NetEase received 4 granted patents across 3 categories: Game Mechanics (2), Audio (1), and Cloud Gaming (1).
The Game Mechanics patents cover a dual-unlock system that splits character animation lock handling between client and server to reduce input lag, plus an automatic cover system that detects proximity and angle to prompt tactical movement in third-person games. The Audio patent describes technology for converting custom character names to speech and splicing them into pre-recorded NPC dialogue. The Cloud Gaming patent allows potential buyers to trial tradeable virtual items by launching instant game sessions with those assets injected before purchase.
NetEase's 2 game mechanics patents tackle responsiveness and ease of control in competitive and tactical contexts. The dual-unlock system divides animation lock handling so that predictable, time-based unlocks happen on the player's device while state-dependent unlocks remain under server authority, cutting down the lag that used to make inputs feel stiff when everything waited for server confirmation. Separately, the smart cover system watches both distance and viewing angle to decide when to show a one-tap prompt for entering cover, removing the fiddly repositioning that manual bunker entry usually requires.
A single Audio patent addresses the challenge of making NPCs speak player-created character names out loud. The system sends custom names to a server for text-to-speech conversion, then stitches the resulting Audio into pre-recorded dialogue on the client side so the synthesized name matches the style of the surrounding voice acting. This approach avoids both the silence of skipping names entirely and the expense of recording thousands of possible name variations ahead of time.
One cloud gaming patent connects marketplace browsing to live gameplay by letting buyers test tradeable virtual items before committing to a purchase. When a user requests a trial, the system spins up a temporary cloud game session with the character or prop already loaded, turning a static listing into an interactive demo streamed to the buyer's device. The architecture treats the trial as a server-generated session rather than transferring ownership, so the item remains with the seller until the transaction completes.
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.