It has emerged that Sony has filed a patent for a new LCD touch screen enabled gamepad which may work with other consoles- including the Xbox 360 and the Wii.

The concept recently surfaced at the US Patent & Trademark Office’s online database and details “Universal Game Console Controller” that can “emulate the controllers of popular game consoles, such as…the PlayStation, a controller made by Nintendo, Xbox game controllers made by Microsoft, Amiga CD-32 controllers, Atari Jaguar controllers, Gravis Gamepad controllers, Sega controllers, and Turbographics [sic] controllers.”

This control, adds Sony in the filing, would also offer backwards compatibility emulation for older controls.

“It may now be appreciated that among other advantages, the controller provides for backward compatibility so that it may be programmed to emulate the key layout of an older controller that may no longer be available,”

Although this may appear promising it’s worth noting that Sony has filed a number of ‘revolutionary’ patents in the past year which are yet to see the light of day.