Method of driving a gas-discharge lamp

Abstract

The invention describes a method of driving a gas-discharge lamp (1) wherein, at any one time, the lamp (1) is driven according to one of a plurality of different driving schemes (DS1, DS2) and the lamp power is controlled according to one of a plurality of different power control strategies (PCs, PCf), and wherein the lamp (1) is driven according to a first driving scheme (DS1) prior to a trigger event (tsw) and, upon occurrence of the trigger event (tsw), a driving scheme switchover is effected so that the lamp (1) is subsequently driven according to a second driving scheme (DS2), and wherein, in temporal dependence on the trigger event (t sw), a power control strategy switchover is effected from a first power control strategy (PCs) to a second power control strategy (PCf) such that the lamp power is subsequently controlled according to the second power control strategy (PCf) for a time interval (tm, tf). The invention further describes a driving unit (4) for driving a gas-discharge lamp (1) comprising an event management unit (40) for detecting or anticipating a trigger event (t sw); a driving scheme management unit (41) for selecting one of a plurality of different driving schemes (DS 1, DS 2), according to which the lamp (1) is to be driven, based on the output of the event management unit (40); and a power control strategy management unit (42), which power control strategy management unit (42) is realised to select, in temporal dependence on the trigger event (t sw), one of a plurality of different power control strategies (PCs, PCf) according to which the lamp power is to be controlled for a time interval (tm, tf).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.