DESC:FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
[39 of 1970]
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(Section 10; Rule 13)

A SYSTEM AND METHOD TO ENHANCE MULTI-SCREEN DEVICE USER EXPERIENCE

SAMSUNG R&D INSTITUTE INDIA – BANGALORE Pvt. Ltd.
# 2870, ORION Building, Bagmane Constellation Business Park,
Outer Ring Road, Doddanekundi Circle,
Marathahalli Post,
Bangalore -560037, Karnataka, India
Indian Company

The following Specification particularly describes the invention and the method it is being performed

RELATED APPLICATION
The present invention claims benefit of the Indian Provisional Application No. 2377/CHE/2015 titled "A SYSTEM AND METHOD TO ENHANCE MULTI-SCREEN DEVICE USER EXPERIENCE” by Samsung R&D Institute India – Bangalore Private Limited, filed on 11th May 2015, which is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention generally relates to mobile communication systems and methods and particularly relates to multi-screen computing. The present invention more particularly relates to a method for enhancing user experience while using a multi-screen device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A substantial number of handheld computing devices, such as cellular phones, tablets, and E-Readers, make use of a touch screen display not only to deliver display information to the user but also to receive inputs from user interface commands. While touch screen displays may increase the configurability of the handheld device and provide a wide variety of user interface options, this flexibility typically comes at a price. The dual use of the touch screen to provide content and receive user commands, while flexible for the user, may obfuscate the display and cause visual clutter, thereby leading to user frustration and loss of productivity.

Mobile phones and display devices are already evolved with Single edge displays (i.e. Main screen and Edge screen making it a dual-screen device) or Dual edge displays (i.e. Main screen and 2 edge screens making it a triple-screen device). Apart from this, the mobile devices having two displays, where one display on the front and another on the rear of the device or a flip book / clamshell kind of model with two displays. Presently Mobile Applications (either native applications like Telephony / SMS, or Android / Tizen apps) are being written assuming a single screen. There is nothing in the framework/platform exposing the possible screen combinations of the underlying hardware wherever special models like edge models are available, special version of the Apps needs to be written for those models. Sometimes the experience provided by devices on the second-screen are controlled by the device vendors and not by App developers (for example ABC model, displays call/text notifications on front screen). Hence the App developers have no real control on how to tailor their experience from device to device depending on the screen combination available. Likewise end users also have no control on how to tailor the experience of each App for the kind of screen combination that is available to him/her.

Few emerging trends in the market are multiple devices (wearables, Smart-Home console etc) connected to Mobile through BT-SAP or any other wireless means and using Mobile display to view the content/status of other devices. In this kind of structure, the master device being the mobile phone is controlling all the devices and user can access the functionality of other connected devices through Master device only. Apart from this using a second screen to enhance the experience of the first screen (either by simple streaming or by using AR Features) is an emerging trend.

The Multi SIM devices are also popular in the market where user uses different SIM to access different services. In this case, the user can use multiple SIM in the same device e.g. in dual SIM mobile phones, one SIM could be associated with a security app, such as a Knox, for secure access and the other SIM could be used as personal which is non-Knox. The device security application Knox is a suite of mobile enterprise security solutions that provides device protection, management and development options.

With the introduction of Multi SIM devices and Multiple devices concept the problem for accessing the UI for different contents of these devices or SIM has become challenging. Further these devices do not provide user friendly interface to the end user. In case user want to access the contacts or messages of these SIMs or devices, then two UI options are provided as:
1. UI will display the complete list of messages or contacts
2. In contacts/message, an UI option is provided for the user to choose to view the SIM1 information or SIM2 information or Device1/Device2.

In the second case, the user have to go to different options. For example, in order to view the contact list of other SIM, the user has to go through options, such as contacts->setting->select the option, to view the separate contact list. The same is applicable for any contents/screen for a multi SIM or device.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram representing a typical UI issue for Multi SIM/multiple device (BT-SAP) mobile phone. The various issues are listed below.

Problem 1: User will not be able to find out the call/notification is from which device or SIM.
Problem 2: Multiple steps are required to make calls from different SIM or device.
Problem 3: Exploring the different options to view the contents of different devices or SIM which is time consuming.
Problem 4: Multiple steps are required to switch between Knox and personal phone.

The further issues faced by the dual SIM/multiple device phones are cluttered interface, higher battery consumption, network issues, interruption in ongoing services, etc.

The existing electronic devices includes multiple screens like single edge screen, dual edge screen etc, but it is to be noted that no system is available which can provide better user experience and can utilize the multi-screen services in an efficient way. I view of the foregoing, there is a need for a method and system which can enhance multi-screen device user experience.

The above mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The various embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and system for enhancing Multi-Screen device user experience. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for managing applications on a multi-screen device, the method comprises steps of displaying, on a primary screen, representations of one or more device applications installed in the multi-screen device, moving at least one device application onto a secondary screen based on a user input, and performing one or more predefined actions on the representation of the at least one device application on the secondary screen, wherein the secondary screen is adapted to perform the one or more predefined actions based on privileges configured to the secondary screen.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the one or more pre-defined actions comprises of, but not limited to, a security management action, a memory management action, a power management action, a connect and data share management action,a privileged screen action, and the like.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the security management action comprises of, but not limited to, enabling a user to lock one or more device applications, documents or files on the at least one screen of the multi-screen device, lock only the secondary screen while the primary screen is unlocked, unlock the one or more device applications based on a user input and the like, wherein the user input is one of, but not limited to, a swipe action, gesture of a preset pattern, a voice input, a biometric input, and the like.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the memory management action comprises of, but not limited to, performing one or more of clearing, deleting or uninstalling updates of the one or more device applications, moving one or more device applications to a storage card, terminating one or more active device applications, providing an indication on completion of a selected action, and the like.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the connect and data share management action comprises of pairing one or more peripheral devices with the multi-screen device, and enabling screen sharing of the one or more peripheral devices on the primary screen of the multi-screen device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the power management action comprises of activating the secondary screen based on an occurrence of a specified event, where the specified event comprises at least one of detection of a new peripheral device attached to the multi-device or installation of a new device application.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the privileged screen action comprises at least one of displaying, on the secondary screen, one or more of controls, notifications or contacts associated with the one or more peripheral devices allocated to the multi-screen device, enabling a quick launch option on the secondary screen for accessing the one or more device applications, providing notifications based on priority assigned to the one or more device applications to render uninterrupted services, and rendering relevant contents associated with the one or more device applications on the corresponding peripheral device by understanding the screen capabilities of the multi-screen device.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the privileged screen action further comprises at least one of, but not limited to, associating a first SIM with a first edge display and a second SIM with a second edge display of the multi-screen device,
identifying a first content associated with the first SIM and a second content associated with the second SIM, displaying an indication of the first content on the first edge display and a the second content on the second edge display, and the like.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first content and the second content comprise one of notifications, controls and contacts associated with the first SIM and the second SIM.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the privileged screen action further comprises of receiving a user input on one of the first edge display and the second edge display, activating a first security profile on the mobile device on receiving the user input on the first edge display, activating a second security profile on the mobile device on receiving the user input on the second edge display, and displaying contents associated with the first security profile on the first edge display and contents associated with the second security profile on the second edge display.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the privileged screen action further comprises enabling an Application Programming Interface (API) wherein the API is adapted for storing the device attributes in a screen capabilities database, when a new peripheral device is attached to the multiscreen device, updating the screen capabilities database when the peripheral device is detached from the multi-screen device, overwriting the screen capabilities database to disable a selected peripheral device for power saving, rendering of different SIMs, peripheral devices or SIM specific device applications on different screens as per availability, and creating a display profile for mapping of the SIM, peripheral devices or device applications to the secondary screen based on priority.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprising temporarily displaying contents related to the first SIM on a second SIM, if the screen allocated for the first SIM is allocated with some other services.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, a multi-screen device comprising a main screen for displaying representations of installed device applications, a secondary screen adapted for receiving at least one device application based on a user input; where the secondary screen is a privileged screen, executing one or more actions on the at least one device application, wherein the secondary screen facilitates the user to execute the one or more actions based on privileges configured to the secondary screen.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the multi-screen device is one of, but not limited to, a single edge phone, dual edge phone, a foldable display phone, and the like.

The foregoing has outlined, in general, the various aspects of the invention and is to serve as an aid to better understanding the more complete detailed description which is to follow. In reference to such, there is to be a clear understanding that the present invention is not limited to the method or application of use described and illustrated herein. It is intended that any other advantages and objects of the present invention that become apparent or obvious from the detailed description or illustrations contained herein are within the scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram representing typical issue for multi SIM/multiple device controlled by the mobile phone, according to a prior art illustration.

Figure 2 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating a method for managing content display on a multi-screen device, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating various actions that can be performed based on the activation of one or more secondary screens, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating use cases for connect and share action with respect to the management of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating use cases for locking of applications with respect to the security management action of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram 600 illustrating use cases for clearing cache or data with respect to the memory management action of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram 700 illustrating use case for activating of secondary screens with respect to the power management action of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 8 is a flow diagram 800 illustrating using different triggers for activation and deactivation of one or more secondary screens, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating use case for enhanced user experience action of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 10 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a system for managing content display, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 11 is a schematic flow diagram illustrating API functioning in a multi-screen device, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 12 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a system for managing content display, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Although specific features of the present invention are shown in some drawings and not in others, this is done for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The various embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and system for managing content display on a multi-screen device.

In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

The specification may refer to “an”, “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations. This does not necessarily imply that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

The various embodiments of the present invention disclose a method and system to enhance multi-screen device user experience by providing flexible multi-screen platform to app developers, mobile vendors and end user. In this invention various methods and use cases have been provided for mapping of these multiple screen displays, without departing from the scope of the invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for managing content display on a multi-screen device is described herein. According to the present invention, the method comprising step of displaying representations of available device applications on a main screen of the multi-screen device. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the multi-screen device can any of user equipment (UE) that includes, but not limited to, a mobile phone, PDA, tablet, laptop, and the like, without departing from the scope of the invention. In another embodiment of the present invention, the multiscreen device can be one of, but not limited to, a single edge phone, dual edge phone, multi edge phone, a foldable display phone and the like. The multi-screen device can comprise of the main screen, which can display all the representations of the applications, including both in-built applications and user-installed applications. In an embodiment of the present invention, the applications can include, but not limited to, access features, user handled applications, entertainment applications such as games, puzzles and the like, system features, documents, and the like, and the person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that application can be any of the applications that user can access by touching an icon on the screen of the multi-screen device, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Further, along with displaying plurality of applications, the main screen can also display representations of the other peripheral devices connected to the multi-screen device, wherein the peripheral device can include other electronic devices such as, but not limited to, wearable devices such as wearable watch, wearable bands, key-chains, pendants, and the like, other multi-screen devices, external storages and the like. In an embodiment of the present invention, the peripheral device can be displayed on the multi-screen device in the form of an icon, so that the user can touch the icon, access it and control it, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Further, the method comprises step of moving at least one device application onto a secondary screen based on a user input, wherein the secondary screen is a privileged screen. In an embodiment of the present invention, the multi-screen device can comprises of one or more secondary screens which user can access for handling one or more applications. In an embodiment of the present invention, the secondary screen of the multi-screen device can be at least one of, but not limited to, a main display of a multi-screen device, a main display of one or more peripheral devices connected to the multi-screen device, a right edge of a display of the multi-screen device, a left edge of the display of the multi-screen device, a top edge of the display of the multi-screen device, a bottom edge of the display of the multi-screen device, a combination of the right, left, top and bottom edges, and the like.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the user input for activating the secondary screen of the multi-screen device can include, but not limited to, dragging and dropping the application from main screen to the secondary screen, swiping from the main screen to the selected secondary screen, manual selection from the menu available for selection of the secondary screen, voice input, gesture/ pattern assigned for the particular secondary screen, and the like, without departing from the scope of the invention. Based on the user input, the device identifies that the user wishes to move at least one device application to the secondary screen and thus activates the user selected secondary screen of the multi-screen device.

In an embodiment of the present invention, upon activating at least one of the secondary screen, the multi-screen device can create profile for each of the activated secondary screens. In an embodiment of the present invention, the profile created for each of the secondary screen can comprise information such as but not limited to, one or more peripheral devices and one or more applications, including both in-built, and user downloaded and installed applications, that are placed on the secondary screen of the multi-screen device, access permissions allotted to each of the one or more peripheral devices and applications, security permissions assigned, and the like. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that various other parameters can be assigned in the profiled created for the secondary screen, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Further, the method comprises step of executing one or more actions on the at least one device application on the secondary screen, wherein the secondary screen facilitates the user to execute the one or more actions based on privileges configured to the secondary screen. Upon activating the one or more secondary screens and creating the profiles associated with the activated secondary screen, the one or more peripheral devices and one or more applications present in the profile of the associated secondary screens can be handled by the user from the respective secondary screen. The user can perform one or more actions related to the plurality of application on the secondary screens.

In an embodiment of the present invention, one or more actions that can be performed on the applications present on the secondary screen can include, but not limited to, a security management action, a memory management action, a power management action, a connect and share management action, enhanced user experience, and the like. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that various other actions can be performed on the applications associated with the secondary screen, without departing from the scope of the invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the security management action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of locking of one or more device applications, documents or files on the at least one screen of the multi-screen device. Upon adding the one or more applications on the secondary screen, the kernel of the device identifies receiving of one or more applications on the secondary screen and thus to provide the security for accessing of the applications, by default, the device locks the one or more applications, documents or filed on the secondary screen. In another embodiment of the present invention, the locking of the at least one of secondary screen and one or more applications, files, and documents can be set manually, without departing from the scope of the invention.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the device can lock the secondary screen itself instead of locking the applications, so that secured access can be provided to the user. In an embodiment of the present invention, the secondary screen can be in unlocked before dynamically adding the one or more applications, files and documents to the secondary screen. In another embodiment of the present invention, the user can dynamically add one or more applications, documents and files to the secondary screen even when the secondary screen is locked.

Further, the security management action on the secondary screen comprises step of unlocking applications with a user-defined action. Whenever the user wishes to access one or more applications on the secondary screens, then user performs unlocking of the locked secondary screen or applications, documents, or files by a user defined action, wherein the user defined action is one of a swipe input, a pre-defined pattern unlock, a voice input or a biometric input, and the like. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that any of the known locking mechanism can be used for locking and unlocking of the secondary screen and applications, without departing from the scope of the invention. Further, the security management action on the secondary screen comprises step of locking only the secondary screen while the main screen is unlocked.

Further, the security management action on the secondary screen comprises step of switching back to the main screen if no device locking is required. If the multi-screen device identifies that no device locking is required for the applications, files and documents present on the secondary screen, then the applications, files and documents can be brought back to the main screen.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the memory management action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of performing at least one of but not limited to clearing, deleting or uninstalling updates of the plurality of applications. Upon adding one or more applications on the secondary screen, the multi-screen device can check the status of the one or more applications. If the multi-screen device identifies that one or more applications are having unwanted updates, data and other cache information, which is irrelevant to handle, then the multi-screen device can clear, delete or uninstall updates of the one or more applications.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the device can perform clearing, deleting or uninstalling updates of the one or more applications by informing user about unwanted data and updates, and thereby allowing manual clearing, deleting or uninstalling updates. In another embodiment of the present invention, the multi-screen device can automatically perform clearing, deleting or uninstalling updates of the one or more applications. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that the actions performed for clearing, deleting or uninstalling updates of the one or more applications can be controlled based on the settings set according to user selection, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Further, the memory management action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of moving one or more device applications to a storage card. Upon receiving the applications, files and documents on the secondary screen, the multi-screen device can move the one or more applications, files and documents to the storage card, and thereby freeing device memory for faster and efficient functioning. In an embodiment of the present invention, the mule-screen device can automatically move the one or more applications, files or documents to the storage card. In another embodiment of the present invention, the multi-screen device can manually move the one or more applications, files or documents to the storage card based on user selection, wherein the user selects one or more applications, files, or documents which are to be moved to the storage card.

Further, the memory management action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of terminating one or more active device applications. Upon identifying one or more active device application is about to finish its execution, the multi-screen device can terminate the one or more active applications.

Further, the memory management action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of providing an indication on completion of a selected action. Upon performing the selected action, the notification can be provided on the secondary screen. In another embodiment of the present invention, the notification can be provided on the main screen along with the secondary screen. In an embodiment of the present invention, the notification can be at least one of, but not limited to, audio notification, vibration, visual notification including light blinking, and the like.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the connect and share management action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of creating a list of allowed, denied, paired and non-paired peripheral devices with the multi-screen device. Further, the connect and share management action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of switching back to the main screen of the multi-screen device to remove at least one of the connected peripheral device from the list. Further, the connect and share management action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of sharing one or more files with a plurality of contacts at once.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the power management action performed on the multi-screen device comprises step of activating the secondary screen based on an occurrence of a specified event, where the specified event comprises at least one of detection of a new peripheral device attached to the multi-device or installation of a new device application. The can active or deactivate one or more screens of the multi-screen device based on the requirement. The user can activate or deactivate the screens at any point during usage, without departing from the scope of the invention.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the enhanced user experience action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of enabling quick launch option for one or more device applications. Further, the enhanced user experience action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of assigning control notification of a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) or a peripheral device on the at least one secondary screen. Further, the enhanced user experience action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of removing one or more peripheral devices, the SIM or device applications based on user inputs.

The enhanced user experience action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device further comprises step of creating a profile corresponding to each of the plurality of peripheral devices and device applications on the secondary screen. The enhanced user experience action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device further comprises step of performing one or more actions related to the plurality of device applications on the secondary screen. Further, the enhanced user experience action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of enabling the user to deactivate the at least one secondary screen. Further, the enhanced user experience action performed on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device comprises step of changing one or more actions assigned to the user screen and continuing to use the pre-assigned action.

In an embodiment of the present invention, method for managing content display on a multi-screen device further comprises step of enabling the user to deactivate the at least one secondary screen. The user can deactivate at least one of the secondary screens as per user requirement. Further, the method comprises step of changing one or more actions assigned to the user screen. Further, the method comprises step of continuing to use the pre-assigned action, without departing from the scope of the invention.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the method describes the enhanced user experience action on the activated secondary screen of the multi-screen device. The method describes associating multiples SIMs of the multi-screen device for handling contents, applications and settings to the one or more screens of the multi-screen device. The multi-screen device can be any of the herein abovementioned user equipment (UE) with more than one screen, and thus not described herein again to avoid repetition.

The method comprises step of associating a first SIM with a first edge display and a second SIM with a second edge display of the multi-screen device. Further, the method comprises step of identifying a first content set associated with the first SIM and a second content set associated with the second SIM, wherein the first content set and the second content set comprise notifications, controls and contacts associated with the first SIM and the second SIM. Further the method comprises step of displaying the first content set on the first edge display and the second content set on the second edge display.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises step of receiving a user input on one of the first edge display and the second edge display, wherein the first edge display is allocated to the first SIM and the second edge display is allocated to the second SIM. The method further comprises step of activating a first profile on the mobile device on receiving the user input on the first edge display. The method further comprises step of activating a second profile on the mobile device on receiving the user input on the second edge display. The method further comprises step of displaying contents associated with the first profile on the first edge display and contents associated with the second profile on the second edge display.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, method further comprises step of providing a system platform Application Programming Interface (API), wherein the API enables at least one of, but not limited to, display drivers to read device attributes and store the device attributes in a screen capabilities database, when a new screen is attached to the multiscreen device, updating the screen capabilities database when a screen is detached from the multi-screen device, overwriting the screen capabilities database to disable a particular screen either for power saving or for any other purpose, rendering of different SIMs or devices or SIM specific device applications on different screens as per availability, creating a display profile for mapping of the SIM, peripheral devices or device applications to the display screen as per priority, and the like.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the API can further enable installation of one or more sub packages suitable for a device along with a package, when at least one of a new device, SIM or device application is detected, checking for sub packages suitable for a selected application, and rendering corresponding content and user interface on the available display screens, without departing from the scope of the invention.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises step of allocating different colors for the edge displays for each of a multi-SIM device or based on a Radio Access Technology (RAT). According to another embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises step of temporality displaying contents related to a specific SIM on the other SIM, if the screen allocated for the specific SIM is allocated with some other services. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the multiscreen device is at least one of, but not limited to, a single edge phone, dual edge phone, multi-screen phone, a foldable display phone, and the like.

Figure 2 is a schematic flow diagram 200 illustrating a method for managing content display on a multi-screen device, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the flow diagram 200, at step 202, the method comprises step of displaying representations of available device applications on a main screen of the multi-screen device. Plurality of applications and peripheral devices can be displayed on the main screen of the multi-screen device. Further, at step 204, the method comprises step of moving at least one device application onto a secondary screen based on a user input, wherein the secondary screen is a privileged screen. Upon receiving user input, the multi-screen device can allow activation of at least one secondary screen of the multi-screen device. The method and requirements for moving one or more applications to the secondary screen and activating the at least one secondary screen of the multi-screen device has been described herein above and thus not described herein again to avoid repetition.

Further, at step 206, the method comprises step of executing one or more actions on the at least one device application on the secondary screen, wherein the secondary screen facilitates the user to execute the one or more actions based on privileges configured to the secondary screen.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram 300 illustrating various actions that can be performed based on the activation of one or more secondary screens, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The schematic diagram 300 illustrates types of secondary screens 302 of the multi-screen device and various types of actions performed 304 on the one or more secondary screens of the multi-screen device. According to the diagram 300, the types of secondary screens 302 of the multi-screen device can be at least one of edge phone 302a or foldable display phone 302b. The edge phone 302a can be the multi-screen device or phone that comprises of one main screen and comprises of one or more screens on the edges of the device. In an embodiment of the present invention, the edge phone 302a can comprise of display on one edge, two edges, and three edges or on all four edges. In another embodiment of the present invention, the edge phone 302a can comprise of displays on the edges of the back panel too, and the person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that any possible number of edges of the multi-screen device can be used as the secondary screen without departing from the scope of the invention.

Further, the foldable screen phone 302b can be the multi-screen device, wherein the display of the multi-screen device can be a flexible display which can be folded at any required to length to form one main screen and one or more secondary screens. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art knowns about the foldable display phone and thus know how to activate one or more secondary screens in the foldable display phone by moving one or more applications and peripheral devices from the main screen to the at least one secondary screens, without departing from the scope of the invention.

In another embodiment of the present invention, split display phone can be another type of multi-screen device, wherein one of the display of the split display can be set as main screen by default or by user defined settings, and the other portion of the split display can act as secondary screen, and thus can be activated based on moving one or more applications and peripheral devices to the secondary screen, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Further, the schematic diagram 300 comprises different types of actions 304 that can be performed on the secondary screens, wherein the different types of actions 304 performed on the secondary screens comprise of connect and share action 304a, security management action 304b, memory management action 304c, enhanced user experience action 304d, power management action 304e and the like.

The connection and share action 304a on the secondary screen 302 can be performed by choosing and moving the available devices to the secondary screen for one or more operations such as, but not limited to, pairing, moving one or more applications to allowed or not allowed list, and the like. The connect and share action 304a can be performed by dragging the one or more applications or files to the secondary screen and share with available list on the secondary screen. In an embodiment of the present invention, the pairing operation of the one or more applications with the nearby devices can include, but not limited to screen mirroring, near field communication (NFC), Bluetooth (BT), beam, device to device (D2D) communication, and the like.

The security management action 304b comprises of providing security and protection to the access and data of the user upon moving the one or more applications or peripheral devices to the secondary screen. In security management action 304b, the secondary screen can be locked once one or more applications are moved to the secondary screen. In another embodiment of the present invention, the one or more applications and files moved to the secondary screen can be locked. The one or more applications and files can be accessed only upon unlocking the screen or applications by pre-defined unlock method. The different types of authentication methods that can be used for security of the one or more applications and files are described herein above and hence not described herein again to avoid repetition.

The memory management action 304c comprises of various actions such as, but not limited to, clearing cache memory and deleting unnecessary files corresponding to the selected activated secondary screen, killing one or more of active applications and background applications, moving the application to SD card, uninstalling any updates, and the like.

The enhanced user experience action 304d comprises of various actions such as, but not limited to, moving one or more of new SIM, peripheral device, files and applications to the secondary screen to quick launch for easy and quick access, mapping or allocating the SIM, peripheral device, color to the screen, wherein all the controls, notifications, and contacts of the SIM, peripheral device can be displayed on the secondary screen, and the like.

The power management action 304e comprises of activating the secondary screen based on an occurrence of a specified event, where the specified event comprises at least one of, but not limited to, power on the peripheral device, detect new SIM or peripheral device, install new applications, and the like. In another embodiment of the present invention, the user can configure the actions for the second screen accordingly by changing the settings according to his requirements.

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram 400 illustrating use cases for connect and share action with respect to the management of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention. The schematic diagram 400 illustrates performing connect and share action on the multi-screen device. According to the diagram 400, at least one trigger can be used to establish connection and share the data, files and the like with the available list of devices. In an embodiment of the present invention, the triggers can be any of, but not limited to, screen mirroring 402a, nearby device 402b, Bluetooth (BT) 402c, near field communication (NFC)/ Beam 402d, device to device (D2D) communication 402e, and the like.

Further, according to the diagram 400, at 404, one or more available devices Device 1, Device 2, Device 3, and Device 4 can be connected to the multi-screen device via one of the triggers and can displayed on the main screen while the secondary screen is yet in deactivated state. At 406, the user wishes to activate the secondary screen by dragging and dropping Device 2 and Device 3 on the secondary screen. Upon dragging and dropping, the secondary screen gets activated and can create a desired list of applications which can be controlled by the secondary screen itself, wherein the applications dragged and dropped in the secondary screen are still connected via the same triggers. Further, at 408, the user can drag any object on the secondary screen and it can be shared with all the devices listed on the secondary screen.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram 500 illustrating use cases for locking of applications with respect to the security management action of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the diagram 500, initially, at 502, all the applications are present on the main screen and applications are not locked, and hence the user can access the applications without any need of authentication. At 502, only the main screen is active and the secondary screen is in deactivated state. At 504, the secondary screen can be selected and activated by the user by dragging and dropping one or more application icons from main screen to the secondary screen. At 506, upon dragging and dropping the application icons on the secondary screen, the application gets locked and the user is required to perform the necessary authentication process to access the applications. The various types of authentication process used for unlocking/ authentication to access the applications are described herein above, and thus not described again to avoid repetition. Upon performing the necessary authentication, the user can access the application.

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram 600 illustrating use cases for clearing cache or data with respect to the memory management action of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the diagram 600, initially, at 602, all the applications are present on the main screen and applications and the secondary screen is deactivated state. At 604, the user wishes to drag and drop the icon of Facebook application on the secondary screen indicating moving of the Facebook application management to the secondary screen, and thereby activating the secondary screen. Upon dragging and dropping the Facebook application icon on the secondary screen, the multi-screen device identifies that there is some cache data associated with the Facebook application is present in the cache memory of the device, which can deleted. Therefore, at least one icon indicating the presence of cache data and a suggestion to recycle can appear on the secondary screen. At 606, the user can view the icon and clicks on the icon selecting to clear the cache data associated with the Facebook application from the cache memory. Upon clicking the icon, the multi-screen device can clear the cache memory by deleting the cache data associated with the Facebook application and thereby managing memory of the multi-screen device.

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram 700 illustrating a use case for activating and deactivating of secondary screens with respect to the power management action of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the diagram 700, at 702, the multi-screen mobile device can be switched on with only main screen being active and one or more secondary screens can be in deactivated state. An icon can also be provided in the settings menu for manual activation of the secondary screens. The user can activate the one or more secondary screens of the multi-screen device by at least one of options of, but not limited to, powering on the device, upon detecting the new SIM, upon detecting the new peripheral device, upon installing new applications on the multi-screen device, clicking on the EDGE icon in the settings menu, and the like.

At 704, according to another option, an icon can appear on the main screen which can be clicked for activating the secondary screens. Upon tapping the icon/ button, the multi-screen device can highlight all the available secondary screens to the user by illuminating the secondary screens. The user can select one or more secondary screens from the highlighted secondary screens. At 706, the user may select the secondary screen which is on the right side edge of the main screen. At 708, the user may not choose any of the secondary screens and therefore wishes to use the multi-screen device as the normal device. At 710, the user may select the secondary screen which is on the bottom edge of the main screen.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the user may select all the available secondary screens and thereby activating all of them. In another embodiment of the present invention, the multi-screen device can provide pre-determined time to select one or more secondary screens from the available secondary screens. If the multi-screen device does not receive any input from the user within pre-determined time, then the multi-screen device can switch back to its normal functioning. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that various other options can be provided for activating and deactivating the secondary screen of the multi-screen device, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Figure 8 is a flow diagram 800 illustrating using different triggers for activation and deactivation of one or more secondary screens, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the flow diagram 800, at step 802, all the edges of the multi-screen device acting as secondary screen are deactivated. Only the main screen is in active state while all the available one or more secondary screens on the edges of the multi-screen device can be in deactivated state.

Further, at step 804, one of the triggers available in the multi-screen mobile device can be activated. According to the present flow diagram 800, the triggers can be at least one of, power on 806, SIM detected 808, peripheral device detected 810, and new application installed 812, choosing one of the edge / secondary screens 814, moving native application to the secondary screen 816, and the like. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that various other triggers can be used to activate one or more secondary screens of the multi-screen mobile device, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Furhter at step 818, upon selecting at least one of the triggers, the main screen can turn black and all the available secondary screens can be illuminated. At step 820, the user can tap on one or more secondary screens for activation. Upon receiving the tap, the multi-screen mobile device activates the tapped secondary screen and keep them illuminated, while the other non-tapped secondary screens can be deactivated again.

Figure 9 is a schematic diagram 900 illustrating use case for enhanced user experience action of the secondary screen, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the diagram 900, at 902, the use case is being described with respect to dual edge dual SIM mobile phone, wherein the dual edges of the mobile phone can act as two secondary screens of the mobile phone. Of the available dual edges, first edge of the phone can be assigned to the SIM1, while the second edge can be assigned to the SIM2.

The first edge of the dual SIM mobile phone comprises of all the applications, files and documents related to the SIM1, and can display controls and notifications related to the SIM1. Similarly, the second edge of the dual SIM mobile phone comprises of all the applications, files and documents related to the SIM2, and can display controls and notifications related to the SIM2. The user can view all the application icons, files, controls, notification related to the respective SIM on the corresponding edges assigned. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that various other modifications and combinations can be tried to allocate edges to the SIMs for managing the applications, files and controls, without departing from the scope of the invention.

According to the diagram 900, at 904, if the user wishes to provide security to the data and applications present on the first edge, then user taps the first edge to activate a Knox profile on the phone or taps the second edge to activate a personal (non-Knox) profile on the phone. Further, at 906, if the SIM1 is connected to a smartwatch and SIM 2 to a tablet via BT-SAP, the first edge displays smartwatch notifications and second edge displays the tablet notifications.

Further, at 908, on touching the first or second edge, the phone shows orange color if the corresponding SIM is on 3G and green color if the corresponding SIM is on 4G. This helps the user decide which SIM should be used for browsing or video calling. Further, at 910, if a user is reading a SIM 1 notification on first edge, another incoming notification from SIM 1 can be temporarily displayed on second edge to avoid interruption.

Figure 10 is a schematic block diagram illustrating application package 1000, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the block diagram 1000, a new platform application program interface (API) is provided where one or more applications can read screen capabilities using the provided API in the device, wherein the applications can be either native application or user installed application, without departing from the scope of the invention. The application package 1000 comprises of plurality of sub packages for plurality of screens of the multi-screen device (not shown in the figure), sub-package for screen1 1002a, sub-package for screen2 1002b, sub-package for screen 1002n, and the like. Whenever a new screen is attached or activated to the multi-screen device, display drivers shall read the Attributes and store the sub-package associated with the respective screen in the “Screen Capabilities Database (DB)”.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the application package 1000 also comprises sub-packages for combination of screens such that the combination of screens can be controlled and handled to allow easy user access on the multi-screen device. The application package 1000 comprises of the plurality of sub-packages sub-package for screen combination1 1004a, sub-package for screen combination2 1004b,… sub-package for screen combination 1004n, and the like.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the sub-package for the screen combination can comprise of one or more screens. In another embodiment of the present invention, one screen can be part of the one or more sub-packages for screen combination such that functioning on or more screens for the particular activity can invoke particular action on the screen. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that any combination of screens can be selected for the sub-package of screen combination, without departing from the scope of the invention.

As an example, the application for multi-screen experience can be developed in the following way:
Struct AppPackage { Supported ScreenCapabilities, Sub-Package [Array of each Screen capability]}
Struct Sub-Package { Number of screens, ScreenUX [ Array of Number of screens], ScreenContent [ Array of Number of screens] }
ScreenUX { UI/UX attributes like background color, text color, font, size, effects, accompanying
audio/visual effects, specific rendering scheme etc}
ScreenContent { audio, video, text content (or) content source from which info has to be rendered}

Further, for the screens built into the multi-screen device, the DB is Populated automatically, by default. Whenever a screen is detached or deactivated from the multi-screen Device, the display driver shall update the status of the screen in the DB. Further, the applications, both native and installed, can read screen Capabilities using the provided API. The user settings can overwrite the DB to disable a particular screen either for power saving or for any other purpose.

When any new application is installed, it can read the screen capabilities of the device and accordingly install only the sub-packages required / suitable for the given device. Alternatively if the whole package is installed, at run time, the application can decide which sub-packages should be loaded and activated based on the screen capabilities. The applications can also specify the priority for each of these sub-packages so that during the actual customer usage if a given priority screen combination is in use by another application (or disallowed by the user), then the next priority sub-package can provide the required UI. The user can customize the settings for each application if he/she prefers to use certain screen combinations only. The customer can prioritize the applications as well if they happen to compete for the same screen combination.

Figure 11 is a schematic flow diagram 1100 illustrating API functioning in a multi-screen device, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to the flow diagram 1100, the user wishes to access an application on a secondary screen. As soon as the user clicks on the application, the application gets launched. Further, at step 1102, as soon as the application is launched, the multi-screen device first read screen capabilities API, such that the required information for the launched application can be displayed. Further, at step 1104, the multi-screen device checks whether highest priority user experience (UX) for the launched application is supported by device or not.

If the highest priority user experience (UX) for the launched application is supported, then the process goes to step 1106, and if no, then the process will proceed to step 1108. At step 1106, the multi-screen device further checks whether the screen combination is in use by any other higher priority launched application. If yes, then the process flows to step 1108. If no, then the multi-screen device renders the content and UX on the chosen screen combination.

Further, at step 1108, the multi-screen device checks whether highest priority UX for the launched application is supported by the multi-screen device or not. If yes, then the process proceeds to step 1106, wherein it is checked whether the screen combination is in use by any other higher priority launched application. If no, then the multi-screen device keeps on checking till the highest priority UX supports the launched application on the multi-screen device. Further, upon identifying that the screen combination is not being used by any other high priority application, at step 1110, the multi-screen device renders the content and UX on the chosen screen combination. The chosen screen combination can be selected from at least one of, but not limited to, rendering for screen1 1112a, rendering for screen2 1112b, rendering for screen n 1112n, and the like. The person having ordinarily skilled in the art can understand that number of screen combinations for rendering the UX content can be based on the number of available screens on the multi-screen device, without departing from the scope of the invention.

Figure 12 is a schematic block diagram 1200 illustrating a system for managing content display, according to an embodiment of the present invention. According to block diagram 1200, the system can be a multi-screen device, wherein the device can be any of the user equipments (UE) that includes, but not limited to, a mobile phone, tablet, laptop, PDA, and the like. According to the Figure 12, the diagram 1200 comprises of a SIM manager 1202 that manages one or more SIMs present in the multi-screen device, a gear manager 1204 that manages one or more peripheral devices that are connected to the multi-screen device, a telephony and network 1206 that allows the multi-screen device to establish connection with the network for making phone calls. Each device system exposes an interface, detailing the modules in the device like “Multi-SIM manager, Gear/wearable Manager, Telephony & NW manager, Enterprise / Knox App Manager” etc. can be used to read the screen combinations supported. The following is an example content structure:
Struct ScreenCapabilities {Number of screens, Screen Attributes [Array of Number of screens]};
Strict Screen Attributes {length, width, positioning (top, left, right, bottom, front, back etc.), resolution, display technology etc.}

Further, the system 1200 comprises of a Knox manager 1208 that provides security to the one or more applications, files and data corresponding to the user. Further, the system 1200 comprises one or more applications 1210, which can be in-built or installed applications. Further, the system 1200 comprises a screen capabilities database 1212, wherein the screen capabilities database 1212 stores application programming interface (API) for handling the SIM manager 1202, the gear manager 1204, the telephony and network 1206, the Knox manager 1208, and the one or more applications 1210. Whenever a new screen is attached to the user device, display drivers reads the attributes and store the attributes in the screen capabilities database 1212. For screens built into the device, the screen capabilities database 1212 is populated automatically with default. Whenever a screen is detached from the user device, a display driver updates it in the screen capabilities database1212. The device applications (Native or installed) can read screen capabilities using the provided API. The user settings can overwrite the database to disable a particular screen either for power saving or for any other purpose.

The system 1200 further comprises of display drivers 1214, which can manage displaying contents one or more display screens of the multi-screen device. The display drivers and the APIs for handling different modules can be controlled by a processor (not shown in Figure) of the multi-screen device. The system 1200 further comprises of screens screen-1 1216a, screen-2 1216b, and screen-3 1216c, which are controlled by the display drivers 1216 and can display the content of the user on the selected screens.

The user can select one or more screens from the available screens for displaying the content and upon receiving the user request, the display drivers can send information the processor for activating the respective screen. Further, if the user wishes to access particular feature, then the screen capabilities data base can be accessed to obtain the APIs related to feature for providing the particular service. For example, if the user wishes to access the peripheral device smart watch from his secondary screen screen-2, then the display drivers can activate the secondary screen screen-2 and the APIs related to the gear manager module can be invoked from the screen capabilities data base so that the user can easily access the peripheral device, the smart watch.

The foregoing has outlined, in general, the various aspects of the invention and is to serve as an aid to better understanding the more complete detailed description which is to follow. In reference to such, there is to be a clear understanding that the present invention is not limited to the method or application of use described and illustrated herein. It is intended that any other advantages and objects of the present invention that become apparent or obvious from the detailed description or illustrations contained herein are within the scope of the present invention.

,CLAIMS:CLAIMS

We Claim:

1. A method for managing applications on a multi-screen device, the method comprises of:
displaying, on a primary screen, representations of one or more device applications installed in the multi-screen device;
moving at least one device application onto a secondary screen based on a user input; and
performing one or more predefined actions on the representation of the at least one device application on the secondary screen;
wherein the secondary screen is adapted to perform the one or more predefined actions based on privileges configured to the secondary screen.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more pre-defined actions comprises of:
a security management action;
a memory management action;
a power management action;
a connect and data share management action; and
a privileged screen action.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the security management action comprises of:
enabling a user to lock one or more device applications, documents or files on the at least one screen of the multi-screen device, lock only the secondary screen while the primary screen is unlocked or unlock the one or more device applications based on a user input, where the user input is one of a swipe action, gesture of a preset pattern, a voice input or a biometric input.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the memory management action comprises of:
performing one or more of clearing, deleting or uninstalling updates of the one or more device applications, moving one or more device applications to a storage card, terminating one or more active device applications, or providing an indication on completion of a selected action.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the connect and data share management action comprises of:
pairing one or more peripheral devices with the multi-screen device; and
enabling screen sharing of the one or more peripheral devices on the primary screen of the multi-screen device.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the power management action comprises of:
activating the secondary screen based on an occurrence of a specified event, where the specified event comprises at least one of detection of a new peripheral device attached to the multi-device or installation of a new device application.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the privileged screen action comprises at least one of:
displaying, on the secondary screen, one or more of controls, notifications or contacts associated with the one or more peripheral devices allocated to the multi-screen device;
enabling a quick launch option on the secondary screen for accessing the one or more device applications;
providing notifications based on priority assigned to the one or more device applications to render uninterrupted services; and
rendering relevant contents associated with the one or more device applications on the corresponding peripheral device by understanding the screen capabilities of the multi-screen device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the privileged screen action further comprises at least one of:
associating a first SIM with a first edge display and a second SIM with a second edge display of the multi-screen device,
identifying a first content associated with the first SIM and a second content associated with the second SIM, and
displaying an indication of the first content on the first edge display and a the second content on the second edge display.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first content and the second content comprise one of notifications, controls and contacts associated with the first SIM and the second SIM.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:
receiving a user input on one of the first edge display and the second edge display;
activating a first security profile on the mobile device on receiving the user input on the first edge display;
activating a second security profile on the mobile device on receiving the user input on the second edge display; and
displaying contents associated with the first security profile on the first edge display and contents associated with the second security profile on the second edge display.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising enabling an Application Programming Interface (API) wherein the API is adapted for:
storing the device attributes in a screen capabilities database, when a new peripheral device is attached to the multiscreen device;
updating the screen capabilities database when the peripheral device is detached from the multi-screen device;
overwriting the screen capabilities database to disable a selected peripheral device for power saving;
rendering of different SIMs, peripheral devices or SIM specific device applications on different screens as per availability; and
creating a display profile for mapping of the SIM, peripheral devices or device applications to the secondary screen based on priority.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising temporarily displaying contents related to the first SIM on a second SIM, if the screen allocated for the first SIM is allocated with some other services.

13. A multi-screen device comprising:
a main screen for displaying representations of installed device applications;
a secondary screen adapted for:
receiving at least one device application based on a user input; where the secondary screen is a privileged screen;
executing one or more actions on the at least one device application;
wherein the secondary screen facilitates the user to execute the one or more actions based on privileges configured to the secondary screen.

14. The multiscreen device of claim 13, is one of a single edge phone, dual edge phone or a foldable display phone.

Dated this the 7th day of April 2016
Signature

KEERTHI J S
Patent agent
Agent for the applicant