FLEXIBLE DEVICE AND OPERATING METHODS THEREOF

• US 20140055394A1
• Filed: 08/23/2013
• Published: 02/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: PARK, Jin, CHIN, Woo-seok, JUNG, Ji-yeon
• Granted Patent: US 9,818,928 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/173
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133305 Flexible substrates, e.g. plastics, organic film
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1652 the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 30/1071 with electrical and mechanical input and output, e.g. having combined actuator and sensor parts
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 30/204 using bending displacement, e.g. unimorph, bimorph or multimorph cantilever or membrane benders
• CPC Class Codes: H10N 30/802 Circuitry or processes for operating piezoelectric or electrostrictive devices not otherwise provided for, e.g. drive circuits

Abstract

A flexible device includes a flexible body and a plurality of piezoelectric materials arranged on the flexible body that deform in response to drive signals causing deformation of the flexible body of the flexible device.

Claims

1. A flexible device comprising:

a flexible body;

a lower piezoelectric layer of a first plurality of piezoelectric materials disposed on the flexible body;

an intermediate layer disposed on the lower piezoelectric layer;

an upper piezoelectric layer of a second plurality of piezoelectric materials disposed on the intermediate layer; and

a flexible display panel supported by the flexible body.

2. The flexible device of claim 1, further comprising a controller configured to apply a drive signal to at least one of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials of the lower layer and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials of the upper layer, the drive signal causing the at least one of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and second plurality of piezoelectric materials to deform, in response to detecting an event.

3. The flexible device of claim 2, wherein the drive signal comprises a first drive signal and a second drive signal,

wherein the at least one of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials comprises the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials,

wherein the first plurality of piezoelectric materials deform in a first direction, in response to application of the first drive signal to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials of the lower piezoelectric layer and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials deform in a second direction, in response to application of the second drive signal to the second plurality of piezoelectric materials of the upper piezoelectric layer, and

wherein the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials maintain a balanced state, in response to application of the first drive signal or the second drive signal to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials.

4. The flexible device of claim 3, wherein the controller divides the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials into a plurality of groups based on locations at which the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials are disposed, and applies different ones of the first drive signal and the second drive signal to the respective groups to cause the grouped first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials to locally deform.

5. The flexible device of claim 4, further comprising a display,

wherein the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials are disposed on a lower portion of the display,

wherein the controller selectively applies the first drive signal and the second drive signal to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials based on a type of the event, and

wherein the controller controls the display to display a user interface (UI) corresponding to a deformation state of the flexible body corresponding to the deformation of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials on the display.

6. The flexible device of claim 2, further comprising a display;

and

at least one biosensor configured to detect a touch of a user arranged on lower side of the display,

wherein the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials are disposed between the display and the at least one biosensor, and

the controller selectively applies the first drive signal and the second drive signal to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials and controls the display to display a user interface on the display, in response to the at least one biosensor detecting the touch of the user.

7. The flexible device of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of piezoelectric materials are disposed in a column-wise direction and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials are disposed in a row-wise direction.

8. The flexible device of claim 1, wherein the lower piezoelectric layer, the intermediate layer, and the upper piezoelectric layer are stacked sequentially on one side of the flexible body.

9. The flexible device of claim 2, wherein the magnitude of the drive signal corresponds to a degree of deformation of the at least one of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials.

10. The flexible device of claim 1, further comprising a detector configured to detect an electric signal generated from one or more piezoelectric materials of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials in response to a deformation of the flexible body,

wherein the controller determines a deformation state of the flexible body based on a change in the electric signal and performs a control operation corresponding to the determined deformation state.

11. A method for operating a flexible device, comprising:

detecting, by a controller of the flexible device, occurrence of an event; and

selectively applying drive signals to a first plurality of piezoelectric materials of a lower piezoelectric layer disposed on a flexible body of the flexible device and a second plurality of piezoelectric materials of an upper piezoelectric layer disposed on the first plurality of piezoelectric materials, based on the event, wherein the drive signals cause deformation of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the selectively applying drive signals comprises:

determining drive signals to apply to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials based on the type of the event; and

applying the determined drive signals to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials,

wherein the first plurality of piezoelectric materials deform in a first direction in response to application of a first drive signal to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials of the lower piezoelectric layer and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials deform in a second direction, in response to application of the second drive signal to the second plurality of piezoelectric materials of the upper piezoelectric layer, and

wherein the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials maintain a balanced state, in response to application of the first drive signal or the second drive signal to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the selectively applying comprises:

dividing the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials into a plurality of groups based on locations at which the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials are disposed; and

applying different ones of the drive signals to the respective groups to cause the grouped first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials to locally deform.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying a user interface (UI) corresponding to a deformation state of the flexible device corresponding to deformation of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials on a display of the flexible device.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting a touch of a user through a biosensor provided on the flexible device;

selectively applying the drive signals to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials and displaying a user interface on a display of the flexible device, in response to the detecting.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein a magnitudes of the drive signals correspond to degree of deformations of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

detecting an electric signal generated from one or more piezoelectric materials of the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials in response to a deformation of the flexible body;

determining deformation state of the flexible device based on a change in the electric signal; and

performing a control operation corresponding to the determined deformation state.

18. A flexible device comprising:

a flexible body;

a first plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials supported by the flexible body, the first plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials arranged in one of rows aligned according to elongated axes of the first plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials and columns aligned according to elongated axes of the first plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials; and

a second plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials supported by the flexible body, the second plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials arranged in another of the one of rows aligned according to elongated axes of the first plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials and columns aligned according to elongated axes of the first plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials.

19. The flexible device of claim 18, wherein the first plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials are disposed in a single layer of piezoelectric materials.

20. The flexible device of claim 18, wherein the first plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials are disposed in different layers of piezoelectric materials.

21. The flexible device of claim 20, wherein the first plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials are disposed in a lower piezoelectric layer and the second plurality of elongated piezoelectric materials are disposed in an upper piezoelectric layer disposed on the lower piezoelectric layer.

22. A flexible device comprising:

a flexible body;

a first plurality of piezoelectric materials supported by the flexible body;

a second plurality of piezoelectric materials supported by the flexible body; and

a controller configured to selectively apply drive signals to the first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials.

23. The flexible device of claim 22, wherein the drive signals cause deformation of first plurality of piezoelectric materials and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials.

24. The flexible device of claim 23, wherein the first plurality of piezoelectric materials are disposed in a lower piezoelectric layer and the second plurality of piezoelectric materials are disposed in an upper piezoelectric layer disposed on the lower piezoelectric layer.

25. The flexible device of claim 24, further comprising a flexible display supported by the flexible body.

26. A flexible device comprising:

a flexible body;

a flexible display supported by the flexible body;

a plurality of piezoelectric materials supported by the flexible body; and

a controller configured to selectively apply drive signals to the plurality of piezoelectric materials that cause deformation of the plurality of piezoelectric materials.

27. The flexible device of claim 26, wherein the plurality of piezoelectric materials comprises:

a first plurality of piezoelectric materials disposed in a lower piezoelectric layer; and

a second plurality of piezoelectric materials disposed in an upper piezoelectric layer disposed on the lower piezoelectric layer.