Two new patents surface related to Microsoft's rumored Centaurus foldable device

On October 2nd, Microsoft will hold its next Surface event and there is speculation that the software giant will unveil a foldable Windows 10 powered device with two screens. Remember the foldable Andromeda device that appeared in patents and renders last year? Microsoft reportedly put the project on hold last summer and that was the last we heard of it until this past March when a new patent related to the project was published. The patent revealed a hinge for the foldable that would allow the screens to rotate 360 degrees.

Today, a report out of Germany discusses two new U.S. patents (1,2) that were published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, via Windows United) that are related to the foldable device. One of the patents once again discusses the hinge and again we learn that it will allow the screens to move in a 360-degree arc while supporting different positions that the dual screens can be opened in. The Andromeda device was supposedly going to provide users with five pre-set positions including closed, concave, convex, tent mode, and full. Certain applications were to run on the device depending on the orientation of the screens, and we could see something similar for the new device. For example, in tent mode, an alarm clock might appear while in convex mode one screen could show a virtual QWERTY keyboard to mimic the look of a laptop computer. The second patent mentions the use of a magnetic closure that would use magnets mounted inside multiple sides of the device. This could be part of the technology that will be used by the tablet to determine the positioning of the two screens.

The new Microsoft foldable is reportedly codenamed "Centaurus." Unlike Andromeda, which was looked at as a possible smartphone-to-tablet foldable (and even thought to be the long-awaited Surface Phone), the new device is a tablet and is said to resemble the company's Surface Go slate with slightly rounded corners. The Centaurus device supposedly runs Microsoft's multiple platform version of Windows called Windows Core OS; the latter will drive smartphones, tablets, headsets desktop PCs and more.

The October 2nd event should introduce the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 tablet along with some other new Surface devices. A few days ago, we passed along some rumored specs for the next version of the company's premium Windows-powered slate.