Patent ID: 7909494

Claim:
A side directional signal for a vehicle comprising, in combination: a base adapted to be mounted to a side of a vehicle; a cover made of transparent material and mounted to the base, with the cover and the base together defining a compartment; a lighting device mounted in the compartment and including a circuit board and a plurality of light-emitting diodes mounted on the circuit board and facing the cover, with the circuit board controlling lighting of the plurality of light-emitting diodes to emit light beams toward the cover, with the plurality of light-emitting diodes including a first group and a second group; and a light-guiding module including a light-guiding plate mounted between the plurality of light-emitting diodes and the cover, with the light-guiding plate including an inner face facing and spaced from the plurality of light-emitting diodes, with the inner face including a plurality of semispheres aligned with the plurality of the light-emitting diodes, with the light-guiding plate further including an outer face facing the cover, with the outer face including a plurality of grooves having sidewalls, with a portion of the plurality of semispheres concentrating the light beams emitted from the first group of the plurality of light-emitting diodes to provide enhanced brightness, with the concentrated light beams transmitting through the outer face of the light-guiding plate and reflected by the sidewalls of the plurality of grooves to a direction having an angle with the light-guiding plate, with the light beams reflected by the sidewalls of the plurality of grooves transmitting through the cover, with the light-guiding module further including a reflective plate having a reflective face, with the reflective plate intermediate the first and second groups of the plurality of light-emitting diodes, with the light beams emitted from the second group of the plurality of light-emitting diodes being concentrated by a remaining portion of the plurality of semispheres, reflected by the reflective face, and transmitted through the cover, with the first group of the plurality of light-emitting diodes including a central group and two outer groups on opposite sides of the central group, with a portion of the plurality of semispheres aligned with the central group, and with the remaining portion of semispheres aligned with the second group of the plurality of light-emitting diodes.