Nintendo Patents Watch

•

Knowledge-based discourse

Rumble Responsibly

There were reports of HD Rumble 2 being disabled after a long play session. Four just-published Nintendo patents explain why and how. High level summary:

  • A thermistor is placed near the motor
  • A measurement waveform is added to the rumble waveform before being sent to the motor
  • Controller’s processor estimates the motor’s temperature based on measured resistance value
  • If the temperature is high or battery is low, rumble level may be weakened
  • When the temperature or battery level passes a certain threshold, stop the motor (rumble disabled)
FIG. 3 shows an exemplary illustrative non-limiting drawing illustrating a cross-section along the line III-III in FIG. 2
FIG. 11 shows an exemplary illustrative non-limiting flowchart illustrating exemplary processing for correcting vibration instruction data based on a remaining battery level in the game controller according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 2 shows an exemplary illustrative non-limiting drawing for illustrating processing for generating vibration instruction data in a game device according to the present embodiment.
FIG. 11 shows an exemplary illustrative non-limiting flowchart illustrating processing for stopping a vibration motor based on a measured temperature in the game controller according to the present embodiment.

Patents: US20250213967, US20250219568, US20250216271, US20250220371

[Originally posted on 2025-07-03 Pacific Time]