Flexible display apparatus and operating method thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10514727-B2
Application number	US-201213646167-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2012
Priority date	Jul 11, 2012
Publication date	Dec 24, 2019
Grant date	Dec 24, 2019

Abstract

A flexible display apparatus is provided. The flexible display apparatus includes a display, a sensor which senses shape deformation of the display, a storage which, if a shape deformation is sensed, stores operation state information of a first operation state of the flexible display apparatus prior to the first shape deformation being performed, and a controller which performs a function corresponding to the first shape deformation if a second shape deformation different from the first shape deformation is sensed, returns to the first operation state according to the operation state information stored in the storage.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A flexible display apparatus comprising:
a display;
a sensor configured to detect a bending of the flexible display apparatus; and
a controller configured to:
control the display to present a first screen on an entire portion of the display while the flexible display apparatus is flat, wherein the first screen comprises at least one object,
identify a location of a bending line based on detection of a bending of the flexible display apparatus while one of the at least one object is touched,
divide the entire portion of the display into a first area and a second area at the location of the bending line based on the location of the bending,
control the display to present the first screen resized on the first area of the display and present a second screen associated with the touched object on the second area of the display while the flexible display apparatus is bent, and
based on detection of an unbending of the flexible display apparatus while the first screen and the second screen are presented on the display, control the display to present the first screen on the entire portion of the display while the flexible display apparatus is flat.

2. The flexible display apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to resize the first screen by reducing a size of the first screen while maintaining a ratio of the first screen on the first area.

3. The flexible display apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to resize the first screen by reducing a size of the first screen by adjusting a ratio of the first screen on the first area.

4. The flexible display apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to the sensor detecting bending of the flexible display apparatus while an execution screen of an application is displayed, control the display to present a user interface (UI) element to control the application on the first area and reduce a size of and present the execution screen of the application on the second area.

5. The flexible display apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to, in response to the sensor detecting bending of the flexible display apparatus while an execution screen of an application is displayed, control the display to present a user interface (UI) element representing at least one of time information, weather information and battery information on the first area and reduce a size of and present the execution screen of the application on the second area.

6. The flexible display apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
identify a first width and a second width based on the location of the bending line; and
divide the display into the first area and the second area at the location of the bending line so the first area has the first width and the second area has the second width.

7. A method for operating a flexible display apparatus which comprises a display, the method comprising:
presenting a first screen on an entire portion of the display while the flexible display apparatus is flat, wherein the first screen comprises at least one object,
detecting a bending of the flexible display apparatus with a sensor and a touching of one of the at least one object;
identifying a location of a bending line based on the bending of the flexible display apparatus while the touched object is touched;
dividing the entire portion of the display into a first area and a second area at the location of the bending line based on the location of the bending line;
controlling the display with a controller to present the first screen resized on the first area of the display and present a second screen associated with the touched object on the second area of the display while the flexible display apparatus is bent; and
based on detection of an unbending of the flexible display apparatus while the first screen and the second screen are presented on the display, controlling the display with the controller to present the first screen on the entire portion of the display while the flexible display apparatus is flat.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the controlling of the display comprises reducing a size of and presenting the first screen while maintaining a ratio of the first screen on the first area.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the controlling of the display comprises reducing a size of and presenting the first screen by adjusting a ratio of the first screen on the first area.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the controlling of the display comprises, in response to the sensor detecting bending of the flexible display apparatus while an execution screen of an application is displayed, controlling the display to present a user interface (UI) element to control the application on the first area and reducing a size of and presenting the execution screen of the application on the second area.

11. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the controlling of the display comprises, in response to the sensor detecting bending of the flexible display apparatus while an execution screen of an application is displayed, controlling the display to present a user interface (UI) element representing at least one of time information, weather information and battery information on the first area and reducing a size of and presenting the execution screen of the application on the second area.

12. The method as claimed in claim 7 , further comprising identifying a first width and a second width based on the location of the bending line,
wherein the dividing the display into the first area and the second area is performed at the location of the bending line so the first area has the first width and the second area has the second width.

13. A flexible display apparatus comprising:
a display;
a sensor configured to detect a bending of the display; and
a controller configured to:
control the display to present a first screen associated with a first application on an entire portion of the display while the flexible display apparatus is flat, wherein the first screen comprises at least one object,
determine a location of a bending line in response to detecting a bending of the display while one of the at least one object is touched,
divide the entire portion of the display into a first area and a second area at the location of the bending line in response to detecting the bending of the display while the first screen is presented,
control the display to present the first screen resized on the first area of the display and present a second screen associated with a second application on the second area of the display, and
control the display to present the first screen on the entire portion of the display based on an unbending of the display.

14. The flexible display apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine a bend and hold gesture in response to a corner of the flexible display apparatus being bent and held within a threshold angle for a first predetermined time, and perform a bend and hold operation in response to the bend and hold gesture.

15. The flexible display apparatus as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the controller is further configured to determine a bend and flat gesture in response to a corner of the flexible display apparatus being bent from a flat state and returned to the flat state within a second predetermined time, and perform and a bend and flat operation in response to the bend and flat gesture.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Seo Joon-Kyu
• Kim Hyun-Jin
• Kumar Nipun
• Lee Yong-Yeon
• Lee Chang-Soo

Classifications

• H04M1/0268

  including a flexible display panel · CPC title

• G06F1/3215

  Monitoring of peripheral devices · CPC title

• G06F1/3262

  Power saving in digitizer or tablet · CPC title

• 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

• G06F1/3265

  Power saving in display device · CPC title