, an operation determination method and a process performing method, with which it is possible to simplify the configuration of the accessory.

FIG. 8 shows an example operation device before and after it is attached to a portable device;

 

 

FIG. 9 shows an example configuration where an operation device is attached to a portable device;

 

FIG. 6 shows the external appearance of a non-limiting example operation device;

 

Quote

As shown in FIG. 6, a hole (opening portion) 21a is formed in the housing 21. Thus, the operation device 20 is configured so that the inside (the inner side) of the housing 21 can be seen through the hole 21a. Note that the housing 21 may have any configuration such that the inside of the housing 21 is visible from the outside through a predetermined portion of the housing 21. For example, in other embodiments, the predetermined portion may be formed by a transparent member instead of the provision of the hole 21a in the predetermined portion.

Here, in the present embodiment, a reference marker 21d is provided on a wall surface on the inside of the housing 21 (the inner wall surface of a surface 21c in FIG. 6). Movable portions 23A to 23D to be described later are provided on the inside of the housing 21 (see FIG. 7). The hole 21a is formed at such a position that the movable portions 23A to 23D and the reference marker 21d are visible when one sees the inside of the housing 21 from the outside of the housing 21 through the hole 21a.

 

FIG. 7 shows an example internal configuration of the operation device shown in FIG. 6;

Quote

FIG. 7 shows an example internal configuration of the operation device shown in FIG. 6. Note that FIG. 7 shows only a part of the configuration inside the housing 21. As shown in FIG. 7, the operation device 20 includes the movable portions 23A to 23D provided inside the housing 21. Note that where the movable portions 23A to 23D are not distinguished from each other, the designation “movable portion 23” may be used to refer to any of the movable portions 23A to 23D.

As shown in FIG. 7, the movable portions 23A to 23D are connected to the operation buttons 22A to 22D, respectively. That is, the movable portion 23A is connected to the operation button 22A, the movable portion 23B to the operation button 22B, the movable portion 23C to the operation button 22C, and the movable portion 23D to the operation button 22D. The movable portion 23 moves (downward in the present embodiment) in response to an operation on the operation button 22 connected thereto. In the present embodiment, each operation button and a movable portion connected thereto are configured as an integral part. Note however that the movable portion may be configured so as to be moved in accordance with the movement of the operation button, and an operation button and a movable portion connected thereto may be separate parts in other embodiments.

In the present embodiment, at least a portion of the movable portion 23 (the hatched area shown in FIG. 7: hereinafter referred to as a “recognition portion”) is of a material (color) such that the infrared camera 4 can distinguish this portion from other portions (other than the portion of the reference marker 21d) of the wall surface on the inside of the housing 21. The recognition portion may be of a retroreflective material, for example. Then, the infrared light from the illuminating section 7 is reflected more toward the infrared camera 4, making it easier for the infrared camera 4 to recognize the recognition portion. This also makes it easier for the infrared camera 4 to recognize a recognition portion that is located away from the infrared camera 4. The movable portion 23 is connected to the lower portion of the operation button 22. Here, for each of the movable portions 23A to 23C, the recognition portion is placed under (directly below) the corresponding operation button 22. For the movable portion 23D, on the other hand, the recognition portion is displaced from a position that is directly below the corresponding operation button 22D (see FIG. 7). That is, the recognition portions of the movable portions 23A to 23D are arranged so that the recognition portions are visible through the hole 21a.

 

FIG. 11 shows an example captured image obtained by an infrared camera;

 

Quote

FIG. 11 shows an example captured image obtained by the infrared camera 4. The captured image shown in FIG. 11 is an image to be obtained when the operation buttons 22A to 22D are not operated (in the unoperated state). As shown in FIG. 11, the captured image includes an image (reference marker image) 30 of the reference marker 21d and images (movable portion images) 31A to 31D of movable portions 23A to 23D. Thus, the reference marker 21d and the movable portions 23A to 23D are placed at such positions as to be included in the image-capturing range of the infrared camera 4, with the operation device 20 attached to the portable device 1. Thus, with the operation device 20 connected to the portable device 1, the infrared camera 4 can capture an image of the reference marker 21d and the movable portions 23A to 23D inside the housing 21 through the hole 21a of the housing 21. That is, the following members (a) to (d) are placed at such positions that the infrared camera 4 can capture an image of the reference marker 21d and the movable portions 23A to 23D in such a state as described above:

(a) infrared camera 4 of portable device 1;

(b) hole 21a of housing 21 of controller device 20;

(c) reference marker 21d of controller device 20; and

(d) movable portions 23A to 23D of controller device 20.

Quote

FIG. 12 shows another example captured image obtained by the infrared camera 4. The captured image shown in FIG. 12 is an image obtained while the operation button 22A is operated (depressed). When the operation button 22A is operated, the movable portion 23A moves downward. Therefore, in the captured image, the movable portion image 31A is located below its position in the unoperated state, as shown in FIG. 12. Thus, when an operation button 22 is operated, the position of the corresponding movable portion image 31 changes from its position in the unoperated state. Therefore, based on the position of the movable portion image 31 in the captured image, it is possible to determine whether the operation button 22 corresponding to the movable portion image 31 is operated.

 

Have fun!

[DarhkFox]

That thing (as in the patent) would be awkward as hell to use.

[Alex W.]

It's a purely functional drawing, it will look nothing like that. The first Wii patent we saw used Donkey Kings bongos in the figures.

 

Using IR imaging to read the button presses would be novel. No exposed connectors.

[the_debaser]

That's interesting. So it looks like the snap on controllers potentially won't need batteries/charging as the infra-red interface is contained within the main console. 

[JPickford]

Eh?  Infra red would  need batteries.  EDIT: Doh!  I get it now.

[Alex W.]

Classic Nintendo solution. They'll probably be able to do those for under a quid and sell them for a tenner. Want to design and bundle a special controller with your game? Piece of cake. Want to sell a special colour scheme for £50 in a special edition? You bet your ass.

[DeNeo]

I didn't really get how this would fit with the Eurogamer rumour of being able to use the controllers separately, and why make them detachable if they need the IR to function. But this post from Neogaf makes sense of it:

 

Unless

 the controller pieces have both bluetooth and IR functionality, and IR communication is used only when they're attached to the portable to improve battery life (IR is less power-hungry than bluetooth).

 

So you wouldn't need to worry about the controllers being charged when it's used as a portable. Very Nintendo. 

[the_debaser]

I'm still not convinced Eurogamer know the full story, their details haven't been fully corroborated by other news sites, just that they've heard similar rumours. 

[Let us measure]

2 hours ago, Alex W. said:

It's a purely functional drawing, it will look nothing like that. The first Wii patent we saw used Donkey Kings bongos in the figures.

 

Using IR imaging to read the button presses would be novel. No exposed connectors.

 

Donkey King.

[DeNeo]

Still - why make detachable controllers if they can't function away from the main unit?

 

The patent also goes on to say:

 

Quote

Note that it is not necessary that the operation device 20 be a device including no electrical configuration. In other embodiments, the operation device 20 may include an electrical configuration such as an electronic circuit. For example, the operation device 20 may include a communication section for communicating with another information processing device different from the portable device 1 to which it is attached.

 

Which sounds like all the portable + dock rumours are on to something...obviously only if this patent is actually going to form part of the NX.

 

 

[Halo]

That's pretty neat. Presumably you'll also be able to buy a separate remote that lets you use the attachments as a standalone controller.

 

I understand that figures in patents aren't good representations of the final product, but the diagrams certainly don't do anything to dispel my belief that Nintendo is firmly eying the broader tablet market and plans to directly compete with the iPad and Android tablets.

[scottcr]

The 3DS pro controller worked using IR and it worked perfectly.... Great contoller

[Alex W.]

This wouldn't be about sending IR signals - just having an IR camera looking into the controller and seeing what button has been pressed.

 

Edit - I should explain why that would matter, the reason IR has a bad reputation for lag is that it uses timed sequences of pulses that can only ever be a certain speed, trading speed and reliability. But of course Nintendo's own scheme for the CPP was plenty quick.

[gone fishin]

I dunno, it seems a bit "Heath Robinson" to me - I.e. A really complicated way of solving a simple problem. Plus it doesn't get away from how you would connect an analogue joystick or d-pad, so I'm presuming that there's still some physical electrical connection to the controller parts. They'd just have to modify the Wii remote connector tech to get something similar - and more flexible. 

[Jonny5]

Surely you could do the same thing using electrical contacts and avoid the whole light travels in straight lines thing?

[JPickford]

I'm not at all keen on the detachable controller idea.  I suspect there's something we don't know yet.

[smac]

37 minutes ago, JPickford said:

I'm not at all keen on the detachable controller idea.  I suspect there's something we don't know yet.

 

There would have to be, otherwise there won't be the traditional, mass "Ohhhhhhhhhh! Now it all makes sense" they need.

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, smac said:

 

There would have to be, otherwise there won't be the traditional, mass "Ohhhhhhhhhh! Now it all makes sense" they need.

I don't think they managed that with the WiiU though, did they?

[smac]

Off-screen play has quite a few fans.

 

Use of controller as a second screen, not so many (one of the few criticisms levelled at Splatoon! was that you couldn't take it off-screen).

[Guest]

I'm not saying it doesn't have its fans, I just meant they didn't do a very good job of getting the 'Ohhhhh, now I get it.' message out there. Weren't there reports of people thinking it was an add on for the Wii? Let's hope they demonstrate what the NX can do better.

[smac]

I don't recall what speculation there was before the WiiU launch, unlike the DS (there was a lot of incredulity in here about two screens) and Wii ('what a stupid ****ing name').

[Sarlaccfood]

It's all gonna be in the marketing true.

 

The biggest difference between the Wii and the WiiU for me was that the Wii had a a really really strong marketing campain and the WiiU felt like the marketing team had all gone on holiday or something.

[Super Craig]

The Wii had a killer app in Wii Sports and the potential for tons of new experiences due to the different control options. The Wii U was basically a DS for the TV with no killer app.

[Fatsam]

Exactly. They got the marketing right for Wii, but the console was successful because it was a fucking great idea that felt incredibly novel and had a system seller at launch. Intuitive controls that your granny and 2 year old can use wasn't dreamt up by marketing people.

 

In contrast, Wii U looked uninspired. And everyone could see it wasn't going to sell anything like as well as the Wii from the moment it was revealed. No amount of decent marketing was going to change that.

 

[Sarlaccfood]

I'm not saying it was the only factor but people generally buy what they're told to. If the general public thought the Wii was a great idea it's because that idea was communicated clearly and effectively.

 

The WiiU had enough going for it to not be a disaster (although I agree it was never going to sell like the Wii). It's just that the message about what it was so confused from the off.