My inventions span some 40+ years of post-W.W.II activities. A large number of them resulted in products that were put into production.Here are some brief references to some of my more important inventions and products that resulted from them.
Video-games
- 1966: Original concept for playing games using a home TV set; written while Chief
Engineer for Equipment Design at Sanders Associates in NH.
Click images to see enlarged views
   
Click here to view typewritten
transcripts of above notes.
- 1967-68: Development of first-generation home video games by Bill Harrison and Bill Rusch
under my direction at Sanders; first light-gun video games ('67).
  
Click images for enlarged views
- 1968-74: Demonstration of system for playing video-games over cable-channel in
cooperation with TelePrompTer, NYC ('68) and Warner Cable ('73).
- 1971-72: Licensing Magnavox to produce home video game; first production
"Odyssey" game demonstrated to press by Magnavox 5/72 is production-engineered
version of "Brown Box" demo unit built at
Sanders by Bill Harrison in 1968-69.
- 1975: Pioneered microprocessor-controlled, VCR-based Interactive Video Game methods.
Invented various systems for nesting data in video signal for real-time interaction
between player, VCR-delivered pictorials and microprocessor-generated action-characters
on-screen.
- 1976-77: Ran a group at Sanders under contract to build 6 different video game units for Coleco.
- 1978: Licensed Coleco to build KID-VID, a preschooler video game using audio cassette
tape control and "live" music.
KID-VID
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- 1978: Licensed Coleco to build an interface unit for use between COLECOVISION game or
ADAM computer and a 5" version of RCA's Selectavision Video Disc...precursor To
Phillips CDI and present CD-ROM game systems.
- 1978 - Present: Developed many novel interactive hardware and software concepts for video
games (Instant Replay; drawing of interactive screen-characters; Interactive CD-ROM game,
training and simulation technology.
- 2004-2006: Produced an entire line of functional replicas of
experimental videogame models built in the 1960's and donated these to
the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, NY.
Click on image to view larger photo
Electronic Toys and Games
- 1978-79: "SIMON" hand-held, single chip microprocessor game
licensed by Marvin Glass to Milton Bradley - a perennial favorite,
still selling briskly after more than 25 years since its introduction in
1978.
SIMON
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- 1979-81: A series of micro-processor controlled hand-held games including
"MANIAC" (Ideal Toy); "COMPUTER PERFECTION" (Lakeside);
"AMAZATRON" (Coleco); etc.
MANIAC
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COMPUTER PERFECTION
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AMAZATRON
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- 1985: "LASER COMMAND", an electro-optical toy for Kenner based on the MASK
figure series.
LASER COMMAND
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- 1987: "Smarty Bear Video", a Galoob product allowing a plush bear to
"interact with and talk to his friends" on the screen of a TV set while playing
a VHS cassette containing a cartoon and nested data and voice.
SMARTY BEAR VIDEO
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- 1994: "TV Teddy", a Yes!Entertainment product...another interactive, plush bear
based on the "Smart Bear" patent and others (covering Voice signals nested in
video signal).
TV TEDDY
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- 1994: "Sounds-by-Me", an interactive, book licensed to Golden Books (Western
Publishing) making use of a novel single-chip voice storage and playback device. It allows
kids to record short speech segments prior to reading the book; while reading, pressing
buttons delivers these speech segments in the kid's own voice.
SOUNDS-BY-ME
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- 1996: "Bike Max", a Milton-Bradley product for bicycles that "speaks"
the bike's speed, distance traveled, time traveled; makes horn sounds and has a
voice-warning feature to prevent theft.
BIKE MAX
- 2000: Created a line of "Talking Tools" for Hasbro
TALKIN' TOOLS
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Electronic Consumer Products
- 1995: "Chat-Mat", a doormat containing a foot-activated, recordable talking
doormat that "speaks" voice messages when the mat is stepped on.
CHAT-MAT
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- 1995: "NeverMiss Motion-Pad" - a passive IR device which "speaks" a
user-recorded message when unit is passed within 10 feet (*)
- 1996: "NeverMiss DigiPad-20 and DigiPad-75"; solid state, hand-held voice
recorders (*)
- 1996: "NeverMiss TimePad", solid state, hand-held voice recorder with
time-stamp (multi-message scheduling device) (*)
- 1997: "TimeFrame" - a recordable, talking picture frame for a variable number
of photos (*)
NOTE: Items marked (*) can be viewed in detail by accessing www.icp.ca
ICP Products
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Copyright 1997-2014 Ralph H. Baer. All Rights Reserved. |
