Display device having a transparent display and a method for controlling the display device to render content on a surface of the transparent display that a user faces

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10635372-B2
Application number	US-201615542527-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 11, 2016
Priority date	Jan 9, 2015
Publication date	Apr 28, 2020
Grant date	Apr 28, 2020

Abstract

Provided is a display device for efficiently providing content to a user using a transparent display. The display device includes: a transparent display; a direction determiner configured to determine a user-facing surface among a first surface and a second surface of the transparent display, the user-facing surface referring to a surface which faces a user; and a controller configured to render first content on the transparent display in a direction corresponding to the first surface if the first surface faces the user, and configured to render second content on the transparent display in a direction corresponding to the second surface if the second surface faces the user.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A display device comprising:
a transparent display;
a memory storing one or more instructions; and
a processor configured to execute the one or more instructions to:
determine a user-facing surface from among a first surface of the transparent display and a second surface of the transparent display, the user-facing surface referring to a surface which faces a user;
receive a first touch input on the first surface of the transparent display and a second touch input on the second surface of the transparent display;
based on determining that the user-facing surface is determined as the first surface, the first touch input is received on a left-half plane of the first surface, the second touch input is received on a right-half plane of the second surface and the display device is turned over from the second surface to the first surface in a first rotation direction, render first content on the transparent display in a direction corresponding to the first surface; and

based on determining that the user-facing surface is determined as the second surface, the second touch input is received on the right-half plane of the second surface, the first touch input is received on the left-half plane of the first surface and the display device is turned over from the first surface to the second surface in a second rotation direction, render second content instead of the first content on the transparent display in a direction corresponding to the second surface.

2. The display device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
control the memory to store a first state that includes information indicating a state of the first content finally provided to the user and a second state that includes information indicating a state of the second content finally provided to the user;
render the first content on the transparent display based on the stored first state when the user-facing surface has been changed from the second surface to the first surface; and
render the second content on the transparent display based on the stored second state when the user-facing surface has been changed from the first surface to the second surface.

3. The display device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensor capable of sensing rotation of the display device, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the user-facing surface has been changed when the sensor senses rotation of the display device.

4. The display device of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to: determine a direction in which to render the first content or the second content based on the rotation direction of the display device and render the first content or the second content based on the determined direction.

5. The display device of claim 3 , wherein the sensor includes a gyro sensor and the processor is further configured to detect the rotation of the display device using the gyro sensor.

6. The display device of claim 1 , wherein
the transparent display includes a flexible display that is physically deformable, and
the processor is further configured to render the first content and the second content on the transparent display based on a type of the transparent display.

7. The display device of claim 1 , further comprising: a first camera arranged on the first surface and a second camera arranged on the second surface, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the user-facing direction corresponds to the first surface when a first image captured using the first camera is recognized to include the face of a user, and to determine that the user-facing direction corresponds to the second surface when a second image captured using the second camera is recognized to include the face of a user.

8. A method of controlling a display device having a transparent display, the method comprising:
determining a user-facing surface among a first surface and a second surface of the transparent display, the user-facing surface referring to a surface which faces a user;
receiving a first touch input on the first surface of the transparent display and a second touch input on the second surface of the transparent display;
based on determining that the user-facing surface is determined as the first surface, the first touch input is received on a left-half plane of the first surface, the second touch input is received on a right-half plane of the second surface and the display device is turned over from the second surface to the first surface in a first rotation direction, render first content on the transparent display in a direction corresponding to the first surface; and
based on the determining that the user-facing surface is determined as the second surface, the second touch input is received on the right-half plane of the second surface, the first touch input is received on the left-half plane of the first surface and the display device is turned over from the first surface to the second surface in a second rotation direction, render second content instead of the first content on the transparent display in a direction corresponding to the second surface.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising: storing a first state that includes information indicating a state of the first content finally provided to the user, storing a second state that includes information indicating a state of the second content finally provided to the user, wherein the rendering of the first content on the transparent display comprises rendering the first content on the transparent display based on the stored first state when the user-facing surface has been changed from the second surface to the first surface, and the rendering of the second content on the transparent display comprises rendering the second content on the transparent display based on the stored second state when the user-facing surface has been changed from the first surface to the second surface.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
sensing rotation of the display device; and
changing the user-facing surface when the rotation is sensed.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the rendering comprises:
determining a direction of rendering content corresponding to the changed user-facing surface from the first content or the second content based on the direction of the sensed rotation; and
rendering the first content or the second content based on the determined direction of the sensed rotation.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein
the transparent display includes a flexible display that is physically deformable,
the method of controlling the display device further includes determining a position where a shape of the transparent display is deformed, and
the rendering comprises rendering the first content and the second content on the transparent display based on the determined position.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein
the display device further includes a first camera arranged on the first surface and a second camera arranged on the second surface, and
the determining of the user-facing direction includes determining that the user-facing direction corresponds to the first surface when a first image captured using the first camera is recognized to include the face of a user, and determining that the user-facing direction corresponds to the second surface when a second image captured using the second camera is recognized to include the face of a user.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 8 .

15. The display device of claim 2 , wherei

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Min Chan-Hong
• Kim Sun-Hwa
• La Jin
• Ryu Jong-Hyun
• Jeong Kyung-Ho
• Park Yong-Gook

Classifications

• G06F3/01

  Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer (G06F3/16 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F2203/04808

  Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen · CPC title

• G09G2340/0421

  Horizontal resolution change · CPC title

• G09G2354/00

  Aspects of interface with display user · CPC title

• G06F3/012

  Head tracking input arrangements · CPC title