Diffuser for light from light source array and displays incorporating same
AssigneeDolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
InventorLorne A. Whitehead
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An optical structure placeable between a backlight array of point light sources and a planar display. The structure distributes light emitted by the point light sources to uniformly illuminate the plane of the display, without introducing significant viewing parallax. The emitted light is partially collimated within a preferred angular viewing range, maximizing the display's luminance when viewed from the normal direction. The structure is highly reflective, such that a substantial portion of any non-emitted light rays are internally reflected by the structure, increasing the likelihood that those rays will be subsequently emitted by the structure.
Claims19
An optical structure for distributing light emitted by light sources of a plurality of point light sources, the structure comprising:
- a reflector having an array of transparent regions, each of the point light sources corresponding to one of the transparent regions, the regions for passing light from the point light sources into the structure;
- and
- a light diffuser for diffusing light which passes through the reflector regions, the light diffuser anisotropically scattering light that interacts with the light diffuser.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.