New patent suggests Nintendo NX could use free-form display

Earlier this year Nintendo filed a patent for a diskless stationary game console and to continue the trend, Nintendo has filed another patent (via NeoGaf)detailing a supplemental device for what is believed to be the Nintendo NX. This patent follows yet another patent that was filed last week that detailed an additional device to the console, that would feature a screen and share data with the console.

Today's patent reveals Nintendo is considering using Free-Form display (you can see an example of Free-Form display in the image above) on a handheld or controller in addition to the NX. The patent demonstrates their plans through images, along with plenty of text.

Let's start with some text about the device:

A non-limiting example information processing apparatus comprises a housing, and a first portion of the housing is formed in an elliptical form when viewing from the front. A display panel and a touch panel constitute one main surface of the first portion. Holes are formed in left and right end portions of the display panel and the touch panel, and two operation sticks are provided through the two holes. When viewing the first portion from the front, an area except key tops of the operation sticks becomes a display area.

The image below, is a visual representation of what Nintendo has in mind for the handheld/controller. As you can see, the controller uses two bumper buttons (20a, 20b), two analogue sticks and a free-form display (the little image of man running). The benefit of using free-form display is that the display can come in almost any design or shape.

Whether or not this handheld/controller is linked to the previously detailed supplemental device is unclear, but there's definitely a chance the two are connected. With all of these patents being filed, it will be interesting to see which designs make it to the market with the NX.