Kinect infringes patents, company claims

A US company has sued Microsoft because it believes motion-sensing add-on Kinect infringes its patents.

Impulse Technology alleges Kinect infringed seven of its patents for technology that tracks users' movements and lets them play video games without a controller, Patent Arcade reports.

Impulse's patents describe a “system and method for tracking and assessing movement skills in multidimensional space".

According to the company the patents cover a “wide variety of games where the movement of a player is tracked in three dimensions… and certain exercise games where the motion of the player is tracked to effect movement of a virtual avatar, and the exertion of the user is monitored, including where the tracking of the player is done by use of a camera.”

Impulse adds Kinect game makers, including EA, Sega and Konami, as defendants. They're all guilty of making, selling and importing into the US games that infringe several of their patents, it claimed.

Now it wants a permanent injunction, damages, interest, attorneys’ fees and costs. Microsoft said it was reviewing the complaint and had no comment to make.

Kinect has sold a whopping ten million units since its November 2010 launch. It is the fastest-selling consumer electronics device of all time.