Microsoft's Kinect patent application goes public, reveals gobs of fine print
By Darren Murph 
posted August 5th 2010 7:06PM
posted August 5th 2010 7:06PM
posted August 5th 2010 7:06PM
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Cool patent.
@lol android is so ugly
nice copy and paste from gizmodo
@simbadogg
haha: http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Microsoft+has+taken+3D+depth-mapping+technology+that+typically+costs+$10,000+to+$150,000,+and+made+it+at+volume,+for+cheap.
@lol android is so awesome ..
Microsoft has taken 3D depth-mapping technology that typically costs $10,000 to $150,000, and made a really cheap version, where you cant sit to use it, you cant wear long skirts you cant stand too close together.. It only works with 2 people at a time.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v01bm9iLtAI
There you go corrected it for you..
@jayjaync Thats what you call viral marketing ...
@McDuckScrooged
Such a burn! Because it would totally be worth it if you could still sit for $10,000.
@MoonWalkerCTE
Niceeeeeeeeee, wow, I like that!!
@poster99000
If you were to look at it from another angle you could say the kinect is the eyetoy 2.0 with really badly implemented skeletal modelling that requires you to stand 15 foot away, have each person a foot away from each other.. With no ability to sit, to not wear anything too dark or baggy and to face the camera at all times and most importantly have no one else get in the way .. This is of course the glass half empty look at it, my earlier one was the glass half full..
I cant be bothered to give the completely flail version, but it ultimately just needs these to demonstrate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIq1vnKZxIs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj0nWnF2jIY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNgzpoagbHs
@McDuckScrooged
I can't speak to the other points, but you -can- sit and use it...so I'm going to go ahead and assume you sourced your other bits of knowledge similarly...
@Tegeril Actually no you cant, this is why :
http://kotaku.com/5565777/xbox-kinect-does-not-play-well-with-couch-potatoes
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/07/kinect-kind-of-compatible-with-push-ups/
"As I lowered my body I kept my head raised so I could see the TV. My head, shoulders, arms and hands still seemed to be tracked accurately. The top half of my stick figure self had lowered itself to the floor. But my legs and its legs did not match. My legs were behind me, extended for a push-up. The stick figure’s legs dangled below the stick figure’s torso, as if fallen through a hole in the floor....I don’t know what to make of the leg-dangling thing and wonder if that is a hint to the Kinect’s limitations. Can the Kinect not read body parts that recede into depth, away from where they started in the standing position? Or can it just not understand a full body whose joints are not stacked more or less in the vertical order of a standing person.
The Kinect’s limits continue to have me scratching my head and leave me eager to see Microsoft demonstrate a Kinect used in more postures than upright standing."
Are those 2 articles enough ? Microsoft have said they will add experiences where you can sit (ie controlling tv hopefully), but none of the games can be played sitting down..
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2010/08/kinect-doesnt-like-it-when-models-stand-too-close-to-each-other/ -- Also just fyi watch this..
All of my negatives I can provide hard evidence for, I am not just pulling them out of thin air..
@McDuckScrooged
I watched one of the videos but it was so utterly pointless, revealing nothing, that didn't bother with the others.
>With no ability to sit
As pointed out this is Wrong and it calls into question where you get your information besides oddball youtube videos.
"Microsoft has clarified that Kinect is very capable of recognizing a user that's sitting, an aspect of the new tech that continues to be a point of confusion. "Kinect can be used while sitting when an experience is developed with sitting in mind," a representative for the company confirmed to Joystiq today."
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/07/kinect-software-will-work-with-seated-players/
Of course I'm sure you know better. Ultimately your point is that it cannot do as well as a $150,000 version? Um, okay. Uh, you win!
@poster99000 I commented to you , but refreshed page so comment is at the end of the comments, read it if you want, but anyway I think you should read your own website link,
"As for previously revealed Kinect applications that are being developed with a seated user in mind, Microsoft pointed to navigating the Dashboard, along with using the ESPN, Zune and Video Kinect apps as "experiences where we expect people to be sitting." Same joystiq link..
Any sign of games being played while sat down ? Nope experience does not mean playing games, it means navigating the dashboard, and video chatting.. If they cant get that basic functionality to work seated they will have serious problems.
Currently none of it works seated, read the kotaku links for proof and that's that really, feel free to prove me wrong, find 1 video link showing some one actually sitting down and playing a kinect game.. Better yet, show me 1 video where the dashboard is being controlled with some one sitting down ...
@McDuckScrooged
Just be quiet. He lectured you and you still yap about things you know nothing about
@chrisrottan What are you talking about ? Who lectured me ? Can you read, are you capable of comprehension ?
@McDuckScrooged There aren't any hardcore games that are being developed for it right now that have been announced.
If you think you need to be standing to play a serious racing sim, you're seriously mistaken. It's about having something where you can sit, so while you might not be able to play: sports, platforming, action and some other genres, you'd be able to play: puzzles (ok, not hardcore, but they can be quite fun), racing, simulation (civilization revolutions, simcity) and plenty of others and maybe some titles that *revolutionize gaming* similar to what accelerometers, gyroscopes, motion controllers, augmented reality and other developments in gaming of the past 10 or so years.
those pants sure are tight. i didn't know hipsters like boxing games.
This whole "you can't play whilst sitting down" thing has been going on for a year and it baffles me. Kinects depth sensor has been taught to recognise human bodies, It can be taught to recognise when a person is sitting down too. And it is: http://kotaku.com/5605936/
Can we drop this whole argument now? And argue upon something a bit more profound - like the price.
So the patent only applies for use cases of wearing a baseball hat backwards and playing a boxing game, right? I think it's hilarious that they drew an actual guy with clothes and all as opposed to a neutral dummy.
Then again, I'm not a patent lawyer.
If it wasn't for the Xbox under the TV,
I'd say this guy is playing Wii Sports ^^
The artist really didn't take scale into consideration when he drew this.
Unless it's a 5 year-old with an abnormally small head.
What a big Xbox !
@boutch55555
That's what she said!!!... wait a second...
But seriously, that's a enormous box.
@boutch55555
Either that, or a tiny person.
@Mechazawa small person, you know what that means...
*comparatively bigger XBox*
@boutch55555
HA! HA! HA!
...Not to scale...
That's possibly the least abstract patent i've seen.
@d0mth0ma5 I can't wait until the moustache twirling game gets released.
@d0mth0ma5 Conando: the game?
Of course we are still waiting on a decent title for the Kinect...
When is the Kinect coming out??? I can't wait to spend hours playing charades in front of my TV!
I rarely, if ever, say this, but that patent application was definitely tl;dr. The diagrams and flowcharts were okay, but once they got into pages upon pages of fine-print font...
Better be sure you can move your couch back at least 15 feet before buying it.
Do you have to wear a baseball cap backwards to play Kinect or will forwards work as well?
Nice XXLbox he's got there :p
Now the only way you can break the screen is if your hand falls off x]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghk0twrrPi4
Has anyone else noticed how sad the boxer's back looks?
no but seriously reading this it would seem like an amputee might have a hard time, granted they would anyway
Xbox Kinect is cool, but it's very limited to what u can do. That's why Playstation Move is going to completly blow it out if the water :)
Kinect is a good idea but is waaay to limited to what you can do, but Playstation Move is the opposite, it's basically unlimited :)
this will be great...no more shadow boxing ! Spar with guy on screen. Cool !
Slap some software libs on that M$ and let people use it for motion capture.
yeah.. boxing without joysticks. Now make that game 3D, and I'll buy just for that.. getting knocked out without actually getting knocked out.. sounds like fun (on the other hand, I can see myself knocking out tv set)
@poster99000 re-read your own quoted words:
"Kinect can be used while sitting when an experience is developed with sitting in mind" ..
An "experience" is developed with sitting in mind.. Not a game an experience, please understand the wording..
Now go back to the kotaku articles above and read them for yourself, but to give you a quote from one:
"UPDATE: A Microsoft spokesperson told me after the publication of this article that the company is certain that Kinect gesture control will work for movies, ESPN and other "entertainment" features before the sensor is launched. As I originally reported, that is not an implemented feature yet. The spokesperson was not able to provide any update on the Kinect's tolerance of a person who sits while playing games."
That about summarises it, I guess Kotaku are an unreliable source as well right ? Why has their been absolutely no demos shown with people sitting.. The only hint of a person sitting has been 1 girl in the video chat in e3 2010 and she wasn't in front of the audience.. They wouldn't even let the Kotaku staff sit down to control the video / playback functionality, but they have promised they will get that working before launch..
I suggest you read the kotaku articles and get back to me...
@McDuckScrooged
Holy flippin cow! That's a lot of time and effort just to hate on a product my friend. It's not like anyone really gives a damn buddy so you might wanna get to something a little more productive.
But sadly, probably not.
I think the Kinect is kind of genious. The z-depth camera is a much better starting point of tracking a full person in 3D than a normal camera will ever be.
hope it's not laggy
Thats one giant xbox...
This image needs to become a meme, sort of like the sad Keanu.
Robert Heinlein (Sci Fi author) once described a water bed in one of his novels; subsequently, when someone tried (some years later) to patent the water bed, their application was rejected on the basis of prior art.
The movie "Johnny Mnemonic" comes to mind as an example of this as regards gestures, etc. to cause a computer to do something. I'm sure other examples are available, even as recently as the movie "Avatar"
Come on Microsoft--the ideas and implementation are not new, just the equipment to implement it might be.