Patent ID: 8680390

Claim:
A controller, comprising: a substrate; a plurality of pressure-sensitive regions arranged on the substrate, each pressure-sensitive region having one or more sensors associated therewith configured to generate one or more output signals that are monotonically representative of time-varying pressure applied to the one or more sensors via the associated pressure-sensitive region; a processor configured to receive the one or more output signals from the one or more sensors associated with each pressure-sensitive region and generate control information in response thereto, the processor being further configured to map the control information for each pressure-sensitive region to a selected one of a plurality of preset control functions associated with that pressure-sensitive region, the preset control functions being for controlling operation of one or more processes or devices in communication with the controller, wherein each of a plurality of sets of the preset control functions associates a particular one of the preset control functions with each of the pressure-sensitive regions; a navigation control configured to select from among the plurality of sets of the preset control functions; and an interface for communicating with the one or more processes or devices.