Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Portrait Displays, Inc.

Derek H Smith

Brian Lloyd Schmidt

Stacey Law

Brendan Reville

Maciej Maciesowicz

Georgios Chrysanthakopoulos

Dan B Kroymann

Jon Marcus Randall Whitten

Gregory A Martinez

Christopher Michael Pirich

Thomas A Langan

Joshua G Poley

Michael Cory Maston

Simon P Atwell

David Anthony William Pickford

Barry Aaron Steinglass

Mark Ryals

Mark Schindler

Victoria Olivares

Jason Ramirez

Bjorn Toft Madsen

Darrell Bird

Melissa Thompson

Larry Allen Heberlein

Rodney Alan Boyd

Tyler Pruitt

Mackenzie Collins

Catherine Meininger

James Lund

Josh Palmer

David Pickford

Described herein is a color calibration system and method including a display device including a non-volatile memory, a display screen, and a target sensor. The system and method further can include a computing system in communication with the display device and including a processor, a persistent memory, a temporary memory, and a reference sensor. A calibration matrix can be derived using the reference and target data captured by the target and reference sensors. The calibration matrix can be used to calibrate the target sensor using the calibration matrix.

System and method for color calibration

Techniques for dynamically and seamlessly inserting secondary content via a second video pipeline into the playing of principal content over a first video pipeline are disclosed herein. One aspect of the techniques may involve the file containing the principal content be contiguous instead of being in a plurality of separate sections. The secondary content is able to be pre-processed on the second video pipeline while the principal content is played over the first video pipeline. This enables the secondary content to be available instantaneously upon the pausing of the principal content at various designated points therein. Playing of the principal content may likewise be instantaneous upon completion of the time period for the specified pausing thereof. Since the file containing the principal content is preferably contiguous, rewinding the principal content to a previous point does not require reloading.

Glitch free dynamic video ad insertion

The techniques disclosed herein integrate a social aspect into avatar modification. Multiple users may access a virtual environment that allows users to modify the user's avatar. The users in the application may be any combination of remote and local players. The users' avatars may be associated with the same application or different applications. The users may interact in the same virtual environment while modifying their respective avatars. Any user in the virtual environment may view modifications that are made to other users' avatars and interact with other users while modifications are made. Thus, the techniques disclosed allow avatar modification to be a multi-player experience.

Social virtual avatar modification

Disclosed is an application programming interface (API) that provides for an extensible avatar system. In one embodiment an API may allow video game applications to retrieve structures of data which represent an avatar. The game can then take those structures and incorporate the data into its own rendering system. In another embodiment an API may allow a video game application to render an avatar to a render target or texture wherein the video game system performs rendering and animation functions.

Programming APIS for an extensible avatar system

Mechanisms for accessorizing avatars with animated items. Avatars may be accessorized by items that have animations that are item specific, or they may be accessorized by items that apply to the entire body of the avatars. In addition, such item accessories may apply to avatars across different game titles and they may be added during the execution of a game, whether using a user interface or the game itself (e.g. receiving accessories for achieving certain milestones in a game). Such accessories may also be obtained from remote sources as packages, and then applied locally to avatars.

Avatar items and animations

Communication between a game console having a communication port and a portable device is facilitated by determining that a portable device has been directly connected to the communication port, determining the protocol associated with the portable device, and communicating with the portable device using a driver associated with the determined protocol. An ancillary application may handle the communication between the game console and the portable device while a game or entertainment application executes concurrently on the game console. The game application may execute in a reserved predetermined amount of hardware resources of the game console while the ancillary application may execute concurrently using the remaining hardware resources.

Game console communication with a device

A user of a game system can replace background music from a game with the user's selected background music, while still hearing any other audio streams (e.g. sound effects related to gameplay). A music engine and system audio mixer allow the playback of the user's requested replacement music. The game tags background music streams with an identifier indicating that they are background music, and such streams are muted at the music engine and system audio mixer (if the game is using the provided music engine in order to play the game's audio streams) or by the game if the game is using a game music engine and has received information indicating that a mute request has been issued.

Music replacement in a gaming system

A game system utilizes a codecs abstraction laver (CAL) to allow the game system to accommodate new and/or modified codecs without requiring the game application code to be modified. The CAL, functioning as an application programming interface (API), operates between media sources and the game application. The game application interacts with the CAL and not the codec. Differences between codecs are transparent to the game application. New codecs can be introduced and used by existing applications without modifying the existing application code. The CAL processes media from a variety of sources such as memory, files, http sources, queues, custom sources, external drives, or game media sources (e.g., XMedia). The CAL determines the source of the media, the type of media being received (e.g., audio, video, image, animation, or game), and the codec used to compress the media. The CAL provides the decoded media to the game application.

System for abstracting audio-video codecs

Efficient recursive audio processing of one or more input data streams using a multistage processor for performing one or more predetermined functions and programmable audio effects. A first stage performs a first predetermined function, such as frequency shifting function. Intermediate results are preferably mixed. The second stage applies programmable audio effects to the mixed data, such as a reverberation effect, and stores the second stage output in a destination mix bin. The second stage output is preferably transferred to a main memory accessible to a primary processor. The second stage output is directed back to the first stage of the multistage processor to perform a second predetermined function, such as three dimensional spatialization. The primary processor modifies parameters of the first predetermined function to efficiently perform dynamic operations, such as Doppler shifts and volume transitions between multiple sound sources and a mixture of those sounds as a single point source.

Recursive multistage audio processing

Growing community of inventors

Bothell, WA, United States of America

Derek H Smith