iSpy: on Nintendo’s in-car video game/entertainment system
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Aug 4, 2006 at 2:34pm
Welcome back to Macsimum’s new iSpy report. In this second edition, we’ll take a peek at Nintendo’s in-vehicle video game and entertainments system which was revealed in one of their patent applications filed in early 2006.
Nintendo: on the road
Nintendo’s begins their patent providing a bit of background about how video gaming have been gaining popularity on cruise ships, airlines and especially hotel rooms which use distribution systems commercialized by LodgeNet in order to play Nintendo video games on. Nintendo’s January 2006 patent then points to the next wave of video gaming extending through to vehicles such as cars, sport utilities, a personal boat and so forth.
Although handheld and other portable video-gaming devices already exist that could play in your vehicle, it’s the inconvenience factor of loading up the car with cartridges, CDs or controller which could be a hassle and just a clutter you don’t want to deal with a long road trip.
Nintendo’s vision is to provide consumers with a full entertainment system that would offer multiple larger screen displays and options for movies, music and so forth that could also take advantage of the in-vehicle stereo system. Additional advantages of Nintendo’s in-vehicle entertainment system that are described include providing a “rugged” or robust system that can withstand considerable bumping and abrupt movements associated with travel in addition to being able to handle extreme temperatures. The system is also designed to co-exist with other in-vehicle systems such as CD/DVD players, GPS systems and so forth in order to keep the costs affordable.
The patent describes this as a provision of “an integrated, reliable, rugged/hardened, secure, inexpensive, and readily updateable car control and service system that performs various car control functions and offers a variety of entertainment services including video gaming.” Nintendo’s system will work via an in-vehicle car area network (CAN).
The patent goes on to describe that “although the trunk is an attractive location in terms of aesthetics, comfort, and other factors, the game engine(s) or server(s) may be flexibly mounted in any suitable location including the dash board area, between seats as part of a between-seat console unit, in or attached to the roof, under one or more seats, incorporated into the back of one or more seats, etc. In other example implementations, the game engine(s) or server(s) may be located outside of the car and communicate with the control CED via wireless and/or wired networks outside the car.”
Multifunction controller
The patent describes that “each passenger location associated with a display has a controller of some sort, e.g., a game or multifunction controller, with multiple buttons, switches, and/or joystick(s). The game controller may be used to generate game select signals if game choices are displayed on a menu, to select other forms of entertainment such as radio, music, movies (if a DVD or VCR is provided in the car entertainment system), etc., and game play signals, e.g., move game objects across the display. Again, game controller signals may be delivered via wire or wirelessly. ”
Wireless systems & online downloads
In respect to wireless systems and online downloads, the patent states that “the input/output interface, which includes or is coupled to a radio or other wireless transceiver or wired transceiver, may also be used to receive game updates, new games, or other game-related information (e.g., “cheat codes”) over the air from game content providers, retailers, or other commercial entities. Suitable handshaking, authorization, encryption, and/or payment signaling may be incorporated. That information is then routed to the control CED 30 for storage and/or to the library 40 for storage as appropriate. A transceiver would be desirable to permit game or other requests to be sent from the car to a game provider. Established cellular, satellite, or other wireless communications networks and protocols may be used.
A car dealer, other commercial entity, or a user may connect to the CAN 35 using a suitable cable, (e.g., a USB or FireWire cable), and download one or more video games, game updates, or other game related information (e.g., game cheat codes). Games can be sold outright, rented, or provided for free as part of a marketing plan. Rented games can include associated code that instructs the web box when to delete or disable the game after the rental period expires. Game updates may be provided wirelessly, e.g., using WiFi or a cellular network.
Some emulation
Although the patent does go into some rather geeky details about their associated and accompanying emulator system, in general, the patent states that “another set of example embodiments, the car-based entertainment system may use the control CED as a virtual gaming platform to run PC type video games and/or gaming platform games using an emulator or transcomplier. An emulation implementation is also advantageous when the car does not have a game server within the car, and the game server is external to the car.
Neo’s Notes
If you’re interested in reviewing more of Nintendo’s “Car-based entertainment system with video gaming” patent, then click here. On a humorous note, I wanted to mention that Nintendo, when describing the various types of vehicles that their new in-vehicle gaming system would apply to, they actually went a little overboard when they included farm tractors and combines. Then again, perhaps slicing and dicing up livestock while being distracted playing a video game may actually add some shock-value to those that are insane. Yikes!
Being that “Macsimum News” is in fact an Apple based news site, I think it’s appropriate to mention that Apple announced earlier this week that they “teamed up with Ford Motor Company, General Motors and Mazda to deliver seamless iPod integration across the majority of their brands and models, making it easy for iPod users to enjoy and control their iPod’s high-quality sound through their car’s stereo system. With the addition of these models, more than 70 percent of 2007-model US automobiles will offer iPod integration.”
Music, no doubt, is the number one form of in-vehicle entertainment and it’s Apple who’s leading the way with some rather fantastic alliances in the car industry. With Apple quickly establishing their footprint solidly with car makers around the globe, I think that one of the gaming console makers, such as Nintendo, should be seriously thinking about forming an in-vehicle entertainment alliance with Apple pronto! Wouldn’t you agree?
If you have any thoughts on today’s iSpy report, then
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
Neo Says:
In case the patent URL doesn’t work right over the weekend, the patent number is 20060009289.
Posted on August 04, 2006