Liquid crystal display device with pixel registration illumination

Claim 1

A light-emitting liquid crystal display device comprising a liquid crystal panel having a front side for viewing a display and a panel back side opposite the front side for admitting light to create the display, said liquid crystal, panel comprising a layer composed of a liquid crystal material and a plurality of electrodes in contact with the layer that cooperate to define a plurality of pixels for the display, each pixel being responsive to an electrical current applied to the electrodes that define the pixel to switch the pixels between a transparent state and an opaque state, said pixels being arranged in an array and separated by a matrix area, a backside illuminator that includes an optical waveguide comprising a plurality of channels, each channel having a front face toward said panel back side and comprising a plurality of light-emitting sites and a non-emitting matrix surface separating said sites, each said light-emitting site being disposed in registration with a corresponding pixel of said liquid crystal panel, said waveguide further comprising a light-admitting edge for admitting light to the optical waveguide, and a light source optically coupled to said light-admitting edge for providing light to said waveguide, whereby said light is contained within the waveguide by said non-emitting matrix surface and is emitted at said light-emitting sites toward the corresponding pixels to illuminate the pixels for forming a display.