Patent Description:
The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular to an electronic device.

As the electronic device industry develops, people expect a screen size of an electronic device to be as large as possible, but a large screen leads to a large electronic device, so that it is not easy to carry the electronic device. Therefore, a contradiction between a large screen demand and portability is generated.

To resolve the contradiction, a screen may be set as a flexible display screen, which can be folded. When the flexible display screen is in an unfolded state, a relatively large display area can be obtained to meet a user's demand for a large screen. When the flexible display screen is in a folded state, the entire flexible display screen is relatively small, so that the electronic device can be carried easily.

The flexible display screen may be folded around a rotary shaft. To prevent a fold from occurring on the flexible display screen, a size of the rotary shaft is usually designed to be relatively large, which leads to great thickness of the entire electronic device.

D1 (<CIT>) discloses a portable electronic device that includes a first housing including a first surface and a second surface, a second housing including a third surface and a fourth surface, and a hinge. The hinge includes a hinge shaft, a sliding device including a portion configured to slide to an inside or an outside of the second housing to be introduced, or slide from the inside or the outside of the second housing in a specific direction to be extracted in correspondence to a hinge operation of the second housing, and a multi-bar disposed between the first surface and the fourth surface and including multi-bar units to be spread or bent in correspondence to a hinge operation of the second housing.

D2 (<CIT>) discloses a single-shaft type hinge combination mechanism capable of meeting external folding of a flexible screen. The single-shaft type hinge combination mechanism includes a folding type packaging base body, where a folding shaft is arranged in the middle of the folding type packaging base body, and two groups of single-shaft rotating shafts are arranged at the hinge positions of the two ends of the folding shaft; each single-shaft rotating shaft is one of a chain type rotating shaft, a soft-sheet type rotating shaft, a soft-sheet combined cylindrical taking rotating shaft and a bending rope combined cylindrical taking rotating shaft; center movable blocks are distributed in a bilaterally symmetrical manner by taking the center of each single-shaft rotating shaft as the cutting point, the center movable blocks are provided with sliding teeth and clamping teeth, and the back side of each clamping tooth is provided with a circular-arc tube position; and sliding blocks are arranged on the two sides of the center movable blocks to realize positioning, sliding and screen compensation in a sliding manner, and a sliding chain, a soft sheet, a combined cylinder and a bending rope are arranged in the circular-arc tube positions to adjust the bending length of the screen. Synchronization is realized through a gear set, multiple movable blocks are used for assisting in connecting and positioning, and the sliding blocks slide to enable the circular-arc tube positions to be matched with a bending mechanism to realize bending and screen compensation, so that point sticking is automatically achieved, and the elastic force and the damping demand are met by means of a sliding rail spring.

D3 (<CIT>) discloses a supporting structure of a foldable display device and the foldable display device. The supporting structure of the foldable display device is used for supporting a flexible screen of the foldable display device, and the flexible screen includes at least two plane areas and a bending area for connecting the two adjacent plane areas. the supporting structure includes supporting plates in one-to-one correspondence with the plane areas and a sliding piece arranged between any two adjacent supporting plates. The supporting plates on the two sides of the sliding piece are a first supporting plate and a second supporting plate respectively. The first supporting plate is rotationally connected with the sliding piece, and the second supporting plate is slidably connected with the sliding piece. The first supporting plate and the second supporting plate can be folded in the direction away from the flexible screen. When the supporting structure is unfolded, the second supporting plate moves in the direction away from the first supporting plate, and the sliding piece is opposite to the bending area.

D4 (<CIT>) discloses a folding mechanism that includes a first housing, a second housing, a third housing, and a rotating assembly. The first housing and the second housing are coaxially connected to the rotating shaft. The third housing is slidably engaged with the second housing, and the third housing drives the second housing to rotate relative to the rotating shaft. The folding mechanism has an unfolded state and a folded state, and when the folding mechanism is switched from the unfolded state to the folded state, the third housing slides laterally along the second housing in a direction toward the rotating assembly.

The present invention discloses an electronic device to resolve the problem of great thickness of the electronic device.

To resolve the foregoing problem, the following technical solutions are used in the present invention.

An electronic device is provided, which is defined in claim <NUM>.

The accompanying drawings described herein are used to provide further understanding of the present invention and constitute a part of the present invention. The illustrative embodiments of the present invention and descriptions thereof are used to explain the present invention, and do not constitute any improper limitation on the present invention. In the accompanying drawings:.

<NUM>-Device body, <NUM>-Body portion, <NUM>-Bracket, <NUM>-Rotary plate, <NUM>-First guide portion, <NUM>-First positioning flange, <NUM>-First comb tooth, 212a-First bar-shaped portion, 212b-Second bar-shaped portion, 212c-Extension flange, <NUM>-Second comb tooth, <NUM>-Second positioning flange, <NUM>-Rotary shaft, <NUM>-Slide plate, <NUM>-Second guide portion, <NUM>-Step portion, <NUM>-Main body portion, <NUM>-Spacing bar, <NUM>-Positioning groove, <NUM>-Flexible display screen, <NUM>-Lens, <NUM>-Cover plate, <NUM>-Button.

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention clearer, the following clearly and completely describes the technical solutions of the present invention with reference to the specific embodiments of the present invention and the corresponding accompanying drawings. Apparently, the described embodiments are merely a part rather than all of the embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

The technical solutions disclosed by various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in <FIG>, embodiments of the present invention disclose an electronic device. The electronic device includes a device body <NUM>, a rotary plate <NUM>, a rotary shaft <NUM>, a slide plate <NUM>, and a flexible display screen <NUM>.

The device body <NUM> may be used as a main structure of the electronic device. The device body <NUM> may specifically include a body portion <NUM> and a bracket <NUM>. The body portion <NUM> may be used as a basic member of the device body <NUM>. Functional devices such as a circuit board, a battery, and a camera may be disposed in the body portion <NUM>. The bracket <NUM> may be connected to the body portion <NUM>.

The rotary plate <NUM> is hinged to the device body <NUM> through the rotary shaft <NUM>. Therefore, the rotary plate <NUM> may be rotated relative to the device body <NUM>, and the rotary plate <NUM> is provided with a first guide portion <NUM>. Optionally, when the device body <NUM> includes the body portion <NUM> and the bracket <NUM>, the rotary plate <NUM> may be hinged to the bracket <NUM> through the rotary shaft <NUM>. The rotary shaft <NUM> may be a damping pin, and there may be two damping pins. The two damping pins may be connected to both sides of the rotary plate <NUM>. The damping pin can not only achieve hinging between the rotary plate <NUM> and the device body <NUM>, but also produce a damping effect, so that relative rotation between the rotary plate <NUM> and the device body <NUM> can be more stable.

The slide plate <NUM> is slidably connected to the rotary plate <NUM>. The slide plate <NUM> is provided with a second guide portion <NUM>. The second guide portion <NUM> is slidably matched with the first guide portion <NUM>. Both the slide plate <NUM> and the rotary plate <NUM> may be flat plates, which may be parallel to each other and may be stacked together when they slide relative to each other. When the slide plate <NUM> and the rotary plate <NUM> slide relative to each other, the first guide portion <NUM> is slidably matched with the second guide portion <NUM>, so as to provide guidance for relative sliding between the slide plate <NUM> and the rotary plate <NUM>. Optionally, the first guide portion <NUM> may be disposed at both ends of the rotary plate <NUM>, the second guide portion <NUM> may be disposed at both ends of the slide plate <NUM>. One of the first guide portion <NUM> and the second guide portion <NUM> may be disposed as a protrusion, and the other may be disposed as a groove.

The flexible display screen <NUM> has an unfolded state and a folded state. When the flexible display screen <NUM> is in the unfolded state, the flexible display screen <NUM> is unfolded, so that a relatively large screen size can be obtained and a better display effect can be achieved. When the flexible display screen <NUM> is in the folded state, the flexible display screen <NUM> may be folded as a U-shaped structure, so that a size of the electronic device can be reduced, which helps to carry the electronic device easily. The flexible display screen <NUM> is connected to the device body <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM>. When a state of the flexible display screen <NUM> is changed, the flexible display screen <NUM> can drive the slide plate <NUM> to slide relative to the rotary plate <NUM>, and then the rotary plate <NUM> rotates relative to the device body <NUM>. Optionally, one end of the flexible display screen <NUM> may be fixedly connected to the device body <NUM> by bonding, and the other end may be fixedly connected to the slide plate <NUM> by bonding.

In addition, the electronic device may further include a lens <NUM>, a cover plate <NUM>, and a button <NUM>. Both the lens <NUM> and the cover plate <NUM> may be used as decorative pieces, the cover plate <NUM> can cover the lens <NUM>, and the button <NUM> may be disposed on the cover plate <NUM>. The flexible display screen <NUM> may be locked by an operation on the button <NUM>, so that the flexible display screen <NUM> keeps in the folded state. The flexible display screen <NUM> can be also unlocked, so that the flexible display screen <NUM> can be switched to the unfolded state.

In this embodiment of the present invention, during switch between the unfolded state and the folded state of the flexible display screen <NUM>, the rotary plate <NUM> rotates relative to the device body <NUM>, and the slide plate <NUM> slides relative to the rotary plate <NUM>, thereby supporting the flexible display screen <NUM> and preventing the flexible display screen <NUM> from being stretched. Because both the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> are plate-shaped structures, they can be set to be relatively thin, so that thickness of the electronic device can be reduced. In addition, the flexible display screen <NUM> may always be attached to the device body <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM>, so that no crack easily occurs on an appearance surface of the electronic device, thereby improving appearance texture of the electronic device.

The first guide portion <NUM> includes multiple comb teeth, and the second guide portion <NUM> includes multiple comb teeth grooves. The multiple comb teeth are matched with the multiple comb teeth grooves in a one-to-one correspondence. The comb teeth and comb teeth grooves are all bar-shaped structures, and their sizes are relatively small. Therefore, in a case that sizes of the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> are fixed, more comb teeth and comb teeth grooves may be set, which leads to more positions for matching the rotary plate <NUM> with the slide plate <NUM>, so that relative sliding between the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> can be more stable. Optionally, the multiple comb teeth may be parallel to each other, and the multiple comb teeth grooves may be parallel to each other.

When a comb tooth is matched with a comb tooth groove, at least a part of the comb tooth is located in the comb tooth groove. To keep the comb tooth and the comb tooth groove in a matched state, a connecting structure may be disposed at other positions of the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM>, so that the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> always keep connected. In another embodiment, the comb tooth is provided with a first positioning flange <NUM>, and the comb tooth groove is provided with a step portion <NUM>. The first positioning flange <NUM> and the step portion <NUM> are matched in a direction perpendicular to the slide plate <NUM> (that is, a direction for stacking the slide plate <NUM> and the rotary plate <NUM>) for positioning. Optionally, the step portion <NUM> may be disposed on a side, close to the rotary plate <NUM>, of the comb tooth groove. The first positioning flange <NUM> may be disposing on a side, away from the rotary plate <NUM>, of the comb tooth. The step portion <NUM> can support the first positioning flange <NUM>. After such disposing, the comb tooth and the comb tooth groove can not only be slidably matched, but also be matched in a direction perpendicular to the slide plate <NUM> for positioning, so that the slide plate <NUM> and the rotary plate <NUM> can maintain a stable connection relationship, and there is no need to set a connection structure at other positions of the slide plate <NUM> and the rotary plate <NUM>. It can be seen that this solution can simplify a structure of the electronic device.

The multiple comb teeth include a first comb tooth <NUM>. The first comb tooth <NUM> is an elastic comb tooth. One surface, facing the flexible display screen <NUM>, of the first comb tooth <NUM> is provided with a first bar-shaped portion 212a and a second bar-shaped portion 212b. Both the first bar-shaped portion 212a and the second bar-shaped portion 212b extend along a sliding direction of the slide plate <NUM>. A gap exists between the first bar-shaped portion 212a and the second bar-shaped portion 212b. With this structure, a distance between the first bar-shaped portion 212a and the second bar-shaped portion 212b may be changed. When the first comb tooth <NUM> is matched with a comb teeth groove, the first comb tooth <NUM> is subject to an acting force, so that the first bar-shaped portion 212a and the second bar-shaped portion 212b are squeezed and deformed. At this time, the first bar-shaped portion 212a and the second bar-shaped portion 212b may apply a counter acting force to the slide plate <NUM>. Therefore, both of the first bar-shaped portion and the second bar-shaped portion are closely matched with a side wall of the comb tooth groove, thus producing a damping effect. With the damping effect, sliding between the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> is relatively slow and stable, so that an effect of relative sliding between the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> can be improved. In addition, as service time of the electronic device is increasingly prolonged, even if a comb tooth and a comb tooth groove are worn, the first comb tooth <NUM> can still make the comb tooth be closely matched with the comb tooth groove, so that use experience of the electronic device can be improved.

Optionally, the first bar-shaped portion 212a and the second bar-shaped portion 212b may be only disposed at an end of the first comb tooth <NUM>, so that a moderate damping effect is generated between the first comb tooth <NUM> and a comb tooth groove.

Further, an extension flange 212c is disposed on at least one of a surface of the first bar-shaped portion 212a facing the flexible display screen <NUM> and a surface of the second bar-shaped portion 212b facing the flexible display screen <NUM>. The extension flange 212c protrudes toward a surface of a side wall of the comb tooth groove relative to the first bar-shaped part 212a or protrudes toward a surface of the side wall of the comb tooth groove relative the second bar-shaped part 212b. The extension flange 212c may be matched with the side wall of the comb tooth groove. After the extension flange 212c is disposed, when the first comb tooth <NUM> is matched with a comb tooth groove, the first comb tooth <NUM> is subject to an acting force, and the side wall of the comb tooth groove can press the extension flange 212c, causing the first bar-shaped portion 212a or the second bar-shaped portion 212b to deform greatly, so that a great damping effect can be formed between the first comb tooth <NUM> and the comb tooth groove. Therefore, better stability can be provided when the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> slide relative to each other.

Specifically, the multiple comb teeth can all be set as first comb teeth. In this case, a damping effect will be generated between each comb tooth and each comb tooth groove. However, such structure easily leads to an excessively great damping effect between the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM>, which results in unsmooth relative sliding between the rotary plate and the slide plate. To resolve this problem, optionally, the multiple comb teeth may further include a second comb tooth <NUM>. And a surface, facing the flexible display screen <NUM>, of the second comb tooth <NUM> is a smooth surface. The first comb tooth <NUM> and the second comb tooth <NUM> are respectively matched with different comb teeth grooves. That is to say, a surface, facing the flexible display screen <NUM>, of the second comb tooth <NUM> is not provided with a concave structure, and the surface may be a plane or a curved surface with a small curvature, so that the second comb tooth <NUM> is basically inelastic, so that relative sliding between the second comb tooth <NUM> and a comb tooth groove is smoother. In this solution, a damping effect may be generated between the first comb tooth <NUM> and the comb tooth groove, while the second comb tooth <NUM> and another comb tooth groove can smoothly slide relative to each other, so that relative sliding between the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> is more stable and smooth.

In an alternative embodiment, at least one comb tooth groove is a trapezoidal groove, and a cross-sectional area of the trapezoidal groove gradually increases in a direction pointing to the rotary shaft <NUM>, where the cross section is perpendicular to a sliding direction of the slide plate <NUM>. That is to say, as the flexible display screen <NUM> is constantly switched to the folded state, a gap between a comb tooth matched with the trapezoidal groove and the trapezoidal groove is constantly reduced, thus generating a damping effect, so that the relative sliding between the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> is more stable, the rotary plate <NUM> and the slide plate <NUM> can be prevented from sliding too fast and thus causing a collision, thereby protecting the electronic device and reducing noise generated when the electronic device is folded.

Further, optionally, the multiple comb teeth grooves may include a first comb tooth groove and a second comb tooth groove. The first comb tooth groove and the second comb tooth groove are alternately arranged. In a direction pointing to the rotary shaft <NUM>, a cross-sectional area of the first comb tooth groove gradually increases and a cross-sectional area of the second comb tooth groove gradually decreases. That is to say, the first comb tooth groove and the second comb tooth groove are both trapezoidal grooves, and variation trends of cross-sectional areas of the first comb tooth groove and the second comb tooth groove are opposite in a same direction. When the slide plate <NUM> slides relative to the rotary plate <NUM> in a direction close to the rotary shaft <NUM>, a damping effect is generated between the first comb tooth groove and a comb tooth, making sliding between the slide plate <NUM> and the rotary plate <NUM> more stable. At this time, a damping effect between the second comb tooth groove and the comb tooth is small or even does not exist. When the slide plate <NUM> slides in a direction away from the rotary shaft <NUM>, a damping effect is generated between the second comb tooth groove and the second comb tooth, making the sliding between the slide plate <NUM> and the rotary plate <NUM> more stable. At this time, the damping effect between the first comb tooth groove and the comb tooth is small or even does not exist. It can be seen that with this structure, the slide plate <NUM> has relatively good stability when sliding in opposite directions.

It should be noted that variation of the cross-sectional area of the trapezoidal groove does not need to be too large. On the one hand, the variation of the cross-sectional area can meet the requirement for generating the damping effect, and on the other hand, no excessively great damping effect that causes the slide plate <NUM> to be not slide in place will not be generated.

Optionally, the slide plate <NUM> may include a main body portion <NUM> and multiple spacing bars <NUM> connected to the main body portion <NUM>. The multiple spacing bars <NUM> are arranged at intervals, and a comb tooth groove is formed between adjacent spacing bars <NUM>, and the comb teeth may be matched with the spacing bars <NUM>, thereby achieving guide. The spacing bars <NUM> may include a first spacing section, a second spacing section, and a third spacing section which are arranged in sequence. The first spacing section and the third spacing section are both rigid structures, and the second spacing section is a flexible structure. When the slide plate <NUM> slides relative to the rotary plate <NUM>, the comb teeth are matched with the first spacing section, the second spacing section, and the third spacing section in sequence. When the comb teeth are matched with the first spacing section and the third spacing section, because the first spacing section and the third spacing section basically do not deform, the slide plate <NUM> is subject to a great friction force when sliding. When a comb tooth is matched with the second spacing section, because the second spacing section may be compressed and deformed, a friction force born by the comb tooth is relatively small, which makes the slide plate <NUM> slide more smoothly and has better touch feeling.

To better position the slide plate <NUM> and the rotary plate <NUM>, the slide plate <NUM> is further provided with a positioning groove <NUM>, and the rotary plate <NUM> is further provided with a second positioning flange <NUM>. The positioning groove <NUM> is located at an edge of the slide plate <NUM> and communicates with a comb tooth groove, and the positioning groove <NUM> is matched with the second positioning flange <NUM> in a sliding direction of the slide plate <NUM> for positioning. That is, when the slide plate <NUM> rotates relative to the rotary plate <NUM>, once the positioning groove <NUM> is matched with the second positioning flange <NUM> for positioning, sliding of the slide plate <NUM> will be restricted, so that variation of a position of the slide plate <NUM> relative to the rotary plate <NUM> will be more accurate, and it can be prevented that a sliding stroke of the slide plate <NUM> exceeds a reasonable range, resulting in damage of the slide plate <NUM> or the rotary plate <NUM>.

The electronic device disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention may be a smartphone, a tablet computer, an e-book reader, or a wearable device. Certainly, the electronic device may also be another device, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present invention.

Claim 1:
An electronic device, comprising:
a device body (<NUM>);
a rotary plate (<NUM>) hinged to the device body (<NUM>) through a rotary shaft (<NUM>) and provided with a first guide portion (<NUM>);
a slide plate (<NUM>) slidably connected to the rotary plate (<NUM>) and provided with a second guide portion (<NUM>), wherein the second guide portion (<NUM>) is slidably matched with the first guide portion (<NUM>); and
a flexible display screen (<NUM>) connected to the device body (<NUM>) and the slide plate (<NUM>), wherein the slide plate (<NUM>) slides relative to the rotary plate (<NUM>) during switching between an unfolded state and a folded state of the flexible display screen (<NUM>); wherein
the first guide portion (<NUM>) comprises multiple comb teeth, and the second guide portion (<NUM>) comprises multiple comb teeth grooves, wherein the multiple comb teeth are matched with the multiple comb teeth grooves in a one-to-one correspondence; wherein
the electronic device is characterized in that the multiple comb teeth comprise a first comb tooth (<NUM>), wherein the first comb tooth (<NUM>) is an elastic comb tooth, and one surface, facing the flexible display screen (<NUM>), of the first comb tooth (<NUM>) is provided with a first bar-shaped portion (212a) and a second bar-shaped portion (212b), wherein both the first bar-shaped portion (212a) and the second bar-shaped portion (212b) extend along a sliding direction of the slide plate (<NUM>), and a gap exists between the first bar-shaped portion (212a) and the second bar-shaped portion (212b).