ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING THE SAME

• US 20130215011A1
• Filed: 02/18/2013
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo (Beijing) Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.), Lenovo Company Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo (Beijing) Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.), Lenovo Company Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ke, Haibin
• Granted Patent: US 9,851,811 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/156
• 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 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03 Arrangements for converting the position or the displacement of a member into a coded form
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0487 using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser

Abstract

An electronic device and a method for controlling the same are disclosed. The electronic device has a flexible display screen, and the flexible display screen has a first display region. The method for controlling the electronic device includes: detecting whether the flexible display screen is bent to generate detection information; and dividing a first display region into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent, where the first display sub-region is independent of the second display sub-region.

Claims

1. A method for controlling an electronic device, the electronic device having a flexible display screen with a first display region, the method comprising:

detecting whether the flexible display screen is bent to generate detection information; and

dividing the first display region into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region, in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent, wherein the first display sub-region is independent of the second display sub-region.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein before the dividing the first display region into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region, the method further comprises:

determining whether a bending angle of the flexible display screen meets a predetermined condition, wherein the predetermined condition is a bending angle of the flexible display screen in the case that a first part of the flexible display screen is sheltered by a second part of the flexible display screen.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the dividing the first display region into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region comprises:

determining a position of the bending in the first display region, and using the position of the bending as a folding line; and

dividing the first display region into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region based on the folding line.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein one display object is displayed in the first display region;

and in the case that the first display region is divided into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region, the display object is displayed in the first display sub-region in a size that is suitable for the first display sub-region.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein at least two display objects are displayed in the first display region;

and in the case that the first display region is divided into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region, the display object of the at least two display objects which has a size matching with the size of the first display sub-region is displayed in the first display sub-region.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the flexible display screen is bent for N times, wherein N is an integer equal to or greater than 1;

in the case that the flexible display screen is bent for the N+1 th time, it is detected whether a new folding line is generated in each of the display sub-regions formed after N times of bending;

if a new folding line is generated, the display sub-region containing the new folding line is divided according to the new folding line.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the flexible display screen varies with the variation in the flexibility of the electronic device.

8. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

in the case that the first display region is divided into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region based on the folding line,

detecting a size of the first display sub-region, in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent; and

setting a screen resolution of the first display sub-region according to the size of the first display sub-region.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the detecting the size of the first display sub-region comprises:

detecting a folding line of the at least one folding lines that is located in the first display sub-region; and

detecting the size of the first display sub-region based on the folding line in the first display sub-region.

10. The method according to claim 2, wherein the flexible display screen has an unfolded state and a folded state;

in the case of the unfolded state, the flexible display screen has the first display region;

in the case of the folded state, the first display region is divided into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region based on at least one folding line; and

the method further comprises;

detecting a state of the first display sub-region in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent; and

determining a display direction of the display object in the first display sub-region according to the state of the first display sub-region.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the detecting a state of the first display sub-region further comprises:

detecting position information of a customer with respect to the first display sub-region.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein multiple sensors are provided on the flexible display screen;

and the detecting a state of the first display sub-region further comprises;

receiving data transmitted by a sensor located in the first display sub-region; and

determining a weight direction of the first display sub-region according to the data.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the determining a display direction of the display object in the first display sub-region according to the state of the first display sub-region further comprises:

determining that the display direction of the display object in the first display sub-region is identical to the weight direction.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining a first input operation in a first sub-region of the first display sub-region, wherein the first input operation corresponds to a first display object;

displaying the first display object in a second sub-region of the second display sub-region;

obtaining a second input operation in a third sub-region of the second display sub-region, wherein the second input operation corresponds to a second display object; and

displaying the second display object in a fourth sub-region of the first display sub-region.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device has a plurality of operation modes, and the method further comprises:

obtaining first bending information generated by the bending operation, in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent;

determining a first operation mode from a plurality of operation modes according to the first bending information; and

controlling the electronic device to operation in the first operation mode, different bending operations corresponding to different bending information, and different bending information corresponding to different operation modes.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the first bending information comprises a bending position, a bending manner or a bending order of the flexible display screen.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein before the determining a first operation mode from a plurality of operation modes according to the first bending information, the method further comprises:

detecting new bending information generated by the first bending operation during a predetermined time; and

determining a second operation mode from the plurality of operation modes according to the new bending information, wherein the second operation mode is different from the first operation mode.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein before the controlling the electronic device to operate in the first operation mode, the method further comprises:

prompting the customer to input a password which is generated by the following steps;

obtaining a second bending operation on the flexible display screen;

obtaining second bending information generated by the second bending operation; and

processing the second bending information to obtain the password.

19. An electronic device, comprising:

a flexible display screen with a first display region;

a detection unit for detecting whether the flexible display screen is bent to generate detection information; and

a division unit for dividing the first display region into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent, wherein the first display sub-region is independent of the second display sub-region.

20. The electronic device according to claim 19, further comprising:

a determination unit for determining whether a bending angle of the flexible display screen meets a predetermined condition in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent, wherein the predetermined condition is a bending angle of the flexible display screen in the case that a first part of the flexible display screen is sheltered by a second part of the flexible display screen.

21. The electronic device according to claim 20, wherein the division unit is adapted to:

determine a position of the bending in the first display region, and use the position of the bending as a folding line; and

divide the first display region into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region based on the folding line.

22. The electronic device according to claim 21, wherein one display object is displayed in the first display region;

and in the case that the first display region is divided into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region, the display object is displayed in the first display sub-region in a size that is suitable for the first display sub-region.

23. The electronic device according to claim 21, wherein at least two display objects are displayed in the first display region;

and in the case that the first display region is divided into a first display sub-region and a second display sub-region, the display object of the at least two display objects which has a size matching with the size of the first display sub-region is displayed in the first display sub-region.

24. The electronic device according to claim 20, further comprising:

a size detection unit adapted to detect a size of the first display sub-region, in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent; and

a size processing unit adapted to set a screen resolution of the first display sub-region according to the size of the first display sub-region.

25. The electronic device according to claim 24, wherein

the size detection unit is further adapted to detect a size of the second display sub-region, in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent;

and

the size processing unit is further adapted to set a screen resolution of the second display sub-region according to the size of the second display sub-region.

26. The electronic device according to claim 24, wherein the size processing unit is further adapted to store previously a corresponding relation table between the screen size and the screen resolution;

and set a screen resolution of the first display sub-region according to a size of the first display sub-region based on the corresponding relation table between the screen size and the screen resolution.

27. The electronic device according to claim 24, wherein the size processing unit is adapted to set a customer-defined screen resolution for the first display sub-region according to the size of the first display sub-region.

28. The electronic device according to claim 20, further comprising:

a state detection unit adapted to detect a state of the first display sub-region, in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent; and

a state processing unit adapted to determine a display direction of the display object in the first display sub-region according to the state of the first display sub-region.

29. The electronic device according to claim 28, wherein the state detection unit is adapted to detect position information of a customer with respect to the first display sub-region.

30. The electronic device according to claim 28, further comprising a plurality of sensors provided on the flexible display screen;

wherein the state detection unit is further adapted to receive data transmitted by the sensor located in the first display sub-region; and

determine a weight direction of the first display sub-region according to the data.

31. The electronic device according to claim 30, wherein the state processing unit is adapted to determine whether the display direction of the display object in the first display sub-region is identical to the weight direction.

32. The electronic device according to claim 19, further comprising:

a first obtaining unit adapted to obtain a first input operation in a first sub-region of the first display sub-region, wherein the first input operation corresponds to a first display object;

a first display unit adapted to display the first display object in a second sub-region of the second display sub-region;

a second obtaining unit adapted to obtain a second input operation in a third sub-region of the second display sub-region, wherein the second input operation corresponds to a second display object; and

a second display unit adapted to display the second display object in a fourth sub-region of the first display sub-region.

33. The electronic device according to claim 19, further comprising:

a bending processing unit adapted to obtain first bending information generated by a first bending operation, in the case that the detection information indicates that the flexible display screen is bent and determine a first operation mode from a plurality of operation modes according to the first bending information; and

a control unit adapted to control the electronic device to operation in the first operation mode.

34. The electronic device according to claim 33, wherein the bending processing unit is further adapted to, before the determining a first operation mode from a plurality of operation modes according to the first bending information, detect new bending information generated by the first bending operation during a predetermined time and determine a second operation mode from the plurality of operation modes according to the new bending information, wherein the second operation mode is different from the first operation mode.

35. The electronic device according to claim 33, wherein

the detection unit is further adapted to obtain a second bending operation on the flexible display screen;

and

the bending processing unit is further adapted to obtain second bending information generated by the second bending operation, and process the second bending information to obtain the password, and wherein

the password is used to verify an identity of a customer in the case that the control unit controls the electronic device to operation in the first operation mode.