Emerging Smartphone Display Insights from Patents

US201403549 illustrates a display that includes the multifunctional pixels. Each multifunctional pixel can include several display areas as well sensors. Combining visual display technology with sensors provides the touchscreen operation by use of a finger, stylus or other object positioned on or near the visual display, or to acquire fingerprint information from a finger placed on the display or other biometric information. For example, with an ultrasonic sensor, biometric information about a fingerprint including fingerprint ridges and valleys can be obtained. A stylus or stylus tip can be detected when positioned on or near the multifunctional pixel.

US9122349 illustrates a new image sensor panel that can be easily integrated with a display panel and can capture graphical, textual, or other information from the two-dimensional surface of an information bearing substrate without having to focus. The new image sensor panel enables a smartphone display screen to scan business card, document images, and capture fingerprints.

US20150220197 illustrates a touch display with a 3D force sensor that is able to simultaneously sense the magnitude of a force and the 3D tilting angle of the force when touching the force sensor. The 3D force sensor can detect its orientation and the magnitude and 3D direction of a force applied to its surface. The force can be non-parallel and non-orthogonal to the surface of the 3D force sensor. Several 3D force sensors are simultaneously used to detect the orientation of an object and the magnitude and 3D direction of the forces applied to the object. Several 3D force sensors also can be used to detect the tilting of a vertical or horizontal stacking of the objects relative to one another. Measurement of the 3D tilting angle of the force when the force is non-parallel and non-orthogonal to the surface can be used in many electronic device applications. For example, in a gaming application, if the magnitude of a force represents a speed of a movement, the 3D titling angle of the force can represent the direction of the movement in three-dimensions on the computer display.

Typically, the display area of a smartphone is not sufficient to allow whole documents or pages to be displayed and read with ease. US20150198978 illustrates a detachable flexible display to allow a user to view and manipulate documents. When attached to the smartphone, the display can be wrapped around the smartphone when the smartphone is not being used, and can be unwrapped when required to view documents. Alternatively, the display device can be detached from the smartphone and used as a standalone display.

US20150220058 illustrates a hologram display smartphone that can display a holographic image without a separate light source (laser diodes, light emitting diodes, organic light emission diodes) for illuminating the hologram.

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