Light guide plate, display device and game machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10591659-B2
Application number	US-201515529273-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2015
Priority date	Dec 25, 2014
Publication date	Mar 17, 2020
Grant date	Mar 17, 2020

Abstract

A light guide plate, produced from material transparent to visible light, includes a plurality of prisms provided on one surface (a diffusion surface) thereof in a predetermined pattern. The plurality of prisms include a reflection surface that reflects visible light emitted from a light source and entering the light guide plate from an input surface toward another surface (an output surface). Each prism in the plurality of prisms is distributed so that the reflection surfaces of two prisms separated by a predetermined pitch are oriented in the same direction, and the reflections surfaces of two prisms that are closer than the predetermined pitch are oriented in mutually different directions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A light guide plate formed from a panel transparent to visible light, the light guide plate comprising:
an input surface comprising a sidewall of the light guide plate, the input surface facing a light source that emits visible light that enters the light guide plate at the input surface; and
a plurality of prisms arranged along one surface of the light guide plate and distributed in a predetermined pattern, each prism of the plurality of prisms comprising a reflection surface that reflects the visible light emitted from the light source, wherein
each prism of the plurality of prisms is distributed so that the reflection surfaces of any two prisms separated by a predetermined pitch are oriented in a same direction, and
the reflection surfaces of any two prisms that are separated by other than the predetermined pitch are oriented in mutually different directions such that the visible light emitted from the light source and reflected from the any two prisms separated by other than the predetermined pitch is reflected in mutually different directions.

2. The light guide plate according to claim 1 , wherein each prism of the plurality of prisms is arranged so that the reflection surfaces of any two prisms that are separated by less than the predetermined pitch are oriented in mutually different directions within a plane parallel to the one surface in a predetermined range of angles that includes a direction facing the light source.

3. The light guide plate according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined pitch is less than a minimum distance required to visually distinguish two prisms out of the plurality of prisms.

4. The light guide plate according to claim 1 , further comprising: a metal layer shaped in the predetermined pattern and provided at a location of the predetermined pattern on the one surface of the light guide plate.

5. A light guide plate formed from a panel transparent to visible light, the light guide plate comprising:
an input surface comprising a sidewall of the light guide plate, the input surface facing a light source that emits visible light; and
a plurality of prisms arranged along one surface of the light guide plate and distributed in a predetermined pattern, each prism of the plurality of prisms comprising a reflection surface that reflects the visible light emitted from the light source, wherein
the predetermined pattern is partitioned into a plurality of sections with each prism of the plurality of prisms arranged so that the reflection surface of each prism in a section is oriented in a same direction, and the reflection surface of each prism of the prisms in two adjacent sections is oriented in mutually different directions such that the visible light emitted from the light source and reflected from the prisms in the two adjacent sections that are separated by other than a predetermined pitch is reflected in mutually different directions.

6. The light guide plate according to claim 5 , further comprising: a metal layer shaped in the predetermined pattern and provided at a location of the predetermined pattern on the one surface of the light guide plate.

7. A display device comprising:
a light source that emits visible light;
a light guide plate formed from a panel transparent to visible light; and
a controller configured to control turning on and off of the light source;
the light guide plate comprising:
an input surface facing the light source and comprising a sidewall of the light guide plate; and
a plurality of prisms arranged along one surface of the light guide plate and distributed in a predetermined pattern, each prism of the plurality of prisms comprising a reflection surface that reflects the visible light emitted from the light source, wherein

each prism of the plurality of prisms is distributed so that the reflection surfaces of any two prisms separated by a predetermined pitch are oriented in a same direction, and
the reflection surfaces of two prisms that are separated by other than the predetermined pitch are oriented in mutually different directions such that the visible light emitted from the light source and reflected from the any two prisms that are separated by other than the predetermined pitch is reflected in mutually different directions.

8. A game machine comprising: a main game unit; and
a display device provided on a surface of the main game unit facing a player;
the display device comprising:
a light source that emits visible light;
a light guide plate formed from a panel transparent to visible light; and
a controller configured to control turning on and off of the light source;

the light guide plate comprising:
an input surface facing the light source and comprising a sidewall of the light guide plate;
a plurality of prisms arranged along one surface of the light guide plate and distributed in a predetermined pattern, each prism of the plurality of prisms comprising a reflection surface that reflects the visible light emitted from the light source; and wherein

each prism of the plurality of prisms is distributed so that the reflection surfaces of any two prisms separated by a predetermined pitch are oriented in a same direction, and
the reflection surfaces of two prisms that are separated by other than the predetermined pitch are oriented in mutually different directions such that the visible light emitted from the light source and reflected from the any two prisms that are separated by other than the predetermined pitch is reflected in mutually different directions.

Assignees

• Omron Tateisi Electronics Co

Inventors

• Fujita Junya
• Osumi Yoshimasa
• Takagi Yoshihiko
• Hirose Yuji

Classifications

• A63F7/027

  electric · CPC title

• G02B6/006

  to produce indicia, symbols, texts or the like · CPC title

• G02B6/0036 Primary

  2-D arrangement of prisms, protrusions, indentations or roughened surfaces · CPC title

• G07F17/34

  depending on the stopping of moving members {in a mechanical slot machine}, e.g. "fruit" machines · CPC title