a pressure sensitive touch pad and an overlay depicting a pattern , e . g ., a typewriter keyboard , for providing specific data characteristics of the pattern to a host computer and to a specific application program of any one of a number of application programs resident in the host computer , which specific application program includes software programmed to accept configured touch pad output signals from the touch pad corresponding to the pattern , which output signals are a function of originally generated touch signals achieved by actuation , normally by touch , of the pressure sensitive overlay surface at any particular point on the pattern , which pattern on the overlay on the touch pad corresponds to and is coordinated with a specific application program in the host computer including a multitude of application programs .