Microsoft Patent Details Hinge Design for Dual-Screen Surface Device
- Mehedi Hassan
- Sep 13, 2019
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Microsoft’s been working on a dual-screen Surface device for a while, and that’s no secret. We have seen patents for a hinged, dual-screen device from the company from as early as 2017, and there have been some other patents detailing Microsoft’s design plans for such a device. And now, there’s a new patent from the company that details a hinged device with two displays in greater detail.
The patent was first filled in March, but it was published this Thursday on the public domain, as first noticed by WindowsUnited.
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The patent describes a device with a flexible display, secure to both the portions of the device. The hinge, which the patent heavily focuses on, facilitates the use of a single flexible display. The patent also describes how the hinge is engineered to reduce the stress on the flexible display when the device is folded. It also talks a lot about the technical components involved to make the hinge work with the flexible OLED display.
There are a bunch of different drawings that show off all the different parts of the hinge as well as the device itself. The inventor of the patent has also designed a number of other similar patents for a hinged device in the past.
Although Microsoft’s foldable Surface device, codenamed Centaurus, has been in the works for a while, no one really knows when Microsoft will actually launch this new device. Current rumours suggest Microsoft will reveal the new device at its Surface event on October 2.
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Conversation 13 comments
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PeterC
<p>I do hope such a device comes to market. Personally I find this type of development fascinating. The conceptual and technical challenges alone are fabulously complex but getting this type of thing prototyped and over the line in terms of actual manufacturing and end product quality are the stuff of legend in my opinion, and I really do mean that, whichever brands from whichever countries deliver such products, it’s a remarkable achievement. </p><p><br></p>
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PeterC
<blockquote><em><a href="#465497">In reply to Daishi:</a></em></blockquote><p>Eerrr. Do you really need to ask this? Really. </p><p><br></p><p>Portability. Simple. Portability opens up hardware usage possibilities in places of work/play where previously you couldn’t. Medicine, law enforcement, in the field engineering etc etc etc etc. </p><p><br></p><p>Then there’s weight. Once i I carried a very heavy bulky laptop everywhere in a large shoulder bag. Then I lugged a not so heavy ultra book in my rucksack, and now I pop a surface pro in my much smaller messenger style bag. With this I will pop my surface into something the size of half my current bag…..</p>