Patents by Inventor Gregory W. Wepner

Gregory W. Wepner has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Apparatus for generating enhanced interactive video game playfield environments
    Patent number: 4890833
    Abstract: A video game or the like including a real-time interactive video disk game-play background generation system. The disk player incorporates track skipping capability which is under the direct control of the game processor, on a frame-by-frame basis, whereby substantially instantaneous jumps to alternative video scenes can be effected in response to changing game play. Video scene data is stored on the disk in horizontally compressed format. A video expander/scroller effectively stretches the compressed video from the disk by a factor of two and selects, under game processor control, one frame width, or one-half the expanded background scene, for display. A color programmable read-only-memory (PROM) having at least two pre-programmed color pallets is provided to redefine color relationships of game symbols stored in read-only-memory (ROM) thereby reducing the storage of redundant game symbol data in this ROM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 1988
    Date of Patent: January 2, 1990
    Assignee: Williams Electronics, Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth F. Lantz, Scott C. Herschler, Charles R. Bleich, Walter E. Smolucha, Gregory W. Wepner
  • Apparatus for generating interactive video game playfield environments
    Patent number: 4766541
    Abstract: A video game or the like including a real-time interactive video disk game-play background generation system. The disk player incorporates track skipping capability which is under the direct control of the game processor, on a frame-by-frame basis, whereby substantially instantaneous jumps to alternative video scenes can be effected in response to changing game play. Video scene data is stored on the disk in horizontally compressed format. A video expander/scroller effectively stretches the compressed video from the disk by a factor of two and selects, under game processor control, one frame width, or one-half the expanded background scene, for display. A color programmable read-only-memory (PROM) having at least two pre-programmed color pallets is provided to redefine color relationships of game symbols stored in read-only-memory (ROM) thereby reducing the storage of redundant game symbol data in this ROM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 1987
    Date of Patent: August 23, 1988
    Assignee: Williams Electronics Games, Inc.
    Inventors: Charles R. Bleich, Walter E. Smolucha, Gregory W. Wepner, Kenneth F. Lantz, Scott C. Herschler