Patent ID: 8189135

Claim:
A backlight comprising: a circuit board; a plurality of light emitting diode (LED) sources arranged on the circuit board, the LED source having a top surface and a bottom surface that are opposite surfaces and side surfaces between the top surface and the bottom surface, and light is emitted from at least one of the side surfaces; and a plurality of light guide plates, the light guide plate including an input part to receive light emitted from the LED source, an opposite edge, and a side part, wherein the light guide plates have a thickness changing part that changes in thickness based on distance from the corresponding input part, wherein the opposite edge of the light guide plate is arranged such that the opposite edge covers the input part of another one of the light guide plates and the LED sources provided on the circuit board, and wherein the light guide plates are optically coupled by the opposite edge and the side part, and wherein the side part is partially optically shielded from the adjacent side part and is optically coupled to the adjacent side part.