Mobile terminal, combined terminal device and method for splicing control

• US 10,445,049 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2016
• Issued: 10/15/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zhejiang Geely Automobile Research Institute Company Limited (Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd.), Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Li, Shufu
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Duc Q
• Application Number:
  US15/545,562
• Publication Number:
  US 20180004474A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,370 Days
• Field of Search: 345 11- 23
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04803 Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1446 display composed of modules, e.g. video walls
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44 Arrangements for executing specific programs
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2356/00 Detection of the display position w.r.t. other display screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/025 LAN communication management
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/042 for monitor identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0256 wherein the modules are operable in the detached state, e.g. one module for the user interface and one module for the transceiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72409 by interfacing with external accessories hands-free H04M1/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/42 Graphical user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/16 including more than one display unit
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/02 Spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/04 Circuit arrangements, e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties

Abstract

A mobile terminal (20), and in particular, a mobile terminal (20), a combined terminal device (30) and a method for splicing control of mobile terminals (20). For a splicable mobile terminal (20), according to a state determination instruction, the mobile terminal (20) is caused to selectively enter a master operating state or a slave operating state; when the mobile terminal (20) operates as a master, a display partitioning unit (a2) partitions the display content of the master according to the display screen resource of individual mobile terminals (20) in a combined terminal device (30), to obtain a plurality of pieces of partitioned display data corresponding to a plurality of the mobile terminals (20) in the combined terminal device (30), and sends corresponding partitioned display data to slaves; and in a case in which the mobile terminal (20) acts as a slave, upon reception of the partitioned display data from the master, a display switching unit (a3) displays the received partitioned display data. The content displayed by the master can be displayed by the slaves, and when there are a large number of slaves, the content can be displayed to a user on a relatively large screen composed of a plurality of slaves, satisfying people'"'"'s demand for a large display area.

Claims

1. A splicable mobile terminal, a plurality of the mobile terminals being capable of being spliced to be combined into a single combined terminal device, wherein each of the mobile terminals can selectively operate as a master in a master operating state and operate as a slave in a slave operating state, each of the mobile terminals comprises a display screen;

a state selection interface for receiving a state determination instruction inputted by a user;

one or more physical keys, each of which is used for implementing a predetermined function;

a memory having instructions stored thereon;

a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform operations of splicing management, comprising;

causing the mobile terminal to selectively enter the master operating state or the slave operating state according to the state determination instruction;

when the mobile terminal operates as the master, partitioning the display content of the master according to the display screen resource of individual said mobile terminals in the combined terminal device, to obtain a plurality of pieces of partitioned display data corresponding to the plurality of the mobile terminals in the combined terminal device, and sending corresponding said partitioned display data to the slaves; and

in a case in which the mobile terminal acts as the slave, upon reception of the partitioned display data from the master, hiding the current work task of the mobile terminal in the background for running, and displaying the received partitioned display data; and

the processor further configured to execute the instructions to perform operations of function switching, comprising;

switching the predetermined function of one specified physical key of the one or more physical keys into an invocation function for invoking the state selection interface, and presenting on the display screen a virtual key for implementing the predetermined function of the specified physical key;

wherein, when the specified physical key is pressed, the state selection interface is triggered to be presented to the user on the display screen of the mobile terminal in response to the pressing operation.

2. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operations of splicing management further comprise:

performing statistics on currently available resource information of the mobile terminal and sending the available resource information to the master, in a case in which the mobile terminal acts as the slave;

portioning the current work task of the master into a plurality of sub-tasks according to the available resource information of the slaves and sending corresponding sub-tasks to the slaves, in a case in which the mobile terminal operates as the master; and

executing the sub-task using the available resource according to the sub-task from the master, in a case in which the mobile terminal acts as the slave.

3. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 2, wherein the operation of causing the mobile terminal to selectively enter the master operating state or the slave operating state according to the state determination instruction further comprises:

causing the mobile terminal to exit the master operating state according to the state determination instruction, and sending out a slave termination instruction indicative of exiting the slave operating state to other mobile terminals in response to the mobile terminal exiting the master operating state.

4. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 3, wherein the operation of hiding the current work task of the mobile terminal in the background for running and displaying the received partitioned display data further comprises:

in a case in which the mobile terminal acts as the slave, when receiving the slave termination instruction, terminating displaying the partitioned display data, and restoring a background running task of the mobile terminal to the foreground for running.

5. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 3, wherein the operation of executing the sub-task using the available resource according to the sub-task from the master further comprises:

in a case in which the mobile terminal acts as the slave, when receiving the slave termination instruction, terminating executing the sub-task.

6. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 2, wherein the available resource information comprises at least one of the CPU resource, the storage resource, the network resource and the electricity resource.

7. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 6, wherein the operation of partitioning the current work task of the master into a plurality of sub-tasks according to the available resource information of the slaves and sending corresponding sub-tasks to the slaves further comprises:

partitioning the computational task of the master into computational sub-tasks, and sending a corresponding computational sub-task to the slave according to the CPU resource of the slave; and

the operation of executing the sub-task using the available resource according to the sub-task from the master further comprises;

using the CPU resource of the slave to execute the computational sub-task according to the received computational sub-task;

or

the operation of partitioning the current work task of the master into a plurality of sub-tasks according to the available resource information of the slaves and sending corresponding sub-tasks to the slaves further comprises;

partitioning the storage task of the master into storage sub-tasks, and sending a corresponding storage sub-task to the slave according to the storage resource of the slave; and

the operation of executing the sub-task using the available resource according to the sub-task from the master further comprises;

using the storage resource of the slave to execute the storage sub-task according to the received storage sub-task;

or

the operation of partitioning the current work task of the master into a plurality of sub-tasks according to the available resource information of the slaves and sending corresponding sub-tasks to the slaves further comprises;

partitioning the upload or download task of the master into upload or download sub-tasks, and sending a corresponding upload or download sub-task to the slave according to the network resource of the slave; and

the operation of executing the sub-task using the available resource according to the sub-task from the master further comprises;

using the network resource of the slave to execute the upload or download sub-task according to the received upload or download sub-task;

or

the operation of partitioning the current work task of the master into a plurality of sub-tasks according to the available resource information of the slaves and sending corresponding sub-tasks to the slaves further comprises;

obtaining the electricity resource of the slaves, and if the electricity of the master or a certain said slave is insufficient, generating a charging task, and allocating the charging task to one said slave or the master with sufficient electricity, such that the slave or the master with sufficient electricity charges the master or the slave with insufficient electricity, partitioning the charging task into charging sub-tasks and sending a corresponding charging sub-task to other said slave or the master according to the electricity resource; and

the operation of executing the sub-task using the available resource according to the sub-task from the master further comprises;

according to the received charging sub-task, using the charging resource in the slave or the master to charge the master or the slave with insufficient electricity.

8. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 2, wherein the operations of splicing management further comprise:

performing statistics on speakers that the master and the slaves have; and

allocating the left channel of the audio of the combined terminal device to individual said speakers located on the left side, allocating the right channel of the audio to individual said speakers located on the right side, and allocating the middle channel of the audio to individual said speakers in the middle, to form a stereo speaker system.

9. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

a splicing interface for being spliced with other said mobile terminals for data communication between individual said mobile terminals.

10. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 9, further comprising:

a first side surface and a second side surface located on two opposite sides of the display screen, wherein the first and second side surfaces are planes parallel to each other;

a first magnetic adsorption element arranged at the first side surface and a second magnetic adsorption element arranged at the second side surface;

wherein the positions of the first and second magnetic adsorption elements are arranged such that when a further said mobile terminal is spliced with the current said mobile terminal, the first magnetic adsorption element at the first side surface of the current said mobile terminal and the second magnetic adsorption element at the second side surface of the further said mobile terminal can attract each other, such that the first side surface of the current said mobile terminal is attached to the second side surface of the further said mobile terminal in alignment with each other;

wherein the first magnetic adsorption element does not protrude from the first side surface, and the second magnetic adsorption element does not protrude from the second side surface.

11. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 10, wherein the splicing interface comprises:

a first conductive contact arranged at the first side surface, and

a second conductive contact arranged at the second side surface;

the positions of the first and second conductive contacts are arranged such that when the first side surface of the current said mobile terminal is attached to the second side surface of the further said mobile terminal in alignment with each other, the first conductive contact at the first side surface of the current said mobile terminal and the second conductive contact at the second side surface of the further said mobile terminal can electrically contact each other.

12. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 11, wherein at least one of the first conductive contact and the second conductive contact is made of elastic material or is biased by a spring, such that it can be moved in a direction perpendicular to the side surface where it is located.

13. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 12, wherein the first conductive contact consists of a plurality of arcuate metal sheets, and the second conductive contact is recessed into the second side surface;

and the first conductive contact of the current said mobile terminal and the second conductive contact of the further said mobile terminal abut each other, in order that by the first conductive contact deforming in the direction perpendicular to the side surface where it is located, the second side surface of the further said mobile terminal is caused to be attached to the first side surface of the current said mobile terminal in alignment with each other;

or

the first side surface has a first groove, and the first conductive contact is rotatably connected into the first groove; and

the first conductive contact may be rotated out of the first groove to contact the second conductive contact of the further said mobile terminal, and the first conductive contact may be rotated into the first groove to disconnect the contact with the second conductive contact of the further said mobile terminal.

14. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 11, wherein at least one of the first conductive contact and the second conductive contact is formed as a movable contact which may be moved between an extended position and a retracted position;

wherein when at the extended position, the movable contact protrudes from the side surface where it is located;

wherein the side surface where the movable contact is located has a recessed portion for accommodating the movable contact.

15. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 10, further comprising:

a manual operation key arranged at the first side surface and/or the second side surface, wherein the manual operation key is formed in a second groove of the side surface where it is located, such that the contour of the manual operation key does not exceed the side surface where it is located.

16. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 10, wherein the mobile terminal is a rectangle without rounded corners on the whole.

17. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 10, wherein on the back side of the mobile terminal are disposed a left magnetic adsorption element and a right magnetic adsorption element arranged along the width direction of the display screen, and the positions of the left and right magnetic adsorption elements are arranged such that when a further said mobile terminal abuts the current said mobile terminal back to back, the left magnetic adsorption element and the right magnetic adsorption element of the current said mobile terminal and the left magnetic adsorption element and the right magnetic adsorption element of the further said mobile terminal can attract each other, respectively, such that the back of the current said mobile terminal is attached to the back of the further said mobile terminal in alignment with each other.

18. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to perform operations of splicing detection, comprising:

continuously monitoring whether the mobile terminal enters a splicing state;

wherein the state selection interface is configured to be triggered to be presented to the user on the display screen of the mobile terminal in response to the mobile terminal entering the splicing state.

19. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operation of causing the mobile terminal to selectively enter the master operating state or the slave operating state according to the state determination instruction further comprises:

when the mobile terminal enters the master operating state in response to the state determination instruction indicative of entering the master operating state, sending out the state determination instruction indicative of entering the slave operating state to other mobile terminals.

20. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to be triggered to perform the operation of partitioning the display content of the master according to the display screen resource of individual said mobile terminals in the combined terminal device, to obtain a plurality of pieces of partitioned display data corresponding to the plurality of the mobile terminals in the combined terminal device, and sending corresponding said partitioned display data to the slaves, in response to the mobile terminal entering the master operating state.

21. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operation of causing the mobile terminal to selectively enter the master operating state or the slave operating state according to the state determination instruction further comprises:

in a case in which the mobile terminal acts as the slave, when the mobile terminal loses the connection with the master and is in a lost state, sending out a slave termination instruction indicative of exiting the slave operating state according to and in response to the lost state.

22. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the operation of partitioning the display content of the master according to the display screen resource of individual said mobile terminals in the combined terminal device further comprises monitoring the display screen resource of individual said mobile terminals in the combined terminal device in real time, and partitioning the display content of the master in real time according to the monitored display screen resource.

23. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to perform operations of master query, comprising:

in a case in which the mobile terminal is in the splicing state, determining via query whether there is said mobile terminal that operates as the master in the combined terminal device; and

when there is said mobile terminal that operates as the master in the combined terminal device, sending to the state determination unit the state determination instruction indicative of arranging the mobile terminal to be the slave.

24. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display screen is basically rectangular and arranged such that L:

W=(205˜

215);

[(290˜

304)/n], wherein L is the length of the display screen and W is the width of the display screen;

wherein n is a positive integer and n≥

2;

preferably L;

W≥

2.5.

25. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the width/length direction of the display screen, two oppositely arranged sides of the mobile terminal are arranged in a form of no bezel or a narrow bezel, wherein the width of the narrow bezel is less than 1 mm.

26. The mobile terminal as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display content comprises a virtual input device;

and the operation of partitioning the display content of the master according to the display screen resource of individual said mobile terminals in the combined terminal device further comprises partitioning the display data corresponding to the virtual input device into at least one piece of partitioned display data on the whole.

27. A combined terminal device, which is formed by splicing N mobile terminals as claimed in claim 1 in the width direction and/or the length direction of the display screen, and is such that the display screens of the N mobile terminals form a single rectangular screen as a whole to be used as the display screen of the combined terminal device.

28. A combined terminal device, which is formed by splicing N mobile terminals as claimed in claim 1 in the width direction and/or the length direction of the display screen, and is such that the display screens of M of the mobile terminals form a single rectangular screen as a whole to be used as the display screen of the combined terminal device, the display screens of N−

M of the mobile terminals form a single rectangular screen as a whole to act as an input screen for displaying a virtual input device, and the input screen is used for providing a virtual keyboard and a virtual touchpad acting as input interfaces of the combined terminal device, wherein N>

M.