Microsoft Kinect has opened a the way to a new gaming experience. I want to talk a little bit about the technology itself since it is in the same field as my PHD.

Let's start by describing the system. The system is composed of an RGB video camera with 640x480 pixels resolution @ 30 Hz and an infra red emitter with an infrared receiver with 640x480 pixels resolution @ 30 Hz.
The infra red emits a textured light in the infrared frequency (random set of small light spots projected by the Kinect sensor). This light is then reflected by objects and "seen" by the infrared camera. The depth is then determined using the concentration of these sports in the viewed image. The technology is called Light Coding.