User Interface & Experience

Sony received 2 patents covering how games handle voice input and output. The first addresses a common frustration with in-game voice assistants: spoken responses that interrupt gameplay audio. Rather than replying out loud or displaying text, the assistant in this filing selects a combination of non-verbal cues, such as colored borders along the screen edge, illuminated or vibrating controller buttons, directional haptic feedback, and simple tonal yes/no sounds, to communicate answers to player questions. The second patent takes the input side of voice interaction and extends it to multiplayer scenarios, describing a system that identifies individual speakers by their voice profiles and physical position in the room using a microphone array, then processes each player's spoken commands separately and in parallel, even when multiple people are talking at the same time or chatting with one another.

Nintendo received 3 patents spanning companion-device navigation, camera-based player setup, and communication shortcuts. One filing describes a system where a player selects a destination on a 2D map displayed on a secondary device, and the game then calculates the distance and direction to that destination in the 3D game world, delivering guidance back to the companion device as visual indicators or voice, with special handling for situations where the player character and the destination exist on different map layers. A second patent outlines a preparation phase before a multiplayer game begins, where the camera feed is overlaid with placement guides so each player can see exactly where to stand, and the game confirms that all required faces and body positions are captured before proceeding. The third describes a single hardware button that opens a communication session if none is active, or switches to a communication settings screen if one is already running, with that screen surfacing group-only multiplayer invitations while keeping open multiplayer options out of view, and tying group play to a host arrangement where only the host's device runs the actual game.

Peloton Interactive received 1 patent describing a game interface designed around the physical demands of exercising. Rather than placing menus on top of the game world as an overlay, the system embeds navigation elements directly into the virtual environment as objects the player interacts with, keeping the camera angle stable so the workout itself does not disrupt the view. The player's avatar also mirrors the user's real physical movements and gestures, connecting what the body is doing on the machine to what appears on screen.

Tencent received 1 patent addressing a specific friction point in MOBA team drafting. When a player hovers over a hero during the selection phase, the hero's avatar frame displays a visual cue indicating whether that hero's role or team function overlaps with a character a teammate has already chosen. The comparison updates dynamically as the player moves between options and clears when a different hero is highlighted, giving players immediate feedback on lineup composition without requiring extra rounds of selection and adjustment.