This month's cloud gaming and streaming category includes 8 granted patents from Sony (2), Tencent (2), NetEase (1), Netflix (1), AT&T (1), and Adeia (1).
The patents cover a range of server-side and client-side technologies, including microservices-based game engines, adaptive encoding, intra-container rendering, and ML-driven encoder tuning from Sony and Tencent. Netflix patents a batch-frame rendering approach for GPU cost efficiency, while NetEase covers cloud-based item trials tied to virtual marketplace purchases. AT&T's patent addresses selective content streaming to reduce storage and load times on player devices.
Adeia received 1 patent describing a cloud gaming system that allows players to upgrade their GPU, CPU, or bandwidth allocation in the middle of an active session through a service-level agreement interface. What makes this approach distinct is that the upgrade triggers are tied to specific in-game conditions, such as a boss fight or a competitive multiplayer moment, rather than a static subscription plan, and the system can extend those resource changes to teammates' profiles as well.
Tencent received 2 patents, both targeting efficiency in cloud gaming infrastructure. The first covers a server-side encoding system that reads frame rate requirements reported directly by the client and adjusts the server's encoding rate to match in real time, rather than encoding at a fixed rate regardless of what the client actually needs. The second keeps the entire graphics rendering pipeline contained within the cloud container itself by binding the frame buffer to a physical rendering device accessible from inside that container, which eliminates the handoff to an external device that typically introduces format errors and latency.
Sony also received 2 patents, and both address different layers of cloud game delivery quality. One describes a cloud game engine built on microservices rather than a fixed-resource block, allowing computing resources to scale up or down elastically per session rather than assigning each player to a static virtual machine. The other uses a machine learning model that reads live game state data to adjust encoder settings ahead of visually complex scenes, so the system anticipates the need for additional bitrate before the scene even renders rather than reacting to it after the fact.
NetEase received 1 patent covering a marketplace mechanism that connects virtual item listings to live cloud game sessions. When a buyer wants to try a character or prop before purchasing, the system spins up a short-lived cloud game session with that item already loaded and playable, turning what would normally be a static text or image listing into an interactive preview without transferring ownership of the item.
Netflix received 1 patent for a rendering approach that groups multiple game frames, potentially from separate game processes, into a single combined image before running them through an upscaling and frame generation process. The fixed processing cost of that ML-based upscaling step is spread across several frames at once rather than applied to each frame individually, which addresses the inefficiency of running such models at the low resolutions and frame rates common in cloud game streaming.
AT&T received 1 patent for a content delivery method that downloads only the game assets a player's device currently needs, using natural transition points in gameplay as windows to fetch upcoming content and delete assets that are no longer relevant. Rather than requiring a full game download upfront or relying entirely on a remote server to stream everything, the system manages content locally in a dynamic way that reduces both storage use and load times on the player's device.
All data sourced from USPTO patent filings. Google Patents may take several weeks to index recent publications. If a link is unavailable, search for the patent number at USPTO Patent Public Search.