Mobile electronic device with an adaptively responsive flexible display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9684341-B2
Application number	US-201615132030-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 18, 2016
Priority date	Aug 4, 2008
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

A mobile electronic device having a flexible display device is disclosed. A request to retrieve information from a server over a wireless network is triggered based on flexing the flexible display device and other gestures.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating an electronic device, wherein the electronic device includes a flexible display and a plurality of sensors configured to detect bending of the flexible display, and wherein the flexible display is configured to be bent from a first shape with a first size to a second shape with a second size that is different than the first size, the method comprising:
displaying an image with the flexible display while the electronic device has the first shape;
with the plurality of sensors, detecting that the flexible display has been bent from the first shape to the second shape; and
in response to detecting that the flexible display has been bent into the second shape, resizing the image to fit the second shape.

2. The method defined in claim 1 , wherein the first shape comprises a first predetermined shape and wherein the second shape comprises a second predetermined shape.

3. The method defined in claim 1 , wherein the electronic device comprises an additional flexible display, and wherein the flexible display overlaps the additional flexible display.

4. The method defined in claim 3 , wherein the electronic device comprises an additional sensor configured to detect rotation of the electronic device, the method further comprising:
in response to the additional sensor detecting rotation of the electronic device, turning off the flexible display.

5. The method defined in claim 4 , further comprising:
in response to the additional sensor detecting rotation of the electronic device and after turning off the flexible display, displaying an image on the additional flexible display.

6. An electronic device comprising:
a flexible display;
a plurality of sensors configured to detect folding of the flexible display; and
circuitry configured to trigger an action in the electronic device in response to the plurality of sensors determining that the flexible display is folded into a given shape, wherein determining that the flexible display is folded into the given shape comprises determining that the flexible display is bent so that a first part of the flexible display covers a second part of the flexible display.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 , wherein the action comprises modifying an image displayed by the flexible display.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 6 , wherein the action comprises turning off the flexible display.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 6 , wherein triggering the action in the electronic device in response to the plurality of sensors determining that the flexible display is folded into the given shape comprises turning off the flexible display in response to the plurality of sensors determining that the flexible display is folded into the given shape.

10. An electronic device comprising:
a flexible display;
a plurality of sensors configured to detect folding of the flexible display; and
circuitry configured to trigger an action in the electronic device in response to the plurality of sensors determining that the flexible display is folded into a given shape, wherein triggering the action in the electronic device in response to the plurality of sensors determining that the flexible display is folded into the given shape comprises resizing an image displayed on the flexible display to fit the given shape in response to the plurality of sensors determining that the flexible display is folded into the given shape.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Vartanian Harry

Classifications

• H04M1/0268

  including a flexible display panel · CPC title

• H04W4/02 Primary

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04W4/12

  Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements · CPC title

• G09G2370/16

  Use of wireless transmission of display information · CPC title

• H04W4/14

  Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD] · CPC title