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:
Feb. 07, 2012
Filed:
Jan. 08, 2010
Satoshi Ouchi, Kamakura, JP;
Koichi Sakita, Chigasaki, JP;
Hajime Inoue, Yokohama, JP;
Seiji Murata, Fujisawa, JP;
Satoshi Ouchi, Kamakura, JP;
Koichi Sakita, Chigasaki, JP;
Hajime Inoue, Yokohama, JP;
Seiji Murata, Fujisawa, JP;
Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A backlight unit having a LED light source includes a light guide plate partitioned in areas each having a tapered shape formed of a thick portion and a thin portion. The light guide plate is formed such that a thick portion and a thin portion are repeated at certain intervals, and the repeated thick portions and the repeated thin portions gradually decrease in thickness. The LED light source is attached to a lateral side of each thick portion. Grooves are formed in the light irradiation direction of the LED light source and in a direction perpendicularly intersecting the light irradiation direction. Each of the grooves is formed in an concave shape (V-shape or trapezoid-shape). There is a relation 0.2/30<=W/D<0.1 where D denotes the distance between the light guide plate and a light diffusion plate, and W denotes the width of each of the grooves. An inclination angle θ relative to the center of each of the grooves is between 9 and 15 degrees inclusive. Thus, the backlight unit having the LED light source can utilize an area-partitioned light guide plate which provides an ideal front luminance distribution.