Microsoft to Improve Kinect Resolution

Eurogamer: Microsoft is working to improve the accuracy of Xbox Kinect so that it could detect finger movement and hand rotation. Kinect depth sensor is currently running at 320x240 resolution and 30fps speed, while its hardware could support 640x480 resolution. The issue relates to the USB controller interface, Eurogamer said. It is capable of around 35MB/s, but it only uses around 15/16MB/s. This artificial limit is in place because multiple USB devices can be used at once on Xbox 360.

Now Microsoft is working on a technology to allow greater throughput in this regard. At a 640x480 depth sensor resolution Kinect could begin to detect fingers and hand rotation – an effective quadrupling of its accuracy.