Patent ID: 7791619

Claim:
A display apparatus comprising: a display; a pivot sensor comprising: a housing; a weight body movably disposed within the housing; and a contact sensor disposed within the housing; wherein the contact sensor generates a sensing signal according to a pivot angle of the display when the weight body moves within the housing as the display is pivoted and contacts the contact sensor; and a pivot sensing controller selectively applying a driving voltage to the pivot sensor, and determining the pivot angle of the display on the basis of the sensing signal corresponding to the applied driving voltage; wherein the contact sensor comprises: a plurality of first contact sensors to receive the driving voltage, respectively; and a plurality of second contact sensors to generate the sensing signal corresponding to the driving voltage selectively applied to one of the plurality of first contact sensors when the weight body contacts the second contact sensor; and wherein the pivot sensing controller comprises a microcontroller unit (MCU), the microcontroller unit comprising: a plurality of output ports to output an applying signal for the driving voltage to be selectively applied to one of the plurality of first contact sensors, respectively; and a plurality of input ports to receive the sensing signal generated by the plurality of second contact sensors, respectively, wherein the weight body contacts one of the plurality of first contact sensors and one of the plurality of second contact sensors together, at each of a finite number of pivot angles which are designed to be sensed as the display is pivoted.