Portable electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9829924-B2
Application number	US-201514689110-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 17, 2015
Priority date	Sep 5, 2014
Publication date	Nov 28, 2017
Grant date	Nov 28, 2017

Abstract

A portable electronic device including a flexible display unit; an elastically-deformable supporting member disposed below the flexible display unit and configured to be deformed together with the flexible display unit; a pressing member disposed below the supporting member and configured to change shape; and a controller electrically-connected to the pressing member and configured to control the pressing member to change shape and press against the pressing member to deform the supporting member together with the flexible display unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A portable electronic device, comprising:
a flexible display unit;
an elastically-deformable supporting member disposed below the flexible display unit and configured to be deformed together with the flexible display unit;
a pressing member disposed below the supporting member and configured to change shape; and
a flexible printed circuit board disposed below the flexible display unit and the pressing member, the flexible printed circuit board being spaced from the pressing member in a direction parallel to the flexible display unit,
wherein the flexible printed circuit board is electrically-connected to the pressing member and configured to control the pressing member to press against the supporting member to deform the supporting member together with the flexible display unit.

2. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the supporting member comprises:
a metallic plate; and
a plurality of slits disposed on one surface of the metallic plate.

3. The portable electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the plurality of slits form repeated patterns on the one surface of the metallic plate.

4. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the supporting member includes at least first and second supporting members, and
wherein the first and second supporting members overlap each other with the pressing member therebetween.

5. The portable electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the first supporting member includes a material having a lower rigidity than the second supporting member.

6. The portable electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the first supporting member includes slits of a first preset pattern, and the second supporting member includes slits of a second preset pattern different from the first preset pattern.

7. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the pressing member includes a shape memory alloy configured to return to an original shape at a specific temperature.

8. The portable electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the flexible printed circuit board is further configured to:
apply a current supply to the pressing member and change a first temperature of the pressing member to a second temperature and thus change the shape of the pressing member into a convex shape from a flat shape.

9. The portable electronic device of claim 8 , wherein the pressing member is further configured to change from the convex shape to the flat shape based on radiation of the second temperature changing back to the first temperature.

10. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a sensing unit configured to activate when at least part of the flexible display unit is deformed from a flat shape to a convex shape, and sense a push input applied to the flexible display unit in the convex shape.

11. The portable electronic device of claim 10 , wherein the pressing member is further configured to return to a flat shape from the convex shape based on the push input.

12. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the pressing member includes a second layer laminated on a first layer and configured to bend when heated, and
wherein the second layer includes a material having a different thermal expansion coefficient from that of the first layer.

13. The portable electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the second layer has a lower thermal expansion coefficient than the first layer, so as to be deformed to a convex shape from a flat shape when the flexible printed circuit board supplies a current to the pressing member to change a first temperature of the pressing member into a second temperature.

14. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a radiating sheet disposed on a surface of the pressing member and configured to radiate heat generated in the pressing member.

15. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the pressing member includes first and second pressing members, and the supporting member includes first and second supporting members, and
wherein the first supporting member is disposed below the flexible display unit, the first pressing member is disposed below the first supporting member, the second supporting member is disposed below the first pressing member, and the second pressing member is disposed below the second supporting member.

16. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the supporting member includes first and second supporting members, and
wherein the first supporting member is disposed below the flexible display unit, the pressing member is disposed below the first supporting member, and the second supporting member is disposed below the pressing member.

17. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the pressing member includes first and second pressing members, and the supporting member includes first and second supporting members, and
wherein the first pressing member is disposed below the flexible display unit, the first supporting member is disposed below the first pressing member, the second pressing member is disposed below the first supporting member, and the second supporting member is disposed below the second pressing member.

18. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the pressing member includes first and second pressing members, and the supporting member includes first and second supporting members, and
wherein the first supporting member is disposed below the flexible display unit, the first pressing member is disposed below the first supporting member, the second pressing member is disposed below the first pressing member, and the second supporting member is disposed below the second pressing member.

19. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a locking module configured to lock the changed shape of the flexible display unit.

20. The portable electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the pressing member includes a plurality of shape memory alloy members spaced from each other in a direction parallel to the flexible display unit, and
wherein the flexible printed circuit board is further configured to individual control the plurality of shape memory alloy members.

Assignees

• Lg Electronics Inc

Inventors

• Shin Choonghwan
• Lee Byunghwa
• Kim Samsick
• Yu Donghwan
• Lee Seojin

Classifications

• H04M1/0268

  including a flexible display panel · CPC title

• G06F1/1652 Primary

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

• G06F1/1656

  Details related to functional adaptations of the enclosure, e.g. to provide protection against EMI, shock, water, or to host detachable peripherals like a mouse or removable expansions units like PCMCIA cards, or to provide access to internal components for maintenance or to removable storage supports like CDs or DVDs, or to mechanically mount accessories (mounting of accessories to a computer display G06F1/1607; display hoods G06F1/1603; cooling arrangements for portable computers G06F1/203) · CPC title

• G06F1/3206

  Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality · CPC title

• G02F1/133305

  Flexible substrates, e.g. plastics, organic film · CPC title