ELECTRONIC DEVICES WITH A PRIMARY DISPLAY AND A SELECTIVELY ILLUMINATED SECONDARY DISPLAY

• US 20110080348A1
• Filed: 10/01/2009
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Lin, Gloria, Dasgupta, Saumitro, Nakajima, Taido, Germansderfer, Bruno, Hodge, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US12/572,222
• Publication Number:
  US 20110080348A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• 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 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/041 Temperature compensation
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/06 Adjustment of display parameters
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/08 Arrangements within a display terminal for setting, manually or automatically, display parameters of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/20 for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters

Abstract

Systems and methods for selectively illuminating a secondary display are provided. An electronic device can include a primary display (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen) and a printed segmented electroluminescence (secondary) display. The primary display can be used to convey visual content to a user, and the secondary display can be used to guide a user providing inputs to the device. For example, the secondary display can be selectively illuminated to provide one or more indicators that represent where or how a user can provide inputs to the device.

Claims

1. An electronic device comprising:

a housing;

a processor disposed within the housing;

an input interface electrically coupled with the processor;

a primary display electrically coupled with the processor and having a periphery; and

a secondary display electrically coupled with the processor and disposed around at least a portion of the periphery of the primary display, wherein the processor is operative to;

determine a condition of the electronic device; and

direct the secondary display to illuminate a region adjacent to the input interface based at least on the determined condition.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the input interface comprises a touch interface.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the input interface overlaps the primary display.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the secondary display is undetectable to the human eye when the secondary display is not illuminated.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the primary display comprises an LCD display operative to display video content.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the input interface overlaps the secondary display.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the input interface overlaps both the primary display and the secondary display.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the secondary display comprises:

a plurality of regions.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein:

the periphery of the secondary display comprises;

a first side; and

a second side orthogonal to the first side; and

the plurality of regions of the secondary display comprises;

a first region disposed adjacent to the first side of the periphery; and

a second region disposed adjacent to the second side of the periphery.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further operative to direct the secondary display to illuminate one of the first region and the second region based at least on the determined condition.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further operative to:

direct the secondary display to illuminate the first region if the device is in a first orientation; and

direct the secondary display to illuminate the second region if the device is in a second orientation.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein:

at least one of the plurality of regions of the secondary display comprises a plurality of segments; and

the processor is operative to direct the secondary display to illuminate a subset of the plurality of segments to form an indicator based at least on the determined condition.

13. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a motion sensing component operative to determine a condition of the device that includes an orientation of the device.

14. A method for selectively illuminating a secondary display in an electronic device, the method comprising:

determining a condition of the electronic device; and

illuminating a region of the secondary display adjacent to a primary display and an active input interface based at least on the determined condition.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the condition of the electronic device comprises:

determining an orientation of the electronic device.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the condition of the electronic device comprises:

determining an active area of a touch interface of the electronic device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein illuminating the region of the secondary display comprises:

illuminating the region of the secondary display adjacent to the active area of the touch interface.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein illuminating the region of the secondary display comprises:

illuminating a subset of a plurality of segments in the region to form an indicator based at least on the determined condition.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

displaying visual content on the primary display before determining the condition, wherein the input interface overlaps at least a portion of the primary display.

20. An electronic device comprising:

a processor;

a primary display electrically coupled with the processor and having a periphery;

a touch interface electrically coupled with the processor and overlapping at least a portion of the primary display; and

a secondary display electrically coupled with the processor and located adjacent to the periphery of the primary display, wherein the processor is operative to;

determine an active area of the touch interface; and

direct the secondary display to illuminate a region adjacent to the active area.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the secondary display is undetectable to the human eye when the secondary display is not illuminated.

22. The device of claim 20, wherein the secondary display is operative to, in response to a signal from the processor, selectively illuminate the region adjacent to the active area in a manner that instructs the user to provide a touch input at the active area.

23. The device of claim 20, wherein the touch interface also overlaps at least a portion of the secondary display.

24. The device of claim 20, wherein:

the secondary display comprises a plurality of regions;

at least one of the plurality of regions comprises a plurality of segments; and

the processor is operative to direct the secondary display to illuminate a subset of the plurality of segments to form an indicator based at least on the determined condition.

25. The device of claim 24, wherein:

the processor is further operative to determine an appropriate type of input for the active area of the touch interface; and

the indicator formed by the subset of the plurality of segments represents the appropriate type.

26. A computer readable medium for an electronic device, the computer readable medium comprising:

a first instruction code for determining a condition of the electronic device; and

a second instruction code for illuminating a region of the secondary display adjacent to an active input interface based at least on the determined condition.