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.