CN114697417A

CN114697417A - Supporting structure, folding mechanism and electronic equipment

Info

Publication number: CN114697417A
Application number: CN202011605578.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 彭乐雄; 长井贤次; 钟鼎
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-29
Filing date: 2020-12-29
Publication date: 2022-07-01

Abstract

The embodiment of the application provides a supporting structure, a folding mechanism and electronic equipment, wherein the supporting structure comprises a first supporting piece and two swinging assemblies, and the two swinging assemblies are respectively arranged on two opposite sides of the first supporting piece and can be oppositely unfolded and bent; each swing assembly includes: second and third support members, first and second guide support members; the second support is positioned on one side of the first support, and the third support is positioned on one side of the second support, which is far away from the first support; adjacent two of the first, second and third supporting pieces are rotatably connected through the first guide supporting piece, and the other two adjacent supporting pieces are slidably connected through the second guide supporting piece and can rotate relatively; the first, second and third supports have support surfaces, and the first and second guide supports are disposed away from the support surfaces. According to the embodiment of the application, the screen is effectively supported within the whole bending angle range, the screen can be well protected, the service life of the screen is prolonged, and the operation experience is improved.

Description

Supporting structure, folding mechanism and electronic equipment

Technical Field

The application relates to the technical field of display, in particular to a supporting structure, a folding mechanism and electronic equipment.

Background

Due to the maturity of the flexible screen technology, the display mode of the terminal is greatly changed. Among them, the most important one is a folding cellular phone. Other forms of flexible screen applications are of course also included, such as crimping, side-slipping, etc. The flexible screen can be flexibly changed to adapt to different use scenes, so that the flexible screen becomes the main direction of the development of mobile phones of generations of mainstream equipment manufacturers.

Taking a foldable mobile phone as an example, in order to avoid the screen failure, no matter what state the mobile phone is (for example, the mobile phone is in a flat state or a folded state or in a state between the flat state and the folded state), the screen in the bendable region needs to have sufficient support. If the support is insufficient, the service life and the operation experience of the screen are affected. In the prior art, due to the small space of the mobile phone equipment, the support structure of the screen is difficult to realize effective support of multiple states. Some solutions only consider support in one state, such as providing support in a flattened state, which is disadvantageous; alternatively, support is better in the folded state but insufficient in the flattened state.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a bearing structure, folding mechanism and electronic equipment, has realized that whole angle of buckling within range effectively supports the screen, can play good protection effect to the screen, has prolonged the screen live time, has promoted operation experience simultaneously.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a support structure, where the support structure includes a first support and two swing assemblies, where the two swing assemblies are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the first support, and the swing assemblies can be relatively unfolded and folded; each of the swing assemblies includes: a second support, a third support, a first guide support and a second guide support; the second support is positioned on one side of the first support, and the third support is positioned on one side of the second support, which is far away from the first support; the second support piece is rotatably connected with the first support piece through the first guide support piece, and the third support piece is slidably connected with the second support piece through the second guide support piece and can rotate relatively; wherein the first support, the second support and the third support have a support surface for supporting a flexible screen, the first and second guide supports being arranged away from the support surface.

In the technical scheme, the first supporting piece and the second supporting piece are rotatably connected only through the first guiding supporting piece, the second supporting piece and the third supporting piece are slidably connected only through the second guiding supporting piece and can relatively rotate, the guiding supporting pieces can play a role in guiding and supporting in the whole process of bending the supporting structure, the movement track of the supporting pieces can be ensured to be carried out according to a set route, the bending tracks of the supporting surfaces of the supporting pieces, which are used for facing the flexible screen, are basically consistent with the bending track of the flexible screen in the whole process of bending, and the screen is effectively supported in the whole bending angle range, in addition, as the second supporting piece and the third supporting piece are slidably connected and can relatively rotate, the size of the supporting structure can be adjusted, and the screen is prevented from being stretched or extruded in the bending process, therefore, the screen protection device can play a good protection effect on the screen, prolong the service time of the screen and simultaneously improve the operation experience.

In another possible implementation manner, the second support member may be slidably connected with the first support member through the second guide support member and may rotate relatively, and the third support member may be rotatably connected with the second support member through the first guide support member.

In one possible implementation, the first guide support comprises an arc-shaped slot and an arc-shaped sliding rail, the arc-shaped sliding rail being slidable along the arc-shaped slot, wherein: when the second support piece is rotatably connected with the first support piece through the first guide support piece, one of the arc-shaped groove and the arc-shaped slide rail is arranged on the first support piece, and the other one is arranged on the second support piece.

In the technical scheme, the arc wall can set up on first support piece, the arc slide rail can set up on second support piece, when the arc slide rail moves along the arc wall, can drive second support piece and rotate around the axle center of arc wall together, thereby realize rotating between two adjacent support pieces and connect, and mutually support and guide effect can be played to mutually supporting between arc wall and the arc slide rail, make support piece's motion go on according to setting for the route, thereby guarantee that the orbit of buckling of support piece's holding surface can be unanimous basically with the orbit of buckling of screen, realized effectively supporting the screen in the whole angle range of buckling, adopt virtual axle to rotating-structure's design simultaneously, thereby can practice thrift the space, be favorable to reducing the product volume.

In another possible implementation manner, when the third support member is rotatably connected with the second support member through the first guide support member, one of the arc-shaped groove and the arc-shaped slide rail is arranged on the second support member, and the other one is arranged on the third support member, which has similar effects to the above-mentioned solution.

In a possible implementation manner, during the relative bending process of the swing assembly, the arc-shaped sliding rail slides from the first end of the arc-shaped groove to the second end of the arc-shaped groove, wherein: the first end of the arc-shaped groove is close to the notch of the arc-shaped groove, and the second end of the arc-shaped groove is far away from the notch of the arc-shaped groove.

In the technical scheme, for outwards buckling when support piece's holding surface is back to the bending shaft, at this moment, the first end of arc wall is close to the notch of arc wall, the notch of arc wall is kept away from to the second end of arc wall, at the in-process that the swing subassembly is buckled relatively, the arc slide rail is held by the first end of arc wall to the second of arc wall and is slided, the arc slide rail slides in the arc wall gradually promptly, make bearing structure compacter, the distance between the adjacent support piece reduces, the screen of buckling under the circumstances of guaranteeing that screen and support piece align can not tensile screen. When the support surface of the support piece is inwards and outwards folded towards the bending shaft, at the moment, the first end of the arc-shaped groove is far away from the notch of the arc-shaped groove, the second end of the arc-shaped groove is close to the notch of the arc-shaped groove, and in the process that the swing assembly is relatively bent, the arc-shaped slide rail slides from the first end of the arc-shaped groove to the second end of the arc-shaped groove, namely, the arc-shaped slide rail gradually slides out of the arc-shaped groove, the support structure becomes loose, the distance between the adjacent support pieces is increased, and the screen can not be extruded when the screen is bent under the condition that the screen is aligned with the support piece.

In a possible implementation manner, the arc-shaped groove comprises a first arc-shaped groove and a second arc-shaped groove which are arranged coaxially and at intervals, the arc-shaped slide rail comprises a first arc-shaped slide rail and a second arc-shaped slide rail which are arranged coaxially and at intervals, the first arc-shaped slide rail can slide in the first arc-shaped groove, and the second arc-shaped slide rail can slide in the second arc-shaped groove.

In the technical scheme, the first arc-shaped groove and the second arc-shaped groove are arranged at the same axis and at intervals, the movement route of the arc-shaped groove and the arc-shaped slide rail can be more reliably limited by the first arc-shaped slide rail and the second arc-shaped slide rail which are arranged at the same axis and at intervals, the structural strength of the arc-shaped groove and the arc-shaped slide rail is higher, the arc-shaped groove and the arc-shaped slide rail are not easy to damage, and the safety use performance of products is improved.

In one possible implementation, the second guide support comprises a sliding column and a sliding groove along which the sliding column can slide, wherein: when the third supporting piece is connected with the second supporting piece in a sliding mode through the second guiding supporting piece and can rotate relatively, one of the sliding column and the sliding groove is arranged on the second supporting piece, and the other sliding column and the sliding groove are arranged on the third supporting piece.

In the technical scheme, the traveller can set up on second support piece, the spout can set up on third support piece, when the traveller moves along the spout, can drive second support piece and move together, thereby realize sliding connection and relative rotation between two adjacent support pieces, and mutually support and guide effect can be played between traveller and the spout, make support piece's motion go on according to setting for the route, thereby guarantee that the orbit of buckling of support piece's holding surface can be unanimous basically with the orbit of buckling of screen, it effectively supports the screen to have realized in the whole angle range of buckling, adopt virtual axle to revolution mechanic's design simultaneously, thereby can practice thrift the space, be favorable to reducing the product volume.

In another possible implementation manner, when the second support member is slidably connected with the first support member through the second guide support member and can rotate relatively, one of the sliding column and the sliding chute is arranged on the first support member, and the other one is arranged on the second support member, which has similar effects to the above solution.

In one possible implementation, the sliding groove is a curved sliding groove, a linear sliding groove or a special-shaped sliding groove. That is, the concrete shape of the sliding groove may be designed into one of a curved line, a straight line and a special-shaped structure according to the size, the number, the rotation range, etc. of the supporting member.

In one possible implementation, the strut is provided on the second support and the runner is provided on the third support, wherein: the spout includes first fluting structure and second fluting structure, first fluting structure with third support piece integrated into one piece, second fluting structure with third support piece fixed connection, the relative lock setting of the notch of first fluting structure and second fluting structure is in order to form the spout. The sliding chute can form a closed structure, and the sliding chute is divided into a first slotted structure and a second slotted structure, so that the sliding column can be conveniently and reliably installed in the sliding chute. In addition, the arc-shaped groove of the first guide support member may be disposed on the first support member, and the arc-shaped slide rail of the first guide support member may be disposed on the second support member. The arc-shaped grooves of the two first guide members arranged on the first support member can be integrally formed and can be detachably connected with the first support member (such as bolted connection) or non-detachably connected with the first support member (such as welded connection). The arc-shaped sliding rail and the sliding column which are arranged on the second support piece can be integrally formed and can be detachably connected with the second support piece (for example, bolted connection) or non-detachably connected (for example, welded connection). The number of parts can be reduced by adopting an integrally formed processing mode, the installation is convenient, and the assembly efficiency is improved. And a detachable connection mode is adopted, so that parts are convenient to replace. By adopting the non-detachable connection mode, the space required by mounting parts can be reduced, and the product structure is more compact.

In a possible implementation manner, in the process of relatively bending the swing assembly, the sliding column slides from the first end of the sliding groove to the second end of the sliding groove, the first end of the sliding groove is close to the supporting piece provided with the sliding column, and the second end of the sliding groove is far away from the supporting piece provided with the sliding column. And the first end of the sliding chute is far away from the supporting surface of the supporting piece, and the second end of the sliding chute is close to the supporting surface of the supporting piece.

In the above technical scheme, because the first end of spout is close to the support piece that sets up the traveller, the support piece that sets up the traveller is kept away from to the second end of spout, and the support piece's holding surface setting is kept away from to the first end of spout, and the second end of spout is close to the holding surface setting of support piece, when the traveller slides to the second end of spout by the first end of spout like this, can realize that the swing subassembly outwards buckles and make to set up realize sliding connection and can rotate relatively between the second support piece of traveller and the third support piece that sets up the spout. The term "the swinging assemblies are bent outward" means that the supporting surfaces of the supporting members of the swinging assemblies are bent away from the bending axis or the supporting surfaces of the supporting members of the two swinging assemblies are bent toward each other and then are away from each other, and at this time, the supporting surfaces are the outer surfaces of the whole supporting structure and are used for supporting the flexible screen.

In a possible implementation manner, in the process of relatively bending the swing assembly, the sliding column slides from the first end of the sliding groove to the second end of the sliding groove, the first end of the sliding groove is far away from the supporting piece provided with the sliding column, and the second end of the sliding groove is close to the supporting piece provided with the sliding column. And the first end of the sliding chute is arranged close to the supporting surface of the supporting piece, and the second end of the sliding chute is arranged far away from the supporting surface of the supporting piece.

In the above technical scheme, because the support piece that sets up the traveller is kept away from to the first end of spout, the second end of spout is close to the support piece that sets up the traveller to the first end of spout is close to the holding surface setting of support piece, and the holding surface setting of support piece is kept away from to the second end of spout, when the traveller slides to the second end of spout by the first end of spout like this, can realize that the swing subassembly is inwards buckled and make to set up realize sliding connection and can rotate relatively between the second support piece of traveller and the third support piece that sets up the spout. The term "the swing assemblies are bent inward" means that the support surfaces of the support members of the swing assemblies are bent toward the bending axis or the support surfaces of the support members of the two swing assemblies are bent toward each other, and then the guide support members are located outside the entire support structure.

In a possible implementation manner, the supporting surfaces of the first supporting piece and the second supporting piece each include at least two sections of curved surfaces arranged along the bending direction and a plane located between two adjacent sections of curved surfaces; the supporting surface of the third supporting piece comprises at least one section of curved surface and at least one section of plane, the at least one section of curved surface is close to the second supporting piece, and the at least one section of plane is far away from the second supporting piece.

In the above technical solution, in order to enable the supporting surface of the supporting member to better support the flexible screen, the supporting surface of the supporting member may be arranged along the bending direction to form a curved surface and a flat surface. Specifically, the supporting surfaces of the first supporting member and the second supporting member may each include at least two sections of curved surfaces arranged along the bending direction and a plane located between two adjacent sections of curved surfaces, the supporting surface of the third supporting member may include at least one section of curved surface and at least one section of plane, the at least one section of curved surface is close to the second supporting member, and the at least one section of plane is far away from the second supporting member, so that the curved surface of the supporting surface of the third supporting member and the curved surface of the second supporting member may form a smooth arc-shaped structure, and the screen may extend from the supporting surface of the second supporting member to the supporting surface of the third supporting member flatly. It will be appreciated that the support surface of the support member may be provided in other configurations, such as a polygonal cross-section formed by a plurality of planes of different inclination angles arranged along the bending direction.

In a possible implementation manner, when the two swing assemblies are unfolded to the first position, the planes of the supporting surfaces of the first supporting member, the second supporting member and the third supporting member are located in the same plane, when the two swing assemblies are bent to the second position, the curved surfaces of the supporting surfaces of the first supporting member, the second supporting member and the third supporting member form an arc surface, and the planes of the supporting surfaces of the two third supporting members are parallel.

In the above technical solution, the "first position" is a position when the two swing assemblies are in the flat state, when the first position is in, the planes of the supporting surfaces of the first supporting member, the second supporting member and the third supporting member which are located in the same plane can effectively support the flexible screen, the "second position" is a position when the two swing assemblies are in the folded state, and when the second position is in, the arc surfaces formed by the curved surfaces of the supporting surfaces of the first supporting member, the second supporting member and the third supporting member can effectively support the flexible screen. In addition, the supporting surfaces of the plurality of supporting pieces are closer to the bent screen between the flattening state and the folding state, the area for effectively supporting the flexible screen is larger, and therefore a better supporting effect is achieved.

In a second aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a support structure, including: the flexible screen display device comprises a plurality of supporting pieces and a guide supporting piece, wherein each supporting piece is provided with a supporting surface for supporting a flexible screen, the supporting pieces are arranged in parallel along a first direction, two adjacent supporting pieces are rotatably connected through the guide supporting piece, and the rotating axis is perpendicular to the first direction; the guide supporting pieces are arranged on the two adjacent supporting pieces in a way of deviating from the supporting surface, so that one of the two adjacent supporting pieces can be bent or flattened relative to the other one; and in the bending process of the supporting structure, two adjacent ends of the two adjacent supporting pieces are far away from or close to each other.

In the technical scheme, adjacent support pieces in the plurality of support pieces which are arranged in parallel along the first direction are rotatably connected through the guide support pieces, when the support structure is bent back to the side where the support surface is located (the support surface is far away from the bending shaft relative to the guide support pieces), two adjacent ends of the two adjacent support pieces are close to each other, and the screen can not be stretched under the condition that the support structure is aligned with the screen; when the support structure is bent towards the side of the support surface (the support surface is close to the bending axis relative to the guide support), the two adjacent ends of the two adjacent support members are far away from each other, so that the support structure can be aligned with the screen without pressing the screen. Meanwhile, the guide supporting pieces can play a role in guiding and supporting in the whole process of bending the plurality of supporting pieces, the movement track of the supporting pieces can be ensured to be carried out according to a set route, so that the bending tracks of the plurality of supporting pieces, which are used for facing the supporting surface of the flexible screen, are basically consistent with the bending track of the flexible screen in the whole process of bending, and the screen is effectively supported in the whole bending angle range.

In a possible implementation, the guide support comprises an arc-shaped slot provided on one of the two adjacent supports and an arc-shaped sliding rail provided on the other support, the arc-shaped sliding rail being slidable along the arc-shaped slot.

In above-mentioned technical scheme, arc wall and arc slide rail can realize rotating between two adjacent support piece and connect, and arc wall and arc slide rail mutually support and can play support and guide effect between the two, make support piece's motion can go on according to setting for the route, thereby guarantee that the orbit of buckling of support piece's holding surface can be unanimous basically with the orbit of buckling of screen, realized effectively supporting the screen in the whole angle range of buckling, adopt virtual axle to rotating-structure's design simultaneously, thereby can practice thrift the space, be favorable to reducing the product volume.

In a possible implementation, the two adjacent supports are also slidingly connected by the guide support.

In the technical scheme, the two adjacent ends of the two adjacent supporting pieces are far away from or close to each other by adopting sliding connection in the bending process of the supporting structure.

In one possible implementation, the guide support comprises a sliding column provided on one of the two adjacent supports and a sliding groove on the other, along which the sliding column can slide.

In the technical scheme, sliding connection and relative rotation between two adjacent support pieces can be realized to traveller and spout, and mutually support and guide effect can be played in the cooperation between traveller and the spout, make support piece's motion go on according to setting for the route, thereby guarantee that the orbit of buckling of support piece's holding surface can be unanimous basically with the orbit of buckling of screen, realized effectively supporting the screen in the whole angle range of buckling, adopt virtual axle to revolution mechanic's design simultaneously, thereby can practice thrift the space, be favorable to reducing the product volume.

In a third aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a folding mechanism, which includes two connecting members, two housings, and the support structure of the first aspect; the two shells are fixedly connected with a third supporting piece of the supporting structure, the two connecting pieces are respectively arranged on two sides of a first supporting piece of the supporting structure, one end of each connecting piece is rotatably connected with the first supporting piece, and the other end of each connecting piece is slidably connected with the shell.

In the above technical solution, since the folding mechanism includes the supporting structure of the first aspect, when two shells of the folding mechanism are rotated to be folded, the connecting member and the shells rotate together around the first supporting member of the supporting structure, and slide between the connecting member and the shells, and simultaneously drive two adjacent supporting members of the supporting structure to rotate relatively or slide relatively and rotate, since the guiding supporting member of the supporting structure can play a role of guiding and supporting, it is ensured that the movement track of the supporting member of the supporting structure is performed according to a set route, so that the bending tracks of the supporting surfaces of the supporting structure, which are used for facing the flexible screen, are substantially consistent with the bending track of the flexible screen in the whole process of bending, thereby realizing effective supporting of the screen within the whole bending angle range, and since two adjacent supporting members are connected in a sliding manner, the size of the supporting structure can be adjusted, the screen is prevented from being stretched or extruded in the bending process, a good protection effect can be achieved on the screen, the service life of the screen is prolonged, and meanwhile, the operation experience is improved.

In one possible implementation, the folding mechanism further includes: the first shielding piece is fixedly arranged on the side surface of the first supporting piece, which is far away from the supporting structure, and is used for shielding the supporting structure; the second shielding piece is fixedly arranged on the side surface of the connecting piece, which is far away from the supporting structure, and is positioned on the side surface of the shell, which faces the connecting piece, so as to shield the supporting structure.

In the above technical solution, in order to prevent the internal components such as the supporting member, the guiding supporting member and the connecting member from being directly exposed to the outside, the first shielding member may be fixedly disposed on a side of the first supporting member away from the supporting member and the second shielding member may be fixedly disposed on the connecting member to shield the supporting structure.

In one possible implementation, the gap between the first and second blinders remains constant in the flattened and folded states and in intermediate states, wherein: the side edge of the first shielding piece close to the shell is of an arc structure bent towards the supporting structure, and the second shielding piece rotates along the arc structure when the first shielding piece is bent; or the first shielding piece and the second shielding piece are of flat plate structures.

In the technical scheme, the gap between the first shielding piece and the second shielding piece is set to be kept unchanged, so that the gap between the first shielding piece and the second shielding piece can be ensured to be smaller, and a better shielding effect is achieved. In addition, the side edge of the first shielding piece is arranged to be arc-shaped, and the second shielding piece rotates along the arc-shaped part, so that interference generated during bending can be avoided. And first shielding piece and second shielding piece are the flat structure, can reduce the processing degree of difficulty and make the space that shielding piece occupy less, are favorable to reducing product thickness.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a folding mechanism, which includes a housing and the support structure of the second aspect; the shell is fixedly connected with the supporting pieces positioned at the two ends of the supporting structure.

In the technical scheme, the shell is fixedly connected with the supporting pieces at the two ends of the supporting structure, when the flexible screen is continuously covered on the folding mechanism, the two ends of the screen are fixedly connected with the shell, and at the moment, the two ends of the screen are aligned with the supporting pieces at the two ends of the supporting structure. When the supporting structure is bent towards the side where the supporting surface is located (the supporting surface is close to the bending shaft relative to the guide supporting piece), two adjacent ends of two adjacent supporting pieces are far away from each other, and the screen cannot be squeezed; when the supporting structure is bent back to the side where the supporting surface is located (the supporting surface is far away from the bending shaft relative to the guide supporting piece), two adjacent ends of two adjacent supporting pieces are close to each other, and the screen cannot be stretched. And the guide support pieces can play a role in guiding and supporting in the whole process of bending the plurality of support pieces, so that the movement track of the support pieces can be carried out according to a set route, the bending tracks of the support pieces, which are used for facing the support surface of the flexible screen, are basically consistent with the bending track of the flexible screen in the whole process of bending, and the screen is effectively supported in the whole bending angle range.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, where the electronic device includes a flexible screen and the folding mechanism of the third aspect, and the flexible screen continuously covers a supporting surface of a supporting structure of the folding mechanism and two housings.

In the technical scheme, when bending electronic equipment, bearing structure's direction support piece can play the effect of direction and support, guarantee that bearing structure's support piece's movement track goes on according to setting for the route, make a plurality of support piece of bearing structure's the orbit of buckling that is used for towards the holding surface of flexible screen unanimous basically with the orbit of buckling of flexible screen in the whole in-process of buckling, realize that whole bending angle within range effectively supports the screen, and, because two adjacent support piece sliding connection, can adjust bearing structure's size, the in-process of having avoided buckling is tensile or extrude the screen, thereby can play good protection effect to the screen, the screen live time has been prolonged, operation experience has been promoted simultaneously.

In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device, where the electronic device includes a flexible screen and the folding mechanism of the fourth aspect, and the flexible screen continuously covers a supporting surface of a supporting structure of the folding mechanism.

In the technical scheme, when the screen of the electronic equipment is curled or sideslips, the supporting surface of the supporting structure in the folding mechanism can support the screen in the whole bending process, the two adjacent ends of the two adjacent supporting pieces are close to each other or far away from each other, the size of the supporting structure can be adjusted, the screen is prevented from being stretched or extruded in the bending process, the screen can be well protected, the service life of the screen is prolonged, and the operation experience is improved.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a support structure provided in a first embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view A-A of the support structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a front perspective view of the support structure of FIG. 1 when bent;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view B-B of the support structure of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural view of the support structure of FIG. 2 in a folded state;

FIG. 6 is a rear perspective view of the support structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged view of section C of the support structure of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is an exploded schematic view of the support structure of FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged view of section D of the support structure of FIG. 8;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of section E of the support structure of FIG. 8;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged view of section F of the support structure of FIG. 8;

FIG. 12 is a side view of a support structure provided in a second embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural view illustrating a flattened state of a folding mechanism provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a schematic structural view illustrating a folded state of a folding mechanism according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a side view of a support structure provided in accordance with a third embodiment of the present application in a flattened state;

FIG. 16 is a side view of the portion of the support structure of FIG. 15 in a bent state;

FIG. 17 is a simplified process diagram of the support structure of FIG. 15 undergoing side-slipping;

FIG. 18 is a simplified process diagram of crimping of the support structure of FIG. 15;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram illustrating a flattened state of another folding mechanism provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

In the description of the present application, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", and the like indicate orientations or positional relationships based on those shown in the drawings, and are only for convenience of description and simplicity of description, and do not indicate or imply that the referred devices or elements must have a specific orientation, be constructed in a specific orientation, and be operated, and thus, should not be construed as limiting the present application. Unless expressly stated or limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are intended to be inclusive and mean, for example, that there may be a fixed connection, a removable connection, an interfering connection, or an integral connection; the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second" and "first" are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicit indication of indicated technical features. Thus, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. The terms "comprising," "including," "having," and variations thereof mean "including, but not limited to," unless expressly specified otherwise. The term "and/or" is merely an associative relationship that describes an associated object, meaning that three relationships may exist, e.g., a and/or B, may mean: a exists alone, B exists alone, and A and B exist at the same time. In addition, the term "plurality" means two or more unless otherwise specified. For example, a plurality of systems refers to two or more systems.

In the description herein, particular features, structures, materials, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

In order to facilitate understanding of the support structure provided in the first and second embodiments of the present application, an application scenario of the support structure applied to an electronic device, especially a screen-foldable electronic device, such as a mobile phone, a PDA, a notebook computer, or a tablet computer, will be described first. The electronic device includes a flexible screen and a folding mechanism. The folding mechanism comprises a supporting structure for supporting the screen, and the supporting structure is used for supporting the flexible screen not to be excessively stretched and pressed in the folding and flattening processes so as to prolong the service life of the flexible screen. In the prior art, the support structure of the screen is difficult to realize effective support of multiple states. Some solutions only consider support in one state, such as providing support in a flattened state, which is disadvantageous; alternatively, support may be better in the collapsed state, but less in the flattened state.

In view of this, the present disclosure provides a supporting structure, which includes a first supporting member and two swinging assemblies, wherein the two swinging assemblies are respectively arranged at two sides of the first supporting member and are rotatably connected with the first supporting member. The two swing assemblies are capable of swinging between a flattened state and a folded state. In the flattened state, the two oscillating assemblies are substantially in the same plane (slight differences may also exist); in the folded state, the two swing assemblies are folded relatively to each other to be parallel to each other (there may also be a slight difference). Realize that whole angle of buckling within range effectively supports the screen, can play good protection effect to the screen, prolonged the screen live time, promoted operation experience simultaneously.

The following describes a specific structure of the support structure provided in the embodiments of the present application.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a support structure 10 provided in a first embodiment of the present application. Fig. 2 is a sectional view a-a of the support structure 10 of fig. 1. As shown in fig. 1 and 2, the supporting structure 10 includes a first supporting member 11 and two swing assemblies respectively disposed at opposite sides of the first supporting member 11, and the swing assemblies can be relatively unfolded and folded. Each swing assembly includes a second support member 12, a third support member 13, a first guide support member 21, and a second guide support member 22. The second support 12 is located on one side of the first support 11, and the third support 13 is located on one side of the second support 12 away from the first support 11. Wherein the first support 11, the second support 12 and the third support 13 have a support surface for supporting the flexible screen. And the operation experience of the screen can be improved by adopting a high-rigidity material. The first guide support 21 and the second guide support 22 are arranged facing away from the support surface. The first guide support 21 and the second guide support 22 may be disposed in the following two ways:

the first mode is as follows: as shown in fig. 2, the second support 12 is rotatably connected to the first support 11 via a first guide support 21, and the third support 13 is slidably connected to the second support 12 via a second guide support 22 and can rotate relatively.

Second mode (not shown in the figures): the second support member 12 is slidably connected to the first support member 11 through a second guide support member 22 and is rotatable relative thereto, and the third support member 13 is rotatably connected to the second support member 12 through a first guide support member 21.

It should be noted that fig. 1 and 2 illustrate the support structure 10 according to the first embodiment of the present application as five support members. It is understood that the supporting structure 10 may further include a plurality of supporting members, and a portion of two adjacent supporting members of the plurality of supporting members may be connected by the first guiding supporting member 21, and another portion of two adjacent supporting members may be connected by the second guiding supporting member 22, which may be selected according to actual needs.

Because at least two adjacent supporting pieces (such as the first supporting piece 11 and the second supporting piece 12) in the supporting structure 10 are rotatably connected through the first guiding supporting piece 21, at least two other adjacent supporting pieces (such as the second supporting piece 12 and the third supporting piece 13) are slidably connected through the second guiding supporting piece 22 and can relatively rotate, the first guiding supporting piece 21 and the second guiding supporting piece 22 can play a role in guiding and supporting, so that the supporting surfaces of the plurality of supporting pieces of the supporting structure 10, which are used for facing the flexible screen, can support the flexible screen in the whole bending process, thereby realizing effective support of the screen in the whole bending angle range, playing a good protection effect on the screen, prolonging the service time of the screen, and simultaneously improving the operation experience.

In addition, because the flexible screen is stacked with the support structure 10, the bending radian of the flexible screen is different from that of the support structure 10 during the bending process, if the length of the support structure 10 is not changed, the situation that the side edge of the flexible screen cannot be aligned with the side edge of the support structure 10 or the side edge of the flexible screen is aligned with the side edge of the support structure 10 but the flexible screen is squeezed (the screens arranged on the two swing assemblies are bent toward each other, i.e., inwardly bent, and the screen in the folded state is not visible inside) or stretched (the screens arranged on the two swing assemblies are back to each other, i.e., outwardly bent, and the screen in the folded state is visible outside). Therefore, in the embodiment of the present application, the two supporting members are connected by the second guiding supporting member 22, so that the two supporting members can not only rotate to realize bending, but also can slide relatively, so that the overall length of the supporting structure 10 can be adjusted, and when the side edge of the flexible screen is aligned with the side edge of the supporting structure 10, the supporting structure 10 can increase the length (the adjacent supporting members slide away from each other) to align with the flexible screen when bending inward, and the flexible screen cannot be squeezed; alternatively, the support structure 10 may decrease in length (adjacent supports slide toward each other) when flexed outwardly to align with the flexible screen, which is not stretched.

Fig. 3 is a front perspective view of the support structure 10 of fig. 1 when bent. Fig. 4 is a sectional view B-B of the support structure 10 of fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a schematic structural view of the support structure 10 of fig. 2 in a folded state. As shown in fig. 2 to 5, the supporting surfaces of the first supporting member 11 and the second supporting member 12 each include at least two curved surfaces arranged along the bending direction and a plane located between two adjacent curved surfaces; the supporting surface of the third supporting member 13 comprises at least one curved surface and at least one flat surface, wherein the at least one curved surface is close to the second supporting member 12, and the at least one flat surface is far away from the second supporting member 12. As shown in fig. 2, the first position is a position in which the support structure 10 is unfolded and flat, when the two swing assemblies are unfolded to the first position, the planes of the support surfaces of the first support 11, the second support 12 and the third support 13 are located in the same plane, and the planes of the support surfaces of the first support 11, the second support 12 and the third support 13 located in the same plane can effectively support the flexible screen. As shown in fig. 5, the second position is a position where the supporting structure 10 is folded, when the two swing assemblies are bent to the second position, the curved surfaces of the supporting surfaces of the first supporting member 11, the second supporting member 12 and the third supporting member 13 form an arc surface, the planes of the supporting surfaces of the two third supporting members 13 are parallel, and the arc surfaces formed by the arc surfaces of the supporting surfaces of the first supporting member 11, the second supporting member 12 and the third supporting member 13 can effectively support the flexible screen. In addition, in the position between the flattening state and the folding state, such as the position shown in fig. 4, the shape of the supporting surface of the plurality of supporting pieces is closer to the bending shape of the flexible screen, so that the area for effectively supporting the flexible screen is larger, the screen is effectively supported within the whole bending angle range, and the screen can be well protected. In addition, as shown in fig. 5, the end surfaces of the adjacent side edges of the two adjacent supporting members may be parallel in the folded state, so that the distance between the two adjacent supporting members is short without interference, and the flexible display screen can be better supported.

One or more sets of guide supports 2 may be provided on the support structure 10, fig. 6 is a rear perspective view of the support structure 10 of fig. 1, and as shown in fig. 6, five sets of guide supports 2 are provided side by side on the support structure 10. Fig. 7 is an enlarged view of a portion C of the support structure 10 of fig. 6. As shown in fig. 7, each set of guide supports includes two first guide supports 21 and two second guide supports 22. Fig. 8 is an exploded view of the support structure 10 of fig. 6. Fig. 9 is an enlarged view of a portion D of the support structure 10 of fig. 8. Fig. 10 is an enlarged view of a portion E of the support structure 10 of fig. 8. Fig. 11 is an enlarged view of a portion F of the support structure 10 of fig. 8. The specific structure of the first guide support 21 and the second guide support 22 will be described below with reference to fig. 2 to 11.

As shown in fig. 2, 4, 5, 9 and 10, the first guide support 21 may include an arc-shaped groove 211 and an arc-shaped slide rail 212, the arc-shaped slide rail 212 may slide along the arc-shaped groove 211, and when the second support 12 is rotatably connected to the first support 11 through the first guide support 21, one of the arc-shaped groove 211 and the arc-shaped slide rail 212 is disposed on the first support 11 and the other is disposed on the second support 12. When the third support 13 is rotatably connected to the second support 12 through the first guide support 21, one of the arc-shaped slot 211 and the arc-shaped slide rail 212 is disposed on the second support 12 and the other is disposed on the third support 13.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 2-5, the arc-shaped slot 211 may be disposed on the first support 11, and the arc-shaped slide rail 212 may be disposed on the second support 12. In the process of relative bending of the swing assembly, the arc slide rail 212 slides from the first end of the arc groove 211 to the second end of the arc groove 211, the first end of the arc groove 211 is close to the notch of the arc groove 211, and the second end of the arc groove 211 is far away from the notch of the arc groove 211. As shown in fig. 5, after the swing assembly is bent relative to the first supporting member 11, the supporting surfaces of the first supporting member 11, the second supporting member 12 and the third supporting member 13 are opposite to each other, and are bent outward. If the side orientation that two swing subassemblies set up the holding surface is buckled each other, is inwards buckled this moment, then the notch of arc wall 211 is kept away from to the first end of arc wall 211, and the notch that the second end of arc wall 211 is close to arc wall 211.

Further, the arc slot 211 includes a first arc slot 2111 and a second arc slot 2112 which are coaxial and spaced, and the arc slide rail 212 includes a first arc slide rail 2121 and a second arc slide rail 2122 which are coaxial and spaced, the first arc slide rail 2121 can slide in the first arc slot 2111, and the second arc slide rail 2122 can slide in the second arc slot 2112. This makes arc slide rail 212 can play better guide and support effect when sliding in arc groove 211, and the motion when support piece buckles is more steady, and product safety and reliability degree is higher.

As shown in fig. 2, 4-8, 10 and 11, the second guide support 22 may include a sliding column 221 and a sliding groove 222, the sliding column 221 may be capable of sliding along the sliding groove 222, and the sliding groove may be a curved sliding groove, a linear sliding groove or a shaped sliding groove. When the third support member 13 is slidably connected to the second support member 12 through the second guide support member 22 and can rotate relatively, one of the sliding column 221 and the sliding groove 222 is disposed on the second support member 12 and the other is disposed on the third support member 13; when the second support 12 is slidably connected to the first support 11 through the second guide support 22 and can rotate relatively, one of the sliding column 221 and the sliding groove 222 is disposed on the first support 11 and the other is disposed on the second support 12.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 10 and 11, the sliding column 221 may be disposed on the second support 12, the sliding slot 222 may be disposed on the third support 13, the sliding slot 222 includes a first slotted structure 2221 and a second slotted structure 2222, the first slotted structure 2221 is integrally formed with the third support 13, the second slotted structure 2222 is fixedly connected with the third support 13 by using a screw S, for example, and the slots of the first slotted structure 2221 and the second slotted structure 2222 are oppositely disposed to form the sliding slot 222. Since the sliding groove 222 is a closed structure, the sliding groove 22 is divided into the first slot structure 2221 and the second slot structure 2222, so that the sliding column 221 can be reliably installed in the sliding groove 222. Moreover, each second guiding support 22 may include two sliding

slots

222a, 222b, the two sliding

slots

222a, 222b are spaced along the extending direction of the bending axis of the swing assembly, and two ends of the sliding column 221 are respectively located in the two sliding slots, as shown in fig. 7, so that the sliding slots 222 can better guide and support the sliding column 221.

As shown in fig. 2-5, during the relative bending process of the swing assembly, the supporting surface deviates from the bending axis, i.e. the swing assembly is folded outwards, and at this time, the first end of the sliding slot 222 is disposed away from the supporting surface of the supporting member, and the second end of the sliding slot 222 is disposed close to the supporting surface of the supporting member. The sliding column 221 slides from the first end of the sliding slot 222 to the second end of the sliding slot 222, the first end of the sliding slot 222 is close to the supporting member provided with the sliding column 221, i.e., the second supporting member 12, and the second end of the sliding slot 222 is far away from the supporting member provided with the sliding column 221, i.e., the second supporting member 12. Thus, when the sliding column 221 slides in the sliding slot 222, the third supporting member 13 is slidably connected and can rotate relative to the second supporting member 12. Or, in the process of relatively bending the swing assembly, the support surface faces the bending axis, i.e., is folded inwards, the sliding column 221 slides from the first end of the sliding groove 222 to the second end of the sliding groove 222, the first end of the sliding groove 222 is far away from the support member provided with the sliding column 221, and the second end of the sliding groove 222 is close to the support member provided with the sliding column 221. A first end of the sliding slot 222 is disposed proximate to the support surface of the support member and a second end of the sliding slot 222 is disposed distal to the support surface of the support member.

As shown in fig. 9, the arc-shaped slots 211 (or the arc-shaped sliding rails 212) of the two first guide supports 21 can be integrally formed and detachably connected or non-detachably connected with the first supports 11. Two arc grooves 211 integrated into one piece, convenient manufacturing and installation. The two arc-shaped slots 211 formed integrally are detachably connected to the first support 11, for example, by screws S, so that the installation and the removal are convenient. When the installation space is small, the two arc-shaped slots 211 formed integrally can be non-detachably connected with the first support 11, for example, by welding.

As shown in fig. 10, the arc-shaped sliding rail 212 (or the arc-shaped groove 211) of the first guide support 21 and the sliding column 221 of the second guide support 22 may be integrally formed and detachably connected or non-detachably connected to the second support 12. For easy mounting and dismounting, the integrally formed arc-shaped sliding rail 212 and the sliding column 221 can be detachably connected with the second support 12, for example, by using screws S. When the installation space is small, the integrally formed arc-shaped slide rail 212 and the slide column 221 may be non-detachably connected to the first support 11, for example, by welding. The number of parts can be reduced by adopting an integrally formed processing mode, the installation is convenient, and the assembly efficiency is improved. And a detachable connection mode is adopted, so that parts are convenient to replace. By adopting the non-detachable connection mode, the space required by mounting parts can be reduced, and the product structure is more compact.

Fig. 12 is a side view of the support structure 10 provided in the second embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 12, the supporting structure 10 also comprises a first supporting member 11, two second supporting members 12 and two third supporting members 13, unlike the first embodiment, in the first possible implementation, the two second supporting members 12 are respectively rotatably connected with the first supporting member 11 through a first guiding supporting member 21, and the two third supporting members 13 are respectively rotatably connected with the second supporting member 12 through a first guiding supporting member 21. In another possible embodiment, the two second supporting members 12 may also be slidably connected with the first supporting member 11 through the second guiding supporting members 22 respectively and relatively rotatable, and the two third supporting members 13 may also be slidably connected with the second supporting members 12 through the second guiding supporting members 22 respectively and relatively rotatable.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram illustrating a flattened state of a folding mechanism according to an embodiment of the present application. Fig. 14 is a schematic structural diagram of a folded state of a folding mechanism provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 13 and 14, the folding mechanism includes two connecting members 20, two housings 30, and the support structure 10 of the first or second embodiment described above. The two housings 20 are fixedly connected to the third supporting member 13 of the supporting structure 10, the two connecting members 20 are respectively arranged at two sides of the first supporting member 11 of the supporting structure 10, one end of each connecting member 20 is rotatably connected to the first supporting member 11, and the other end is slidably connected to the housing 30. The housing 30 may be a middle frame.

When the housing 30 is rotated to fold the screen, the connecting member 20 and the housing 30 rotate together relative to the first support 11 of the support structure 10, and at the same time, the connecting member 20 and the housing 30 slide relative to each other, and accordingly, the second support plate 12 and the first support plate 11 and the second support plate 12 and the third support plate 13 on both sides of the first support 11 of the support structure 10 also slide relative to each other to adjust the length of the support structure 10, thereby preventing the flexible screen from being stretched or squeezed. That is, the support structure 10 of the embodiment of the present application can interact with the main motion of the folding mechanism (hinge mechanism/hinge mechanism for opening and closing the device) of the electronic device, so that the support structure 10 can provide support for the screens of the electronic devices with different main motions. In general, the main movement of the folding mechanism is to switch the two housings 30 between 0 ° and 180 ° without unnecessary pulling or pressing the screen during the switching process.

The following description is provided for the design principle of the support structure 10 according to the present application, taking an implementation scenario of an electronic device in a folded-out configuration (corresponding to the outward bending of the support structure mentioned above) as an example. The first embodiment of the first embodiment will be mainly described here as an example.

Specifically, the support structure 10 in the folded state may be divided into five support members, i.e., one first support member 11, two second support members 12, and two third support members 13, according to a certain proportion, and the support structure 10 is configured as a symmetrical structure, i.e., the second support member 12 and the third support member 13 are disposed on two opposite sides of the first support member 11. The turning member 20 of the folding mechanism is rotatably connected to the first support 11. The two third supporting members 13 are respectively and fixedly connected with the housing 30 which is not bent at the two sides of the folding mechanism, so that the movement tracks are consistent, and when the folding mechanism rotates to a certain angle, the theoretical positions of the two housings 30 (fixedly connected with the third supporting members 13) and the first supporting member 11 are determined. I.e. at an angle, the theoretical positions of the first support 11 and the two third supports 13 are also determined. It is sufficient to arrange the second support 12 between the first support 11 and the third support 13 as appropriate according to the curved trajectory of the screen. The present embodiment adopts a scheme that one side of the second supporting member 12 uses a rotation and the other side uses a rotation and sliding position adjustment scheme. Namely, the second support member 12 is rotatably connected to the first support member 11 through the arc-shaped slot 211 and the arc-shaped slide rail 212 of the first guide support member 21, and the third support member 13 is rotatably and slidably connected to the second support member 12 through the slide slot 222 and the slide post 221 of the second guide support member 22. In addition, the connection mode of the second support member 12 and the two side support members does not affect the support performance, namely, the second support member 12 is connected with the first support member 12 in a rotating and sliding mode and is connected with the first support member 11 in a rotating mode.

In addition, shielding internal parts to make the appearance of the foldable electronic device concise is also a difficult problem to solve. In the prior art, a scheme of shielding by wrapping with a soft material is provided. The soft material can be bent and pulled, and the shielding function can be perfectly realized in the opening and closing process of the equipment. However, in terms of appearance, the soft material and the hard material have obvious differences, including color, material, surface quality and the like, so that the shielding scheme of the soft material is difficult to achieve an ideal state in terms of delicacy, and the protection effect is relatively poor.

To solve the above-described technical problem, as shown in fig. 13 and 14, the folding mechanism of the embodiment of the present application further includes a first shade 40 and a second shade 50 for covering the support structure 10. The first shutter 40 is fixed, for example by gluing, to the side of the first support 11 facing away from the support structure 10, and the second shutter 50 is fixed, for example by screwing, to the side of the connector 20 facing away from the support structure 10 and on the side of the housing 30 facing the connector 20. Of course, other ways of securing the shield are also possible, such as welding, etc. The three shutters can be fixed relatively stably to the two rotation members 20 and the outside of the first support member 11, resulting in a shielding effect.

As shown in fig. 13, when the folding mechanism is unfolded, the first and

second shutters

40 and 50 are exposed, the first shutter 40 covers at least the first support member 11, and the second shutter 50 covers at least the connecting member 20 and the second support member 12 and the guide support portion 2. As shown in fig. 14, when the folding mechanism is folded, the internal structure of the folding mechanism is not exposed, and the first and

second blinders

40 and 50 are mostly inside the folding mechanism and hidden. That is, for the foldable electronic device of the fold-out type, the first shielding member 40 and the two second shielding members 50 can shield and protect the internal components of the folding mechanism in the full angle range from the unfolded state to the folded state, and can give consideration to the overall appearance of the folded state, the unfolded state, and any angle therebetween.

It should be noted that the above-mentioned solution of the shielding member is suitable for a folding mechanism having two rotation centers in the main motion, for example, the two rotation members 20 are respectively connected with the first supporting member 11 by different rotation shafts, and the application scenario is outward bending. According to the axle center position of the rotating piece 20 and the first supporting piece 11, the width, the fixed position and the like of the three shielding pieces are reasonably set, so that the gap between the three shielding pieces can be kept unchanged in the unfolding and folding processes, the appearance delicacy can be improved, and sundries are prevented from entering the folding mechanism. Wherein, the side of the first shutter 40 close to the housing 30 can be arranged as an arc structure bending towards the support structure 10, and when bending, the second shutter 50 rotates along the arc structure. The side edge of the first shielding piece 40 is set to be arc-shaped, so that the second shielding piece 50 can rotate along the arc-shaped part, interference can be avoided when the second shielding piece is bent, and meanwhile, the gap between the first shielding piece and the second shielding piece is smaller, and a better shielding effect can be achieved. Alternatively, the first and

second shutters

40 and 50 have a flat plate structure, which can reduce the difficulty of processing and reduce the occupied space.

To sum up, the supporting structure 10 of the embodiment of the present application realizes the effective support of the screen by the supporting structure 10 at any angle through the motion track of the rigid material fitting flexible screen, and improves the operation experience of the screen in the bending area. In addition, the shielding piece can shield the folding mechanism within the whole bending angle range, can improve the appearance effect and has an effective protection effect on the internal mechanism. Specifically, according to the screen support scheme provided by the embodiment of the application, the support structure 10 of the screen is divided into a plurality of divided bodies (namely, support members) along the axis direction of the screen bending, corresponding structures (namely, guide support members) for realizing mutual movement (capable of rotating and/or sliding) of the two adjacent divided bodies are arranged between the two adjacent divided bodies, each divided body is a part of the screen support, and the screen can be effectively supported when the divided bodies move mutually, so that the screen can be supported as fully as possible in the folding process, the screen can be effectively protected, the service life of the screen is prolonged, and the operation experience is improved. In addition, the appearance scheme provided by the embodiment of the application mainly aims at the folding-out equipment. The shielding piece in the bending area mainly comprises three parts, in the bending process, the two shielding pieces on the side edges move around the middle shielding piece with respective axes, the distance between the middle shielding piece and the shielding pieces on the two sides is kept unchanged approximately, uniform appearance and effective shielding in the whole movement process are realized, the appearance is as simple as possible, mechanism parts cannot be directly exposed outside, and internal parts are protected.

The embodiment of the present application further provides an electronic device, which includes a flexible screen and the folding mechanism, wherein the flexible screen is continuously covered on the supporting surface of the supporting structure 10 of the folding mechanism and the two shells 30. Because the folding mechanism comprises the folding mechanism, all or at least part of the advantages of the folding mechanism are achieved. When the electronic equipment of buckling promptly, bearing structure's direction support piece can play the effect of direction and support, guarantee that bearing structure's support piece's movement track goes on according to setting for the route, make a plurality of support piece of bearing structure's the orbit of buckling that is used for towards the holding surface of flexible screen unanimous basically with the orbit of buckling of flexible screen in the whole in-process of buckling, thereby realized that whole angle range of buckling is effectively supported the screen, and, two support piece sliding connection, can adjust bearing structure's size, the in-process of buckling is tensile or the extrusion screen has been avoided, thereby can play good protection effect to the screen, the screen live time has been prolonged, the operation experience has been promoted simultaneously.

The support structure provided by the third embodiment of the present application is further described below, and the support structure provided by the third embodiment of the present application is applied to an electronic device, and is particularly suitable for an electronic device with a screen capable of sliding or rolling, such as a mobile phone with a screen capable of sliding/rolling, a PDA, a notebook computer, or a tablet computer. The electronic device includes a flexible screen and a folding mechanism. The folding mechanism includes a support structure for supporting the screen. The structure that supports is carried out the screen that can sideslip or curl among the prior art, generally adopts flexible construction, and this flexible support structure can sideslip or curl along with the screen promptly and warp, because support structure adopts flexible material to make, consequently the operation experience is relatively poor, can't effectively support the screen, and the probability that takes place the screen inefficacy risk is great.

Figure 15 is a side view of a support structure provided in accordance with a third embodiment of the present application in a flattened state. As shown in fig. 15, the supporting structure includes a plurality of supporting members 1 and a guide supporting member 2, each supporting member 1 has a supporting surface for supporting the flexible screen, the plurality of supporting members 1 are arranged side by side along a first direction X, two adjacent supporting members 1 are rotatably connected by the guide supporting member 2, and a rotation axis is perpendicular to the first direction X. The guide support 2 is arranged on two adjacent support members 1 away from the support surface, so that one of the two adjacent support members 1 can be bent or flattened relative to the other. Wherein, the supporting member 1 can be made of a high-rigidity material to improve the operation experience of the screen. And, in the bending process of the supporting structure, the two adjacent ends of the two adjacent supporting pieces 1 are far away from or close to each other. Specifically, when needs are crooked, each support piece 1 can move in order under the direction and the supporting role of guide support piece 2, guide support piece 2 can guide and support the first one in the relative second of the first one in two adjacent support pieces 1 promptly, make the holding surface that is used for towards flexible screen of a plurality of support pieces 1 can support flexible screen in the whole in-process of buckling, thereby realized effectively supporting the screen in whole angle range of buckling, the screen risk of failure has been reduced, can play good guard effect to the screen, the screen live time has been prolonged, operation experience has been promoted simultaneously.

The guide support 2 can have, but is not limited to, the following two ways:

the first mode is as follows: as shown in fig. 15, the guide support 2 may include an arc-shaped groove 211 provided on one of the adjacent two supports 1 and an arc-shaped slide rail 212 provided on the other, the arc-shaped slide rail 212 being slidable along the arc-shaped groove 211. At this time, the guide support 2 may be the first guide support 21 described above.

Second mode (not shown in the figures): two adjacent support members 1 are not only rotatably connected by the guide support member 2, but are further slidably connected by the guide support member 2. The guide support 2 may include a slide post 221 provided on one of the adjacent two supports 1 and a slide groove 222 provided on the other, the slide post 221 being slidable along the slide groove 222. At this time, the guide support 2 may be the second guide support 22 described above.

Fig. 16 is a side view of a portion of the support structure of fig. 15 in a bent state. As shown in fig. 16, in the flattened state, the closest distance between two adjacent supporting members 1 is a first distance D1, when bent outward, i.e. the supporting surface faces outward (for supporting the flexible screen), and in the final bent state, the closest distance between two adjacent supporting members 1 is a second distance D2, and the second distance D2 is smaller than the first distance D1. That is, when bending outward, the flexible screen is located at the outer side of the support structure, the bending radian of the flexible screen is large, and the bending radian of the support structure is small, in order to prevent the flexible screen from stretching when bending under the condition that the support structure is aligned with the side edge of the flexible screen, the bending radian of the support structure can be reduced, and therefore, the second distance D2 between two adjacent support members 1 in the final bending state is smaller than the first distance D1 between two support members 1 in the flattening state.

When bending inwards towards the side of the support surface (not shown in the figures), in the final bent state, the closest distance between two adjacent support members 1 is a third distance, and the third distance is greater than the first distance D1. Specifically, when inwards bending, the flexible screen is located the inboard of bearing structure, and the radian that the flexible screen was buckled is less, and the radian that the bearing structure buckled is great, in order to avoid the flexible screen of extrusion during buckling, can increase bearing structure's the radian of buckling, therefore, the third distance between two support pieces of final bending state is greater than the first distance between two support pieces of flat state of exhibition.

That is to say, the screen support scheme of the embodiment of the present application can be applied not only to a foldable electronic device, but also to a flexible screen device capable of performing operations such as side slipping, curling, and the like. The supporting structure of this application embodiment can be applicable in multiple use scenes such as the outer book of flexible screen, inflection, curl, sideslip promptly.

FIG. 17 is a simplified process diagram of the support structure of FIG. 15 undergoing side-slipping. As shown in FIG. 17, in the fully deployed state, the support structure is linear; in a partially-stored state, one end part of the supporting structure is bent, and the part connected with the bent part is linear; in the fully-stored state, the middle part of the support structure is bent, and the part connected with the bent part is linear, so that the length of the support structure is shortest.

Fig. 18 is a simplified process diagram of crimping of the support structure of fig. 15. As shown in FIG. 18, in the fully deployed state, the support structure is rectilinear; in a partially stored state, one end part of the supporting structure is rolled up, and the part connected with the rolled part is linear; in the fully rolled state, the entire support structure is rolled together.

Fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram illustrating a flattened state of another folding mechanism provided in an embodiment of the present application. As shown in fig. 19, the folding mechanism comprises a housing 30 'and the support structure 10' of the third embodiment described above. Wherein the housing 30 'is fixedly connected to the supporting members 1 at both ends of the supporting structure 10' of the third embodiment. Furthermore, the embodiment of the present application provides another electronic device, which includes a flexible screen and the above-mentioned another folding mechanism, wherein the flexible screen is continuously covered on the supporting surface of the supporting structure 10' of the another folding mechanism.

While the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A supporting structure, characterized in that it comprises a first support (11) and two oscillating assemblies, respectively arranged on opposite sides of said first support (11), said oscillating assemblies being able to be relatively unfolded and folded;

each of the swing assemblies includes:

a second support (12), a third support (13), a first guide support (21) and a second guide support (22); the second support (12) is positioned on one side of the first support (11), and the third support (13) is positioned on one side of the second support (12) away from the first support (11);

the second support (12) is rotatably connected with the first support (11) through the first guide support (21), and the third support (13) is slidably connected with the second support (12) through the second guide support (22) and can rotate relatively; or, the second support (12) is connected with the first support (11) in a sliding way through the second guide support (22) and can rotate relatively, and the third support (13) is connected with the second support (12) in a rotating way through the first guide support (21);

wherein the first support (11), the second support (12) and the third support (13) have a support surface for supporting a flexible screen, the first guide support (21) and the second guide support (22) being arranged facing away from the support surface.

2. The support structure according to claim 1, characterized in that the first guide support (21) comprises an arc-shaped slot (211) and an arc-shaped sliding rail (212), the arc-shaped sliding rail (212) being slidable along the arc-shaped slot (211), wherein:

when the second support (12) is rotatably connected with the first support (11) through the first guide support (21), one of the arc-shaped groove (211) and the arc-shaped sliding rail (212) is arranged on the first support (11) and the other one is arranged on the second support (12); when the third support (13) is rotatably connected with the second support (12) through the first guide support (21), one of the arc-shaped groove (211) and the arc-shaped sliding rail (212) is arranged on the second support (12) and the other is arranged on the third support (13).

3. The support structure of claim 2, wherein during the relative bending of the swing assembly, the curved slide rail (212) slides from a first end of the curved slot (211) to a second end of the curved slot (211), wherein:

the first end of the arc-shaped groove (211) is close to the notch of the arc-shaped groove (211), and the second end of the arc-shaped groove (211) is far away from the notch of the arc-shaped groove (211); or the first end of the arc-shaped groove (211) is far away from the notch of the arc-shaped groove (211), and the second end of the arc-shaped groove (211) is close to the notch of the arc-shaped groove (211).

4. The supporting structure according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the arc-shaped slot (211) comprises a first arc-shaped slot (2111) and a second arc-shaped slot (2112) which are coaxial and spaced apart, the arc-shaped sliding rail (212) comprises a first arc-shaped sliding rail (2121) and a second arc-shaped sliding rail (2122) which are coaxial and spaced apart, the first arc-shaped sliding rail (2121) can slide in the first arc-shaped slot (2111), and the second arc-shaped sliding rail (2122) can slide in the second arc-shaped slot (2112).

5. The support structure according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second guide support (22) comprises a sliding column (221) and a sliding slot (222), the sliding column (221) being slidable along the sliding slot (222), wherein:

when the third support (13) is connected with the second support (12) in a sliding way through the second guide support (22) and can rotate relatively, one of the sliding column (221) and the sliding groove (222) is arranged on the second support (12) and the other one is arranged on the third support (13); when the second support (12) is connected with the first support (11) in a sliding manner through the second guide support (22) and can rotate relatively, one of the sliding column (221) and the sliding groove (222) is arranged on the first support (11) and the other one is arranged on the second support (12).

6. The support structure of claim 5, wherein the sliding column (221) is provided on the second support (12) and the sliding chute (222) is provided on the third support (13), wherein:

the sliding chute (222) comprises a first slotted structure (2221) and a second slotted structure (2222), the first slotted structure (2221) and the third support (13) are integrally formed, the second slotted structure (2222) is fixedly connected with the third support (13), and the notches of the first slotted structure (2221) and the second slotted structure (2222) are oppositely buckled to form the sliding chute (222).

7. The supporting structure according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that during the relative bending of the oscillating assembly, the sliding column (221) slides from the first end of the sliding slot (222) to the second end of the sliding slot (222), the first end of the sliding slot (222) is close to the supporting member on which the sliding column (221) is arranged, and the second end of the sliding slot (222) is far away from the supporting member on which the sliding column (221) is arranged.

8. The support structure of claim 7, wherein a first end of the chute (222) is disposed away from the support surface of the support and a second end of the chute (222) is disposed proximate to the support surface of the support.

9. The supporting structure according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the supporting surfaces of the first supporting element (11) and the second supporting element (12) each comprise at least two curved surfaces arranged along the bending direction and a plane surface located between two adjacent curved surfaces;

the supporting surface of the third supporting part (13) comprises at least one section of curved surface and at least one section of plane, the at least one section of curved surface is close to the second supporting part (12), and the at least one section of plane is far away from the second supporting part (12).

10. The supporting structure according to claim 9, characterized in that when the two oscillating assemblies are unfolded to the first position, the planes of the supporting surfaces of the first, second and third supporting members (11, 12, 13) are in the same plane, when the two oscillating assemblies are folded to the second position, the curved surfaces of the supporting surfaces of the first, second and third supporting members (11, 12, 13) form an arc, and the planes of the supporting surfaces of the two third supporting members (13) are parallel.

11. A support structure, characterized in that the support structure comprises:

the screen display device comprises a plurality of supporting pieces (1) and guide supporting pieces (2), wherein each supporting piece (1) is provided with a supporting surface for supporting a flexible screen, the supporting pieces (1) are arranged in parallel along a first direction (X), two adjacent supporting pieces (1) are connected in a rotating mode through the guide supporting pieces (2), and a rotating shaft center is perpendicular to the first direction (X);

the guide supporting piece (2) is arranged on the two adjacent supporting pieces (1) in a way of deviating from the supporting surface, so that one of the two adjacent supporting pieces (1) can be bent or flattened relative to the other one;

wherein, in the bending process of the supporting structure, the two adjacent ends of the two adjacent supporting pieces (1) are far away from or close to each other.

12. The supporting structure according to claim 11, characterized in that the guiding supports (2) comprise an arc-shaped slot (211) provided on one of the two adjacent supports (1) and an arc-shaped sliding rail (212) provided on the other, the arc-shaped sliding rail (212) being slidable along the arc-shaped slot (211).

13. The supporting structure of claim 11, characterized in that said two adjacent supports (1) are also slidingly connected by said guide support (2).

14. The support structure according to claim 13, characterized in that said guide support (2) comprises a sliding column (221) provided on one of said two adjacent supports (1) and a sliding slot (222) on the other, said sliding column (221) being slidable along said sliding slot (222).

15. A folding mechanism, comprising:

two connectors (20), two housings (30) and a support structure (10) according to any one of claims 1 to 10;

the two shells (20) are fixedly connected with a third supporting piece (13) of the supporting structure (10), the two connecting pieces (20) are arranged on two sides of a first supporting piece (11) of the supporting structure (10) in a row, one end of each connecting piece (20) is rotatably connected with the first supporting piece (11), and the other end of each connecting piece (20) is connected with the shell (30) in a sliding manner.

16. A folding mechanism, comprising:

-a housing (30 ') and a support structure (10') according to any one of claims 11-14;

wherein the housing (30 ') is fixedly connected with the supporting pieces (1) at the two ends of the supporting structure (10').

17. An electronic device, characterized in that it comprises a flexible screen and a folding mechanism according to claim 15, said flexible screen being overlaid in succession on the support surface of the support structure (10) and on the two housings (30) of the folding mechanism.

18. An electronic device, characterized in that it comprises a flexible screen and a folding mechanism according to claim 16, said flexible screen being laid continuously on a support surface of a support structure (10') of said folding mechanism.