The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 25, 2008
Filed:
Oct. 17, 2003
Yutaka Inoue, Suzuka, JP;
Kohji Ohtsuka, Tochigi, JP;
Kazuyoshi Izumi, Tochigi, JP;
Takashi Yoshii, Chiba, JP;
Yutaka Inoue, Suzuka, JP;
Kohji Ohtsuka, Tochigi, JP;
Kazuyoshi Izumi, Tochigi, JP;
Takashi Yoshii, Chiba, JP;
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha, Osaka, JP;
Abstract
A backlight unit includes a fluorescent lamp to illuminate a liquid crystal panel, a reflection unit for causing the light from the fluorescent lamp to exit toward a certain direction, and a diffusion unit for diffusing the light from the fluorescent lamp and reflection unit, and reflectance or transmittance in the horizontal and vertical directions is controlled by applying a dot pattern that gradually increases densities from the central portion toward the peripheral portion to the reflection unit or diffusion unit, or by applying a dot pattern that gradually increased densities from the central portion toward the both ends in the longitudinal direction on the surface of the fluorescent tube of the fluorescent lamp. By doing this, brightness gradient is formed in the horizontal and vertical directions so that the brightness in the central portion of the liquid crystal panel is relatively higher than the brightness of the peripheral portion thereof.