Samsung loves patenting ideas for later use, and this one today is no different, except in content specifics. The patent in question is an application for a patent from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, and it’s a good one for sure. The patent application is interesting, as it was filed back on February 4th of this year but was put up on the USPTO search database in the past week, on the 14th to be exact. The title of the application was “Flexible Portable Terminal” so let’s get into it. The patent is one of many that Samsung has filed involving bendable, flexible, or otherwise pliable display technology, but this one comes with multiple illustrations, showcasing exactly what Samsung would do and make possible with a flexible, and specifically foldable, display. The application reads like many others, Samsung and non-Samsung, specifying in various levels of detailed jargon and legal fluff what kind of things the display in question would do, look like, and be able to do and it’s quite interesting and looks very promising.
The display is flexible at the center of the device/panel and can bend to have the two ends of the device be at a 90-degree angle with one another, and the device can even, according to the application, fold over to almost be flat and folded in half, as well as propped up like a construction sign in a tented fashion to function as an alarm clock of sorts. The patent filing also notes something very interesting, and that’s the display technology used in the device’s screen. The device could contain an LCD, OLED, or E-Ink (electrophoretic) display unit, and it would contain at least one of them. This suggests that it could have more than one of them, whether it be two of one type or one of one and one of another.
That sounds like it would shake up the market a bit, right? The design of the foldable area is also detailed, with alternating corrugated saw-tooth-like trapezoids on both sides of the display, and these would allow for the extreme flexibility detailed. The rest of the patent is drawings of the technology at work and text describing the drawings for the patent, so it’s rather dull. What you should gather from this is that Samsung has another great idea for a flexing display panel, and since this one hasn’t been granted in six months, we have no idea when or if it will be incorporated into any future devices. If you want to find the filing, check the source or the link below.