OnLive Receives Cloud-Gaming Patent

After eight years in the patent pipeline, OnLive has been awarded what it calls a "fundamental" patent for cloud-based gaming.

Launched , Palo Alto-based OnLive is an on-demand gaming service (also known as the ) that allows players to bypass brick-and-mortar stores and download games straight onto their TVs, PCs, iPads, and smartphones. There are several payment options, most recently, a . As PCMag reported last week, OnLive may even next year.

CEO Steve Perlman told PCMag that a key factor to the patent is low-latency video compression. This technology compresses video content and reduces lag seen onscreen, allowing users to play motion-based games running on servers thousands of miles away without seeing lag.

"It is fundamental to cloud gaming," Perlman said.

In a separate statement, Perlman thanked those he worked with over the years. "Hundreds of people have worked incredibly hard for more than 8 years to bring OnLive technology from the lab to the mass market, not just overcoming technical and business challenges, but overcoming immense skepticism," he wrote. "It is gratifying to not only see people throughout the world enjoying OnLive technology in the wake of so many doubters, but also receive recognition for such a key invention."

U.S. patent #7,849,491 was filed on December 10, 2002, and lists Perlman as the inventor. Perlman said the company had "many more patents" pending in patent offices around the world.

For more details, see PCMag's service and the slideshow below.