Patent ID: 8109644

Claim:
A light emitting device comprising: a backlight portion comprising: a plurality of side-emitting, non-lasing light emitting diodes (LED) emitting white light, each LED having an active layer that emits light, each LED emitting a majority of light from its sides, wherein the sides of each LED are substantially perpendicular to the active layer; a lightguide having an output surface through which light is emitted, each LED being positioned within an opening in the lightguide so as to optically couple light into the lightguide, the lightguide being formed of a solid transparent material; and cellular walls within the lightguide at least partially surrounding one or more LEDs, each cellular wall being at least partially reflective, wherein the cellular walls create a plurality of cells in the lightguide, a light output from each cell being substantially the same, the cellular walls being configured for limiting mixing of light from other ones of the LEDs; and a display panel portion comprising: a liquid crystal display (LCD) positioned over the backlight for selectively controlling passing of light from the backlight through pixel locations in the LCD.