Development of Samsung's Flexible AMOLED Technology from its Patent Portfolios

Table of Contents

1. Commercialization of Samsung's Flexible AMOLED Products 4

2. Samsung Flexible AMOLED Patents 6
2.1 Sharp Rise in Patent Applications for Flexible Displays Since 2011 6
2.2 High Level of Distribution of Patent Inventors 7
2.3 Growing R&D Workforce for Flexible Displays 8
2.4 Patent Applications Covering a Wider Range of Classes 8

3. Analysis on Samsung's Top Three Flexible AMOLED Technologies by Patent Class 10
3.1 Class 257/040: Organic Semiconductor Material 10
3.2 Class 345/156: Display Peripheral Interface Input Device 12
3.3 Class 345/173: Touch panel 14
Conclusion 16
Increasing Curvature and Product Reliability as Key Technology Issues 16
Creating Added Value with Deformable Features 16
Appendix 17
Patent Search Criteria 17
Samsung's Definition of Flexible Displays and Deformation 17
Glossary of Terms 18
List of Companies 19

List of Tables

Table 1: Claimed Functions of Patent Applications in Class 257/040 12
Table 2: Claimed Functions of Patent Applications in Class 345/156 14

List of Figures

Figure 1: Samsung's Smartphones with Flexible Displays 4
Figure 2: Evolution of Radius of Curvature of Samsung's Flexible AMOLED Displays 5
Figure 3: Number of Samsung's Patent Applications for Flexible Displays 6
Figure 4: Number of Flexible Display Patent Applications Filed by Samsung's Top Ten Inventors 7
Figure 5: Number of Flexible Display Patent Applications Filed by Samsung's Top 20 Inventors by Year 8
Figure 6: Top 20 Classes of Flexible Display Patent Applications Filed by Samsung by Year 9
Figure 7: Top 3 Classes of Samsung's 279 Patent Applications Filed between 2013 and 2014 9
Figure 8: Crack Suppressing Layer Description in Class 257/040 (Application No. US20150048329A1) 10
Figure 9: Dummy Pattern Layer Description in Class 257/040 (Application No. US20150034935A1) 11
Figure 10: Screen Unlock Function Description in Class 345/156 (Application No. US20150034935A1) 13
Figure 11: Data Entry Method Description in Class 345/173 (Application No. US20140218321A1) 15