Microsoft’s new Xbox will track EVERYTHING you watch on TV – but will reward you for watching the ads

By Victoria Woollaston

Microsoft has submitted a patent that could see the company track every TV show and advert watched via its Xbox One console and other devices.
The application called ‘Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem’ was submitted to the US Patent and Trademark office earlier this month.
It details plans for Microsoft to reward viewers for watching adverts, TV shows or series, with virtual scores, or physical awards such as coupons and products – although it is expected the plans will be opt-in, and not turned on by default.
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Microsoft’s new Xbox One console has improved voice controls that can switch TV channels, for example, and an updated Kinect sensor that can monitor users’ movements. A patent applied to the US Patent and Trademark Office by Microsoft has unveiled plans to potentially use such technology to track what TV shows and adverts users watch, and then reward them with virtual points or physical products

Drawings submitted by Microsoft in its Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem patent show how the company plans to track and reward users for watching adverts and TV shows. In this image the Kinect sensor is highlighted on top of the TV, as is the console on the right-hand side. Although it is unclear exactly what platform the plans will launch on. Microsoft has filed the patent in a bid to launch a system that could see viewers given virtual scores and points to put towards new items for their avatars, or download TV and videos from the Xbox Live system

The application, originally found by Games Industry International, said: ‘Television viewing tends to be a passive experience for a viewer, without many opportunities for the viewer to engage or have interactive experiences with the presented content.

To increase interactive viewing and encourage a user to watch one or more particular items of video content, awards and achievements may be tied to those items of video content.
‘Producers, distributors, and advertisers of the video content may set viewing goals and award a viewer who has reached the goals.
‘By providing content viewing goals and awarding the viewer for reaching the goals, the present disclosure provides for an interactive television viewing experience.
Additionally, by tying the awards and achievements to particular items of video or advertising content, viewers may be encouraged to increase their viewership of the content, thus increasing advertising opportunities.’

The Xbox One has a built-in TV guide that can be opened using voice controls. If a patent application submitted by Microsoft is successful, users will be able to use this guide to search for specific TV shows and series that have rewards attached. Users can then watch these shows to earn the rewards and put them towards new items for their avatars, or media downloads

The new Kinect sensor can register even the slightest of movements because it uses ‘time of flight’ that records photons of light bouncing from the viewers body. Under the patent’s plans, the Kinect would potentially be able to record where on the screen your eyes look, and measure your heart rate to tell how involved you are in a TV show or gauge your response to an advert

A chart, submitted in Microsoft’s patent application, shows how its TV awards and achievements system could work

Examples given in the application include rewarding users for watching an episode, watching an ‘entire series of linear video content’, watching ‘one or more commercials contained within the linear video content’ and rewarding users for ‘performing a specific action while watching video content.’
This includes one-off events such as the Super Bowl, or watching series’ which could include the Halo TV spin-off announced last week, being shown exclusively on the Xbox One.
It is thought that the plans will be opt-in, and users can additionally search for and actively watch reward shows and adverts, to increase their achievements.
The application doesn’t specifically state what platform the plans will relate to.
When asked about the plans, Microsoft told the MailOnline: ‘Microsoft regularly applies for and receives patents as part of its business practice; not all patents applied for or received will be incorporated into a Microsoft product.’
It is thought that if the plans are successful they will apply to the new Xbox One console, because of its new TV features.
The latter reference in the application to ‘performing a specific action’ suggests that the plans will tie in somehow with Microsoft’s motion-sensing technology Kinect.
The new Kinect sensor can record eye movements and monitor heart rate.
Under the patent plans, this means Microsoft would potentially be able to record where on the screen your eyes look, and measure how involved you are in a TV show or gauge your response to an advert based on your heart rate changes.
It can also watch you in the dark.

Photographers take photos of the new Xbox One console at the launch event in Washington last week. In a patent application filed earlier this month, the new console could track viewing habits of every user and reward them for watching certain shows or adverts

Microsoft goes on to say in the application that achievements would be in the form of ‘virtual awards’ – including a viewer score that could be linked to a user’s avatar and would give those avatars ‘new outfits, new vehicles, new homes’ and ‘virtual money to purchase different avatar items’.
This score would then be visible to other users ‘thus creating an incentive for each user to increase his or her score.’
Microsoft continues that the virtual awards would be accessible on more than one computer or device.

Elsewhere, Microsoft also adds that physical awards may be granted.
These are described as ‘coupons, products, etc’ and could be used to put towards downloading content such as TV shows, videos and games through Microsoft’s Xbox Live service.

Microsoft’s completely redesigned Xbox Kinect sensor uses ‘time of flight’ and captures 2GB of data including heart rate, weight transfer and the slightest movements of joints. Under patent plans, users may soon be able to perform certain actions – that will be recorded using the Kinect sensor – while watching TV shows and earn rewards

Microsoft unveiled its latest Xbox console – the Xbox One – at an event in Washington last week.
It was described as an ‘all-in-one entertainment system for a new generation’ and can be completely controlled using voice recognition and hand gestures.
A new Instant Switching feature lets users ask the Xbox to ‘watch TV’, ‘open Internet Explorer’ or use it to change channels quickly without having to find the remote control.
Microsoft’s Xbox One also comes with a multi-tasking Snap Mode that lets users run more than one service at any one time, such as watch a film while checking emails on Internet Explorer.
The awards and achievement plans outlined in the recent patent application are similar to those already used by gamers on the Xbox 360 console.
According to the head of Civil Liberties Australia, Tim Vines told GamesFix: ‘Microsoft’s new Xbox meets the definition of a surveillance device under some Australian laws, so they need to be upfront and tell customers whether anyone else can intercept their information or remotely access their device.
‘The Xbox One continuously records all sorts of personal information about me.
‘My reaction rates, my learning or emotional states.
These are then processed on an external server, and possibly even passed on to third parties. The fact that Microsoft could potentially spy on my living room is merely a twisted nightmare.’

A group of journalists try out the improved motion-detecting capabilities of the new Kinect sensor for Microsoft’s Xbox One console system. The new Kinect, which will come standard with the Xbox One can also see users in total darkness and has a wider field of view than the previous Kinect device in use with the Xbox 360

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2331985/Xbox-One-track-EVERYTHING-watch-TV–reward-watching-ads.html