Nokia patents clamshell with a touchscreen instead of keypad

Abstract
A foldable electronic apparatus comprising first and second parts being arranged to be foldable with respect to each other about a folding axis to define first and second apparatus folding configurations, wherein the first and second parts comprise respective first and second displays, wherein the device is arranged to have respective first and second operating modes according to whether the apparatus is in the first configuration or the second configuration, and wherein, in the first operating mode, the first display is arranged to act as a user input, and in the second operating mode, the first and second displays are arranged to act as displays.


Description
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BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

[0001]The invention relates to the field of electronic devices, in particular handheld electronic device comprising electronic displays. Although such devices may be hand-held in use, they do not have to be hand-held in use.

[0002]Electronic devices, particularly user-portable radiotelephones (e.g. mobile cellular phones), can comprise two parts which can be folded upon one another in closed and open configurations of the device. Such arrangements allow for compact design of the electronic devices. Such devices often incorporate displays.

[0003]There is a need for larger displays as the size of portable electronic devices incorporating display gets smaller.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004]In a first aspect, the present invention provides a foldable electronic device comprising first and second parts being arranged to be foldable with respect to each other about a folding axis to define first and second device folding configurations, wherein the first and second parts comprise respective first and second displays, wherein the device is arranged to have respective first and second operating modes according to whether the device is in the first configuration or the second configuration, and wherein, in the first operating mode, the second display is arranged to act as a user input, and in the second operating mode, the first and second displays are arranged to act as displays.

[0005]The device may be arranged such that the first and second folding configurations may be self-supporting configurations allowing the device to be stably placed on a support surface with the folding axis substantially perpendicular to the support surface.

[0006]The device may be arranged such that the folding angle between the first and second parts is substantially in the range 135-180 degrees for the first and second configurations.

[0007]The device may be arranged such that the first configuration is provided when the folding angle between the first and second parts is substantially in the range 135-160 degrees.

[0008]The device may be arranged such that the second configuration is provided when the folding angle between the first and second parts is substantially in the range 170-180 degrees.

[0009]The device may be arranged such that the first configuration is a closed configuration of the device. The device may be arranged such that the second configuration is an open configuration of the device. The device may be arranged such that the first and second configurations are open configurations of the device.

[0010]The device may be arranged such that the first display acts as a display in the first configuration.

[0011]The device may be a communications device and the first part may comprise one or more speaker elements to transmit audio to a user of the device and the second part may comprise one or more microphone elements to receive audio from a user of the device.

[0012]The communications device may be arranged to make and/or receive communication transmissions in the first and second configuration. The communication transmission may be audio and/or video telephony transmissions.

[0013]The device may be arranged such that the first and second displays are arranged on respective first and second faces of respective first and second parts, the respective display faces being arrangeable to be opposingly facing one another, and wherein the first and second configurations are configurations in which the faces are arranged to be opposing one another.

[0014]The device may be arranged to display an image in the second operating mode, wherein the first display is arranged to display a portion of the image and the second display is arranged to display the remaining portion of the image.

[0015]The device may be arranged such that the images on the respective displays in the second configuration are un-related images.

[0016]The device may be arranged such that in the second configuration, one of the displays provides a visual user interface to an applications program to allow a user to control the display of images on the other display.

[0017]The device may comprise one or more user input elements and the device may be arranged such that in the second configuration, one or more of the user input elements is arranged to provide input to an applications program to allow a user to control the display of images on one or both of the displays.

[0018]The device may be arranged such that the first and second displays are arranged to act as user input elements in the second configuration.

[0019]One or more user input elements may be provided adjacent the first and/or second displays. One or more user input elements may be provided adjacent the second display to be operable in the second configuration.

[0020]The displays may be arranged in proximity to the folding axis such that when the device is in the second configuration, the space between adjacent first and second displays does not substantially distract a user when viewing both adjacent displays at the same time.

[0021]The device may comprise one or more camera elements arranged to allow a user to view camera images on one or more of the displays.

[0022]The device may be arranged such that in the second configuration, one of the displays can show a previously captured image and the other display can shown an image of a scene to be captured by the device camera. The previously captured image may an image previously captured by the device camera. The previously captured image may an image previously captured by the device camera immediately preceding the scene displayed by the device camera.

[0023]A camera device may be attachable to the device. In such a case, the camera device is not integral with the device.

[0024]The first and second parts may be foldable about the folding axis to completely overlie one another. The device may be arranged such that the displays always face each other about the folding axis. However, in other embodiments, the device may be arranged such that the displays can be moved away from the facing position.

[0025]The first and second parts may be arranged to be foldable only about a single folding axis. The first and second parts may be arranged to be foldable about additional folding axes. The first and second parts may be arranged to be rotatable with respect to one another about a rotation axis.

[0026]The device may be arranged to be manually foldable. The device may be arranged to comprise one or more spring mechanism to assist folding of the device into one or more of the configurations.

[0027]The device may be arranged to be automatically foldable upon the user actuation of a user operable element. The device may be arranged such that the folding of the device into one or more of the configurations may be motor driven.

[0028]The device may have stable first and second configurations, with one or more intermediate configurations being comparatively unstable.

[0029]The device may be lockable in a closed configuration.

[0030]The device may be arranged to be handheld in the first configuration.

[0031]The device may be arranged to continuously monitor the folding configuration to determine the operating mode of the device. The device may be arranged to determine whether the folding angle between the first and second parts has reached a predetermined angle to determine the operating mode of the device.

[0032]The displays may be provided on inner faces of the parts. The displays may be provided on outer faces of the parts.

[0033]The device may have additional operating modes based on other configurations of the device.

[0034]According to a second aspect the present invention provides a foldable electronic apparatus comprising first and second parts being arranged to be foldable with respect to each other about a folding axis to define first and second apparatus folding configurations, wherein the first and second parts comprise respective first and second displays, wherein the apparatus is arranged to have respective first and second operating modes according to whether the apparatus is in the first configuration or the second configuration, and wherein, in the first operating mode, the first display is arranged to act as a user input, and in the second operating mode, the first and second displays are arranged to act as displays.

[0035]According to a third aspect, the present invention provides a foldable electronic device comprising first and second parts being arranged to be foldable with respect to each other about a folding axis to define first and second device folding configurations, wherein the first and second parts comprise respective first and second displays, wherein the device is arranged to have respective first and second operating modes according to whether the device is in the first configuration or the second configuration, and wherein, in the first operating mode, the first display is arranged to provide one or more indications to one or more adjacent user inputs, and in the second operating mode, the first and second displays are arranged to act as displays.

[0036]According to a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a foldable electronic apparatus according to the third aspect.

[0037]The apparatus may be modules of the device. One or more of the displays may be means for displaying. One or more of the user input elements may be means for user input.

[0038]The invention encompasses one or more aspects, embodiments and/or features of the aspects and/or embodiments in isolation and various combinations whether or not specifically mentioned in isolation or combination. Corresponding means for performing the functions disclosed are within the present disclosure.