Patent ID: 7161310

Claim:
A backlight apparatus for a liquid crystal display having a liquid crystal panel, the backlight apparatus comprising: a diffusing plate that is to be provided on entirety of the liquid display panel; a first and a second U-shaped cold-cathode tubes provided on a back surface of the diffusing plate and series-connected to each other; and a driver circuit for driving the first and the second U-shaped cold-cathode tubes, the driver circuit including a self-excited inverter for generating high-frequency voltages differing in polarity from each other at both terminals of a secondary winding of a step-up transformer whose midpoint is grounded, wherein the first and the second U-shaped cold-cathode tubes are connected between both terminals of the secondary winding without being interposed by ballast capacitors, and wherein a connecting point between the first and the second U-shaped cold-cathode tubes is ungrounded.