Support NeoGAF

[ekim]

Haven't you read this thread?

Yeah they are different from their architecture but eventually have the same tasks. SRAM also needs no periodical refresh and is faster than DRAM.

 

[phosphor112]

except this time its connected to cpu and gpu, so is freely available to use as you wish

Why would they use it for the CPU? They'd have to use the DDR3 for rendering then, which is way too slow for the kinds of things next gen is going to push.

 

[Ninja Moomin]

To be fair, he discredits himself with posts asking to ban people that he doesn't agree with, wizard jizz jokes and cherry picking post he feels are in line with his preferences. Hardly a balanced person that looks at all the info.

Which would seem to be par for the course on Gaf?

Not sure what you're trying to say.

 

[CrunchinJelly]

Some of aegies post that got buried.

To be this good takes aegies.

 

[scently]

Why would they use it for the CPU? They'd have to use the DDR3 for rendering then, which is way too slow for the kinds of things next gen is going to push.

The rumor is that the cpu and the gpu will have access to data on the eSRAM, and as such it can act as a large cache for both the cpu and the gpu. Another distinction between the eSRAM and the ram setup in the 360 is that the gpu can render to both the eSRAM and the DDR3, this was not the case in the 360 as the rendering could only be done on the eDRAM, forcing you to tile or go with a lower res in order to fit your buffer in the 10mb. This is not the case with the durango.

As for the bandwidth, of course you can add both of them. The gpu will have simultaneous access to both pool of ram effectively giving it 170GB/s of total bandwidth. The only valid argument you can make is that one of the pool is smaller while the other is much larger. Reading the Wii U speculation thread, somebody compared the Wii U memory and bandwidth approach to the durango saying that it is a similar memory setup, to which llerre replied that durango has some hardware to mitigate the bandwidth situation. Obviously he is talking about the Data Move Engines. So what will be interesting is to get more info on how they actually work.

 

[Drek]

I think the "special sauce" thinking comes from this........For 2 generations MS has had the console that was the easiest to develop for and allowed developers to really get the most out of the system. For 2 generations Sony has had the most difficult console to program for and in the case of the PS3 this caused them to have slightly inferior ports in most cases.

Given the track record of MS, its hard for many to believe they would release a console that wouldnt once again give developers the easiest time of pushing the tech. On paper the Orbis looks to outclass the Durango but im not willing to just say the Durango is disappointing because i dont know what developers will be able to do with the tools and hardware provided from both companies. If the Orbis is difficult to program for and the ports are inferior none of the hardware advantages will matter.

And this entire bit of speculation falls apart completely once you consider that:

The PS2 was one of the first consumer grade multi-core architectures when most developers had zero experience with them outside of intro FORTRAN classes in undergrad, on hardware developed pre-dominantly in-house by Sony with a series of odd bottlenecks built into the memory allocation.

The PS3 was built on non-standard and relatively new to the market design built from PowerPC (itself less widely used than x86, and with Xenon being much closer to the standard PowerPC architecture) but with massive deviations, with one of the largest core arrays seen in a consumer product at the time, also featuring segmented memory, and working with an under powered RSX chip by Nvidia, forcing developers to dig into the Cell versus the traditional GPU side features they've all become accustomed to. Add that it forced Sony's LibGCM as the only native API while the 360 offers DirectX (obviously). Sony basically forced developers to not just jump through their API hoops but also forcing them to jump through a hardware design that requires off-loading a lot traditionally GPU side processes off to the CPU, and handling that through divided memory. So even once Sony improved the API it was still more convoluted to work with.

Orbis' appeal to many in these tech threads is that based on what we've seen so far Sony is sidestepping ALL of these flaws in design. They have a more conventional CPU and GPU setup relative to what the industry traditionally works on. They have a highly flexible APU that looks to be a nice utility knife problem solver for developers on either the CPU or GPU side, however a dev might design to allocate it's services. Most importantly, they look to be implementing a unified memory pool of high speed ram.

From a hardware standpoint Sony is weighting horsepower to the right side for video games (GPU heavy), removing bottlenecks between the silicon (unified, high speed ram), and giving a nice little helper for any project specific needs via the APU. Add the massive strides they've made on the tools side with the PS3 and Vita and you're looking at a highly efficient, developer friendly piece of hardware.

Beyond that, if the rumor of the PS4 having OpenGL as equal with LibGCM in layers removed from the metal, giving developers freedom to pick their API, and we could have the most developer friendly system anyone could possibly ask for with today's multi-core architectures.

So far betting on MS beating Sony based on a less convoluted/more efficient design is turning out to be wishful thinking. If MS is going to bridge the hardware gap that early rumors suggest they'll have to do it with as of yet unleaked hardware. The days of expecting Sony to step on their dick from a hardware standpoint appear to be over.

 

[LukasTaves]

Why would they use it for the CPU? They'd have to use the DDR3 for rendering then, which is way too slow for the kinds of things next gen is going to push.

A high speed / low latency memory where both could access without any copying overhead would be all kinds of awesome.

If you coordinate you could have cpu and gpu working on the same sets of data, using each at what they could do best.

For instance, Gpu is not very good at creating objects, cpu is not as great in massive float point throughput. You could have the cpu to allocate the objects, the gpu to run some pretty heavy physics on them, and cpu to read those results again influencing gameplay instead of just being a visual effect like it is now with physx... Currently on Pc you'd be crippled because the link between Cpu <-> gpu is not very fast.

 

[TheOddOne]

Going to dump this here.

A) One of them is the Black Tusk project (See location: MGS Vancouver).
B) Possible another could be internally developed title (Just an educated guess).
C) The rest are from external developers.
D) They are open to new pitches from external developers.
E) Sounds like the F2P model might be a thing going forth.

 

[KageMaru]

Going to dump this here.

A) One of them is the Black Tusk project (See location: MGS Vancouver).
B) Possible another could be internally developed title (Just an educated guess).
C) The rest are from external developers.
D) They are open to new pitches from external developers.
E) Sounds like the F2P model might be a thing going forth.

If this is the case, they need to change what's locked behind Love. Having online play locked behind a paywall dimishes the value of "Free" 2 play.

 

[deadlast]

If this is the case, they need to change what's locked behind Love. Having online play locked behind a paywall dimishes the value of "Free" 2 play.

What is locked behind Love?
J/k

Remember FF11 only required the free silver account to access it. I think we will see something like this going forward. But Customers will have to buy items (silly hats for your mounts) on the market place. That is how MS will make their money in the F2P market.

 

[AgentP]

Who cares what MS fans say? Listen to the devs.

Like bkilian?

And you've hit one of the reasons I left. Almost all of the core gamers that created the Xbox that were in management have been forced out or left, and what's left over is MBAs with dollar signs in their eyes. I just found I could no longer believe in and agree with the direction the execs were taking the Xbox org.

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1696487&postcount=1313

 

[TheOddOne]

If this is the case, they need to change what's locked behind Love. Having online play locked behind a paywall dimishes the value of "Free" 2 play.

Yup. It is either going to be A) "Free" download the game and pay for stuff to unlock faster or B) Buy the full game for 60 bucks and in-game you can buy stuff to unlock faster. If it is the former, then they really have to rethink it.

Like bkilian?

Right after that he posted:

Don't take my dissatisfaction with the management as a condemnation of the product. I don't think they will be pulling a Wii U. It's just that they're moving away from the model of "Core gamer first, casuals after". Also, both sides have a problem, their current designs are so ridiculously capable, and it's a non-starter to launch a box that can't do everything the previous box did. Remember what the launch 360 and PS3 could do? Pretty much play a game online. That's it. They've had 8 years of extra development and features that the companies have to either bring over or improve on for the new generation, and that's not easy.

 

[scently]

Like bkilian?



http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1696487&postcount=1313

Bkillian is not a developer and you know it. Btw you might as well post other comments he has made instead of choosing what meets your objective.

 

[gaming_noob]

Like bkilian?



http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1696487&postcount=1313

The same MBAs wrecking MS' other lines of businesses I see. Durango might prove to be a dud. I hate it when corps sell their products by marketing rather than by its own merits.

 

[jaosobno]

Bkillian is not a developer and you know it. Btw you might as well post other comments he has made instead of choosing what meets your objective.

Wasn't he an audio engineer for Durango?

 

[SaggyMonkey]

Maybe he just means putting more of their games on Steam, but a console that doubled as a Windows Steam box would be sweet. I don't think Valve would have been as vocal against Windows lately if that were he case though.

 

[AgentP]

Bkillian is not a developer and you know it. Btw you might as well post other comments he has made instead of choosing what meets your objective.

You guys sure circle the wagons quickly. Do you know of anyone else being candid about the inner working of MS? No one is saying anything public about Durango, they are under NDA on dev kits for an unannounced console.

 

[scently]

Wasn't he an audio engineer for Durango?

His job was audio related, so yeah might have been an audio engineer but he is not a game developer and while he may not like the direction they are heading doesn't mean he has a negative impression of durango, reading his other posts should tell you as much.

 

[scently]

You guys sure circle the wagons quickly. Do you know of anyone else being candid about the inner working of MS? No one is saying anything public about Durango, they are under NDA on dev kits for an unannounced console.

Right. Read the post TheOddOne just quoted. Remove agenda from your discussion, if you actually want to have one.

 

[artist]

Right after that he posted:

Interesting you chose NOT to highlight this;

"It's just that they're moving away from the model of "Core gamer first, casuals after".

That just sounds awful. I dont know who this guy is but if he's a proven insider then the things he has said for Microsoft's direction, it doesnt bode well. (Its not as bad as Wii U is back handed compliment)

 

[Flatline]

Yup. It is either going to be A) "Free" download the game and pay for stuff to unlock faster or B) Buy the full game for 60 bucks and in-game you can buy stuff to unlock faster. If it is the former, then they really have to rethink it.


Right after that he posted:

That's a pretty low standard...

 

[TheOddOne]

Interesting you chose NOT to highlight this;

"It's just that they're moving away from the model of "Core gamer first, casuals after".

That just sounds awful. I dont know who this guy is but if he's a proven insider then the things he has said for Microsoft's direction, it doesnt bode well. (Its not as bad as Wii U is back handed compliment)

The debate wasn't about software, it was about hardware.

 

[iamshadowlark]

Right. Read the post TheOddOne just quoted. Remove agenda from your discussion, if you actually want to have one.

I read it and this stuck out.

Don't take my dissatisfaction with the management as a condemnation of the product. I don't think they will be pulling a Wii U. It's just that they're moving away from the model of "Core gamer first, casuals after". Also, both sides have a problem, their current designs are so ridiculously capable, and it's a non-starter to launch a box that can't do everything the previous box did. Remember what the launch 360 and PS3 could do? Pretty much play a game online. That's it. They've had 8 years of extra development and features that the companies have to either bring over or improve on for the new generation, and that's not easy.

Its definitely not a concept im interested in investing in.

 

[artist]

The debate wasn't about software, it was about hardware.

One enables the other.

 

[Glorified G]

The debate wasn't about software, it was about hardware.

Hardware dictates the software. If they're putting an heavy emphasis on kinect early on it will show in the software.

 

[tinfoilhatman]

Weird that we have sooo little details(and so MUCH conflicting information) on Durango , whats up with that, has Microsoft actually figured out a way to lock down leaks??!?!?!?

 

[TheOddOne]

One enables the other.

Hardware dictates the software. If they're putting an heavy emphasis on kinect early on it will show in the software.

The point of the discussion was... hardware. Bkillian has been positive about what is in the next Xbox, he has said it multiple times before.

Either way his comment can be looked upon from multiple sides: a) full on kinect games, no core games, b) full on kinect games, sequel core games or c) kinect games, sequel core games or some new IP's. No way it will be a) and 50/50 chance it will be b) or c).

You can believe what you want to believe, but sounds like most of the overreactions come from people that already made up their mind.

 

[artist]

The point of the discussion was... hardware. Bkillian has been positive about what is in the next Xbox, he has said it multiple times before.

Please share, cause the evidence you presented is on the contrary.

 

[Can Crusher]

If what Bkillian writes is true, and the xbox division is being run by a bunch of retards in suits that think they are in the movie wall street, then to hell with MS.

 

[scently]

Wow, seriously his comment is rather easy to interpret. He is simply saying that the MS is going for both the core and the casual market, as well they should. MS managed to extend the life and sales of 360 precisely because of the casual so it would not make any business sense to transition only one of that market to the next gen while ignoring the other. The rest of that post actually describe how much time has past and how these boxes (both ps3 and 360) have evolved from their initial function as online game consoles to something much more, and how it is not an easy challenge to transition all that to the next generation. But that is what both companies must do.

 

[TheOddOne]

Please share, cause the evidence you presented is on the contrary.

I hate this witchhunt attitute some of you have, but I'll play along.

http://beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1693181&postcount=18183
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?p=1697577#post1697577
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?p=1694778#post1694778

Heck the same quote you are arguing about it spells it out.

 

[PopcornMegaphone]

If what Bkillian writes is true, and the xbox division is being run by a bunch of retards in suits that think they are in the movie wall street, then to hell with MS.

Dude grow up.

 

[Spongebob]

If what Bkillian writes is true, and the xbox division is being run by a bunch of retards in suits that think they are in the movie wall street, then to hell with MS.

More evidence that Durango will be closer to a DVR than a games console

 

[CrunchinJelly]

If what Bkillian writes is true, and the xbox division is being run by a bunch of retards in suits that think they are in the movie wall street, then to hell with MS.

Be honest: are you a joke character?

 

[KageMaru]

Why do I get the feeling that some posting in this thread have no interest in Durango in the first place?

Right. Read the post TheOddOne just quoted. Remove agenda from your discussion, if you actually want to have one.

You don't know AgentP if you think he ever posts without an agenda. Best to ignore the guy TBH.

I read it and this stuck out.

Its definitely not a concept im interested in investing in.

While I agree, and that post had me shaking my head at MS, he's also posted other things that speak positively about the system:

I love how people are referring to > 1TF as "weak". How fickle we are. When the 360 launched, a machine capable of over a teraflop would almost make it onto the top 100 supercomputer list (6 months earlier, it would have _been_ on the list).

Stop comparing these systems to high end PC GPUs that require 300 watts just to function. For one, they have different constraints and requirements. For another, it's not all about the GPU. Raw GPU flops does not tell the whole story. I guarantee you, Microsoft's next system will be able to do things your current computer does not have the resources to do, and I say that knowing some of you folks have monster PC setups. (Dunno about Sony, I know next to nothing about their system)

http://beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1693181&postcount=18183

So really, if we're going to hang on his words, we should do it to all of them, not cherry picking what to believe and what not to believe (not that I'm saying that's what you're doing here).

 

[artist]

I hate this witchhunt attitute some of you have, but I'll play along.

http://beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1693181&postcount=18183
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?p=1697577#post1697577
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?p=1694778#post1694778

Heck the same quote you are arguing about it spells it out.

There is no witchhunt attitude here, I told you .. I dont know the guy and havent been following his posts.

Only one of the three posts you linked, he sounded positive - (Closed system (console) more efficient than open systems (PC) and that too was way too obvious)

Now that I've read 5 posts of bkilian guy, his overall stance still doesnt sound too positive.

 

[scently]

More evidence that Durango will be closer to a DVR than a games console

Lol, Spongebob please never stop, and I don't mean that in a bad way. Your comments on both next gen threads has been hilariously awesome. hehe

 

[Uno Venova]

I read it and this stuck out.

Its definitely not a concept im interested in investing in.

So is this guy legit, because that doesn't sound good.

 

[Can Crusher]

Dude grow up.

That's a very deep thought you just had.

How about instead of making things personal, you say something of substance for once?

MS's corporate style of handling business is the reason why they are losing relevancy in the first place. Contaminating their one division that has been able to breakout from that is a recipe for disaster in the long run.

And please, don't reply if you are going to pass the image that this some how offends you. MS is nothing to you.

Be honest: are you a joke character?

Not being attached to these companies and being able to react negatively both ways makes me a joke character now. Sorry if I don't subscribe to "faith" in these companies, this ain't a religion.

 

[amstradcpc]

I hate this witchhunt attitute some of you have, but I'll play along.

http://beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1693181&postcount=18183
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?p=1697577#post1697577
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?p=1694778#post1694778

Heck the same quote you are arguing about it spells it out.

The first one´s last sentence poinst to...AVX2 fpus in the CPU, that no PC in the world has yet till Haswell ships...

 

[Tyrone_Biggums]

There is no witchhunt attitude here, I told you .. I dont know the guy and havent been following his posts.

Only one of the three posts you linked, he sounded positive - (Closed system (console) more efficient than open systems (PC) and that too was way too obvious)

Now that I've read 5 posts of bkilian guy, his overall stance still doesnt sound too positive.

Sounds like he's unable to speak definitively as the situation is fluid. Nothing there that speaks one way or the other as to the intentions of Microsoft's new console.

 

[dbztrk]

I wish MS and Sony would release the specs already so we can stop speculating and start discussing facts.

 

[PopcornMegaphone]

That's a very deep thought you just had.

How about instead of making things personal, you say something of substance for once?

MS's corporate style of handling business is the reason why they are losing relevancy in the first place. Contaminating their one division that has been able to breakout from that is a recipe for disaster in the long run.

And please, don't reply if you are going to pass the image that this some how offends you. MS is nothing to you.

You're right, MS as a company is nothing to me and they damn well better meet my needs if they want to continue to get my money.

All business strive to make money. You're whole wall street movie speech was just silly. It just shows an immature lack of perspective. No one is in this for charity. Also, the contaminating comments is just silly. That's been happening in gaming systems since the PS2 added a dvd player.

There's only one system I can think of in the past 5 years that's been created with the "core" in mind: Vita

How's that working out? To make these systems viable console makers need more than the GAF community.

 

[Reiko]

I wish MS and Sony would release the specs already so we can stop speculating and start discussing facts.

And 3 years in we'll be complaining about lazy devs.

 

[Clay Davis]

And 3 years in we'll be complaining about lazy devs.

hehe. the cycle will once again be complete.

"All this has happened before and will happen again."

 

[statham]

if MS can capture the casuals with kinect 2.0 and the core from the get-go, and Sony only focuses on the core, we could have another wii-like launch but with longevity with next-gen tech. best case scenario for MS.

 

[Can Crusher]

You're right, MS as a company is nothing to me and they damn well better meet my needs if they want to continue to get my money.

All business strive to make money. You're whole wall street movie speech was just silly. It just shows an immature lack of perspective. No one is in this for charity. Also, the contaminating comments is just silly. That's been happening in gaming systems since the PS2 added a dvd player.

There's only one system I can think of in the past 5 years that's been created with the "core" in mind: Vita

How's that working out? To make these systems viable console makers need more than the GAF community.

When I talk about contaminating I'm talking about culture. When I'm talking about wall street, I'm talking about the kind of people who are driving the business, which Bkillian pointed out as not being the same type of people as before.

It's not about not "expanding" your audience, is about culture.

 

[PopcornMegaphone]

if MS can capture the casuals with kinect 2.0 and the core from the get-go, and Sony only focuses on the core, we could have another wii-like launch but with longevity with next-gen tech. best case scenario for MS.

Like MS, you better believe Sony isn't going to only focus on the core. They've never did it with the PS3 so we shouldn't expect it with the PS4. Market success for next gen will be defined by games and devices and online services. They both know this.


edit -

When I talk about contaminating I'm talking about culture. When I'm talking about wall street, I'm talking about the kind of people who are driving the business, which Bkillian pointed out as not being the same type of people as before.

It's not about not "expanding" your audience, is about culture.

The only pure gaming company is Nintendo (okay that isn't completely true). Sony and MS are both going after the living room. Don't you see this? They've both made it very clear this gen. Are you going to bypass both the 720 and PS4? Did you hate the 360 and PS3?

 

[pottuvoi]

You sure about that? I'll use 4X MSAA in this example:

Backbuffer = resolution * (color depth + z-buffer + AA)

Backbuffer = 1920*1080 * (32 + 32 + 96)

Backbuffer = 2073600 * 160 = ~39.55 MB/frame

That is interesting way to calculate it, but it's also a wrong way.
Both color and Z-buffer need MSAA samples up until resolve, it is also a lot nicer to calculate directly in bytes.

Backbuffer = resolution *(color depth + z-buffer) * MSAA samples
4xMSAA
1920*1080*(4+4)*4=~66MB

2xMSAA
1920*1080*(4+4)*2=~33MB

4xMSAA with fp16 RGBA
1920*1080*(8+4)*4=~100MB


So..
32MB=268435456 bits
2xAA=265420800 bits (1920*1080*(32+32)*2)

So 1080p 2xMSAA should be possible with 368kB to spare.

 

[Rösti]

Another day, another patent. Ok, I saw this while doing my daily patent search at USPTO (and OHIM). While I'm not 100% sure this relates to Durango, the description doesn't sound like Xbox 360 or the contemporary Kinect. But I'll post it here first instead of making a new thread, and let people more tech-savvy than me come with a verdict. Most likely it's for the next generation Kinect but it also describes Durango (hopefully) a bit. It's quite lengthy and includes many images, but I thought it would be better with more than less.

United States Patent Application 20130027296
Kind Code A1
Klein; Christian ; et al. January 31, 2013

COMPOUND GESTURE-SPEECH COMMANDS

Abstract
A multimedia entertainment system combines both gestures and voice commands to provide an enhanced control scheme. A user's body position or motion may be recognized as a gesture, and may be used to provide context to recognize user generated sounds, such as speech input. Likewise, speech input may be recognized as a voice command, and may be used to provide context to recognize a body position or motion as a gesture. Weights may be assigned to the inputs to facilitate processing. When a gesture is recognized, a limited set of voice commands associated with the recognized gesture are loaded for use. Further, additional sets of voice commands may be structured in a hierarchical manner such that speaking a voice command from one set of voice commands leads to the system loading a next set of voice commands.

Inventors: Klein; Christian; (Duvall, WA) ; Vassigh; Ali M.; (Redmond, WA) ; Flaks; Jason S.; (Bellevue, WA) ; Larco; Vanessa; (Kirkland, WA) ; Soemo; Thomas M.; (Redmond, WA)
Assignee: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Redmond
WA

Serial No.: 646692
Series Code: 13
Filed: October 6, 2012

Claims

1. A method for controlling a computing system using a voice commands, comprising: accessing multiple depth images from a depth sensor system; recognizing a gesture from the multiple depth images; in response to recognizing a gesture, choosing a subset of a set of sound commands based on the recognized gesture, the set of sound commands includes multiple subsets, each subset is associated with one or more gestures and sound command recognition data for the respective subset; receiving sound input; recognizing a sound command from the chosen subset based on the sound input; and performing an action in response to the recognized sound command.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein: the depth images include a two-dimensional pixel area of a captured scene, each pixel in the two-dimensional pixel area represents a depth value of one or more objects in the scene captured by the depth sensor system; the method further comprises displaying the chosen subset of sound commands in response to the recognizing the gesture; the sound input is received after displaying the chosen subset of sound commands; and the recognizing includes attempting to match the sound input to sound commands in the chosen subset and not to sound commands in other subsets of the set of sound commands.

12. A computing system, comprising: a monitor for displaying multimedia content; a depth sensor for capturing depth images; a microphone for capturing sounds; and a processor in communication with the depth sensor, the microphone and the monitor; the processor communicates with the monitor to display an object, the processor receives multiple depth images from the depth sensor and recognizes a gesture from the multiple depth images, the processor chooses a subset of a set of sound commands based on and in response to the recognized gesture, the set of sound commands includes multiple subsets, the processor loads sound command recognition data for the chosen subset of sound commands in response to the recognized gesture, the processor receives sound input from the microphone and recognizes a sound command from the chosen subset based on the sound input and the loaded sound command recognition data without searching all of the set of sound commands, processor performs an action in response to the recognized sound command.

Detailed description:

[0064] FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of the controller 12 shown in FIG. 1 implemented as a multimedia console 100, such as a gaming console. The multimedia console 100 has a central processing unit (CPU) 101 having a level 1 cache 102, a level 2 cache 104, and a flash ROM (Read Only Memory) 106. The level 1 cache 102 and a level 2 cache 104 temporarily store data and hence reduce the number of memory access cycles, thereby improving processing speed and throughput. The CPU 101 may be provided having more than one core, and thus, additional level 1 and level 2 caches 102 and 104. The flash ROM 106 may store executable code that is loaded during an initial phase of a boot process when the multimedia console 100 is powered on.

[0065] A graphics processing unit (GPU) 108 and a video encoder/video codec (coder/decoder) 114 form a video processing pipeline for high speed and high resolution graphics processing. Data is carried from the graphics processing unit 108 to the video encoder/video codec 114 via a bus. The video processing pipeline outputs data to an A/V (audio/video) port 140 for transmission to a television or other display. A memory controller 110 is connected to the GPU 108 to facilitate processor access to various types of memory 112, such as, but not limited to, a RAM (Random Access Memory).

[0066] The multimedia console 100 includes an I/0 controller 120, a system management controller 122, an audio processing unit 123, a network interface controller 124, a first USB host controller 126, a second USB controller 128 and a front panel I/O subassembly 130 that are preferably implemented on a module 118. The USB controllers 126 and 128 serve as hosts for peripheral controllers 142(1)-142(2), a wireless adapter 148, and an external memory device 146 (e.g., flash memory, external CD/DVD ROM drive, removable media, etc.). The network interface 124 and/or wireless adapter 148 provide access to a network (e.g., the Internet, home network, etc.) and may be any of a wide variety of various wired or wireless adapter components including an Ethernet card, a modem, a Bluetooth module, a cable modem, and the like.

[0067] System memory 143 is provided to store application data that is loaded during the boot process. A media drive 144 is provided and may comprise a DVD/CD drive, Blu-Ray drive, hard disk drive, or other removable media drive, etc. The media drive 144 may be internal or external to the multimedia console 100. Application data may be accessed via the media drive 144 for execution, playback, etc. by the multimedia console 100. The media drive 144 is connected to the I/O controller 120 via a bus, such as a Serial ATA bus or other high speed connection (e.g., IEEE 1394).

[0068] The system management controller 122 provides a variety of service functions related to assuring availability of the multimedia console 100. The audio processing unit 123 and an audio codec 132 form a corresponding audio processing pipeline with high fidelity and stereo processing. Audio data is carried between the audio processing unit 123 and the audio codec 132 via a communication link. The audio processing pipeline outputs data to the A/V port 140 for reproduction by an external audio user or device having audio capabilities.

[0069] The front panel I/O subassembly 130 supports the functionality of the power button 150 and the eject button 152, as well as any LEDs (light emitting diodes) or other indicators exposed on the outer surface of the multimedia console 100. A system power supply module 136 provides power to the components of the multimedia console 100. A fan 138 cools the circuitry within the multimedia console 100.

[0070] The CPU 101, GPU 108, memory controller 110, and various other components within the multimedia console 100 are interconnected via one or more buses, including serial and parallel buses, a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, such architectures can include a Peripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus, PCI-Express bus, etc.

[0071] When the multimedia console 100 is powered on, application data may be loaded from the system memory 143 into memory 112 and/or caches 102, 104 and executed on the CPU 101. The application may present a graphical user interface that provides a consistent user experience when navigating to different media types available on the multimedia console 100. In operation, applications and/or other media contained within the media drive 144 may be launched or played from the media drive 144 to provide additional functionalities to the multimedia console 100.

[0072] The multimedia console 100 may be operated as a standalone system by simply connecting the system to a television or other display. In this standalone mode, the multimedia console 100 allows one or more users to interact with the system, watch movies, or listen to music. However, with the integration of broadband connectivity made available through the network interface 124 or the wireless adapter 148, the multimedia console 100 may further be operated as a participant in a larger network community.

[0073] When the multimedia console 100 is powered ON, a set amount of hardware resources are reserved for system use by the multimedia console operating system. These resources may include a reservation of memory (e.g., 16 MB), CPU and GPU cycles (e.g., 5%), networking bandwidth (e.g., 8 kbs), etc. Because these resources are reserved at system boot time, the reserved resources do not exist from the application's view.

[0074] In particular, the memory reservation preferably is large enough to contain the launch kernel, concurrent system applications and drivers. The CPU reservation is preferably constant such that if the reserved CPU usage is not used by the system applications, an idle thread will consume any unused cycles.

[0075] With regard to the GPU reservation, lightweight messages generated by the system applications (e.g., pop ups) are displayed by using a GPU interrupt to schedule code to render popup into an overlay. The amount of memory required for an overlay depends on the overlay area size and the overlay preferably scales with screen resolution. Where a full user interface is used by the concurrent system application, it is preferable to use a resolution independent of application resolution. A scaler may be used to set this resolution such that the need to change frequency and cause a TV resynch is eliminated.

[0076] After the multimedia console 100 boots and system resources are reserved, concurrent system applications execute to provide system functionalities. The system functionalities are encapsulated in a set of system applications that execute within the reserved system resources described above. The operating system kernel identifies threads that are system application threads versus gaming application threads. The system applications are preferably scheduled to run on the CPU 101 at predetermined times and intervals in order to provide a consistent system resource view to the application. The scheduling is to minimize cache disruption for the gaming application running on the console.

[0077] When a concurrent system application requires audio, audio processing is scheduled asynchronously to the gaming application due to time sensitivity. A multimedia console application manager (described below) controls the gaming application audio level (e.g., mute, attenuate) when system applications are active.

[0078] Input devices (e.g., controllers 142(1) and 142(2)) are shared by gaming applications and system applications. The input devices are not reserved resources, but are to be switched between system applications and the gaming application such that each will have a focus of the device. The application manager preferably controls the switching of input stream, without knowledge the gaming application's knowledge and a driver maintains state information regarding focus switches. For example, the cameras 26, 28 and capture device 20 may define additional input devices for the console 100 via USB controller 126 or other interface.

The bolded segments are what I find most interesting here. Especially the audio processing unit (which I assume is not that of Xbox 360's hardware accelerated audio decompression). 0073 is bolded just for reference since it's a rather obvious thing for most (all?) operating systems.

And lastly, the images, with description first. Note that many of these are just flowcharts of Kinect operations, but hardware is described here as well, note for example the appearance of the camera.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] FIG. 1 illustrates a user in an exemplary multimedia environment having a capture device for capturing and tracking user body positions and movements and receiving user sound commands.

[0010] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a capture device coupled to a computing device.

[0011] FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a skeleton being tracked.

[0012] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a computing system for processing data received from a capture device.

[0013] FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of a computing system for processing data received from a capture device.

[0014] FIG. 6 is a flow chart describing one embodiment of a process for user interaction with a computing system using voice commands.

[0015] FIG. 7A is a flow chart describing one embodiment of a process for user interaction with a computing system using hand gestures and voice commands.

[0016] FIG. 7B is a flow chart describing further steps in addition to those shown in FIG. 7A for user interaction with a computing system using hand gestures and voice commands.

[0017] FIGS. 7C-7D are flow charts describing additional details for recognizing hand gestures in the process shown in FIG. 7A.

[0018] FIG. 7E is a flow chart describing additional details for recognizing voice commands in the process shown in FIG. 7A.

[0019] FIG. 8A is a flow chart describing an alternative embodiment of a process for user interaction with a computing system using hand gestures and voice commands.

[0020] FIG. 8B is a flow chart describing one option for correlating a gesture with a voice command in accord with FIG. 8A.

[0021] FIG. 8C is a flow chart describing another option for correlating a gesture with a voice command in accord with FIG. 8A.

[0022] FIG. 8D is a flow chart describing another option for correlating a gesture with a voice command in accord with FIG. 8A.

[0023] FIG. 9A is a flow chart describing an alternative embodiment of a process for user interaction with a computing system using hand gestures and voice commands.

[0024] FIG. 9B is a flow chart describing an alternative embodiment of a process for user interaction with a computing system using hand gestures and voice commands.

[0025] FIG. 9C is a flow chart describing one embodiment of a process for user interaction with a computing system using a specific hand gesture and contextual voice commands.

[0026] FIG. 10A is an illustration of a first level user interface implementing the flow chart of FIG. 7A.

[0027] FIG. 10B is an illustration of a second level user interface implementing the flow chart of FIG. 7B.

[0028] FIG. 10C is an illustration of a third level user interface.

Source: http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph...N/Microsoft+AND+Xbox&RS=AN/Microsoft+AND+Xbox