U.S. patent application number 14/188440 was filed with the patent office on 2015-08-13 for attachable device with flexible electronic display orientation detection.
This patent application is currently assigned to POLYERA CORPORATION. The applicant listed for this patent is POLYERA CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Hjalmar Edzer Ayco Huitema, Philippe Inagaki.
Application Number | 20150227245 14/188440 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 53774917 |
Filed Date | 2015-08-13 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150227245 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Inagaki; Philippe ; et
al. |
August 13, 2015 |
Attachable Device with Flexible Electronic Display Orientation
Detection
Abstract
An attachable article, such as a wristband, includes a flexible
electronic display disposed thereon in a manner that is bendable or
conformable to a user's wrist or other curved surface and that
enables various images to be displayed on the electronic display in
a manner that makes these images easily viewable to the user. The
attachable article includes an adjustable band that can be fit to
different sized wrists, for example, and includes a band
orientation detection and calibration routine that enables messages
or display screens to be placed at particular locations on the band
with respect to a user's wrist. For example, the display
orientation detection and calibration routine may be used to
determine the portions or positions of the display that are at the
top of the user's wrist and at the bottom of the user's wrist, and
may thereafter calibrate the display to center display screens on
the display at these particular locations.
Inventors: |
Inagaki; Philippe; (Chicago,
IL) ; Huitema; Hjalmar Edzer Ayco; (Veldhoven,
NL) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
POLYERA CORPORATION |
Skokie |
IL |
US |
|
|
Assignee: |
POLYERA CORPORATION
Skokie
IL
|
Family ID: |
53774917 |
Appl. No.: |
14/188440 |
Filed: |
February 24, 2014 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61938107 |
Feb 10, 2014 |
|
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|
Current U.S.
Class: |
345/173 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G09G 5/003 20130101;
G06F 2203/04103 20130101; G06F 3/014 20130101; G06F 1/1684
20130101; G09G 2380/02 20130101; G06F 2203/04105 20130101; G06F
1/1679 20130101; G06F 1/163 20130101; G09G 2300/0426 20130101; G09G
2354/00 20130101; G09G 2320/08 20130101; G06F 2203/04102 20130101;
G09G 5/37 20130101; G06F 1/1652 20130101; G06F 3/0412 20130101;
G06F 3/046 20130101; G09G 2340/0492 20130101; G09G 5/38 20130101;
G06F 1/1643 20130101; G06F 1/1677 20130101; G06F 1/1694
20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/041 20060101
G06F003/041; H05K 5/02 20060101 H05K005/02; G06F 3/01 20060101
G06F003/01; H05K 5/00 20060101 H05K005/00 |
Claims
1. An attachable article, comprising: a flexible band having a
flexible substrate and a flexible electronic display disposed over
a portion of the substrate; a display driver electronically
connected to the flexible electronic display for providing image
content to the flexible electronic display; a position detection
element disposed on or near the flexible band; a processor coupled
to the display driver; and a memory that stores an orientation
detection routine that, when executed on the processor, operates
to; determine a point on the flexible band using a signal from the
position detection element, wherein the determined point on the
flexible band is disposed adjacent to a particular point on an
exterior object when the flexible band is disposed around the
exterior object, and calibrate the flexible electronic display so
that the display driver displays image content via the flexible
electronic display at one or more positions based on the location
of the determined point on the band.
2. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the flexible band
includes first and second ends and wherein the orientation
detection routine executes on the processor to detect a point on
the flexible band when the first and second ends of the band are
disposed in an overlapping manner around the exterior object.
3. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the position
detection element comprises one or more pressure sensors.
4. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the position
detection element comprises one or more magnetic sensors.
5. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the position
detection element comprises a touchscreen disposed on or near the
flexible electronic display.
6. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the position
detection element comprises a gyroscopic element.
7. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the flexible band
includes first and second ends and the orientation detection
routine, when executed on the processor, operates to determine a
point on the flexible band using a signal from the position
detection element by determining an amount of overlap of the first
and second ends of the flexible band.
8. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the orientation
detection routine, when executed on the processor, operates to
determine a point on the flexible band, using a signal from the
position detection element indicative of a touch event applied to
the flexible band.
9. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the orientation
detection routine, when executed on the processor, operates to
determine a point on the flexible band by presenting a message to a
user via the flexible electronic display to touch the flexible band
at a position adjacent the particular point on the exterior
object.
10. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the orientation
detection routine, when executed on the processor, operates to
present a message to a user via the flexible electronic display to
touch the flexible band at a position adjacent the bottom of the
user's wrist.
11. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the orientation
detection routine, when executed on the processor, operates to
calibrate the flexible electronic display so that the display
driver displays image content on the flexible electronic display
using a display screen having a fixed reference point determined
based on the determined point on the flexible band.
12. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the orientation
detection routine, when executed on the processor, operates to
calibrate the flexible electronic display so that the display
driver displays image content on the flexible electronic display
using a display screen centered on the determined point on the
flexible band.
13. The attachable article of claim 1, wherein the orientation
detection routine, when executed on the processor, operates to
calibrate the flexible electronic display so that the display
driver sizes a display screen based on the distance from the
determined point to a fixed position on the flexible band.
14. A method of calibrating a flexible electronic display disposed
on a flexible substrate that is adjustably attachable around an
exterior object, comprising: detecting, using a processor, a point
on the flexible substrate that is disposed adjacent to a particular
point on an exterior object when the flexible substrate is disposed
at least partially around the exterior object; calibrating, using
the processor, the flexible electronic display based on the
detected point; and displaying image content on the flexible
electronic display at one or more positions on the flexible
electronic display using the flexible electronic display calibrated
based on the detected point on the flexible substrate.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting, using a processor, a
point on the flexible substrate that is disposed adjacent to a
particular point on the exterior object includes detecting the
point on the flexible substrate when first and second ends of the
flexible substrate are disposed in an overlapping manner around the
exterior object.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting, using a processor, a
point on the flexible substrate that is disposed adjacent to a
particular point on the exterior object includes using one or more
pressure sensors to detect the point on the flexible substrate.
17. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting, using a processor, a
point on the flexible substrate that is disposed adjacent to a
particular point on the exterior object includes using one or more
magnetic sensors to detect the point on the flexible substrate.
18. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting, using a processor, a
point on the flexible substrate that is disposed adjacent to a
particular point on the exterior object includes using a
touchscreen input device to detect the point on the flexible
substrate.
19. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting, using a processor, a
point on the flexible substrate that is disposed adjacent to a
particular point on the exterior object includes determining an
amount of overlap of first and second ends of the flexible
substrate.
20. The method of claim 14, wherein detecting, using a processor, a
point on the flexible substrate that is disposed adjacent to a
particular point on the exterior object includes determining the
point based on a location of a touch event applied to the flexible
electronic display.
21. The method of claim 20, wherein detecting, using a processor, a
point on the flexible substrate that is disposed adjacent to a
particular point on the exterior object includes presenting a
message to a user via the flexible electronic display to touch the
flexible substrate at a position adjacent the particular point on
the exterior object.
22. The method of claim 14, wherein calibrating, using a processor,
the flexible electronic display based on the detected point
includes configuring the flexible electronic display to display
image content via a display screen having a fixed reference point
determined based on the determined point on the flexible
substrate.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein calibrating, using a processor,
the flexible electronic display includes positioning image content
on the flexible electronic display centered on the determined point
on the flexible substrate.
24. An adjustable flexible electronic display device, comprising: a
flexible band having a substrate and a flexible electronic display
disposed over a portion of the flexible substrate, the flexible
band having first and second ends; a clasping mechanism coupled to
the flexible band that is adjustable so as to enable overlap of the
first and second ends of the flexible band by differing amounts; an
electronics module electronically connected to the flexible
electronic display and attached onto the flexible band at one or
more fixed locations, for providing image content to the flexible
electronic display, the electronics module including a processor, a
display driver and a memory; one or more sensors disposed within
the flexible band, the clasping mechanism or the electronics
module; and an orientation detection and calibration routine stored
in the memory that, when executed on the processor, operates to;
instruct a user to take a specific action with respect to the
flexible band; determine a point on the flexible band using a
signal from the one or more sensors in response the specific
action; and calibrate the flexible electronic display so that the
display driver displays image content via the flexible electronic
display at one or more positions on the flexible electronic display
based on the determined point on the flexible band.
25. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the one or more sensors includes one or more pressure
sensors.
26. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the one or more sensors includes one or more magnetic
sensors.
27. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the one or more sensors includes a touchscreen interface
disposed on or near the flexible electronic display.
28. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the one or more sensors includes a gyroscopic sensor.
29. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine, when
executed on the processor, operates to determine the point on the
flexible band using a signal from the one or more sensors by
determining an amount of overlap of the first and second ends of
the flexible band.
30. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine, when
executed on the processor, operates to determine the point on the
flexible band using a signal from the one or more sensors by
determining a location of a touch event applied to the flexible
electronic display.
31. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine, when
executed on the processor, instructs a user to take a specific
action with respect to the flexible band by instructing the user to
touch the flexible band at a position adjacent a particular point
on an exterior object.
32. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine, when
executed on the processor, instructs a user to take a specific
action with respect to the flexible band by instructing the user to
touch the flexible band at a position adjacent the bottom of the
user's wrist.
33. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine, when
executed on the processor, instructs a user to take a specific
action with respect to the flexible band by instructing the user to
move the flexible band in a particular manner.
34. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine, when
executed on the processor, instructs a user to take a specific
action with respect to the flexible band by instructing the user to
orient the flexible band in a particular manner.
35. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine, when
executed on the processor, calibrates the flexible electronic
display so that the display driver displays image content via a
display screen on the flexible electronic display having a fixed
reference point determined based on the location of the determined
point on the flexible band.
36. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine, when
executed on the processor, calibrates the flexible electronic
display so that the display driver displays image content via a
display screen centered at the determined point on the flexible
band.
37. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine, when
executed on the processor, calibrates the flexible electronic
display so that the display driver sizes a display screen based on
the distance from the determined point to a fixed position on the
flexible band.
38. The adjustable flexible electronic display device of claim 24,
wherein the orientation detection and calibration routine executes
on the processor to instruct a user, to determine a point on the
band, and to calibrate the flexible electronic display only when
the first and second ends of the flexible band are disposed in an
overlapping manner.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a regular filed application that claims priority to
and the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent
Application Ser. No. 61/938,107, entitled "Attachable Device with
Flexible Display and Orientation Detection" which was filed on Feb.
10, 2014, the entire disclosure of which is here by expressly
incorporated by reference herein.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] This patent relates generally to electronic displays, and
more particularly to flexible electronic displays incorporated into
or disposed on adjustable bands, such as wrist bands, to provide
consistent display and messaging functions to wearers of the
bands.
BACKGROUND
[0003] Electronic displays are commonly installed within flat, hard
surfaces of electronic devices, such as computer screens,
television sets, smart phones, tablet computers, etc., and in many
cases are installed on accessories for the electronic devices, such
as removable monitors. Many electronic devices having an electronic
display are portable, and have thus become very useful in
implementing mobile applications. This fact is particularly true
with smart phones which have become ubiquitous. However,
unfortunately, typical mobile devices such as smart phones have
electronic displays that are flat and rigid in nature. Thus, while
these displays are useful in implementing many different
applications, the device on which the display is present must still
typically be held in a hand, or must be stored in a pocket, a
purse, a briefcase or other container, which makes the electronic
device less accessible in many situations, such as when a person is
carrying other items, undertaking an athletic activity such as
running, walking, etc. Moreover, in many cases these traditional
electronic devices require two free hands to hold and operate,
making these devices cumbersome or difficult to use or to view in
situations in which, for example, a person has only one or no free
hands or is otherwise occupied.
[0004] While flexible electronic displays are generally known and
are starting to come into more common usage, flexible electronic
displays have not been widely incorporated into easily portable
items such as items of clothing, wristbands, armbands, jewelry,
etc. or on items that are easily attached to other items, much less
in a manner that makes the electronic display more useable and
visible to the user in many different scenarios.
SUMMARY
[0005] An attachable article, such as a wristband, includes a
flexible electronic display disposed thereon in a manner that is
bendable or conformable to a user's wrist or other curved or even
flat surface, and that enables various images to be displayed on
the electronic display in a manner that is easily viewable to a
user. The attachable article with such a flexible electronic
display may be attached to or worn on a user's body, such as in the
form of a wristband, an armband, a leg band, or a belt, and may
bend to fit the various contours or body surfaces on which the
electronic display is located. The attachable article is also
easily attached to other items, such as mugs, cups, computers,
phone covers, bike handles, automobile dashboards, etc., that
enable the flexible electronic display to be viewed when not being
held in or attached to one's hands or arms. The electronic display
of the attachable article is thus, in many cases, viewable to a
user and is capable of being manipulated or actuated by the user
without having to be held in one or both of the user's hands,
making the electronic device useable while the user is engaged in
or performing other activities, such as running, biking, etc.
[0006] In one case, the attachable electronic device includes a
flexible electronic display disposed on a flexible, e.g., bendable,
substrate in the form of a generally rectangular shape, with one or
two end pieces or clasps attached to the substrate. For the sake of
simplicity, such a substrate will be generally referred to herein
as a band or as part of a band, but includes other shapes besides
an elongated rectangular substrate. Various electronics are
disposed in the one or more electronic modules that may be within,
for example, one or both of the end pieces of the band, or in a
separate electronics module disposed in between the two ends of the
band with the electronics module including a display driver for
driving the electronic display to display fixed or changeable
messages, artwork, pictures, etc. The electronic module may also
include a processor for implementing applications or programming
and a memory for storing pictures, images, messages, videos, etc.
to be displayed on the electronic display at various times, as well
as for storing applications and application data, such as
configuration data, to be used by applications for performing
various display tasks at different times. The electronic module may
also include a battery for powering the electronic display, the
processor, the display driver, and other electronic elements, a
battery charging device for charging the battery either in a
wireless or a wired manner, and a communications module that
enables other computer devices to communicate with the processor,
the display driver and the memory to provide new or different
images or messages to be displayed on the electronic display, to
configure the operation of the electronic display of the attachable
electronic device, etc.
[0007] The flexible electronic display may be fabricated using any
desired flexible electronic display material, such as any of
various suitable plastics. If desired, the flexible electronic
display may be manufactured as a display having pixel elements
disposed on separate frontplane and backplane substrates formed of
the same or different flexible material. In some cases, such as the
case in which e-paper is used as the flexible electronic display, a
separate layer of material may be disposed between the frontplane
and the backplane materials to form pixel elements. In any case,
these substrate materials may be placed together to form the
flexible electronic display, which may then be disposed on the
flexible substrate, such as a leather substrate, a bendable metal
substrate, etc., the combination of which can be flexed or curved
in various manners to conform to the shape of a portion of a
wearer's body, such as a wrist, a leg, a waist, a foot, etc. or to
conform to the shape of other items to which the attachable article
may be attached. In another case, the attachable electronic device
may include a flexible, for example, transparent, touchscreen
interface disposed over or on top of the flexible electronic
display to enable a user to input data or take input actions with
respect to the flexible electronic display. In some cases, the
inputs may be in the form of gestures that cause the electronic
device to operate in a predetermined manner, to change modes of
operation, etc. In addition or instead, the attachable electronic
device may include one or more pressure sensors, such as strain
gauges or other pressure sensors, magnetic sensors, or other
sensors that detect pressure or touch actions applied to the band
at various locations on the band. In still other cases, the
attachable electronic device may include on or more gyroscopes or
other sensors capable of detecting the orientation of the band or
the electronics module on the band with respect to the force of
gravity, acceleration, etc.
[0008] The electronic display device, so formed may, for example,
enable a user to have a single type or multiple different types of
digital media depicted or displayed on the display at the same
time, including, for example, photographs, digital artwork created
by the user or others, messages sent to or created by the user,
reminders, notes that provide instructive, educational or
inspirational messages, e-cards, advertisements, personalized
agendas, calendars, such as a personalized Outlook.RTM. calendar,
etc.
[0009] More particularly, the display driver may be configurable to
drive the electronic display by displaying thereon one or more
images, messages, digital artwork, videos, etc., stored in the
memory. The display driver may display a fixed image via the
flexible electronic display, may change the one or more images
being displayed on the flexible electronic display from time to
time, such as by accessing the memory and providing a new image to
the display, may display videos, such as real time videos, and/or
may display other types of digital media. Likewise, the display
driver may display various interfaces or display screens associated
with many different applications at the same or at different times
or in different modes of the attachable electronic device. For
example, the display driver may be driven by various different
applications run in a processor to display a calendar interface, an
e-mail in-box interface, an alarm clock interface, a keyboard
interface, an step-counter interface, etc. These interfaces may be
located on the same place on the flexible electronic display and
displayed at different times and may be located at different places
on the flexible electronic display and displayed at the same or at
different times.
[0010] In many cases, the band of the attachable article will be
adjustable in nature such that the band can be fit or placed on or
around different sized wrists, arms, legs, waists, etc. and thus
overlap upon itself more or less depending on the size of the
wrist, arm, leg, etc. In one case, the electronics module of the
attachable article may operate in conjunction with one or more
sensors, such as a touchscreen, pressure sensors, strain gauges,
gyroscopes, etc., disposed on or in the band or the electronics
module, to detect the orientation of the band when the band is
disposed around, for example, a user's wrist, to enable different
images to be displayed at specific locations with respect to the
user's wrist (such as directly on the top of the wrist or directly
on the bottom of the wrist, etc.) In this case, the electronics
module may use the sensors to detect the portion of the band that
is at or adjacent to one or more specific locations on the wrist,
such as directly on top the wrist or directly on the bottom of the
wrist and may, thereafter, configure the flexible electronic
display of the attachable article to, for example, center
particular screens at one or more of these locations. In one case
display screens may be categorized as displaying public information
or private information, so that display screens providing public
information (such as artwork or other artistic images, time/date
information, etc.) are centered on the band at the top of the
user's wrist or at the outer side of the user's wrist, while
display screens that include or display private information (such
as e-mail messages, text messages, etc.) are automatically centered
on the bottom of the user's wrist or on the inner side of the
user's wrist. If desired, an electronics module may implement a
band orientation detection and calibration routine to determine
which portions of the electronic display or band are located at
particular portions of a user's wrist, for example, to enable the
device to display public and private display screens at fixed
locations with respect to a user's wrist, even when the band is
adjusted in length to fit different sized wrists.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example attachable
article in the form of a wristband having a flexible electronic
display disposed thereon and a first type of magnetic clasp.
[0012] FIG. 2 is a side view of the wristband of FIG. 1 bent to
form a fixed length wristband.
[0013] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an example attachable
article in the form of a wristband having a flexible electronic
display disposed thereon with a second type of magnetic clasp.
[0014] FIG. 4 is a side view of the example attachable article of
FIG. 3 bent to form an adjustable length wristband.
[0015] FIG. 5A is a side view of an example attachable article of
FIG. 1 having a flexible electronic display disposed on a flexible
substrate between two clasps.
[0016] FIG. 5B is a side view of an example attachable article in
the form of a wristband having a flexible electronic display
disposed over an entire length of a substrate.
[0017] FIG. 5C is a side view of an example attachable article in
the form of a wristband having a flexible electronic display
disposed on a center portion of a flexible substrate.
[0018] FIG. 5D is a side view of an example attachable article in
the form of a wristband having a flexible electronic display
disposed over a substrate having two flexible end pieces connected
by an electronics module.
[0019] FIG. 6 is a side view of an example attachable article in
the form of a wristband having a flexible touchscreen disposed on a
flexible electronic display and a flexible substrate which are
disposed between two clasps.
[0020] FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate a perspective and top view,
respectively, of an example attachable article in the form of a
wristband having a clasp member at one end of the wristband and
various magnetic members disposed on either end of the wristband to
form an adjustable connection structure.
[0021] FIG. 8 illustrates an example attachable article in the form
of a wristband having an electronics module disposed in the center
of the article with a non-magnetic connection structure used at the
ends of the flexible substrate to secure the article in a loop.
[0022] FIG. 9A illustrates an example attachable article in the
form of a wristband having an adjustable clasping mechanism in the
form of one or more magnets, an electronics module disposed at
approximately one third of the length of the band from one end of
the band, and a touchscreen input layer.
[0023] FIG. 9B illustrates an example attachable article in the
form of a wristband having an adjustable clasping mechanism in the
form of one or more magnets, an electronics module disposed at
approximately one third of the length of the band from one end of
the band, and a set of pressure sensors or magnetic sensors
disposed in the band.
[0024] FIG. 9C illustrates an example attachable article in the
form of a wristband having an adjustable clasping mechanism in the
form of one or more magnets, and an electronics module, having a
gyroscope component, disposed at approximately one third of the
length of the band from one end of the band.
[0025] FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrate the manner in which an
attachable article with an adjustable band causes the same portion
of the band to be located or oriented near a different part of a
user's wrist when the adjustable band is adjusted to fit different
sized wrists.
[0026] FIG. 11 depicts a flow chart of a band orientation detection
and calibration routine that can be used with an adjustable band to
selectively provide display screens at specific locations on the
band with respect to a wearer's body.
[0027] FIG. 12 depicts an arm band constructed according to the
principles described herein.
[0028] FIG. 13 is a block diagram of an electronics module
associated with the attachable articles of FIGS. 1-12.
[0029] FIGS. 14A-14E illustrate various example display images that
can be provided on the wristband device in different operational
modes of the wristband device and illustrating different
combinations of display screens providing different information at
different locations on the band of the wristband device.
[0030] FIG. 15 illustrates an example computer system with a
configuration screen that may be used to implement or specify the
configuration of a wristband device having a flexible electronic
display.
[0031] FIG. 16 illustrates a flow chart used by a processor to
implement a messaging routine that selectively provides private
messages to a user in a discrete manner using natural
movements.
[0032] FIG. 17 illustrates a wristband device disposed on a user's
wrist when the hand of the wrist is face down in conjunction with
implementing the messaging routine of FIG. 16.
[0033] FIG. 18 illustrates the wristband device of FIG. 17 disposed
on the wrist of a user's arm when the user has moved his or her
hand to place the hand palm up, in conjunction with the messaging
routine of FIG. 16.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0034] Referring now to FIG. 1, an attachable article 10 in the
form of a wristband device includes a flexible band portion 12,
which is generally rectangular in shape and configuration, disposed
between two end pieces or clasps 14. The band portion 12 includes a
flexible substrate 16 and a flexible electronic display 18 disposed
on the substrate 16 to be viewable from the top of the band 12, as
illustrated in FIG. 1. One or more of the end pieces or clasps 14,
each of which may be made of hard plastic or other rigid material,
but could instead be made of a pliable material, may include
various electronic components therein for driving the flexible
electronic display 18 and for providing other electronic
functionality for the article 10.
[0035] As illustrated in FIG. 1, one or both of the end pieces or
clasps 14 may include a connection structure therein that functions
to connect the end pieces 14 together when the band portion 12 is
bent, as illustrated in FIG. 2, to form a circular or oval band. In
one case, the connection structure may be in the form of a magnetic
material 20A and 20B disposed in or on each of the clasps 14,
wherein the materials 20A and 20B operate, when in close proximity
to one another, to hold the end pieces or clasps 14 together. The
magnetic materials 20A and 20B can each be a permanent magnet, or
one of the materials 20A or 20B can be a permanent magnet while the
other material 20A or 20B can be a magnetically permeable material,
such as many kinds of metal. The magnetic material 20A and 20B can
be disposed at the longitudinal ends of the clasps 14 so that the
clasps 14 connect end-to-end when the band 12 is bent to allow the
clasps 14 to meet up with each other end-to-end, as illustrated in
FIG. 2. In the case in which the materials 20A and 20B are both
permanent magnets, the materials 20A and 20B may be disposed in
ends of the clasps 14 so that opposite poles of the permanent
magnets are facing outwardly from the clasps 14 or so that the
magnets have their respective north poles facing in opposite
directions when the band portion 12 is bent in the manner shown in
FIG. 2 (e.g., so that a south pole of one of the magnets 20A and
20B meets or mates with a north pole of the other one of the
magnets 20A and 20B). As will be understood, the configuration and
placement of the materials 20A and 20B in the clasps 14 in the
manner illustrated in FIG. 1 enables the wristband device 10 to be
clasped in a continuous circle with a fixed or predetermined length
so that the clasps 14 meet end-to-end.
[0036] In another embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the flexible
attachable article 10, again illustrated in the form of a
wristband, includes a similar band portion 12 and end pieces or
clasps 14. However, in this case, the clasps 14 have connection
structure in the form of magnets disposed on the top or bottom
sides of the clasps 14 (and possibly even a portion of the band 12)
to enable the wristband device 10 to be folded around on itself in
an adjustable manner as illustrated in FIG. 4, so as to create a
wristband of variable length when disposed around or connected
around a wrist. As illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4, magnets or
magnetic members 22A and 22B are disposed on or near a lower side
of one the clasps 14, and come into contact or react with magnets
or magnetic members 24A and 24B disposed on or near an upper side
of the other one of the clasps 14. In this manner, the clasps 14
may be disposed near or on top of one another during use and are
thus connectable in various different positions with respect to one
another, such as that illustrated in FIG. 4, when the flexible band
12 is bent to form a generally circular or oval member to be placed
around a wrist, a leg, a bicycle handle bar, etc., for example. In
this manner, the wristband 10 may be easily adjustable in size to
fit various different sized mounting members. As illustrated in
FIG. 4, the substrate or flexible material 16 of the band portion
12 is illustrated as being flexed in a manner that causes the
flexible electronic display 18 to be disposed on the exterior or
outside of the band portion 12. Of course, in the configuration
illustrated in FIG. 4, the magnets or metallic members 22A and 22B
on the one side, and the magnets or the metallic members 24A and
24B on the other side of the band portion 12 may slide with respect
to one another in the longitudinal direction of the wristband 10 so
as to make the wristband 10 variable in size or circular shape to
fit around different sized wrists or other mounting members. Of
course, if desired, portions of the members 22A, 22B and/or 24A,
24B could be disposed in the band portion 12 in addition to or
instead of in the clasps 14 and, if so disposed, could still be
considered as being disposed in the end portions of the band 12.
Still further, any or all of the magnetic members 22A, 22b, 24A,
24B could be a single, long piece of material, as illustrated in
FIGS. 3 and 4, or could be a series of magnetic members disposed
near but not contacting each other, to enable better registration
of the north and south poles of the respective magnetic members in
various different longitudinal locations of the band 12. This
second configuration may provide for better adjustability of the
length of the band 12 when both magnetic members 22 and 24 are
permanent magnets. Likewise, while the band portion 12 is
illustrated as including two end pieces, one or both of which may
encapsulate an electronics module that holds the electronics used
to drive the flexible electronic display 18, a single piece may be
used to encapsulate the electronics module and this piece or
electronics module may be located anywhere along the length of the
band portion 12, including in the middle of the band portion 12, at
a distance that is about one third of the entire length of the band
portion 12 from one end of the band portion 12 and two-thirds of
the entire length of the band portion 12 from the other side of the
band portion 12, etc.
[0037] Of course, the wristband device 10 could take on many
different configurations besides that illustrated in FIGS. 1-4. For
example, as a reference, FIG. 5A illustrates a side view of the
wristband 10 similar to that of FIGS. 1-4 in more detail. In this
case, the band portion 12 is illustrated as including a flexible
base or a substrate portion 16 that may be made of any suitable
flexible material such as, for example, cloth, leather, plastic or
other material, while the flexible electronic display 18 is
disposed on the substrate 16. The clasps 14 may be the same size as
each other and may be the same height as the flexible electronic
display 18 and the substrate 16 together. In another case, the
clasps 14 may be larger in height than the flexible electronic
display 18 and the substrate 16 and, in this case, may stick out
above surface of the flexible electronic display 18 and/or below
the bottom surface of the substrate 16. As noted above, one or both
of the clasps 14 may be or may include an electronics module 19
that holds electronics, such as processors, memories, sensors,
batteries, etc. that are used to power and drive the flexible
electronic display 18 and to provide other communication
functionality for the wristband 10. If desired, the components of
the electronics module 19 may be sealed or otherwise protected from
water, air, dirt, etc. to which the exterior of the device 10 is
exposed. For example, any or all of these electronic components may
be encapsulated in one or both of the clasps 14 in a hermetically
sealed manner to prevent any direct exposure of these components to
exterior forces and environmental hazards.
[0038] In another embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 5B, an
attachable article in the form of a wristband 10 has the flexible
electronic display 18 disposed over the entire length of the
substrate 16 and end portions 14, which may be part of the
substrate 16. In this case, the flexible electronic display 18
spans the entire length of the band portion 12 and of the wristband
device 10 and thus goes from end to end of the device 10. The
connection structure, in the form of for example, magnets (not
shown in FIG. 5B) may be disposed in the end pieces 14 and/or, if
desired, in portions of the flexible substrate 16 or in an
electronics module coupled to the flexible substrate 16.
[0039] In yet another configuration, as illustrated in FIG. 5C, an
attachable article in the form of a wristband 10 has a flexible
electronic display 18 disposed on a limited portion of the flexible
substrate 16 so that the flexible electronic display 18 is only
disposed, in this case, in the center portion of the band 12. Of
course, while not shown, the flexible electronic display 18 could
be disposed on any other portion of the band 12, including in
portions offset from the center of the band 12 and the flexible
electronic display 18 could cover any desired amount or portion of
uppers surface of the band 12. Here again, any desired connection
structure could be provided in the ends of the substrate 16,
including in the clasps 14, to connect the two ends of the band 12
together.
[0040] In a still further case, as illustrated in FIG. 5D, an
attachable article in the form of a wristband device 10 has a
flexible electronic display 18 disposed over a substrate 16 having
two flexible end pieces 16A and 16B connected by an electronics
module 19 which, in this case, is illustrated is being disposed in
the center of the flexible substrate 16. The electronics module 19
may or may not be made of a flexible material and in either case
may still be part of the flexible substrate 16 is desired.
Moreover, while being illustrated in the center of the substrate
16, the electronics module 19 could be disposed at any other
location along the substrate 16 including at any position offset
from the center of the substrate 16. Again, any desired connection
structure could be attached to or disposed in or on the end
portions of the device 10, including the ends of the substrate
16.
[0041] In another embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the
wristband or attachable article 10 may be configured similarly to
that of FIGS. 1-5D, but may also include a touchscreen interface 26
disposed over the flexible electronic display 18. In particular, in
this case, the touchscreen interface 26 can be a capacitive
touchscreen or any other type of touchscreen interface that is
transparent in nature, and thus can be laid over top of the
flexible electronic display 18 to allow the flexible electronic
display 18 to be viewable there-through. As will be understood, the
touchscreen interface 26 of FIG. 6 is powered by and controlled by
the electronics disposed within one or more electronics modules 19
illustrated as being disposed, in this case, in both of the clasps
14 to perform various different types of touch detection
functionality associated with a typical touchscreen display. Of
course, the touchscreen interface 26 could be added to any of the
wristband configurations of FIGS. 5A-5D or to any of the other
attachable article embodiments described herein.
[0042] While the wristband device of FIGS. 1-6 is generally
illustrated as having a flexible electronic display and a flexible
substrate disposed between or including two magnetically coupled
clasps 14, with at one of the clasps 14 possibly containing or
operating as an electronics module 19, other manners of disposing
connection structure on the wristband device 10 and of locating the
electronics module 19 could be used instead. For example, FIGS. 7A
and 7B illustrate an example attachable article in the form of a
wristband device 10 having a single clasp member 14, such as one of
clasps members 14 of FIGS. 1-6, disposed at one end of the flexible
electronic display 18 and a set of magnets 22 and 24 or other
magnetic material disposed on or in an end piece or end portion
attached to or formed as part of the other end of the flexible
substrate 16. In this case, individual magnets 22A and 22B are
disposed in a spaced apart manner within the end piece 14 or are
disposed in the flexible substrate 16 next to the end piece 14 and
operate in conjunction with the individual magnetic materials 24
which are spaced apart and disposed on the other end piece of the
band 12 to form a secure magnetic connection when the band portion
12 is wrapped around a user's wrist, for example. The spaced apart
nature of the individual magnetic members 22 and 24 enable the band
12 to be adjustable in length so that a pair of magnetic members
22A and 22B (on opposite sides of one end of the band 12 or
substrate 16) may meet up with any of a number of different pairs
of magnets 24A and 24B (on opposite sides of the other end of the
band 12 or substrate 16) to enable the length of the band, when
connected, to be adjustable. Of course, the magnetic members 22 and
24 may each be permanent magnets, or one may be made of permanent
magnets while the other is formed of magnetically permeable
material. Of course, the spaced apart magnetic material
configuration of FIGS. 7A and 7B may be used in any of the
embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 1-6.
[0043] Moreover, while FIGS. 1-7 illustrate magnetic based
connection structure, other adjustable connection structure, such
as any desired hook and loop connection material, like Velcro, a
buckle and hole structure, a snap fit buckle, etc. could be used
instead of magnetically coupled connection structure. As a further
example, FIG. 8 illustrates an example attachable article in the
form of a wristband device 10 having an electronics module 12
disposed in the center of the band 12 with a non-magnetic clasp
arrangement used at the ends of the flexible substrate 16 to secure
the article 10 to a wrist of a user or other mounting member in an
adjustable manner. In this case, a loop or buckle member 30 is
attached to one end of the flexible substrate 16 and hook and loop
pads 30 and 32 (one being hook material and the other being loop
material) are attached to the end portions of the band 12. Here,
one end of the band portions 12 may be looped through the buckle 28
and bent back to enable the hook and loop material pads 30 and 32
to contact each other and thus secure the band 12 to a user's wrist
or other structure. Of course, while the electronics module 19 is
illustrated as being located in the center of the band portion 12,
the module 19 could be located on one of the ends as well, such as
near the buckle 28, or at any other position along the band portion
12, such as a third of the length of the band portion 12 from one
end of the band portion 12, a fourth of the length of the band
portion 12 from one end of the band portion 12, etc. Moreover, use
of the buckle 28 in FIG. 8 is not necessary, and instead hook and
loop pads may be placed at opposite ends of the band 12 to enable
an adjustable connection between the two ends of the band 12.
[0044] FIGS. 9A-9C illustrate various examples of an attachable
article in the form of a wristband device 10 that includes and
adjustable clamp or connection mechanism for enabling the ends of
the band of the device 10 to overlap one another by different
distances when worn so as to enable the wristband device 10 to be
used on wrists of different sizes. In addition, however, each of
the various devices in FIGS. 9A-9C include mechanisms for
determining or enabling the electronics module 19 of the device 10
to determine the orientation of the band with respect to the user's
wrist when being worn to enable better operation of the display
features of the device 10. While a magnetic connection or clamping
structure is illustrated in each of the devices 10 in FIGS. 9A-9C,
other types of adjustable clamping or connection structure could be
used instead and allow the electronics module 19 to be able to
determine the orientation or positioning of the band or the display
18 when on the arm or wrist of a user. In addition, while the
orientation detection and display calibration procedure described
herein is described with respect to FIGS. 9A-9C when the devices of
FIGS. 9A-9C are connected around the wrist of a user, the same or
similar orientation detection and calibration procedure could be
used when an attachable article is placed or connected around other
body parts, including arms, legs, waists, or around other devices,
like handlebars of bikes or motorcycles, etc. Likewise, the
principles described herein for detecting the orientation and
positioning of a band on a user's wrist with respect to FIGS. 9A-9C
could be also be used with any other adjustable band mechanism,
such as that illustrated in FIG. 8, as an example only.
[0045] More particularly, FIG. 9A illustrates an example attachable
article in the form of a wristband device 10 having an adjustable
clasping mechanism in the form of one or more magnets 22A, 22B,
24A, 24B such as that illustrated with respect to FIGS. 7A and 7B
and an electronics module 19 disposed or centered on the flexible
substrate or band support 16 at approximately one third of the
length of the band 16 from one end of the band 16 and two-thirds of
the length of the band 16 from the other end of the band 16. In
addition, the device 10 of FIG. 9A includes a flexible touchscreen
interface 26 disposed over the flexible electronic display 18.
[0046] FIG. 9B illustrates another example attachable article in
the form of a wristband device 10 having an adjustable clasping
mechanism in the form of one or more magnets 22A, 22B, 24A, 24B
such as that illustrated with respect to FIGS. 7A and 7B and an
electronics module 19 disposed or centered on the flexible
substrate or band support 16 at approximately one third of the
length of the band support 16 from one end of the band 16 and
two-thirds of the length of the band 16 from the other end of the
band support 16. However, in this case, one or more pressure
sensors 34 are disposed in or on the band support 16 and are
electronically connected to the electronics module 19 to provide
signals to the module 19 indicative of pressure, strain, or force
applied to those locations of the band 16. While the pressure
sensors 34 are indicated to be disposed at various points along the
length on the band support 16 on both sides of the band support 16
near the ends of the support 16, these sensors may be disposed
along the entire band support 16, only on one side of the support
16, or on any suitable portion of the support 16 for the purpose of
detecting pressure or force applied to the band support 16 or
display screen 18. Still further, the pressure sensors 34 may be
any desired or suitable pressure sensors including piezoelectric
sensors, strain gauges, etc. Additionally, any desired number of
sensors 34 may be used and these sensors 34 may be spaced apart
from one another any suitable distance along the length of the band
support 16. Likewise, the sensors 34 may be disposed in the center
of the band support 16 (from side to side) or offset from the
center. Also, more than one sensor 34 may be located at any
longitudinal location along the band support 16. Alternatively, the
sensors 34 of FIG. 9B could be magnetic sensors which sense
magnetic field strength, for example. In this case, the magnetic
sensors 34 may detect whether one or more magnets on one end of the
band (used a part of the coupling mechanism) are near to or are
interacting with magnets or magnetic material on the other end of
the band. Here, the magnetic sensors 34 may be used to detect the
amount of overlap of the ends of the band.
[0047] FIG. 9C illustrates another example attachable article in
the form of a wristband device 10 having an adjustable clasping
mechanism in the form of one or more magnets 22A, 22B, 24A, 24B
such as that illustrated with respect to FIGS. 7A and 7B and an
electronics module 19 disposed or centered on the flexible
substrate or band support 16 at approximately one third of the
length of the band support 16 from one end of the band 16 and
two-thirds of the length of the band 16 from the other end of the
band support 16. However, in this case, a gyroscopic detection
element 36 is dispose in the electronic module 19 and operates to
detect the orientation of the band (or at least the electronics
module 19 or other location at which the gyroscopic element 36 is
disposed). The gyroscopic element 36 operates to detect the
orientation of the band with respect to gravity or other
acceleration force to which the element 36 is subjected. While a
single gyroscopic element 36 is illustrated as being disposed in
the electronics module 19 of FIG. 9C, this or similar elements
could be disposed at other locations along the band (e.g., within
the support 16 of the band) and/or multiple gyroscopic elements 36
could be disposed at various locations along the support 16.
[0048] Generally speaking, the embodiments of FIGS. 9A-9C include
structure or elements, such as a touchscreen interface 26, pressure
or magnetic sensors 34 or gyroscopic elements 36 that can be used
to assist the electronics module 19 in determining the orientation
or positioning of the wristband support 16 or the display 18 with
respect to one or more fixed locations on a user's wrist when the
device 10 is wrapped around the user's wrist. This operation
enables the module 19 to then calibrate the display 18 to place or
center display information such as display screens at particular
locations with respect to the user's wrist, such as being centered
on the top of the wrist, on the bottom of the wrist, on the inner
side of the wrist, on the outer side of the wrist, etc.
[0049] To illustrate the operation of this band orientation and
calibration procedure, FIGS. 10A and 10B depict the same wristband
device 10 (which may be any of those of FIGS. 9A-9C) disposed
around different sized wrists, with the electronics module 19
disposed at the top of the users' writs in both cases. However, as
illustrated in FIG. 10A, the point 37 is disposed on the direct
underside or bottom of the wrist, while in FIG. 10B, this same
point 37 is disposed between the bottom of the wrist and the outer
side of the wrist, due to the difference in the positioning of the
band on the different sized wrists. Thus, if the electronics module
19 were to try to place or center a particular display screen on
the flexible electronic display at the bottom of the wrist in both
cases, the electronics module 19 would need to address the flexible
electronic display 18 differently due to the different adjustment
of the band support 16 on the different wrists. Of course, this
same phenomenon exists for placing a display screen at any location
with respect to a user's wrist other than the top of the wrist,
assuming that the user always places the electronics module 19 at
the top of the wrist when wearing the band. In any event, to
correct for this phenomenon, the electronics module 19 must detect
the orientation of the band (e.g., the support 16 or the display
18), such as by detecting the part of the band that is disposed at
a particular location with respect to the wrist, such as the bottom
of the wrist, for each different user. Moreover, if a user does not
always place a particular part of the band, such as the electronics
module 19, at a particular location on the wrist, such as at the
top of the wrist, when wearing the band, then the electronics
module 19 must detect the orientation of the band with respect to
two or more locations on the user's wrist such as at the top and
the bottom of the wrist, and calibrate the display with respect to
these two or more points, in order to be able to center or place
different display screens at particular locations on the band with
respect to the user's wrist.
[0050] FIG. 11 illustrates a flow chart 70 that may be implemented
by a band orientation detection and calibration routine which may
be stored in a memory of and executed on a processor of the
electronics module 19 to perform band orientation and display
calibration to enable the electronics module 19 to be able to place
or center particular display screens at particular locations on a
band with respect to a user's wrist, such as at the top of the
wrist, the bottom of the wrist, the inner side of the wrist, the
outer side of the wrist, etc. The routine is especially useful when
the band is an adjustable band that can be adjusted to various
different sizes to fit different user's wrists, for example.
Moreover, this routine can be useful when the module 19 is
programmed or configured to provide public screens, such as those
that display the time, date, images, etc. in more publically
visible locations on the band, such as on the top of the band and
on the outer side of the band, when the band is on a user's wrist,
and is programmed or configured to provide or display more private
displays, such as e-mail displays, text message displays, incoming
phone call user ID displays, etc., on the bottom of the wrist or on
the inner side of the wrist. In particular, in all of these cases,
the electronics module 19 needs to know the position of the band or
the display 18 on the band that is directly adjacent to such wrist
locations to be able to center the public or private display
screens at any of these locations.
[0051] At a block 72, the routine 70 receives or detects an input
to enter a display orientation and calibration mode. The block 72
may execute in response to a user instructing the electronics
module 19 to enter the orientation and calibration mode, such as
with a user input of any type including via a touchscreen display,
a remote signal, etc. In some cases, however, the block 72 may
operate automatically when the band is first wrapped around a wrist
so that portions of the ends of the band overlap. In this case, the
electronics module 19 may detect the repositioning of the band
using sensors (such as magnetic sensors) located in the band that
detect magnet on one end or side of the band being in close
proximity to other magnets on the opposite end or side of the band,
using strain gauges that detect a particular curvature of the band
over a particular length (such that the band is curved into a
loop), etc.
[0052] Next, at a block 74, the routine 70 requests the user to
take one or more preset or predetermined actions to enable the
electronics module 19 to be able to detect the position of at least
one portion of the band with respect to a known portion of a user's
wrist. For example, the block 74 may ask the user to press the band
or display 18 on the location of the display screen that is at the
top of the wrist, the bottom of the wrist, one of the sides of the
wrist, etc. In another example, the block 74 may ask the user to
press at multiple locations simultaneously or in sequence, such as
squeezing the band together at the top and the bottom of the wrist.
In still another example, the block 74 may ask the user to place
his or her wrist in a particular orientation, such as on a flat
surface or level with the top of the wrist facing up and the bottom
of the wrist facing down. In still another case, the routine 70 may
merely ask the user or display a button to allow the user to start
a band orientation determining procedure.
[0053] After waiting for the user to take the requested action or
actions, a block 76 detects the location of the display oriented or
disposed adjacent to a particular wrist location. In particular,
the block 76 may use signals from the touchscreen display 26 of
FIG. 9A, from one or more of the pressure sensors or magnetic 34 of
FIG. 9B or from the gyroscopic element 36 of FIG. 9C to detect the
position at which the user touched or pressed the band in response
to the instructions of the block 74, or the position of the band at
the bottom or top of the wrist when the wrist is in a particular
known orientation, such as level. In some cases, the block 76 may
determine the amount of overlap of the two ends of the band to
determine a position on the band as connected, that is directly
opposite the electronics module 19.
[0054] More particularly, in the embodiment of FIG. 9A, if the user
touched the touchscreen 26 at the bottom of the wrist, or at both
the top and bottom of the wrist simultaneously in response to the
instructions of the block 74, then the block 76 determines, from
the touchscreen interface 26 associated with the embodiment of FIG.
9A which point or points were touched. In a similar manner, in the
embodiment of FIG. 9B, if the user touched the band at the bottom
of the wrist, or at both the top and bottom of the wrist
simultaneously in response to the instructions of the block 74,
then the block 76 determines, using the signals from the pressure
sensors 34, where the user pressed the band. To do so, the block 76
may simply detect the highest pressure reading from the group of
pressure sensors 34 and use that as the detected touch location. In
another case, the block 76 may interpolate between two or more
pressure signal locations to detect the location between those
signals that appears to have the highest pressure reading. In still
another case, the block 76 may, in response to a user input to
start a calibration procedure, use magnetic sensors 34 disposed in
the band to determine the amount of overlap of the ends of the
band, and may determine the underside or bottom of the user's wrist
as the location directly opposite (e.g., the same distance) from
the electronics module 19 in both directions along the band as
coupled. Of course, other parts of the wrist could be determined in
this similar manner. In these case, the user request to take an
action from the block 74 may be simply providing the user with a
calibration button that, when pressed or activated by the user,
starts the calibration procedure that determines the amount of
overlap of the ends of the band. In still another manner, in the
embodiment of FIG. 9C, if the user placed his or her wrist in a
predetermined orientation, than the block 76 may determine from the
one or more gyroscopic elements 36 in the attachable article 10
which locations of the band are flat with respect to the force of
gravity or otherwise detect the orientation of one or more portions
of the band to determine which portions of the bank are at the top
of the wrist, the bottom of the wrist, one of the sides of the
wrist, etc. based on the gyroscopic element readings during a known
orientation of the band. Of course, other methods of detecting user
actions (such a touch events, shaking the arm in a specific manner,
etc.) or detecting specific positions of the band with respect to a
user's wrist could be used instead, and any suitable combination of
the structure and routines described herein with respect to the
bands of FIGS. 9A-9C could be used as well. In any or all of these
scenarios, the blocks 74 and/or 76 may operate so that an
orientation detection and calibration procedure will only be
performed when the two ends of the band are detected as being
overlapping or are disposed in an overlapping manner around an
exterior object (such as by the use of one or more magnetic
sensors).
[0055] After the block 76 determines the associated wrist position
of one portion or location of the band, a block 78 may determine if
another band position is needed. For example, the band orientation
detection procedure 70 may require that the user identify two
locations of the band with respect to an exterior object, such as
first identifying the top of the wrist, and then the bottom of the
wrist. In another case, the routine 70 may perform the position
detection at the same wrist location more than once in order to
assure a better determination, such as by determining an average of
two or more position detections, for example. In the case in which
a known portion of the band (such as the electronics module 19) is
not always placed at a known location with respect to a user's
wrist (such as at the top of the wrist or at the bottom of the
wrist), then the band position orientation and calibration routine
70 may need to make two or more position detection measurements in
order to be able to determine which portion or position of the band
is at which position of the user's wrist. Moreover, detecting more
positions on the band (e.g., the position of the band at the top of
the wrist, at the bottom of the wrist, at the inner side of the
wrist and at the outer side of the wrist) will generally provide
for a better calibration of the display 18 with respect to the
wrist. In any event, if another reading is needed, control is
provided from the block 78 back to the block 74 which again asks
the user to take some detection initiation action with respect to
the band. Thereafter, the blocks 76 and 78 repeat operations until
all of desired or needed the band locations have been
determined.
[0056] After all of the band positions or locations have been
determined, a block 80 performs display calibration using the
detected position(s). In particular, the block 80 may set the
specifically detected or determined parts of the display as
reference points for display screens to be provided on the display
device, such as the various display screens of FIGS. 14A-14E. If
desired, the electronics module 19 may then center display screens
at or based on these detected positions, and may scale the sizes of
the display screens based on the distances between the detected
positions or based on the distance between a detected position and
a fixed position on the band, such as the center or the electronics
module, one or both ends of the band, etc. Furthermore, after the
display calibration has been performed, various public display
screens or information may be reliably placed at or centered at
more publically visible positions of the band, such as at the top
of the wrist or on the outer side of the wrist, while various
private display screens or information may be reliably provided at
or centered at less publically visible positions of the band, such
as on the bottom of the wrist or on the inner side of the wrist,
even though the band is adjustable in length. While the calibration
routine has been generally described as calibrating the flexible
electronic display to center display screens at the detected points
on the band, the calibration routine could be configure to offset
the center of display screens at other points on the flexible
electronic display in reference to the detected point(s) on the
band and need not center screens at the detected points.
[0057] Moreover, while the display orientation and calibration
routine 70 has been described herein with respect to performing
display location detection and calibration when the display is
placed on a user's wrist, the same or similar routine could be used
to perform display orientation detection and calibration when a
band is looped around other body parts, such as legs, waists, arms,
etc., as well as when the band is looped around other devices not
being body parts.
[0058] Still further, while the functioning of a band and the
routines performed on the band have been described with respect to
a wrist band that is longer than it is wide, when laid flat, the
same structure and techniques can be used for other types of bands,
such as arm bands. FIG. 12, for example, illustrates an arm band
100 in which the display 18 wraps around a larger part of a user's
arm, as opposed to just the wrist. In this case, the band 100 may
be wider than it is long when laid flat. However, in this case, the
display 18 and the electronics module 19 may be configured in any
of the manners described above. For example, the same or a similar
display orientation and calibration procedure as that described in
conjunction with FIG. 11 may be used in the armband of FIG. 12, but
this procedure may also include detecting longitudinal points along
the length of the arm as well as (or instead of) points around the
arm.
[0059] FIG. 13 illustrates a block diagram of various electronic
components, referred to herein as an electronics suite 38, that may
be used or disposed in the electronics module 19 to drive the
flexible electronic display 18. In particular, the electronics
suite 38 illustrated in FIG. 10 includes a battery 40 that powers a
number of other modules or electronic components including a
microprocessor or other processor 42, a computer readable memory
44, which may be, for example, a flash memory, a communication
module 46, a display driver 48, a touchscreen controller 50 and a
number of sensors 52 and other secondary devices 53. The sensors 52
may include, for example, an impact sensor or step counter, one or
more gyroscopic sensors or gyroscopes, one or more pressure sensors
or strain gauges, temperature sensors, vibration sensors, pulse
rate monitors, etc. The secondary electronic devices 53 may
include, for example, an alarm or noise creation device, a speaker,
a microphone, a vibrator the operation of which causes the clasp 14
or electronics module 19 to vibrate, etc.
[0060] As will be understood, the memory 44, the communication
module 46, the display driver 48 and the touchscreen controller 50,
as well as the sensors 52 and other secondary electronic devices
53, are communicatively connected to the processor 42 and may
operate to perform various functions in conjunction with
applications or other programs implemented by the processor 42.
Still further, each of these elements is connected to and is
powered by the battery 40 in any known or desired manner. Still
further, the electronics suite 38 of FIG. 13 may include one or
more communication ports, such as communication port 54 (e.g., a
USB or other type of digital communication port) and a power or
battery charger input port 56. In this case, the power input port
56 may be connected to the battery 40 and enable charging or
recharging of the battery 40 using any known or desired recharging
circuitry and methodology. Alternatively or in addition, the
communications input port 54 (in the form of for example, a USB
input port) may be connected to the battery 40 and provide power to
the battery 40 for charging battery 40, and the input port 54 may
also be connected to the microprocessor 42, as well as to the
communication circuit module 46, for performing wired-based
communications via the input port 54. Of course, the communication
input port 54, while being illustrated as a USB-type connection,
could any other type of known wired or physical communication
connection, including any desired serial or parallel digital
communication port using any number of pins or wires, as is known
in the art, an analog communication port, etc. In another
embodiment, the power input port 56 may be a wireless input port,
and in this case may, for example, be part of a battery charger
unit that operates to charge the battery 40 using, for example, an
inductively coupled charging technique. If the battery charger unit
is part of an inductively coupled charging system, it generally
responds to electromagnetic waves produced by an exterior charging
unit (not shown) to charge the battery 40 when the attachable
article 10 is disposed near the external charging unit. In another
case, the battery charger of the input port 56 may be a kinetic
energy charger unit that converts motion of the device 10 (such as
that associated with movement of an arm when the attachable
electronic device 10 is in the form of a wristband) into electrical
energy which is provided to charge the battery 40. Moreover, if
pressure sensors, strain gauges, gyroscopic detection elements and
other sensors are provided in the band device, then corresponding
detection circuitry will be provided in the electronics suite 38 to
detect and process these signals.
[0061] As will be understood, the processor 42, which may be a
programmable, general-purpose processor or a specially programmed
processor programmed using any desired type of hardware or firmware
programming, generally coordinates and implements the operation of
the display 18 and the associated electronic components as
described in more detail herein. The computer readable memory 44
stores various applications, including for example the general
operating system implemented by the processor 42, and various
applications (illustrated as a set of applications 60 in FIG. 10)
to be run on the processor 42 to implement various different types
of functionality via the wristband device 10 described herein. The
memory 44 may also store one or more data files 62, which may be,
for example, image or video data files associated with various
images to be displayed on the display screen 18 at various
different times. Still further, the memory 44 may store application
data that may be created by the various applications 60 or the
microprocessor 42 as part of the operation of various applications
60 and to be used by those applications 60 either during runtime of
the applications 60 or at other times. If desired, the
microprocessor 42 or one of the secondary electronic components 53
may include or be a clock that tracks the current time, day, date,
month, year, time zone, etc.
[0062] As an example, one or more of the applications 60 may
implement various functionalities typically associated with
standard computers or other types of electronic devices such as
personal handheld electronic devices, including for example an
e-mail application, an Internet or web-browsing application, an
alarm clock application, a calendar application, a music-playing
application such as an MP3 application, a video application, a
digital picture slideshow application, a mapping application, an
e-reading application which may provide books, notes, magazines or
other types of articles, for reading by the user, etc. Still
further, one or more of the applications 60 may operate on the
processor 42 to turn the display 18 associated with the wristband
device 10 into a slave display device that may be tied to or
communicably coupled to an exterior master device that is
generating content to be displayed via the flexible electronic
display 18. The master device, which may be a smart phone or a
nearby computer device, may be wirelessly connected to the
electronics suite 38 to provide content to be displayed on the
flexible electronic display 18 and will typically have more memory,
and computing and processing power than the processor 42.
[0063] The communication module 46 of FIG. 13 may include or use
any type of communication hardware/software/firmware that uses any
desired types of communication techniques to enable the
microprocessor 42 to communicate with exterior devices or sources.
Of course, the communication module 46 could include multiple
different types of communication hardware/software/firmware,
including any kind of hardwire-based communication module or
wireless-based communication module. As examples, the communication
module 46 may be a wired or wireless Internet-based communication
module that may provide wired or wireless-based, IP protocol
communications between the wristband 10 and other devices or a
communication network such as a LAN or a WAN to which other devices
are communicatively connected. Likewise, the communication module
46 may include a near field communications (NFC) module, a radio
frequency identification (RFID) communications module for
communicating with, sending messages to and/or receiving messages
from RFID tags stored in other devices around or close to the
wristband device 10. In this case, the communications module 46 may
decode signals received from RFID tags in response to pings by the
RFID communication module 46 to identify the RFID tags or tag
numbers (identifiers) associated with these devices. Likewise, the
communication module 46 may be a near field communication (NFC)
module or a Bluetooth communication module, which may perform near
field communications or Bluetooth communications in any known or
desired manner with nearby NFC or Bluetooth enabled devices,
thereby enabling wireless communication between the wristband
device 10 and other closely situated or closely located electronic
devices. Still further, the communications module 46 may include a
USB or other type of wired communication module for decoding and
encoding USB-based communication signals to be sent out and
received via the USB communication port 54.
[0064] As illustrated in FIG. 13, the display driver 48 is coupled
to the microprocessor 42 and to the display 18, and drives the
display 18 to present different images to a user and thus implement
functionality via the display 18. The display driver 48 may be
associated with or use any type of display driver technology
associated with the various different types of flexible electronic
displays that might be used, including, for example, e-ink or other
bi-stable display drivers, organic light emitting diode (OLED)
display drivers, etc. Of course, it will be understood that the
display driver 48 is connected to the various pixel elements of the
flexible electronic display 18 to illuminate or cause the pixel
elements to obtain or reach a color, a lighting level, an on-off
state, etc., so as to drive the display 18 to present various
images and other functionality as determined by the particular
application 60 being executed on the microprocessor 42. In some
cases, the display driver 48 may present various images, such as
one or more artistic renditions, patterns, etc. or other types of
images stored in the memory 44 as one of the images 62 to be
displayed on the flexible electronic display 18. Such an image may
be any type of graphic element in the form of artwork, an
indication of an association of the user with a particular
university or other organization, such as a logo, a mascot, an
icon, etc. In the case of a static display, and particularly when
the flexible electronic display 18 is a bi-stable type of flexible
electronic display, such as an e-ink type of display, the display
18 might display a particular image or background image whenever
the device 10 is in a sleep mode, and thus in which the display
driver 48 is not operating to actively drive the display 18.
[0065] Of course, the touchscreen controller 50 is connected to a
touchscreen interface 26, such as that illustrated in FIG. 6, if
such an interface exists, and receives input signals from the
touchscreen interface 26. The controller 50 operates to decode
these input signals to identify touch events that occur with
respect to the touchscreen interface 26. The touchscreen interface
26 may be a capacitive touchscreen interface or any other suitable
type of touchscreen interface disposed over the flexible electronic
display 18, and may be transparent in nature to thus enable the
pixel elements of the display 18 to be viewable through the
touchscreen interface 26. Of course, other types of touchscreen
interfaces may be used instead or as well. In any event, the
touchscreen controller 50 operates to energize and control the
touchscreen interface 26, as well as to recognize and decode
touchscreen events to identify, for example, the location of each
touchscreen event, a type of a touchscreen event, such as a tap or
a swipe movement, etc. If desired, the touchscreen controller 50
alone or in conjunction with the processor 42 may operate to
determine or recognize gestures that are input via the touchscreen
interface 26, such gestures being, for example, a slide, a swipe, a
multi-finger pinch or any other type of gesture that includes one
or more finger movements coordinated with one another. Each such
gesture may indicate an action to be taken on or via the device 10.
Of course, the wristband device 10 may include other or different
types of user input devices, such as interfaces that include
buttons switches, roller balls, slide bars, etc., disposed on, for
example, one of the clasps 14 of FIGS. 1-6. Such user interfaces
may enable the user to perform more rudimentary functions, such as
scrolling movements, on-off powering movements, mode switching,
etc. that are traditionally entered via buttons or switches which
can be actuated.
[0066] The sensors 52 may include any of various different types of
sensors, such as one or more gyroscopes, which detect movement of
or the orientation of the band 12, rapid shaking of the band 12,
etc. One or more of these types of movements may be considered to
be a particular type of input, such as a gesture to reset the
device 10, to change a mode of the device 10, etc. Likewise, the
output of such gyroscopes can be used by the microprocessor 42 to
determine the orientation or direction of the flexible electronic
display 18 to enable the microprocessor 42, or an application 60
executed on the microprocessor 42, to determine the proper
orientation of the image to be displayed on the flexible electronic
display 18. In some instances, such motion detection and position
detection devices might be located in two or more of the end pieces
or clasps 14 or other electronics modules 19, to enable the device
10 to more accurately determine whether the wristband 10 is
oriented around a wrist or other circular member or whether it is
instead laid out flat or oriented in some other manner. The
microprocessor 42 or an application executed thereon may change
functionality based on the detected orientation of the wristband
10.
[0067] Likewise, the sensors 52 may include step-counter or an
impact-sensor like and accelerometer, which might be used to count
the number of steps a user takes over a particular period time.
Alternatively or in addition, the sensors 52 may include one or
more temperature sensors, which may detect the ambient temperature,
the temperature of the skin of the user when the device 10 is being
worn, etc. The sensors 52 could also include a blood-pressure
sensor device, which might check blood pressure or heart rate using
known exterior blood-pressure sensor device technology.
[0068] As will be understood, the various different electronic
devices or components disposed in or shown in the electronic suite
38 of FIG. 13 may be used in conjunction with one another in
various different manners to provide a whole host of functionality
for the attachable article 10, which might be beneficial in various
different uses of that article. However, only some of these uses
will be described in detail herein.
[0069] In a general sense, the flexible electronic display 18 may
be manufactured as any type of flexible electronic display, such as
an e-paper display, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display,
etc. and this flexible electronic display, once manufactured, may
then be formed, curved or bent in various manners. Generally
speaking, flexible electronic display 18 may be made of two
flexible substrates including a backplane and frontplane placed
back to back or next to one another. In the case of e-paper, an
additional layer of material may be disposed between the backplane
and the frontplane. In some cases, such as with the use of OLEDs,
the backplane includes an array of transistor or other switching
elements disposed thereon for driving or providing energization to
individual lighting elements disposed in a similar array on the
frontplane. The transistor elements may be formed on the backplane
in any known or desired manner, such as by etching, dye cut
forming, printing, sputtering or other deposition techniques, etc.
Likewise, the light emitting elements may be formed as any desired
types of light emitting elements using these same or different
techniques, and the light emitting elements may include light
emitting diodes (LEDs), OLEDs, e-paper, etc. In the case of
e-paper, for example, the frontplane and the backplane may be
formed with charge devices formed thereon which, when charged,
affect the material of the inner layer to cause an image element to
be clear (e.g., white) or dark. In any case, the backplane and the
frontplane may be formed of the same material or of a different
flexible material, such as plastic, and these materials may have
the same or different flexibility properties, as long as both
materials are able to flex to the curvature needed for bending the
electronic display 18.
[0070] More particularly, the flexible electronic displays
illustrated herein, may be manufactured as a flexible electronic
display, such as an e-paper display, an organic light emitting
diode (OLED) display, etc. Generally speaking, the flexible
electronic displays may be constructed on two flexible substrates.
The flexible substrates may include a backplane display area and
frontplane display area placed back to back or next to one another.
The frontplane display area comprises an array of electro-optic
elements provided on a first flexible substrate that are capable of
displaying an image, while the backplane display area comprises an
array of transistor elements provided on a second flexible
substrate for driving or providing energization to the
electro-optic elements on the frontplane. Materials suitable for
use as the flexible substrate for either the frontplane and/or the
backplane include, but are not limited to, various plastic
substrates such as polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate (PET),
polycarbonate, polyethersulfone, polyether ether ketone (PEEK), and
polyethylene naphthalate (PEN). Metallic foils also may be
used.
[0071] Preferably, the backplane display area comprises an array of
thin film transistors (TFTs) provided on a transparent, flexible,
plastic substrate such as PET. The TFT array may include switching
and/or driving TFTs, and additional elements such as storage
capacitors, and interconnect wiring. An individual TFT element
generally is made by successive deposition and patterning of
conductor (i.e., source, drain, and gate electrodes), insulator
(i.e., dielectric) and semiconductor thin film layers. The active
semiconductor layer can be composed of either organic
(small-molecule or polymeric semiconductors) or inorganic materials
(such as amorphous silicon, low-temperature polycrystalline
silicon, graphene, carbon nanotube, and metal oxide
semiconductors).
[0072] The TFT array may preferably comprise organic TFTs (OTFTs)
based upon an organic semiconductor described in at least one of
U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,914; U.S. Pat. No. 6,608,323; U.S. Pat. No.
6,991,749; U.S. Pat. No. 7,374,702; U.S. Pat. No. 7,528,176; U.S.
Pat. No. 7,569,693; U.S. Pat. No. 7,605,225; U.S. Pat. No.
7,671,202; U.S. Pat. No. 7,816,480; U.S. Pat. No. 7,842,198; U.S.
Pat. No. 7,892,454; U.S. Pat. No. 7,893,265; U.S. Pat. No.
7,902,363; U.S. Pat. No. 7,947,837; U.S. Pat. No. 7,982,039; U.S.
Pat. No. 8,022,214; U.S. Pat. No. 8,329,855; U.S. Pat. No.
8,404,844; U.S. Pat. No. 8,440,828; U.S. Patent Publication No.
2010/0252112; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0283047; U.S. Patent
Publication No. 2010/0326527; U.S. Patent Publication No.
2011/0120558; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0136333; and U.S.
Patent Publication No. 2013/0062598, the disclosure of each of
which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all
purposes. While OTFTs may include metallic contacts and a
dielectric layer composed of silicon oxide (SiO.sub.2) or another
inorganic oxide or nitride (such as Al.sub.2O.sub.3, HfO.sub.2, or
Si.sub.3N.sub.4), a dielectric layer composed of an electrically
insulating polymer may be preferred. Exemplary polymeric dielectric
materials include polyacrylates, polyimides, polyvinyl alcohol,
polystyrene, polyester, polycarbonate, polyhaloethylene, epoxy
resins, siloxane polymers, benzocyclobutene-based polymers. Other
polymeric dielectrics are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,605,394;
U.S. Pat. No. 7,981,989; U.S. Pat. No. 8,093,588; U.S. Pat. No.
8,274,075; U.S. Pat. No. 8,338,555; U.S. Patent Publication No.
2011/0175089; U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0215334; and U.S.
Patent Publication No. 2012/0068314. Conductive polymers such as
poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)
may be used as alternative materials for metallic contacts in
OTFTs.
[0073] Preferably, the TFT array may comprise metal oxide TFTs
based upon a metal oxide semiconductor. For example, the metal
oxide semiconductor can be selected from various mixed oxides
including one or more of indium, zinc, tin, and gallium such as
indium zinc oxide (IZO), zinc tin oxide (ZTO), indium gallium oxide
(IGO), and indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO). In a more preferred
embodiment, the TFT array may comprise IGZO TFTs. While
state-of-the art IGZO TFTs usually include thick layers of
inorganic materials such as SiO.sub.2, SiO.sub.x, Si.sub.3N.sub.4,
and SiO.sub.xN.sub.y as dielectric and passivation layers, it is
preferred that if the TFT array backplane comprises metal oxide
TFTs, organic materials are used in at least some of the dielectric
and passivation layers, such that the thickness of the remaining
inorganic layer(s) may be reduced to allow maximum flexibility of
the TFT array as whole. Metal oxide TFTs incorporating one or more
organic layers are described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,017,458; U.S. Pat.
No. 8,097,877; U.S. Pat. No. 8,395,150; and U.S. Patent Publication
No. 2012/0223314, the disclosure of each of which is incorporated
by reference herein in its entirety for all purposes.
[0074] In some scenarios, the frontplane display area may be
laminated or otherwise secured onto the backplane display area. The
frontplane display area may be produced by forming a subassembly
that comprises, in sequence, a flexible substrate, a conductive
electrode layer, an electro-optic layer, and optionally, an
adhesive layer to allow lamination to the backplane. In the case of
an OLED display, the electro-optic layer is sandwiched between two
electrode layers. Generally, at least one of the two electrode
layers is transparent, often composed of a transparent conductive
oxide such as indium tin oxide (ITO). The electro-optic layer is
composed of an organic material capable of emitting light when a
voltage is applied across the two electrode layers. The organic
light-emitting material may have a stacked structure including a
plurality of different organic layers. In addition to one or more
emissive layers, the stacked structure may include additional
layers such as a hole-injection layer, a hole-transport layer, an
electron-transport layer, a hole-blocking layer, and/or an
electron-blocking layer to enhance device performance. Individual
OLED elements may have different emitters (for example, a red
emitter, a green emitter, or a blue emitter) in their emissive
layer to provide a colored image. Exemplary OLED device structures
and materials are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,707,745, 5,844,363,
6,097,147, 6,303,238, and 8,334,545, the disclosure of each of
which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all
purposes.
[0075] In the case of an e-paper display, the electro-optic layer
may be composed of an encapsulated electrophoretic medium. The
encapsulated electrophoretic medium generally comprises numerous
small capsules, each of which itself comprises an internal phase
containing electrophoretically-mobile (e.g., black and/or white)
particles suspended in a liquid suspending medium, and a capsule
wall surrounding the internal phase. Typically, the capsules are
themselves held within a polymeric binder to form a coherent layer
positioned between two electrode layers. Most commonly, one
electrode layer has the form of a single continuous electrode,
while the other electrode layer is patterned into a matrix of pixel
electrodes, each of which defines one pixel of the display.
Electronic charges are applied to the capsules to bring particles
of a selected color to the surface. Electrophoretic media and
related display device structures are described in, for example,
U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,026; U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,769; U.S. Pat. No.
6,839,158; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,170,670, the disclosure of each of
which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all
purposes. In addition to electrophoretic displays, other e-paper
display technologies include electrowetting displays, and
electrofluidic displays as described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No.
7,446,945 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,111,465, the disclosure of each of
which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety for all
purposes.
[0076] To integrate the TFT array backplane with the frontplane for
a completed display system, the bottom or pixel electrode of the
frontplane is connected to the drain or source electrode of the
switching TFT in an e-paper display, and the driving TFT in an
active matrix OLED (AMOLED) display.
[0077] Various organic layers on either the frontplane and/or the
backplane may be formed on the flexible substrate by solution-phase
deposition techniques such as spin-coating, slot coating, die
coating, printing (e.g., inkjet printing, screen printing, pad
printing, offset printing, gravure printing, flexographic printing,
lithographic printing, mass-printing and the like), spray coating,
electrospray coating, drop casting, dip coating, and blade coating.
Inorganic (e.g., metallic or metal oxide) layers usually are
deposited by physical or chemical vapor deposition methods (e.g.,
sputtering), but may be solution-processed if a soluble precursor
is available. The layers may be patterned into specific elements by
photolithography, either by use of the intrinsic photosensitivity
of the layers (e.g., certain polymeric layers) or by use of a
photoresist (e.g., metallic, metal oxide, or small-molecule organic
layers).
[0078] As will be understood, the wristband device 10 as described
above can be configured and operated in many different manners to
perform many different functions at the same or at different times.
For example, the wristband device 10 may operate to execute any
number of different types of applications including, for example,
calendar applications, e-mail applications, web-browsing
applications, picture, image or video display applications,
stop-watch or other timing applications, alarm clock or alarming
applications, location based applications including for example
mapping applications, navigational applications, etc. In some
cases, various different applications or functionality may be
performed simultaneously, and different sections or portions of the
flexible electronic display 18 may be used to display information
associated with the different applications. For example, one
portion of the flexible electronic display 18 may be used to
illustrate calendar information provided by a calendar application,
another portion of the flexible electronic display 18 may be used
to illustrate e-mails associated with an e-mail application and a
still further portion of the flexible electronic display 18 may be
used to display a clock or stop watch associated with a timing
application. Still further, the applications 60 executed on the
device 10 may be executed on and display information computed
solely with the electronics suite 38 of the device 10. In another
case, one or more applications 60 may be executed on the processor
42 of the device 10 to interface with and display information
received from external computing devices, such as a mobile phone, a
laptop computer, a desktop computer, etc. In this case, the device
10 may act as a slave display device or may operate in conjunction
with information received from the external computing device to
provide information, graphics, etc. to a user on the flexible
electronic display 18 of the wristband 10. The wristband 10 may
communicate with external devices or an external network via any
desired communication hardware, software and communications
protocol, including any LAN or WAN based protocol, an NFC protocol,
a Bluetooth protocol, an IP protocol, an RFID protocol, etc.
[0079] FIGS. 14A-14E illustrate various different types of displays
or images which may be provided on the flexible electronic display
18 of the wristband device 10 at various different times or even at
the same time. For example, in one scenario illustrated in FIG.
14A, the display 18 may depict a pattern, an artistic rendition or
other image that is particularly expressive of the wearer or user,
including for example, an image provided by the user, a picture or
a photo, an image of a hand-drawn sketch, a team, corporate or
other organizational logo, a message of some sort, or some other
image that expresses some interest or personality trait of the
user. Such an image might be displayed whenever the wristband
device 10 is in a sleep mode, that is, when the wristband device 10
is not being actively used in other modes. Moreover, such an image
could be resident on the display 18 for long periods of time
whenever the display 18 is not in use, if the flexible electronic
display 18 is a bi-stable display, such as an e-ink display, which
requires no power to hold the image in place once image is been
formed.
[0080] As illustrated in FIG. 14B, in another mode referred to
herein as an office mode or a calendar mode, the wristband device
10 displays a calendar screen and an e-mail screen or other images
associated with or set up to provide office or business related
functionality. Such a mode may provide multiple images that enable
the user to easily view e-mails, calendars and to use other
business related applications. Thus, for example, the display 14B
may provide a calendar of events, and may also display one or more
e-mail icons, text messaging icons, etc., indicating e-mails or
text messages that may be available and viewable to the user.
[0081] FIG. 14C illustrates the wristband device 10 in an
alarm/clock mode in which the flexible electronic display 18
provides an alarm or clock display that may be generated by an
alarm or clock application. An alarm may ring by sounding a speaker
(e.g., one of the electronic devices 53 of FIG. 10) at a particular
time according to a preset alarm notification, by flashing or
otherwise visually displaying an alarm screen (as shown in FIG.
14C), and/or by using a gyroscope or accelerometer to vibrate the
device 10 to cause a vibration indicating an alarm. Still further,
as illustrated FIG. 14D, the wristband device 10 may be placed in
an exercise or training mode in which the flexible electronic
display 18 displays a stopwatch, a distance traveled or other
indications of various athletic parameters that have been met or
associated with an exercise routine including, for example, use of
the step counter to determine the number of steps that have been
taken, to determine the number of lifts that have been performed
when, for example, lifting weights, etc. Likewise, in such a mode,
the display 18 may display a distance traveled by a runner or
walker, the time since the beginning of a run or other exercise,
etc. Still further, as illustrated in FIG. 14D, a portion of the
display 18 may be used to indicate one or more music files that a
user has indicated as desired training music via a music
application implemented on the article 10. Additionally, the
display 18 may include a section showing a current heart rate of
the user, e.g., as detected by a heart rate monitor included on the
device 10. Note that in FIG. 14D, the heart rate monitor of the
display 18 is oriented so that when the device 10 is attached
around the wrist of the user, the heart rate display is oriented on
the inside of the user's wrist in a direction that enables the user
to quickly view the information displayed thereon.
[0082] In a still further mode, illustrated in FIG. 14E, the
wristband device might be a slave display to another computer
device, such as a navigation device within a car, a phone, a laptop
computer, an e-reader. In this case, the display 18 may display,
for example, a map, a route, directions, etc. on a map as provided
by a navigation device to the wristband device 10 via, for example,
a Bluetooth communication module or other communication module that
provides communication between the wristband device 10 and the
navigation device (not shown). Such a slave display might enable
the wristband device 10 to be more visible to the user in a driving
situation. For example, the wristband device 10 may be attached
around a person's wrist or around a stand or other support within a
vehicle so that the display 18 is visible to the driver or to a
passenger. Of course, other types of visuals and displays can be
provided with other types of applications stored on the wristband
device 10 or in other communicatively coupled computer devices,
such as phones or computers, that communicate with the wristband
device 10 to provide images or information for display to the user.
For example, FIG. 14E includes an additional portion of the display
18 presenting thereon a slave display of other selected
applications such as an email mailbox, a text messaging
application, and a music application as hosted on another device
(e.g., on a smartphone or other portable wireless device). In FIG.
14E, the additional portion is oriented so that when the device 10
is attached around the wrist of the user or around
differently-sized in-vehicle support structures, the slave display
of the application icons are oriented in a direction suitable for
viewing.
[0083] The user may be able to program or configure the device 10
to operate in any desired manner, including any desired default
manner, based on the detected location, position, orientation, or
movement of the device 10. In this case, a configuration
application may be executed in a processor of a computer device to
develop or configure the operation of the wristband device 10,
including the various operational modes of the device 10, the
various default settings based on the mode of the device 10, the
motions or actions or locations that may trigger particular modes
of the device 10, inputs or gestures associated with each mode or
application of the device 10 and what those inputs or gestures may
mean in the context of the device 10, etc. As an example, FIG. 15
illustrates a computer 150 having a processor 152, a memory 154 and
a display 156. The memory 154 stores a configuration application
158 that may execute on the processor 152 to enable a user to
configure the operation of the wristband device 10. In particular,
the configuration application 158, when executed, may produce a
configuration screen such as the configuration screen 160
illustrated in FIG. 15. The configuration screen 160 may display an
image of the wristband device 162 to illustrate what will be
displayed on the display 18 of the wristband device 10 at various
times, and the manner in which this information will be displayed,
such as the orientation, position on the display 18, etc.
[0084] In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 15, the configuration
screen 160 may present a number of boxes or drop down menus, etc.
which can be used to define various modes or other operational
settings of the device 10 and the default operation of the device
10 during each such mode. For example, a user may select one of a
set of mode boxes 170 to define the configuration of a particular
mode of the device 10. The user may select a sleep mode box, an
office mode box, an exercise mode box, a home mode box, a car mode,
or may select an "other" box to define a new mode for which the
device 10 is to be configured. Upon selecting the appropriate mode
box 170, the user may be presented with information or options
about the default and other operations of the device 10 during the
selected mode. For example, the user may be able to define the
actions 172, locations 174, e.g., as defined by the exterior strips
100 (e.g., of FIGS. 20-21) that might be used to enter a particular
mode. Thereafter, another set of menus or drop down boxes or
windows may be used to enable a user to define the placement,
content, orientation, etc. or other display features 176 of
information to be displayed on the flexible electronic display 18.
Still further, the user may select one or more applications 178 to
execute during a particular mode, the placement, size and area of
the screen associated with the application display, the orientation
of the display on the screen, the background features, borders
features or other screen indicia, etc. Likewise, the user may
define one or more RFID tag ids or other ids to define exterior
locations that are to be associated with or that cause the
wristband device 10 to enter or operate in a particular mode. In
this manner, the configuration application 158 enables the
wristband 10 to have default functionality based on the functions
to be provided, based on the location of the device 10, based on
its orientation or position around the wrist or not being connected
around the wrist, based on movement of the device 10, etc.
[0085] In another case, the configuration screen 160 may enable the
user to define one or more gestures 180 associated with a
particular mode or a particular application on the device 10. Thus,
for example, the user might define a gesture that, when detected on
the touchscreen interface 26 of the device 10, such as a swipe
gesture, a pinch gesture, a double tap gesture, etc. causes the
device 10 to operate in a certain manner, such as to switch between
modes, to change orientation of the image on the display 18, to
cause portions of the displayed information to move or to appear or
disappear, or to cause a particular action within an application,
such as to pull up new information, etc. Thus, using the
configuration application screen 160, the user may define various
different gestures or may preprogram various gestures to define
desired device functionality, such as switching between modes,
turning on and off the device or applications, switching
applications, moving images or content of particular applications
on the display 18, taking actions within an application, etc. As a
further example, one gesture may be defined by the user to unlock
the device 10 or allow operation of the device 10 such as
implementing a locking or security feature. In this case, is not
necessary that the device 10 display numbers or have the user pick
a set of numbers indicating a pass code but, instead, gestures
might enable the user to define an action that will unlock device,
such as a swipe in one direction, two taps and a swipe in a
particular direction, etc. Of course, the same gesture could be
used for different types of operations in different modes of the
device 10 or with different applications implemented by the device
10, and any combination of gestures might be used with any
combination of applications or modes to enable different
functionality or to enable the functionality of the device 10 be
programmed in various manners. Once configured as such, the
configuration data as selected by the user via the configuration
application 158 on the computer 150 can be downloaded to the device
10, either wirelessly or via a wired connection, and stored in the
memory 44 thereof and then be used by the operating system of the
device 10 to operate.
[0086] One example of the manner in which the wristband device 10
could be programmed or could be manufactured to function as a
default, is described in more detail with respect to FIGS. 16-18.
In this case, the attachable device in the form of a wristband
device 10 implements a messaging routine that enables a user of the
wristband device 10 to receive, be notified of, and retrieve
messages via the wristband device 10 in a very discrete manner
using natural motions. Generally speaking, FIG. 16 illustrates a
flowchart 200 that may be implemented on a processor of the
wristband device 10 to implement a messaging routine using actions
(e.g., movements of the wrist) detected by the wristband device 10,
as illustrated in one particular example in FIGS. 17 and 18. In
this case, the wristband device of FIGS. 16-18 may be any of any of
those described above with respect to FIGS. 1-15, in which the
device 10 may be attached to or disposed on a user's or wearer's
wrist. Still further, the messaging routine described herein may be
used to display a private message on the display band at a position
of the band that is less publicly viewable, in this case on the
bottom or underside of the user's wrist. Of course, the band
orientation detection and calibration routine illustrated with
respect to FIG. 11 may be used to enable the messaging routine
described herein to display a message directly on the bottom of a
user's wrist even when the band of the wearable device 10 is
adjustable in length.
[0087] Generally speaking, the processor of the wristband device 10
may be programmed to perform a messaging routine in which the
processor takes a first action, such as causing a mechanical
vibration action via the band 10, upon receiving a message or a
message notification signal, such as upon receiving an e-mail, a
text message, a phone call, an alarm or an alert from a calendar
application, etc. Upon taking the first mechanical action, such as
vibrating the band 10, the processor of the band 10 sets or starts
a timer and waits a specific amount of time, e.g., three seconds,
five seconds, etc., during which time the processor detects if a
user or wearer of the band 10 takes a predetermined action, such as
causing a particular movement of the band 10, entering a particular
gesture onto the band 10 via a touchscreen or other user interface
on the band 10, or any combination thereof. If the processor of the
band 10 detects the predetermined action (such as a predetermined
gesture or movement of the band 10) within the predetermined time
period, the processor of the band 10 then displays an indication of
the message, e-mail, alarm, or other incoming message or displays
information about a phone call or other incoming message or signal
on the flexible electronic display of the band 10 in, for example,
a particular orientation and/or location on the flexible electronic
display of the band 10.
[0088] This messaging routine can be very useful in providing
notifications of messages or other incoming notices to a wearer of
the band 10 in a very discrete or private manner that enables the
wearer to selectively retrieve and view such messages using, for
example, natural motions. As a more particular example, FIG. 16
illustrates a flow chart that may be used by the processor of the
band 10 to implement a messaging routine as generally described
above, FIG. 17 illustrates the band 10 disposed on a user's or
wearer's wrist when the wearer's hand is positioned palm down, as
is normally the case with a hand that is resting on a table, a lap,
or otherwise, and FIG. 18 illustrates the band 10 disposed on the
wrist of the wearer's arm when the wearer has moved his or her hand
to place the hand palm up so as to view the display portion of the
band 10 disposed on or adjacent the underside or inner portion of
the wrist.
[0089] In this particular example, and as illustrated by a block
202 of FIG. 16, the messaging routine 200 detects if the wristband
device 10 has received a new message or a notification of an
incoming message of some sort. The message may be, for example, a
text message from a phone, an e-mail message, a calendar alarm or
alert or other notification, or any other type of incoming message
either from an exterior device (delivered using wireless
communications to the band 10) or from another application on the
processor or other element of the wristband device 10 itself. If no
such message has been received at the block 202, control is
returned to the block 202 for detection of a new message. However,
upon receiving a new message or a notification of the availability
of a new message, a block 204 detects the orientation and or
positioning of the band device 10 and a block 206 detects if the
band is in any of a number of orientations or configurations that
make it desirable to continue with the messaging routine. If, the
wristband device 10 is in any of a particular number of
orientations, such as being disposed with the band 10 being bent
around a wrist or other circular member and/or being disposed with
the display being face up, as illustrated in FIG. 17, then a block
208 generates a vibrational or other mechanical movement of the
band 10 that can be sensed by the wearer to alert the wearer of the
existence of a new message. In particular, the block 208 may send
one or more signals to a vibration element on the wristband device
10 to cause a vibration of the device 10 that can be felt or
detected by the wearer of the wristband device 10. The vibrational
movement may be a single vibration, a series of intermittent
vibrations in a particular pattern (e.g., two short vibrations, a
long vibration, a long vibration and two short vibrations, etc.) or
any other desired vibrational movement. Moreover, the pattern of
the vibration may indicate the type of message that has been
received. That is, for example, one vibrational pattern may
indicate the receipt of an incoming e-mail, another vibrational
pattern may indicate the receipt of a text message and a still
further vibrational pattern may indicate the receipt of a calendar
alert. Of course, any desired vibrational pattern may be associated
with any type of message and this operation may be set up by the
configuration system described with respect to FIG. 15.
[0090] Generally speaking, the block 206 may detect whether the
band of the device 10 is in one of any number of positions and/or
orientations that will cause the device 10 to take the further
messaging steps described below. In particular, as one example, the
block 206 may first determine if the band of the device 10 is
connected in a circle or is disposed around an element (such that
the ends of the band are connected together or are disposed
adjacent one another), thereby indicating that the band is being
worn. If desired, the routine 200 may only be implemented while the
device 10 is being worn. Also or instead, if desired, the
microprocessor of the device 10 may detect if the device 10 is
being worn by a person (as opposed to being, for example, hung on a
bar such as a bike handlebar) by detecting a temperature
measurement received from a temperature sensor disposed in the
electronics unit 19 of the device 10, wherein the temperature
sensor is disposed at a location on the band to detect the
temperature of the skin of a user. In this case, if the temperature
sensor measures a temperature in a range that would be expected
(e.g., above 97 degrees Fahrenheit, for example) if the device 10
is being worn by a person, then the block 206 may detect the band
of the device 10 as being in the correct orientation or location.
Of course, other types of sensors, such as capacitive sensors, may
be disposed on the band to contact the wearer's skin and these
other sensors may be used to determine if the band is being worn by
a person.
[0091] Moreover, in addition or instead of detecting whether the
device or band 10 is being worn on a human, the block 206 may
determine if the band of the device 10 is oriented in a particular
direction or orientation. As an example, the block 206 may detect
if the band of the device 10 is disposed in an orientation
indicating that the band is being worn on a wrist in which the
person has their palm face down, such as that illustrated in FIG.
17. Of course, the example orientation of FIG. 17 is but a single
example of an orientation that may be detected and used for
implementation of the further steps of the messaging routine 200,
and a wide range of orientations and positions may be detected as
being associated with a position or location or orientation that
leads to the implementation the rest of the messaging routine 200
described herein. That is, the orientations of the band of the
device 10 used in this messaging routine are not limited to those
of FIGS. 17 and 18. Moreover, the messaging routine 200 can be
implemented without the steps of the blocks 204 and 206, meaning
that the further steps of the messaging routine 200 described
herein could be implemented any time that a message or signal is
received.
[0092] In any event, if the block 206 detects that the band is not
in one of the predetermined orientations or positions (e.g., the
band is not being worn by a user or is being worn but is not in one
of a set of predetermined orientations), then a block 207 may
display the message or notice on the flexible electronic display of
the device 10 in any usual or desired manner, such as in the manner
shown in any of FIGS. 14A-14E. However, as noted above, if the
block 206 detects that the device 10 is in a particular use and/or
orientation, a block 208 then causes the band or a portion of the
band to vibrate in a particular pattern, such as a particular
pattern associated with the type of message or incoming signal
received.
[0093] A block 210 thereafter (or contemporaneously) starts a clock
or other timer within the electronics unit of the band. Thereafter,
a block 212 again determines the current location or position of
the band and a block 214 operates to detect or check for a
particular predetermined action of the user via the band, such as
particular movement of the device 10, a particular gesture entered
into the device 10 via a user interface on the device 10, etc. In
one example case, the block 214 may detect a particular, e.g.,
natural movement of the user's wrist, such as turning the wrist
over to place the palm of the hand towards the user, e.g., the
motion associated with a user looking at his or her inner wrist,
such as that illustrated in FIG. 18. In this case, the block 214
operates to detect the movement of the band or the new position or
orientation of the band to determine if the band has moved in a
predetermined manner or has been moved to a predetermined position.
In another embodiment, the block 214 could detect if a particular
gesture has been entered into the band interface, such as a tap or
a swipe or a two finger pinch or any other gesture. If the block
214 detects the predetermined movement or gesture or other action
by the user, then a block 216 displays an indication of the message
(such as the message itself) or displays a screen image provided
for reading the message on the display of the device 10. In the
particular example being illustrated in FIGS. 17 and 18, the
message (such as a text message, a calendar notice, an e-mail,
etc.) can be displayed on the display portion of the device 10
disposed on or adjacent to the inner wrist of the wearer, so that
this message or notice is only viewable to the wearer when the
wearer has his or her hand in the general position indicated in
FIG. 18. In this case, for ease of viewing, the message or other
information can be displayed in a landscape format as illustrated
in FIG. 18. Of course, depending on the type of message, the
message or screen image provided by the block 216 could be
displayed in other orientations on the flexible electronic display
of the device 10, such as in a portrait view, or at an angle to the
edges of the band of the device 10, to make the message more
readable to the user or wearer of the device 10 based on the actual
positioning or orientation of the band of the device 10.
[0094] On the other hand, when the block 214 does not determine
that the predetermined action has taken place (e.g., movement of
the band to a predetermined position or orientation, a gesture
entered via the device 10, etc.), a block 218 determines if the
time-out period of the timer has been reached. That is, the block
218 may determine if a predetermined time has elapsed since the
block 210 set the timer and if not, control is returned to the
block 212 to detect the position/orientation of the band (or to
determine if a new gesture has been entered into the device 10). Of
course, the loop defined by the blocks 212, 214 and 218 may repeat
until the block 218 determines that the time-out period has expired
without the predetermined action being detected at the block 214,
in which case the routine 200 may end without automatically
displaying the message or notice of a message on the band 10. In
this case, the user may, at a later time, interact with the device
10 to retrieve the message using any known interface application,
such as an e-mail, text message, calendar or other application
associated with the received message or signal.
[0095] As will be understood, the messaging routine 200 described
above can be used to provide a very natural and discrete manner of
receiving notifications of messages and viewing those messages.
Moreover, in some cases, the messaging routine 200 can provide
discrete notifications and selective viewing of messages without
any direct interaction with the user interface of the device 10 by
the wearer. For example, the wearer of the device 10 may be in a
meeting or otherwise engaged in conversation or other activities
and may receive a message, such as an e-mail, a text message, a
reminder, a calendar invite or other notice, etc. In this case, the
wearer's hand may be facing down or be in any of a number of other
various positions or orientations. However, instead of this message
automatically appearing on the display of the device 10 on the
outside of the wearer's wrist, where this message may be noticeable
to others due to a change in the display, the display becoming
brighter, etc., the messaging routine 200 of the device 10 notifies
the wearer of the existence of the message (and possibly of the
type of message) by causing the band of the device 10 to vibrate,
which is generally detectable by the wearer but not others. If the
wearer is in a position to or wants read the message, the wearer
can simply move his or her wrist to a second predetermined
position, such as holding his or her hand up, with the palm facing
towards the wearer's face, within the predetermined time from the
onset or end of the vibration. This particular motion is a very
natural motion and does not appear out of the ordinary to others
near wearer. If this motion is made within the predetermined time
from the onset or completion of the vibration, the device 10 then
displays the message or notice to the user on the flexible
electronic display of the device 10 at, for example, only the
portion of the flexible electronic display disposed near or
adjacent to the inner portion of the wrist, which again is less
viewable to others in the room than on the outside wrist portion of
the band. However, if the user wants to ignore the message, the
user can simply not make the predetermined motion within the
predetermined time period, and the message will not appear on the
display of the device 10 until the user takes some affirmative
action to view the message, such as opening an e-mail, calendar,
etc., application on the band 10 at a later time.
[0096] Of course, while the messaging content is described herein
as coming from or via an application (such as an e-mail
application, a text messaging application, etc.) executed on the
device 10, the message could be generated by or originate from an
application executed on a different device, such as the wearer's
phone, computer, etc., and this message could be wirelessly sent to
and displayed (or not) on the device 10 as described above.
[0097] Moreover, while not specifically illustrated in flowchart
200 of FIG. 16, the user may take, and the device 10 may detect,
other actions (such as movements) made by the wearer to perform
other functions in conjunction with the messaging routine 200
described above. For example, the wearer may wish to extend the
time period for viewing the message by, for example, moving his or
her wrist back and forth (or taking some other predetermined
action). In this case, the routine 200 may detect this second type
of motion and may reset the timer of the device, or may set the
timer to a different time (such as by adding 10 seconds) so that,
if the wearer takes the first predetermined action within that new
extended time period, the message will be displayed on the inner
wrist portion of the display. Still further, while the routine 200
is described herein as displaying the message on the portion of the
flexible electronic display on the inner wrist, the routine 200
could display the message on any other portion of the flexible
electronic display, including on the entire display surface of the
flexible electronic display.
[0098] Moreover, it will be understood that the actions taken by
the user and detected by the device 10 may include any types of
actions, including movements of the device 10, gestures or other
manual inputs entered into a user interface on the device 10, a
predetermined series of movements of the band of the device 10, one
or more movements of the device 10 in conjunction with a gesture or
other interface interaction, etc. Still further, while the specific
example of FIGS. 17-18 detects the location of a wrist with the
inner wrist facing away from the user (such as that associated with
a hand laying face down) as a position in which to implement the
selective delayed messaging notice functions, and detects movement
of the wrist to an upright position in which the inner wrist of the
band faces the user as an action associated with displaying the
message on the band 10, any other positions could be used as the
positions associated with or detected by the blocks 206 and 214 of
the flowchart of FIG. 16.
[0099] The following additional considerations apply to the
foregoing discussion. Throughout this specification, plural
instances may implement components, operations, or structures
described as a single instance. Although individual operations of
one or more routines or methods are illustrated and described as
separate operations, one or more of the individual operations may
be performed concurrently, and nothing requires that the operations
be performed in the order illustrated. Structures and functionality
presented as separate components in example configurations may be
implemented as a combined structure or component. Similarly,
structures and functionality presented as a single component may be
implemented as separate components. These and other variations,
modifications, additions, and improvements fall within the scope of
the subject matter of the present disclosure.
[0100] Additionally, certain embodiments are described herein as
including logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms
or units. Modules and units may constitute either software modules
(e.g., code stored on a non-transitory machine-readable medium) or
hardware modules. A hardware module is tangible unit capable of
performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in
a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or more computer
systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or
one or more hardware modules of a computer system (e.g., a
processor or a group of processors) may be configured by software
(e.g., an application or application portion) as a hardware module
that operates to perform certain operations as described
herein.
[0101] A hardware module may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic
that is permanently configured (e.g., as a special-purpose
processor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an
application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) to perform certain
operations. A hardware module may also include programmable logic
or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within a general-purpose
processor or other programmable processor) that is temporarily
configured by software to perform certain operations. It will be
appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware module in
dedicated and permanently configured circuitry or in temporarily
configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven
by cost and time considerations.
[0102] Accordingly, the hardware terms used herein should be
understood to encompass tangible entities, be that entities that
are physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g.,
hardwired), or temporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate
in a certain manner or to perform certain operations described
herein. Considering embodiments in which hardware modules are
temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware
modules need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance
in time. For example, where the hardware modules comprise a
general-purpose processor configured using software, the
general-purpose processor may be configured as respective different
hardware modules at different times. Software may accordingly
configure a processor, for example, to constitute a particular
hardware module at one instance of time and to constitute a
different hardware module at a different instance of time.
[0103] Hardware and software modules can provide information to,
and receive information from, other hardware and/or software
modules. Accordingly, the described hardware modules may be
regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiple of such
hardware or software modules exist contemporaneously,
communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g.,
over appropriate circuits, lines and buses) that connect the
hardware or software modules. In embodiments in which multiple
hardware modules or software are configured or instantiated at
different times, communications between such hardware or software
modules may be achieved, for example, through the storage and
retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple
hardware or software modules have access. For example, one hardware
or software module may perform an operation and store the output of
that operation in a memory device to which it is communicatively
coupled. A further hardware or software module may then, at a later
time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored
output. Hardware and software modules may also initiate
communications with input or output devices, and can operate on a
resource (e.g., a collection of information).
[0104] The various operations of example methods described herein
may be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors
that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently
configured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily
or permanently configured, such processors may constitute
processor-implemented modules that operate to perform one or more
operations or functions. The modules referred to herein may, in
some example embodiments, include processor-implemented
modules.
[0105] Similarly, the methods or routines described herein may be
at least partially processor-implemented. For example, at least
some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or
processors or processor-implemented hardware modules. The
performance of certain of the operations may be distributed among
the one or more processors, not only residing within a single
machine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some example
embodiments, the processor or processors may be located in a single
location (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or
as a server farm), while in other embodiments the processors may be
distributed across a number of locations.
[0106] Some portions of this specification are presented in terms
of algorithms or symbolic representations of operations on data
stored as bits or binary digital signals within a machine memory
(e.g., a computer memory). These algorithms or symbolic
representations are examples of techniques used by those of
ordinary skill in the data processing arts to convey the substance
of their work to others skilled in the art. As used herein, an
"application," an "algorithm" or a "routine" is a self-consistent
sequence of operations or similar processing leading to a desired
result. In this context, applications, algorithms, routines and
operations involve physical manipulation of physical quantities.
Typically, but not necessarily, such quantities may take the form
of electrical, magnetic, or optical signals capable of being
stored, accessed, transferred, combined, compared, or otherwise
manipulated by a machine. It is convenient at times, principally
for reasons of common usage, to refer to such signals using words
such as "data," "content," "bits," "values," "elements," "symbols,"
"characters," "terms," "numbers," "numerals," or the like. These
words, however, are merely convenient labels and are to be
associated with appropriate physical quantities.
[0107] Unless specifically stated otherwise, discussions herein
using words such as "processing," "computing," "calculating,"
"determining," "presenting," "displaying," or the like may refer to
actions or processes of a machine (e.g., a computer) that
manipulates or transforms data represented as physical (e.g.,
electronic, magnetic, or optical) quantities within one or more
memories (e.g., volatile memory, non-volatile memory, or a
combination thereof), registers, or other machine components that
receive, store, transmit, or display information.
[0108] As used herein any reference to "one embodiment" or "an
embodiment" means that a particular element, feature, structure, or
characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is
included in at least one embodiment. The appearances of the phrase
"in one embodiment" in various places in the specification are not
necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
[0109] Some embodiments may be described using the expression
"coupled" and "connected" along with their derivatives. For
example, some embodiments may be described using the term "coupled"
to indicate that two or more elements are in direct physical or
electrical contact. The term "coupled," however, may also mean that
two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but
yet still co-operate or interact with each other. The embodiments
are not limited in this context.
[0110] As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising,"
"includes," "including," "has," "having" or any other variation
thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For
example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a
list of elements is not necessarily limited to only those elements
but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to
such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, unless
expressly stated to the contrary, "or" refers to an inclusive or
and not to an exclusive or. For example, a condition A or B is
satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and B
is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is
true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).
[0111] In addition, use of "a" or "an" is employed to describe
elements and components of the embodiments herein. This is done
merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the
description. This description should be read to include one or at
least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it is
obvious that it is meant otherwise.
[0112] Upon reading this disclosure, those of skill in the art will
appreciate still additional alternative structural and functional
designs for implementing display features via a flexible electronic
display on an attachable article as disclosed herein. Thus, while
particular embodiments and applications have been illustrated and
described herein, it is to be understood that the disclosed
embodiments are not limited to the precise construction and
components disclosed herein. Various modifications, changes and
variations, which will be apparent to those skilled in the art, may
be made in the arrangement, operation and details of the methods
and structure disclosed herein without departing from the spirit
and scope defined in the claims.
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