Intellectual Property Considerations
Our design is largely based on a game that has been on the market, and also incorporates a
large amount of previously written code. Hence, there are a few intellectual property issues that
should be addressed.
As a starting point for our design, we used the code provided for the ATmega32 on the
"Video Generation with AVR" web page on the ECE 476 class web site. From this code, we
utilize the video generation routine which writes out an array of 128 x 100 pixels to a standard
television screen at a rate of approximately 60 Hz. This code gives a window of time during each
frame in which other calculations may be made, and it is during this time that the rest of our
program is executed. Also from this sample code, we utilize a set of routines that modify the
screen array, such as point, line, and letter and digit drawing routines. For the letters and digits,
we use a set of 5 x 7 pixel letters and digits which is also provided. Finally, we use a routine that
makes a "ball" represented by a single pixel bounce around the screen as a basis for our ball
bouncing routine.
Additionally, our idea for the game itself was inspired by a combination of an existing
arcade game and a similar existing PC game. Despite the similarity in the general game play, our
version incorporates only a very basic version of the game, and therefore it would be unlikely to
be considered a reverse-engineering of any specific existing piece of software.
Because we do not intend to patent or market our design, use our design as a sub-
component of another design, or make our design available to others (other than for purposes of
grading), there is little likelihood that any of these borrowed ideas and pieces of code will raise
any intellectual property concerns.