Providing light guide elements in a backlight module

Abstract

A backlight module comprises a light guide plate and at least two light sources. The light guide plate is divided into at least two regions made up of a substrate and a plurality of elongate light guide elements disposed on a surface of the substrate and located in the regions. The light sources respectively correspond to the regions of the light guide plate to provide the elongate light guide elements in the regions with light.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of a liquid crystal display device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of a backlight module in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 3A-3D illustrate different configurations of light sources, according to some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a top view of a backlight module in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a portion of a conventional backlight module.

Claims

1. A backlight module, comprising: a light guide plate divided into at least two regions and comprising: a substrate; anda plurality of first elongate light guide elements disposed on a surface of the substrate and located in the regions such that each of the regions includes multiple first elongate light guide elements; andat least two light sources respectively corresponding to the regions to provide the first elongate light guide elements in the regions with light.

2. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein the light sources are configured to operate independently.

3. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein a material of the substrate is selected from the group consisting of PET, PMMA, and glass.

4. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is one of a diffusive reflection sheet and a silver reflection sheet.

5. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein each pair of adjacent ones of the first elongate light guide elements has a gap between the adjacent first elongate light guide elements, and the gap is less than 100 μm.

6. The backlight module according to claim 5, wherein the gap is less than 50 μm.

7. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein each first elongate light guide element comprises at least one dot pattern or at least one cut portion to enable emission of light from inside the corresponding first elongate light guide element.

8. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein the light sources are selected from the group consisting of light-emitting diodes and laser diodes.

9. The backlight module according to claim 1, further comprising second elongate light guide elements located between the regions and corresponding light sources to transmit light from the corresponding light sources to the corresponding first elongate light guide elements.

10. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein the first elongate light guide elements are light guide pipes.

11. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein the first elongate light guide elements comprise optical fibers.

12. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein mixing of different color light is performed in each of the elongate light guide elements.

13. The backlight module according to claim 1, wherein each first elongate light guide element has emission surface structures to allow emission of light resulting from light propagating inside the first elongate light guide element, the emission of light to provide light to another structure.

14. A liquid crystal display device including plural display regions, wherein the liquid crystal display device comprises: a liquid crystal panel; anda backlight module to provide light to the liquid crystal panel and comprising: a light guide plate divided into plural regions respectively corresponding to the display regions, wherein the light guide plate comprises: a substrate; anda plurality of first elongate light guide elements disposed on a surface of the substrate and located in the light guide plate regions, wherein each of the light guide plate regions has multiple first elongate light guide elements; andplural light sources respectively corresponding to the light guide plate regions to provide the first elongate light guide elements in the light guide plate regions with light,wherein the first elongate light guide elements have light emission surface structures to enable emission of light from within the first elongate light guide elements toward the liquid crystal panel.

15. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 14, wherein the plural lights sources are configured to operate independently.

16. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 14, wherein each pair of adjacent ones of the first elongate light guide elements has a gap between the adjacent first elongate light guide elements, and the gap is less than 100 μm.

17. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 14, wherein each pair of the adjacent ones of the first elongate light guide elements has a gap between the adjacent first elongate light guide elements, and the gap is less than 50 μm.

18. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 14, wherein the light sources are selected from the group consisting of light-emitting diodes and laser diodes.

19. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 14, further comprising second light guide elements located between the light guide plate regions and corresponding light sources to transmit light from the corresponding light sources to the corresponding first elongate light guide elements.

20. The liquid crystal display device according to claim 19, wherein the first and second elongate light guide elements comprise optical fibers.

21. A method of providing a backlight module, comprising: providing a light guide plate having a substrate and optical fibers formed on the substrate;providing light sources to provide light into the optical fibers; andemitting light from light emission structures of the optical fibers, wherein the emitted light is directed to another structure.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising directing light emitted from the elongate light guide elements toward a liquid crystal panel.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising mixing different color light in the elongate light guide elements to avoid provision of a large light-mixing space.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the light guide plate and light sources are part of a first assembly, and wherein the light sources of first assembly produce light of a first color, the method further comprising: providing a second assembly having a second light guide plate having second elongate light guide elements formed on the second substrate;providing second light sources to provide light of a second, different color into the second elongate light guide elements; andemitting light from light emission structures of the second elongate light guide elements, wherein the emitted light from the second elongate light guide elements is directed to the another structure.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising stacking the first and second assemblies in the backlight module.