Illumination – Revolving
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-05
2001-07-03
Cariaso, Alan (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Revolving
C362S302000, C362S282000, C362S323000, C362S346000, C349S065000, C349S067000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254245
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to backlights for liquid crystal displays.
A typical liquid crystal display (LCD) has a liquid crystal display panel and a backlight arranged behind the display panel. The backlight includes a light guide plate, which is located behind the display panel, an edge light, which is arranged at one end of the backlight, and a light collector, which is arranged at the other end of the backlight. The light guide plate is typically made of an acrylic. A light emitting diode (LED) or an electroluminescence (EL) may be employed as the edge light. The light collector has a lens-like shape and transmits ambient light, such as sunlight or artificial light, to the light guide plate. Examples of backlights are described in “Recent Trends in Liquid Crystal Backlights,
Monthly Display
, June 1997: 75-85.”
An LCD may be applied to the view finder of, for example, a video camera or a digital still camera. In such cases, outdoor usage may incur problems. When strong sunlight shines on the display panel from behind the user on a sunny day, the amount of light transmitted to the light guide plate decreases. This may lead to a decrease in the brightness of the display panel. In some cases, the decrease in brightness can make the images on the display panel barely visible.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a liquid crystal display backlight that collects ambient light efficiently.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To achieve the above objective, the present invention provides a liquid crystal display backlight comprising: a light guide plate; a light collector arranged on at least one end of the light guide plate and having an exposed surface for receiving ambient light; and a reflector arranged within the light collector.
The present invention further provides a liquid crystal display comprising: a liquid crystal display panel; a light guide plate located adjacent to the liquid crystal display panel; a light collector arranged on at least one end of the light guide plate and having an exposed surface; and a reflector arranged in the light collector.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.
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patent: 5748237 (1998-05-01), Ueda et al.
patent: 5857761 (1999-01-01), Abe et al.
patent: 5886759 (1999-03-01), Mashino et al.
patent: 6034750 (2000-03-01), Rai et al.
“Trends of Backlighting Systems Using Liquid Crystai (SIC) Display” by Tanaka, A., Monthly Display Magazine, Publication Date Jun., 1997, pp. 75-85.
Cariaso Alan
Sanyo Electric Co,. Ltd.
Sheridan & Ross P.C.
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