Posts tagged patent 
Sony files patent for transforming Move/DualShock controller
A newly discovered Sony patent application reveals a device that literally sticks together the functionality of the PlayStation Move and its Navigation Controller with the form factor of the DualShock. The "Hybrid Separable Motion Controller," filed last May, consists of two halves of a standard ...
Microsoft files patent for device that enforces licenses through visual surveillance
Microsoft has filed a patent for a system that could potentially use a camera to determine whether you're breaking its content-viewing rules or not. US Patent Application 20120278904 describes the ability to use a Kinect-like camera-enabled device for "continuously monitoring a number of users at ...
Wizards of the Coast sued over 'Electronic Trading Card' patent infringement
Wizards of the Coast is being sued by Texas-based Wildcat Intellectual Property Holdings over an alleged patent infringement. Courthouse News reports Wildcat believes Wizards of the Coast's 2002 game Magic: The Gathering Online infringes upon the former's 'Electronic Trading Card' patent, and is ...
Treehouse Avatar Technologies sues Turbine over a patent granted in May
A company named Treehouse Avatar Technologies was granted United States Patent No. 8,180,858 in May of this year, which covers a "Method And System For Presenting Data Over A Network Based On Network User Choices And Collecting Real-Time Data Related To Said Choices," according to the patent's ...
Gaikai sued over alleged patent infringement
A Delaware company called T5 Labs has filed suit against cloud-gaming service Gaikai for alleged patent infringement, putting the technology that underpins Gaikai's fancy cloud-computing/game-streaming wizardry under the legal microscope. Specifically, T5 Labs claims that by "providing a system and ...
Sony patents player recognition on sci-fi scale
A patent Sony filed in May 2012 was recently uncovered, indicating the company has interest in knowing exactly who the users of its products are. The patent, titled "Process and Apparatus for Automatically Identifying User of Consumer Electronics," describes the inclusion of fingerprint sensors ...
Sony patents method of turning TV ads into interactive mini-games
Sony holds the patent for turning television commercials into interactive video games, taking humanity one step closer a future resembling Wall-E, while the likelihood of Blade Runner fades to a distant, neon second. The patent describes one method of gaming as advertisement as a "commercial ...
Kinect goes mobile, gets movie editing in Microsoft patent filings
For all Kinect does, it's got some pretty glaring flaws. For one, it's bound by that silly USB cable to the back of the Xbox 360. Good thinking, Microsoft! Thankfully, Microsoft also finds Kinect's tethered nature troubling, and is working on a mobile solution. The company filed a patent ...
Nintendo is victorious in Wiimote patent lawsuit
Nintendo has prevailed in a patent lawsuit first filed by Copper Innovations Group in 2008, claiming the Wiimote and console infringed on Copper's 1996 patent for a "hand held computer input apparatus and method." The Pittsburgh U.S. District Court granted summary judgement in Nintendo's favor, ...
Apple patents NFC tech for controlling gadgets with iThings
Apple has been issued a patent (this one) that outlines virtually every conceivable way in which an iProduct equipped with NFC (Near Field Communication) could wirelessly interface and control a similarly NFC-equipped gadget, doodad or whatsit. Many examples are given in the documentation -- ...
