Display processing method, apparatus and program product for a bendable electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10345859-B2
Application number	US-201615372696-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2016
Priority date	Dec 8, 2015
Publication date	Jul 9, 2019
Grant date	Jul 9, 2019

Abstract

A display method, apparatus, and program product for a bendable electronic device. The method determines whether a display of a bendable electronic device is in a planar first form or in a curved second form. The method displays a first interface of a first application in response to determining that the display is in the planer first form. The method displays a second interface that is available in the first application, the second interface adaptive to the curve second form, in response to determining that the display is in the curved second form is disclosed. An apparatus and/or a program product may perform the method.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining whether a display of a bendable electronic device is in a planar first form or in a substantially annular second form using a plurality of light sensors in a light sensing array arranged in a manner corresponding to a light emitting array of the display;
operating a first working mode of a first application in response to determining that the display is in the planer first form; and
operating a second working mode of the first application, the second working mode adaptive to the substantially annular second form, in response to determining that the display is in the substantially annular second form.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein operating the first working mode and operating the second working mode of the first application comprise displaying a first interface and displaying a second interface of the first application respectively.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the display of the bendable electronic device is in the substantially annular second form comprises determining that a bending degree of the display exceeds a predetermined threshold.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the bending degree of the display is determined by measuring a difference in light received at a plurality of points within the light sensing array.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising displaying one or more third interfaces corresponding to one or more second applications in response to determining that the first application does not include an available second interface adaptive to the substantially annular second form.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein displaying the one or more third interfaces corresponding to the one or more second applications comprises:
obtaining identifying information for one or more second applications; and
displaying an application selection interface for the one or more second applications based on the identifying information.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising switching the first application from the first working mode to the second working mode in response to determining that the display of the bendable electronic device is adapted from the planar first form to the substantially annular second form.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first working mode and the second working mode have different power consumptions.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining whether a predetermined condition for one or more second applications is met, wherein the predetermined condition comprises one or more of passing a predetermined time, receiving a predetermined input, and detecting a predetermined movement.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first working mode and the second working mode comprise different message output modes for prompting an incoming message that is received by the bendable electronic device.

11. An apparatus comprising: a display of a bendable electronic device; a light detection array comprising a plurality of light sensors arranged in a manner corresponding to a light emitting array of the display; one or more processors; and a memory storing code that is executable by the one or more processors to: determine, based on signals from the light detection array, whether the display is in a planar first form or in a substantially annular second form; operate a first working mode of a first application in response to determining that the display of the bendable electronic device is in the planar first form; and operate a second working mode of the first application in response to determining that the display of the bendable electronic device is in the substantially annular curved second form.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the code is executable by the one or more processors to display a first interface and a second interface of the first application responsive to the first application operating the first working mode and the second working mode respectively.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein determining that the display of the bendable electronic device is in the substantially annular second form comprises determining that a bending degree of the display exceeds a predetermined threshold.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the bending degree of the display is determined by measuring a difference in light received at a plurality of points within the light sensing array.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors further:
obtain identifying information for one or more second applications; and
cause the display to display an application selection interface for the one or more second applications.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the one or more processors further cause the one or more second applications to switch from the first working mode to the second working mode in response to determining that the display of the bendable electronic device is adapted from the planar first form to the substantially annular second form.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors further determine whether a predetermined condition for one or more second applications is met, wherein the predetermined condition comprises one or more of passing a predetermined time, receiving a predetermined input, and detecting a predetermined movement.

18. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the first working mode and the second working mode comprise different message output modes for prompting an incoming message that is received by the bendable electronic device.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein in the substantially annular second form, the bendable electronic device is wearable around a body part of a user.

20. A program product comprising a computer readable storage medium that stores code executable by a processor, the executable code comprising code to perform:
determining whether a bendable electronic device comprising a display is in a planar first form or a substantially annular second form by measuring a difference in light received at a plurality of points within a light sensing array arranged in a manner corresponding to a light emitting array of the display;
operating a first working mode of a first application in response to determining that the bendable electronic device is in the planer first form; and
operating a second working mode of the first application, adaptive to a second substantially annular form, in response to determining that the bendable electronic device is in the substantially annular second form.

Assignees

• Lenovo Beijing Ltd

Inventors

• Shen Wenjing
• Ma Wenchao
• Chen Feng
• Zhu Xiaotian
• Yang Guanchen
• Xia Jie
• Yang Sheng
• Wang Zhixiang

Classifications

• G06F1/1684

  Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675 · CPC title

• G06F1/1652 Primary

  the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable · CPC title

• G06F1/163

  Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt · 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

• G06F3/03

  Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form · CPC title