Brightness-enhancing film

• US 7,806,547 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2009
• Issued: 10/05/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Light Prescriptions Innovators, LLC
• Original Assignee: Light Prescriptions Innovators, LLC
• Inventors: Dross, Oliver, Chaves, Julio, Falicoff, Waqidi, Parkyn, William A., Benitez, Pablo, Minano, Juan Carlos, Alvarez, Roberto
• Primary Examiner(s): Husar; Stephen F
• Application Number:
  US12/353,939
• Publication Number:
  US 20090180276A1
• Time in Patent Office: 629 Days
• Field of Search: 362/97.1, 362/97.2, 362/97.4, 362/331, 362/339, 362/606, 362/617, 362/618, 362/619, 362/620, 359/580, 359/619, 359/641, 349/62, 349/64, 349/65
• US Class Current: 362/97.3
• CPC Class Codes: F21Y 2109/00 Light sources with light-generating elements disposed on transparent or translucent supports or substrates
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0036 2-D arrangement of prisms, protrusions, indentations or roughened surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/0053 Prismatic sheet or layer; Brightness enhancement element, sheet or layer
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133603 with LEDs
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133607 the light controlling member including light directing or refracting elements, e.g. prisms or lenses

Abstract

The present embodiments provide systems, backlights, films, apparatuses and methods of generating back lighting. Some embodiments provide backlights that include a cavity with at least one interior light source and diffusely reflecting wall of high reflectivity, a top surface with multiple intermittently spaced holes allowing exit of light generated by the light sources, and external collimators extending from each of the holes such that the external collimators spatially expand and angularly narrow the light exiting the holes.

Claims

1. A backlight comprising:

a cavity with at least one interior light source and diffusely reflecting wall of high reflectivity;

a top surface with multiple intermittently spaced holes allowing exit of light generated by said light sources; and

external collimators extending from each of said holes such that the external collimators spatially expand and angularly narrow said light exiting said holes, wherein said collimators are compound parabolic concentrators utilizing reflective profiles matching a shape of said holes and admitting light therefrom.

2. The backlight of claim 1, wherein said collimators are further configured to angularly narrow said light exiting said holes such that the angular narrowing is specified over an angular range from between about 10 degrees to 75 degrees.

3. The backlight of claim 1 wherein said collimators are refractive lenses formed on an upper surface of a thin film wherein said light exiting said holes is admitted through a flat bottom surface of the collimators overlying said holes, thereby forming an internal beam confined to a critical angle of a material of said thin film.

4. The backlight of claim 1 further comprising a side, wherein said light sources are located at the side and light emitted from the light sources is injected into a light guide, said light guide having extraction features that break a guidance, below said light guide there being a reflective bottom surface.

5. The backlight of claim 4 wherein a reflectivity of said reflective bottom surface is specular or diffuse.

6. The backlight of claim 5 wherein the reflectivity of said reflective bottom is at least 95%.

7. The backlight of claim 1 wherein said at least one light source comprises a plurality of light sources that are light emitting diodes mounted on an inside of said top surface between said holes, said light sources directed to shine light inwards away from said holes.

8. The backlight of claim 1 wherein said at least one light source comprises a plurality of light sources that are a combination of phosphor patches mounted on an inside of said top surface between said holes and blue light emitting diodes on a bottom surface positioned opposite the inside of said top surface and shining light upon said phosphor patches.

9. A thin film comprising:

a transparent dielectric material bonded to a highly reflective opaque thin film with multiple intermittently spaced holes configured to allow hemispheric light to pass through the holes and to enter said transparent dielectric material, such that said light thereby becoming confined to within a critical angle of said transparent dielectric material; and

each of said holes being registered with a lenslet formed on an upper surface of said transparent dielectric material, each said lenslet being configured as an external collimator that receives a portion of the light from said transparent dielectric material and spatially expands and angularly narrows said light confined to said critical angle, wherein at least one of said lenslets comprises an off-axis ellipsoid of revolution and a surrounding truncated cone.

10. The film of claim 9 wherein a profile of said ellipsoid of revolution is horizontal at a lens vertex.

11. The film of claim 9 wherein a profile of said ellipsoid of revolution forms an indentation at the lens vertex and is configured to produce substantially no losses to total internal reflection.

12. A brightness enhancement thin film comprising:

an opaque diffuse reflective thin film with an array of holes,

an overlaying transparent layer of low-index material comprising conicoidal voids with the conicoidal voids being positioned over said holes of said diffuse reflective thin film, and

a layer of high-index material filling said conicoidal voids such that an array of dielectric internally reflecting concentrators is formed thereby.

13. A brightness enhancement thin film comprising:

an opaque diffuse reflective thin film with an array of slits,

an overlaying transparent layer of low-index material comprising linear troughs with the linear troughs being positioned over said slits in said diffuse reflective thin film, and

a layer of high-index material filling said linear troughs such that an array of dielectric internally reflecting concentrators is formed thereby.

14. A brightness enhancement thin film comprising:

an opaque layer of low-index of refraction material having high optical reflectance, with conicoidal voids with an array of holes,

said opaque layer having a bottom surface that is textured and whose remaining surfaces are smooth, and

a layer of high-index of refraction material filling said conicoidal voids such that an array of dielectric internally reflecting concentrators is formed thereby.

15. A brightness enhancement thin film comprising:

an opaque layer of high optical reflectance, with partially spherical voids with an array of holes,

said opaque layer having a bottom surface that is textured and whose remaining surfaces are smooth, and

a top layer comprising spherical lenses filling said partially spherical voids such that an array of lenses is formed thereby.

16. A brightness enhancement film comprising:

a first film comprising a first solid of dielectric with a first reflective layer on a first surface of the solid of dielectric where the reflective layer defines a first array of holes, and the first solid dielectric further comprising a first array of one-directional lenses defining a second surface of the first solid of dielectric opposite the first surface and each of the first array of holes are aligned with one of the first one-directional lenses; and

a second film comprising a second solid of dielectric with a second reflective layer on a first surface of the solid of dielectric where the second reflective layer defines a second array of holes, and the second solid dielectric further comprising a second array of one-directional lenses defining a second surface of the second solid of dielectric opposite the first surface of the second solid dielectric and each of the second array of holes are aligned with one of the second one-directional lenses, with the first surface of the second film adjacent the second surface of the first film and the second film is oriented such that the second array of one-directional lenses is orthogonal to the first array of one-directional lenses.