International Business Machines Corporation

James T Tsevdos

Susan E Waefler

Glen E Hamblin

Ross L Cook

John Dorak

Kenneth Louis Milsted

Charles Edward Kuhlmann

Kha D Nguyen

George Gregory Gruse

Craig N Kindell

Shahram Salamian

Minhtam C Nguyen

Carl Henry Grant

Jace W Krull

Paripon Singkornrat

Eugene M Thomas

Robert S Barnhill

Nancy Lee Ring

Carlos Portela

Brent C Anderson

Donald J Watzel

Don E Basnett, Jr

A game programming system uses rewritable cartridges that are compatible with commercially available game systems to produce game cartridges at a point-of-sale location so that retailers only need to stock sufficient uniquely designed game blanks to meet consumer demand. A game programmer or programming device loads digital content from computer storage to a rewritable game cartridge incorporating reprogrammable flash memory. The system includes flash rewritable cartridge identification hardware that allows verification of the cartridge to identify it as proprietary to a particular manufacturer or authorized dealer. The system provides for game content to be erased from the cartridge and new game content to be programmed so that the cartridge can be reused time after time to house any number of programs. During a cartridge write operation, a game programmer interface accepts data stored in a personal computer (PC) and fills first in first out (FIFO) memory. A sequencer generates addresses, proper commands, control signals, and timing signals, and sends the game content from the FIFO memory to the game programmer which passes the information to the reprogrammable game cartridge. The sequencer enables the game programming system to write data to the reprogrammable game cartridge very rapidly. The game programmer provides an interface between the game program storage and reprogrammable game cartridge. The programmer may include multiple slots or sockets and accommodate cartridges from different manufacturers with different game formats.

Game programming flash memory cartridge system including a programmer

A game manufacturing process includes the steps of a customer's game selection being used to initiate the manufacturing process by scanning a bar code from an empty cartridge box to a selection slip. An appropriate cartridge is identified and erased. The manufacturing system then writes the game cartridge with the content data from a game storage computer and sends information to a printer for producing identification and instructional inserts for the game. The game computer has stored therein the game contents for all of the games. After a game-to-be-'burned' indicia is provided to the game storage computer, and a cartridge is installed, the sequence of loading the game and additional identifying information into a flash RAM contained in the cartridge is commenced. The manufacturing system functions so that if timely connections are not made between the game storage computer and a host computer, the game burner application time counter will not be reset by regularly transmitted and expected transactional data, and the system will only operate for a limited period of time and will then cease to function. The operator can request from the host computer a grace period to resume normal operation of the game burning application. This provides some minimum time between connections, but does not permit the game burner application to run without first transmitting sufficient support data to and from the host computer.

Cartridge manufacturing system for game programs

A digital data on-demand turnkey system at a customer premise wherein N number of sewers provide for 100% of content distribution of remotely stored digitized information, which information may be previewed in real-time, and product incorporating selected digitized information can be manufactured on-site and within a short response time to a customer's request at a point of sale location. In a retail environment customers, at a point-of-sale location are able to exhaustively search and preview the content database using graphics-based touch screens at consumer kiosks. Previews including audio and video segments are made available. Prompting screens allow customers to make purchasing decisions by stipulating content which is available from any number of categories of subject matter including music. The selected media for the manufacture and production of the digital data may be from a myriad of different selections and can include CD's, cassette tapes, CD ROM technology, reel-to-reel tapes, and video disks, as an example. A master server will be situated geographically so as to be accessible to chain and network subservers. Its geographic and networked location is dependent upon communication network systems and subsystem costs and availability in order to best serve a customer's premise, whether it be a retail store or similar point-of-sale or other end-user location. Security mechanisms that require centralized database authorizations prior to the transmission of content and/or the manufacture of any of the products is provided in addition.

Digital information accessing, delivery and production system

A computer system is provided in which asynchronously operating processing elements in the system are connected by means of an interconnection media so as to permit communication between an executing program on one of the processing elements with the memory on another processing element. Inter-processing communication logic located on each of the processing elements permits communication between executing programs on any one processing element. Inter-delivery support hardware is provided for interfacing between the interconnection media and the inter-processing communication logic. The inter-delivery support hardware operates asynchronously with respect to the executing programs on the processing elements for (i) enqueuing control elements obtained by a function on a first processing element from physical memory on the first processing element; (ii) temporarily storing the enqueued control elements in a first memory device associated with the first processing element; (iii) copying over the interconnection media via a copy transaction the temporarily stored control elements from the first memory device to a second memory device associated with a second processing element; and (iv) dequeuing the copied control elements from the second memory device to physical memory on the second processing element.

Method and apparatus for distributing control messages between

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Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States of America

James T Tsevdos