We last reported about a very interesting use case and interactive hinge of the upcoming foldable Surface Centaurus revealed in two Microsoft patents. Now another Microsoft patent has more details about how the volume control user interface will look like and work on a foldable device.
The patent description talks about the volume control UI on a hinged multi-screen device. While individual audio control for the two speakers attached each to the dual displays is present, an overall volume adjustment control is also there.
A hinged multi-screen computing device is provided that includes a processor, at least one speaker, two display devices connected by a hinge containing a hinge sensor, and a housing with two parts, each including a display device. At least one of the displays is configured to display GUI controls, one which adjusts a volume balance between a first and second GUI element displayed on each of the first and second displays, and another which adjusts overall volume.
More interesting is the control over the two audio output modes: parallel output mode that allows both speakers attached to the two displays to fire separate audios vs mixed audio output mode that mixes outputs from two speakers attached to the two displays.
The mobile computing device of claim 8, wherein at least one of the first display and second display is configured to display an audio mix control, wherein the audio mix control is configured to receive a user input selecting between a parallel output mode in which the first audio stream from the first graphical user interface element displayed on the first display is played back via the first speaker positioned in the first part of the housing which houses the first display, and the second audio stream from the second graphical user interface element displayed on the second display is played back via the second speaker positioned in the second part of the housing which houses the second display, and a mixed output mode in which the associated audio streams from the graphical user interface elements displayed on both the first and second displays are mixed and output as mixed mono or stereo audio played back through both the first and second speakers.
The foldable Centaurus device has seen its share of tech media coverage in the last few days, as Microsoft is claimed to readying it for launch in Q1 or H1 2020. Microsoft’s foldable Centaurus device, as per a report will be powered by the Intel Lakefield processor. But another report claimed that Centaurus hardware has many configurations under testing. Some of the protos have Intel processors while others have ARM processors.
