An image attached to the patent shows the slide-out pad with an empty slot in which a user can place various different parts. These parts include a separate keyboard and a gaming pad boasting control buttons and a thumb stick.
Microsoft to get its game on?
This patent may not be a definitive sign of things to come but it goes some way to show how seriously Microsoft is taking games when considering new technological hardware.
Despite having a 'big month', with ad impressions in August equaling Android's in terms of month on month growth, Windows Phone handsets remain a tiny sector, outside the top twenty compiled by as networki Millennial Media.
Microsoft will also be looking to improve on figures provided by NDP which show that despite half of US smartphone users being interested in Windows Phone devices, the other half has no idea what it is.
[source: USPTO via Mobile Mag]
