Patent ID: 8654061

Claim:
An integrated illumination apparatus comprising: a light injection portion having a first end for receiving light from a light source located at the first end of the light injection portion, wherein the light injection portion has a length, said light injection portion comprising material that supports propagation of said light along the length of the light injection portion towards a second opposite end; turning microstructure disposed on a first side of the light injection portion, the turning microstructure configured to turn at least a substantial portion of light incident on the first side and to direct the portion of the light towards a second opposite side of the light injection portion, wherein a width dimension of the light injection portion extends from the first side to the second side orthogonal to the length of the light injection portion; a slit disposed along the length of the light injection portion, the slit forming an optical interface on the second opposite side of the light injection portion that provides total internal reflection for light propagating along the length of the light injection portion to be guided therein, said optical interface further transmitting light turned by said turning microstructure, the slit including two sidewalls, one or both of the sidewalls including one or both of: a plurality of curved light control features defined by curves extending in a length dimension of the slit, and one or more curved light control features defined by curves extending substantially in a thickness dimension of the light injection portion, the thickness dimension orthogonal to both the length and the width dimension of the light injection portion; a light distribution portion disposed with respect to the slit to receive the light turned by said turning microstructure and transmitted out of the second side of the light injection portion and through said slit; and at least one bridge disposed between light injection portion and the light distribution portion and mechanically connecting the light injection portion to the light distribution portion.