Topic: interesting nintendo patent find

[norebonomis]

after speculating on a re-release of the failed N64DD, i went to the US Patent Office website and searched for nintendo, although there are 885 patents filed by nintendo i came across this patent where if you look in the lower right hand corner of the image you will see "Mass Storage Access Device" attached to the gamecube archetechture, this patent was filed in august 2003. . there is also this patent filed in july of 2003 that describes an add on device that would combine a number of features including mass storage and internet connectivity around the same time that nintendo announced their new innovative product. i don't know if i am getting too excited and i welcome any experts critisism...

i also posted this message in this thread......    

[BigJim]

Did you see the actual images? The image of the first one says it was filed back in in November, 2000. It was approved in August 2003. It looks like they're outlining the GameCube's schematics... or a patent in how add-ons interface with the GameCube. The mass storage media, modem, network, flash memory, etc. are theoretical in the architecture. The same graph appears in several of their more recent patents.

Second one was filed back in 1999, approved in July '03. This is the 64DD patent itself. If you check the images, you'll see an artist drawing of the DD and the N64.

It doesn't look like these are nuggets that will help us figure out their new product, but every now and then I look at their patents too. It's fun the see the stuff they were doing that never came to fruition. The SNES CD is in there somewhere too.    

[norebonomis]

yes, so who is not to say that nintendo has planned some mass storage device for the gamecube from day one? allthough this is entirely speculation, if they wanted to they could, they were obviously smart enough to get the patents!

i did notice that the second one showed drawings of the n64dd, i was only pointing out that it says filed on july 29 2003, why would they patent out of date technology?  if you look at the difference between Fig.1b and Fig.1c you will notice that Fig.1c  has a video game console that looks alot more like the gamecube than the square box represented in Fig.1b . Also have a look through some of the other 885 patents and you will see the N64DD specifically patented alone elsewhere. and a question too was the N644dd ever designed to have internet access? if so i wasn't aware and am now even more upset that i don't have one.

[BigJim]

It was filed in April of '99. That's in-line with 64DD. The date of issue was July '03. See page 1 of the images for the "Filed" date.

Fig 1c looks more like an N64 to me, but that's neither here or there. There aren't any GameCube-specific patents approved yet, so add-on patents wouldn't be likely to come before it.

To answer the question, yes the DD had online capability. It also had a subscription service. It used writable disks to be able to download new levels or that sort of thing. But the service didn't last very long... Nintendo attributed its failure to being released too late in the system's life. That's why we probably won't see any serious online efforts for GameCube at this point.

[norebonomis]

thanks for shooting my dreams down  

[BigJim]

LOL. But I do want to believe just as much as you do, trust me.

[norebonomis]

i stil believe ::tear::