Moshe Lichtman, Microsoft corporate vice president and head of Israel R&D, has confirmed that the company has acquired “the intellectual property" of motion sensing camera technology firm 3DV Systems.
Speaking at the centre’s annual press conference, Lichtman said that dozens of new employees were recruited after the purchase, reports Globes.
In February Microsoft was linked to a buyout of 3DV. A month later 3DV’s holding company Elron Electronics announced that it had “entered into a definitive agreement for the sale of substantially all of its assets” to an unnamed third party.
3DV has been designing its camera technologies for some time; its ZCams are said to be a far more accurate version of Sony’s EyeToy, due to the fact that the devices can interpret how far away a subject is from its lens.
Lichtman wouldn’t comment on suggestions that Microsoft’s Project Natal was developed based on 3DV’s technology, other than to say "when there's something to tell, we'll do so."