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Multi-GPU gaming setups are all but entirely obsolete in this day and age, with Nvidia killing its SLI model and simply not releasing a modernized equivalent of any sort. That isn't to say, of course, that having multiple graphics cards in a dedicated industrial or server-grade setup is useless, and Sony might be looking at ways to leverage this feature in a novel way.
Specifically, Sony's latest submitted patent listing references the simultaneous use of multiple graphics cards to improve cloud streaming. Much like most other contemporary patents, it incorporates the use of machine learning algorithms to intelligently discern stream metadata in real time and optimize it accordingly. This, in turn, should lead to improved stream performance across the board.
The company's new multi-GPU streaming patent is reasonably similar to Sony's previous MMO processing system pitch, which suggests that the company is looking at out-of-the-box ideas to bolster its technological outlook. In this specific case, Sony is attempting to patent a system where two or more graphics processors could intelligently offload cloud computing to one another according to the attached stream metadata. The listing describes using a specially trained machine learning model to recognize specific content items that appear on the stream and then taking this information to successfully coordinate data processing at a greater speed than just one processor could manage.
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It was earlier this month that Sony patented a special Helper Mode that would allow game streamers and their spectators to interact in various ways. Streamers could, for example, choose to help or hinder the streamer with contextual actions. It's not particularly difficult to imagine, then, that Sony may see a use case for its newly submitted multi-GPU stream offloading technology in this respect.
Further still, an earlier Sony patent for player behavior tracking could be used to make the most out of one such enriched cloud streaming solution. The company's recent slew of patent listings suggests that there is a greater picture in play here, and it's entirely within reason to believe that Sony could be looking at a sort of cloud PlayStation console that would offer a potential alternative to its hardware offerings.
At the same time, it's unlikely that a cloud solution would ever outright replace a dedicated hardware PlayStation. Sony is expanding its PC gaming division, on top of slowly improving the PS5's availability, and the far likelier option is that these patents will end up delivering cloud-based enhancements across much of Sony's gaming offerings. That, however, falls firmly into the territory of theory crafting at this time, and it's best to wait and see what Sony does with these patents over the coming months and years.