Display Mount Hinge With Off-Axis Rotation for Camera Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing display mount hinge mechanisms do not allow seamless rotation between portrait and landscape modes without affecting the user's eye gaze or compromising camera visibility during video calls, and lack efficient mechanisms for transitioning between active and privacy modes.
Innovation Solution
A hinge mechanism with an off-axis pivot point, weighting, and damping components that enables smooth rotation and translation of the display, maintaining consistent vertical offset and allowing the camera to be exposed or covered based on the device's state, using a combination of bearings, torsion springs, and damping mechanisms for natural feel and controlled motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a conventional hinge mechanism is used for display rotation, then the structure is simple, but the display cannot maintain consistent vertical offset from the camera during rotation between portrait and landscape modes
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge mechanism transitions from simple rotational movement to a compound motion path that combines rotation and translation. The display moves along a predetermined curved trajectory rather than a simple circular arc, allowing the top edge to maintain consistent vertical offset from the camera while rotating between orientations. This dimensional change in motion path resolves the contradiction between rotation capability and offset consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge mechanism employs an off-axis pivot point positioned asymmetrically rather than at the center of the display. This asymmetric positioning, combined with the curved motion path, enables the display to rotate while maintaining a fixed vertical relationship with the camera. The asymmetric design allows the top edge to remain at a constant vertical offset throughout the rotation, solving the precision requirement.
2Speed
If the display is rotated quickly between orientations, then the transition speed is fast, but the motion feels unnatural and lacks control
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge mechanism incorporates periodic damping forces that act throughout the rotation motion. The damping mechanism provides continuous, periodic resistance to the display's movement, creating a natural, controlled feel during rotation. This periodic action regulates the speed and smoothness of the transition, making fast rotations feel natural and controlled rather than abrupt or uncontrolled.
Solution Approach 2:
The damping mechanism is designed to provide cushioning forces throughout the entire rotation path, anticipating and counteracting inertial effects before they cause unwanted motion. This beforehand cushioning ensures that even rapid rotations are smoothly controlled and feel natural to the user, preventing jerky or uncontrolled movements while maintaining high transition speeds.
3Reliability
If the display is positioned to cover the camera in privacy mode, then user privacy is protected, but the transition to active mode requires precise positioning to expose the camera correctly
Solution Approach 1:
The hinge mechanism's predetermined curved motion path automatically ensures that when the display reaches its terminal positions (portrait or landscape), the top edge is already at the correct vertical offset from the camera. This self-service positioning eliminates the need for additional actuators or sensors to adjust camera alignment, as the rotation mechanism itself guarantees proper camera exposure accuracy at each terminal position.
Solution Approach 2:
The hinge mechanism is designed so that both terminal positions (portrait and landscape modes) are equipotential points where the display's top edge naturally settles at the correct vertical offset from the camera. This equipotential design ensures that regardless of which orientation the user selects, the camera will be correctly positioned and exposed, providing reliable camera exposure accuracy in both modes without requiring complex positioning adjustments.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables seamless orientation changes between portrait and landscape modes without affecting the user's gaze, ensuring uninterrupted video calls and providing a natural feel with controlled and damped motion, while allowing the camera to be exposed or covered as needed.
Implementation Method 1
torsion springs
Implementation Method 2
damping mechanisms
Data Source
AI summary
A device mount mounts a display with an aspect ratio greater than or less than 1:1. A camera is integrated into the device mount at a position above a top edge of the display. A hinge of the device mount rotates the mounted display. A mounting plate of the hinge couples the hinge to the device mount, and a shuttle of the hinge couples the display to the hinge to rotate the display between a landscape mode and a portrait mode. The hinge is configured such that rotation of the display from landscape mode into portrait mode translates a center of the display away from the camera on a vertical axis and rotation of the display back to landscape mode translates the center of the display towards the camera on the vertical axis.