CN111613147B

CN111613147B - Foldable electronic device

Info

Publication number: CN111613147B
Application number: CN202010601761.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 韩青; 陈江
Original assignee: Wuhan Tianma Microelectronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Wuhan Tianma Microelectronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-06-29
Filing date: 2020-06-29
Publication date: 2022-03-29
Anticipated expiration: 2040-06-29
Also published as: CN111613147A

Abstract

The invention discloses a foldable electronic device, comprising: the flexible display panel is provided with a first display area, a second display area and a third display area which are sequentially arranged; the back surface of the first display area is attached and fixed on the top opening of the shell; the back of the third display area is attached and fixed on the fixed block; the sliding assembly is connected with the machine shell and the fixed block; if the sliding assembly and the fixed block are completely accommodated in the casing, the electronic equipment is in a first state, the three display areas are sequentially stacked, and the second display area and the third display area are both positioned in the casing and are both positioned between the first display area and the fixed block; if the sliding assembly and the fixed block slide to the outside of the shell and are flush with the top of the shell, the electronic equipment is in the second state, and the three display areas are located on the same plane. The electronic equipment has two states, and can meet the use requirements of users in different scenes. It is also possible to prevent damage and wrinkling of the flexible display panel, having a suitable aspect ratio in the second state.

Description

Foldable electronic device

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of display devices, in particular to foldable electronic equipment.

Background

With the continuous development of science and technology, more and more electronic devices with display functions are widely applied to daily life and work of people, bring great convenience to the daily life and work of people, and become an indispensable important tool for people at present.

The display panel is a main component of the electronic device that realizes a display function. At present, foldable electronic devices made of flexible display panels are becoming an important development in the field of display device technology. How to provide a foldable electronic device with a plurality of different use forms is a problem to be solved urgently in the technical field of display devices.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present application provides a foldable electronic device, which adopts the following scheme:

a foldable electronic device, the electronic device comprising:

the flexible display panel is provided with a first display area, a second display area and a third display area which are sequentially arranged;

the back surface of the first display area is attached and fixed on the top opening of the shell;

the back of the third display area is attached and fixed on the fixed block;

the sliding assembly is connected with the shell and the fixed block;

if the sliding assembly and the fixed block are completely accommodated in the casing, the electronic equipment is in a first state, three display areas are sequentially stacked, and the second display area and the third display area are both positioned in the casing and are both positioned between the first display area and the fixed block; if the sliding assembly and the fixed block slide to the outside of the casing and are flush with the top of the casing, the electronic equipment is in the second state, and the three display areas are on the same plane.

As can be seen from the above description, in the electronic device according to the present invention, the sliding assembly can switch the electronic device between the first state and the second state, in the first state, the three display areas are sequentially stacked and stored in the housing, and image display is performed only through the first display area, and in the second state, the three display areas are coplanar and image display is performed through the three display areas simultaneously.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present application or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below, it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only embodiments of the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to the provided drawings without creative efforts.

The structure, proportion, size and the like shown in the drawings are only used for matching with the content disclosed in the specification, so that the person skilled in the art can understand and read the description, and the description is not used for limiting the limit condition of the implementation of the invention, so the method has no technical essence, and any structural modification, proportion relation change or size adjustment still falls within the scope of the technical content disclosed by the invention without affecting the effect and the achievable purpose of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a foldable electronic device;

FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another foldable electronic device;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a foldable electronic device in a first state according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a foldable electronic device in a second state according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic view illustrating an unfolding principle of a foldable electronic device in a second state according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a sectional view of a foldable electronic device in a second state according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic view of a folding principle of a foldable electronic device in a first state according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another foldable electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention in a first state;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a housing of a foldable electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view of the housing of FIG. 9 taken along the length direction of the first display area;

FIG. 11 is a cross-sectional view of the housing of FIG. 9 taken along the width direction of the first display area;

fig. 12 is a schematic view illustrating a sliding principle of the sliding assembly and the fixing block according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a fixing block according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The embodiments of the present application will be described in detail and fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein the description is only for the purpose of illustrating the embodiments of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

As shown in fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a foldable electronic device, in which a display screen is divided into three parts, the three parts are a first sub-display 1, a second sub-display 2 and a third sub-display 3 in sequence, the first sub-display 1 and the second sub-display 2 can be bent based on an interface line therebetween, and the second sub-display 2 and the third sub-display 3 can be bent based on an interface line therebetween. Therefore, the foldable display device shown in fig. 1 can display images through the three character display screens simultaneously when the three character display screens are coplanar, and can be used as a tablet computer, and after the three character display screens are stacked, the first sub display screen 1 or the third sub display screen 3 can be used for displaying images and can be used as a mobile phone.

The mode shown in fig. 1 requires that supporting components such as a back supporting plate and a casing are attached to the back surfaces of the three sub-display screens, and when the three sub-display screens are stacked, the whole equipment is large in thickness and inconvenient to use. And because three word display screens all are the fixed back backup pad of back complete laminating, can lead to the display screen to take place tensile deformation in the region of buckling, first length is greater than the second length, and first length is the length of the region of buckling under the cell-phone user state, and the second length is the length of the region of buckling under the panel computer user state. The first length is larger than the second length, which may cause damage to the display screen or the housing. Meanwhile, in the structure shown in fig. 1, in the use state of the tablet computer, the supporting force of the peripheral interface on the casing of the second sub-display area 2 is small, and if the peripheral interface is required to be used in the use state, the display screen is easily damaged.

As shown in fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another foldable electronic device, in this way, the display screen is divided into three parts in the length direction, and the three parts are a first sub-display 5, a second sub-display 6 and a third sub-display 7 in sequence. The three sub-display screens can be stretched and flattened through the shell in the length direction Y, and image display is carried out simultaneously through the three sub-display screens, or the three sub-display screens are contained in the shell and only image display is carried out through one sub-display screen.

In the mode shown in fig. 2, when the three sub-display screens are stored in the mobile phone state for use, the conventional mobile phone is longer than wide, when the three sub-display screens are stretched and unfolded to display images simultaneously, the display size is unchanged in the mobile phone width direction X, and the display size is three times of the original size in the mobile phone length direction Y, so that the whole length is larger, the aspect ratio is not adjusted, and the whole length is too long and is inconvenient to use in the tablet personal computer use state.

Based on this, an embodiment of the present invention provides a foldable electronic device, where the foldable electronic device includes:

the back of the third display area is attached and fixed on the fixed block;

the sliding assembly is connected with the shell and the fixed block;

Therefore, when the electronic device according to the embodiment of the invention is in the first state, the second display area and the third display area can be accommodated in the casing, and image display is performed only through the first display area, so that the electronic device can be used as a small-sized mobile phone.

When three display area is folded for use, the three display areas of the flexible display panel can be simultaneously stored in the same casing without being respectively provided with the casing, and the three display areas are folded to be thinner and convenient to use. The first display area can be fixed through the casing laminating, and the third display area can be fixed through the fixed block laminating, and the second display area that is located the centre just has the clearance with the separation between the slip subassembly. When the three display areas are located on the same plane for use, the sliding assembly can provide horizontal tension to flatten the second display area, the flatness of the second display area is guaranteed, and wrinkles are prevented from occurring in the area between the two display areas. When three display areas are folded, because second display area and slip subassembly are the separation, the bent part between first display area and the second display area and the bent part between second display area and the third display area all can be based on the second display area free bending of the back non-laminating, can not lead to flexible display panel to take place tensile deformation because there is the backplate structure of direct butt in the second display area back, can not lead to the damage of flexible display panel or casing. And can set up the peripheral hardware interface on the shared casing of three display areas, no matter three display areas are that the exhibition is flat coplane and use or folding use, the peripheral hardware interface all leans on the folding casing of accomodating of three to support, and the holding power is great, and the grafting of peripheral hardware interface and external equipment can not damage flexible display panel.

Further, it can be set that each display area is rectangle, and adjacent display areas share one side of rectangle, like this, when three display areas are by the fold condition to expand to three coplane state, flexible display panel expands along the width direction of first display area, compares in the mode of expanding from the length direction, can not lead to the aspect ratio to be maladjusted.

In order to make the aforementioned objects, features and advantages of the present application more comprehensible, the present application is described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and the detailed description.

Fig. 3 to 7 show a schematic structural diagram of a foldable electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention in a first state, fig. 4 shows a schematic structural diagram of a foldable electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention in a second state, fig. 5 shows an unfolding principle diagram of a foldable electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention in a second state, fig. 6 shows a sectional diagram of a foldable electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention in a second state, and fig. 7 shows a folding principle diagram of a foldable electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention in a first state.

The foldable electronic device of the embodiment of the invention comprises: a flexible display panel 11, the flexible display panel 11 having a first display region 111, a second display region 112 and a third display region 113 arranged in this order; the back surface of the first display area 111 is attached and fixed on the top opening of the casing 12; the back of the third display area 113 is attached to and fixed on the fixed block 13; the sliding assembly 14 is connected with the machine shell 12 and the fixed block 13 through the sliding assembly 14; if the sliding assembly 14 and the fixed block 13 are completely received in the casing 12, the electronic device is in a first state, three display areas are sequentially stacked, and the second display area 112 and the third display area 113 are both located in the casing 12 and both located between the first display area 111 and the fixed block 13; if the sliding component 14 and the fixed block 13 slide to the outside of the housing 12 and are flush with the top of the housing 12, the electronic device is in the second state, and the three display areas are in the same plane.

The housing 12 and/or the sliding assembly 14 are titanium alloy components to provide the electronic device with less weight, while having greater mechanical strength and corrosion resistance. The flexible display panel 11 is a flexible OLED (organic light emitting diode) display panel,

when the electronic device according to the embodiment of the present invention is in the first state, the three display areas are folded, the second display area 112 and the third display area 113 can be accommodated in the housing 12, and image display is performed only through the first display area 111, and at this time, the electronic device can be used as a small-sized mobile phone.

When the folding use in three display area, electronic equipment is in first state, the three display area of flexible display panel 11 is accomodate in same casing 12 simultaneously, need not to set up the casing respectively for three display area, and a casing 12 is shared in three display area, and mechanical structure is simple, and after three display area was folded, the thickness was thinner, convenient to use.

The first display area 111 can be attached and fixed through the case 12, so that the first display area 111 is always in a flat state, the third display area 113 can be attached and fixed through the fixing block 13, so that the third display area 113 is always in a flat state, and the second display area 112 located in the middle is separated from the sliding assembly 14 and has a gap, so that the second display area 112 can be freely bent. When the three display areas are folded, the bending part between the two adjacent display areas can be freely formed by bending from the second display area 112, so that the bending part can not be stretched in the folded state, and the bending part has the same length in the folded state and the flattened state coplanar with the three display areas, and has no length difference, thereby avoiding the generation of wrinkles of the bending part after flattening due to the length difference.

Because the second display area 112 is separated from the sliding component 14, the bending portion between two adjacent display areas can be formed by freely bending the second display area 112, and the back surface of the second display area 112 does not have a back plate structure directly abutted against the back surface, so that the flexible display panel 11 is not subjected to tensile deformation, and the flexible display panel 11 or the chassis 12 is not damaged.

As shown in fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another foldable electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention in a first state, and based on the above embodiment, the manner shown in fig. 8 further includes a peripheral interface 15 disposed on a side wall of the housing 12. The electronic device has at least one of the peripheral interfaces 15, and if there are a plurality of the peripheral interfaces 15, the types of the peripheral interfaces 15 are the same or different. The peripheral interface 15 includes, but is not limited to, an earphone jack and a power jack. In the mode shown in fig. 8, when the display device is used in the second state, the peripheral interface 15 is disposed on the side wall of the housing 12 common to the three display areas, and compared to the mode in which the housing is disposed separately for each display area, in this mode, the integrated housing 12 can bear a larger external force, the supporting force of the housing 12 is larger, and the flexible display panel 12 is not damaged by the insertion of the peripheral interface 12 and an external device.

As shown in fig. 4, if in the second state, the flexible display panel 11 is rectangular, and the first display area 111, the second display area 112, and the third display area 113 are arranged in sequence in the long side direction of the rectangle. Each display area may be rectangular, and two rectangles corresponding to two adjacent display areas share a long side, so that when the three display areas are unfolded from the folded state to the coplanar state of the three display areas, the flexible display panel 11 is unfolded along the width direction of the first display area 111, and compared with the manner of stretching in the length direction of one sub-display screen as shown in fig. 2, the electronic device according to the embodiment of the present invention does not have the problem of imbalance of the aspect ratio in the second state.

The widths of the second display area 112 and the third display area 113 do not exceed the length of the first display area 111, so that the second display area and the third display area can be folded and stored in the housing 12 below the first display area 111.

As shown in fig. 6, in order to facilitate the posture change of the electronic device between the first state and the second state, the housing 12 is provided with a first slide rail 21, and the first slide rail 21 is configured to enable the sliding component 14 and the fixed block 13 to be accommodated in the housing 12 or to slide to the outside of the housing 12.

When the three display areas are folded and stored in the casing 12, the sliding assembly 14 and the fixing block 13 are located below the first display area 111, and after the three display areas slide out of the casing 12 through the first sliding rail 21, in order to ensure coplanarity of the three display areas, as shown in fig. 6, the extending direction of the first sliding rail 21 is set to be parallel to the front surface of the first display area 111, and the front surface of the first display area 111 is a display surface.

The housing 12 further has a second slide 22 perpendicular to the first slide 21, the second slide 22 is located between the first display area 111 and the first slide 21, and the second slide 22 is configured to enable the sliding assembly 14 to slide to the outer end of the first slide 21 and then slide a preset distance toward the front of the first display area 111, so that the three display areas of the flexible display panel 111 are located on the same plane.

As shown in fig. 9-11, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a chassis in a foldable electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention, fig. 10 is a sectional view of the chassis shown in fig. 9 along a length direction of a first display area, fig. 11 is a sectional view of the chassis shown in fig. 9 along a width direction of the first display area, based on the above embodiment, the chassis 12 has a first frame 121 and a second frame 122 disposed oppositely, and the first display area is located between upper surfaces of the first frame and the second frame; the first slide 21 is provided on the opposite side of the first frame 121 and the second frame 122. The opposite sides of the first frame 121 and the second frame 122 are provided with the second slide rails 22. The first slide 21 is parallel to the width direction of the first display region 111, and the second slide 22 is perpendicular to the width direction. The first slideway 21 and the second slideway 22 form an L-shaped slideway structure.

The housing 12 further has a bottom plate 124 and a top plate 123 disposed opposite to each other, and the bottom plate 124 and the top plate 123 are fixed between the first frame 121 and the second frame 122, so that the housing 12 has a receiving cavity for receiving the second display area 112, the third display area 113, the sliding assembly 14, and the fixing block 13. The top plate 123 is connected to the upper end of the first frame 121 and the upper end of the second frame 122, the bottom plate 124 is connected to the lower end of the first frame 121 and the lower end of the second frame 122, and a gap is formed between the top plate 123 and the bottom plate 124 to form an accommodating cavity for accommodating the three folded display areas, the sliding assembly 14 and the fixing block 13.

The top plate 123 has a predetermined distance from the top of the first frame 121 and the top of the second frame 12 to form a groove 125 for attaching and fixing the first display area 111, the first display area 111 is located in the groove 125, and the back surface of the first display area 111 is attached and fixed to the upper surface of the top plate 123. The display surface of the first display region 111 is flush with the top of the first frame 121 and the second frame 122. The bottom plate 124 is disposed flush with the bottom of the first frame 121 and the second frame 122, so that the electronic apparatus has a small thickness.

As shown in fig. 12 and 13, fig. 12 is a schematic view illustrating a sliding principle of a sliding assembly and a fixed block according to an embodiment of the present invention, and fig. 13 is a schematic view illustrating a structure of a fixed block according to an embodiment of the present invention, based on the above embodiment, the sliding assembly 14 includes: a first sliding subassembly 141 for sliding in the first slide 21 of the first frame 121; a second sliding subassembly 142 for sliding in the first runner 21 of the second frame 122; the sides of the first sliding subassembly 141 opposite to the second sliding subassembly 142 are provided with third slide ways 143; the fixed block 13 is located between the two third sliding ways 143 to slide out of the sliding assembly 14 or be accommodated in the sliding assembly 14. The first sliding subassembly 141 and the second sliding subassembly 142 each have a protruding structure 145, and both slide in the corresponding first slide channels 21 through the respective protruding structures 145. The fixing block 13 is a flat plate, and the side of the flat plate opposite to the two third sliding ways 143 is provided with a protruding structure 131, and the protruding structure 131 is accommodated in the opposite third sliding way 143.

Based on the manner shown in fig. 12 and shown in fig. 6 and 7, the process of storing three display areas from flat to folded includes: under the coplanar and flattened state of the three display areas, a vertically downward external force is provided for the sliding assembly 14, so that the sliding assembly 14 moves downwards to the first slide way 21 along the second slide way 22, then the fixed block 13 is pushed to move towards the cavity of the machine shell 12 along the first slide way 21 along with the sliding assembly 14, finally, when the fixed block 13 is accommodated in the sliding assembly 14 and the two are accommodated in the machine shell 12, the three display areas are sequentially stacked and accommodated in the machine shell 12, and the process operation is simple and convenient.

As shown in fig. 12, a telescopic structure 144 is disposed between two ends of the first sliding sub-assembly 141 and between two ends of the second sliding sub-assembly 142, and the telescopic structure 144 is used for adjusting the flatness of the flexible display panel 122 in the second state. In the direction in which the sliding component 14 slides along the first sliding rail 121, the telescopic structure 144 can adjust the length of the sliding component 14, so that the length of the sliding component is the same as that of the second display area 112, so as to ensure that the three display areas are on the same plane, and prevent the second display area 112, which has no abutting part on the back surface, from being wrinkled.

As can be seen from the above description, the electronic device according to the embodiment of the present invention can be used as a mobile phone in the first state and as a tablet computer in the second state, and has two different use states, so as to meet the use requirements of users in different scenes. Moreover, through the specific mechanical structure of the present invention, the flexible display panel 11 can be prevented from being damaged and wrinkled during the switching process between the unfolding and folding processes, and has a suitable length-width ratio in the use state of the tablet computer.

The embodiments in the present description are described in a progressive manner, or in a parallel manner, or in a combination of a progressive manner and a parallel manner, each embodiment focuses on differences from other embodiments, and the same and similar parts among the embodiments can be referred to each other.

It should be noted that in the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "upper", "lower", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", and the like, indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, are only used for convenience in describing the present invention and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present invention. When a component is referred to as being "connected" to another component, it can be directly connected to the other component or intervening components may also be present.

It is further noted that, herein, relational terms such as first and second, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. Also, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that an article or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such article or apparatus. Without further limitation, an element defined by the phrase "comprising an … …" does not exclude the presence of other like elements in an article or device that comprises the element.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to make or use the present application. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the application. Thus, the present application is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A foldable electronic device, the electronic device comprising:

the back of the third display area is attached and fixed on the fixed block;

the sliding assembly is connected with the shell and the fixed block;

if the sliding assembly and the fixed block are completely accommodated in the casing, the electronic equipment is in a first state, three display areas are sequentially stacked, and the second display area and the third display area are both positioned in the casing and are both positioned between the first display area and the fixed block; if the sliding assembly and the fixed block slide out of the shell and are flush with the top of the shell, the electronic equipment is in a second state, and the three display areas are in the same plane;

the shell is provided with a first slideway used for enabling the sliding assembly and the fixed block to be contained in the shell or slide to the outside of the shell;

the extending direction of the first slide way is parallel to the front surface of the first display area, and the front surface of the first display area is a display surface;

the casing still has the perpendicular to the second slide of first slide, the second slide is located first display area with between the first slide, the second slide is used for making sliding assembly slide to behind the outside tip of first slide, towards the front of first display area slides and presets the distance, so that flexible display panel's three display areas are in the coplanar.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein if in the second state, the flexible display panel has a rectangular shape, and the first display region, the second display region, and the third display region are arranged in this order in a longitudinal direction of the rectangular shape.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the housing has a first frame and a second frame disposed opposite to each other, the first display area being located between upper surfaces of the first frame and the second frame;

the first slide way is arranged on the opposite side of the first frame and the second frame.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the sliding assembly comprises: a first slide subassembly for sliding in a first slide of the first frame; a second slide subassembly for sliding in the first slide of the second frame; the side faces of the first sliding sub-assembly and the second sliding sub-assembly opposite to each other are provided with third slide ways;

the fixed block is positioned between the two third slide ways to slide out of the sliding assembly or be accommodated in the sliding assembly.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein a telescopic structure is provided between two ends of the first sliding sub-assembly and between two ends of the second sliding sub-assembly for adjusting the flatness of the flexible display panel in the second state.

6. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the fixing block is a flat plate, and the flat plate has a protruding structure on a side opposite to the two third sliding ways, and the protruding structure is accommodated in the opposite third sliding way.

7. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein the housing further has a top plate and a bottom plate; the back surface of the first display area is attached and fixed on the upper surface of the top plate; the roof is connected the upper end of first frame with the upper end of second frame, the bottom plate is connected the lower extreme of first frame with the lower extreme of second frame, the roof with the clearance has between the bottom plate to form and hold the chamber, be used for accomodating folding three display area slide subassembly and the fixed block.

8. The electronic device of any of claims 1-7, wherein the housing and/or the sliding assembly are titanium alloy components.