Hinged device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10754377-B2
Application number	US-201715656776-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 21, 2017
Priority date	Apr 5, 2017
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

The description relates to hinged devices, such as hinged computing devices. One example can include a first portion and a second portion that have hinge ends rotatably secured by a hinge assembly. The example can also include a flexible display positioned over the first portion, the hinge assembly, and the second portion. The example can further include a deployable bridge support that is deployed to support the flexible display at the hinge assembly when the first and second portions are rotated from a closed orientation to an open orientation.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
a first portion and a second portion that have hinge ends rotatably secured by a hinge assembly;
a flexible display secured to the first portion and the second portion;
a deformable member secured to the flexible display over the hinge assembly;
a first bridge structure that is associated with the first portion and is biased from the first portion into the hinge assembly and toward the second portion when the first and second portions are rotatably positioned in an open orientation to support the deformable member and biased away from the second portion and back into the first portion when the first and second portions are positioned in a closed orientation; and,
a second bridge structure that is associated with the second portion and is biased from the second portion into the hinge assembly and toward the first portion when the first and second portions are rotatably positioned in the open orientation to support the deformable member and biased away from the first portion and back into the second portion when the first and second portions are positioned in the closed orientation.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the flexible display is fixedly secured to both the first portion and the second portion.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the deformable member comprises a corrugated pattern.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the deformable member defines a minimum bend radius for the flexible display.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the closed orientation is at zero degrees between the first and second portions and 360 degrees between the first and second portions and the open orientation is 180-degrees between the first and second portions.

6. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a cam that controls a position of the first bridge structure relative to the hinge assembly.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the hinge assembly comprises a cam follower and wherein interaction of the cam and the cam follower during rotation of the first and second portions controls the position of the first bridge structure relative to the hinge assembly.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the hinge assembly comprises a communication member that defines a hinge axis of the device.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the hinge ends are rotatably secured to the communication member.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the cam comprises a tab on the communication member to which the hinge ends are rotatably secured.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the cam follower comprises an engagement structure of the first bridge structure.

12. The device of claim 1 , wherein a length of the hinge assembly changes during rotation of the first and second portions.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the hinge assembly is biased to a relatively shorter length and wherein the hinge assembly further comprises a cam and cam follower that counter the bias to a relatively longer length during a range of the rotation.

14. A device, comprising:
a first portion and a second portion that have hinge ends rotatably secured by a hinge assembly;
a flexible display positioned over the first portion, the hinge assembly, and the second portion;
a re-enforcing material secured to the flexible display proximate to the hinge assembly; and,
a deployable bridge support having a pair of bridge structures that are slidably secured relative to the first and second portions, respectively, and slidably secured relative to the hinge assembly, and where the pair of bridge structures slide away from the first and second portions and slide toward the hinge assembly to indirectly support the flexible display at the hinge assembly when the first and second portions are rotated from a closed orientation to an open orientation.

15. The device of claim 14 , wherein the deployable bridge support directly supports the re-enforcing material.

16. The device of claim 14 , wherein the re-enforcing material comprises a deformable member.

17. A device, comprising:
a first portion that has a first hinge end rotatably secured by a hinge assembly and that rotates around a first hinge axis;
a second portion that has a second hinge end rotatably secured by the hinge assembly and that rotates around a second hinge axis;
a flexible display positioned over the first portion, the hinge assembly, and the second portion; and,
a first bridge structure and a second bridge structure that are slidably biased away from the first portion and the second portion, respectively, and towards the hinge assembly, the first bridge structure and the second bridge structure being positioned away from the first portion and the second portion, respectively, and towards the hinge assembly when the first and second portions are rotatably positioned in an open orientation to support the flexible display and being positioned away from the hinge assembly and back into the first portion and the second portion, respectively, when the first and second portions are positioned in a first closed orientation having a display side of the first and second portions facing inward.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein the first and second bridge structures directly contact the flexible display to support the flexible display.

19. The device of claim 17 , wherein the flexible display is secured to a deformable member that overlays the hinge assembly and wherein the first and second bridge structures contact the deformable member to indirectly support the flexible display.

20. The device of claim 17 , wherein the first bridge structure supports the flexible display at least at the first hinge axis and the second bridge structure supports the flexible display at least at the second hinge axis when the first and second portions are in the open orientation.

21. The device of claim 17 , wherein the hinge assembly shortens by moving hinge guides towards hinge arms when the first and second portions are positioned in a second closed orientation having the display side of the first and second portions facing outward.

22. The device of claim 17 , further comprising:
paddles that engage the flexible display towards a linear configuration when the first and second portions are rotatably positioned into the open orientation.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Siddiqui Kabir

Classifications

• H04M1/0268

  including a flexible display panel · CPC title

• H04M1/022

  The hinge comprising two parallel pivoting axes · CPC title

• H04M1/0216

  Foldable in one direction, i.e. using a one degree of freedom hinge · CPC title

• G06F1/1652

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

• G06F1/1681

  Details related solely to hinges (hinge details related to the transmission of signals or power are classified in G06F1/1683) · CPC title