Notifications on Microsoft's future dual screen Surface device may appear on the hinge, suggests new patent

2 min. read

Published on July 10, 2019

published on July 10, 2019

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There is a lot of fuss about Microsoft’s foldable Surface device despite the fact that the company never really talked about it extensively, a few mentions here and there in Windows 10 and that’s about it. That said, it’s very much a possibility that the company is currently playing around with the idea and might also be quite serious about bringing its foldable Surface devices to the market or at least that’s what plenty of Microsoft’s patent suggests.

A fresh patent has emerged today and this one slightly different from what we’ve seen so far from Microsoft. The focus is on the hinge, once again. But this time it’s not a mechanical achievement, it’s the software! The new patent explains how the third screen, the hinge, can display notifications. Here is how Microsoft explained it in the original patent.

A device comprising a plurality of screen regions, including at least a first screen region, a second screen region, and a third screen region; a linked between the first screen region and the second screen region; and one or more processors that perform operations include: determining information to be displayed on the third screen region; determine whether content is dragged from the first screen region to the third screen region; The first screen region to the third screen region.

An apparatus comprising: a plurality of screen areas including at least a first screen area, a second screen area, and a third screen area; a hinge coupled between the first screen area and the second screen area, the third screen area being provided on the hinge; and one or more processors that perform operations, comprising: determining information to be displayed on the third screen area based at least in part on a state of the hinge; Determining whether content from the first screen area is dragged to the third screen area; and providing the content as input to an application associated with the third screen area.