We’ve seen quite a few Samsung patents that describe foldable and flexible devices, but usually they’re phones, not tablets. Today we’ve come across a new patent, that seems to focus on a foldable slate. It may have to do with the Project Valley, but it may just your average patent.
The documents detail the functioning in different modes using a touch gesture when the foldable slate gets unfolded. One example shows an user touching an icon displayed on the edge display just as they’re about to unfold the device. Said app will already be launched as the device is unfolded. Multiple user profiles could also be shown on the edge display, offering more than one user the option to log in for example.
This patent is not exactly new, since it was filed back in November 2015 and it also details touch recognition in an edge display area, letting users control an edge display depending on the direction of the gadget. So, it knows when up is up and down is down basically, but it can also work in more ambiguous situations. I expect to see this morphing into a product at CES 2017.
