Display board illuminating device for passive displays

• US 5,070,431 A
• Filed: 07/30/1990
• Issued: 12/03/1991
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/1989
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pioneer Electronics (USA) Incorporated (Pioneer Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Electronics (USA) Incorporated (Pioneer Corporation)
• Inventors: Nagai, Yoshiaki, Tanimoto, Kohichi, Terada, Ryohei, Takeuchi, Shogo, Kayama, Tsutomu, Kitazawa, Hideki, Utsugi, Nobuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazarus, Ira S.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEE, Y MY QUACH
• Application Number:
  US07/559,358
• Time in Patent Office: 491 Days
• Field of Search: 362/24, 362/26, 362/29, 362/30, 362/31, 362/800, 362/249, 362/252, 362/27
• US Class Current: 362/601
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0021 for housing at least a part of the light source, e.g. by forming holes or recesses
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0036 2-D arrangement of prisms, protrusions, indentations or roughened surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0061 to provide homogeneous light output intensity
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0068 Arrangements of plural sources, e.g. multi-colour light sources
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0073 Light emitting diode [LED]
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0081 Mechanical or electrical aspects of the light guide and light source in the lighting device peculiar to the adaptation to planar light guides, e.g. concerning packaging
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4298 coupling with non-coherent light sources and/or radiation detectors, e.g. lamps, incandescent bulbs, scintillation chambers
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133615 Edge-illuminating devices, i.e. illuminating from the side
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 362/80 Light emitting diode

Abstract

A display board illuminating device includes a light guide plate arranged to face the back of a display board and a light source disposed to face the side end of the light guide plate. The side end of the light guide plate is inclined toward the center of the light guide plate in the direction of the display board. By this configuration an angle of an optical axis refracted at the surface of the side end and incident into the light guide plate with respect to a main surface of the light guide plate, so that the whole area of the display board is illuminated efficiently.

Claims

1. A display board illuminating device for illuminating a display board, comprising:

a light guide plate placed to face the back of said display board to be illuminated, said plate having at least two side ends and a back surface; and

a light source disposed to face at least one of said side ends of said light guide plate and crossing a longitudinal axis of said light guide plate, wherein an angle between a portion of said side end at said light source and the back surface of said guide plate is less than 90°

so that said portion of said side end is inclined toward the center of said light guide plate with respect to a normal of said light guide plate directed to said display board.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said light source is a single light emitting element disposed to face one of said side ends of said light guide plate.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said light source comprises at least two light emitting elements, each one of said elements being disposed to face at least one of said side ends of said light guide plate, and colors of lights emitted by at least two of said light emitting elements are different from each other.

4. A device as claimed in one of claims 1 through 3, wherein a recess extending between front and back surfaces of said light guide plate is provided in each of said side ends, and an inner surface of said recess is inclined toward the center of said light guide plate in the direction of said display board.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein said inner surface of said recess is formed into a curved surface crossing a plane parallel to the back surface of said light guide plate.

6. A device as claimed in claim 4, wherein an angle of said inner surface of said recess with respect to the back surface of said light guide plate is made minimum at about a center position in the lateral direction of said light guide plate.

7. A device as claimed in claim 5, wherein an angle of said inner surface of said recess with respect to the back surface of said light guide plate is made minimum at about a center position in the lateral direction of said light guide plate.

8. A device as claimed in one of claims 1 through 3, wherein an angle of a surface at each of said side ends with respect to the back surface of said light guide plate is gradually reduced in the direction of said display board.

9. A device as claimed in one of claims 1 through 3, wherein a whole surface of each of said side ends is formed as an inclined flat surface.

10. A device as claimed in one of claims 1 through 3, wherein a group of inclined reflecting surfaces is formed in said light guide plate on an opposite side of said surface facing said back surface of said display board.