It's Bandai Namco that has the actual patent, but what's really interesting is the fact that it is is set to expire in November of this year.

Since installs have become so prevalent in console games, I would love to see these sort of mini-games be used to ease the wait.

I recall some minigame-esque loading screens in some old Dragon Ball Z games and wondering why more games did do something similar. It's interesting to see there was actually a reason beyond simply missed opportunity.

This was awesome on some PS1 games. Ridge Racer had Galaxian during loading screens.

It only applies to mini games on the loading screen of other games. It doesn't apply to mini games on the loading screen of non-games.