Impulse Technology, an Ohio-based company, sued Microsoft Corp in Delaware yesterday, alleging that the Xbox Kinect game console infringed on seven of Impulse’s patents for technology that tracks users’ movements and lets them play video games without a controller. The patents in suit are U.S. Patent Nos. 6,308,565; 6,430,997; 6,765,726; 6,876,496; 7,359,121; and 7,791,808 describing a “System and method for tracking and assessing movement skills in multidimensional space,” and U.S. Patent No. 6,749,432 covering an “Education system challenging a subject’s physiologic and kinesthetic systems to synergistically enhance cognitive function."

The complaint alleges that Impulse informed Microsoft of their patents before the suit, and told them that these patents covered 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.” The suit claims that Microsoft is willfully infringing these patents, and alleges direct, inducing, and contributory infringement.

Source: Patent Arcade