Multidisplay portable device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9274552-B2
Application number	US-201113279773-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2011
Priority date	Dec 9, 2010
Publication date	Mar 1, 2016
Grant date	Mar 1, 2016

Abstract

Provided is a portable communication device including a first housing, a second housing rotatably coupled with the first housing, and a hinge portion provided between the first housing and the second housing to stepwise rotate the second housing toward or away from the first housing, in which display units are disposed on inner and outer sides of the first housing and the second housing, respectively, such that the display units on the inner and outer surfaces of the housings may be used independently or in conjunction to provide for larger display screens.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A portable communication device comprising:
a first housing;
a second housing rotatably coupled with the first housing; and
a hinge portion provided between the first housing and the second housing to stepwise rotate the second housing with respect to the first housing, wherein rotation of the first housing and the second housing occurs around a first hinge axis or a second hinge axis;
a pair of gear hinge housings, each one gear hinge housing respectively arranged longitudinally at an opposite ends of the first housing and second housing, in which each one gear hinge housing is axially aligned with a respective first gear shaft, a second gear shaft, a hinge cam, and a plurality of elastic members, and each one housing completely receives the first gear shaft, the second gear shaft, the hinge cam and the plurality of elastic members;
wherein display units are disposed on outer sides of the first housing and the second housing, respectively, said display units operating separately or in conjunction to form a single large screen,
wherein the hinge portion comprises a first hinge portion positioned on one end of the first housing and the second housing, and a second hinge portion positioned on another end of the first housing and the second housing, and
wherein the display units are disposed between the first hinge portion and the second hinge portion,
and
wherein a space is comprised between a pair of gear hinge housings,
input/output devices and at least one of a speaker device, a microphone device, a camera module, and a battery pack are disposed in the space, and
the input/output devices comprise at least one of a display unit, a touch screen, a keypad, a keyboard, a navigation key, and QWERTY keys.

2. The portable communication device of claim 1 , wherein input/output devices are disposed on inner sides of the first housing and the second housing.

3. A portable communication device comprising: a first housing comprising a first display unit and a second display unit provided on an outer side and an inner side, respectively, of the first housing; a second housing comprising a third display unit and a fourth display unit provided on one of an inner side and an outer side, respectively, of the second housing and a hinge portion provided between the first housing and the second housing to stepwise rotate the second housing with respect to the first housing wherein rotation of the first housing and the second housing occurs around a first hinge axis and a second hinge axis, a pair of gear hinge housings, each one gear hinge housing respectively arranged longitudinally at an opposite end of the first housing and second housing, in which each one gear hinge housing is axially aligned with a respective first gear shaft, a second gear shaft, a hinge cam, and a plurality of elastic members, and each one housing completely receives the first gear shaft, the second gear shaft, the hinge cam and the plurality of elastic members; wherein the hinge portion comprises a first hinge portion positioned on one end of the first housing and the second housing, and a second hinge portion positioned on another end of the first housing and the second housing, and wherein the first display unit and the third display unit and/or the second display unit and the fourth display unit are disposed between the first hinge portion and the second hinge portion, wherein the first housing and the second housing, when in a closed state show the first display unit and the fourth display unit provided on the outer sides of the first housing and the second housing, respectively, the first housing and the second housing, when in an open state show the first display unit, the second display unit, the third display unit, and the fourth display unit, the first display unit and the fourth display unit, and the third display unit, and the second display unit being positioned in parallel, and the first housing and the second housing, when rotated to a position between the open state and the closed state selectively show the first display unit and the fourth display unit or the second display unit and the third display unit, and wherein the first housing and the second housing comprises a space between the first hinge portion and the second hinge portion; input/output devices and at least one of a speaker device, a microphone device, a camera module, and a battery pack are disposed in the space, and the input/output devices comprise at least one of a display unit, a touch screen, a keypad, a keyboard, a navigation key, and QWERTY keys.

4. The portable communication device of claim 3 , wherein the first display unit and the fourth display unit are provided on the outer sides of the first housing and the second housing, respectively.

5. The portable communication device of claim 3 , wherein the second display unit and the third display unit are provided on the inner sides of the first housing and the second housing, respectively.

6. The portable communication device of claim 3 , wherein the first display unit and the fourth display unit are provided on the outer sides of the first housing and the second housing, respectively, the second display unit is provided on the inner side of the first housing.

7. The portable communication device of claim 3 , wherein the second display unit and the third display unit are provided on the inner sides of the first housing and the second housing, respectively, the first display unit is provided on the outer side of the first housing.

8. The portable communication device of claim 3 , wherein the first display unit, the second display unit, the third display unit, and the fourth display unit comprise at least one of: touch screens or input/output devices.

9. The portable communication device of claim 3 , wherein the first display unit and the fourth display unit, and the second display unit and the third display unit are used together as a large-size screen.

10. The portable communication device of claim 3 , wherein
the first display unit and the fourth display unit display a same screen or different screens, and the second display unit and the third display unit display the same screen or different screens.

11. The portable communication device of claim 3 , wherein the first housing and the second housing comprise a plurality of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) and a plurality of battery packs which are selectively disposed on the first housing and the second housing.

12. The portable communication device of claim 3 , wherein the hinge portion comprises a dual-axis hinge portion that provides the first hinge axis and the second hinge axis on both sides of the first housing and the second housing to rotate the second housing with respect to the first housing.

13. The portable communication device of claim 12 , wherein the dual-axis hinge portion comprises:
the first gear shaft comprising a first gear portion and a first gear cam, the first gear shaft being engaged with a first hinge connection portion connected with the first housing;
the second gear shaft comprising a second gear portion rotatably engaged with the first gear portion, and a second gear cam, the second gear shaft being engaged with a second hinge connection portion connected with the second housing;
the hinge cam is coupled with the first gear shaft and the second gear shaft by allowing the first gear shaft and the second gear shaft to pass therethrough, to correspond to the first gear cam and the second gear cam of the first gear shaft and the second gear shaft;
the elastic members are coupled with the first gear shaft and the second gear shaft wherein the first gear shaft and the se

Assignees

• Ahn Sung-Ho
• Park Ji-Hoon
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ahn Sung-Ho
• Park Ji-Hoon

Classifications

• G06F1/1615

  with several enclosures having relative motions, each enclosure supporting at least one I/O or computing function (constructional details of portable telephones comprising a plurality of mechanically joined movable body parts H04M1/0206) · CPC title

• G06F1/1618

  the display being foldable up to the back of the other housing with a single degree of freedom, e.g. by 360° rotation over the axis defined by the rear edge of the base enclosure · 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

• G06F1/1641 Primary

  the display being formed by a plurality of foldable display components (G06F1/1647 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F1/1616 Primary

  with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position · CPC title