Apertured fluorescent illumination device for backlighting an image plane
First Claim
1. An illuminated display system, comprising:
- a generally planar display;
a fluorescent lamp underlying said generally planar display, said fluorescent lamp having an interior surface thereof substantially coated with a phosphor and an aperture for emitting illumination toward said planar display;
a reflector for collecting said emitted illumination and reflecting said collected illumination toward said planar display, said reflector being positioned intermediate said fluorescent lamp and said display; and
a lens for receiving said illumination reflected by said reflector, and for aiming said received illumination toward a viewer of said display, said lens being positioned between said reflector and said display;
wherein said reflector comprises two generally planar elements, each of said generally planar elements extending from a respective end of said aperture to said lens, and wherein the width of said lens (dlens) is determined by the formula;
dlens ×
sin (θ
)=daper, wherein daper is the width of said aperture and θ
is the viewing half angle of light emanated by the display.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A backlighting unit for illuminating a planar display is provided, comprising an illumination source having a light emitting portion for emitting illumination toward the generally planar display, and a reflector for collecting the emitted illumination and reflecting the collected illumination toward the planar display, the reflector being positioned intermediate the illumination source and the display. The illumination source is a fluorescent lamp having an interior surface thereof substantially coated with a phosphor, and the light emitting portion is an aperture in the fluorescent lamp wherein no phosphor coating is present. The fluorescent lamp may be provided with a reflective wrap for increasing its illumination gain. A lens positioned between the reflector and the display receives the illumination reflected by the reflector and redirects the received illumination toward the display to provide even backlit illumination thereof.
47 Citations
23 Claims
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1. An illuminated display system, comprising:
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a generally planar display; a fluorescent lamp underlying said generally planar display, said fluorescent lamp having an interior surface thereof substantially coated with a phosphor and an aperture for emitting illumination toward said planar display; a reflector for collecting said emitted illumination and reflecting said collected illumination toward said planar display, said reflector being positioned intermediate said fluorescent lamp and said display; and a lens for receiving said illumination reflected by said reflector, and for aiming said received illumination toward a viewer of said display, said lens being positioned between said reflector and said display; wherein said reflector comprises two generally planar elements, each of said generally planar elements extending from a respective end of said aperture to said lens, and wherein the width of said lens (dlens) is determined by the formula;
dlens ×
sin (θ
)=daper, wherein daper is the width of said aperture and θ
is the viewing half angle of light emanated by the display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9)
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6. The illuminated display system of said 1, wherein said lens has a generally flat surface facing said reflector and a generally spherical surface facing said display.
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10. A backlighting unit for illuminating a generally planar display, comprising:
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a fluorescent lamp underlying the generally planar display, said fluorescent lamp having an interior surface thereof substantially coated with a phosphor and an aperture for emitting illumination toward the planar display; a reflector for collecting said emitted illumination and reflecting said collected illumination toward said planar display, said reflector being positioned intermediate said fluorescent lamp and said display; and a lens for receiving said illumination reflected by said reflector, and for aiming said received illumination toward said display, said lens being positioned between said reflector and said display; wherein said reflector comprises two generally planar elements, each of said planar elements extending from a respective end of said aperture to said lens, and wherein the width of said lens (den) is determined by the formula;
dlens ×
sin (θ
)=daper, wherein daper is the width of said aperture and θ
is the viewing half angle of light emanated by the display. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17)
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15. The backlighting unit of said 14, wherein said lens has a generally flat surface facing said reflector and a generally spherical surface facing the display.
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18. A backlighting unit for illuminating a generally planar display, comprising:
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a fluorescent lamp underlying the generally planar display, said fluorescent lamp having an interior surface thereof substantially coated with a phosphor and an aperture for emitting illumination toward the planar display, said fluorescent lamp being provided with a reflective wrap for increasing the illumination gain thereof; a reflector for collecting said emitted illumination and reflecting said collected illumination toward said planar display, said reflector being positioned intermediate said fluorescent lamp and said display; and a lens for receiving said illumination reflected by said reflector, and for aiming said received illumination toward said display, said lens being positioned between said reflector and said display; wherein said backlighting unit has a total depth of less than one inch, and wherein said fluorescent lamp outputs at least 21,000 footlamberts of illumination from said aperture.
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19. A backlighting system for a generally planar display, comprising:
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a plurality of fluorescent lamps each having an interior surface thereof substantially coated with a phosphor and an aperture for emitting illumination toward the generally planar display; and a corresponding plurality of reflectors for collecting said emitted illumination and reflecting said collected illumination toward the planar display, said reflectors being positioned intermediate said fluorescent lamps and the display, each of the plurality of reflectors being positioned adjacent to one another. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification