Position sensors for system with overlapped displays

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12456439-B2
Application number	US-202217959193-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 3, 2022
Priority date	Jul 30, 2018
Publication date	Oct 28, 2025
Grant date	Oct 28, 2025

Abstract

A system may include electronic devices that communicate wirelessly. When positioned so that a pair of devices overlap or are adjacent to one another, the devices may operate in a linked mode. During linked operations, devices may communicate wirelessly while input gathering and content displaying operations are shared among the devices. One or both of a pair of devices may have sensors. A capacitive sensor or other sensor may be used to measure the relative position between two devices when the two devices overlap each other. Content displaying operations and other linked mode operations may be performed based on the measured relative position between the two devices and other information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
a laptop computer comprising:
a processor configured to produce content;
a trackpad that receives trackpad input;
a keyboard that receives keyboard input; and
a touch-insensitive display configured to display the content and a pointer; and
a tablet computer comprising a touch-sensitive display, wherein the laptop computer and the tablet computer are configured to operate in a linked mode in which the trackpad input and the keyboard input are used to control the touch-insensitive display and the touch-sensitive display and wherein the pointer moves the content between the touch-insensitive display and the touch-sensitive display in response to the trackpad input.

2 . The system defined in claim 1 wherein the trackpad input is used to drag the content from the touch-insensitive display to the touch-sensitive display.

3 . The system defined in claim 1 wherein the touch-sensitive display is configured to display additional content and wherein a portion of the additional content extends onto a surrounding portion of the touch-insensitive display when the laptop computer and the tablet computer operate in the linked mode.

4 . The system defined in claim 1 wherein the keyboard input is used to type text onto the touch-sensitive display.

5 . The system defined in claim 1 wherein the laptop computer comprises control circuitry that initiates the linked mode in response to user input.

6 . The system defined in claim 1 wherein the laptop computer comprises position sensing circuitry configured to sense a position of the tablet computer relative to the laptop computer.

7 . The system defined in claim 6 wherein the position sensing circuitry comprises a capacitive sensor and the capacitive sensor is located between the keyboard and the touch-insensitive display.

8 . The system defined in claim 1 wherein the touch-sensitive display is configured to display an icon and wherein the trackpad input is used to select the icon and open an application on the tablet computer.

9 . The system defined in claim 1 further comprising an additional electronic device having an additional display, wherein the additional electronic device is configured to operate in the linked mode with the laptop computer and the tablet computer, and wherein the keyboard input and the trackpad input are used to control the additional display in the linked mode.

10 . A tablet computer that is configured to be controlled by a laptop computer, wherein the laptop computer has a processor configured to produce first content, a laptop display configured to display the first content, and a trackpad that receives trackpad input, the tablet computer comprising:
a housing; a display mounted in the housing, wherein the display is configured to display second content and a cursor; a touch sensor that gathers touch input on the display; and control circuitry configured to operate the tablet computer in a linked mode with the laptop computer in which the trackpad input is used to control the cursor on the display to drag-and-drop the second content to the laptop display, wherein the second content is dragged-and-dropped from the display to the laptop display in response to the trackpad input.

11 . The system defined in claim 1 wherein the linked mode comprises a wireless linked mode.

12 . The tablet computer defined in claim 10 wherein the display is configured to display text in response to keyboard input received by the laptop computer.

13 . The tablet computer defined in claim 10 wherein the housing comprises a metal housing that is detected by a capacitive sensor in the laptop computer.

14 . The tablet computer defined in claim 10 wherein the display is configured to display an icon and wherein the trackpad input is used to control the cursor to select the icon and open an application on the tablet computer.

15 . A laptop computer that is configured to control a tablet computer having a touch-sensitive display, the laptop computer comprising:
first and second housing portions coupled by a hinge; a touch-insensitive display in the first housing portion and configured to display an image; a trackpad in the second housing portion that receives trackpad input; and a processor configured to generate the image and to operate the laptop computer in a linked mode with the tablet computer in which the trackpad input is used to control a cursor that moves across the touch-insensitive display and the touch-sensitive display, wherein the cursor moves from the touch-insensitive display to the touch-sensitive display in response to the trackpad input.

16 . The laptop computer defined in claim 15 wherein the trackpad input is used to control the cursor to drag content from the touch-sensitive display to the touch-insensitive display.

17 . The laptop computer defined in claim 15 wherein the trackpad input is used to control the cursor to drag content from the touch-insensitive display to the touch-sensitive display.

18 . The laptop computer defined in claim 15 further comprising a keyboard in the second housing portion that receives keyboard input that is used to type text onto the touch-sensitive display.

19 . The laptop computer defined in claim 15 wherein the control circuitry determines a position of the tablet computer relative to the laptop computer.

20 . The tablet computer defined in claim 10 wherein the laptop computer is configured to display additional content and wherein the trackpad input is used to control the cursor to drag the additional content from the laptop display to the display.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Wang Paul X
• Sun Tianjia
• Zhang Chang
• Mccarthy Dominic P
• Shyr Eric
• Morrell John B
• Ternus John P

Classifications

• H04M1/72412

  using two-way short-range wireless interfaces · CPC title

• G06F1/1662

  Details related to the integrated keyboard · CPC title

• G09G2370/16

  Use of wireless transmission of display information · CPC title

• H04M2250/12

  including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion · CPC title

• G01D5/2412

  by varying overlap · CPC title