Electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9588549-B2
Application number	US-201514629990-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2015
Priority date	Feb 28, 2014
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

Provided is an electronic device with high portability and/or high browsability. The electronic device includes first and second support bodies, a first hinge, and a flexible display panel. The first hinge has a first rotation axis and connects the first and second support bodies to each other, and the first and second support bodies are capable of relatively rotating on the first rotation axis. The display panel includes at least first and second portions supported by the first and second support bodies, respectively; the first rotation axis and a first plane including the display surface overlapping with the first portion or a second plane including the display surface overlapping with the second portion are parallel to each other; and each of a distance between the first rotation axis and the first plane or the second plane is greater than zero.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising a first support body, a second support body, a first hinge, and a display panel,
wherein the display panel comprises a first portion supported by the first support body, a second portion supported by the second support body, and a third portion that is positioned between the first portion and the second portion and has flexibility,
wherein the display panel comprises a display surface overlapping with the first portion, the second portion, and the third portion,
wherein the first hinge has a first rotation axis and has a function of connecting the first support body and the second support body to each other,
wherein the first support body and the second support body have a function of relatively rotating on the first rotation axis,
wherein the first rotation axis and a first plane including the display surface overlapping with the first portion are parallel to each other,
wherein the first rotation axis and a second plane including the display surface overlapping with the second portion are parallel to each other,
wherein a distance between the first plane and the first rotation axis is greater than zero, and
wherein a distance between the second plane and the first rotation axis is greater than zero.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the distance between the first plane and the first rotation axis is greater than or equal to 0 1 mm and less than or equal to 20 mm, and
wherein the distance between the second plane and the first rotation axis is greater than or equal to 0 1 mm and less than or equal to 20 mm.

3. The electronic device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the distance between the first plane and the first rotation axis and the distance between the second plane and the first rotation axis are substantially equal to each other.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first support body and the second support body are capable of relatively rotating on the first rotation axis by an angle greater than 180 degrees from a state where the first support body and the second support body are horizontal.

5. The electronic device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first rotation axis is positioned on a side of the display surface when the first plane and the second plane are identical with each other, and
wherein the display panel is foldable so that the display surface overlapping with the third portion becomes a concave surface.

6. The electronic device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first rotation axis is positioned on a side opposite to the display surface when the first plane and the second plane are identical with each other, and
wherein the display panel is foldable so that the display surface overlapping with the third portion becomes a convex surface.

7. An electronic device comprising a first support body, a second support body, a third support body, a first hinge, a second hinge, and a display panel,
wherein the display panel comprises a first portion supported by the first support body, a second portion supported by the second support body, a third portion that is positioned between the first portion and the second portion and has flexibility, a fourth portion supported by the third support body, and a fifth portion that is positioned between the second portion and the fourth portion and has flexibility,
wherein the display panel comprises a display surface overlapping with the first portion, the second portion, the third portion, the fourth portion, and the fifth portion,
wherein the first hinge has a first rotation axis and has a function of connecting the first support body and the second support body to each other,
wherein the second hinge has a second rotation axis and has a function of connecting the second support body and the third support body to each other,
wherein the first support body and the second support body have a function of relatively rotating on the first rotation axis,
wherein the second support body and the third support body have a function of relatively rotating on the second rotation axis,
wherein the first rotation axis and a first plane including the display surface overlapping with the first portion are parallel to each other,
wherein the first rotation axis and a second plane including the display surface overlapping with the second portion are parallel to each other,
wherein the second rotation axis and a third plane including the display surface overlapping with the fourth portion are parallel to each other,
wherein the second plane and the second rotation axis are parallel to each other,
wherein a distance between the first plane and the first rotation axis is greater than zero,
wherein a distance between the second plane and the first rotation axis is greater than zero,
wherein a distance between the second plane and the second rotation axis is greater than zero, and
wherein a distance between the third plane and the second rotation axis is greater than zero.

8. The electronic device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the distance between the first plane and the first rotation axis is greater than or equal to 0.1 mm and less than or equal to 20 mm,
wherein the distance between the second plane and the first rotation axis is greater than or equal to 0.1 mm and less than or equal to 20 mm,
wherein the distance between the second plane and the second rotation axis is greater than or equal to 0.1 mm and less than or equal to 20 mm, and
wherein the distance between the third plane and the second rotation axis is greater than or equal to 0.1 mm and less than or equal to 20 mm.

9. The electronic device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the distance between the first plane and the first rotation axis and the distance between the second plane and the first rotation axis are substantially equal to each other, and
wherein the distance between the second plane and the second rotation axis and the distance between the third plane and the second rotation axis are substantially equal to each other.

10. The electronic device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the first support body and the second support body are capable of relatively rotating on the first rotation axis by an angle greater than 180 degrees from a state where the first support body and the second support body are horizontal, and
wherein the second support body and the third support body are capable of relatively rotating on the second rotation axis by an angle greater than 180 degrees from a state where the second support body and the third support body are horizontal.

11. The electronic device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the first rotation axis is positioned on a side of the display surface when the first plane and the second plane are identical with each other,
wherein the second rotation axis is positioned on the side of the display surface when the second plane and the third plane are identical with each other,
wherein the display panel is foldable so that the display surface overlapping with the third portion becomes a concave surface, and
wherein the display panel is foldable so that the display surface overlapping with the fifth portion becomes a concave surface.

12. The electronic device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the first rotation axis is positioned on a side opposite to the display surface when the first plane and the second plane are identical with each other,
wherein the second rotation axis is positioned on the side opposite to the display surface when the second plane and the third plane are identical with each other,
wherein the display panel is foldable so that the display surface overlapping with the third p

Assignees

• Semiconductor Energy Lab

Inventors

• Endo Akio
• Onoya Shigeru
• Hiroki Masaaki

Classifications

• H10K59/8722

  Peripheral sealing arrangements, e.g. adhesives, sealants · 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

• G06F1/1618

  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

• G06F3/0412 Primary

  Digitisers structurally integrated in a display · CPC title

• G06F1/1652 Primary

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