Video game system with auxiliary display

• US 5,762,553 A
• Filed: 02/16/1996
• Issued: 06/09/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sega Enterprises LTD. (SEGA Sammy Holdings Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sega Enterprises LTD. (SEGA Sammy Holdings Inc.)
• Inventors: Yoshimoto, Masao, Takasugi, Tomoya, Yamada, Masayoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): MANUEL, GEORGE C
• Application Number:
  US08/602,443
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 463/13, 463/22, 463/30, 463/31, 463/32, 463/33, 463/34, 463/46
• US Class Current: 463/34
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/26 having at least one additional display device, e.g. on the game controller or outside a game booth
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/42 by mapping the input signals into game commands, e.g. mapping the displacement of a stylus on a touch screen to the steering angle of a virtual vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/798 for assessing skills or for ranking players, e.g. for generating a hall of fame computing the game score A63F13/46
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/301 using an additional display connected to the game console, e.g. on the controller

Abstract

A video game cabinet has an identical configuration on opposite sides. That is, each side has a video monitor display for displaying the contents of a game and an operation panel for entering player instructions for operating the game. Each side also has a speaker for generating effect sounds for the game play as well as a coin slot. Each side has a second display for showing a winner indication that is displayed when the player has continuously won the game, a third display for displaying the current number of wins, and a fourth display for maintaining/updating and displaying the maximum number of wins over a specified time period. A removable game processing circuit can execute the game play and drive the first display. A display control circuit can independently drive the second, third, and fourth display.

Claims

1. A video game system allowing one player to play an interactive game alone or a plurality of players to play a game in competition with each other, said video game system comprising:

a video game housing;

first display means mounted in the video game housing for displaying the contents of said game play; and

an auxiliary display member mounted on a top of the video game housing including second display means for displaying a win-loss result of said game play, and third display means for displaying the current number of wins in said game play wherein said second display means and said third display means are separately provided to the player on the top of the video game housing from the first display means in the video game housing.

2. A video game system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said third display means displays said current number of wins in as many opponent characters as said current number of wins.

3. A video game system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said third display means maintains the number of wins before the current game when said player, who has continuously won, plays a noncompetition-type game against a computer-based game play.

4. A video game system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said third display means resets said current number of wins when said player, who has continuously won, loses in a noncompetition-type game.

5. A video game system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a fourth display means for updating, maintaining, and displaying a maximum number of wins over a specified time period.

6. A video game system as claimed in claim 5, including a cabinet, wherein both sides of the cabinet include first display means, an operation panel for giving instructions to a game, and a fourth display means.

7. A video game system as claimed in claim 1, including a cabinet, wherein both sides of the cabinet include first display means, an operation panel for giving instructions to a game, and said third display means.

8. A video game system as claimed in claim 1, including a cabinet, wherein both sides of the cabinet include first display means, an operation panel for giving instructions to a game, and said second display means.

9. A video game system having a game processing circuit for executing a game allowing a plurality of players to play the game and compete with each other, said video game system comprising:

a video game housing;

a first display in the video game housing for displaying the contents of said game play resulting from said game processing circuit;

a second display on the video game housing for displaying a win-loss result of said game play; and

a display control circuit for controlling the operation of said second display, wherein said display control circuit and said game processing circuit are physically separated so that said game processing circuit can be replaced independently of said display control circuit.

10. A video game system as claimed in claim 9, further comprising a third display, for displaying the current number of wins in said game play, connected to said display control circuit.

11. A video game system as claimed in claim 10, further comprising a fourth display, for updating/maintaining a maximum number of wins over a specified time period and for displaying it, connected to said display control circuit.

12. A video game system as claimed in claim 11, wherein said fourth display has at least one LED display or dot matrix display controlled by a driver connected to said display control circuit.

13. A video game system as claimed in claim 10, wherein said third display has at least one LED display or dot matrix display controlled by a driver connected to said display control circuit.

14. A video game system for permitting a player to play a video game comprising:

a ROM video game program;

control means for player input;

a game processing circuit for executing the video game program in accordance with a player input from the control means and providing an output signal representative of whether a player wins a video game;

a first display member for providing images associated with the play of the video game by the player;

a display control circuit for receiving the output signal;

a second display member independent of the first display member for indicating a win by a player, whereby the display control circuit drives the second display to visually display a win; and

a third display member is driven by the display control circuit to simultaneously display a current number of wins by a player in a predetermined sequence of play.

15. A video game system as claimed in claim 14, wherein a fourth display member is driven by the display control circuit to simultaneously display a maximum win number achieved over a predetermined time period on the video game system.

16. A video game system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the game processing circuit output signal is input into the display control circuit by a photo-coupler apparatus.

17. A video game system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the first display member and control means are mounted in a housing member and the display control circuit and second, third, and fourth display members are separately supported on top of the housing member.

18. A video game system that permits an interactive game play on a first display means for displaying the contents of said game play with the results of the game play being displayed on a plurality of displays independent of the first display means comprising:

a video game housing mounting the first display means in the housing;

a first operation panel mounted on the video game housing for providing input signals from a player;

a game processing computer circuit which generates an interactive game in response to a stored game program and input signals from the operation panel including an output game result signal indicating a win and a loss of the interactive game;

a video circuit in the video game housing for driving the first display means to display a playing of said game play;

at least a second display and a third display mounted on top of the video game housing;

a display control computer circuit for controlling the second and third displays by processing the game result signal with a display routine so that one of the second and third displays indicates a current win status for a player and the other of the second and third displays indicates a total number of consecutive wins for the player; and

connection means for connecting the game processing computer circuit with the display control computer circuit whereby the video game system can accommodate a change in video games to be played in the video game system by a replacement of stored game programs.

19. The video game system of claim 18 wherein the connection means includes a photo coupler link between the game processing computer circuit and the display control computer circuit.

20. The video game system of claim 18 further including a fourth display and the display routine can further process a display of the maximum number of wins over a predetermined time period to be displayed on the fourth display.

21. The video game system of claim 18 wherein the video game housing mounts a first display means on one vertical side of the housing and a second display means and a second operation panel on an opposite vertical side of the video game housing to permit two players to compete with the second and third displays disclosing the results of the competition of the interactive game play.