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Apple Updates Their Patent For A Possible Future iPhone Or iPad That Will Provide Users With An Expandable Display
Last week, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that updates their invention for a future iPhone and/or iPad with an expandable display for watching a movie, an Apple TV+ show or playing an Arcade game. Apple's patent focuses on a scrollable device with a flexible display that wraps around one or more rollers. In a stored position, the flexible display may be wrapped around a storage roller. Deployment rollers are be used to deploy the display as the display is pulled out of the housing. A flexible display has a transparent housing window before and after it is pulled out of the housing. Elongated bistable support members run along the edges of the display or could overlap with a central active area of the display to help stiffen and support the display in its extended position.
Magnets may be used to outwardly bias edge-mounted bistable support structures and thereby help prevent a rolled flexible display from wrinkling. The electronic device has housing portions that are rotatably coupled to each other with hinges or other bendable structures so that the flexible display may fold along the bend axes.
Magnets are used to couple and decouple the housing portions to each other. Movable support structures such as movable members coupled by springs or other flexible structures move between positions. When the device is unfolded and the flexible display is flat and unfolded, the movable support structures move towards the bend axis to support the flexible display.
When the device is folded, the movable support structures may be moved away from the bend axis to help allow the flexible display and device to fold about the bend axis. The rollable display is stored on a roller in the housing may be pulled out from the display to position an expanded display area. The flexible display may have a first surface with a pixel array that displays images and an opposing second surface that serves as a protective outer covering layer when the flexible display overlaps the touch screen display. The next figure shows a perspective view of the scrollable device and a cross-sectional side view.
Last week, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that updates their invention for a future iPhone and/or iPad with an expandable display for watching a movie, an Apple TV+ show or playing an Arcade game. Apple's patent focuses on a scrollable device with a flexible display that wraps around one or more rollers. In a stored position, the flexible display may be wrapped around a storage roller. Deployment rollers are be used to deploy the display as the display is pulled out of the housing. A flexible display has a transparent housing window before and after it is pulled out of the housing. Elongated bistable support members run along the edges of the display or could overlap with a central active area of the display to help stiffen and support the display in its extended position.
Magnets may be used to outwardly bias edge-mounted bistable support structures and thereby help prevent a rolled flexible display from wrinkling. The electronic device has housing portions that are rotatably coupled to each other with hinges or other bendable structures so that the flexible display may fold along the bend axes.
Magnets are used to couple and decouple the housing portions to each other. Movable support structures such as movable members coupled by springs or other flexible structures move between positions. When the device is unfolded and the flexible display is flat and unfolded, the movable support structures move towards the bend axis to support the flexible display.
When the device is folded, the movable support structures may be moved away from the bend axis to help allow the flexible display and device to fold about the bend axis. The rollable display is stored on a roller in the housing may be pulled out from the display to position an expanded display area. The flexible display may have a first surface with a pixel array that displays images and an opposing second surface that serves as a protective outer covering layer when the flexible display overlaps the touch screen display. The next figure shows a perspective view of the scrollable device and a cross-sectional side view.
Apple's update to this invention comes in the form of providing 20 new patent claims that will better protect this invention from competitors and patent trolls. Below are six of the new patent claims:
To review the other 14 new patent claims, review Apple's continuation patent number 20210274662.
- Added Patent Claim #1: "A foldable electronic device, comprising: a first housing portion; a second housing portion that is coupled to the first housing portion along a bend axis about which the first and second housing portions rotate; a flexible display that overlaps the first and second housing portions and that bends along the bend axis when the first and second housing portions rotate between an unfolded planar state and a folded state; and a support structure that extends between the first and second housing portions, wherein the support structure is configured to support the flexible display in the unfolded planar state and to allow the flexible display to expand in the folded state."
- Added Patent Claim #2: "The foldable electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the support structure comprises movable support members that overlap the bend axis when the flexible display is in the unfolded state."
- Added Patent Claim #3: "The foldable electronic device defined in claim 2 wherein the support structure further comprises spring mechanisms between the movable support structures."
- Added Patent Claim #4: "The foldable electronic device defined in claim 3 further comprising: a biasing member attached to an end of the support structure."
- Added Patent Claim #19: "The electronic device defined in claim 14 further comprising: a transparent window, wherein the flexible display is visible through the transparent window in the rolled state."
- Added Patent Claim #20: "The electronic device defined in claim 19 wherein the transparent window comprises glass."
To review the other 14 new patent claims, review Apple's continuation patent number 20210274662.