Electronic devices with retractable displays

摘要

An electronic device may have a pair of elongated housings. A flexible display may be placed in a first position in which the display is retracted within one of the housings and a second position in which the flexible display is deployed and extends between the housings in a planar shape for viewing by a user. Support structures such as rigid slats that run parallel to the housings and bistable slats that run perpendicular to the rigid slats may be used to support the flexible display. Speakers, microphones, cameras, and other components can be mounted in the housings. The housings may be held together using magnets and may contain electrical components such as integrated circuits, batteries, and other devices. The components may be mounted on printed circuit boards that rotate within a rotating roller around which the display is wrapped when retracted.

主权项

1. An electronic device comprising: a housing having first and second housing portions; a rotating roller within the first housing portion; a flexible display that is attached to the second housing portion and that is attached to the rotating roller so that the flexible display is retracted within the first housing portion by rotation of the rotating roller, wherein the flexible display comprises a substrate having first and second opposing surfaces with a pixel array on the first surface and flexibility-enhancing grooves in the second surface, and wherein the flexibility-enhancing grooves are located behind the pixel array such that light from the pixel array is directed away from the flexibility-enhancing grooves; support members that are perpendicular to the first and second housing portions and that extend entirely behind the flexible display, wherein the support members are bistable members that exhibit a rigid state and a flexible state, and wherein the support members wrap around the rotating roller with the flexible display when the flexible display is retracted within the first housing portion; and additional support structures that are parallel to the first and second housing portions.