Atari Corporation

Other

David R Stubben

Lyle V Rains

D'Miles Salmon

Dennis J Koble

A workout system for monitoring fitness and generating a workout summary is disclosed. The system includes a workout module that integrates with weight lifting equipment. The workout module includes one or more motion detectors that detect repetitions and/or tempo of weights lifted or displaced and a computer that logs and stores the repetitions and/or the tempo that weights are lifted or are displaced. The workout module also preferably includes a resistance, a radio frequency, an optical or a magnetic weight sensor or reader that automatically reads and determines values of weights used in the workout. The workout module also preferably includes a radio transmitter to transmit workout data and workout parameters to a remote computing device.

System for monitoring fitness performance

A video game includes apparatus for scrolling playfield objects appearing on the display unit of the game. The apparatus selectively offsets the address used to access an addressable random access memory containing data indicative of the TV picture displayed. The random access data, when accessed, is used to address a video data memory which provides the building block components of the video display. Further scrolling effect is obtained by selectively delaying the video data communicated to the video display unit.

Apparatus for scrolling a video display

A number of moving objects and stationary playfield objects are generated on a video display screen by sharing memory and circuitry on both a physical and time-share basis. Video graphics data for playfield and motion objects is stored in a read-only memory (ROM). An object attribute memory, which may be updated at any time, is scanned during each horizontal retrace interval to provide information used to selectively read moving object video data from the ROM and assemble and store a complete horizontal line of moving object video graphics data in a separate staging memory. During active scan time of the horizontal video display line, the assembled line of moving object video data is accessed from the staging memory and communicated to the display screen via appropriate video circuitry to produce the video of the moving objects. At the same time, the object attribute memory is accessed for playfield object information which, in turn, is used to address the video graphics ROM to produce the actual video image of playfield objects. The video image of playfield objects so obtained is also communicated to the display screen through the video circuits.

Method and system for generating moving objects on a video display screen

A periscope in a submarine type video game is simulated where there is a correspondence between the actual motion of the rotation of the periscope produced by the player and the perceived motion on the video screen which is observed by the player. Various ships cross the screen which are targets of the game. The apparatus generates several ships at one time throughout a panoramic view and the player by rotation may bring any one of these ships into his actual more narrow field of view.

Apparatus for continuous rotation simulation of video images

In a video game where several objects are moved across the screen in a horizontal axis in 16 different zones, a RAM type memory has memory locations exclusively dedicated to each zone to provide a starting address for the object in its zone. A single time shared horizontal counter responds to the various starting addresses to successively cause video signals to be generated which provides images of such objects.

Apparatus for generating a plurality of moving objects on a video

A method of operating a video game where a full screen memory map is utilized in conjunction with a microprocessor unit which operates on a clock cycle basis where during one portion of a clock cycle video data is latched into a shift register and during the other part of the clock cycle other necessary game functions are performed by the MPU, and during the entire clock cycle video data is shifted at the horizontal scan rate from the shift register to the display screen.

Method of operating a video game

A voltage controlled oscillator having a substantially linear output over a wide range is used in video games to address picture memory means to thereby determine the size of the objects displayed on a raster type video screen. The oscillator produces an output signal having a frequency determined by an analog input voltage which is proportional to the desired size of the objects. The oscillator includes a variable current source controlled by the analog input voltage which stores charge in a capacitor. A pair of AND gates sink charge from the capacitor as determined by threshold means which senses the stored voltage. The periodic change in the output of the threshold means constitutes the output signal.

Voltage controlled oscillator

In a video game where an object, such as a ship, moves across the screen and where wraparound exists when the object is displayed near the edge of the screen, binary logic architecture provides for use of only a single bit of data to determine which portion of the object is to be displayed. This allows a standard bit capacity random access memory and horizontal address counter to be utilized in the circuit.

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

David R Stubben