Did You Know...
...that the video game, Pong, was invented by a guy who graduated at the bottom of his engineering class? Nolan Bushnell spent more time running the games at a local amusement park than he did on his studies at the University of Utah. His dreams of working for Disney's amusement empire were dashed when the company wouldn't hire him. Taking a boring job, Nolan daydreamed about electronic versions of popular games. He invented Pong, the first video game, and went on to found Atari Co.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 4791564 | Random access memory file apparatus for personal computer with external memory file A memory file system suitable for a computer such as a personal computer comprises a central processing unit (CPU) for controlling the operation of the computer, an external memory such as a sequential access type floppy disc for storing data, a printer f... | 12/13/1988 |
| 4769648 | Dot-printing device with independently operated data-processing units A dot printer comprises a printing head, a memory, a first MPU for storing the dot-image data, corresponding to the input printing data, in the memory, and a second MPU for reading out the dot-image data from the memory, and supplying this data to the pri... | 09/06/1988 |
| 4760406 | Laser printer interface circuit A printer interface circuit is provided in a host system so as to allow a printer having its own clock signal for its printing operation to be directly connected to the host system. In the present invention, data to be printed is first stored in a data la... | 07/26/1988 |
| 4722064 | Drawing output unit Raster information can efficiently be supplied to a high speed printer, whereby system efficiency of a CAD system is elevated through the provision of a drawing output unit wherein a prescribed amount of element information consisting of one or two or mor... | 01/26/1988 |
| 4694405 | Laser printer controller data alignment device The laser printer controller for accepting a page of data to be printed in ASCII character format converts the data into a dot-by-dot character pattern for packing in a vertically scrolling partial page bit map. The alignment device within the laser print... | 09/15/1987 |
| 4692879 | Method of and apparatus for forming the address signals of a screen memory of a half tone dot generator Halftone dots are formed pixel by pixel onto a photosensitive film of a size P×P in an improved manner by using a screen memory storing thresholds, each of which corresponds to each of m×n sub-cells of a halftone dot area of the size S×S. In accordance... | 09/08/1987 |
| 4653945 | Rotary wheel printing apparatus with controllable hammer striking force There is provided a printing apparatus which drives a printing wheel in response to a rotation angle data corresponding to an input character code and drives a printing hammer with an impact force corresponding to this input character code. A data process... | 03/31/1987 |
| 4646259 | Strip map memory controller A control apparatus for transferring characters from a font memory to a printer including a microprocessor which controls input and output of characters to and from a strip memory, tracks the status of input/output operations to insure overwriting of the ... | 02/24/1987 |
| 4644477 | Printing apparatus A printing apparatus having a first memory which stores as one unit 8-bit data comprising first data of 6 bits and second data of 2 bits, the first data comprising position data which correspond respectively to printing types formed on the circumference o... | 02/17/1987 |
| 4639741 | Block-divided driving of a thermal printhead A thermal printhead driving system of the present invention is to be applied to the case in which a print line is divided into two or more blocks and the print line is driven block by block from one end to the other in sequence. In accordance with the pre... | 01/27/1987 |
| 4630198 | Intelligent stand-alone printfile buffer with paging control An intelligent, stand alone print buffer having switch-selectable series and parallel input and output ports. Data transfers between the input and output ports occur under microprocessor control. Control panel switches initiate control functions such as c... | 12/16/1986 |
| 4597018 | Imagewise information processing method and apparatus This specification discloses an imagewise information processing method and apparatus in which imagewise information is stored in a memory, the imagewise information is read out and reproduction-processed and after the reproduction processing is all compl... | 06/24/1986 |
| 4587629 | Random address memory with fast clear A technique and apparatus for augmenting a random access memory with a fast clear or reset mechanism are described. A dynamic RAM having a fast clear mechanism in accordance with the present invention includes means for coupling a digital signal onto all ... | 05/06/1986 |
| 4511928 | System and method for high quality image reproduction with grayscale image print while store capability A system and method for reproducing images on a printer in printed form employs a primary microprocessor and a printer control microprocessor to achieve a "print while store" capability. Digital data corresponding to the images to be reproduced are receiv... | 04/16/1985 |
| 4495597 | Microprocessor-controlled adapter circuit for real-time controls, in particular for print hammer controls Microprocessor-controlled adapter circuit for real-time controls, in particular for print hammer controls in line printers with revolving type carrier with two asynchronously driven FIFO buffers (FIRST IN, FIRST OUT). The first FIFO buffer contains time v... | 01/22/1985 |
| 4476542 | Printing system In a digital printer, method and apparatus for formatting printer control signals. According to the invention, characters to be printed are stored in ASCII format in the memory of a microprocessor system. Successive characters are formatted into an on/off... | 10/09/1984 |
| 4467448 | Image rotate control circuitry Image rotate control circuitry buffers one column of display or video data which is subsequently printed along a horizontal print line. A video dot counter cycles each horizontal scan line while a print line counter cycles each vertical scan. Video data i... | 08/21/1984 |
| 4441164 | Electronic teleprinting apparatus including a removable programmed EPROM A data processing apparatus is provided with a keyboard and a programmable read-only memory, for example of EPROM type, for durably preserving data which define the manner of operation of the apparatus. A programming circuit connected to the apparatus all... | 04/03/1984 |
| 4438507 | Input signal control device An input signal control device for a printer in which a strobe pulse of one category and its associated input data are stored in a storage location identified by the same address; the succeeding strobe pulses and their associated data are sequentially sto... | 03/20/1984 |
| 4312045 | Recording control arrangement for a dot recording machine A recording control arrangement for a dot recording machine, having a recing medium and a recording member for recording dots on the medium which is movable relative to the recording member. The control arrangement includes at least one storage member ha... | 01/19/1982 |
| 4308585 | Electronic memory unit In an electronic memory unit for processing a pair of transient electrical signals prior to recording by an XY plotter, a random access memory receives digitized samples of the signals at a dynamically variable rate which is determined by the rate of chan... | 12/29/1981 |
| 4231069 | Method and apparatus for producing image combinations Apparatus and method for producing image combinations in which the image to be copied are digitally stored and a mask is produced for manually superimposing the images with each other with one of the images and the mask being scanned and wherein the coord... | 10/28/1980 |
| 4179732 | Microprogrammable processor control printer system A self-diagnostic printer system divides tasks of the printer system into separate modules using a plurality of buses on a mother board. A central processing unit module performs the required operations in the system. An interface module interfaces the ce... | 12/18/1979 |
| 4163285 | Control circuit for metal paper printer head Control circuit for a print head of a metal paper printer in which electrodes are arranged on a slope, said electrodes being staggered in horizontal projection by the D-fold of their electrode width. The martrix-like structurized character to be printed c... | 07/31/1979 |
| 4122520 | Microcomputer controller and direct memory access apparatus therefor A microcomputer controller for a printer, and apparatus for facilitating direct memory access to the microcomputer, includes a central processing unit (CPU) with a known set-up time at the beginning of each machine cycle. A memory, associated with the CPU... | 10/24/1978 |
| 4087853 | Storage reconfiguration apparatus An information transmission-controlling apparatus which comprises a memory for storing a series of words each formed of a plurality of binary coded characters; an information input device for supplying the memory device with a numeral-type word or a lette... | 05/02/1978 |
| 4064557 | System for merging data flow A system for merging data flow having a typewriter electronically connected to a buffer, which is a dynamic electronic shift register, for inputting data into sections of the buffer and for merging the data in the sections into a single printout. System c... | 12/20/1977 |
| 4064561 | CRT key station which is responsive to centralized control Hardware duplication at each of a plurality of CRT key stations is minimized and centralized control is maintained by performing many traditional CRT key station operations under software control by a central processing unit. Simplified CRT key stations i... | 12/20/1977 |
| 4048625 | Buffered print control system using FIFO memory Print control apparatus which combines a first in - first out memory for storing received data with a random access memory for feeding data to a movable type printer to eliminate the need for suspension of receiving input characters or the adding of fill ... | 09/13/1977 |
| 4047158 | Peripheral processing system A medium capacity peripheral processing system provides sophisticated interactive human communication without the extremely large, expensive memory systems that are normally associated with a main frame computer. The system includes a data bus interconnec... | 09/06/1977 |
| 4017837 | Data entry system A data recording system by means of which data can be typed on a form and subsequently automatically punched into the same or a different form. A typewriter is coupled to a memory so that as data is typed onto the form the data is captured in the memory. ... | 04/12/1977 |
| 4016549 | Scanning and selection methods and apparatus therefor Scanning and selection methods and apparatus as well as an electrophotographic printing system employing such scanning and selection apparatus are provided in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. In an exemplary embodiment of the invent... | 04/05/1977 |
| 4013876 | Document scanning and printing system and method A system in which a video camera scans one or more documents and generates analog electrical signals representative of the information on the documents. The signals may be converted to digital signals and stored in a suitable memory from which they may be... | 03/22/1977 |
| 4009332 | Memory management system for an ink jet copier An ink jet copier is provided with a document scanner which scans a document to be copied one line at a time producing non-coded binary data. The binary data is inserted in storage in a predetermined arrangement. Stored data is removed from selected prede... | 02/22/1977 |
| 3958224 | System for unattended printing An unattended printing system in which the operator keys in a page line count defining the number of lines to be printed on a page from codes derived from a shift register memory which is automatically loaded from a pack feed magnetic read/recorder. Logic... | 05/18/1976 |
| 3949367 | Drum printer control Control of a drum printer by signals from an LSI/MOS calculator chip. Drum generated signals and control signals generated on a second LSI/MOS chip operating in synchronism with the calculator chip selectively provide for actuation of a line of print hamm... | 04/06/1976 |
| 3936802 | Control device for recording elements A control device for n recording elements for data which are part of a given plurality of data which can be recorded by each of said elements. This device is made up of n identical control circuits connected respectively to the recording elements, each of said... | 02/03/1976 |
