Patent Description:
<CIT> describes an LED projector including a beam control system to provide spill light reduction and beam angle control.

<CIT> describes a privacy film for a display screen.

The present disclosure provides a display for a computing device as defined in claim <NUM>; and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium as claimed in claim <NUM>. The dependent claims set out features of certain examples of the disclosure.

Examples are described in the following detailed description and in reference to the drawings, in which:.

Electronic devices, such as mobile phones, notebooks and tablets, may include a display that outputs information to users. The users may use the display to view private information, such as private financial information or a confidential email. Often, the user may be in public, such as when the user is sitting in a waiting room, standing in line, or riding on public transportation. In such situations, other people may view the display of the user's electronic device, particularly when the user's electronic device includes a display viewable from a wide variety of angles. In some cases, detachable privacy screens may be used at display devices to restrict propagation direction of light emitted from the display device. In such cases, the use of privacy screens may inhibit or reduce functionality of a touch screen associated with the display device.

Examples described herein provide a display including a plurality of spaced light emitting device packages. Example display may include a microlight-emitting diode (micro-LED) display, a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) display, or the like. Micro-LED display, also known as m-LED or µ-LED, is an emerging flat panel display technology having arrays of microscopic LEDs that form the individual pixel elements. Each light emitting device package may include at least one micro-LED. Further, the display includes a privacy gate having partition walls to partition each of the plurality of spaced light emitting device packages. Further, the display includes a control unit to selectively move the partition walls up or down relative to the plurality of spaced light emitting device packages to control a viewing angle of the display.

Examples described herein provide a switchable privacy control on the display to control the viewing angle and protect the display from prying eyes. In this case, the privacy gate (e.g., an ultrathin privacy gate) can be moved up or down to change the light direction when the user selects the privacy mode. Thus, sensitive data and information, such as insurance, banking, finance, human resources, trade, examination rooms, medical personnel, and security applications can be protected from the prying eyes.

Examples described herein provide a <NUM>-way or a <NUM>-way privacy control (i.e., a horizontal viewing angle control and/or a vertical viewing angle control). Examples described herein may also provide a multi-mode privacy control. For example, a degree of privacy on the display can be controlled by moving the ultrathin privacy gate relative to the light emitting device packages to multiple positions corresponding to multiple privacy modes.

<FIG> is a perspective view of an example display <NUM>, depicting a privacy gate <NUM>. Display <NUM> may be an external display to a computing device, an internal display to the computing device, or any combination thereof. Example display may include a touchscreen display. In one example, display <NUM> includes a plurality of spaced light emitting device packages <NUM>, for instance, integrated to a circuit board of display <NUM>. In one example, spaced light emitting device packages <NUM> may be arranged in columns and rows. In another example, light emitting device packages <NUM> may be uniformly arranged.

For example, display <NUM> may refer to a display device that outputs data via an array of pixel elements. In such cases, light emitting device packages <NUM> may include at least one semiconductor device that produces light when the appropriate electrical bias is provided. For example, each light emitting device package <NUM> may include at least one µLED pixel that can be driven to emit light. A pixel may refer to a component of display <NUM> that can be used to build the image. For example, each µLED pixel may include a red pixel, a green pixel, a blue pixel, or any combination thereof, which can be independently controlled to produce a range of colors.

Example display <NUM> includes privacy gate <NUM> having partition walls <NUM> to partition each of spaced light emitting device packages <NUM>. Example privacy gate <NUM> may be an ultrathin privacy gate. In one example, privacy gate <NUM> may be disposed on light emitting device packages <NUM> such that the light can be emitted through partition walls <NUM>. Example display <NUM> includes a control unit <NUM> to selectively move partition walls <NUM> up or down relative to light emitting device packages <NUM> to control a viewing angle of display <NUM>.

<FIG> is a perspective view of example display <NUM> of <FIG>, depicting an upward movement of privacy gate <NUM> to control a viewing angle of display <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, privacy gate <NUM> is a grid shaped structure having a plurality of columns of partition walls <NUM> disposed by means of a supporting framework <NUM> to partition spaced light emitting device packages <NUM>. Each light emitting device package <NUM> is accommodated in a respective space defined between the columns of partition walls <NUM>. In one example, control unit <NUM> moves partition walls <NUM> up or down relative to supporting framework <NUM> to provide a two-way privacy control of the viewing angle of display <NUM>. In one example, two-way privacy control may include a horizontal viewing angle control of display <NUM>.

<FIG> is an example schematic diagram 100C illustrating a wide viewing angle of display <NUM> when display <NUM> is operated in a normal mode. In <FIG>, privacy gate <NUM> is in a first position (e.g., having height h1) with respect to supporting framework <NUM>. <FIG> is an example schematic diagram 100D illustrating a narrow viewing angle of display <NUM> when display <NUM> is operated in a privacy mode.

As shown in <FIG>, privacy gate <NUM> may be upwardly moved to a second position (e.g., having height h2, h2>h1) with respect to supporting framework <NUM> to change the light direction of µ-LED pixels and narrow down the viewing angle of display <NUM>. In this example, partition walls <NUM> may obstruct a portion of light from light emitting device packages <NUM> to narrow down the viewing angle of display <NUM>.

The privacy mode may be activated explicitly by the user or may be activated in response to a privacy mode trigger event. In one example, touchscreen may be used to detect a gesture to activate and/or de-activate the privacy mode. In another example, the privacy mode may be activated and/or deactivated via a keyboard and/or keypad. In yet another example, microphone in display <NUM> may be used to detect a spoken command to activate the privacy mode. In yet another example, the privacy mode or the normal mode may be manually selected by a user. In yet another example, the privacy mode or the normal mode may be automatically detected based on user gestures through at least one sensor disposed in display <NUM>. Example sensor may include a camera.

Thus, privacy gate <NUM> may be moved up or down with respect to supporting framework <NUM> to switch the viewing angle between the wide viewing angle and the narrow viewing angle. The wide viewing angle may refer to a maximum angle at which information/content displayed on display <NUM> can be viewed. The wide viewing angle may be greater than the narrow viewing angle. During privacy mode of operation, the viewing angle (e.g., range of viewing the sensitive information on display <NUM>) may need to be restricted to prevent other users from viewing display <NUM>. In this case, the viewing angle of display <NUM> may be switched to the narrow viewing angle to enable privacy of the information/ content displayed on display <NUM>. During normal mode of operation, the viewing angle of display <NUM> may be switched to the wide viewing angle.

<FIG> is a schematic representation of an example electronic device <NUM>, depicting a privacy gate <NUM> to control a viewing angle of a display <NUM> of electronic device <NUM>. Example electronic device <NUM> may include a mobile communication device, such as a smart phone, a laptop, a tablet, a convertible device that can be used in both laptop and tablet modes, a media playing device, a portable gaming system, and/or any other type of portable computer device with a screen that displays visual data. Example display <NUM> may include a liquid crystal display (LCD), light emitting diode (LED) display, µ-LED display, MEMS display, or other displays that includes arrays of LED packages (e.g., LEDs). A micro-LED (µ-LED) may be considered as a type of LED. Electronic device <NUM> may be equipped with other components such as a camera, audio/video devices, and the like, depending on the functions of electronic device <NUM>.

Example electronic device <NUM> includes display <NUM> and a control unit <NUM> communicatively connected to display <NUM>. In one example, control unit <NUM> can be implemented as a part of display <NUM>, for instance, in case of tablet computers. In another example, control unit <NUM> can be implemented as a part of a base housing (e.g., that houses battery, touchpad, keyboard and the like) of electronic device <NUM> and communicatively connected to display <NUM>, for instance, in case of notebook computers.

Display <NUM> may include a backplane <NUM> equipped with arrays of spaced LED packages <NUM>. For example, each LED package <NUM> may include a red µ-LED, a green µ-LED, a blue µ-LED, or any combination thereof. Further, display <NUM> may include privacy gate <NUM> having partition walls to partition each of arrays of spaced LED packages. In one example, privacy gate <NUM> may be a grid shaped structure formed by a plurality of intersecting rows and columns of the partition walls. Each LED package <NUM> may be accommodated in a respective space defined by the intersecting rows and columns of the partition walls.

Furthermore, display <NUM> may include an optical film <NUM> disposed above privacy gate <NUM> such that privacy gate <NUM> can be moved up and down between optical film <NUM> and backplane <NUM>. In some examples, optical film <NUM>, backplane <NUM>, and privacy gate <NUM> are parallel to each other. Example optical film <NUM> may include an asymmetric turning film, an asymmetrical prism film, a prism film, a brightness enhancement film (BEF), a dual brightness enhancement film (DBEF), a diffuser, a polarizer film, a retardation film, or any combination thereof. As shown in <FIG>, display <NUM> may include a substrate <NUM> disposed on optical film <NUM>. Example substrate <NUM> may be a glass substrate or a plastic substrate. In some examples, display <NUM> may include a touchscreen that includes a display and an input device configured to detect a user's touch. In addition, optical film <NUM> can be placed on example substrate <NUM>.

During operation, control unit <NUM> selectively moves the partition walls up or down relative to spaced LED packages <NUM> to control a viewing angle of display <NUM>. In one example, control unit <NUM> may control a degree of privacy on display <NUM> by moving privacy gate <NUM> to multiple positions corresponding to multiple privacy modes. Each privacy mode may have a viewing angle that is different from the other privacy modes.

In one example, control unit <NUM> may move the partition walls corresponding to the columns up or down relative to arrays of spaced LED packages <NUM> to control a horizontal viewing angle of display <NUM>. This is explained in <FIG>. In another example, control unit <NUM> may move the partition walls corresponding to the rows up or down relative to arrays of spaced LED packages <NUM> to control a vertical viewing angle of display <NUM>. In yet another example, control unit <NUM> may move the partition walls corresponding to the rows and columns up or down relative to arrays of spaced LED packages <NUM> to control the horizontal viewing angle and the vertical viewing angle of display <NUM>.

<FIG> depict example schematic views of a privacy gate <NUM> including a plurality of columns <NUM> of partition walls that can be moved up or down to provide a two-way privacy control. Particularly, <FIG> illustrate a top view 300A and a front view 300B of privacy gate <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, privacy gate <NUM> is a grid shaped structure having columns <NUM> of the partition walls disposed by means of a supporting framework <NUM> to partition LED packages <NUM>. Each LED package may be accommodated in a respective space defined between columns <NUM> of the partition walls.

As shown in example front view 300B of <FIG>, columns <NUM> of the partition walls are disposed within supporting framework <NUM> when display <NUM> is operated in normal mode (i.e., when privacy mode is deactivated). As shown in front view 300B of <FIG>, control unit <NUM> may upwardly move columns <NUM> of the partition walls relative to supporting framework <NUM> to provide a two-way privacy control of the viewing angle of display <NUM> when a privacy mode of display <NUM> is activated. <FIG> is an example schematic diagram of display <NUM> depicting the two-way privacy control corresponding to <FIG>. In one example, <FIG> depicts a right view privacy control and a left view privacy control of display <NUM> corresponding to the privacy mode of <FIG>.

<FIG> depict example schematic views of privacy gate <NUM> including a plurality of intersecting rows <NUM> and columns <NUM> of partition walls that can be moved up or down to provide a four-way privacy control. Particularly, <FIG> illustrate a top view 400A, a cross-sectional front view 400B, and a cross-sectional side view 400C of privacy gate <NUM>. As shown in <FIG>, privacy gate <NUM> may be a grid shaped structure comprising a plurality of intersecting rows <NUM> and columns <NUM> of the partition walls disposed by means of a supporting framework <NUM> to partition LED packages <NUM>. Each LED package <NUM> may be accommodated in a respective space defined by intersecting rows <NUM> and columns <NUM> of the partition walls.

As shown in example front view 400B and side view 400C of <FIG>, rows <NUM> and columns <NUM> of the partition walls are disposed within supporting framework <NUM> when display <NUM> is operated in normal mode (i.e., when privacy mode is deactivated). As shown in front view 400B and side view 400C of <FIG>, control unit <NUM> may upwardly move rows <NUM> and columns <NUM> of the partition walls relative to supporting framework <NUM> to provide a four-way privacy control of the viewing angle of display <NUM> when a privacy mode of display <NUM> is activated.

<FIG> is an example schematic diagram of display <NUM> depicting the four-way privacy control corresponding to <FIG>. In one example, <FIG> depicts a right view privacy control, a left view privacy control, a top view privacy control, and a bottom view privacy control of display <NUM> corresponding to the privacy mode of <FIG>. Example four-way privacy control may include the horizontal viewing angle control (i.e., the right view privacy control and the left view privacy control) and the vertical viewing angle control (i.e., the top view privacy control and the bottom view privacy control).

In other examples, control unit <NUM> moves the partition walls corresponding to either columns <NUM> or rows <NUM> up or down relative to supporting framework <NUM> to provide the horizontal viewing angle control or the vertical viewing angle control of display <NUM>, respectively.

Control units <NUM> and <NUM> may include, for example, hardware devices including electronic circuitry for implementing the functionalities described herein. In addition or as an alternative, control units <NUM> and <NUM> may be implemented as a series of instructions encoded on a machine-readable storage medium of device (e.g., <NUM> and <NUM>) and executable by processor. In examples described herein, the processor may include, for example, one processor or multiple processors included in a single device or distributed across multiple devices. It should be noted that, in some examples, some modules are implemented as hardware devices, while other modules are implemented as executable instructions.

<FIG> depicts a block diagram of an electronic device <NUM> to implement a privacy mode of a display upon detecting an activation of the privacy mode. Electronic device <NUM> includes a processor <NUM> and a machine-readable storage medium <NUM> communicatively coupled through a system bus. Processor <NUM> may be any type of central processing unit (CPU), microprocessor, or processing logic that interprets and executes machine-readable instructions stored in machine-readable storage medium <NUM>. Machine-readable storage medium <NUM> may be a random-access memory (RAM) or another type of dynamic storage device that may store information and machine-readable instructions that may be executed by processor <NUM>. For example, machine-readable storage medium <NUM> may be synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate (DDR), rambus DRAM (RDRAM), rambus RAM, etc., or storage memory media such as a floppy disk, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD, a pen drive, and the like. In an example, machine readable storage medium <NUM> may be a non-transitory machine-readable medium. In an example, machine-readable storage medium <NUM> may be remote but accessible to electronic device <NUM>.

Machine-readable storage medium <NUM> stores instructions <NUM> and <NUM>. In an example, instructions <NUM> and <NUM> may be executed by processor <NUM> to control a viewing angle of the display when the privacy mode is activated or deactivated. Instructions <NUM> may be executed by processor <NUM> to detect an activation of a privacy mode of a display. In one example, the display may include arrays of light-emitting diode (LED) packages and a privacy gate having partition walls that partition each of the LED packages. For example, the display may include a plurality of µ-LEDs. For example, the privacy gate may be disposed between a backplane having integrated LED packages and a prism layer of the display. The partition walls may provide a first viewing angle of the display when the display is operated in a normal mode.

instructions <NUM> may be executed by processor <NUM> to upwardly move the partition walls to change light direction of the LED packages to provide a second viewing angle of the display in response to detecting the activation of the privacy mode. The second viewing angle may be narrower than the first viewing angle. In other examples, machine-readable storage medium <NUM> may include instructions to receive an input to enable a second privacy mode of the display and upwardly move the privacy gate to change the light direction of the LED packages to provide a third viewing angle of the display. In this example, the third viewing angle is narrower than the second viewing angle.

In another example, the privacy gate includes partition walls arranged in rows and columns to partition each of the LED packages. In this example, instructions <NUM> may be executed by processor <NUM> to:.

It may be noted that the above-described examples of the present solution are for the purpose of illustration only.

The terms "include," "have," and variations thereof, as used herein, have the same meaning as the term "comprise" or appropriate variation thereof. Furthermore, the term "based on", as used herein, means "based at least in part on. " Thus, a feature that is described as based on some stimulus can be based on the stimulus or a combination of stimuli including the stimulus.

Claim 1:
A display (<NUM>) comprising:
a plurality of spaced light emitting device packages (<NUM>,<NUM>);
a supporting framework (<NUM>);
a privacy gate (<NUM>,<NUM>) having partition walls (<NUM>) to partition each of the plurality of spaced light emitting device packages (<NUM>,<NUM>); and
a control unit (<NUM>,<NUM>) configured to selectively move the partition walls (<NUM>) up or down relative to the plurality of spaced light emitting device packages (<NUM>,<NUM>) and relative to the supporting framework (<NUM>) to control a viewing angle of the display;
wherein
i. the privacy gate (<NUM>,<NUM>) is a grid shaped structure comprising a plurality of columns of the partition walls (<NUM>) disposed in the supporting framework (<NUM>), wherein the partition walls (<NUM>) and the supporting framework (<NUM>) partition the plurality of spaced light emitting device packages (<NUM>,<NUM>), and wherein each light emitting device package (<NUM>,<NUM>) is accommodated in a respective space defined between the columns of the partition walls (<NUM>) and wherein the control unit (<NUM>,<NUM>) is configured to move the plurality of columns of the partition walls (<NUM>) up or down relative to the supporting framework (<NUM>) to provide a two-way privacy control of the viewing angle of the display wherein the two-way privacy control comprises one of a horizontal viewing angle control and a vertical viewing angle control; or
ii. the privacy gate (<NUM>,<NUM>) is a grid shaped structure comprising a plurality of intersecting rows and columns of the partition walls (<NUM>) disposed in the the supporting framework to partition the plurality of spaced light emitting device packages (<NUM>,<NUM>), wherein each light emitting device package is accommodated in a respective space defined by the intersecting rows and columns of the partition walls (<NUM>) and wherein the control unit (<NUM>,<NUM>) is configured to move either the partition walls (<NUM>) corresponding to the rows or
the partition walls (<NUM>) corresponding to the columns up or down relative to the supporting framework (<NUM>) to provide a two-way privacy control of the viewing angle of the display, wherein the two-way privacy control comprises one of a horizontal viewing angle control and a vertical viewing angle control.