# US 11,079,620 B2 · Optimization of electronic display areas > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,079,620 B2 - Document ID: US11079620B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/043,053 - Filed: 2016-02-12 - Published: 2016-09-15 - Granted: 2021-08-03 - Earliest claimed: 2013-08-13 - Assignees: Flexterra, Inc. - Applicants: Flexterra, Inc. - Inventors: Philippe Inagaki; Hjalmar Edzer Ayco Huitema - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11079620B2 ## CPC - G02F 1/133305: {Flexible substrates, e.g. plastics, organic film} - G02F 1/13452: {Conductors connecting driver circuitry and terminals of panels} - G04G 13/02: at preselected times, e.g. alarm clocks - G04G 17/08: Housings - G04G 21/02: Detectors of external physical values, e.g. temperature - G04G 21/025: {for measuring physiological data} - G04G 21/08: Touch switches specially adapted for time-pieces - G06F 3/042: by opto-electronic means - G09F 9/30: in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements (panels comprising a number of electrodes in a single cell controlling light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. electro-optical or magneto-optical cell, G02F1/00) - G09F 9/40: in which the desired character is selected from a number of characters arranged one beside the other, e.g. on a common carrier plate - G09G 3/035: {for flexible display surfaces} - G09G 3/20: for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix {no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters} - H10K 77/111: {Flexible substrates} - G06F 2203/04102: Flexible digitiser, i.e. constructional details for allowing the whole digitising part of a device to be flexed or rolled like a sheet of paper - G09F 9/301: {flexible foldable or roll-able electronic displays, e.g. thin LCD, OLED} - G09F 21/02: by a carrier person or animal - G09G 2300/0465: Improved aperture ratio, e.g. by size reduction of the pixel circuit, e.g. for improving the pixel density or the maximum displayable luminance or brightness - G09G 2380/02: Flexible displays - H10K 59/131: Interconnections, e.g. wiring lines or terminals - Y02E 10/549: Organic PV cells - G02F: OPTICAL DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE CONTROL OF LIGHT BY MODIFICATION OF THE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF THE MEDIA OF THE ELEMENTS INVOLVED THEREIN; NON-LINEAR OPTICS; FREQUENCY-CHANGING OF LIGHT; OPTICAL LOGIC ELEMENTS; OPTICAL ANALOGUE/DIGITAL CONVERTERS - G04G: ELECTRONIC TIME-PIECES - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - G09F: DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS - G09G: ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION (arrangements for transferring data between digital computers and displays G06F3/14; static indicating arrangements comprising an association of a number of separate sources or light control cells G09F9/00; static indicating arrangements comprising integral associations of a number of light sources H01J, H01K, H10H, H05B33/12; scanning, transmission or reproduction of documents or the like, e.g. facsimile transmission, details thereof H04N1/00) - H10K: ORGANIC ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES - Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION ## Abstract Techniques for optimizing the display area of an electronic display of an article include maximizing the contiguous area of the display, on one or more surfaces of the article, on which text or images may be presented to a user, and/or to minimize the area of a border of the display that is viewable to the user. Optimization techniques may include bending portions of the display, and/or minimizing the footprint of the display border by particularly configuring the electrical connections to the display elements. These optimization techniques may be applied to rigid electronic displays, to statically-flexed displays, or to dynamically flexible displays, as well as to other rigid, statically-flexed, or dynamically flexible electronic sheets of individual electronic elements, such as lighting arrays, solar cell arrays, sensor arrays, etc. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An article, comprising: a flexible substrate including: a first portion, the first portion being a flexible backplane portion on which an elongated optoelectronic area is disposed, the optoelectronic area including a set of optoelectronic elements disposed in a plurality of rows and columns, each of the optoelectronic elements being configured to at least one of emit, reflect, transflect, or absorb light; a second portion on which a set of flexible connecting lines are disposed in a plurality of planes to maximize the optoelectronic area, wherein each individual flexible connecting line of the set of flexible connecting lines is entirely disposed in a single plane of the plurality of planes, the set of flexible connecting lines coupled to the set of optoelectronic elements; and a set of driving circuits communicatively coupled to the set of flexible connecting lines to communicate drive signals with the set of optoelectronic elements, wherein at least one connecting line of the set of flexible connecting lines is a shared connecting line communicatively connected to one of: a respective two or more columns of the set of optoelectronic elements, or a respective two or more rows of the set of optoelectronic elements. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The article according to claim 1, wherein the set of flexible connecting lines includes at least one source connecting line and at least one gate connecting line, and wherein the shared connecting line is a shared source connecting line or a shared gate connecting line. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The article according to claim 2, wherein when the shared connecting line is the shared source connecting line, a total number of rows of the set of optoelectronic elements is x, a total number of columns of the set of optoelectronic elements is y, a total number of shared source connecting lines is n, n is less than y, and a total number of gate connecting lines is x*(y/n), or wherein when the shared connecting line is the shared gate connecting line, a total number of rows of the set of optoelectronic elements is x, a total number of columns of the set of optoelectronic elements is y, a total number of shared gate connecting lines is n, n is less than x, and a total number of source connecting lines is y*(x/n). ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The article according to claim 1, wherein: a first optoelectronic element of the set of optoelectronic elements is connected to the shared connecting line and to a first other connecting line; a second optoelectronic element of the set of optoelectronic elements is connected to the shared connecting line and to a second other connecting line; and a third optoelectronic element of the set of optoelectronic elements is connected to a third other connecting line and to one of the first other connecting line or the second other connecting line. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The article according to claim 1, wherein: the set of optoelectronic elements comprises a set of electrical energizing components coupled to a set of electrically energizable components; at least one of the set of electrical energizing components or the set of electrically energizable components is disposed on the flexible backplane portion of the flexible substrate and; the article further comprises a frontplane substrate. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The article according to claim 5, wherein the frontplane substrate is a flexible frontplane substrate. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The article according to claim 1, wherein the optoelectronic area is a flexible optoelectronic area, wherein the article further comprises a support for the flexible optoelectronic area, the support limiting bending of the flexible optoelectronic area, and wherein the support, the substrate on which the flexible optoelectronic area is disposed, and the flexible optoelectronic area are each dynamically flexible. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The article according to claim 1, wherein: the optoelectronic area is a display area; the set of optoelectronic elements is a set of pixels; the signals provided by the set of driving circuits cause an image content based on the driving signals to be presented, on the display area, by using the set of pixels; and one or more inputs received at the article comprise at least one of an input generated by a user of the article or an input received by the article from another device. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The article according to claim 1, further comprising a flexible sheet of electronics that is dynamically flexible, wherein: the flexible sheet of electronics is a flexible electronic display or a flexible lighting array; the optoelectronic area is a display area of the flexible electronic display or of the flexible lighting array; the set of optoelectronic elements is a set of pixels; and the set of pixels at least one of emit or reflect light based on signals received from the set of driving circuits. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The article according to claim 1, wherein the flexible connecting lines are disposed such that the flexible substrate may be bent in a manner that maximizes a viewable area of the optoelectronic area. ### Claim 11 An article, comprising: a flexible substrate including a first flexible frontplane portion and a second flexible backplane portion; an elongated optoelectronic area disposed on the first frontplane portion of the flexible substrate, the optoelectronic area including an array of pixels, each pixel including an optoelectronic element having a transistor electrically coupled to an electrically energizable component configured to at least one of emit, reflect, transflect, or absorb light, wherein the array of pixels of the elongated optoelectronic area includes a first number of rows of pixels and a second number of columns of pixels and wherein each of the transistors includes a first transistor electrode of a first type and a second transistor electrode of a second type; a first set of flexible connecting lines disposed on the second flexible backplane portion of the flexible substrate and extending into the first flexible frontplane portion of the flexible substrate, wherein each of the first set of flexible connecting lines is connected to the first transistor electrode of a plurality of different transistors within a particular row of pixels; and a second set of flexible connecting lines disposed on the second flexible backplane portion of the flexible substrate and extending into the first flexible frontplane portion of the flexible substrate, wherein each of the second set of flexible connecting lines is connected to the second transistor electrode of a multiplicity of different transistors within a particular column of pixels; wherein the first set of flexible connecting lines and the second set of flexible connecting lines are disposed in a plurality of planes to maximize the optoelectronic area, wherein each individual flexible connecting line of the first set of flexible connecting lines and each individual flexible connecting line of the second set of flexible connecting lines is entirely disposed in a single plane of the plurality of planes; and wherein, the number of connecting lines in the first set of flexible connecting lines is greater than the first number of rows of pixels, and the number of connecting lines in the second set of flexible connecting lines is less than the second number of columns of pixels. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The article of claim 11, wherein each of the second set of flexible connecting lines is connected to the second transistor electrode of a multiplicity of different transistors disposed within two or more columns of pixels. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The article of claim 11, wherein the first set of flexible connecting lines includes, for each particular row of pixels, a first line connected to the first transistor electrode of a first set of transistors within the particular row of pixels and a second line connected to the first transistor electrode of a second set of transistors within the particular row of pixels, wherein the first and second sets of transistors within the particular row of pixels do not include a common transistor. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The article of claim 11, wherein each of the transistors includes a gate electrode and a source electrode, and wherein the first transistor electrode is one of a gate electrode or a source electrode and wherein the second transistor electrode is the other of a source electrode or a gate electrode. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The article of any of claim 11, wherein the electrically energizable component of each optoelectronic element includes a pixel electrode that is electrically coupled to the transistor of the optoelectronic element. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The article of claim 15, wherein the pixel electrode of each optoelectronic element covers substantially the area defined by the pixel for the optoelectronic element and the transistor of a particular optoelectronic element coupled to the pixel electrode of the particular optoelectronic element is disposed at a position offset from area defined by the pixel. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The article of claim 16, wherein the transistor of a particular optoelectronic element is disposed at a position beneath the pixel electrode of a pixel adjacent to the pixel defined by the particular optoelectronic element. ### Claim 18 (depends on 11) The article of claim 11, wherein the one of the first set of flexible connecting lines or the second set of flexible connecting lines is disposed between two other connecting lines within the first set of connecting lines or the second set of connection lines. ### Claim 19 (depends on 11) The article of claim 11, wherein each optoelectronic element includes a further electronic element coupled to the transistor and the pixel electrode of the optoelectronic element, and further including a third set of flexible connecting lines disposed on the second portion of the flexible substrate and extending into the first portion of the flexible substrate, wherein each of the third set of flexible connecting lines is connected to the further electronic element of a multiplicity of different optoelectronic elements within a particular column of pixels or within a particular row of pixels. ### Claim 20 An article, comprising: a flexible substrate including: a first portion, the first portion being a flexible backplane portion on which an elongated optoelectronic area is disposed, the optoelectronic area including a set of optoelectronic elements disposed in a plurality of rows and columns, each of the optoelectronic elements being configured to at least one of emit, reflect, transflect, or absorb light; a second portion on which a set of flexible connecting lines are disposed in a plurality of planes to maximize the optoelectronic area, wherein each of the flexible connecting lines is entirely disposed in a single plane of the plurality of planes and each of the flexible connecting lines is disposed on a planar layer, the set of flexible connecting lines coupled to the set of optoelectronic elements; and a set of driving circuits communicatively coupled to the set of flexible connecting lines to communicate drive signals with the set of optoelectronic elements, wherein at least one connecting line of the set of flexible connecting lines is a shared connecting line communicatively connected to one of: a respective two or more columns of the set of optoelectronic elements, or a respective two or more rows of the set of optoelectronic elements.