Device for maintaining game state audit trail upon instantaneous power failure

Claim 1

A look-ahead state saving device for processor controlled interactive electronic game played by a game player, operated from a game power source, and having an operating cycle including a plurality of discrete sequential interactive game states accompanied by interactive game state dependent data, comprising: a nonvolatile solid state memory for providing a continually updated audit trail of interactive game states and accompanying interactive game state related data characterizing the interaction of a game player and the game for a particular interactive game state; means for continually producing a reset signal for resetting said memory; comparator means for detecting a game power source level less than that of a game operating reference level; means for producing a game interrupt signal wherein game operation is interrupted at a current interactive game state in response to comparator detection of a game power source level less than the game operating reference level; means for producing a memory freeze signal to prevent memory reset, said signal being produced a preselected time interval after production of said game interrupt signal in response to comparative detection of said game power source level less than the game operating reference level, wherein said interactive game state and accompanying interactive state related data are retained in said memory after completion of a current game state whereby said retained interactive game state and interactive state related data provide for error free resumption of game play.