MSFT Patents Dual, Wired and Wireless Controller

So it's just like the PS3 controller...?

Why not just have it be wireless, and let you charge it to plug it in while playing?

This seems overly complex to me

This is standard on PS3, look out Sony

Isn't the patent system awesome? /s

Hope SONY does have its own patents on PS3 controller.... or... it will be the rise of another patent war!

Exactly this
It seems pointless unless you know solar flares are about to knock out your wireless

Well, it's a continuation of the 2004 application, so it's not like it was JUST submitted. My guess is it's another defensive patent to block the NPEs that have sued sony, nintendo and ms in the past over fairly obvious designs hoping for a settlement (Fenner Investments, Eleven Engineering, Immerson, Anascape and so on and on and on). MS would never use this to go after Sony or Nintendo because: 1 - there's plenty of prior art that any company with decent lawyers could use, 2 - it's generally not a good use of capital to sue someone else who also has lots of capital on a case you'd be unlikely to win (see 1), 3 - if they sue sony or nintendo it'll be likely they'd come back with their own patent infringement suits because, as well all know, there's nothing new under the sun (man is just a hairless ape who figured out round things roll and how to put fire in a box and most everything invented has been permutations on those ideas ). This stuff is as silly as the patent on "slide to unlock" (heck, the Predator had "slide to unlock" on his wrist computer self destruct dealie when he tried to kill Arnie).

can't you already buy an accessory that will let you do just this?

Already patented.

I think the next big thing will be an external charge/wired station that can transmit over longer distances having a true wired power source. Though I am not sure about delays of having a separate station to receive and then retransmit to the console itself. Still though, that is what I would want.

It seems like what microsoft has with its controllers being wireless but being able to be plugged in with a usb connector

Why is this news?

The wireless controllers for the 360 have done this since launch. The controller changes power source when plugged into a USB port, but it still transmits in wireless mode, uninterrupted.

This is just a way for them to charge you the same amount of money for a controller whether you want wired or wireless.

Yeah, but that's saying it can send the game data over the wire while plugged in.

The only thing that this stops (if you like it going over the wire anyway) is the ability to plug the controller into a closer laptop for power. You can even not use any sort of battery pack that way. For some reason people are surprised when I do this...

They should be rolling out a new console! not some stupid new controller

didn't the 360 and PS3 come out with this from the beginning? and how long ago was this patent? that is the diagram for the original X-box.

Yeah, what i was thinking... Just like a ps3 controller.

BUT WAIT!!!! You wont have to pause the game!
So now you can race your racing car game, get up, pickup your cable, plug in into the controller, all while shaving a full second off your lap time and most importantly, not having to waste a critical 10 seconds of gaming time!

Lol with that tiny cable?

Was the first TV remote control ever patented? Or having to stop changing channels to pull the back off use a corner of the plastic back bit to wedge between the batteries and throw in a new set only to find out it uses AAA and in your third draw down you only have AA so you find another remote in the house that uses AAA and use the batteries out of that hoping no one notices.

so buy the six ten or 30 foot mini usb to usb cable. Shit i have a 12 foot cable that i bought at frys.

lately its hp on palmtap now its msft.

So, they finally figured out that you don't have to hard-wire a wire (no pun intended) into the controller? Let's see.. we can already unplug network cables, audio cables HDMI cables, power cables...

So it's taken them HOW long to catch up?

There is a cable that is about 10 feet long.

It is entirely possible that this was filed for back in the xbox days...
GOVT is SLOW...

Next: "MSFT sues SONY over patent infringement on Dual wired+wireless controller patent"

Yes, PS3 controllers are great but I was really p*st when I paid $60 for a new controller and they didn't even include a cable. Thanks Sony!! cheap bas**rds.

As xeensd mentioned, this probably had to do with the original XBOX (obviously the picture shoes the original XBOX).

But why would you want to game sitting 100 feet away anyway ?

Exactly. Although Microsoft's wireless protocol is excellent, there are a *few* games I might want wired communication for (instead of the current system of charging off USB, but still transmitting wirelessly). Mainly Marvel vs Capcom 3 and other fighting games.

Plus, you can plug the wired USB 360 controllers into a PC, without any extra hardware, and it just works (you can tell it to automagically nab the drivers off the net in seconds, if your Windows doesn't have them already). So if this controller can do that too, it's the best of the wired and wireless models.

WOW THIS IS AMAZING!