Google’s Gaming Controller Patent Looks Good for Project Stream

• Someone discovers a Google gaming controller patent, and all hopes for Project Stream are high again.
• The controller looks ordinary, but it may come with a notifications screen controlled by its own CPU and memory.
• Those who tested Project Stream in beta phase report it worked even better than they expected.

When Google demoed their “Project Stream” gaming service during the past months, people were excited to see the new possibilities that opened up. Gaming on Chrome through a cloud service, no matter the hardware and OS that is used sounds like the next big thing in entertainment, but Google is not known to implement all that they’re testing. That said, no one knew when, and even if the tech giant would proceed further with Project Stream at all. We had reported about Google’s plans on that part since last summer, with strategic hiring of gaming industry experts taking place back then.

The next chapter in this news is the surfacing of a patent that shows Google’s approach on gaming controllers. The actual illustrations on the patent application depict much less than what is described in the written content, as there is a mention for a display that could deliver notifications to the user, something that is not common for gaming controllers. Besides that, there’s an in-built processor, memory, network interface, removable media, and fixed storage elements. The connectivity may be achieved through USB, Bluetooth, or WiFi, as the patent text is including them all.

from the patent

The notifications will be used as a bridge of interaction between the user and the host device, with the latter being a ChromeCast, a smartphone, a TV monitor, a Chromebook, etc. Possible interactions could engulf chat applications, the launching of a game, in-game or account settings, login screens, etc. Of course, this is just a patent, so it naturally covers a wide spectrum of functionality that may be significantly altered in the real thing, or not present there at all. For now, the patent serves as an indication that Google is planning to further their “Project Stream” plans, and that’s what matters for us.

Until now, only beta testers had the chance to play Assassin’s Creed Odyssey right from their Chrome browsers, and the testing period has now expired. This means that no one had an indication about whether Google planned to continue with this service or not, and this patent gives some hope for those eagerly waiting to play games by using remote processing resources. During the beta testing, people played demanding games thanks to the service’s AMD Radeon graphics, and only had to ensure an adequately speedy internet connection. Those who used ethernet instead of WiFi, reported no lag problems at all, although the compression artifacts algorithm has a lot of work towards perfection yet.

Are you excited to see that Google game controller, or do you believe it’ll all stay on paper? Share your thoughts in the comments section beneath, and join the discussions of our vivid community on our socials, on Facebook and Twitter.