KR20140111518A - Electronic apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An electronic device comprises a flexible display unit, and a part, such as a battery, electrically connected with the display unit and bent with the display unit. The part can be bent with the display unit by a simple structural change in the part, therefore the electronic device can have a flexible configuration overall.

Description

[0001] ELECTRONIC APPARATUS [

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly, to an electronic device including a flexible display part and a bendable part.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a display unit having a flexible structure has been developed for electronic devices such as mobile phones, smart phones, tablet PCs, and the like. For example, display sections are also being developed flexibly for application to flexible electronic devices.

However, despite the development of a display unit having a flexible structure, an electronic device having a display unit having a flexible structure is not yet developed and mass-produced as a flexible product. This is because the electronic device has a structure in which only the display portion is flexible, and other electronic components such as a battery do not have a flexible structure.

However, in order to manufacture a flexible electronic device such as a battery or the like, a manufacturing process may become complicated due to the development of a specific technology or a special material, and it may take a lot of cost and a long manufacturing time.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic device including a bendable part together with a flexible display part through a simple structural change.

However, the problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned problems, but may be variously expanded without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic device including a flexible display part and a part electrically connected to the display part, can do.

In the exemplary embodiments, the part may comprise a battery. In this case, the battery may be disposed on a side surface or a rear surface of the display unit.

According to exemplary embodiments, the battery may include at least two sub-batteries. In this case, the adjacent sub-batteries can be connected to each other using a hinge structure that can be bent or unfolded. The terminals of the sub-battery may be electrically connected to each other through wires arranged in the hinge structure.

In other exemplary embodiments, the sub-batteries may be disposed on a flexible substrate that includes wiring. For example, the wiring may have substantially the shape of a plate. Here, the terminals of the sub-batteries may be in contact with the wiring.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, an electronic device including a component such as a battery that can be bent together with a flexible display portion can be implemented. Here, the part may be warped or bent at least partially or wholly. Because of the simple structural modification of the part, the part can be bent or bent together with the flexible display part, the electronic device can have a totally flexible configuration. Thus, the manufacturing process of the flexible electronic device can be simplified, the manufacturing cost can be reduced, and the manufacturing time can be shortened.

1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an electronic device including a flexible display portion according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
2 is a diagram illustrating a battery applied to a flexible electronic device in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the present invention.
3 is a diagram illustrating a battery used in a flexible electronic device in accordance with another exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, flexible electronic devices according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited by the following embodiments, The present invention may be embodied in various other forms without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention.

In the present specification, specific structural and functional descriptions are merely illustrative for the purpose of illustrating embodiments of the present invention, and it is to be understood that the embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in various forms, It is to be understood that the appended claims are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. It is to be understood that when an element is described as being "connected" or "in contact" with another element, it may be directly connected or contacted with another element, but it is understood that there may be another element in between something to do. In addition, when it is described that an element is "directly connected" or "directly contacted " to another element, it can be understood that there is no other element in between. Other expressions that describe the relationship between components, for example, "between" and "directly between" or "adjacent to" and "directly adjacent to", and the like may also be interpreted.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing exemplary embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, the terms "comprising," "comprising" or "having ", and the like, specify that there are performed features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, It should be understood that the foregoing does not preclude the presence or addition of other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, parts, or combinations thereof. Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein, including technical or scientific terms, have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Terms such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries are to be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with the contextual meaning of the related art and are to be interpreted as either ideal or overly formal in the sense of the present application .

The terms first, second, third, fourth, etc. may be used to describe various elements, but such elements are not limited by the terms. The terms are used for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, the first component may be referred to as a second, third, or fourth component, and similarly, the second, third, . ≪ / RTI >

1 is a schematic perspective view illustrating an electronic device including a flexible display portion according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIG. 1, the electronic device 10 may include a mobile phone, a smart phone, a tablet PC, and the like. When a flexible display portion 11 is applied to such an electronic device 10, the electronic device 10 can also have a certain degree of flexibility as a whole. When the electronic device 10 includes the flexible display portion 11, the electronic device 10 is substantially unlikely to have flexibility if other components such as a battery are not flexible.

According to the exemplary embodiments, manufacturing the components such as the battery flexibly requires a complicated manufacturing process and requires a lot of manufacturing cost. However, as described later with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, Can have a configuration that can be partially or totally bendable through configuration changes in a simple and inexpensive manner. Thus, the electronic device 10 including the components such as the battery that can be bent together with the flexible display portion 11 can be efficiently manufactured at a relatively low cost.

Hereinafter, a battery for an electronic device which can be partially or wholly bent will be described, but a component having a partially or wholly bendable structure is not limited to a battery, and may be substantially the same or substantially different from other components of the electronic device A similar configuration may be applied.

2 is a perspective view illustrating a bendable battery that may be applied to an electronic device according to exemplary embodiments.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the battery 20 may be mounted on the side or rear surface of the generally flexible display unit 11, and may provide a predetermined electric power to the display unit 11. Here, since the battery 20 can have a structure that can be bent at least partially or entirely, the battery 20 and the display portion 11 can be partially or wholly bent or bent together.

According to exemplary embodiments, the battery 20 may be comprised of at least two sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. For example, at least two or more sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 are provided while maintaining the overall capacity of the battery 20, 24, 25 and 26 are connected to each other to realize a flexible battery 20.

2, although the battery 20 is illustrated as including six sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26, the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, ) Is not limited thereto.

In the exemplary embodiments, the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 may be wholly or partially bendably connected using hinge structures 27. For example, hinge structures 27 may be mounted between adjacent sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and each of these hinge structures 27 may be angled The adjacent sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 may be bent or bent at a predetermined angle. That is, it may have a configuration in which the adjacent sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 are bent or bent at portions where they are connected to each other by the hinge structures 27.

As described above, the display unit 11 includes a flexible battery 20 including at least two sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 connected by a hinge 27 The electronic device 10 having the battery 20 and the display portion 11 can be wholly or partly bent. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 2, when the battery 20 has six sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, five hinge structures 27 are mounted The battery 20 becomes bendable at five points.

When the battery 20 includes a plurality of sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 and a plurality of hinge structures 27 according to exemplary embodiments, each hinge structure may be bent The battery 20 can be flexed in an entirely depending on the angle at which the battery 20 is deployed, bent in a substantially zigzag fashion, bent in various forms such as a substantially S shape, substantially a U shape, . That is, the battery 20 can be deformed to an arbitrary shape according to the deformation of the display portion 11 while having a simple structure employing the hinge structures 27.

In other exemplary embodiments, other components of the electronic device 10, in addition to the battery 20, may also be constructed of a plurality of portions and then connected using a plurality of hinge structures so that the electronic device 10 is generally flexible .

Referring again to FIG. 2, in order to electrically connect two or more sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 to each other, adjacent sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26) The respective terminals 29 may be in contact with each other or may be electrically connected through wiring. For example, the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 connected by the hinge structures 27 are connected to the sub-batteries 21 and 22 (Not shown) for electrically connecting the terminals 29 of the first, second, third, In this case, the wiring may pass through the interior of each hinge structure 27 and contact the terminals 29 of the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. The battery 20 can be partially or wholly bent while the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 maintain the overall capacity by electrical connection using such wiring. Here, the wiring may be made of a conductive material such as copper (Cu), tungsten (W), gold (Au) or the like.

As described above, the electronic device 10 may include components such as a flexible display 20 and a partially or fully bendable display 20 with a display. That is, a simple structural change such as the adoption of the hinge structures 27 can cause the components such as the battery 20 to be bent or bent together with the flexible display portion 11, so that the electronic components that can be bent in whole or in part Device 10 may be implemented. Particularly, since the entire electronic device 10 can be obtained by simple structural change of the components, the manufacturing process of the electronic device 10 can be simplified, and advantages such as reduction of manufacturing cost and shortening of manufacturing time .

3 is a perspective view illustrating a battery included in a flexible electronic device according to another exemplary embodiment. 3, the battery 20 may have a structure substantially similar to that of the battery 20 described with reference to FIG. 2, except for the flexible plate 31 and the wiring 33.

3, the battery 20 can be divided into a plurality of sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26, and the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, May be arranged on a flexible plate 31, which may be bent or unfolded, respectively. In this case, the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 may be disposed on the flexible plate 31 at substantially equal intervals. The flexible plate 31 can be made of plastic or a metal plate or plate spring having a relatively thin thickness so that it can be partially or totally bent and unfolded. A wiring 33 made of a conductive material such as metal may be disposed on one side of the flexible plate 31. For example, the wiring 33 may have a substantially rectangular plate shape. Further, the wiring 33 may have a relatively thin thickness so as to have a predetermined flexibility.

When at least two or more sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 are disposed on the flexible plate 31 according to the exemplary embodiments, The terminals 29 of the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 are arranged in substantially the same direction so as to connect the terminals 29 of the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 can be arranged on the wiring structure 33 on the flexible plate 31. [ That is, the terminals 29 of the sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 are brought into contact with the wiring 33, Can be electrically connected to each other through the wiring (33).

As described above, by disposing the battery 20 including the plurality of sub-batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, and 26 on the flexible plate 31 having the wiring 33, Can be bent in whole or in part. By disposing the battery 20 on the side surface or the rear surface of the flexible display portion 11, the electronic device 10 can be bent or bent as a whole.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical and exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood that various modifications and changes may be made in the present invention.

10: Electronic device 11:
20: batteries 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26:
27: hinge structure 29: terminal
31: flexible plate 33: wiring

Claims (9)

A flexible display unit; And
And a part electrically connected to the display part and capable of bending together with the display part. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the component comprises a battery. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the battery is disposed on a side surface or a rear surface of the display portion. 3. The electronic device of claim 2, wherein the battery comprises at least two sub-batteries. The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein adjacent sub-batteries are connected using a hinge structure that can be bent or unfolded. The electronic device according to claim 5, wherein the terminals of the sub battery are electrically connected to each other through wiring disposed in the hinge structure. The electronic device according to claim 4, wherein the sub-batteries are disposed on a flexible substrate including wiring. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the wiring has a shape of a plate. 8. The electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the terminals of the sub-batteries are each in contact with the wiring.

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