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Astrocade Bankruptcy Astrocade Bankruptcy

This is the bankruptcy paperwork that Astrocade, Inc. filed in February 1984. (63 Pages)
Astrovision Bill Of Materials (10-5-1981) Astrovision Bill Of Materials (10-5-1981)

The complete Bill of Materials that lists a breakdown of the cost to build the Bally Astrocade. The original source material was very light and hard to read. This is the best scan that could be made from it. (12 Pages)
AstroVision, Inc. Business Card AstroVision, Inc. Business Card

A business card from Astrovision. This card belonged to Rick Claghorn, Computer Specialist.
Bally Arcade Patent 4,296,930 (Oct. 27, 1981) Bally Arcade Patent 4,296,930 (Oct. 27, 1981)
"TV Game apparatus"
Filed: July 05, 1977.

Abstract:

"A TV-type game employs a raster screen television for presenting game symbols. Player operated control switches are encoded to move the symbols. A microprocessor reads the switches. A dually addressed random access memory is employed as the interfacing between the screen and the processor which otherwise function as essentially separate and distinct devices. The memory provides a static storage of the screen pattern for each point in the raster lines with a portion assigned as a processor scratch pad. The memory may be dynamic with periodic refreshing and constructed with individual chips for each of the several bits in a word. The chips are grouped for alternate refreshing and powered during access periods. The processor updates the memory during idle display access periods. The memory is accessed in multiple bit words or bytes for display and processing. For display, a parallel to serial output latch is employed. The previous symbol position and pose is stored in the scratch pad and is erased and rewritten in a new position and pose. The controls may provide encoding. A hardwired bit shifter with programmed shift level rapidly shifts the symbol bits before placing in memory. A high speed memory and low speed processor are shown with separate clocks and a special synchronizer unit."

26 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures.

All 46 patents cited in the Bally Arcade/Astrocade U.S. patents 4,301,503 and 4,296,930 are available in one location. It's pretty neat reading/browsing the patents referenced in the Astrocade patents. Some of the referenced patents go back as far as 1958. Also, some of the patents are for systems from Atari, Magnavox's original 1972 Odyssey or even very obscure computers like the VideoBrain.

  1. 46 Patents Cited in Bally Arcade/Astrocade Patents - Link to Archive.org
Bally Arcade Patent (Nov 17 1981) Bally Arcade Patent - 4301503 (Nov. 17 1981)
"Home Computer and Game Apparatus"
Filed: May 30, 1978.

Abstract:

"A home computer system provides a video processor for use with a television receiver. The video processor can selectively perform a variety of modifications to pixel data under the direction of the CPU of the computer system before the pixel data is stored in random access memory to effectively increase the speed or data handling power of the system."

36 Claims, 167 Drawing Figures.

All 46 patents cited in the Bally Arcade/Astrocade U.S. patents 4,301,503 and 4,296,930 are available in one location. It's pretty neat reading/browsing the patents referenced in the Astrocade patents. Some of the referenced patents go back as far as 1958. Also, some of the patents are for systems from Atari, Magnavox's original 1972 Odyssey or even very obscure computers like the VideoBrain.

  1. 46 Patents Cited in Bally Arcade/Astrocade Patents - Link to Archive.org
Bally Arcade Patent (Oct 2 1984) Bally Arcade Patent - 4475172 (Oct 2 1984)
"Home Computer and Game Apparatus"
Filed: June 18, 1981.

Abstract:

"A home computer system provides a video processor for use with a television receiver. The video processor can selectively perform a variety of modifications to pixel data under the direction of the CPU of the computer system before the pixel data is stored in random access memory to effectively increase the speed or data handling power of the system."

24 Claims, 168 Drawing Figures.

Bally Arcade Patent Figure Compilations Bally Arcade Patent Figure Compilations.
Compilations stitched together by "the_crayon_king."
June 2020.

This is a compilation of the circuits for the Bally Arcade/Astrocade system that implement parts of the Bally Arcade system. This information is taken from Bally Arcade Patent - 4301503 (Nov. 17 1981):
  1. Data Chip (video processor) - Illustrate an example of a circuit implementing the block diagram of the data chip of the video processor of the system. Bally Data Chip Video Processor Circuit (Figure 13 Compilation).
  2. I/O Chip - Shows a more detailed circuit of the input/output chip. [Sheets 71-83.] "Bally Input/Output Chip Circuit (Figure 73 Compilation)"
  3. IC interconnections - Schematic diagram of the interconnections of the integrated chips of the [Bally Arcade/Astrocade] system. [Sheets 6-8.] "Bally Arcade Schematic of IC Interconnections (Figure 10 Compilation)."
The archive contains additional documentation about the compiled figures.

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