Patent ID: 11918890
Assignee: NVIDIA CORPORATION
Field: Furniture, games (Other fields)
Classification: CPC A  G | IPC A  G

Claim 9:
10. A method for playing a game, comprising:
operating a trackball that is rotatably retained within a housing of a game controller as a mouse in a first mode and as a joystick in a second mode;
in the first mode, determining an incremental movement of the trackball in a particular direction; and
in the second mode, determining a movement of the trackball from a central position of a simulated joystick by:
determining an offset value indicating a rotation of the trackball when a user is touching the trackball, wherein a zero value for the offset value represents the central position;
setting the offset value to the zero value when the user stops touching the trackball; and
determining a distance and a direction in an X-Y coordinate system based on the offset value;

wherein the game controller includes a touch sensor that detects when the user is touching the trackball and a motion sensor that detects the rotation of the trackball, wherein the game controller automatically determines an input type for the game and automatically switches between the first and second modes based on the input type.