Patent ID: 7641352

Claim:
A backlight unit for use in a liquid crystal display, comprising: a substrate; and a plurality of light emitting elements mounted on the substrate and arranged in an M×N matrix form having M rows and N columns, M and N being integers that are four or greater, and comprising a first plurality of light emitting elements and a second plurality of light emitting elements, wherein the first plurality of light emitting elements are arranged in an (M−1) ×N matrix form having (M−1) rows and N columns, such that two neighboring rows or two neighboring columns define a first pitch therebetween; wherein the second plurality of light emitting elements are arranged in a row such that the row of the second plurality of light emitting elements is separated from the closest neighboring row of the first plurality of light emitting elements by a second pitch and the row of the second plurality of light emitting elements is the outmost row relative to a center of the substrate; and wherein the first pitch is less than the second pitch.