14 DAY TRIAL // We've seen a few dual-panel tablets over the past couple of years, but the design concept wasn't patented by anyone, so Samsung figured it might as well do it itself.
The patent submitted with the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) includes the sketches for the tablet type, showing it both open and closed.
A small Bluetooth device comes alongside the tablet, in the picture showing it open and ready to work. Nothing was said on its purpose.
We can't help but wonder if any confusion will arise from this patent.
For instance, how does one distinguish between a dual-screen tablet and a dual-display laptop? The size of the bezel around the screens might have been put in place just to avoid such strange situations, but they might crop up anyway.
Regardless, we'll let potential patent infringement lawsuits to their own devices. We are already tracking enough of those as it is.
Here, we'll indulge in some speculation as to what the patent means for those who already have dual-slates up and shipping.
Sony's Tablet P is the first example that comes to mind, a foldable Android model for entertainment, casual web browsing, playing Android games, etc.
Whatever Galaxy Tabs Samsung makes may or may not target the same market segment. Some say that business users may be considered as well, as the case makes it feasible for one of the screens to act as a keyboard.
Sony's Tablet P is curved, so it isn't possible to place it on a surface for typing, but the design in Samsung's patent application does not have that issue.
We'll be keeping an eye out for any devices that could be implementations of the Patent No. D658,173. The company may already have a 7-inch slate in the works, so a follow-up report could be closer than we might expect.
