Video game with control of movement and rate of movement of a plurality of game objects
First Claim
1. A method of operating a video game to control movement of a plurality of game objects on a video display where digital representations of the display positions of said plurality of game objects are stored in addressable locations in a memory and read from said memory locations for display in accordance with the beam location on the video display, comprising the steps ofproviding a player controller having means for selecting a plurality of game objects for movement,establishing a position register for each of said plurality of game objects where said position registers store the display position of said movable game objects,generating clock pulses,providing means for player selection of direction of movement of said game objects,periodically updating the position registers of said game objects as a function of said means for game object selection, said means for selection of direction and said clock pulses, andperiodically changing the position data of said game objects in said memory in accordance with the display position in said position registers.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A video game having a controller for player selection of movement of a plurality of game objects, and for controlling the rate of movement of the selected game objects.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method of operating a video game to control movement of a plurality of game objects on a video display where digital representations of the display positions of said plurality of game objects are stored in addressable locations in a memory and read from said memory locations for display in accordance with the beam location on the video display, comprising the steps of
providing a player controller having means for selecting a plurality of game objects for movement, establishing a position register for each of said plurality of game objects where said position registers store the display position of said movable game objects, generating clock pulses, providing means for player selection of direction of movement of said game objects, periodically updating the position registers of said game objects as a function of said means for game object selection, said means for selection of direction and said clock pulses, and periodically changing the position data of said game objects in said memory in accordance with the display position in said position registers.
-
6. A method of operating a video game to control movement of a plurality of game objects on a video display where digital representations of the display positions of said plurality of game objects are stored in addressable locations in a memory and read from said memory locations for display in accordance with the beam location on the video display, comprising the steps of
providing a plurality of player operated game object selection means for selecting any of a plurality of game objects for movement, providing player operated direction selection means for selecting a direction of movement for the selected objects, generating rate pulses having a repetition rate proportional to the desired velocity of the selected game objects, providing a plurality of game object position registers corresponding to the selectable game objects, said object position registers including digital representations of the coordinate positions on the video display where selected game objects are to be displayed. generating a train of clock pulses, periodically changing the digital representations of the positions of the selected game objects in said position registers as a function of said clock pulses and said direction selection means, or as a function of said rate pulses, and periodically changing the digital position data of said game objects in said memory in accordance with the digital representations of the selected game objects in said position registers.
-
9. A method of operating a video game to control movement of a plurality of game objects on a video display where digital representations of the display positions of said plurality of game objects are stored in addressable locations in a memory and read from said memory locations for display in accordance with the beam location on the video display, comprising the steps of
providing a plurality of game object selection means, providing a game object direction register for each selectable game object, providing direction of movement selection means, applying signals indicative of the game objects selected for movement by said object selection means and signals indicative of the direction of movement selected by said direction of movement selection means to said game object direction registers to establish the direction of movement of each selected game object, providing a source of clock pulses, providing a position register for each of said plurality of game objects, said position registers each containing a numerical representation of the position of one of said game objects for display, periodically updating the numerical position in each position register as a function of said clock pulses and the information in said object direction registers, and periodically changing the position data of said game objects in said memory in accordance with the numerical representation in said position registers.
-
14. In a video game which comprises a memory adapted to store at addressable locations numerical positional data of locations of a plurality of game objects on a video display which are movable under player control, and the game objects are read out for display in accordance with the beam location on the video display, a player operated directional control for selecting direction of movement of a game object, the improvement comprising,
player operated means for selecting one or more game objects for movement, a plurality of game object direction registers, said direction registers being responsive to said direction control and said means for selecting game objects to establish an indication of each game object selected for movement and the direction of movement thereof, a plurality of game object position registers each adapted to store a numerical indication of the positon of a game object, a source of clock pulses, and means responsive to the indications in said direction registers and said clock pulses for periodically updating the game object numerical indications of selected game objects in said position registers, said numerical indications of the display positions of said plurality of objects in said memory being periodically updated in accordance with the numerical indications in corresponding position registers to produce movement of said selected game objects on said display on successive display frames.
- 17. A method of operating a video game to control the velocity of movement of a game object on a video display where a digital representation of at least one game object is stored in addressable locations in an addressable memory and read out from memory locations for display in accordance with the beam location of the video display, comprising the steps of generating rate pulses having a repetition rate proportional to the desired velocity of the game object, generating clock pulses, counting one of said rate pulses and said clock pulses as a function of the other and establishing a numerical representation of said function, said numerical representation being indicative of a desired velocity of movement of an object to be displayed on said video display, and periodically changing the address of said object in said memory in accordance with said numerical representation.
Specification