Microsoft seems to have gained the patent for a foldable mobile device with dual displays attached together by a hinge. And what’s more is that the patent hints at apps running simultaneously on both screens, making it a completely new innovation.
As the situation currently stands, the number of apps and contents accessible to a user at any given time is decided by the number of displays contained by a mobile device; a device equipped with smaller screens increases the difficulty of reading contents. In the latest patent, Microsoft addresses such problems.
Microsoft has published multiple patents today; with the USPTO publishing a Microsoft patent filed on 30th June 2017, with the title
ROTATIONAL APPLICATION DISPLAY FOR MULTI-SCREEN DEVICE
“To address the above issues, a mobile computing device is provided. The mobile computing device may comprise a housing including a first display and a second display mounted to face away from each other, an orientation sensor mounted in the housing, the orientation sensor being configured to detect flip motions indicating that the mobile computing device has been flipped in a direction from a first side to a second side. A processor mounted in the housing, the processor being configured to display a first application program on the first display, based on detecting a rightward flip motion from the first display to the second display, display a second application program on the second display, and based on detecting a leftward flip motion from the first display to the second display, display a third application program on the second display.
If applications are displayed in full-screen, a hinged mobile device having two displays may simultaneously present two applications to the user. However, suppose the user desires to view the third application. In that case, current mobile computing devices may require the user to enter several different inputs to open and close applications before the user may view the third application. The systems and methods described herein have been devised to address these challenges,” Microsoft explains in the patent.
APPLICATION PROGRAM MODE BASED ON DEVICE ORIENTATION
A second patent published by USPTO and titled explains, for its part, plans for a dual-screen device. The patented device is also expected to perform an application based on the posture or orientation of the dual-screen device.
“To address the issues of presentation display, a mobile computing device is provided. The mobile computing device may include a two-part housing coupled by a hinge, with first and second parts that include first and second displays, respectively. The displays may rotate around the hinge throughout a plurality of angular orientations.
The mobile computing device may include an angle sensor, one or more inertial measurement units, and a processor mounted in the housing. The angle sensor may detect a relative angular orientation of the first and second displays, and the inertial measurement unit may measure a spatial orientation of the device, which together defines a posture of the device. The processor may be configured to execute an application program and, based on the posture of the device, select a display mode of the application program that defines a layout of graphical user interface elements displayed on the displays”, reads the second patent.
