Apple updates their Patent for a Possible Future iPhone or iPad that will provide users with an Expandable Display
Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to updating their invention for a future iPhone and/or iPad that will provide users with an expandable display to better enjoy certain types of content like 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.
Optional deployment rollers may be used to help deploy the display as the display is pulled out of the housing. A flexible display may be viewable through a transparent housing window before and after the flexible display is pulled out of the housing.
An electronic device may have first and second housing portions and a flexible display that can be either stored in one or both housing portions or that may be scrolled out to form a planar display surface that extends between housing portions.
Elongated bistable support members may run along the edges of the display or may be overlapped by 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 may have 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 may be used to releasably couple the housing portions to each other. Movable support structures such as movable members coupled by springs or other flexible structures may be move between first and second positions. When the device is unfolded and the flexible display is planar and unfolded, the movable support structures may be moved 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.
An electronic device may have both rigid and flexible displays. A rigid display such as a touch screen display may be mounted in the housing and may serve as a virtual keyboard.
A flexible display that is stored on a roller in the housing may be pulled out from the display when it is desired to provide a user with 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 flexible display may be supported at a diagonal angle with respect to the touch screen display or other suitable angle.
Apple's patent FIG. 2 below is a perspective view of a scrollable device having a flexible display extended between two housing structures; FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device with a scrolling flexible display deployed using multiple internal rollers.
Apple's patent FIG. 6 above is a top view of device #10 in an illustrative configuration in which the housing for the device has a main portion (housing structure 12-1) and has a smaller portion (housing structure 12-2) that is used as a support bar to help pull flexible display #14 off of a roller within the interior of structures #12-1. Bistable support strips such as tape #32 may be used to help support the flexible display when the flexible display is in its deployed state as shown in FIG. 6.
The device of FIG. 6 and the other FIGS. may include electrical components which could include integrated circuits, sensors, connectors, batteries, audio circuits, speakers, microphones, and other input-output devices and control circuitry.
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:
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.
Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.
With that said, it should be noted that Chinese vendor Oppo claimed last November that they would be introducing the world's first smartphone with an expandable, scrollable display smartphone in 2021 called Oppo X.
If you've never seen a smartphone with an expandable display, the video below from Engadget dives into the upcoming Oppo X. It will give you an idea of what Apple's patent is describing.