Patent ID: 8207933

Claim:
A backlight unit, comprising: a substrate divided into a plurality of light emitting areas, each of the light emitting areas including: a light emitter; a bypass current path; a connection node; and a switching unit, wherein the light emitter and the bypass current path are connected in parallel between the connection node and the switching unit, and wherein the switching unit is connected to a connection node of a next light emitting area and is configured to alternately connect one of the light emitter and the bypass current path to the connection node of the next light emitting area, wherein the switching unit includes, a first transistor connecting the light emitter to the connection node of the next light emitting area, and a second transistor connecting the bypass current path to the connection node of the next light emitting area, wherein a line through which a switch-control signal flows is directly connected to gates of the first and second transistors.