This patent reveals how Nintendo's mystery console could work

Nintendo is working on a new game console - and the company's president has assured everyone it will be nothing like the Wii or Wii U.

The console, codenamed "NX," will be revealed next year.

We've heard no official details yet, but thanks to a new patent published Thursday, we now have an idea of what Nintendo might have up its sleeve.

Before we dig into the patent, it's important to note its sole author, Joseph Thomas Bentdahl, is a "technical services specialist" at Nintendo of America, responsible for, among other things, "new hardware project coordination."

This patent was filed on June 3, 2014, with the US Patent and Trademark Office. These are the highlights worth noting:

• The system includes a game console, as well as a "supplemental computing device" that's physically connected to the game console to provide "processing resources."
• In the patent background, Nintendo says it wants you to play this console from anywhere. This hints at the idea of a mobile, handheld component.
• Nintendo says the console could "take the form of any suitable type of computing device, e.g., mobile, semi-mobile, semi-stationary, or stationary." That could mean anything from a game console that sits in your living room and ports audio and video through your TV, or a console that has its own display, like a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or computer. It even mentions wearable computing devices and body-mounted computing devices can be "capable of sending communications and performing functions."
• The console works differently depending on how far away it is from the "supplemental computing device." If it's close by, it can process everything "at a nearly real-time speed," including graphics and sound effects. But "far away devices may only be able to provide asynchronous or supplementary support to the events occuring on the console (e.g. providing for weather effects in games, artificial intelligence, etc.)."
• The console can "couple to multiple supplemental computing devices" to enhance the capabilities of the overall system. Nintendo mentions you can daisy-chain these supplemental devices to one another, either physically or wirelessly, for more power.

It sounds like the console will center around a handheld device that's at least partially powered by the "supplemental computing device" you keep in your home. So, you can take your console with you and it will still work, but some features may depend on your connection to your home's supplemental device.

And here's an interesting feature: According to the patent, Nintendo will reward you for the amount of time or "raw resources" (money, we imagine) you've spent playing on your console. Compensation could include "access to other supplemental computing devices, discounts on games, access to certain game content, points for redemption for digital or physical goods, information for display (e.g., as a badge) on a social network," and more.

Overall, this sounds like a completely viable system, and a potentially smart move for Nintendo. It also sounds similar to what a report from October in The Wall Street Journal that shed new light on Nintendo's plans for the NX. Here's what it said:

People familiar with the development plans said Nintendo would likely include both a console and at least one mobile unit that could either be used in conjunction with the console or taken on the road for separate use.

While the Wii U has struggled to sell, the company's handheld 3DS is actually performing quite well. People love Nintendo's handheld consoles. And since people use screens interchangeably, it sounds like a good idea to let people play any way they'd like: on the handheld, or on a tablet, laptop, or TV.

Of course, a big problem with Nintendo's recent consoles is that there are so few games actually available to play. Nintendo's third-party dveloper support is still weak, and it will be interesting to see how the company could entice developers with a game system that could work across different kinds of devices.

It's important to remember that many patents never see the light of day. But whether or not this reflects Nintendo's actual plans for the NX console, this patent is an interesting look at Nintendo's thought process for a gaming console that's unlike any past console it's made, as the company seeks to reinvent itself.