Apple Has Registered A Patent For Adjusting The Transparency Of The Screen Frame

We do not know if or when Apple will use this patent, but it sounds at least interesting and applicable to a very popular gadget today: the tablet. Screen frame has mostly the black color and does not cover the screen surface. Apple wants to be able to build a custom material which becomes transparent and the screen can be extended under it.

When the tablet is held in hand, the frame is opaque and limits less the display area that can be seen by the user. In addition, it provides an area which the user can reach with the fingers without having to deal with the screen.

When the user wants to watch a movie or read a lot of text, the screen frame can become transparent, and can increase the display area. It would be preferable for the tablet to be placed on the table, in a dock or on a stand. Somehow or another, the patent could be applied to smartphones, but they already have very thin frames.

A sensor integrated in a frame will detect when the device is touched. The implementation of such a system in an iPad would be to mean at least one change of the interface. Applications should have two display modes and this is a problem for developers. One solution is to adjust the frame only on two sides, so that the image produced to be proportional to the aspect of the big one.