I believe it is that new "Delve" format that used at the last GenCon.
There they just set up a battlemat with correct mini placement, etc. and then used a digital camera to take a top-down view of it all with info boxes around it to give the DM info.
That was the crude form. In recent products the system got cleaned up and more professional. You can read about it in the R&D column over at the WotC site here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20060317a