Method and apparatus for controlling a computer game

A computer control system for interfacing with a program interface, comprising:

• an input device comprising:
• an output port;
• a control device having a plurality of selectable states;
• and
• a pulse position generator coupled to the control device, the pulse position generator having a pulsed output coupled to the output port and having pulses occurring at time intervals corresponding to the plurality of selectable states;
• and
• a first control interface comprising:
• a pulse detector coupled to the pulsed output;
• a counter having a reset input coupled to the pulse detector, for measuring the time intervals of the pulses;
• and
• a storage device having a plurality of inputs coupled to the counter, having a plurality of outputs coupled to the program interface and having a control input coupled to the pulse detector, the storage device for storing the measured time interval and being accessible by the program interface.

A computer controller for generating status data for a program interface, comprising:

• a control device having a plurality of selectable states and having an output node having a plurality of control states each corresponding to a selectable state;
• a pulse position generator coupled to the control device output node, the pulse position generator having a pulsed output, the pulsed output occurring at time intervals corresponding to one the plurality of control states of the control device output node;
• and
• a pulse position detector coupled to the pulsed output and to the program interface for measuring the pulse interval to generate status data.

A user-actuated control device for interfacing to an input port of a computer game interface card, comprising:

• a user-actuated control mechanism having a plurality of user-selectable states;
• a variable resistance circuit coupled to the user-actuated control mechanism, having a plurality of resistance values corresponding to a plurality of the plurality of user-selectable states;
• and
• a pulse position modulation circuit coupled to the variable resistance circuit for generating a pulse position signal having a plurality of pulse frequencies corresponding to a plurality of the plurality of resistance values.

A method for generating control data for a computer in response to a command received from a control device, the method comprising the steps of:

• encoding the command using a pulse position signal;
• supplying the pulse position signal to the computer;
• responsive to the computer having a pulse position decoding circuit, decoding the pulse position signal to generate corresponding control data;
• and
• responsive to the computer not having a pulse position decoding circuit, detecting a resistance to generate corresponding control data.