Patent ID: 7443588

Claim:
An optical diffuser comprising a transparent base body with a base body surface, wherein said base body surface comprises a plurality of facets, said facets have elevations or depressions associated therewith, and said elevations or depressions have respective apexes (S); in which coordinates (X s ″, Y s ″) of said respective apexes (S) are derived from coordinates (X p , Y p ) of corresponding points (P), said points (P) forming an arrangement of regular hexagonal surfaces with regular hexagonal edge contours; and wherein said coordinates (X s ″, Y s ″) of said respective apexes (S) are derived from said coordinates (X p , Y p ) of said corresponding points (P) by a Monte Carlo method comprising calculating said coordinates (X s ″, Y s ″) of each of said respective apexes (S) from said coordinates (X p , Y p ) of each of said corresponding points (P) by equations (5 a ) and (5 b ) as follows: x s ″=x p +(0.5− Z )★ U (5 a ) y s ″=y p +(0.5− Z )★ V (5 b ), wherein Z is a random number that varies in a range from 0≦Z≦1, which is randomly generated for each of said corresponding points (P), U is a parameter with a value in a range from about 0.05·D to 0.20·D, V is a parameter with a value in a range from about 0.05·D to 0.20·D, and D is a facet diagonal of each of the regular hexagonal surfaces with the regular hexagonal edge contours.