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Microsoft Receives 5,000th U.S. Patent...

Zim Hosein

Zim Hosein

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The technology allows gamers to compete in online video games, but also keep to the sidelines as a spectator and watch the game from anywhere in the world.

By Laurie Sullivan
Mar 7, 2006 09:16 AM

Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday said the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has granted the Redmond, Wash. software company its five-thousandth patent.

Patent No. 6,999,083 allows gamers to compete in online video games, but also keep to the sidelines as a spectator and watch the game from anywhere in the world.

Xbox 360 games will feature the newly patent technology allowing consumers to tune into a video game as they would a sporting event broadcast on mobile device, television, or online.

The patent relates to a host of technologies. Some features are included in portions of Xbox Live. It can generate highlights, instant replays, and unique views of the action within a game.

Viewing controls allow a person watching an online video game to control one or more virtual cameras, selecting the desired viewpoints or an automated camera control to frame the action and perform specific cuts to best convey the action.

The portal allows a person to find the most popular game to watch by previewing the action and then connecting to the desired game or event.

Microsoft said it has used an "expanding IP portfolio" to launch several "development-seeding licensing initiatives," including IP Ventures, a program dedicated to bringing technology to emerging businesses.

Spending billions annually in research and development, Microsoft has been granted more than 7,000 patents worldwide. The company's goal, is to file 3,000 patents annually.

Past license agreements have been granted to companies including Autodesk Inc., Inrix Inc., Motorola Inc., Palm Inc., SAP AG, Softedge-Systems, Sony Ericsson, Sun Microsystems Inc., Symbian Ltd., and Turbolinux Inc.
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Microsoft Receives 5,000th U.S. Patent 😎
 
that would be cool... tune into an xbox live madden NFL game and watch coworkers sit there watching it thinking its a real game :evil:
 
Don't tell Microsoft but you can do this right now in Guild Wars, although it's not live as it's happening, but a few minutes delayed.


 
instant replays isn't new. i played on a COD2 server that had a replay of your death from the 1st person of the shooter, so you could see how you died
 
Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
instant replays isn't new. i played on a COD2 server that had a replay of your death from the 1st person of the shooter, so you could see how you died
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this is nothing like that.

it seems as if with the right device, you can tune in to Xbox Live, and watch a game being played, live...
 
HLTV FTW!

You can tune into a Half-Life (or addon) server that has HLTV enabled and do the exact same thing.
 
Originally posted by: Playmaker
Wasn't CS doing this 4-5 years ago?
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yeah, sounds like a pretty standard spectator cam, with the SOLE exception that you can "preview" the game before fully connecting to the server.
 
think there was a mod for quake 1 which had that

was a dueling mod, you connected to a server and went into to spectator mode, when your turn was up you dueled someone else on the server
 
I know a couple patent examiners. They used to be motivated to reject stuff like this because of prior art, but now MS can just sue the crap out of everybody who dares to make a similar product for 17 years? Or is it 20 now? The employees of the USPTO say it's management's fault they can't reject this stuff anymore.
 
Originally posted by: OS
you can patent a garbage ass recycled idea like this?
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Seriously, every game with specatator mode has some form of this. It isn't really all that exciting. And it certainly isn't new.
 
Not only do most games have spectator modes, there are also a fair few games with, as mentioned, TV mods that allow matches to be effectively "broadcast" to another server for people to watch, like TV.
 
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