Stanley Electric Co., Ltd

Other

International Business Machines Corporation

Sumitomo Chemical Company, Limited

Yoji Oki

Masaru Suzuki

Koji Kawada

Atsushi Kurita

Lingwei Goh

Kazumi Chijiwa

Masatsuna Sawada

Yasuo Toko

Junji Nakamura

Mikio Kurihara

Ying Bao Yang

Osamu Ishige

Nobuo Matsui

Masahiro Sasaki

Tsuneo Sekiguchi

Yasuyuki Daigo

Yoshihiro Katsu

Fumihisa Hanzawa

Yoshiteru Watanabe

Kazushige Ohta

Shigeo Fujisawa

Hideyuki Kamiyama

Uruo Kobayashi

Norihiro Sakamoto

Atsushi Omori

Koichi Hanaski

Takeshi Asakura

Masaki Ohshima

Takashi Noma

Fumitoshi Isobe

Hidiaki Sasaya

Tatsuo Fukui

Kenichi Inoue

Kenzo Murata

Yoshinori Go

To provide a light guide plate with reduced luminance unevenness. The light guide plate includes: a base portion having a one surface and a light incident surface disposed on one end side of the one surface and intersecting the one surface, and a plurality of convex lenses provided on a side facing the one surface of the base portion, each of the plurality of convex lenses extending in a first direction and aligned along a second direction which is substantially orthogonal to the first direction, where the base portion includes at least a first region relatively close to the light incident surface and a second region relatively far from the light incident surface, and where the first region is provided with a plurality of first bottom portions that are surfaces disposed between the convex lenses adjacent to each other in the second direction and inclined with respect to the first direction.

Light guide plate, lighting apparatus, and display apparatus

A side-edge type surface light emitting apparatus includes: a light guide plate having a first light emitting surface, a light distribution controlling surface, and a light incident surface; a light source; an upper prism sheet disposed on the upper side of the light guide plate, the upper prism sheet having multiple first prisms on a lower side and a second light emitting surface on an upper side; and a first lower prism sheet disposed on the lower side of the light guide plate, the first lower prism sheet having multiple second prims on an upper side and a first flat surface on a lower side.

Side-edge type surface light emitting apparatus having light guide plate sandwiched by upper and lower prism sheets

A side-edge type surface light emitting apparatus includes: a light guide plate having a first light emitting surface, a light distribution controlling surface opposing the first light emitting surface and a light incident surface; a light source disposed on the light incident surface; a first prism sheet having multiple first prisms opposing the first light emitting surface and a second light emitting surface opposing the multiple first prisms; a light absorbing sheet opposing the light distribution controlling surface; and a second prism sheet having a flat surface opposing the light distribution controlling surface and multiple second prisms opposing the light absorbing sheet, the multiple second prisms being perpendicular to the light incident surface of the light guide plate.

A surface light source devicecomprises light sourcesanda light guide plateand a prism sheetA plurality of ridgesare formed on the incident surface of the prism sheetEach ridgeincludes first and second inclined surfacesandwhose inclination angles with respect to a normal lineare Aand Arespectively, provided that 35.5&#xb0;&#x2264;A1&#x2264;39&#xb0; and 23&#xb0;&#x2264;A2&#x2264;30&#xb0;.

Surface light source device and prism sheet

A non-spectacled stereoscopic display apparatus includes: a light guide plate having a light distributing face, a light emitting face, and first and second light incident faces; first and second light sources disposed on the first and second light incident faces, respectively; a single-face prism sheet disposed on the light emitting face of the light guide plate; a transmissive display panel disposed on a light emitting face of the single-face prism sheet with no air gap therebetween, the transmissive display panel having a polarizing plate opposing the light emitting face of the single-face prism sheet; and a synchronous drive circuit adapted to synchronize the first and second light sources to display parallax images on the transmissive display panel. A polarizing direction of polarization anisotropy of the light emitting face of the single-face prism sheet coincides with a polarizing direction of the polarizing plate.

Non-spectacled stereoscopic display apparatus capable of decreasing crosstalk

A non-spectacled stereoscopic display apparatus includes a light guide plate, first and second light sources, a single-face prism sheet, a transmissive display panel, a synchronous drive circuit adapted to synchronize the first and second light sources to display parallax images on the transmissive display panel, a phase difference plate, and an optically-modulating structure adapted to receive light emitted from the phase difference plate. The optically-modulating structure includes first and second transparent substrates, a prism array provided on the first transparent substrate, a first transparent electrode layer, a second transparent electrode layer, a liquid crystal layer, and first and second alignment layers for performing an aligning process upon liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer. The phase difference plate is adapted to rotate a main polarization angle of the single-face prism sheet by a predetermined angle to coincide with an aligning direction of the liquid crystal layer.

Non-spectacled stereoscopic display apparatus capable of improving optical characteristics

A surface light source device having a local dimming function and an LCD unit using the device can include a light guide having a top surface including a plurality of linear convexes and a bottom surface including a plurality of dots. The device can also include a reflective sheet located adjacent the bottom surface, a prism sheet located adjacent the top surface, a diffusing sheet located adjacent the prism sheet, and a pair of LED light sources located adjacent both light incident surfaces of the light guide and divided into a plurality of groups. Each light emitted from the groups can be configured to be emitted independently from a respective one of local domains on a light-emitting surface of the device. Therefore, the disclosed subject matter can provide a surface light source device having a local dimming function with a simple structure as with a conventional edge light type device.

Surface light source device and LCD unit

A surface light source device can be configured to increase front luminance as compared to certain conventional light sources. The surface light source device can include a light guiding plate having a first end surface and a second end surface, a light exiting surface formed to have a light exiting portion and a tapered surface disposed opposite to the light exiting surface. A light source can be disposed along the first end surface of the light guiding plate, and a reflection sheet can be disposed on the tapered surface of the light guiding plate. A prism sheet having a prism surface can face toward the light exiting portion of the light guiding plate. The light exiting portion can be disposed a predetermined entrance length away from the first end surface along the light exiting surface so that the light exiting surface can form a predetermined taper angle with the tapered surface.

Surface light source device

The disclosed subject matter includes providing a surface light source device with high brightness that can emit light from both surfaces and an LCD unit having the same qualities. The surface light device can include a light guide having a light incoming surface, a reflecting sheet located adjacent the light guide, a transparent sheet having a light incoming surface located adjacent the reflecting sheet and a light source located toward both light incoming surfaces. Light emitted from the light source can be configured to enter into the light guide and the transparent sheet via the light incoming surfaces. The light can be efficiently emitted in both directions from the light guide and the transparent sheet using the reflecting sheet. Therefore, an LCD unit that includes an LCD located adjacent the light guide and a second display located adjacent the transparent sheet can illuminate displays with higher brightness.

An object of the present invention is to provide a die suitable for producing an optical panel having an optical pattern (e.g. dots or lines) integrally formed on at least one side of the optical panel, which is, for example, an edge light panel or a light diffusion panel, which is used in a backlight or front light for a liquid crystal display, and various illuminators such as electric signs. According to the present invention, there are provided an optical-panel molding die for integrally forming an optical pattern on at least one side of an optical panel, which comprises a metal substrate and a molding pattern corresponding to said optical pattern and formed of a photosensitive heat-resistant resin on one side of the metal substrate, the whole of the surface having the molding pattern of the metal substrate being covered with a layer of said heat-resistant resin; a process for producing the die; and a process for producing an optical panel by using the die.

Die for molding optical panel, process for production thereof, and use thereof

A plane light source apparatus having a lamp as light source and a light guide plate for directing and emitting the light from the lamp, wherein said light guide has a light incident surface opposed to said lamp and where the light from the lamp enters, a light emitting surface for emitting light from the lamp, and an opposed surface opposed to the light emitting surface, said light emitting surface or said opposed surface extends in the direction opposed to said light incident surface, has a plurality of convexoconcave portions formed to collect substantially light propagating in said light guide plate, and said convexoconcave portions have a flat face formed at the bottom of the concave portion or at the top face of the convex portion.

Plane light source apparatus, light guide plate and display

A polarized component is obtained with a high conversion efficiency in a light guide which produces one of the polarized components by having it transmitted. The light from a light source is incident to a light guide which comprises a plurality of light guide layers and reflected by the end surface to an interface between the light guide layers. The polarized component transmitting through the end surface is rotated in its polarization plane by a wave length plate and reflected by a reflecting plate for reentrance to the light guide at the end surface of the light guide toward the interface. The reentering light mostly transmits through the interface because the polarization plane is rotated. A reflected light polarized component is returned to the wave length plate and the reflecting plate, and directed back to the interface again. The polarized component transmitting through the interface is similarly transmitted and reflected in the next interface. The number of interfaces can be reduced by increasing the reflection of the polarized component reflected in the interface. For this purpose, the index of refraction in the direction along the axis of the reflected polarized component is increased by making the index of refraction of the light guide layer anisotropic.

Light guide device enhancing a polarized component and liquid crystal display device

A reflection type display having a front light comprises a light guide plate having a light incident portion to which the lights are introduced, a planar surface arranged on the surface facing said first substrate and a prismatic surface arranged on the other surface, said prismatic surface comprising pseudo-planar surfaces which are formed at an angle of approximately 0.5 to 3.5 degrees with said planar surface and are raised greater as being distanced away from said light incident portion and slanted surfaces which are formed at an angle of approximately 40 to 60 degrees with said planar surface and are descended greater as being distanced away from said light incident portion, said pseudo-planar surfaces and said slanted surfaces are arranged alternately to form multiple prisms.

Reflection type display with front light

The invention is intended to reduce the weight of the entire unit, make it compact and prevent the emitted light from being in dark and bright stripes in a light guide unit for a back light of a liquid crystal display device. Further, this invention allows a prism sheet having a larger apex angle to be used. To this end, the light guide unit comprises a plurality of light guide films laminated on the light guide member. The sloped surface which is opposite to the incident surface of the light guide unit is formed with grooves each having an inclination of an angle related to Brewster angle. A prism sheet is further disposed with the side having apexes oriented to the light guide unit to deflect the light emitted from the light guide unit.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Yoji Oki