Illumination – Light fiber – rod – or pipe – Illuminating or display apparatus
Reexamination Certificate
2001-12-27
2003-05-20
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Illumination
Light fiber, rod, or pipe
Illuminating or display apparatus
C362S035000, C362S026000, C362S330000, C385S901000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06565249
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spread illuminating apparatus, and more particularly to a spread illuminating apparatus used as an illuminating means for a liquid crystal display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A demand for a liquid crystal display device operating in a low power consumption is increasing mainly for a computer-related field due to its low profile and light weight. However, since a liquid crystal of the liquid crystal display device does not emit light by itself unlike a light emitting element such as a cathode-ray tube, a separate illuminating means is required for an image observation. In particular, a spread illuminating apparatus of side light type (light conductive plate type) is used as an illuminating means for the liquid crystal display device for satisfying a recent demand of the low profile.
FIGS. 5
to
7
show an example of a side light type spread illuminating apparatus.
As shown in
FIGS. 5 and 6
, a spread illuminating apparatus
1
generally comprises a transparent substrate (a guide plate)
2
made of a light-transmissible material, a bar-like light source
3
disposed close to an end surface
2
a
of the transparent substrate
2
, and a frame
4
on which the transparent substrate
2
and the light source
3
are mounted.
The light source
3
generally comprises a bar-like light conductive member (a guide rod)
5
made of a transparent material and disposed along and close to the end surface
2
a
of the transparent substrate
2
, an LED
6
(a spot-like light source) disposed facing one end
5
a
of the light conductive member
5
and mounted on a flexible printed circuit board (hereinafter referred to as FPC)
8
together with the light conductive member
5
, and a reflection plate
7
(to be discussed hereinbelow) disposed facing another end
5
b
of the light conductive member
5
and mounted on the FPC
8
together with the light conductive member.
The FPC
8
has a substantially elongate rectangular FPC main body
8
a
on which the light conductive member
5
, the LED
6
and the reflection plate
7
are mounted. An extension having a connecter on a tip thereof is provided at the FPC main body
8
a
, though not shown in the figure.
The frame
4
comprises a substrate mounting section
10
shaped rectangular and adapted to mount the transparent substrate
2
on, and an FPC mounting section
11
shaped elongatedly rectangular, disposed in contact with the substrate mounting section
10
and adapted to receive the FPC main body
8
a
. The longitudinal dimension of the FPC mounting section
11
is set to be larger than the width of substrate mounting section
10
.
A wall
12
is provided vertically at one end (the lower side in
FIG. 6
) of the substrate mounting section
10
as shown in FIG.
6
. Further, a wall
13
is provided vertically at one end (an upper side in
FIGS. 6 and 7
) of the FPC mounting section
11
as shown in
FIGS. 6 and 7
.
Though not shown in the figures, the extension having a connector on the tip thereof is provided at a side of the FPC main body facing transparent substrate, and an opening through which the extension passes is formed at a flat area where the substrate mounting section and the FPC mounting section of the frame meet with each other.
In the above conventional art, the upper surface of the light conductive member
5
and the upper surface of the transparent substrate
2
are not flush with each other due to the thickness of the FPC
8
. Thus, the coupling efficiency of light emitted from the light conductive member
5
and guided in the transparent substrate
2
(hereinafter referred to as “light coupling efficiency”) is degraded.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been made in the light of the above problem. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a spread illuminating apparatus which can improve the light coupling efficiency between the light conductive member and the transparent substrate.
In order to solve the above problem, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in a spread illuminating apparatus comprising a transparent substrate which is made of a light-transmissible material, a bar-like light source which comprises a bar-like light source made of a transparent material and a spot-like light source disposed on at least one end of the light conductive member and mounted on an FPC together with the light conductive member and is disposed along and close to at least one end surface of the transparent substrate, and a frame on which the light conductive member and the spot-like light source both mounted on the FPC are mounted together with the transparent substrate, the frame is structured such that an FPC mounting section, on which an FPC main body shaped elongatedly rectangular and having the light conductive member and the spot-like light source arranged thereon is mounted, is lower by a predetermined dimension than a substrate mounting section, on which the transparent substrate is mounted.
In order to solve the above problem, according to a second aspect of the present invention, in the spread illuminating apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the predetermined dimension is equal to a thickness of the FPC.
In order to solve the above problem, according to a third aspect of the present invention, in the spread illuminating apparatus according to the first or the second aspect of the present invention, an extension which has a connector on its tip is provided at a side of the FPC main body facing the transparent substrate, and an opening through which the extension passes is formed at a stepped part which constitutes a boundary between the substrate mounting section and the FPC mounting section in the frame.
REFERENCES:
patent: 6390639 (2002-05-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 6431716 (2002-08-01), Kusakabe
patent: 6467925 (2002-10-01), Egawa et al.
patent: 6494588 (2002-12-01), Okada
Ishii Takashi
Toyoda Koichi
Alavi Ali
Minebea Co. Ltd.
O'Shea Sandra
Oliff & Berridg,e PLC
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