Wearable electronic device including a formable display unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9513665-B2
Application number	US-201314141409-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 26, 2013
Priority date	Dec 26, 2013
Publication date	Dec 6, 2016
Grant date	Dec 6, 2016

Abstract

Particular embodiments described herein provide for a wearable electronic device, such as a bracelet, watch, wristband or armband that includes a circuit board coupled to a plurality of electronic components (which may include any type of components, elements, circuitry, etc.). One particular example implementation of a wearable electronic device may include a strap portion and a display portion that is secured to the strap portion. The display portion can include a formable display unit that comprises a formable material layer configured to be manipulated in one or more directions. The formable material layer can be configured to be manipulated in a first direction from a default position to a deformed position, which can be held until the formable material layer is manipulated in a second direction back to the default position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A wearable electronic device, comprising:
a strap portion;
a display portion that is secured to the strap portion, wherein the display portion includes a formable display unit that comprises a formable material layer configured to be manipulated in one or more directions; and
a memory to store coordinate data associated with a plurality of interactions that correspond to a design to be created for the formable display unit using the formable material layer.

2. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the formable material layer is configured to be manipulated in a first direction from a first position to a second position for the design, which can be held until the formable material layer is manipulated in a second direction back to the first position.

3. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the formable material layer comprises one of:
a shape memory alloy;
a shape memory polymer; and
a ferrofluid.

4. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the formable display unit further comprises a control layer including a plurality of control elements configured to manipulate the formable material layer in one or more directions for the design.

5. The wearable electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the plurality of control elements are organized in an array on the control layer and include at least one of:
a plurality of micro actuators; and
a plurality of micro electromagnetic solenoids.

6. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the formable display unit further comprises:
a first insulating layer configured over the formable material layer;
a second insulating layer configured beneath the formable material layer; and
a control layer configured beneath the second insulating layer, the control layer including a plurality of control elements.

7. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
logic to receive the coordinate data for the plurality of interactions that correspond to the design that are registered by a motion input element and to manipulate, based on the coordinate data, the formable material layer in one or more directions for the design using a plurality of control elements in a control layer of the formable display unit.

8. The wearable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a secondary display portion including a touch screen.

9. A formable display unit, comprising:
a formable material layer configured to be manipulated in one or more directions;
a first insulating layer configured over the formable material layer;
a second insulating layer configured beneath the formable material layer;
a control layer configured beneath the second insulating layer, the control layer including a plurality of control elements; and
a memory to store coordinate data associated with a plurality of interactions that correspond to a design to be created for the formable display unit using the formable material layer.

10. The formable display unit of claim 9 , wherein the formable material layer is configured to be manipulated in a first direction from a first position to a second position for the design, which can be held until the formable material layer is manipulated in a second direction back to the first position.

11. The formable display unit of claim 10 , wherein the formable material layer is manipulated in the first direction by one or more of the plurality of control elements and is manipulated in the second direction by providing a current to the formable material layer from a current source.

12. The formable display unit of claim 11 , wherein the formable material layer is a ferrofluid, which is manipulated the first direction and the second direction by one or more of the plurality of control elements.

13. The formable display unit of claim 9 , wherein the formable material layer comprises one of:
a shape memory alloy;
a shape memory polymer; and
a ferrofluid.

14. The formable display unit of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of control elements are organized in an X-Y array on the control layer and include at least one of:
a plurality of micro actuators; and
a plurality of micro electromagnetic solenoids.

15. At least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:
determine coordinate data for a plurality of interactions with a formable display unit, wherein the coordinate data corresponds to a design to be created for the formable display unit;
store the coordinate data and
manipulate, based on the coordinate data, a formable material layer of the formable display unit in one or more directions to create the design for the formable display unit using the formable material layer.

16. The medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:
cause one or more control elements to manipulate, based on the coordinate data, the formable material layer in a first direction from a first position to a second position to create the design for the formable display unit.

17. The medium of claim 16 , further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:
cause a current to be supplied the formable material layer to manipulate the formable material layer in a second direction from the second position back to the first position.

18. The medium of claim 15 , wherein the coordinate data includes an ordered sequence of coordinates that correspond to an order that the plurality of interactions were performed.

19. The medium of claim 18 , further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:
cause one or more control elements to manipulate, based on the ordered sequence of coordinates, the formable material layer in a first direction from a first position to a second position for the design.

20. The medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to:
communicate the coordinate data to another electronic device using wireless communication circuitry.

21. A method comprising:
determining coordinate data for a plurality of interactions with a formable display unit, wherein the coordinate data corresponds to a design to be created for the formable display unit;
storing the coordinate data; and
manipulating, based on the coordinate data, a formable material layer of the formable display unit in one or more directions to create the design for the formable display unit using the formable material layer.

22. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:
manipulating, based on the coordinate data, the formable material layer in a first direction from a first position to a second position using one or more control elements to create the design for the formable display unit.

23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:
manipulating the formable material layer in a second direction from the second position back to the first position by supplying a current to the formable material layer.

24. The method of claim 21 , further comprising:
communicating the coordinate data to another electronic device using wireless communication circuitry.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein the formable material layer comprises one of:
a shape memory alloy;
a shape memory polymer; and
a ferrofluid.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Magi Aleksander

Classifications

• G06F1/163 Primary

  Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt · CPC title

• G06F3/0412

  Digitisers structurally integrated in a display · 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

• G06F1/1652

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

• G06F3/016

  Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user · CPC title