Touchscreen for use with flexible display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10175806-B2
Application number	US-201514663679-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 20, 2015
Priority date	Mar 20, 2015
Publication date	Jan 8, 2019
Grant date	Jan 8, 2019

Abstract

Particular embodiments described herein provide for an electronic device, that includes a circuit board coupled to a plurality of electronic components (which includes any type of components, elements, circuitry, etc.). One particular example implementation of the electronic device may include a main housing, a flexible display, and a touchscreen, wherein regions of the touchscreen can be reconfigured based on an orientation of the flexible display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a rigid main housing;
a flexible display at least partially over the main housing, wherein a display side of the flexible display faces away from the main housing, wherein the flexible display can wrap around the main housing;
a strain gage to determine when the flexible display is wrapped around the main housing;
a touchscreen, wherein regions of the touchscreen can be reconfigured based on an orientation of the flexible display, wherein the reconfiguration includes reconfiguring at least a portion of a first area of the touchscreen from an active area that can respond to touch input to a null area that does not respond to touch input, wherein when the electronic device is in a low power state, touch input in the null area is not communicated to a central processor of the electronic device for processing; and
a touchscreen control module that is separate and independent from the central processor of the electronic device, wherein the touchscreen control module detects touch input on the touchscreen.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the flexible display includes a display screen and the display screen can be reconfigured based on an orientation of the flexible display.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
an orientation module, wherein the orientation module can determine the orientation of the flexible display,
wherein the touchscreen control module can reconfigure the touchscreen based on the orientation determined from the orientation module.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the touchscreen is reconfigured to include null areas and at least one activator along at least one side of the main housing, wherein the at least one activator is a volume control activator.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the at least one activator is located on a side of the main housing when the flexible display is wrapped around the main housing.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the flexible display is wrapped around the main housing such that the flexible display covers at least one side of the main housing and the touchscreen includes at least one activator and at least one null area on the at least one side.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the main housing includes a first side and a second side and the first side is opposite the second side, wherein the flexible display can wrap around the first side and the second side of the main housing.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the reconfiguration includes reconfiguring at least a portion of a second area of the touchscreen over the second side from an active area to a null area.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 ,
wherein the touchscreen control module is configured to analyze analog touch screen inputs and map the touch screen inputs into a digital representation of a human interaction with the touchscreen.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein when the flexible display is wrapped around the main housing, at least a portion of the flexible display is not readily visible to a user when the user is looking at a front portion of the device, wherein the portions of the flexible display that are not readily visible and include the null area are powered off.

11. A method, comprising:
determining, using a strain gauge, when a flexible display is wrapped around a rigid main housing of an electronic device;
reconfiguring the flexible display when the flexible display is wrapped around the main housing, wherein the flexible display includes a touchscreen at least partially over the main housing, wherein a display side of the flexible display faces away from the main housing; and
reconfiguring the touchscreen based on the reconfigured flexible display, wherein the reconfiguration includes reconfiguring at least a portion of a first area of the touchscreen from an active area to a null area, wherein a touchscreen control module that is separate and independent from a central processor of the electronic device detects touch input on the touchscreen, wherein when the electronic device is in a low power state, touch input in the null area is not communicated to the central processor of the electronic device for processing.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the flexible display includes a display screen and the display screen can be reconfigured based on an orientation of the flexible display.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining an orientation of the flexible display using an orientation module, wherein the touchscreen control module can reconfigure the touchscreen based on the orientation determined from the orientation module.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the touchscreen is reconfigured to include at least one null area along at least one side of the main housing.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the touchscreen is reconfigured to include at least one activator along at least one side of the main housing, wherein the at least one activator is a volume control activator.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
wrapping the flexible display around the main housing such that the flexible display covers at least one side of the main housing and the touchscreen includes at least one activator and at least one null area on the at least one side.

17. An electronic device, comprising:
a rigid main housing;
a flexible display at least partially over the main housing, wherein a display side of the flexible display faces away from the main housing, wherein the flexible display can wrap around the main housing;
a touchscreen;
an orientation module, wherein the orientation module can determine the orientation of the flexible display;
a strain gage to determine when the flexible display is wrapped around the main housing; and
a touchscreen control module separate and independent from a central processor of the electronic device, wherein the touchscreen control module can reconfigure the touchscreen based on the orientation determined from the orientation module, wherein the reconfiguration includes reconfiguring at least a portion of a first area of the touchscreen from an active area to a null area, wherein the touchscreen control module detects touch input on the touchscreen, wherein when the electronic device is in a low power state, touch input in the null area is not communicated to the central processor of the electronic device for processing.

18. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the touchscreen is reconfigured to include null areas along a first side of the main housing when the flexible display is wrapped around the main housing and both at least one activator and null areas along a second side of the main housing when the flexible display is wrapped around the main housing, wherein the at least one activator includes a volume control activator.

19. The electronic device of claim 17 , wherein the flexible display is wrapped around the main housing such that the flexible display covers at least one side of the main housing and the touchscreen includes at least one activator and at least one null area on the at least one side.

20. A system, comprising:
a rigid main housing;
a flexible display at least partially over the main housing, wherein the flexible display includes a display screen and the display screen faces away from the main housing, wherein the flexible display can wrap around the main housing, wherein the flexible display includes a touchscreen;
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Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Burr Jeremy
• Browning David
• Aoki Russell
• Kamppari Saara

Classifications

• G06F3/04886

  by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus · CPC title

• G06F1/1643

  the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads (details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615) · CPC title

• G06F1/1694

  the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer · CPC title

• G06F1/1641

  the display being formed by a plurality of foldable display components (G06F1/1647 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F2203/04102

  Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper · CPC title