Patent ID: 7944437

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a main body; a touch pad, provided on the main body, including a surface sheet and a light source that is provided on a back side of the surface sheet, the surface sheet including a plurality of light-transmissive areas having shapes corresponding to a plurality of virtual buttons disposed on a surface of the touch pad and passing light which is emitted from the light source; and a control unit configured to control the touch pad in one of two modes, wherein a first mode is for making the touch pad to function as a pointing device and a second mode is for activating, in response to tapping of one of the plurality of virtual buttons, a function which is assigned to the tapped virtual button, the control unit turning off the light source in the first mode and turning on the light source in the second mode, the control unit controlling the touch pad in the second mode if an external pointing device is connected to the main body.