Abstract: An electronic amusement device and method is disclosed for rewarding a player of a game based on the activity of other players. The method includes the step of determining the initiation of a player gaming session in which at least one play has been concluded. Such a play might include the conclusion of the spin of the reels of a slot machine, or the completion of a hand of video poker. The method also includes the step of determining a set of subsequent gaming sessions in which each of these sessions is initiated after the initiation of the player gaming session. Payouts are determined for each of these subsequent gaming sessions and a bonus is determined based on at least one of these payouts, the bonus being applied to the player gaming session. The disclosed slot machine implements the method of the present invention.

Abstract: A video game complete with player wagering includes a processor and a display controlled by the processor. Said display is a game board in the form of a pyramid having an apex, a base and a plurality of pins displayed on the game board. Also displayed at the base is a plurality of locations each defining an outcome for the game. During play, a character is displayed falling from the apex to the base being directed by contact with the pins. The game payout is dependent upon the base location ultimately occupied by the character. In a preferred embodiment the pins can be programmed as stop pins, lateral shift pins or bonus pins. Upon contact with the character the stop pin will end the game with no payout, the lateral shift pin will move the character to the left or right and the bonus pin will cause a bonus payout.

Abstract: During a game, options to be responded by a player character are offered to a player. Personality point values in consideration of human personalities are assigned to the options, respectively. The personality point value corresponding to a response made by the player to every offer of the options is accumulated so as to obtain an accumulated personality point value for each of the human personalities. A personality of the player is classified based on the accumulated personality point values for the respective human personalities. The speech contents of a counterpart character, the fighting contents with the counterpart character or the behavioral environments of the player character are changed depending on the classified personality of the player.

Abstract: A video game apparatus includes an external ROM. This external ROM is previously memorized with player object data, basic shadow object data and light object data. A direction in which a shadow is thrown is determined according to the player object data and the light object data, to thereby determine a length of each leg of the player object. Based on the length of the leg and the height of the light, a length of the shadow is determined. Based on the height of each leg, a depth of the shadow is determined. A shape of a displaying shadow object is determined from a state of a ground object to which the shadow is thrown.

Abstract: During a game, options are offered to a player per scene. Point values are assigned to the options for updating favorable impression point values each representing a player's degree of favorable impression toward corresponding one of counterpart characters subjected to personality compatibility analysis. Every time the player chooses one of the options, the corresponding favorable impression point value is updated by the assigned point value. In response to a given command input from the player, one of the counterpart characters having the highest favorable impression point value is selected and offered to the player.

Abstract: The present invention relates to systems and methods for freeing shared resources that remain allocated to a particular resource allocating process after the resource allocating process has terminated The invention is useful in a computer system where shared hardware is accessed via a shared hardware driver layer The shared hardware driver layer interfaces with either a shared API layer or a nonshared API layer. Processes wishing to access the shared hardware access the hardware through either the shared or nonshared API layer. To release resources and destroy objects in either the shared API layer or the shared hardware driver layer, the present invention uses a helper process that cleans up after termination of the resource allocation process. The helper process first calls, cleanup function in the shared API layer to release resources and destroy objects in the shared API layer and associated hardware driver.

Abstract: A game system, a game data distribution machine, a game machine, and computer-usable information that make it possible to increase the efficiency of the compression and transfer of images that are otherwise difficult to compress efficiently. Distribution data that comprises image identification data 122 for determining whether or not an image is a special image is transmitted from a game data distribution machine 100 and, if the distribution data indicates that this is a request for the display of a special image, special image data 242 that has been stored previously in a storage section 240 is read out, and the special image that is provided instead of a real-time game image is displayed by an image display section 220.

Abstract: The maze game consists of a plurality of horizontal segments and a plurality of vertical segments that define a two-dimensional array of m×m squares or spaces where the size m is selectable by the user. In each potential segment location the present invention randomly locates: (1) a solid wall corresponding to a portion of the maze walls; (2) an opening creating a passage way through the maze; (3) special feature; or (4) the refuge, of which there is precisely one per maze. At the beginning of the game, the maze is invisible to all players. As the players move through the initially invisible maze, the maze walls adjacent each player's position become visible in a manner dictated by a particular vision setting selected at the beginning of the game. The goal of one player, who may be represented in the game as a cat, is to catch the other player, which may be represented in the game as a mouse, by occupying the mouse's location, i.e., by landing on the mouse.

Abstract: A set of stream writer and reader classes and methods enable object frameworks to communicate with each other despite problems with missing classes due to mismatched versions. The stream writers are modified to deal with a new version of a class that extends from a class in an existing version by writing alternate object information compatible with the existing version when the future object class information is streamed. In this manner, alternate object information is written for each older version. The information for each of the alternate objects corresponding to each older version is added after the existing object information as an extension with the length of the extension written at the beginning. The stream readers are modified so that when an older version stream reader reads the object information and does not understand the first alternate object (which might correspond to a later version), it skips the length specified for that extension and reads the second alternate object.

Abstract: A game machine, an image processing method for use therewith, and a recording medium, which impart a tense atmosphere to a conventional linked puzzle game and dynamic changes in the screen of the game. A character which can be moved by a player is set within a screen. In a case where the character is smashed between a dropping block and a block surrounding the character, the game is terminated, thereby providing a sense of tension to the player. Further, a game screen is scrolled to the direction of which the character moves in association with movement of the character, thereby posing a dynamic change in the screen. In a case where the block that has dropped passes by a position adjacent another block of the same type, the blocks are integrated into a single block, thereby preventing further dropping of the block that has dropped. Thus, the dropping block can be stopped immediately above the character, thereby enhancing the sense of tension of the game to a much greater extent.

Abstract: A technique for performing multiple simultaneous asynchronous input/output operations in a computer operating system. An input/output completion port object is created and associated with a file descriptor. When I/O services are requested on the file descriptor, completion is indicated by a message queued to the I/O completion port. A process requesting I/O services is not notified of completion of the I/O services, but instead checks the I/O completion port's queue to determine the status of its I/O requests. The I/O completion port manages multiple threads and their concurrency.

Abstract: A CPU of a control system controls a signal processor to effect various calculations to move a player's spaceship on a projection display screen, orient the player's spaceship toward a shooting direction, move a camera position at a rear viewpoint toward the player's spaceship, and orient the shooting direction outside of the projection display screen, based on shooting game data including image data, audio data, and program data stored in recording medium. The CPU also controls an image processor to write image data and audio data into a RAM based on the calculated results from the signal processor. The image data thus written in the RAM is displayed on a television monitor and projected onto the projection display screen.

Abstract: A photoelectric control unit installed in a video game machine and operated to control the motion of a controlled object in the screen of a display unit of the video game machine, the photoelectric control unit including a housing, a steering column installed in the housing and rotated with a steering wheel, a torsional spring mounted on the steering column, the torsional spring having one end fixedly fastened to the steering column and an opposite end fixedly connected to a fixed spring holder inside the housing, and a photoelectric controller formed of an optical transmitter and detector assembly and a signal processing circuit board for detecting rotary motion of the steering column and outputting to the display unit of the video game machine a signal indicative of rotary motion of the steering column.

Abstract: A system and method for pacing, or controlling, the processing of multiple producers when a consumer requires results from the producers in natural order. This invention regulates the use of system resources between the producers to ensure that the required results are available to the consumer in natural order with minimal waiting and to prevent unneeded advanced processing by the producers. This invention implements a buffer structure such that each producer writes its results to an associated buffer. Each producer compares its buffer's percentage complete against a next and previous producer's buffer. If a producer produces results too rapidly, the producer suspends itself until it is resumed by the consumer or the previous producer. The consumer reads the results from the buffers in producer order.

Abstract: A computer system comprising at least one processor and associated cache memory, and a plurality of registers to keep track of the number of cache memory lines associated with each process thread running in the computer system. Each process thread is assigned to one of the plurality of registers of each level of cache that is being monitored. The number of cache memory lines associated with each process thread in a particular level of the cache is stored as a number value in the assigned register and will increment as more cache memory lines are used for the process thread and will decrement as less cache memory lines are used. The number value in the register is defined as the "process thread temperature." Larger number values indicate warmer process thread temperature and smaller number values indicate cooler process thread temperature. Process thread temperatures are relative and indicate the cache memory line usage by the process threads running in the computer system at a particular level of cache.

Abstract: Efficient methods for verifying the timing behavior of a system in which various tasks are executed on a processor, and each task is enabled (i.e., becomes ready to execute) in response to the occurrence of an external event and/or the completion of another task. The methods are computationally efficient, requiring an execution time that is polynomial in the number of tasks in the system. The methods can be used in complementary fashion with more computationally intensive techniques for timing behavior verification, such as simulation or prototyping, by limiting the use of such techniques to those systems whose correctness is not proven by the methods.