Back to results
US 2012/0056543 A1Published application
Bypass circuitry for serially coupled light emitting diodes and associated methods of operation
AssigneeMonolithic Power Systems, Inc.
InventorsEric Yang, Kaiwei Yao
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present technology is generally related to LED bypass circuits and associated methods of operation. In one embodiment, an LED bypass circuit includes a monitoring circuit and a bypass switch. The monitoring circuit is coupled to the LED to monitor the differential voltage across the LED. The bypass switch is coupled to the LED in parallel. When an open status is detected by the monitoring circuit, the bypass switch is turned on to bypass the LED.
Claims16
A circuit, comprising:
- a monitoring circuit coupled to a target circuit, the monitoring circuit being configured to monitor a differential voltage across the target circuit, to determine whether an open circuit condition exists based on the monitored differential voltage, and to generate an output signal indicating the open circuit condition;
- and
- a bypass switch coupled to the target circuit in parallel, the bypass circuit having a control input coupled to the monitoring circuit to receive the output signal from the monitoring circuit, the switch being configured to be selectively activated to bypass the target circuit in accordance with the output signal indicating the open circuit condition.
A method for bypassing an open LED in a string of LEDs, comprising:
- monitoring a differential voltage across the LED;
- determining an open status for the LED based on the monitored differential voltage across the LED;
- and
- if the open status of the LED is detected, activating a switch coupled to the LED in parallel.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.