Microsoft has acquired video discovery technology company VideoSurf, a move to enhance and evolve search across its entertainment platform. Financial details were not disclosed.

VideoSurf's back-end computer vision technology "sees" frames inside digital video, basing search on visual identification instead of text. The firm has indexed more than 50 billion visual moments, enabling consumers to more efficiently identify the specific scenes, people or moments they wish to see. Beyond its web discovery services, VideoSurf offers free mobile applications optimized for Apple's iOS and Google's Android, giving smartphone users the tools to discover, search and identify TV episodes, movies, music videos and video clips via visual search or text query.

Microsoft will leverage VideoSurf solutions to augment its Xbox 360 online gaming ecosystem and evolve search and discovery of entertainment content on Xbox Live. In the coming weeks, Microsoft will launch voice search across its Xbox Live entertainment partners, a roster poised to include TV and entertainment providers including Bravo, Comcast, HBO Go, Verizon (NYSE:VZ) FiOS and Syfy.

Microsoft's Windows Phone smartphone platform integrates closely with Xbox Live services. This summer, Microsoft revamped its Windows Phone Games Hub to improve and streamline the overall user experience, introducing a cleaner, lighter design emphasizing the user's game catalog and Xbox Live info.