Patent ID: 7969531

Claim:
A backlighting apparatus for a flat panel LCD display, comprising: an elongate light guide having a six-faced polyhedron structure; said elongate light guide having a front wall through which travels polarized light in a direction toward said LCD display; an LED set positioned adjacent a first end wall of said elongate light guide so that light enters said light guide from said first end wall; a plurality of microlenses formed in said front wall along its extent; and each microlens of said plurality of microlenses being filled with a birefringent material having molecules aligned in a particular direction; whereby light emitted by said LED set travels from said first end of said light guide to said second end of said light guide and is constrained to travel out of said light guide through said birefringent microlenses in a direction toward said LCD display; whereby said light traveling toward said LCD display is polarized.