Patent ID: 7156549

Claim:
A direct type backlight unit, comprising: a housing having a base and side walls extending upwardly from a peripheral region of said base, said base and said side walls together defining a cavity; at least a lamp disposed in said cavity; an optical film disposed on top of the side walls of said housing; and at least on supporting pin protruding upwardly from a middle region the base and supporting the optical film from below; wherein said base has a through hole in the middle region thereof, said through hole having opposite upper and lower openings, and the upper opening being smaller that the lower opening; said supporting pin includes a post member sized to be passable through the upper opening of the through hole, and a base member connected to a lower end of said post member and sized to be not passable through said upper opening; said base member is received in the through hole thereby fixing said supporting pin to said base; said post member extends upwardly from said base member through said upper opening into cavity of said housing and terminates at an upper end on which the optical film is supported; and said backlight unit further comprises a buffer element being disposed between the upper end of the post member and the optical film and preventing direct physical contact between the upper end of the post member and the optical film.