Abstract:
A hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen comprises a flexible screen which can be partially received within a casing by a reeling mechanism in such a manner that the displaying function can still be performed by the flexible screen partially exposed outside the casing. When the flexible screen is pulled out and entirely exposed outside of the casing, the entire flexible screen can be used for image-displaying. Thus, advantages in both the high displaying quality of a large screen and excellent portability of a small-sized hand-held electronic device can be attained.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims the benefit of Taiwan Patent Application Ser. No. 102100901, filed Jan. 10, 2013, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
       BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The invention relates to a hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen, and more particularly to the hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen that is applicable to a cellular phone or a tablet computer, for which, while a flexible screen thereof is at an initial position by having the flexible screen to be reeled inside a casing via a reeling mechanism, the cellular phone or the tablet computer cart perform as a normal cellular phone or tablet computer, and for which, while the flexible screen is at an extended position by having the flexible screen to be pulled out of the casing, the cellular phone or the tablet computer can perform as a device having a broad display screen. 
         [0004]    2. Description of the Prior Art 
         [0005]    Currently, the hand-held electronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant, a GPS guide apparatus, a tablet computer and palm-size electronic play machine is usually equipped with a fixed-size display screen; in particular, a small-size display screen. Such an electronic device having a small-size screen is good in portability, but is ill in the limited display area, by which the image resolution and the applicability of a touch screen are problems. On the other hand, though the display screen can be enlarged so as to enhance the display area, the entertainment quality and the touch-control operability, yet the whole volume occupation is then too large to be in the field of portability or hand-holding. For example, the touch-control display screen for the smart phone has been increased from the 3″ screen, the 4″ screen, and finally to the 5″ screen. In spite that the display screen has been made broader so as to ensure a better screen displaying and the viewing quality, yet such a size for the hand-held electronic device is too much for the female customers. Definitely, for those female customers, the definition of the portable electronic device with an enlarged display screen might not be equal to the hand-held device anymore. 
         [0006]    Recently, various flexible screens have been developed, such as Korean Samsung&#39;s flexible AMOLED, Japan TDK&#39;s flexible OLED, Korean LG Display&#39;s plastic electronic paper screen, and Taiwan ITRI&#39;s touch AMOLED ultra-thin film screen and so on. Based on the modern technology, the thickness of the flexible touch screen can be down to 0.3 mm, and the flexible touch screen can be rolled into a cylinder with a radius at least less than 2.5 mm. Nevertheless, for the smart phones equipped with the flexible screens, the current development is still stayed in the stage of a prototype model with a flexible screen. Though the flexible screen is introduced to the smart phone, yet the concept of flexibility is at the device body itself not at the size of the display screen. Namely, though a larger-sized flexible screen can be applied to a smart phone, yet such a bigger size in the screen does only result in a cumbersome machine for the smart phone, which is definitely away from the original design concept in hand-holding and portability. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen and a corresponding display method for the hand-held electronic device, in both of which a reeling mechanism is introduced to elastically roll one portion of the flexible screen into the casing, but leaves another portion thereof to expose outside the casing as a small-size display screen. In the case that the flexible screen is pulled out of the casing so as to form an extended-size screen, a broader display screen can thus he obtained. Hence, advantages in having both a large-size screen for quality displaying and a small-size screen for hand-held convenience can be achieved by the hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen in accordance with the present invention. 
         [0008]    In the present invention, a preferred embodiment of the hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen includes: 
         [0009]    a casing; 
         [0010]    a flexible screen for displaying ages thereon; 
         [0011]    a reeling mechanism, connected with the flexible screen so as to reel elastically the flexible screen between an extended position and an initial position, a first area of the flexible screen being exposed outside the casing and a second area thereof being retrieved inside the casing while the flexible screen is at the initial position, both the first area and the second area being exposed outside the casing to form an integrated third area while the flexible screen is pulled to the extended position; 
         [0012]    a screen-detecting module for detecting whether the flexible screen is at the initial position or at the extended position and generating a detection signal accordingly; and 
         [0013]    an image-controlling module for controlling image-displaying on the flexible screen based on the detection signal, connected with the flexible screen and the screen-detecting module, controlling the flexible screen to display only on the first area while the screen-detecting module determines that the flexible screen is at the initial position, controlling the flexible screen to display on the third area while the screen-detecting module determines that the flexible screen is at the extended position. 
         [0014]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the casing further includes a main body, an extendable portion and at least a supportive member extending between the main body and the extendable portion, the extendable portion being adhered to one lateral side of the main body while the flexible screen is at the initial position, the extendable portion being pulled away from the lateral side and supported at the main body by the at least one supportive member while the flexible screen is at the extended position. 
         [0015]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the reeling mechanism is mounted inside the extendable portion, the extendable portion being adhered to the lateral side and the second area of the flexible screen being retrieved inside the extendable portion by the reeling mechanism while the flexible screen is at the initial position, the extendable portion being pulled away the lateral side so as to have the second area of the flexible screen to be extended between the lateral side and the extendable portion while the flexible screen is at the extended position. 
         [0016]    In one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the reeling mechanism further includes a reel spring for providing an elastic pulling force to retrieve the second area of flexible screen back into the extendable portion. 
         [0017]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the hand-held electronic device further includes a positioning mechanism for providing a positioning function to the flexible screen, such that the flexible screen is able to keep positions while facing no external forcing. 
         [0018]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the at least one supportive member has thereon a plurality of rig structures, the positioning mechanism further has a buckling mechanism located inside the main body at a position corresponding to the at least one supportive member, and the positioning function is obtained by having the buckling mechanism to pair each one of a plurality of the rig structures on the at least one supportive member. 
         [0019]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the hand-held device is a cellular phone and further includes: 
         [0020]    a processor module, having at least one processor; 
         [0021]    a communication module, electrically connected with the processor module, at least providing a communication function, further including an antenna; 
         [0022]    a human-machine module, electrically connected with the processor module, at least providing a user to operate the hand-held device and a data-transmission function, the communication module furthering including at least one of an I/O port, a control button, a microphone, a speaker and an image-capturing module; 
         [0023]    a power module, at least electrically connected with the processor module, providing power to the hand-held device, further having a battery; and 
         [0024]    a display module, electrically connected with the processor module and the flexible screen, further including image-displaying functions of the flexible screen controlled by the screen-detecting module and the image-controlling module. 
         [0025]    To achieve the aforesaid objects, an exemplary embodiment of a display method for the foregoing hand-held electronic device in accordance with the present invention includes the steps of: 
         [0026]    providing a hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen, wherein the hand-held electronic device includes: a casing, a flexible screen, and a reeling mechanism for reeling elastically the flexible screen between an extended position and an initial position, a first area of the flexible screen being exposed outside the casing and a second area thereof being retrieved inside the casing while the flexible screen is at the initial position, both the first area and the second area being exposed outside the casing to form an integrated third area while the flexible screen is pulled to the extended position; 
         [0027]    detecting whether the flexible screen is at the initial position or at the extended position and generating a detection signal accordingly; 
         [0028]    based on the detection signal, determining a size of an image for displaying, the size of the image being equal to a size of the first area while the detection signal is realized as that the flexible screen is at the initial position, the size of the image being equal to a size of the third area while the detection signal is realized as that the flexible screen is at the extended position; and 
         [0029]    controlling the flexible screen to display the image according to the size of the image, displaying the image only on the first area if the size of the image is equal to the size of the first area, displaying the image on the third area if the size of the image is equal to the size of the third area. 
         [0030]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the image on the third area while the display screen is at the extended position is simple an enlarged image of the same image on the first area while the display screen is at the initial position. 
         [0031]    All these objects are achieved by the hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen and the corresponding display method for the hand-held electronic device described below. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0032]    The present invention will now be specified with reference to its preferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in which: 
           [0033]      FIG. 1A  is a schematic front view of a preferred embodiment of the hand-held electronic device in accordance with the present invention, in which the flexible screen is at an extended position; 
           [0034]      FIG. 1B  is a bottom view of  FIG. 1A ; 
           [0035]      FIG. 2A  is another front view of  FIG. 1A , in which the flexible screen is at an initial position; 
           [0036]      FIG. 2B  is a bottom view of  FIG. 2A   
           [0037]      FIG. 3  shows schematically a preferred positioning mechanism for the hand-held electronic device in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0038]      FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a cellular phone as an exemplary embodiment of the hand-held electronic device in accordance with the present invention; and 
           [0039]      FIG. 5  is a flowchart of a preferred display method for the hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen in accordance with the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0040]    The invention disclosed herein is directed to a hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen and a corresponding display method for the hand-held electronic device. In the following description, numerous details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that variations of these specific details are possible while still achieving the results of the present invention. In other instance, well-known components are not described in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention. 
         [0041]    Referring now to  FIG. 1A .  FIG. 1B ,  FIG. 2A  and  FIG. 2B , an exemplary embodiment of the hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen  1  in accordance with the present invention is shown in various application views, in which  FIG. 1A  is a schematic front view of the hand-held electronic device  1  with the flexible screen  20  positioned at an extended position,  FIG. 1B  is a bottom view of  FIG. 1A ,  FIG. 2A  is another front view of  FIG. 1A  with the flexible screen  20  positioned at an initial position, and  FIG. 2B  is a bottom view of  FIG. 2A . 
         [0042]    In this embodiment, the hand-held electronic device  1  having a rolled-up screen includes a casing  10 , a flexible screen  20 , a reeling mechanism  30 , a screen-detecting module  551  and an image-controlling module  552 . The casing  10  forming the appearance of the hand-held electronic device  1  provides an internal accommodation space for containing all the related elements of the hand-held electronic device  1 . The flexible screen  20  can be reeled into a cylindrical structure for easy storage, and on the other hand can be pulled to form a plain surface for image-displaying thereon. In this embodiment, the flexible screen  20  is preferably embodied as a flexible AMOLED touch screen, and also can be embodied as any other type of flexible screen. 
         [0043]    The reeling mechanism  30  is connected to the flexible screen  20  so as thereby able to have the flexible screen  20  to be pulled or unreeled from the reeling mechanism  30  to the extended position, or to reel elastically the flexible screen  20  back to the initial position. In the case that the flexible screen  20  is at the initial position as shown in  FIG. 2A , the first area  21   a  of the flexible screen  20  (the area circled by the dashed lines  21  in either  FIG. 1A  or  FIG. 2A ) is exposed outside the casing  10 , while the second area  22   a  of the flexible screen  20  (the area formed inside the dashed lines  23  of  FIG. 1A  by eliminating the first area  21   a ) retrieved (rolled up, in particular) by the reeling mechanism  30  is not exposed outside the casing  10 . While the flexible screen  20  is pulled or extended to the extended position as shown in  FIG. 1A , both the first area  21   a  and the second area  22   a  of the flexible screen  20  are exposed to the front surface of the casing  10 . At this time, the integrated area of the first area  21   a  and the second area  22   a  is defined as the third area  23   a  (the area circled by dashed lines  23  in  FIG. 1A ). Namely, while the flexible screen  20  is retrieved to the initial position, only a portion thereof (i.e. the first area  21   a ) is active for image-displaying. On the other hand, while the flexible screen  20  is pulled or extended to the extended position, a broader area made up by combining the first area  21   a  and the second area  22   a  of the flexible screen  20 , i.e. the third area  23   a,  is available for image-displaying. 
         [0044]    In this embodiment, the casing  10  further includes a main body  11 , an extendable portion  12  and at least one supportive member  13  extendable between the main body  11  and the extendable portion  1 . 
         [0045]    The reeling mechanism  30  is particularly mounted inside the extendable portion  12 . The reeling mechanism  30  further includes a reel spring  31  for providing a spring force to roll elastically back the second area  22   a  of the flexible screen  20  into the extendable portion  12 . The extendable portion  12  is originally adhered to one lateral side of the main body  11 , and can be pulled away from the main body  11  but still connected solidly with the main body  11  by the supportive members  13 . While the flexible screen  20  is at the initial position, the extendable portion  12  is attached to the lateral side of the main body  11 , with the second area  22   a  of the flexible screen  20  rolled up inside the extendable portion  12  by the reeling mechanism  30 . While the flexible screen  20  is at the extended position, the extendable portion  12  is pulled away the lateral side of the main body  11  but with the supportive members  12  to connect therebetween. At this time, the second area  22   a  of the flexible screen  20  is extended and exposed between the lateral side of the main body  11  and the extendable portion  12 . Of course, in another embodiment not shown herein, the reeling mechanism  30  can be located inside the main body  11  not in the extendable portion  12 . 
         [0046]    The screen-detecting module  551  is to detect whether the flexible screen  20  screen is at the initial position or at the extended position and further to generate a detection signal accordingly. The image-controlling module  552  connected with the flexible screen  20  and the screen-detecting module  551  can base on the detection signal to control the image-displaying of the flexible screen  20 . While the screen-detecting module  551  determines that the flexible screen  20  is at the initial position, the image-controlling module  552  would control the flexible screen  20  to have the image to be displayed only on the first area  21   a.  While the screen-detecting module  551  determines that the flexible screen  20  is at the extended position, the image-controlling module  552  would control the flexible screen  20  to display on the third area  23   a.  Upon such an arrangement, though the volume of the hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen  1  can be minimized by having the flexible screen  20  positioned at the initial position so as to benefit the hand-held portability, yet a tiny portion (the first area  21   a ) of the flexible screen  20  can still be implemented to process the image-displaying and the touch-control. On the other hand, while a broader display screen is needed, the flexible screen  20  is pulled to extend to the extended position so that the whole span (the third area  23   a,  i.e. the combination of the first area  21   a  and the second area  22   a ) of the flexible screen  20  can be used to perform image-displaying or touch-control. Definitely, by providing the hand-held electronic device of the present invention, both the viewing quality for the bigger-size screen and the hand-held portability for the smaller-size screen can thus be obtained. 
         [0047]    In the present invention, one embodiment of the screen-detecting module  551  can construct a mechanical, optical or magnetic detection switch (not shown herein) between the main body  11  and the extendable portion  12 . In the case that the main body  11  contacts with the extendable portion  12 , the screen-detecting module  551  would judge that the flexible screen  20  is at the initial position, and then generate a corresponding detection signal. In the case that the main body  11  and the extendable portion  12  are separate, the screen-detecting module  551  would judge that the flexible screen  20  is at the extended position and also generate another corresponding detection signal. Such type of operation for the screen-detecting module  551  is simple and low-cost, but can only be applicable to judge two positions (complete contact and complete extended) of the flexible screen  20 . 
         [0048]    In another embodiment of the screen-detecting module  551 , the flexible screen  20  can be judged at various positions between the position of complete contact and the position of complete extended. In such a screen-detecting module  551 , different states of extension for the flexible screen  20  can be defined and read by the screen-detecting module  551 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1B , the screen-detecting module  551  can includes a back film  82  located on a surface of the casing  10  opposing to the flexible screen  20  and positioned between the main body  11  and the extendable portion  12 , a plurality of detection points  821  on the back film  82 , a sensor  81  located inside the main body  11 , and a back film reel spring  83  inside the main body  11 . The back film reel spring  83  can provide a spring force for retrieving elastically the back film  82  back into the main body  11 . While the back film  82  is pulled out of the main boy  11  with the extendable portion  12 , the sensor  81  can detect the moving direction of the flexible screen  20  through reading the passing detection points  821 , and thereby the extended distance of the extendable portion  12  can thus be detected. Also, the exposed size of the second area  22   a  of the flexible screen  20  out of the main body  11  can then be computed, and the detection signal can be generated accordingly as well to the image-controlling module  552 . Upon such an arrangement, the image-controlling module  552  can base on the detection signal to control the image-displaying of the flexible screen  20 . In particular, even only a portion of the second area  22   a  of the flexible screen  20  is pulled out of the main body  11 , a relevant size of the image can be displayed on the available portion of the third area  23   a.  Similarly, the aforesaid detection pair including the sensor  81  and the detection points  821  can also be replaced by the existing art in mechanical, optical or magnetic detection technology. 
         [0049]    In the present invention, the hand-held electronic device  1  can further include a positioning mechanism  40  for providing a positioning function to the flexible screen  20  and the supportive members  13 , such that the flexible screen  20  can keep positions or maintain its state upon a situation free of external forcing. For example, the state can be the extended position, the initial position, or any position between the extended position and the initial position. As shown in  FIG. 3 , an embodiment of the positioning mechanism  40  for the hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen  1  can include a plurality of rig structures  131 ,  132  arranged along the supportive member  13 . For example, but not limited to the example, the supportive member  13  can be designed as a screw bar or a teeth rack. The positioning mechanism  40  includes a buckling mechanism  41  located inside the main body  11  at a position corresponding to the supportive member  13 . Also, a spring member  411  is connected at the pivotal shaft of the buckling mechanism  41  so as to have the front end of the buckling mechanism  41  able to contact any rig structure  131  or  132  of the supportive member  13 . Through the front end of the buckling mechanism  41  to contact and thus buckle up a specific rig structure  131  or  132  of the supportive member  13 , the positioning function of the present invention can be thus achieved. In addition, through adjusting the spring forcing of the spring member  411  at the pivotal shaft of the buckling mechanism  41  or through arranging the angling of the rig structures  131 ,  132  of the supportive member  13  the forms the buckling restraint with the front end of the buckling mechanism  41 , the positioning function can also be obtained and adjustable to achieve the operation of having the extendable portion  12  to be pulled close or pushed away with respect to main body  11  of the casing  10 . Of course, the positioning mechanism  40  of the present invention is not limited to the structuring disclosed by  FIG. 3 . In an embodiment not shown herein, the positioning mechanism  40  can be constructed as a skeleton mechanism of a typical umbrella which can perform the aforesaid pulling, pushing and positioning operations similar to those described above. Also, the strength of the skeleton mechanism can withstand the resilience as that provided by the aforesaid reel spring upon the reeling mechanism, in which the extended screen can keep positions against the spring force, and in which little forcing can trigger the screen to retrieve back to the initial position. Furthermore, in an embodiment not shown herein, the supportive member  13  can be formed as a U-shape slender beam, to replace the aforesaid round slender bar. Under such a circumstance, while in pairing the back film  82  of  FIG. 1B , the whole appearance of the hand-held electronic device  1  can be compactly looked by having the longitudinal groove formed by opposing walls of the U-shape slender beam to slide along thereinside both the flexible screen  20  and the back film  82  during the pushing and pulling operation of the extendable portion  12  with respect to the main body  11 . 
         [0050]    The hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen  1  in accordance with the present invention is applicable to almost any type of the hand-held electronic devices, such as, but not limited to, traditional cellular phones, smart phones, PDAs, GPS apparatuses, tablet computers, palm-size game machines and so on. In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 4 , the hand-held electronic device  1  is structured as a cellular phone. The hand-held electronic device  1  includes the aforesaid casing  10  (having the main body  11 , the extendable portion  12  and the supportive member  13 ), the aforesaid flexible screen  20 , the aforesaid reeling mechanism  30 , the aforesaid screen-detecting module  551 , the aforesaid image-controlling module  552 , the aforesaid positioning mechanism  40 , a processor module  51 , a communication module  52 , a human-machine module  53 , a power module  54  and a display module  55 , in which the modules  51 ,  52 ,  53 .  54  and  55  can be integrally formed as a control module  50  for providing required functions to the cellular phone. 
         [0051]    In this embodiment, the processor module  51  can includes at least one processor. The communication module  52  is electrically connected with the processor module  51  and provides at least one function of mobile communication. The communication module  52  includes an antenna  61 . The human-machine module  53  is electrically coupled to the processor module  51  and is to provide at least functions of receiving human operations and transmitting data. The communication module  53  further includes at least one of a microphone/speaker  62 , an I/O port  63 , a control button  64  (solid or pseudo), and an image-capturing module  65  (a camera, for example). The power module  54  is electrically connected at least with the processor module  51  and is to provide power to the hand-held electronic device  1 . The power module  54  includes a battery  66 , a recharging module and a recharge hole  67  for accepting an external charger (not shown in the figure). The display module  55  electrically coupling the processor module  51  and the flexible screen  20  further has the screen-detecting module  551  and the image-controlling module  552  to control the image-displaying of the flexible screen  20 . 
         [0052]    Referring now to  FIG. 5 , a flowchart of a preferred display method for the hand-held electronic device having a rolled-up screen in accordance with the present invention is shown. The display method includes the following steps. 
         [0053]    Step  71 : Start to perform the operation of screen displaying. Firstly, provide a hand-held electronic device  1  having a rolled-up screen. The hand-held electronic device  1  includes: a casing  10 , a flexible screen  20 , and a reeling mechanism  30  for reeling elastically the flexible screen  20  between an extended position and an initial position. While the flexible screen  20  is at the initial position, a first area  21   a  of the flexible screen  20  is exposed outside the casing  10 , and also a second area  22   a  thereof is reeled back to nest inside the casing  10 . While the flexible screen  20  is pulled to the extended position, both the first area  21   a  and the second area  22   a  are exposed outside the casing  10  so as to form an integrated third area  23   a  as a broader application of the flexible screen  20 . 
         [0054]    Step  72 : Detect whether the flexible screen  20  is at the initial position or at the extended position by a screen-detecting module  551 , and generates a detection signal accordingly. 
         [0055]    Step  73 : An image-controlling module  552  judges the detection signal to determine a size of an image for displaying. While the detection signal is realized as that the flexible screen  20  is at the initial position, the size of the image is to meet or equal to the size of the first area  21   a.  Further, while the detection signal is realized as that the flexible screen  20  is at the extended position, the size of the image for displaying is then to meet or equal to the size of the third area  23   a.    
         [0056]    Step  74 : A display module  50  controls the flexible screen  20  to display the image according to the size of the image. In the case that the size of the image is equal to the size of the first area  21   a , displaying the image is only performed on the first area  21   a.  in the case that the size of the image is equal to the size of the third area  23   a , displaying the image is performed in an enlarged way on the third area  23   a.    
         [0057]    In this embodiment, the image on the third area  23   a  while the flexible screen  20  is at the extended position is simple an enlarged image of the same image on the first area  21   a  while the flexible screen  20  is at the initial position. Namely, an enlarged image can be obtained by simply pulling the flexible screen  20  to the extended position from the initial position where the same image is shown in a smaller size. 
         [0058]    While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment, it will he understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.