While Samsung has been working on slide-out display-based smartphones (01, 02, 03 and more) and tablets for some time now, Apple is keeping an eye on this form factor by continuing to update their slide-out (scrollable, rollable) patent.  While Apple's patent describes the device as one with a scrolling display using rollers, Apple's latest update focuses on the device oddly being a foldable device.  

Just last week we learned, for the very first time, that Apple was considering "multiple" folding device projects. So with Apple considering a device with scrollable display being a "Foldable device," it opens the door to different form factors down the road. Perhaps a "just-in-case" scenario should scrollable devices catch on in the market. It's also a way to get around the "crease" marks found in traditional foldable devices. This has been a negative that Apple has demanded must be alleviated before proceeding with a foldable device.

Scrollable Display based Devices

Apple's continuation patent focuses on a scrollable device with a flexible display that wraps around one or more rollers. In a stored position, the flexible display may be wrapped around a storage roller.

Optional deployment rollers may be used to help deploy the display as the display is pulled out of the housing. A flexible display may be viewable through a transparent housing window before and after the flexible display is pulled out of the housing.

An electronic device may have first and second housing portions and a flexible display that can be either stored in one or both housing portions or that may be scrolled out to form a planar display surface that extends between housing portions.

Elongated bistable support members may run along the edges of the display or may be overlapped by a central active area of the display to help stiffen and support the display in its extended position.

Magnets may be used to outwardly bias edge-mounted bistable support structures and thereby help prevent a rolled flexible display from wrinkling.

The electronic device may have housing portions that are rotatably coupled to each other with hinges or other bendable structures so that the flexible display may fold along the bend axes.

Magnets may be used to releasably couple the housing portions to each other. Movable support structures such as movable members coupled by springs or other flexible structures may be move between first and second positions. When the device is unfolded and the flexible display is planar and unfolded, the movable support structures may be moved towards the bend axis to support the flexible display.

When the device is folded, the movable support structures may be moved away from the bend axis to help allow the flexible display and device to fold about the bend axis.

An electronic device may have both rigid and flexible displays. A rigid display such as a touch screen display may be mounted in the housing and may serve as a virtual keyboard.

A flexible display that is stored on a roller in the housing may be pulled out from the display when it is desired to provide a user with expanded display area. The flexible display may have a first surface with a pixel array that displays images and an opposing second surface that serves as a protective outer covering layer when the flexible display overlaps the touch screen display. The flexible display may be supported at a diagonal angle with respect to the touch screen display or other suitable angle. 

Apple's patent FIG. 2 below is a perspective view of a scrollable device having a flexible display extended between two housing structures; FIG. 17 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device with a scrolling flexible display deployed using multiple internal rollers.

Apple's patent FIG. 6 above is a top view of device #10 in an illustrative configuration in which the housing for the device has a main portion (housing structure 12-1) and has a smaller portion (housing structure 12-2) that is used as a support bar to help pull flexible display #14 off of a roller within the interior of structures #12-1. Bistable support strips such as tape #32 may be used to help support the flexible display when the flexible display is in its deployed state as shown in FIG. 6.

Apple leaves the door wide open in respect to what end-user devices may use a scrollable display:  a computing device such as a laptop computer, a computer monitor containing an embedded computer, a tablet computer a cellular telephone, a TV and more.

Apple's patent FIG. 15 above is a cross-sectional side view of device #10 in an arrangement in which flexible display #14 may be scrolled and in which device 10 may contain a separate rigid display. A virtual keyboard (e.g., a QWERTY keyboard or other keyboard) may be dynamically formed on touch screen display 14R. Flexible display may be scrolled outwardly when pulled out from housing #12 and may be maintained at a desired angle (e.g., a diagonal angle or other suitable angle with respect to horizontal, as shown in FIG. 15). This allows display #14 to serve as an ancillary display (e.g., to display documents, internet content, etc.) while display 14R is serving as a virtual keyboard or other touch screen input device.

To review the full details of this invention, check out patent application 20240184335 that provides 20 new patent claims.

Other Patent Applications of Interest published last Thursday

20240185856: Gaze-Based Dictation

Speech recognition and dictation based transcription can be advantageous for users by increasing the speed that users can write or transcribe documents, notes, e-mails, etc. while also allowing the user to engage in other activities at the same time. However, it can be difficult for a dictation system to understand the user's intent, particularly when a user may be actively engaged with the electronic device at one time and then speaking to a person in the room in the next instance. Additionally, correction of mistakes during dictation can be an obstacle as many dictation services are unable to understand when the user is trying to correct a word and instead continue to transcribe the user's speech.

[0038] Accordingly, utilizing the gaze of the user can help to manage and lessen the impact of these drawbacks on dictation based transcription services, especially when utilized with a digital assistant. Users typically look to where they believe text will appear when intending to invoke dictation services even before they have started to provide an utterance. Thus, by monitoring a user's gaze as it moves to the display of the device, as well as around the display of the device allows the dictation system to understand when the user is intending to dictate and when the user is intending to provide a different command to the system or the electronic device.

In patent FIG. 9F below element #906 is displayed as a window or overlay over text field 903 and includes information related to the dictation mode and how the user can interact with dictation mode.

20240184869: Implementation of Biometric Authentication

Apple's patent application covers how the iPhone's Dynamic Island could be used to communicate with an iPhone user in how to set up Face ID