DUAL DISPLAY COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20140035794A1
• Filed: 11/14/2011
• Published: 02/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/06/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Yifan
• Application Number:
  US13/295,453
• Publication Number:
  US 20140035794A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/1.3
• 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 1/1647 including at least an additional display G06F1/1692 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1431 using a single graphics controller
• 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

Abstract

In one general aspect, an apparatus can include a first electronic-ink display on a first electronic-ink display on a first side of the computing device, and a second electronic-ink display on a second side of the computing device. The second electronic-ink display is configured to selectively reflect ambient light to create a desired image. The apparatus can also include a sensor configured to produce an indicator that the first electronic-ink display of the computing device is rotated from facing in a first direction toward facing in a second direction opposite the first direction, and a refresh module configured to trigger the second electronic-ink display to refresh the image display by the second electronic-ink display in response to the indicator.

Claims

1. A computing device, comprising:

a first electronic-ink display on a first side of the computing device;

a second electronic-ink display on a second side of the computing device, the second electronic-ink display configured to selectively reflect ambient light;

an image capture device configured to capture a first image while the first electronic-ink display of the computing device is facing in a first direction toward a face of a user, and configured to capture a second image after the first electronic-ink display of the computing device is rotated from facing in the first direction to facing in a second direction away from the face of the user and opposite the first direction such that the second electronic-ink display is facing toward the face of the user; and

a refresh module configured to trigger at least one of the second electronic-ink display to refresh an image displayed by the second electronic-ink display or the first electronic-ink display to refresh an image displayed by the first electronic-ink display based on an analysis of the second image.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the first electronic-ink display is configured to at least one of rearrange charged particles to form the image displayed by the first electronic-ink display or is based on electrophoretic display technology.

5. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising:

a mode module configured to trigger deactivation of the first electronic-ink display in response to an indicator that the computing device has changed from a flipping mode to a non-flipping mode, refreshing of the first electronic-ink display and the second electronic-ink display are refreshed in an alternating fashion when the computing device is in the flipping mode.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one of the image displayed by the first electronic-ink display or the image displayed by the first electronic-ink display is refreshed in response to the computing device being rotated more a threshold angle from the first direction.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the refresh module is configured to trigger the second electronic-ink display to refresh starting at a first time when the computing device is in a flipping mode,

the computing device further comprising:

a mode module configured to receive an indicator that the computing device has changed from the flipping mode to a non-flipping mode, the refresh module configured to trigger a refresh of the second electronic-ink display starting at a second time after the first time without triggering a refresh of the first electronic-ink display between the first time and second time.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the refresh module is configured to trigger the second electronic-ink display to refresh a specified time period after the at least one of the first image or the second has been produced by the image capture device.

9. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured to change from a closed configuration where the first electronic-ink display faces the second electronic-ink display to an open configuration where the first electronic-ink display faces away from the second electronic-ink display.

10. The computing device of claim 1, wherein a touch sensitive surface is disposed over at least one of the first electronic-ink display or the second electronic-ink display.

11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the second electronic-ink display is refreshed in response to rotation of the computing device occurring during a time period shorter than a threshold rotation time period.

12. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the second electronic-ink display is configured to display a first page of content, the second electronic-ink display is configured to replace the first page of content with a second page of content when refreshed,

the computing device further comprising:

a control mechanism disposed on the first side of the computing device, the second page of content displayed on the second electronic-ink display being modified in response to the control mechanism on the first side of the computing device being activated.

25. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising:

a motion sensor configured to detect that the first electronic-ink display of the computing device is rotated from facing in the first direction, the image displayed by the second electronic-ink display is triggered based on the detection by the motion sensor.

27. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the analysis of the image includes performing facial recognition, the image displayed by the second electronic-ink display refreshed in response to the computing device being rotated at more than at a threshold speed and more than a threshold angle from the first direction.

33. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device is substantially rotated about an axis disposed within a plane aligned along the second display, the first side of the computing device is opposite the second side of the computing device.

34. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the refresh module is configured to trigger the at least one of the second electronic-ink display to refresh the image displayed by the second electronic-ink display or the first electronic-ink display to refresh the image displayed by the first electronic-ink display based on an analysis of the first image.

35. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the image capture device is a first image capture device on the first side of the computing device,

the computing device further comprising:

a second image capture device on the second side of the computing device.

2. (canceled)

4. (canceled)

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed cause a computing device to perform a process, the instructions comprising instructions to:

trigger display of a first page of content within a first display on a first side of the computing device that is in a position facing toward a face of a user;

capture a first image of the face of the user using an image capture device;

capture a second image using the image capture device after the computing device is rotated such that the first display is moved from the position facing toward the face of the user and a second display on a second side of the computing device is moved from a position facing away from the face of the user; and

replace the first page of content with a second page of content within the first display based on an analysis of the second image.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein further comprising:

producing, using a motion sensor, an indicator in response to the computing device being rotated until the second display is facing toward the face of the user.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein at least one of the first display or the second display is an electronic-ink display.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

producing, using a motion sensor, an indicator in response to the computing device being rotated more than ninety degrees.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the computing device is substantially rotated about an axis disposed within a plane aligned along the second display, the first side of the computing device is opposite the second side of the computing device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the first page of content is replaced with a second page of content while the computing device is in a flipping mode,

the instructions further comprising instructions to:

receive an indicator that the computing device has changed from the flipping mode to a non-flipping mode.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions to:

activate the second display on the second side of the computing device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the second page of content displayed on the second display remains unchanged while the first page of content of the first display is replaced with a third page during rotation of the computing device.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the second display is displaying a third page of content.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the rotating of the computing device is a first rotation,

the instructions further comprising instructions to:

trigger activation of a refresh override function configured to disable refreshing of the first display and the second display in response to a second rotation.

31. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the second display is displaying a third page of content, the computing device is rotated in a first direction,

the instruction further comprising instructions to:

receive an indicator that the computing device is rotated in a second direction opposite the first direction after the computing device is rotated in the first direction; and

replace, within the first display and in response to the indicator, the second page of content with the first page of content in response to the indicator that the computing device is rotated in the second direction.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed cause a computing device to perform a process, the instructions comprising instructions to:

trigger display of a first page of content within a first display on a first side of the computing device;

trigger display of a second page of content within a second display on a second side of the computing device;

receive a signal from an image capture device on the first side of the computing device, the signal representing a plurality of images;

define an indicator based on an analysis of the plurality of images that a user changes from viewing the first display to viewing the second display, the plurality of images including images captured while the first side of the computing device is facing away from a face of the user and the second side of the computing device is facing toward the face of the user; and

trigger display of a third page of content within the first display or the second display in response to the indicator.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein at least one of the first display or the second display is an electronic-ink display.

22-23. -23. (canceled)

26. (canceled)

28. (canceled)

32. (canceled)