Google Wins Patent for Hybrid Mobile Device Covering a Phone, Mini Tablet, and Notebook
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In 2019, widely known tech giants, Samsung and Huawei, launched and came up with their first-ever folding devices, namely, the Galaxy Fold and the X Mate. With the Galaxy Fold’s launch blowing up in Samsung’s face, it entirely rattled the confidence of the global market in such products, and further instantly rendered them way too experimental and ahead of time. The next in line stood Microsoft with making a revelation in Q4 2019 that the company would introduce the Surface Duo, a foldable smartphone, and Surface Neo, a foldable tablet, based on dual displays in place of flimsy single display folded in half like the Samsung’s Galaxy Fold. Now, Microsoft will come up with these innovations in Q4 2020 unless the novel Coronavirus outbreak complicates the scheduling. Furthermore, as per various revelations found in Apple’s patents, the company, too, is working on possible future foldable devices. However, it seems that Apple isn’t in any rush for this trend as it believes the technology keeps improving and evolving.
At present, the American multinational technology company Google is also following the same technology and trend. The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has quite recently granted the company a new patent indicating that its Pixel smartphone teams have been diligently working on a hybrid device of their own. The hybrid device favors a style with a pretty large single flexible display that folds over. The single display device would efficiently be configured as a smartphone, mini-tablet, or notebook, and further bend over to maintain a tent position with the help of a multifaceted hinge system.
As per the granted patent, Google’s innovation outlines a foldable device with an exemplary display, which includes a memory, a processor, the first housing with a first hinge portion, the second housing, a flexible display disposed on both the first housing and the second housing, and a hinge assembly with a second hinge portion that is also rotatably coupled to the first hinge portion of the first housing. The device will also include a mode detector assembly, which will be configured for detecting the configurations of the electronic device and generating a signal indicating a change of mode of operation of the display.
In some cases, the flexible display can be folded or bent in such a way that the two sides of the flexible display either face each other, which is the closed mode or don’t face each other, which is the open mode. Also, the flexible display can be folded or bent in a way that the two sides of the flexible display either face each other or be oriented away from each other at a specific angle, which is the tent mode. Every mode represents a different device, be it a smartphone, tablet, or notebook. Additionally, Google’s patent has stated that safe and secure applications may be given via the SIMM cards, along with other pieces of information, including placing identifying information on the SIMM card in a non-hackable way.
Somewhere around 80% of the patent covers information corresponding to a complicated set of hinges for supporting the chameleon nature of the device. Now, whether Google will eventually act on this innovation or not stands unknown at present.
The USPTO officially published Google’s patent on 31st March 2020. The Patent Application was filed on 23rd May 2019. For more visit: https://www.kashishipr.com/
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