Patent ID: 8016474

Claim:
A backlight unit comprising: a light-guide plate guiding incident light and having a diffusion pattern for emitting light upward, the diffusion pattern being formed on at least one of upper and lower surfaces of the light-guide plate; and a point light source assembly disposed on at least one side portion of the light-guide plate, the point light source assembly comprising a plurality of point-light-source elements and a support substrate, in which the point-light-source elements are disposed on the support substrate and supply the light to the light-guide plate, wherein an edge portion of one surface of the light-guide plate, which is adjacent to the point light source assembly, comprises a first region corresponding to the point-light-source elements and a second region corresponding to a position between the point-light-source elements, and the diffusion pattern is not formed on the edge portion, wherein a width of the edge portion of said one surface of the light-guide plate, in which the diffusion pattern is not formed, is equal to or greater than an interval between adjacent point-light-source elements, and wherein a direction of the width is perpendicular to a direction of the interval.