METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RE-SIZING AN ACTIVE AREA OF A FLEXIBLE DISPLAY

• US 20080291225A1
• Filed: 05/23/2007
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: ARNESON, THEODORE R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,423,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/698
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0416 Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/147 using display panels
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0407 Resolution change, inclusive of the use of different resolutions for different screen areas
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/0492 Change of orientation of the displayed image, e.g. upside-down, mirrored
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2340/14 Solving problems related to the presentation of information to be displayed
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2380/02 Flexible displays
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/26 for modifying the character dimensions, e.g. double width, double height

Abstract

A method (400) for resizing an active area of a flexible display or reconfigurable device (100) can include a screen (104 or 210) and a controller (202) coupled to the screen. The controller can initiate (402) a re-sizing program upon detection of an altered shape for the display or device and control (411) the active area of the display based upon the altered shape. The controller can further resize (414) fonts or graphic elements or both in correspondence to the dimensions of the active area. The controller can initiate the resizing program by altering the flexible display away from a flat position to a non-flat position for example. The flexible display can further include a switch (106) that detects the mating of a first end (111) of the flexible display with a second end (112) which initiates the resizing program.

Claims

1. A reconfigurable device, comprising:

a reconfigurable housing

a flexible display, the shape of the display flexibly alterable to accommodate different shapes of the housing; and

a processor, the processor operable to receive signals indicative of the shape of the flexible display and to control the active area of display dependent upon the shape of the housing, the processor re-sizing the active area of the flexible display dependent on the shape of the display or the housing.

2. The device according to claim 1, further including a sensor generating a signal indicative of the curvature of the display.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the processor is operable to control the active area of the display such that the active area of the display is proportional to the curvature of the display.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein the housing is configurable to a plurality of predetermined orientations and the processor is operable to control the active area of the display to be a predetermined area associated with each configuration.

5. The device according to claim 4, further including a memory storing respective active areas associated with each configuration and at least one sensor for detecting the housing configuration.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the flexible display has a flat configuration and the processor controls the entire display to be active in the flat configuration.

7. The device according to claim 6, wherein the display has at least one curved configuration and the processor controls the active area to be less than half of the full display area when the display is in said at least one curved configuration.

8. The device according to claim 1, further including a display driver coupled to the processor, wherein the processor controls the driver to alter the active area of the display.

9. The reconfigurable device of claim 1, wherein the flexible display comprises a touch sensitive screen coupled to the processor where the processor is programmed to:

initiate a re-sizing program for re-sizing an active area of the flexible display; and

re-size the active area of the display when activating at least two points on the flexible display to indicate dimensions of the active area for display.

10. The reconfigurable device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further programmed to resize fonts corresponding to the dimensions of the active area.

11. The reconfigurable device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further programmed to resize graphic elements corresponding to the dimensions of the active area.

12. The reconfigurable device of claim 1, wherein the processor initiates the resizing program by altering the flexible display away from a flat position.

13. The flexible reconfigurable device of claim 1, wherein the flexible display further comprises a switch that detects the mating of a first end of the flexible display with a second end of the flexible display which initiates the resizing program.

14. The reconfigurable device of claim 1, wherein the flexible display is selectively a wrist-worn device or a hand-held device.

15. An electronic product having a flexible display, comprising:

a flexible touch sensitive screen;

a controller coupled to the flexible touch sensitive screen, wherein the controller is programmed to;

initiate a re-sizing program for re-sizing an active area of the flexible display; and

re-size the active area of the display when activating at least two points on the flexible display to indicate dimensions of the active area for display.

16. A method of re-sizing an active area of a flexible display within a reconfigurable housing, comprising the steps of:

initiating a re-sizing program upon detection of an altered shape for the flexible display or the reconfigurable housing;

receiving signals indicative of the altered shape of the flexible display or reconfigurable housing; and

controlling an active area of the flexible display dependent upon the shape of the housing or the display.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises the step of activating at least two points on the flexible display to indicate dimensions of the active area for display.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of activating at least two points comprises the step of touch sensing the at least two points on the flexible display.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises the step of re-sizing fonts corresponding to the dimensions of the active area and the step of re-sizing graphic elements corresponding to the dimensions of the active area.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of initiating the resizing program is done by recognizing that a first end has mated with a second end of the flexible display.