Systems with overlapped displays
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsPaul V. Johnson, Aaron Wang, Dinesh C. Mathew, Jiaying Wu, Paul X. Wang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system may include electronic devices that communicate wirelessly. When positioned so that a pair of devices overlap or are near to one another, the devices may operate in a linked mode. During linked operations, devices may communicate wirelessly while input gathering and content displaying operations are shared among the devices. One or both of a pair of devices may have sensors. An orientation sensor, motion sensor, optical sensor, and/or other sensors may be used in identifying conditions in which to enter the linked mode and to identify a region where displays in the pair of devices overlap.
Claims24
A laptop computer configured to wirelessly communicate with a portable device with a camera and a portable device display, comprising:
- a housing having an upper portion and a lower portion coupled by a hinge;
- a laptop display that is touch-insensitive and that is supported by the upper portion of the housing;
- a keyboard and trackpad supported by the lower portion;
- and
- control circuitry configured to:
- display visual content on the laptop display while the camera captures images of the visual content;
- determine a location where the portable device display overlaps the laptop display based on the images of the visual content,
- wirelessly communicate with the portable device in a linked mode of operation, and
- in response to user input, share an item between the laptop computer and the portable device.
An electronic device that operates in a linked mode with an external device having an external device display, comprising:
- a touch sensitive display;
- an inertial measurement unit configured to detect an angle of orientation of the electronic device and to detect when the electronic device is at rest;
- and
- control circuitry configured to:
- enter a linked mode of operation with the external device when the angle of orientation is within a predetermined range of angles and when the electronic device is at rest;
- and
- wirelessly share an item from the electronic device to the external device based on a swipe gesture on the touch sensitive display.
A system comprising:
- a laptop computer having a first display that is touch-insensitive;
- and
- a portable electronic device with a second display and a camera configured to face the first display when the portable electronic device rests against the first display, wherein at least one of the laptop computer and the portable electronic device comprises control circuitry that determines a position of the portable electronic device relative to the laptop computer based on images from the camera, wherein the laptop computer and portable electronic device are configured to operate in a linked mode at least partly in response to orientation sensor information from the portable electronic device, and wherein input gathering and content displaying operations are shared between the laptop computer and the portable electronic device during operation in the linked mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.