Patent ID: 8072412

Claim:
A drive apparatus for a backlight formed by combining a plurality of backlight units and a plurality of light sources, said drive apparatus comprising: a plurality of drive units, a respective drive unit being provided for a respective light source and configured to perform drive control of the respective light source, said plurality of backlight units being arrayed in a plurality of rows in a plane that extends behind and parallel to a video display unit formed by a single panel so as to illuminate a back of the video display unit, each of the plurality of light sources extending through at least one of the plurality of backlight units, the plurality of backlight units being arrayed in two directions so as to be arranged in the plurality of rows and a plurality of columns that extend behind and parallel to the video display unit formed by the single panel, backlight units in adjacent columns being oriented in different directions which differ from one another by 180 degrees, each backlight unit including a reflective prism, a light guide plate, and a condensing processed surface, each light source including protruding portions which protrude from opposite sides of a corresponding one of the backlight units, at least one of the protruding portions extending beneath a portion of an adjacent backlight unit in an adjacent column; and a drive control unit configured to perform drive control of said drive units, said plurality of drive units and said drive control unit being connected in a daisy chain.