This month's cloud gaming and streaming category includes 3 granted patents from Adeia (1), Microsoft (1), and Sony (1).
Microsoft's patent describes a system that overlays personalized content and advertisements during low-interaction gaming moments without altering the underlying game code. Sony's technology addresses bandwidth optimization through priority-based variable encoding, allocating higher frame rates and resolution to important game objects while reducing quality for less critical elements. Adeia's patent covers adaptive video compression that dynamically adjusts quality during scene changes to prevent lag spikes over fluctuating networks.
Microsoft received 1 patent for a cloud gaming personalization system that layers content over streamed games without touching the original code. The technology uses predictive analysis to identify low-engagement moments during gameplay, then displays ads or branded content as overlays during these naturally occurring lulls in player interaction.
Sony's patent addresses the challenge of bandwidth efficiency in cloud gaming streams by applying variable quality encoding at the object and region level within individual frames. Rather than encoding every pixel uniformly, the system allocates higher frame rates and resolution to gameplay elements that matter most while reducing quality for less critical parts of the scene, optimizing how bandwidth gets distributed across what players actually need to see.
Adeia received 1 patent for compression technology that prevents lag spikes during scene transitions in cloud gaming. The system creates a feedback loop between the encoder and rate controller to estimate required bitrate before transmission, then compares this against available network capacity and adjusts quantization parameters or frame partitioning as needed to keep P-frames from ballooning in size during scene changes, avoiding the disruptive IDR frame requests that typically interrupt streaming experiences.