Patent ID: 8449393

Claim:
A game controller comprising: a communications interface; at least one touch sensitive pad having a plurality of touch sensitive elements and a plurality of display elements; and processing circuitry coupled to the communications interface and to the at least one touch sensitive pad, the processing circuitry operable to: enact touch pad configuration settings that correlate subsets of the plurality of touch sensitive elements to respective distinct user input locations, such that, based on a first game control input pattern, a first subset of the plurality of touch sensitive elements simulate and a first subset of the plurality of display elements emulate and display a first image, overlaying the first subset of the plurality of touch sensitive elements, corresponding to a first at least one mechanical input function and based on a second game control input pattern, a second subset of the plurality of touch sensitive elements simulate and a second subset of the plurality of display elements emulate and display a second image, overlaying the second subset of the plurality of touch sensitive elements, corresponding to a second at least one mechanical input function; receive touch pad input from the at least one touch sensitive pad, the touch pad input corresponding to a user's touch of the at least some of the plurality of touch sensitive elements; process the touch pad input to determine user input directions based upon the touch pad configuration settings; and transmit the user input directions to a game console via the communications interface for use as gaming input.