This article has been indexed from MacRumors: Mac News and Rumors – Front Page
Apple is researching ways to hide the iPhone‘s notch when it is not in use and expand the display, according to a newly granted patent.
The patent, first spotted by Patently Apple, is titled “Electronic devices with adjustable display windows” and was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. It explains how a device’s display could move as to show and hide the front-facing camera and other optical components.
Apple describes this mechanism as creating a “window region” in the display, through which a camera or other TrueDepth array components, such as a dot projector for Face ID, can work. Then, when these parts are not in use, the display would move back over the window region to hide the sensors underneath it. The summary of the patent reads:
An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels for displaying images. The display may have a window region. During operation, a component such as an optical component may operate through the window region. The window region may overlap a movable portion of the display. The window region may be operated in open and closed states. In the closed state, the movable portion of the display overlaps the window region and pixels in the movable display portion emit light through the window region. In the open state, the movable portion of the display is moved away from the window region so that light for the optical component may pass through the window region. The optical component may be a camera or other component that receives light through the window region or may be an optical component that emits light through the window region.
The patent describes two main mechanical means through which the display could move to create a window for the notch components. The first is a display that is a flap formed either by a flexible display or a separate rigid display layer that moves about a hinge. This flap would be bent away from the rest of the display to open up the window region.
