The new Xbox One console will track everything you watch on TV and reward you for watching the ads, using the Kinect sensor technology to ensure you’re not cheating, according to a new patent application made by Microsoft.
The application called ‘Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem’ was submitted to the US Patent and Trademark office earlier this month.
The patent did not state which platform the reward system would operate through but it is believed that the new Xbox One and 360 consoles are the likeliest targets.
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.
Users can additionally search for and actively watch reward shows and adverts, to increase their achievements.
‘Incentivise TV viewing’
Microsoft said it wants to incentivise television viewing by offering tangible “achievements” to everyone watching video content on its devices.
The move is a natural extention of the “achievements” Xbox 360 users currently unlock by completing in-game tasks.
The Microsoft patent states that television watching currently “tends to be a passive experience for a viewer.”
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,” the document logged with the US Patent and Trademark Office said.
“Producers, distributors, and advertisers of the video content may set viewing goals and award a viewer who has reached the goals.”
Coupon rewards for brands?
The reward could be virtual, in the form of extra scores on a game, or “coupons for an advertised product or service, or an actual product.”
Viewers who complete a series could be rewarded with free downloads of a future show or a new game.
The service would ensure the viewer is present to view the ad by using the Kinect sensor. The patent suggests that the reward system could me made compatibile with Microsoft’s Kinect sensor.
The viewing behaviour could include “an action performable by the viewer and detectable by one or more sensors, such as a depth camera.” A sensor could detect whether a viewer’s eyes were really on the screen.
The patent also mentions a system “configured to track the viewing behaviours of one or more viewers” that can “compile one or more user-specific reports of the viewing behaviors, and send the user-specific reports to a remote device to determine whether the user-viewing goal has been met.”
Microsoft believes its patent, which it called The Awards and Achievements Across TV Ecosystem, will find favour with advertisers struggling to target viewers who can now speed through commercial breaks at high speed using digital catch-up services.
‘Big Brother’ aspect?
Commenting on the move, Vanessa Barnett, Technology & Media Partner at Charles Russell LLP, commented: “The patent filing by Microsoft is an interesting one – proper Big Brother in my living room, it seems. But, pause for thought, is this not what many products and services already do? If we think about the functionality of online shopping, personal video recorders and loyalty cards, it’s the same end game isn’t it?
“What’s new with Microsoft is that the deployment of the ‘Big Brother’ aspects are very evolved, technologically. So I predict the usual strong ‘anti’ reaction, followed by a spell of calm, followed by mass adoption. Why? Because that’s what happens every time we see new technology – and this one has some consumer benefits wrapped up inside. The key to this, from a legal perspective, will be transparency – being clear about what data is being collected, how it’s being used, and – of course – the ability to say ‘no thanks’.”
View the Microsoft patent here
