Jim Spare, executive president of Canesta, which has been acquired by software group Microsoft, said: "There is little question that within the next decade, we will see natural user interfaces become common for input across all devices.

Microsoft has acquired Canesta, a maker of three-dimension image recognition systems, after using the technology for its Kinect controller for the Xbox games console.

Jim Spare, executive president of Canesta, said: "There is little question that within the next decade, we will see natural user interfaces become common for input across all devices.

"With Microsoft’s breadth of scope from enterprise to consumer products, market presence, and commitment to NUI (natural user interfaces), we are confident that our technology will…