Atari Corporation

David M Shepperd

Stephen D Bristow

Lyle V Rains

A simulated perspective view of a landscape is provided on a video display screen used, for example in a video game where a player by means of manual control seeks out various moving targets on the landscape. Specifically, the perspective is achieved by converging the landscape toward the top of the display screen. This is done from a vertical standpoint by distorting in a concave manner the vertical drive voltage. From a horizontal line standpoint a change of horizontal line length is accomplished by a voltage controlled oscillator which has an output frequency which controls readout of video display data. In addition, each line of the specific image is formed by segments and defined by binary bytes to specify either color or level of gray in one portion and the length of the segment in the other.

Apparatus for simulating a perspective view of a video image and for

A video image generator for producing a background image giving the visual appearance of an ocean on a raster type video screen. The image generating circuitry includes means for producing background patterns in successive scan frames of the raster to provide a visual appearance of forward movement. Apparent lateral movement is also provided by shifting the image horizontally. Such visual movement is provided in response to motion control signals associated with video games or the like.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

David M Shepperd