ACTIVE FLEXIBLE DISPLAY AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20120313862A1
• Filed: 09/09/2011
• Published: 12/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Pantech Corporation (Ideahub, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Pantech Corporation (Ideahub, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ko, Jung Suk, Kim, Kyong-Mi
• Application Number:
  US13/229,003
• Publication Number:
  US 20120313862A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04102 Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/0426 Layout of electrodes and connections
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2300/0439 Pixel structures
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/001 using specific devices not provided for in groups G09G3/02 - G09G3/36, e.g. using an intermediate record carrier such as a film slide; Projection systems; Display of non-alphanumerical information, solely or in combination with alphanumerical information, e.g. digital display on projected diapositive as background slide projectors per se G03B23/00 = 42 HP
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/035 for flexible display surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3433 using light modulating elements actuated by an electric field and being other than liquid crystal devices and electrochromic devices using liquid crystal devices G09G3/36; using electrochromic devices G09G3/38

Abstract

Included in an active flexible display is flexible display unit to output an image; and a driving unit to deform the display unit based on a voltage being applied to the display unit. A method to control a flexible display includes recognizing an occurrence of a specific event; and applying a voltage to deform the active flexible display to a shape based on the recognized event.

Claims

1. An active flexible display, comprising:

a flexible display unit to output an image; and

a driving unit to deform the flexible display unit based on a voltage being applied to the display unit.

2. The active flexible display of claim 1, wherein the driving unit comprises a device that contracts or expands in response to a voltage being applied thereto.

3. The active flexible display of claim 1, wherein the driving unit comprises an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) layer.

4. The active flexible display of claim 1, wherein the driving unit comprises a plurality of matrix cells with a specific size and is deformed in response to a fixed voltage being applied to one or more rows or columns of the plurality of matrix cells.

5. The active flexible display of claim 1, wherein the driving unit comprises a plurality of matrix cells with a specific size and a respective voltage is applied to each matrix cell of the plurality of matrix cells.

17. The active flexible display of claim 1, wherein the driving unit is attached to a bottom of the flexible display unit.

18. The active flexible display of claim 1, wherein the flexible display unit comprises a touch screen unit.

6. An apparatus to control a flexible display, the apparatus comprising:

a recognition unit to recognize an event;

a memory to store deformation pattern information corresponding to the recognized event;

a search module to search for the deformation pattern information from the memory; and

an execution instruction module to output a voltage application control signal based on the deformation pattern information.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the flexible display comprises a plurality of matrix cells with a specific size and is deformed in response to the voltage application control signal.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the flexible display comprises a plurality of matrix cells with a specific size and is deformed in response to the voltage application control signal being applied to one or more rows or columns of the plurality of matrix cells.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the voltage application control signal comprises matrix cell location information indicating an amount of voltage to apply for each matrix cell of the plurality of matrix cells.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a power supply unit comprising;

a power supply source to supply power;

a direct current (DC) converter to convert the power supplied by the power supply source into a DC signal based on the voltage application control signal; and

a voltage controller to apply the DC signal to one or more matrix cells based on the voltage application control signal.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the power supply unit comprises two or more DC converters.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the power supply unit comprises two or more voltage controllers that correspond to the two or more DC converters, respectively.

13. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a determination module to determine a type of signal recognized by the recognition unit,

wherein the search module searches the memory for deformation pattern information based on the determined type of signal.

19. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the event is at least one of:

a touch, an audio stimulus, an input to a phone, a specific keyword, and a motion picture being played.

20. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the amount of voltage corresponds to an amount of deformation.

14. A method for controlling an active flexible display, the method comprising:

recognizing an occurrence of a specific event; and

applying a voltage to deform the active flexible display to a shape based on the recognized event.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

searching for deformation pattern information corresponding to the specific event,

wherein the application of voltage is based on the deformation pattern information.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

deforming a plurality of matrix cells of the active flexible display by applying a specific voltage being applied the plurality of matrix cells; and

determining which of the plurality of matrix cells to apply a voltage to;

determining a voltage level for each of the plurality of matrix cells,

wherein the application of voltage is based on the determined voltage level.