US Patent 9701240 Vehicle lighting unit having light guiding lens

A unit has at least one light emitting diode (LED), a light-guiding lens in front of the LED, a downwardly inclined transparent window disposed in front of the light guiding lens, and light-shielding coatings disposed on a surface of the transparent window facing the light guiding lens, above and below the front face of the light-guiding lens. The light-guiding lens includes a light incident portion; a first reflecting surface for upwardly reflecting light from an upper half of the light incident portion; second reflecting surfaces for laterally reflecting light from a lower half of the light incident portion; third reflecting surfaces for upwardly reflecting light from the second reflecting surfaces; a fourth reflecting surface for forwardly reflecting the light from the first and third reflecting surfaces; and a light exiting surface for projecting light from the fourth reflecting surface forward.