Apparatus having a flexible display and method of controlling the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9350836-B2
Application number	US-201414157261-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 16, 2014
Priority date	Jun 23, 2011
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A mobile terminal including a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other terminal; a flexible display; at least one sensor arranged in a prescribed form on the flexible display and configured to convert a flex state of the flexible display into an electric signal; and a controller configured to determine the flex state of the flexible display using the electric signal input from the at least one sensor, and control a visual effect corresponding to the determined flex state and output the visual effect on the flexible display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobile terminal comprising:
a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with at least one other terminal;
a flexible display;
at least one sensor configured to sense a flex state of the flexible display; and
a controller configured to:
control the flexible display to display an indicator region at a specific side of the flexible display,
control the at least one sensor to sense the flex state of the flexible display, the flex state including a flex extent of the flexible display, and
control the flexible display to display a graphic indicating the sensed flex extent within the indicator region,
wherein both a battery indicator and the graphic indicating the sensed flex extent are displayed together within the indicator region, and
wherein the graphic indicating the sensed flex extent indicates a degree or an amount of how much the flexible display is flexed.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the graphic is displayed as a gauge bar which increases in proportion to the sensed flex extent.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the graphic is colored differently in accordance with the sensed flex extent.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the flex state further includes a flex direction of the flexible display.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 4 , wherein the graphic is displayed to indicate the sensed flex direction.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 5 , wherein the graphic indicating the sensed flex direction has a different color in accordance with the sensed flex extent.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 5 , wherein the sensed flex direction is indicated by bending the graphic in accordance with the sensed flex direction.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 7 , wherein the bent graphic is colored with one of at least two different colors which is selected in accordance with the sensed flex extent.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 5 , wherein the graphic is displayed as a combination of at least two of a gauge bar increasing in proportion to the sensed flex extent, a diagram indicating the sensed flex direction, a color indicating the sensed flex extent, and a numeral indicating the sensed flex extent.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the graphic is displayed as a numeral.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to display a popup window on the flexible display when the flexed extent reaches a preset limit range.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor is attached to the flexible display.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to display no user graphic on a first region in the flexible display flexed to exceed a preset reference, and display no user graphic on a second region blocked by the flexed first region in the flexible display, while displaying a user graphic in a portion of the rest region in the flexible display except the first region and second region.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
determine an available region in the flexible display using the determined flex state,
determine an optimal display layout in accordance with a size and shape of the available region, and
display a function list including at least one function suitable for the determined optimal display layout on the flexible display.

15. A method of controlling a mobile terminal, the method comprising:
allowing, via a wireless communication unit of the mobile terminal, wireless communication with at least one other terminal;
controlling, via a controller of the mobile terminal, a flexible display of the mobile terminal to display an indicator region at a specific side of the flexible display,
controlling, via the controller, at least one sensor attached to the flexible display to sense a flex state of the flexible display, the flex state including a flex extent of the flexible display, and
controlling, via the controller, the flexible display to display a graphic indicating the sensed flex extent within the indicator region,
wherein both a battery indicator and the graphic indicating the sensed flex extent are displayed together within the indicator region, and
wherein the graphic indicating the sensed flex extent indicates a degree or an amount of how much the flexible display is flexed.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
displaying no user graphic on a first region in the flexible display flexed to exceed a preset reference, and displaying no user graphic on a second region blocked by the flexed first region in the flexible display, while displaying a user graphic in a portion of the rest region in the flexible display except the first region and second region.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
determining an available region in the flexible display using the determined flex state;
determining an optimal display layout in accordance with a size and shape of the available region; and
displaying a function list including at least one function suitable for the determined optimal display layout on the flexible display.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Song Hochan

Classifications

• H04M1/0268 Primary

  including a flexible display panel · CPC title

• G06F1/169

  the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes (G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033) · CPC title

• H04M1/72563

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G06F1/1652 Primary

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

• H04M2250/12

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