US-12625660-B2 - Electronic device including flexible display and method for controlling same

US12625660B2US 12625660 B2US12625660 B2US 12625660B2US-12625660-B2

Abstract

An example electronic device may include a housing, a flexible display, at least a portion of which is visible to the outside, and at least one processor configured to, in response to a sliding operation being performed to make visible a second portion including at least a portion of a first portion of the flexible display to the outside, based on an input, in a state in which the first portion of the flexible display is visible to the outside, obtain context information in a state in which the second portion is visible, identify one or more workspaces based on the context information, control the display to display a list of the one or more workspaces in a portion of the second portion, and in response to one workspace being selected from the list, control the display to display execution screens of a plurality of applications in the second portion.

Inventors

Jiwon Jeon
Hongsik Park
Donghee Kang
Youngchan WOO
Joayoung LEE

Assignees

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20241001
Priority Date: 20210812

Claims (18)

1 . An electronic device comprising: a housing including a first housing and a second housing; a flexible display coupled to the first housing and the second housing such that an area of the flexible display that is visually exposed to an outside of the electronic device changes as the second housing moves with respect to the first housing from a first state to a second state; at least one processor including processing circuitry; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on the housing changing from the first state to the second state, display, on the flexible display, a plurality of images each corresponding to a different one of a plurality of workspaces usable in the second state, wherein each image of the plurality of images comprises images each corresponding to an execution screen or icon of a respective application of a plurality of applications to be displayed in a corresponding workspace of the plurality of workspaces, and based on a user input for selecting one of the plurality of images, display, in the visually exposed area of the flexible display, execution screens or icons of applications of a workspace corresponding to the selected image, the execution screens or icons of the applications of the workspace corresponding to the selected image being arranged according to layout information of the workspace corresponding to the selected image.
2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to identify the plurality of workspaces based on a size of the visually exposed area, wherein each respective workspace comprises information about a plurality of applications to be executed in the respective workspace, and layout information of a layout of execution screens of the plurality of applications in the respective workspace.
3 . The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to identify the plurality of workspaces based on time information during a move operation of the second housing, place information during the move operation, or a frequency of use of an application.
4 . The electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to identify the plurality of workspaces based on information about an application running during the move operation or an event occurring before receiving an input for the move operation.
5 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein some of the workspaces are specified, and wherein the specified workspaces have priority over other workspaces.
6 . The electronic device of claim 5 , wherein each specified workspace is a workspace for the second state which has been stored in the memory, based on receiving an input for changing the housing from the second state to the first state.
7 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to, based on receiving an input for moving the second housing from the second state to the first state, store a workspace for the second state in the memory, and based on the second housing moving to the first state and then to the second state, display, on the flexible display, execution screens of a plurality of applications, based on the workspace for the second state, which is stored in the memory.
8 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on receiving an input for connecting a call received in the second state, move the second housing from the second state to the first state, store a workspace for the second state in the memory, based on the call being disconnected, move the second housing from the first state to the second state, and display, on the flexible display, execution screens of a plurality of applications, based on the stored workspace for the second state.
9 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein each of the workspaces further comprises at least one of a network setting, a volume setting, or a notification setting.
10 . An electronic device comprising: a housing including a first housing and a second housing; a flexible display coupled to the first housing and the second housing such that an area of the flexible display that is visually exposed to an outside of the electronic device changes as the second housing moves with respect to the first housing from a first state to a second state; at least one processor including processing circuitry; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to: based on the housing changing from the first state to the second state, display, on the flexible display, a first image corresponding to a first workspace and a second image corresponding to a second workspace, wherein the first image comprises third images each corresponding to an execution screen or icon of a respective application of first applications to be displayed in the first workspace according to first layout information and the second image comprises fourth images each corresponding to an execution screen or icon of a respective application of second applications to be displayed in the second workspace according to second layout information, receive a user input after the housing is in the second state, based on the user input selecting the first image, displaying, on the flexible display, execution screens or icons of the first applications according to the first layout information in the visually exposed area of the flexible display, and based on the user input selecting the second image, displaying, on the flexible display, execution screens or icons of the second applications according to the second layout information in the visually exposed area of the flexible display.
11 . A method of controlling an electronic device comprising a first housing and a second housing, the method comprising: based on the second housing moving with respect to the first housing from a first state to a second state to change an area of a flexible display that is visually exposed to an outside of the electronic device, displaying, on the visually exposed area of the flexible display, a plurality of images each corresponding to a different one of a plurality of workspaces usable in the second state, wherein each image comprises images each corresponding to an execution screen or icon a respective application of a plurality of applications to be displayed in a corresponding workspace of the plurality of workspaces; and based on a user input for selecting one of the plurality of images, displaying, in the visually exposed area of the flexible display, execution screens or icons of applications of the workspace corresponding to the selected image, the execution screens or icons being arranged according to layout information of the workspace corresponding to the selected image.
12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising: identifying the plurality of workspaces based on a size of the visually exposed area, wherein each respective workspace comprises information about a plurality of applications to be executed in the respective workspace, and layout information of a layout of execution screens of the plurality of applications in the respective workspace, and wherein the execution screens are arranged based on the layout information of the corresponding workspace.
13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising identifying the plurality of workspaces based on time information during a move operation of the second housing, place information during the move operation, or a frequency of use of an application.
14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising identifying the plurality of workspaces based on information about an application running during the move operation or an event occurring before receiving an input for the move operation.
15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein some of the workspaces are specified, wherein the specified workspaces have priority over other workspaces, and wherein each specified workspace is a workspace for the second state, which has been stored in memory of the electronic device, based on receiving an input for changing from the second state to the first state.
16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising: based on receiving an input for moving the second housing from the second state to the first state, storing a workspace for the second state in a memory of the electronic device; and based on the second housing moving to the first state and then to the second state, displaying execution screens of a plurality of applications, based on the workspace for the second state, which is stored in the memory.
17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising: based on receiving an input for connecting a call received in the second state, moving the second housing from the second state to the first state, storing a workspace for the second state in a memory of the electronic device, based on the call being disconnected, moving the second housing from the first state to the second state, and displaying, on the flexible display, execution screens of a plurality of applications, based on the stored workspace for the second state.
18 . One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of an electronic device comprising a first housing and a second housing, cause the electronic device to perform operations comprising: based on the second housing moving with respect to the first housing from a first state to a second state to change an area of a flexible display that is visually exposed to an outside of the electronic device, displaying, on the visually exposed area of the flexible display, a plurality of images each corresponding to a different one of a plurality of workspaces usable in the second state, wherein each image comprises images each corresponding to an execution screen or icon of a respective application of a plurality of applications to be displayed in a corresponding workspace of the plurality of workspaces; and based on user input for selecting one of the plurality of images, displaying, in the visually exposed area of the flexible display, execution screens of applications of a workspace corresponding to the selected image, the execution screens or icons of the applications of the workspace corresponding to the selected image being arranged according to layout information of the workspace corresponding to the selected image.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 17/846,668, filed Jun. 22, 2022, now U.S. Pat. No. 12,131,088, which is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/KR2022/005678 designating the United States, filed on Apr. 20, 2022, in the Korean Intellectual Property Receiving Office and claiming priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0106643, filed on Aug. 12, 2021, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. BACKGROUND Field The disclosure relates to an electronic device including a flexible display and a method of controlling the same. Description of Related Art As the demand for mobile communication increases and, as the degree of integration of electronic devices increases, portability of electronic devices such as mobile communication terminals may be improved, and convenience in using multimedia functions and the like may be enhanced. For example, as a display equipped with a touch screen function replaces a traditional mechanical (button type) keypad, the electronic device may be miniaturized while maintaining the function of an input device. For example, portability of the electronic device may be improved by removing the mechanical keypad from the electronic device. In an embodiment, if the display is extended as much as the area by which the mechanical keypad is removed, the electronic device including a touch screen function may provide a larger screen than the electronic device including a mechanical keypad even though it has the same size and weight as the electronic device including the mechanical keypad. It may be more convenient to use an electronic device that displays a larger screen in surfing the web or using a multimedia function. Although a larger display may be mounted to the electronic device in order to display a larger screen, there may be restrictions in extending the size of the display in consideration of the portability of the electronic device. A display using an organic light-emitting diode or the like may secure the portability of an electronic device while providing a larger screen. For example, a display using an organic light-emitting diode (or an electronic device equipped with the same) may realize stable operation even if it is manufactured to be quite thin, so it may be mounted to an electronic device in a foldable, bendable, or rollable form. An electronic device including a flexible display having a flexible screen size from a small screen of a smartphone to a large screen of a tablet PC or more performs multi-tasking work in various screen sizes and ratios depending on the situation. As the screen size of the electronic device is changed, primarily used application configuration, the layout of application execution screens, or an optimized workspace may vary for each screen size or ratio. SUMMARY Embodiments of the disclosure provide an electronic device and a method of controlling the same capable of easily storing a workspace optimized for various screen sizes of an electronic device and providing an optimized workspace depending on a change in the screen size. According to various example embodiments, an electronic device may include: a housing, a flexible display at least a portion of which is visible to the outside through the housing, and at least one processor operably connected to the flexible display, wherein the at least one processor may be configured, based on a sliding operation being performed, to make visible a second portion including at least a portion of a first portion of the flexible display to the outside, based on an input, in a state in which the first portion of the flexible display is visible to the outside, to: obtain context information in a state in which the second portion is visible, identify one or more workspaces based on the context information, control the display to display a list of the one or more workspaces in a portion of the second portion, and, based on one workspace being selected from the list, control the display to display execution screens of a plurality of applications in the second portion, based on the selected workspace, and wherein each of the one or more workspaces may include size information of the second portion, information about a plurality of applications to be executed, and layout information of execution screens of the plurality of applications. A method of controlling an electronic device according to various example embodiments may include, based on a sliding operation being performed to make visible a second portion including at least a portion of a first portion of a flexible display to the outside, based on an input, in a state in which the first portion of the flexible display is visible to the outside: obtaining context information in a state in which the second portion is visible, identifying one or more workspaces, based on the context info