Electronic device including flexible display and method of operating same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11360589-B2
Application number	US-202117226355-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2021
Priority date	Nov 16, 2020
Publication date	Jun 14, 2022
Grant date	Jun 14, 2022

Abstract

An electronic device according to various embodiments may include: a first structure comprising a reciprocating housing; a second structure including a guide configured to guide sliding movement of the first structure; a flexible display configured to be at least partially inserted inside the second structure or visible to an outside of the second structure by the sliding movement of the first structure; at least one sensor; and at least one processor operatively connected to the flexible display and the at least one sensor, wherein the at least one processor may be configured to: detect a touch on the flexible display through the at least one sensor, detect pressure of the touch through the at least one sensor, determine whether a direction in which the touch moves corresponds to a direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding, based on determining that the direction in which the touch moves corresponds to the direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding, determine whether a change in the detected pressure satisfies a specified condition, based on determining that the change in the detected pressure satisfies the specified condition, control an operation for the sliding movement of the first structure based on a change in the detected pressure, and based on determining that the change in the detected pressure does not satisfy the specified condition, execute a function of an application corresponding to the touch.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a first structure comprising a reciprocating housing;
a second structure including a guide configured to guide sliding movement of the first structure;
a flexible display configured to be at least partially inserted inside the second structure or visible to an outside of the second structure by the sliding movement of the first structure;
at least one sensor; and
at least one processor operatively connected to the flexible display and the at least one sensor,
wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
detect a touch on the flexible display through the at least one sensor,
detect pressure of the touch through the at least one sensor,
determine whether a direction in which the touch moves corresponds to a direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding,
based on determining that the direction in which the touch moves corresponds to the direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding, determine whether a change in the detected pressure satisfies a specified condition,
based on determining that the change in the detected pressure satisfies the specified condition, control an operation for the sliding movement of the first structure, and
based on determining that the change in the detected pressure does not satisfy the specified condition, execute a function of an application corresponding to the touch.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
identify whether the direction in which the touch moves is included in a specified range of the direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding, and
based on identifying that the direction in which the touch moves is included in the specified range, determine that the direction in which the touch moves corresponds to the direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
determine whether the detected pressure is greater than or equal to a threshold pressure,
determine whether the touch moves by a specified distance within a specified first time from a time at which the detected pressure is greater than or equal to the threshold pressure, and
based on determining that the touch moves by the specified distance within the specified first time from the time, determine whether the change in the detected pressure satisfies a specified condition.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the flexible display to display information for guiding the touch for the sliding movement of the first structure at the time.

5. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
based on determining that the touch moves by the specified distance within the specified first time from the time, calculate a difference between a value obtained by integrating the detected pressure with respect to a position at which the touch is detected and a value obtained by integrating the strength of the threshold pressure with respect to the position where the touch is detected while the touch is moved by the specified distance, and
based on the difference being greater than or equal to a specified value, determine that the change in the detected pressure satisfies the specified condition.

6. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
store, in a memory of the electronic device, information on the touch detected during a time for which the touch moves by the specified distance or during the specified first time,
wherein the function corresponding to the detected touch is not executed by the detected touch during the time for which the touch moves by the specified distance or during the specified first time.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
delete the information on the touch from the memory based on determining that the change in the detected pressure satisfies the specified condition.

8. The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to set the threshold pressure based on at least one of an executed application, a screen displayed through the flexible display, a function corresponding to a position at which the touch is received, a posture of the electronic device, or an input.

9. The electronic device of claim 3 , further comprising a driving module comprising driving circuitry,
wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the driving module such that locking between the first structure and the second structure is released based on determining that the change in the detected pressure satisfies the specified condition.

10. The electronic device of claim 3 , further comprising a driving module comprising driving circuitry,
wherein the at least one processor is configured to control the driving module such that the first structure slides based on determining that the change in the detected pressure satisfies the specified condition.

11. A method of operating an electronic device, the method comprising:
detecting a touch on a flexible display through at least one sensor of the electronic device comprising a first structure comprising a reciprocating housing, a second structure including a slide configured to guide sliding movement of the first structure, the flexible display configured to be at least partially inserted inside the second structure or visible to an outside of the second structure by the sliding movement of the first structure;
detecting pressure of the touch through the at least one sensor;
determining whether a direction in which the touch moves corresponds to a direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding;
based on the direction in which the touch moves corresponding to the direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding, determining whether a change in the detected pressure satisfies a specified condition;
based on determining that the change in the detected pressure satisfies the specified condition, controlling an operation for the sliding movement of the first structure; and
based on determining that the change in the detected pressure does not satisfy the specified condition, executing a function of an application corresponding to the touch.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining whether the direction in which the touch moves corresponds to the direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding comprises:
identifying whether the direction in which the touch moves is included in a specified range of the direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding; and
based on identifying that the direction in which the touch moves is included in the specified range, determining that the direction in which the touch moves corresponds to the direction in which the first structure is capable of sliding.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the determining whether the change in the detected pressure satisfies the specified condition comprises:
determining whether the detected pressure is greater than or equal to a threshold pressure;
determining whether the touch moves by a specified distance within a specified first time from a time at which the detected pressure is greater than or equal to the threshold pressure; and
based on determining that the touch moves by the specified distance within the specified first time from the time, determining whether the change in the detected pressure satisfies the specified condition.

14. The

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Choi Yangsoo
• Kim Youngseong
• Park Gyeongtae
• Lee Jookwan
• Park Jihea

Classifications

• 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

• G06F3/04166 Primary

  Details of scanning methods, e.g. sampling time, grouping of sub areas or time sharing with display driving (Synchronisation with the driving of the display or the backlighting unit to avoid interferences generated internally G06F3/04184) · CPC title

• G06F1/1652

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

• G06F2203/04105

  Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position · CPC title