Electronic devices having complementary dual displays

• US 20080072163A1
• Filed: 02/05/2007
• Published: 03/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Spring Design, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Spring Design
• Inventors: Teng, Albert, Yuan, Jack
• Granted Patent: US 7,990,338 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/761
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1618 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 Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1649 the additional display being independently orientable, e.g. for presenting information to a second user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1654 the display being detachable, e.g. for remote use
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1671 Special purpose buttons or auxiliary keyboards, e.g. retractable mini keypads, keypads or buttons that remain accessible at closed laptop G06F1/1666 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1634 Integrated protective display lid, e.g. for touch-sensitive display in handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1431 using a single graphics controller
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/06 Use of more than one graphics processor to process data before displaying to one or more screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/344 based on particles moving in a fluid or in a gas, e.g. electrophoretic devices electrophoretic devices per se G02F1/167
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/363 Graphics controllers
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/395 Arrangements specially adapted for transferring the contents of the bit-mapped memory to the screen G09G5/399 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/16 including more than one display unit

Abstract

Electronic devices having complementary dual displays are presented, the electronic devices including: a first display, wherein the first display is a refresh-based, high frame rate display; a first display controller for outputting an internal video signal to the first display; a second display, wherein the second display is a bistable, low frame rate display; and a second display controller for outputting the internal video signal to the second display. In some embodiments, the devices further include: a number of user input interfaces for receiving a user input, wherein the number of user input interfaces are configured to control the second display; and a user input controller for generating a control signal based on the user input, the user input controller in electronic communication with the number of user input interfaces and a processing unit of the electronic device.

Claims

1. An electronic device having complementary dual displays, the electronic device comprising:

a first display, wherein the first display is a refresh-based, high frame rate display;

a first display controller for outputting an internal video signal to the first display;

a second display, wherein the second display is a bistable, low frame rate display; and

a second display controller for outputting the internal video signal to the second display.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising:

a plurality of user input interfaces for receiving a user input, wherein the plurality of user input interfaces are configured to control the second display; and

a user input controller for generating a control signal based on the user input, the user input controller in electronic communication with the plurality of user input interfaces and a processing unit of the electronic device.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the second display controller further includes a frame buffer for storing a number of frames for display on the second display.

4. The electronic device of claim 3 wherein number of frames stored is in the range of approximately 5 to 10 frames.

5. The electronic device of claim 3 wherein number of frames stored is greater than approximately 10 frames.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the first display is selected from the group consisting of:

an LCD display, a CRT display, and LED display, a PLED display, an OLED display, and a plasma display.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the first display is configured with a first screen resolution of up to approximately 600 pixels per inch (PPI).

8. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the first display is configured with a first resolution in the range of approximately 90 to 230 PPI.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the first display is configured to refresh at a rate up to approximately 30 frames-per-second (fps).

10. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the first display is configured to refresh at a rate in a range of approximately 10 to 120 fps.

11. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the second display is an electronic paper display (EPD).

12. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the second display is configured with a second screen resolution of at least approximately 100 dots per inch (DPI).

13. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the second display is configured to refresh at rate of up to approximately 10 fps.

14. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the second display is configured to refresh at a user selectable rate in a range of approximately less than 1 to 2.5 fps.

15. The electronic device of claim 2 wherein the control signal is selected from the group consisting of:

pan, flip, wipe, clean, restore, page up, page down, search, migrate, and zoom.

16. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the first display is configured to power down after a time interval when the second display is powered up.

17. The electronic device of claim 16 wherein time interval is in a range of approximately 1 to 10 seconds.

18. The electronic device of claim 16 wherein the time interval is in the range of approximately 11 to 60 seconds

19. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the electronic device is selected from the group consisting of:

a personal digital assistant, a cellular phone, a portable computing device, a computer, a video camera, a digital media player, a digital game player, an electronic textbook, and a GPS device.

20. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising:

a third display, wherein the third display is a bistable, low frame rate display; and

a third display controller for outputting the internal video signal to the third display.

21. The electronic device of claim 1 wherein the second display is configured to operate with a second electronic device, the second electronic device comprising:

a fourth display, wherein the fourth display is a refresh-based, high frame rate display;

a fourth display controller for outputting an internal video signal to the fourth display; and

an additional second display controller for outputting the internal video signal to the second display.

22. An electronic device having complementary dual displays, the electronic device comprising:

first display means, wherein the first display means is a refresh-based, high frame rate display;

first display controller means for outputting an internal video signal to the first display means;

second display means, wherein the second display means is a bistable, low frame rate display;

second display controller means for outputting the internal video signal to the second display means, wherein the second display controller means includes a frame buffer for storing a number of frames for display on the second display means;

plurality of user input interface means for receiving a user input, wherein the plurality of user input interface means are configured to control the second display means; and

user input controller means for generating a control signal based on the user input, the user input controller means in electronic communication with the plurality of user input interface means and processing means of the electronic device.

23. The electronic device of claim 22 further comprising:

third display means, wherein the third display means is a bistable, low frame rate display; and

third display controller means for outputting the internal video signal to the third display means.

24. An external display device for use as a complementary display with an electronic device, the electronic device having a first display, the external display device comprising:

an external display, wherein the external display is a bistable, low frame rate display, wherein the external display is configured to operate substantially simultaneous with the first display, and wherein the external display is further configured to operate independently of the electronic device;

an external display controller for outputting a video signal to the external display;

a frame buffer for storing a number of frames for display on the external display;

a connection interface for electronically connecting the external display with the electronic device;

a plurality of user input interfaces for receiving a user input, wherein the plurality of user input interfaces are configured to provide control for the external display;

a user input controller for generating a control signal based on the user input, the user input controller in electronic communication with the plurality of user input interfaces; and

a power supply for providing power when the external display device is not connected with the electronic device.

25. The external display device of claim 24 further comprising:

a processing unit for providing computing functions for the device and for processing the control signal;

a random access memory (RAM) storage device for providing volatile storage for the processing unit; and

a flash memory storage device for providing non-volatile storage for the processing unit.

26. The external display device of claim 25 wherein the frame buffer is configured to utilize the RAM storage device for storing the number of frames

27. The external display device of claim 25 wherein the frame buffer is configured to utilize the flash memory storage device for storing the number of frames

28. The external display device of claim 24 wherein the connection interface is a wired connection selected from the group consisting of:

PCMCIA, SDIO, USB, Serial, and DVI.

29. The external display device of claim 24 wherein the connection interface is a wireless connection selected from the group consisting of:

Bluetooth, 802.11a, 801.11b, 802.11g, 2.4 GHz wireless, IR wireless, and ultra wide band.

30. The external display device of claim 24 wherein the external display includes an electronic paper device (EPD).

31. The external display device of claim 24 wherein the external display is configured with a screen resolution of at least approximately 100 DPI.

32. The external display device of claim 24 wherein the second display is configured to refresh at rate of up to approximately 10 fps.

33. The external display device of claim 24 wherein the second display is configured to refresh at a user selectable rate in a range of approximately less than 1 to 2.5 fps.

34. The external display device of claim 25 wherein the control signal is selected from the group consisting of:

pan, wipe, clean, restore, page up, page down, search, migrate, and zoom.

35. The external display device of claim 24 wherein the electronic device is selected from the group consisting of:

a personal digital assistant, a cellular phone, a portable computing device, a computer, a video camera, a digital media player, a digital game player, an electronic textbook, an ultra mobile personal computing device, and a GPS device.

36. The external display device of claim 35 wherein the external display device further comprises:

an audio controller for providing audio playback; and

an audio interface for connecting with an audio listening device.

37. The external display device of claim 35 where the external display device further comprises:

a second display, wherein the second display is a refresh-based, high frame rate (REHF) display; and

a second display controller for outputting the video signal to the second display.

38. The external display device of claim 37 further comprising a control signal configured to select one of the first display and the second display for use as a complimentary display.