Microsoft seems to love the idea of folding displays, and Redmond is showing no signs of letting up on its research into the possibilities therein. Beyond the obvious explorations into Microsoft's rumored folding "Andromeda" tablet, it seems that the company is also looking into bendable tablets, complete with Surface Book and Pro-like keyboard docks.
This latest patent was unearthed by h0x0d on Twitter, and seems to show off flexible displays that can be bent, and also folded out flat and connected directly into a keyboard dock, not unlike the Surface Book's. The patent also describes how the device's different components would be split among each foldable half, which can be undocked completely and used separately as a tablet.
As usual, take note of the fact that patents do not mean products, and Microsoft has been known to cancel things at the last minute. At the very least, these images show experiments and schematics the Surface team might be looking into for future devices, as the division examines what sort of new form factors it can build for Windows. It's not likely that anything we're seeing here will materialize in the expected folding Surface "Andromeda" tablet, but the patent does describe an OS that can conform to the different folded positions taken by the tablet, which is something we expect to see more of as part of Andromeda's Windows Core OS and CShell. Take a look at the full patent right over here.
Everything we know about Microsoft's Surface "Andromeda"
