Motorola patent would merge multiple phone displays
updated 06:25 pm EST, Fri March 5, 2010
Motorola USPTO design could unify phone LCDs
Motorola on Thursday saw a patent published at the US Patent and Trademark Office that suggests the company is exploring the idea of combining handheld displays. Citing the problem of needing different display sizes for different tasks, it proposes letting two or more phones, mobile Internet devices or media players combine their screens to handle a single task. It would provide both a larger canvas as well as the option of using different devices' built-in keyboards and other controls for specific features.
As described, it would be partly intended for catching an inbound Internet video stream and could tell each of the attached displays to change their output resolutions depending on the quality of the 3G or Wi-Fi connection.
The patent isn't necessarily an indication of Motorola's plans, but as it was filed late in 2008 it opens the door to either special features when phones are put near each other or else phones with multiple intelligent displays. [via Engadget]
