US 11806613

Patent Overview — US 11,806,613 B2

Title: Controller for video game console
Patent number: US11806613B2
Application number: US17/667,713
Inventors: Simon Burgess; Duncan Ironmonger
Assignee: Ironburg Inventions Ltd (original and current)
Priority date: 2011-06-17
Filing date: 2022-02-09
Publication date: 2023-11-07
Legal status: Active; adjusted expiration listed as 2031-06-17
Classification (illustrative): A63F13/24 — game controllers with detachable joystick handles

Purpose
The patent addresses a recognized problem with conventional controllers: a user must remove a thumb from a thumb stick to press front-face buttons or the direction pad, costing time and, in aiming-based games, control. The invention adds controls on the back of the controller so functions can be triggered without moving the thumbs.

Plain-language scope
The disclosed controller has a hard outer case and controls on the front and top edge, shaped to be held in both hands with thumbs on the front controls and index fingers on the top-edge controls. It adds one or more additional controls on the back, positioned for the user's other fingers—excerpt text and FIG. 3 specify middle fingers. Each additional control is an inherently resilient, flexible elongate member mounted in a recess in the case, with an outermost surface close to the controller's outermost surface so a finger can be received in the recess. Stated thickness preferences: less than 10 mm, more preferably less than 5 mm, most desirably 1–5 mm. The elongate members converge toward the front end. Each registers with a switch mechanism inside the controller, so displacement activates it; the switch mechanism sits between the elongate members and an outer surface of the controller. The controls may be paddle levers, formed integrally with or substantially separate from the case, substantially vertically aligned. They may replicate front/top controls or provide additional functions.

What the excerpt does not establish
It does not include the full claim set, complete description, or drawings (FIG. 1–3 are only summarized). The excerpt text is truncated mid-sentence ("formed from a thin f"), so the full disclosure, any dependent-claim limitations, and claim scope are not verifiable here. The patent text is excerpted; consult the source for omitted text.

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US11806613/en