Microsoft Confirms Its 5,000th Patent News
Jon Wilcox
07/03/2006
Spectator technology for Xbox Live confirmed as the company's 5,000th US patent...
Microsoft has today announced that it has registered its 5,000th patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office. Patent number 6,999,083 describes technologies to allow for TV broadcast-like spectator modes in Xbox Live, and is the brain-child of two employees at Microsoft Research, Steven Drucker and Curtis Wong.
Building on a prototype initially unveiled at Microsoft's internal TechFest in 2002, the technology according to Patent no. 6,999,083, "provides for a host of technologies that enable groups of networked game spectators to enjoy a unique and richer experience to viewing the action within a networked multiplayer game." From there it was spotted by then Chief Xbox Officer Robbie Bach, who decided to implement it into Microsoft's next-gen console, Xbox 360. Drucker actually began theorising what he describes as 'cinematography in a virtual world' for his thesis before starting work at Microsoft in 1995, where he took his idea to his boss, Curtis Wong.
"The 5,000th patent is a marker of the progress we have made in the past few years - building a high-quality, innovative and industry-recognized portfolio," said Brad Smith, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Microsoft. "Through patents, we are able to license our technologies widely to others in the industry, increasing the availability of our innovations and getting beneficial solutions in the hands of customers."
Whether Wong's idea of "... really large numbers of people watching tournaments online," will become a reality will have to be seen. The idea of thousands of people watching a World Cup Final in the latest FIFA title from EA is perhaps difficult to grasp at the moment, but with celebrity gamers such as Fata1ity already emerging, perhaps it's not too far away.
We'll have more news shortly...