OPERATIONAL CONTROL METHOD FOR FLEXIBLE DISPLAY DEVICE

Description

FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of flexible display technology, and particularly to an operational control method of a flexible display device.BACKGROUND

[0002] A flexible display device has many advantages, such as being convenient for carrying, being flexible, being able to be deformed freely, and so on. As the flexible display technology becomes more and more mature, the flexible screen will become common to our daily life, and the flexible mobile device will also gradually become a main tool in our daily life. The flexible mobile device will gradually replace traditional mobile devices, such as mobile phone or tablet computer in the near future. However, the flexible mobile device has some shortcomings at present, for example, it is not easy to perform operations on the flexible mobile device directly to cause the flexible mobile device execute instructions, such as enlarging an image, turning on or off the flexible mobile device, unlocking the flexible mobile device, or receiving and making calls.

[0003] US patent application (US2014 / 0028597A1) discloses a flexible apparatus with a bending interaction guide. The flexible apparatus includes a sensor which senses a bending that deforms the shape of the flexible apparatus, and a controller which performs a previously set bending is sensed.

[0004] US patent application (US2013 / 0083496A1) discloses a flexible electronic device. Internal component of the device is configured to change an operating mode of the device when the distance between internal components falls below or rises above a predetermined threshold.

[0005] In addition, the traditional bending detection to the display device is low in precision, and cannot locate a bent position accurately, and so it is difficult to perform various operations through bending actions.SUMMARY

[0006] Based on the above, it is necessary to provide a method for controlling with the deformation characteristics of the flexible display device itself, and it is necessary to provide a method to accurately detect a position at which bending occurs.

[0007] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an operational control method of a flexible display device for controlling the flexible display device according to claim 1 is provided.

[0008] The above method can determine which sensing unit has been bent with the characteristic that the flexible sensing unit may cut off transmission of the signal when being bent, thereby detect the position at which bending occurs accurately.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] The following examples "Example Two" and "Example Three" are not according to the invention and are present for illustration purposes only. FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an operational control method of a flexible display device according to Example One of the present disclosure. FIG .2 is a side view showing a first film layer and a second film layer arranged on a flexible display device according to Example One of the present disclosure. FIG .3 is a top view showing the first film layer and the second film layer arranged on the flexible display device according to Example One of the present disclosure. FIG .4 is a diagram illustrating the first film layer and the second film layer arranged on the flexible display device being bent in transverse direction. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operational control method of a flexible display device according to Example Two of the present disclosure. FIG .6 is a diagram illustrating the position and distribution of the position sensors arranged on a flexible display device according to Example Two of the present disclosure. FIG. 7 is a plan view showing the distribution of the position sensors arranged on a flexible display device according to Example Two of the present disclosure. FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operational control method of a flexible display device according to Example Three of the present disclosure. FIGS. 9a-9c are diagrams illustrating a screen of a flexible display device including an elastic sensing element arranged on a display surface of the screen, an elastic sensing element arranged on a back surface of the screen and elastic sensing elements arranged on both of the display surface and back surface of the screen respectively according to Example Three of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an amount of a deformation of the display surface and back surface of the screen of the flexible display device according to Example Three of the present disclosure. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating the distribution of a plurality of sensing elements arranged on the display surface of the screen of the flexible display device according to Example Three of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] In the following description of embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof, and in which it is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments of the disclosure that can be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments can be used and structural changes can be made without departing from the scope of the disclosed embodiments, which is defined by the claims.Example One

[0011] FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating an operational control method of a flexible display device according to Example One of the present disclosure. As shown in the drawing, the method is used to control an action performed by a user to a flexible display device in the flexible display device, including the following steps.

[0012] Step S 110: detecting an action performed by a user to the device. The action includes one or any combination of bending, folding, edge deforming and shape recovering.

[0013] Step S120: analyzing a characteristic value of the action, and performing a corresponding system function when the characteristic value of the action satisfies a preset condition.

[0014] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a first film layer 110 and a second film layer 120 are arranged on the flexible display device 100. The first film layer 110 includes a plurality of first orientation sensing units 111 arranged in parallel in a first direction, and the second film layer 120 includes a plurality of second orientation sensing units 121 arranged in parallel in a second direction. Preferably, the first direction and the second direction are perpendicular to each other. Each of the first and second orientation sensing units is adapted to generate a sensing signal when being bent. In FIG. 2, the first film layer 110 is closer to the flexible display device 100. In other embodiments, the second film layer 120 may be closer to the flexible display device 100. In other word, the extending direction of the first orientation sensing units 111 in the first film layer 110 may be the horizontal direction in the drawing, and the extending direction of the second orientation sensing units 121 in the first film layer 120 may be the direction perpendicular to the paper in the drawing accordingly.

[0015] In one exemplary embodiment, the step of detecting the action performed by the user to the device includes step S111: acquiring the sensing signals from the first and second orientation sensing units. The sensing signal is generated by the first orientation sensing unit 111 or the second orientation sensing unit 121 when the first orientation sensing unit 111 or the second orientation sensing unit 121 is bent. The first orientation sensing unit 111 or the second orientation sensing unit 121 may be made of a piezoresistive / piezoelectric material, and when the first orientation sensing unit 111 or the second orientation sensing unit 121 is bent, the resistance thereof may be changed, or the first orientation sensing unit 111 or the second orientation sensing unit 121 may generate current, so that the bending of the first orientation sensing unit 111 or the second orientation sensing unit 121 may be known by detecting the variation in the resistance thereof. step S112: determining a position at which bending occurs based on the sensing signals from the first and second orientation sensing units.

[0016] According to the invention, each of the first and second orientation sensing units 111, 121 is adapted to allow a signal to pass through when not being bent, and is also adapted to cut off transmission of the signal when being bent. That is, each of the first and second orientation sensing units 111, 121 cannot generate a signal by itself, but can allow a signal to pass through or cut off transmission of the signal.

[0017] The step of detecting the action performed by the user to the device includes: step S113: inputting a scanning signal at one end of each of the first and second orientation sensing units, and detecting whether the scanning signal is output at the other end of each of the first and second orientation sensing units to determine whether each of the first and second orientation sensing units is bent; and step S114: obtaining a position of the first orientation sensing unit or the second orientation sensing unit of no scanning signal output detected, and thereby determining the position at which bending occurs.

[0018] Specifically, each first orientation sensing unit 111 is provided with a corresponding Boolean variable to keep a record of bending state to obtain a first Boolean array, for example, the number of the first orientation sensing units 111 extending in the transverse direction is n. The first Boolean array is a[n], in which n is the index corresponding to the element in the first Boolean array. In this way, the element a 1 is used for the first of the first orientation sensing units 111, the element a 2 is used for the second of the first orientation sensing units 111, ..., and the element a n is used for the nth of the first orientation sensing units 111. Similarly, each second orientation sensing unit 121 is provided with a corresponding Boolean variable to keep a record of bending state to obtain a second Boolean array, for example, the number of the second orientation sensing units 121 extending in the longitudinal direction is m. The second Boolean array is b[m]. In this way, the element b 1 is used for the first of the second orientation sensing units 121, the element b 2 is used for the second of the second orientation sensing units 121, ..., and the element b m is used for the mth of the second orientation sensing units 121. Therefore, the index of one element in the first Boolean array a[n] corresponds to the position of one first orientation sensing unit 111 respectively, and the index of one element in the second Boolean array b[m] corresponds to the position of one second orientation sensing unit 121 respectively.

[0019] In this embodiment, when the first or second orientation sensing unit 111, 121 is bent, that is the signal is cut off, value of the corresponding Boolean variable is set to be false, otherwise the value of the corresponding Boolean variable is set to be true. a coordinate pair corresponding to one element in the first Boolean array and the other element in the second Boolean array both of which are set to be true may be acquired to acquire coordinates of the position at which bending occurs.

[0020] The details of the calculating process will be described as below.

[0021] Definition: the row vectors a 1 , ..., a n indicate row sensor signals, the column vectors b 1 , ..., b m indicate column sensor signals, in which a n and b m are Boolean values. a n = 0 means the signal of the nth row is cut off, a n = 1 means the signal of the nth row is allowed to pass through. When the flexible screen is bent, a few rows of signals may be cut off, which may be expressed as a i = 0 in a mathematical description, in which i indicates the raw number of the row where the signal is cut off. b m = 0 means the signal of the mth column is cut off, b m = 1 means the signal of the mth column is allowed to pass through. When the flexible screen is bent, a few columns of signals may be cut off, which may be expressed as b j = 0 in a mathematical description, in which j indicates the column number of the column where the signal is cut off. 1. A position (a i , b j ) of the flexible screen is bent. 2. The first film layer 110 may be scanned in a order from a 1 to a n sequentially. If the signal passes through a 1 , a 2 is continued to be scanned until a n is scanned, and then start the cycle all over again. If the signal is cut off in a 1 , a 2 is also continued to be scanned while the cut-off signal in a 1 is stored and calculated, until the last cut-off signal in a i is stored. All the cut-off signals in a 1 ~a i are stored and calculated. 3. The second film layer 120 may be scanned in a order from b 1 to b m sequentially. If the signal passes through b 1 , b 2 is continued to be scanned until b m is scanned, and then start the cycle all over again. If the signal is cut off in b 1 , b 2 is also continued to be scanned while the cut-off signal in b 1 is stored and calculated, until the last cut-off signal in b i is stored. All the cut-off signals in b 1 ~b i are stored and calculated. 4. The calculated results of all of the stored sensor signals for a 1 ~a i and b 1 ~b i of the first film layer 110 and the second film layer 120 are processed together to determine the position at which bending occurs (a i , b j ).

[0022] For example: 1. The position at which bending occurs in the flexible screen is (a 9 , b 9 ). 2. The electrical signal in the first film layer 110 shows: a 1 off, a 2 off, a 3 off, a 4 off, a 5 off, a 6 off, a 7 off, a 8 off, a 9 off, a 10 on, a 11 on, a 12 on, a 13 on, .., and a n on, and the electrical signal cut off in a 1 ~a 9 may be stored and calculated. 3. The electrical signal in the second film layer 120 shows: b 1 off, b 2 off, b 3 off, b 4 off, b 5 off, b 6 off, b 7 off, b 8 off, b 9 off, b 10 on, b 11 on, b 12 on, b 13 on, .., and b m on, and the electrical signal cut off in b1]~b 9 may be stored and calculated. 4. The calculated results of all of the stored sensor signals for a 1 ~a 9 and b 1 ~b 9 of the first film layer 110 and the second film layer 120 are processed together to determine the position at which bending occurs is an oblique line (a 9 , b 9 ).

[0023] As shown in FIG. 4, when the flexible display device 100 is bent in a transverse direction, all the sensing units in the transverse direction (for example, the first orientation sensing units 111) may be bent, while only few of the sensing units in the longitudinal direction (for example, the second orientation sensing units 121) may be bent. Thus the coordinates of the positions which have been bent may form a few longitudinal lines.

[0024] There may be a plurality of actions which the user may perform to the flexible display device, and there may be a plurality of common system functions corresponding to the actions respectively, to solve the problems in the daily operations. The corresponding relations between the actions and the operations may include, but is not limited to the following examples.

[0025] The system function is to enlarge a display font when the action is bending.

[0026] The system function is to lock screen or turn power off when the action is folding the device to make it have an angle less than a preset value; and system function is to unlock screen or turn power on when the action is folding the device to make it have an angle larger than the preset value.

[0027] The system function is to enable taking pictures or videos when the action is edge deforming.

[0028] The system function is to return a system main interface or close a currently active program when the action is to enable the device recovering its shape within a predetermined time after the device being bent.

[0029] The following Example Two is not according to the invention and is present for illustration purposes only.Example Two

[0030] As shown in FIG. 5, the processes of the operational control method of the flexible display device in this example is similar to the operational control method of the flexible display device as described above in the Example One, including: step S210: detecting an action of bending or folding performed by a user to the device; and step S220: analyzing a characteristic value of the action, and performing a corresponding system function when the characteristic value of the action satisfies a preset condition.

[0031] In this illustrative example, as shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of position sensors 210 are arranged on a screen 200 of the flexible display device. Specifically, the plurality of position sensors 210 are attached on an additional film layer, and the film layer is attached to the screen 200.

[0032] The step of detecting the action of bending or folding performed by the user to the device includes the following processes.

[0033] Step S211: selecting one position sensor from the plurality of position sensors, as a reference sensor.

[0034] Step S212: calculating variations in distances between other position sensors and the reference sensor, and taking the position sensors from which the distances to the reference sensor are changed, as movement sensors. The movement sensors may refer to position sensors from which the distances to the reference sensor are changed but the positions of the sensors may not be changed. When the flexible display device is bent or folded, the position of a part of the flexible display device usually changes relative to the other part of the flexible display device.

[0035] Step S213: acquiring position information of the movement sensors. Specifically, it is to learn which position sensors are taken as the movement sensors.

[0036] Step S214: calculating a position at which bending or folding occurs based on the position information of the movement sensors. Each position sensor has a relatively fixed position on the flexible display device, and is given a unique identification. It may be known which parts of the screen are bent or folded by acquiring the identifications of the movement sensors.

[0037] Specifically, refer to the plan view showing the distribution of the position sensors in FIG. 6, the position sensor 211 at the bottom-left corner of the screen is selected as the reference sensor.

[0038] When the flexible display device 200 is folded along the fold line 220 in FIG. 7, the distances between each of the position sensors 212 on the area of the upper-right corner of the screen and the reference sensor are changed. The area which has been folded and the position which has been folded (the position of the fold line 220) may be known by calculating and determining the distances.

[0039] The distances between each of the position sensors 213 on the other areas of the screen and the reference sensor are not changed, and the area where such position sensors 213 do not belong to is the area which has been folded.

[0040] Further, the degree of bending or folding may be determined by calculating the distances between the movement sensors and the reference sensor. As shown in FIG. 7, when the degree of being folded is slight, there is not a large variation in the distances, while when the degree of being folded is great, there is a large variation in the distances.

[0041] The following Example Three is not according to the invention and is present for illustration purposes only.Example Three

[0042] As shown in FIG. 8, the processes of the operational control method of the flexible display device in this illustrative example not belonging to the invention is similar to the operational control method of the flexible display device as described above in the Example One, including: step S310: detecting a bending action performed by the user to the device; and step S320: analyzing a characteristic value of the action, and performing a corresponding system function when the characteristic value of the action satisfies a preset condition.

[0043] As shown in FIGS. 9a-9c, FIGS. 9a-9c are diagrams illustrating a screen including an elastic sensing element arranged on a display surface of the screen, an elastic sensing element arranged on a back surface of the screen and elastic sensing elements arranged on both of the display surface and back surface of the screen respectively. In FIG. 9a, the elastic sensing element 330 is arranged on the display surface 310 of the screen 330, and no elastic sensing element is arranged on the back surface 320. In FIG. 9b, the elastic sensing element 330 is arranged on the back surface 320, and no elastic sensing element is arranged on the display surface 310. In FIG. 9C, the elastic sensing elements 330 are arranged on both of the display surface 310 and back surface 320 of the screen 300.

[0044] In this illustrative example not belonging to the invention, the elastic sensing element 330 is adapted to output a signal corresponding to an amount of a deformation caused by stretching or compressing. For example, when the elastic sensing element 330 is stretched, a positive voltage signal may be output, and when the elastic sensing element 330 is compressed, a negative voltage signal may be output.

[0045] The step of detecting the bending action performed by the user to the device includes: step S311: detecting a signal output from each elastic sensing element; and step S212: determining whether the screen has been bent. The details are described as below.

[0046] For the configuration as shown in FIG. 9a, if the signal from the elastic sensing element 330 on the display surface 310 indicates the elastic sensing element 330 is stretched, for example, a positive voltage signal is detected, it may be determined that the screen 300 is bent towards the back surface 320.

[0047] If the signal from the elastic sensing element 330 on the display surface indicates the elastic sensing element 330 is compressed, for example, a negative voltage signal is detected, it may be determined that the screen 300 is bent towards the display surface.

[0048] For the configuration as shown in FIG. 9b, if the signal from the elastic sensing element 330 on the back surface 320 indicates the elastic sensing element 330 is stretched, for example, a positive voltage signal is detected, it may be determined that the screen 300 is bent towards the display surface 310.

[0049] If the signal from the elastic sensing element 330 on the back surface 320 indicates the elastic sensing element 330 is compressed, for example, a negative voltage signal is detected, it may be determined that the screen 300 is bent towards the back surface 320.

[0050] For the configuration as shown in FIG. 9c, if the signal from the elastic sensing element 330 on the display surface 310 indicates the elastic sensing element 330 is stretched, for example, a positive voltage signal is detected, and at the same time, the signal from the elastic sensing element 330 on the back surface 320 indicates the elastic sensing element 330 is stretched, for example, a positive voltage signal is detected, it may be determined that the screen 300 is bent towards the display surface 310.

[0051] Further, the degree of the screen being bent may be calculated according to the amount of the deformation caused by the elastic sensing element 330 being stretched or compressed. For example, the detected positive voltage may become larger with the increasing of the amount of the deformation caused by the elastic sensing element 330 being stretched, so the degree of the screen 300 being bent can be determined. When different functions may be implemented based on the degree of the bending, the degree of the bending may correspond to different functions respectively.

[0052] As shown in FIG. 10, there are deformations on the display surface 310 and back surface 320 of the screen 300. The amount of the deformation on the back surface 320 is L1, and the amount of the deformation on the display surface 310 is L2. The amount of the deformation of the flexible device is defined as Δ L = L 1 − L 2 L 1 + L 2 , and the degree of the screen being bent may be known according to the ΔL .

[0053] In one illustrative example, the elastic sensing element 330 is adapted to sense the stretching or compressing in a first direction and in a second direction. For example, the elastic sensing element 330 is made of an anisotropic material, and the elastic sensing element 330 may produce a voltage variation in the first or second direction when it is bent in the first or second direction. The direction in which the screen is bent may be known by detecting the voltage in the first and the second directions.

[0054] In another illustrative example, the elastic sensing element 330 includes a first elastic sensing element adapted to sense the stretching or compressing in the first direction, and a second elastic sensing element adapted to sense the stretching or compressing in the second direction. That is, the bending in two directions is sensed by two elastic sensing elements respectively. Of course, in other examples, the bending in two directions may be sensed by a kind of elastic sensing elements arranged in different directions.

[0055] In this illustrative example, the first direction and the second direction are perpendicular to each other. Specifically, the first direction is the transverse direction, and the second direction is the longitudinal direction.

[0056] In a further illustrative example, there are multiple elastic sensing elements 330 arranged on the display surface or the back surface of the screen. As shown in FIG. 11, the multiple elastic sensing elements 330 are arranged on the display surface 310 of the screen 300. The elastic sensing element 330 may be made of an anisotropic material, and multiple elastic sensing elements 330 may be arranged in two directions perpendicular to each other. The multiple elastic sensing elements 330 are arranged in two directions perpendicular to each other in the illustrative example as shown in FIG. 10.

[0057] In the above illustrative example, the method further includes: acquiring a position of each elastic sensing element which has been in an elastic deformation, to calculate a position at which bending occurs. Each elastic sensing element arranged on the screen 300 is provided with its own identification information and corresponding position information, so the position at which bending occurs may be determined by determining which elastic sensing element 330 has been in an elastic deformation.

[0058] The above are embodiments of the disclosure described in detail, and should not be deemed as limitations to the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An operational control method of a flexible display device for controlling the flexible display device, comprising: detecting an action performed by a user to the device (5110), the action including one or any combination of bending, folding, edge deforming and shape recovering; and analyzing a characteristic value of the action, and performing a corresponding system function when the characteristic value of the action satisfies a preset condition (S120); wherein a first film layer (110) and a second film layer (120) are arranged on the flexible display device, the first film layer (110) includes a plurality of first orientation sensing units (111) arranged in parallel in a first direction, and the second film layer (120) includes a plurality of second orientation sensing units (121) arranged in parallel in a second direction; characterized in that each of the plurality of first orientation sensing units (111) and each of the plurality of second orientation sensing units (121) is adapted to enable a transmission of a signal therethrough when not being bent, and disable the transmission of the signal when being bent; and the detecting the action performed by the user to the device (S110) includes: inputting a scanning signal at one end of each of the plurality of first orientation sensing units (111) and each of the plurality of second orientation sensing units (121), and detecting whether the scanning signal is output at the other end of each of the plurality of first orientation sensing units (111) and each of the plurality of second orientation sensing units (121) to determine whether each of the plurality of first orientation sensing units (111) and each of the plurality of second orientation sensing units (121) is bent; and obtaining first positions of first orientation sensing units (111) from which no scanning signal output is detected, from among the plurality of first orientation sensing units (111), and second positions of second orientation sensing units (121) from which no scanning signal output is detected, from among the plurality of second orientation sensing units (121), by: providing a Boolean variable for each of the plurality of first orientation sensing units (111) to keep a record of bending state to obtain a first Boolean array, and providing a Boolean variable for each of the plurality of second orientation sensing units (121) to keep a record of bending state to obtain a second Boolean array, wherein each element in the first Boolean array has an index corresponding to a first position of one of the first orientation sensing units (111) respectively, and each element in the second Boolean array has an index corresponding to a second position of the second orientation sensing units (121) respectively; when one of the first or second orientation sensing units (111, 121) is bent, the value of the corresponding Boolean variably is set to be false, otherwise the value of the corresponding Boolean variable is set to be true; and determining coordinates of a position at which bending occurs based on both the obtained first positions of the first orientation sensing units (111) from which no scanning signal output is detected and the obtained second positions of the second orientation sensing units (121) from which no scanning signal output is detected , by: acquiring a coordinate pair corresponding to one element in the first Boolean array and the other element in the second Boolean array both of which are set to be false, to acquire coordinates of the position at which bending occurs.

2. The operational control method of the flexible display device of claim 1, wherein the first direction and the second direction are perpendicular to each other.

3. The operational control method of the flexible display device of claim 1, wherein the system function is to enlarge a display font when the action is bending.

4. The operational control method of the flexible display device of claim 1, wherein the system function is to lock screen or turn power off when the action is folding the device to make it have an angle less than a preset value; and the system function is to unlock screen or turn power on when the action is folding the device to make it have an angle larger than the preset value.

5. The operational control method of the flexible display device of claim 1, wherein the system function is to enable taking pictures or videos when the action is edge deforming.

6. The operational control method of the flexible display device of claim 1, wherein the system function is to return a system main interface or close a currently active program when the action is to enable the device recovering its shape within a predetermined time after the device being bent.