Apparatus equipped with input of display position

The present invention relates generally to electronic devices, in particular to electronic devices with display position feedback for controlling one or more features of the device.

Traditionally, electronic devices with displays, such as mobile phones, tablet personal computers (PCs), laptop PCs, have used various methods to allow users to control the devices. These methods include keypads, and in some cases miniaturized keypads, touchpads, joysticks, stylists and touch control display screens. However, as devices are miniaturized or designed to perform more complex or advanced applications, such device control methods are at least as the available device area for such control decreases. It may be less than desired by some applications. Therefore, an improved user control method is desired.

<p> An object of the present invention is to improve the control of the content appearing on the display of the electronic device.</p>

<p> For this reason, in some embodiments, the electronic device is provided with a display view associated with each position of the display. In some embodiments, different functional aspects of the application may be invoked based on the relative position of one or more displays of the electronic device.</p><p> In order to solve the above problems, one feature of the present invention relates to an integrated circuit having a graphic processing unit that generates content displayed on the one or more displays based on at least one position of the one or more displays.</p>

<p> According to the present invention, the function and / or display view of an electronic device can be intuitively and better controlled by simply moving one or more displays of the electronic device.</p>

<figref num="1A">FIG. 1A shows a notebook calculator with a first display according to some embodiments.</figref><figref num="1B">FIG. 1B shows a notebook calculator with first and second displays according to some embodiments.</figref><figref num="1C">FIG. 1C shows an electronic computing unit with a first display according to some embodiments.</figref><figref num="2A">FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a computational system with position feedback according to some embodiments.</figref><figref num="2B">FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a computing system with a system-on-chip implementation with position feedback according to some embodiments.</figref><figref num="3">Figures 3A-3F show a calculator with display position feedback that controls the view according to some embodiments.</figref><figref num="4">Figures 4A-4F show a calculator with display position feedback that controls the view according to some further embodiments.</figref>

According to some embodiments, the electronic device is provided with one or more position sensors that detect the specific orientation of one or more parts of the device and provide the ability to use it as a user interface. The electronic device used here is an arbitrary device such as a notebook computer or a mobile phone equipped with one or more displays, a tablet, a GPS (Global Positioning Sensor) unit, and the like. In some embodiments, the electronic device detects the relative rotational position of the display with respect to, for example, a reference such as a gravity vector in space or other parts of the device. The device may use this information as input to control any of the devices to control which content is displayed, such as the point of view of the displayed content, or how the content is displayed. ..

FIGS. 1A-1C show each electronic device having display position information (feedback) as an input for controlling the orientation of the device, such as a view on the display according to some embodiments. FIG. 1A shows a so-called "notebook" or "laptop" type computer. It has a first portion 102 and a second portion 112 that are rotatably connected to each other with respect to axis A in a so-called spread configuration. It also has a first display 105 in the first part 102. FIG. 1B shows a notebook 121 similar to the notebook 101, except that the second portion 122 has a second display 115. In this embodiment, one or both of the displays is a so-called "touch screen" or has a touch screen portion for realizing a user input function such as a keypad. FIG. 1C is a device, such as a so-called "tablet" computer, consisting of a first portion 132 with a display 115 for viewing information and performing user input.

The display is any suitable display including, but is not limited to, a liquid crystal display (LCD), a surface-conduction electron emitting element display (SED), a field emission display (FED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, and the like. It may be realized by the type. Further, the display may also have a touch control function, such as through appropriate resistance or capacitive grid detection, along with one or more of the displays.

The electronic device also has one or more position sensors for measuring the relative and / or absolute position of the display on the device. Relative position sensors measure the position of the display with respect to external references and / or other parts of the device, and absolute position sensors can determine the geographical position of the device (eg by global positioning, etc.). In some embodiments, the relative position sensor is the angle between the other part of the device and the display, such as the angle A between the rotatably connected first and second parts in devices 101 and 121. ) Have one or more angle or rotation deviation sensors to measure. Other sensors (inertia sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses, level sensors, etc.) are used to measure the relative or absolute position of the display with respect to external references such as gravity vectors, as indicated by device 131. It is possible.

One or more sensors may be implemented by any sensor type suitable for performing these functions. Sensors for determining the absolute position and orientation of the device are, but are not limited to, GPS units used to determine the position of the device on the surface of the earth, detecting the magnetic north direction. Magnetic compasses, accelerometers used to determine the direction of local gravity vectors (such as downwards), tilt sensors and inclinometers that generate artificial horizon and measure angular deviations about this horizon, and Includes accelerometer. In some embodiments, an inertial system (gyro, compass or accelerometer system) may be implemented to detect height, position and movement using a combination of accelerometer and angular velocity sensor (gyroscope). .. They may also be capable of detecting height, position, velocity, temperature or magnetic field.

Sensors that determine the relative movement of the device include, but are not limited to, inertial sensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes, and angle sensors (rotaries) located near the hinge area. Suitable angle sensors may include potentiometers, resolvers, optical encoders, and rotary position sensors including various magnetic and capacitive devices, such as those designed for angular deviations of less than one revolution.

Figures 2A and 2B show an exemplary computational system for implementing at least some of the electronic devices described herein. Figure 2A shows part of a computing system with processor 202, graphic / memory controller (GMC) 204, input / output controller (IOC) 210, memory 208, peripherals 211, one or more displays 206 and one or more position sensors 212. Is shown. Processor 202 may be implemented by any suitable processor having one or more processing cores (not shown) for running one or more applications that produce content displayed on one or more displays. Note that the processor can be feasible with independent chips and / or packages, or can be part of a chip or package common to other components such as the GMC and / or IOC.

GMC204 realizes memory and graphic control functions. It has a memory controller that controls access to memory 208 and a graphics processing unit (GPU) 205 that produces the graphic content of one or more displays 206 based on an application running on processor 202. The IOC210 controlsably connects peripherals 211 to the rest of the system. Peripherals include user interface devices (keypads, stylist interfaces, touch screen interfaces, audio components, etc.), wireless interface components, and USB (Universal Serial). It has a network interface device including an access port such as a Bus) port. The position sensor can have any combination of one or more identical or different position sensors as described above. The IOC 210 has a position processing unit 214 that receives position feedback information for at least a portion of the relative positions of one or more displays 206. One processing unit 214 processes the information, determines the relative position, and provides it to the graphic processing unit 205. In addition, the GPU 205 produces graphic content based on relative position. For example, it has content to display based on the application it runs, but displays a given view or projection of the content based on relative position. It should be understood that content and view processing may be performed on the GPU, processor or combination of GPU and processor.

Figure 2B shows the implementation of a computing system, such as one realized by a system-on-chip (SOC) configuration. The computing system may have equivalent functional units and devices as shown, but each functional unit and device may or may not be implemented to the same extent. For example, SOC implementations will typically have less flexibility and performance capabilities than full computing system implementations. SOC implementations may be particularly suitable for more specialized equipment (telephones, personal organizers, etc.) and cheaper implementations.

FIGS. 3A to 3F show an embodiment of graphical content based on the position where the viewpoint of the content is affected by the relative position of the display. Here, the computer is a notebook having a spread configuration. It has one or more rotation shift sensors (such as a magnetic angle shift sensor) provided to detect an angle between two hinge portions, such as the angle of the display with respect to the base portion.

In this example, a simple pyramid is shown. When the display is at 90 degree angle A, a perspective view from the front side of the pyramid is displayed. For example, as the angle increases, as the display moves downwards, the viewpoint changes correspondingly from the top of the view to looking down on the pyramid at an angle of 180 degrees. In this way, the user can conveniently rotate the perspective view of the object simply by moving the display according to the desired view. This usage model can be used for various applications including CAD (Computer Aided Drawing) tools and mapping applications without limitation. For example, Google Earth^TMIn devices such as, in devices such as portable web devices with multiple sensors, the device display allows the user to see where on the Earth Map (GPS) and the user sees the screen in the magnetic north direction. Browse to see if it is pointing in the direction (compass / accelerometer) and respond to the position, orientation and height of the user (device) Google Earth^TMIt can be used as a virtual viewport to control the viewpoint of. For example, the user can lift the display and point it at a mountain or building. The sensor shows the same mountain on the device's display, so Google Earth^TMIt can provide the inputs needed to control the display. Google Earth when the device display is rotated in space^TMThe displayed image can be changed in real time to match the orientation of the device by the user. If the device's display points to the ground, it will be displayed in Google Earth^TMThe image can be the default map view.

In addition to this example, for devices with multiple displays that are movable relative to each other, each display can be operated independently according to its orientation. For example, one display surface can display a map view if it is parallel to the ground, and the other display can display a horizontal view if it is orthogonal to the ground. The orientation of the map view may have a "map north direction" aligned parallel to the magnetic north direction, such as detected by a compass in the device. Device movements with respect to roll, pitch and yaw axes, as shown in Figure 1C, can be detected by a combination of sensors and displayed as if the user would expect to see the actual view through the camera Google Earth.^TMIt can be used to adjust the (virtual) view.

Figures 4A-4F show examples of other usage models for display position-based display control. In this example, a device including a first display and a second display is used. For a running application, view A is displayed on the second display and a different view of the application is displayed on the first display. The view options used for the first display are indicated by the position of the first display. In this example, application view B is shown when the display angle is within a range of 90 degrees, application view C is shown in the range of about 110 to 160 degrees, and the application is shown in the range of 160 to 180 degrees. View D is shown. Therefore, the angle of the display is used as part of the user interface control for selecting options in the running application. PowerPoint is a specific example of an application in which this is used.^TMOr any other application with multiple view options. For example, it is possible for the first display to display different view options, such as a slide show or the entire selected slide, based on its position, while all slides in the presentation are displayed simultaneously on the second display. In this way, the user can easily control the view options by simply moving the first display, such as rotating it.

In the above description, a number of specific details have been given. However, it will be appreciated that each embodiment of the invention is feasible without these specific details. Also, well-known circuits, configurations and techniques are not shown in detail so as not to obscure the understanding of the description. In addition, expressions such as "one example", "a certain example", "an example example", and "each example" mean that the disclosed examples of the present invention have a specific function, configuration, or feature. Including, but not necessarily all embodiments show that the function, configuration or feature is included. In addition, some examples may or may not have some or all of the features described for other examples.

In the above description and the following claims, the following terms should be construed as follows. The terms "connect" and "join" and their derivatives may be used. It should be understood that these terms are not intended to be synonymous with each other. In certain embodiments, "connection" is used to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other. "Coupling" is used to indicate that two or more elements collaborate or interact with each other, with or without direct physical or electrical contact.

The present invention is not limited to the described examples, and can be realized by making improvements and modifications within the purpose and scope of the attached claims. For example, it should be understood that the present invention is applicable for use with all types of semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) chips. Specific examples of these IC chips include, but are not limited to, processors, controllers, chipset components, PLA (Programmable Logic Array), memory chips, network chips, and the like.

It should be understood that in some drawings the signal leads are represented by straight lines. Some are shown more finely to indicate more constituent signal paths, have number labels to indicate the number of constituent signal paths, and have arrows at one or more ends to indicate the main information flow direction. Maybe. However, this should not be construed in a limited way. Such additional details may be utilized in connection with one or more exemplary embodiments to achieve an easy understanding of the circuit. With or without additional information, the displayed signal lines are propagated in multiple directions and are realized by differential pairs digital or analog lines, fiber optic lines and / or single-ended lines. It may have one or more signals realized by any appropriate signal system.

Given examples of sizes, models, values, and ranges, it should be understood that the present invention is not limited thereto. As manufacturing techniques (such as photolithography) advance over time, it is expected that smaller size devices can be manufactured. In addition, well-known power / ground connections with IC chips and other components may or may not be illustrated to avoid obscuring the present invention and for simplification of illustration and description. May be good. Further, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention, each configuration is shown in the form of a block diagram, but the details regarding the realization of such a block diagram configuration largely depend on the platform on which the present invention is realized. With respect to the fact, such details should be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art. Specific details (such as circuits) are given to illustrate examples of the present invention, but it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be realized without these specific details or by modifications thereof. Should be. Therefore, this description should be considered as exemplary rather than limiting.

Although the examples of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to a specific embodiment, and various modifications and modifications are made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. Is possible.

105,115,206 display 202 processor 204 graphics / memory controller 205 Graphic processing unit 208 memory 210 I / O controller 211 Peripherals 212 Position sensor