Rob Mitchell Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 I have looked up many patents for which Atari, Inc is the assignee .. Here's what I have found so far .. D251143 6 switch 2600 console 4124787 Joystick version 1 (1977 stick with five springs) 4349708 Joystick version 2 (1978-) D254544 Joystick D255565 Joystick 4149027 Cartridge door and 2600 slot interface D252753 Cartridge D248470 Fairchild Channel F cartridge (referenced in later Atari cartridge patents) 4045789 Bitmap for 16 direction player rotation (Combat tanks, Indy 500 cars) 4165072 2600 console functions ? Arcade Cabinets: D246916 Stunt Cycle Arcade D246917 2000 Questions Quiz Arcade? D243626 Night Driver Arcade D243625 Indy 800 Arcade D243624 Atari Tank Arcade D243106 Coctail Arcade table Home Consoles: D250608 Video Pinball D250606 Stunt Cycle D250265 Video Music 4081829 Video Music functions Those starting with a "D" are patents for an ornamental look. There's alot more stuff .. but this is what I have found thus far. Everything from 1976 on is easily searchable .. but that before 1976 is not. I did see two patents by N. Bushnell, but they are not easily understood. Go to www.uspto.gov by which to pull up these patents. I downloaded a few pics if someone wants to host them. Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariman Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 are those patents still... I dunno... "valid"? I think I remember being told that alot of the Atari patents (at least on the holographic stuff) were going to be up "soon" (I heard that about three years ago, so...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted February 7, 2003 Author Share Posted February 7, 2003 are those patents still... I dunno... "valid"? No .. The ones I have looked up are from the mid 1970s to early 1980s and have to do with the "classic" era items. They are/were assigned to Atari, Inc and not the later Atari Corp which the Trammels ran. I think they only lasted for 14 years. I will look up some more Atari, Inc patents and post my findings here. This is very interesting to see drawings of what is all very familiar to me. I either have these in storage or have played the arcade units many years ago. Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariman Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 searched the site (and I remember being there once before... type in Atari, come up with just about anything that has to do with video games and more...) Anyway, I thought this was interesting. I talked about the holographic stuff that Atari had patents for, and this seems to be the patent for the Atari cosmos system ideas! I hope this link works. It's really long (as you can see) http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?...AND+holographic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted February 7, 2003 Author Share Posted February 7, 2003 I talked about the holographic stuff that Atari had patents for, and this seems to be the patent for the Atari cosmos system ideas! I hope this link works. It's really long (as you can see) The link works .. That seems to be the Cosmos System .. Yes the links are long .. so that is why I just put in the patent numbers Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariman Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 yeah, it is pretty cool to look through the different patents. I think I remember coming across the patent for the N64 a couple of years ago (even though I wasn't looking for Nintendo stuff....) It's pretty interesting to check out the other patent links on some of those pages. I'm guessing that Atari bought the patent for the holographic technology that was going to be used in vehicles or something like that? It's on the page for the link that I posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariman Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 hmm... do you get the idea that we're posting at the same time? lol. Your new post pops up after I posted mine, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjessop Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 You missed a ton of patents Rob. I believe most have expired except for a few of the Tramiel era ones. Here is a link to an old coin op engineers personal web site full of Atari patent info http://www.jmargolin.com/ Jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted February 7, 2003 Author Share Posted February 7, 2003 It's pretty interesting to check out the other patent links on some of those pages. I'm guessing that Atari bought the patent for the holographic technology that was going to be used in vehicles or something like that? It's on the page for the link that I posted. I think the other linked patents are present because the patent in discussion may be related technically to these previous patents. They do not imply that the present patent assignee owns these previous patents. (to the best of my knowledge) Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariman Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 geez. That's pretty interesting... I didn't know what went into making a patent. Hmm... so I guess there is the possibility that the patent for some Atari stuff might be "hidden" due to the fact that the patents are listed under the employee name? Perhaps some employee that managed to get the patent without Atari attaching its name to it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atariman Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 I think the other linked patents are present because the patent in discussion may be related technically to these previous patents. They do not imply that the present patent assignee owns these previous patents. (to the best of my knowledge) *duh* I should've guessed that, too. (slaps self in forehead) I'm not stooopid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted February 7, 2003 Author Share Posted February 7, 2003 You missed a ton of patents Rob. I believe most have expired except for a few of the Tramiel era ones. Well yes of course .. there are hundreds of Atari patents .. and my wife was beginning to ask why I was spending so much time on the computer last night and early this morning when I got up early! I was just looking up the earliest ones I could find about the earliest Atari stuff that I like so much. Back in 1982 I looked up the Cart door/slot interface at the patent library at Georgia Tech and photocopied it for my own reference. Cool to find it online and not have to trek to Tech again! Interesting to find drawings online of the earlier 2600 joystick that I was so very familiar with in 1977. This earlier one featured the aluminum nameplate disc on top. Folks may want to compare this with drawings of the later design that is so much more common. Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjessop Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 Well yes of course .. there are hundreds of Atari patents .. and my wife was beginning to ask why I was spending so much time on the computer last night and early this morning when I got up early! I was just looking up the earliest ones I could find about the earliest Atari stuff that I like so much. I think the earliest Atari patent is from Nolan and issued in 1974 for circuitry in Computer Space. Jerry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cx2k Posted February 7, 2003 Share Posted February 7, 2003 Back when I was with Atari HQ, Keita had compiled a list of Atari's patents. I'm sure it's still there under one of the sections. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Mitchell Posted February 7, 2003 Author Share Posted February 7, 2003 Back when I was with Atari HQ, Keita had compiled a list of Atari's patents. I'm sure it's still there under one of the sections. Hi John: I would like to see that! Why are you no longer with Atari HQ? Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cx2k Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Hi John: I would like to see that! Why are you no longer with Atari HQ? Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA I left Atari HQ a couple of years ago, aound the same time Keita stepped down from CGE. I didn't really have time to devote to AtariHQ and he didn't have time for CGE. The link on atarihq seems to be there still. http://www.atarihq.com/othersec/patents.html John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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