Foldable display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9844251-B2
Application number	US-201414519276-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 21, 2014
Priority date	Jun 18, 2014
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

A foldable display device includes a shell. The shell has an expanding state and a folding state. A first direction and a second direction are defined to be orthogonal. When the shell is at the expanding state, the shell has a first length L1 along the first direction and a second length L2 along the second direction. The ratio of the first length L1 to the second length L2 is between 1.3 and 2. When the shell is at the folding state, the shell has a third length L3 along the second direction and a fourth length L4 along the first direction. The ratio of the third length L3 to the fourth length L4 is also between 1.3 and 2.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A foldable display device, comprising:
a shell having an expanding state and a folding state, and comprising a first shell and a second shell, wherein the second shell is pivoted on the first shell for rotating around a rotating axis relative to the first shell so as to have an expanding position corresponding to the expanding state and a folding position corresponding to the folding state, and the first shell has an accommodating slot, and
a flexible display having a main body section and an expandable section which are connected to each other, the first shell having a first surface covered by the main body section and a second surface opposite to the first surface, and the accommodating slot being located at the second surface;
wherein, a first direction and a second direction are defined to be orthogonal, and the second direction is parallel to the rotating axis; when the shell is at the expanding state, the shell has a first length L1 along the first direction and a second length L2 along the second direction, the ratio of the first length L1 to the second length L2 is between 1.3 and 2; when the shell is at the folding state, the shell has a third length L3 along the second direction and a fourth length L4 along the first direction, and the ratio of the third length L3 to the fourth length L4 is also between 1.3 and 2;
wherein when the second shell is located at the expanding position, the expandable section is adapted to move relative to the first shell and cover parts of the first surface; the main body section is assembled with the second shell, the expandable section is movably assembled with the first shell;
when the second shell is located at the folding position, the expandable section is disposed in the accommodating slot; when the second shell is located at the expanding position, the flexible display is stretched by the first shell and the second shell, such that the expandable section moves outward from the accommodating slot; and
when the second shell is located at the expanding position, the flexible display has a fifth length L5 along the second direction, the main body section has a sixth length L6 and the expandable section has a seventh length L7 both along the first direction, the foldable display device has a thickness T, and the folding display device satisfies the following condition:
if L5:(L6+L7)=1:α, then L7≧(α−2/α)−T.

2. The foldable display device according to claim 1 , further comprising a parallel linkage mechanism comprising a first short rod, a first long rod, a second short rod and a second long rod, wherein the first short rod is parallel to the first long rod, the second short rod is parallel to the second long rod, both an end of the first short rod and an end of the first long rod pivot on the first shell respectively, both an end of the second short rod and an end of the second long rod pivot on the second shell respectively, the other end of the first short rod pivots on the other end of the second long rod, the other end of the second short rod pivots on the other end of the first long rod, and a middle section of the first long rod pivots on a middle section of the second long rod.

3. The foldable display device according to claim 2 , wherein the first long rod and the first shell are jointed at a first pivot point, the second long rod and the second shell are jointed at a second pivot point, the first long rod and the second long rod are jointed at a third pivot point, a distance between the first pivot point and the third pivot point plus a distance between the second pivot point and the third pivot point equals to the seventh length L7 plus a total thickness of the first shell and the second shell.

4. The foldable display device according to claim 1 , further comprising an elastic component with two ends opposite to each other and affixed to the first shell and the expandable section respectively, when the second shell is located at the expanding position, the expandable section is adapted to move outward from the accommodating slot to cause the elastic component to be elastically deformed so as to store an elastic potential energy, and when the second shell is located at the folding position, the elastic potential energy is released so as to drive the expandable section to move backward to and be disposed in the accommodating slot.

5. The foldable display device according to claim 4 , further comprising a connecting part connected to and located between the elastic component and the expandable section.

6. The foldable display device according to claim 1 wherein the flexible display has a display surface with an area including the main body section and the expandable section.

Assignees

• Au Optronics Corp

Inventors

• Lin Po-Yang
• Tu Chia-Hsun
• Hwu Keh-Long

Classifications

• A45C13/004 Primary

  Expanding devices for display purposes, e.g. filler for soft luggage · CPC title

• G06F1/1641

  the display being formed by a plurality of foldable display components (G06F1/1647 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F1/1652

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

• G06F1/1615

  with several enclosures having relative motions, each enclosure supporting at least one I/O or computing function (constructional details of portable telephones comprising a plurality of mechanically joined movable body parts H04M1/0206) · CPC title

• A45C11/00

  Receptacles for purposes not provided for in groups A45C1/00-A45C9/00 (specially adapted for toiletry or cosmetic equipment A45D29/20, A45D44/18; travelling sewing kits A45F3/48) · CPC title