Patent ID: 8070346

Claim:
An illumination device comprising: a light guide plate, a light source directly on a light entering face of said light guide plate, prisms which reflect light from the light guide plate formed on an opposite face to a light emission face, wherein said prisms extend in a first direction from one edge of the light guide plate to an opposite edge of the light guide plate, wherein said prisms are each formed of a non-equilateral triangle, in cross-section, having first and second oblique side angles, wherein said first oblique side angle is closer to said light source than said second oblique side angle, and further wherein said first oblique side angle is greater than said second oblique side angle, and a cylindrical lens array for orienting and magnifying light formed on the light emission face, wherein said cylindrical lens array extends in a second direction from one edge of the light guide plate to an opposite edge of the light guide plate, where said second direction is perpendicular to said first direction, and wherein said cylindrical lens array is formed of a plurality of convexly curved surfaces, wherein the cylindrical lens array is formed of curved lines, wherein light exits the device in a direction substantially perpendicular to a plane defined by the light emission face, and wherein an angle formed by the light entering face and the light emission face is less than 90Â° , whereby said light source is attached to said light entering face in a tilted manner, with respect to said light emission face, at said angle.