Patent Grant
10216227
The present application is the U.S. national phase entry of the international application PCT/CN2016/100490, with an international filing date of Sep. 28, 2016, which claims the benefit of a Chinese Patent Application No. 201511014207.5, filed on Dec. 31, 2015, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to the field of display, in particular to a foldable display device and its control method, and also relates to an electronic apparatus provided with such foldable display devices, such as a mobile phone, a wearable device, a tablet computer and the like with such a foldable display device.
Recently, with the rapid development of the mobile phone market, mobile phones are widely used among consumers. In order to provide aesthetics and visibility of the display, the display screens are becoming larger and larger. Currently, the screens of mobile phones have been increased from 3 inches to 6 inches or even larger. Larger screen can provide better visual experience, however it can also cause other problems, such as:
In addition, generally, the screens used in the wearable devices are small, which is uncomfortable to those accustomed to larger display screens. It is also desired to have larger display screen devices which can be used on wearable devices.
In light of the above problems, the objects of the present disclosure is to provide a foldable display device which can meet the user's requirements of reducing electricity consumption of the screens and realizing larger screen display, and provide an electronic apparatus using such a foldable display device.
The present disclosure provides a foldable display device, comprising:
a first display screen; a second display screen; a third display screen; a first connector connecting the first display screen and the second display screen, and a second connector connecting the second display screen and the third display screen; wherein the second display screen can rotate around the first connector and the third display screen can rotate around the second connector.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the foldable display device can have a first state, a second state and a third state.
In the first state, the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen are connected side by side in sequence by the first connector and the second connector and the respective display surfaces of the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen are arranged in a first plane in sequence.
In the second state, the third display screen can be folded and abutted against the second display screen by means of the second connector so that the display surfaces of the first display screen and the second display screen are arranged in the first plane in sequence and the display surface of the third display screen is facing a direction opposite to the first plane.
In the third state, the second display screen and the third display screen can be folded and overlapped with the first display screen by means of the first connector and the second connector so that the display surface of the third display screen is in the first plane and the display surface of the first display screen and the display surface of the second display screen are overlapped to each other.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the foldable display device has a fourth state. In this state, the display surface of the first display screen is in a first plane, the respective display surfaces of the second display screen and the third display screen are arranged in a second plane in sequence; and the included angle between the first plane and the second plane is larger than 0 degree and smaller than 180 degree.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the foldable display device has a fifth state. In this state, the display surfaces of the first display screen and the second display screen are arranged in the first plane in sequence, the display surface of the third display screen is in a third plane, and the included angle between the first plane and the third plane is larger than 0 degree and smaller than 180 degree.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the foldable display device has a sixth state. In this state, the display surface of the first display screen is in the first plane, the display surface of the second display screen is in a fourth plane, the display surface of the third display screen is in a fifth plane; the included angle between the first plane and the fourth plane is larger than 0 degree and smaller than 180 degree, and the included angle between the fourth plane and the fifth plane is larger than 0 degree and smaller than 180 degree.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the sizes of the display surfaces of the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen are the same.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the sum of the thicknesses of the second display screen and the third display screen is equal to the thickness of the first display screen.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen are independent to each other.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the first connector and the second connector are used to provide signals and power.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the signal lines and power supplies of the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen are independent to each other.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure,
in the first state, the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen operate;
in the second state, the first display screen and the second display screen operate and the third display screen selectively operates or does not operate;
In the third state, only the third display screen operates.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the second connector is provided at the back faces of the third display screen and the second display screen, and the first connector is provided at the side faces or back faces of the first display screen and the second display screen.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the junction between the first display screen and the second display screen and the junction between the second display screen and the third display screen employ frameless designs.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the junction between the first display screen and the second display screen and the junction between the second display screen and the third display screen employ frames whose width is no larger than 1 mm.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, the foldable display device comprises:
a first sensor which is used to sense whether the first connector is in a folded state or in an unfolded state;
a second sensor which is used to sense whether the second connector is in a folded state or in an unfolded state;
a display control module which is used to control whether the first display screen, the second display screen or the third display screen should display according to the sense results of the first sensor and the second sensor.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure,
when the first connector is sensed in the unfolded state by the first sensor and the second connector is sensed in the unfolded state by the second sensor, the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen are controlled to operate by the display control module;
when the first connector is sensed in the unfolded state by the first sensor and the second connector is sensed in the folded state by the second sensor, the first display screen and the second display screen are controlled to operate and the third display screen is selectively controlled to operate or not operate by the display control module;
when the first connector is sensed in the folded state by the first sensor and the second connector is sensed in the folded state by the second sensor, the first display screen and the second display screen are controlled not to operate and only the third display screen is controlled to operate by the display control module.
The present disclosure also provides an apparatus provided with the aforementioned foldable display device. The apparatus of the present disclosure comprises: a foldable device, a mobile phone and a tablet computer.
The present disclosure also provides a method of controlling the above mentioned foldable display device, wherein the control method comprises the following steps:
a first sensing step of sensing whether the first connector is in folded state or unfolded state;
a second sensing step of sensing whether the second connector is in folded state or in unfolded state;
a display control step of controlling whether the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen should display according to the sense results of the first sensing step and the second sensing step.
According to an aspect, when the first connector is sensed in the unfolded state in the first sensing step and the second connector is sensed in the unfolded state in the second sensing step, the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen are controlled to operate in the display control step;
When the first connector is sensed in the unfolded state in the first sensing step and the second connector is sensed in the folded state in the second sensing step, the first display screen and the second display screen are controlled to operate and the third display screen is selectively controlled to operate or not operate in the display control step;
When the first connector is sensed in the folded state in the first sensing step and the second connector is sensed in the folded state in the second sensing step, the first display screen, the second display screen are controlled not to operate and only the third display screen is controlled to operate in the display control step.
According to the present disclosure, the foldable display device is provided for an electronic apparatus such as mobile phone, a wearable device or a tablet computer, which is convenient to carry, has a switchable screen size and a low electricity consumption, and long standby time.
The following will describe some of the embodiments of the present disclosure. The description of these embodiments is to provide basic understanding of the present disclosure but not identify key or decisive elements of the present disclosure nor define the protection scope of the present disclosure.
As shown in
The extended state of the foldable display device represented in the first state shown in
After that, the double folded state represented in the second state in
Then, the triple folded state represented in
In addition to the first state, the second state and the third state shown in
As shown in the fourth state in
As shown in the fifth state in
As shown in the sixth state in
In
The following will describe how to control the display screens of the foldable display device according to the present disclosure.
The foldable display device of the present disclosure further comprises:
a first sensor (not shown) which is used to sense whether the first connector 5 is in a folded state or in an unfolded state;
a second sensor (not shown) which is used to sense whether the second connector 4 is in a folded state or in an unfolded state; and
a display control module (not shown) which is used to control whether the first display screen 1, the second display screen 2 or the third display screen 3 should display according to the sense results of the first sensor and the second sensor.
Specifically, when the first connector 5 is sensed in the unfolded state by the first sensor and the second connector 1 is sensed in the unfolded state by the second sensor, the first display screen 1, the second display screen 2 and the third display screen 3 are controlled to operate by the display control module;
when the first connector 5 is sensed in the unfolded state by the first sensor and the second connector 4 is sensed in the folded state by the second sensor, the first display screen 1 and the second display screen 2 are controlled to operate and the third display screen 3 is selectively controlled to operate or not operate (for example, “do you want to use a back screen?” can be displayed on the first display screen 1 and/or the second display screen 2, and then the user can choose whether the third display screen 3 should operate or not) by the display control module;
when the first connector is sensed in the folded state by the first sensor and the second connector is sensed in the folded state by the second sensor, the first display screen and the second display screen are controlled not to operate and only the third display screen is controlled to operate by the display control module. Furthermore, referring to the fourth state to the sixth state shown in
In another aspect, in order to achieve the double folded state and triple folded state, the sizes of the display screens of the first display screen 1, the second display screen 2 and the third display screen 3 are the same. Furthermore, optionally, the sum of the thicknesses of the second display screen 2 and the third display screen 3 is equal to the thickness of the first display screen 1.
In present disclosure, the first display screen 1, the second display screen 2 and the third display screen 3 are independent to each other. Specifically, the first display screen 1, the second display screen 2 and the third display screen 3 are hinged to each other mechanically but each screen is separate. Respective signal lines and power supplies of the first display screen 1, the second display screen 2 and the third display screen 3 are independent to each other electrically.
Furthermore, in order to optimize the display effects at the junction(s) between the first display screen 1, the second display screen 2 and the third display screen 3 in the extended state or the double folded state when three screens or two screens display together, the junction between the first display screen and the second display screen and the junction between the second display screen and the third display screen employ frame free design or narrow frame design (herein, narrow frame design means the width of the frame is equal to or less than 1 mm). In this way, in the extended state or the double folded state, the junction between the first display screen and the second display screen and the junction between the second display screen and the third display screen can display relatively seamlessly or almost seamlessly, thereby to provide excellent display effects.
As to the first connector 5 and the second connector 4, the second connector 4 is optionally disposed behind the second display screen 2 and the third display screen 3, so that the second connector 4 can be disposed to hinge the third display screen 3 and the second display screen 2 without interfering the display of the display screen. The first connector 5 can be disposed at the back faces of the first display screen 1 and the second display screen 2 without impeding the backwards turning and folding of the third display screen 3. Of course, the first connector 5 can be disposed at the side faces of the first display screen 1 and the second display screen 2. Furthermore, the first connector 5 and the second connector 4 can also be used to provide signals and power.
The following will describe how the foldable display device is applied to a mobile phone.
The foldable display device of the present disclosure shown in
In the second state, i.e., the double folded state, the third display screen 3 can be folded backwards. Then the display surface 1-2 of the first display screen and the display surface 2-2 of the second display screen 2 can constitute a front face display screen, and the display surface 3-2 of the third display screen can constitute a back face display screen. The display surface 1-2 of the first display screen 1 and the display surface 2-2 of the second display screen 2 can work or display together by algorithm coordinating and the display surface 3-2 of the third display screen 3 can selectively operate or not operate. When the display surface 3-2 of the third display screen 3 operates, it can be used as a secondary display at the back face of the mobile phone. When the third display screen 3 does not operate, because only the first display screen 1 and the second display screen operate, the power consumption can be reduced and in this double folded state, the size of the display screen of the device can be reduced by one third, which is convenient to carry.
In the third state, i.e., the triple folded state, the second display screen 2 and the third display screen 3 can be folded down together, using the first connector 5 as a pivot. The display surface 1-2 of the first display screen 1 and the display surface 2-2 of the second display screen are overlapped to each other. The display surface 3-2 of the third display screen 3 can be used as a front face of the display screen of the mobile phone. In this state, the size of the display screen of the mobile phone can be reduced by ⅔ from the first state, which is more convenient to hold and carry. Furthermore, in the triple folded state, the screens of the display surface 1-2 of the first display screen 1 and the display surface 2-2 of the second display screen 2 do not operate, which can reduce the power consumption by 70 percent.
The following will describe a method of controlling the foldable display device. The control method comprises:
a first sensing step of sensing whether the first connector is in folded state or unfolded state;
a second sensing step of sensing whether the second connector is in folded state or in unfolded state;
a display control step of controlling whether the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen should display according to the sense results of the first sensing step and the second sensing step.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, when the first connector is sensed in the unfolded state in the first sensing step and the second connector is sensed in the unfolded state in the second sensing step, the first display screen, the second display screen and the third display screen are controlled to operate in the display control step;
When the first connector is sensed in the unfolded state in the first sensing step and the second connector is sensed in the folded state in the second sensing step, the first display screen and the second display screen are controlled to operate and the third display screen is selectively controlled to operate or not operate in the display control step;
When the first connector is sensed in the folded state in the first sensing step and the second connector is sensed in the folded state in the second sensing step, the first display screen, the second display screen are controlled not to operate and only the third display screen is controlled to operate in the display control step.
The following will describe how the foldable display device of the present disclosure applies to a wearable device.
In
As described above, the present disclosure provides a foldable display device. The foldable display device can be used as screens of an electronic apparatus such as a mobile phone, a wearable device or a tablet computer, which is convenient to carry, has switchable screen sizes and low electricity consumption, and long standby time.
The above examples mainly describe the foldable display device and its control method of the present disclosure. Although some specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described, those skilled in the art can understand that the present disclosure can be implemented in other ways without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the provided examples and embodiments are considered as illustrating instead of limiting. Various modifications and substitutions are covered by the present disclosure without departing from the spirit and scope defined by the claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 1 1014207 | Dec 2015 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2016/100490 | 9/28/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/113916 | 7/6/2017 | WO | A |
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180120901 A1 | May 2018 | US |
