Did You Know...
...that a workman who left the soap mixing machine on too long was responsible for making Ivory Soap? He was so embarrassed by his mistake that he threw the mess in a stream. Imagine his dismay when the evidence of his error floated to the surface! Result: Ivory soap, the soap that floats.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8018172 | Method and apparatus for LED dimming A dimmable LED driver provides accurate full range dimming for LED lighting. The driver utilizes the timing of an AC signal rather than its power output or other characteristics to accurately determine the level of light a user desires. In this manner, the driver pr... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8018171 | Multi-function duty cycle modifier A system and method modify phase delays of a periodic, phase modulated mains voltage to generate at least two independent items of information during each cycle of the periodic input signal. The independent items of information can be generated by, for example, inde... | 09/13/2011 |
| 7965046 | Full-bridge and half-bridge compatible driver timing schedule for direct drive backlight system A driver circuit or controller flexibly drives either a half-bridge or a full-bridge switching network in a backlight inverter without modification, redundant circuitry or additional components. The driver circuit includes four outputs to provide four respective dri... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7902761 | Dimmable LED lamp An LED lamp utilizes AC power and bi-directional LED chips to provide dimming capabilities. The dimming capabilities of the lamp reduce the junction temperature of the LEDs on the bi-directional LED chips and thus prolong the life expectancy of the LED lamp. ... | 03/08/2011 |
| 7839092 | Driving system having changeable output phase A driving system with a changeable output phase includes a PWM unit to generate a duty cycle signal, a first driving unit, a second driving unit, a first transformer and a second transformer. The first driving unit and the second driving unit receive an input power ... | 11/23/2010 |
| 7768211 | Method and circuit arrangement for operating a high-pressure gas discharge lamp A description is given of a method and a circuit arrangement for operating a high-pressure gas discharge lamp with a lamp current superposed with first current pulses, in particular in a system for the time-sequential production of (primary) colors and possibly whit... | 08/03/2010 |
| 7733029 | Lighting device and a lighting method for a high pressure discharge lamp Even in a high pressure discharge lamp causing temperature difference between electrodes when an AC current is supplied, the temperature difference is eliminated to suppress the arc movement, thereby suppressing flickering caused thereby during stable lighting. ... | 06/08/2010 |
| 7504780 | Power supply unit for light source and method of controlling the same A power supply unit capable of varying power supplied to a light source at timings determined by synchronization signals is provided. The power supply unit comprises an interface that receives a plurality of types of synchronization signals with different pulse widt... | 03/17/2009 |
| 7411359 | Apparatus and method for providing dimming control of lamps and electrical lighting systems Dimming of an electrical lamp of the type driven by a ballast is provided by a reactive power device in series between the AC supply and the ballast. The reactive power device provides a variable auxiliary voltage out of phase by 90 or 270 degrees with the current s... | 08/12/2008 |
| 7408307 | Ballast dimming control IC An electronic ballast provides dimming control, fault detection and safety features for overcurrent protection and hard switching at a half bridge. A voltage controlled oscillator supplies a switching frequency that is modifiable based on operational feedback parame... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7402959 | Phase sampling protection device A phase sampling protection device substantially includes a phase sampling circuit coupled between a tube circuit and a protection circuit. The phase sampling circuit captures a voltage signal and a current phase signal of the tube circuit for comparison, using phas... | 07/22/2008 |
| 7397195 | Apparatus of light source and adjustable control circuit for LEDs A control circuit for LEDs is adapted for controlling brightness of a plurality of LEDs as light source in an LCD. The control circuit comprises a control pulse generator and a plurality of LED direct current supplies. The control pulse generator is used for receivi... | 07/08/2008 |
| 7394204 | Zero crossing detection of line voltage/current of variable amplitude A method and apparatus for detecting a zero crossing or desired phase angle of a power line signal having a variable amplitude uses a ratio between a peak amplitude of the power line signal and the amplitude of the power line signal at a desired phase angle for a kn... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7388334 | High frequency electronic ballast with sine wave oscillator A high frequency sinusoidal wave is generated and applied directly to a gas discharge lamp in multiple phases in a power efficient electronic ballast. Uniting a high frequency current fed oscillator with a transformer, where direct current may be applied to the cent... | 06/17/2008 |
| 7372213 | Lamp current balancing topologies A method according to on embodiment may include generating AC voltage and current and a striking voltage. The method of this embodiment may also include generating striking voltage and steady-state voltage for at least two lamp loads. The method of this embodiment m... | 05/13/2008 |
| 7368879 | Pendulum resonant converter and method A resonant switching converter comprising a first pair of series connected switches comprising a high side switch and a low side switch coupled across a DC input voltage, there being a first switched node between the switches; a second pair of series connected switc... | 05/06/2008 |
| 7365282 | Pull out air gap switch for wallbox-mounted dimmer A push/pull switch control is incorporated into the surface pattern of a wall box dimmer having a planar face surface. The switch control is finger nail operated and contains a finger nail groove which is accessible on the bottom end surface of the operator so it ca... | 04/29/2008 |
| 7359171 | Current limiting circuit and output circuit including the same A current limiting circuit capable of increasing a range of applicable load values is disclosed. An output circuit (100) may include a current limiting circuit. A current limiting circuit may include a voltage detecting circuit (1) and a voltage clampi... | 04/15/2008 |
| 7342359 | Forward/reverse hybrid switching power supply with time-based pulse triggering control A phase-control power controller that converts a line voltage to an RMS load voltage includes a fixed phase forward/reverse hybrid phase-control clipping circuit that performs phase-control clipping of a load voltage to provide an RMS load voltage. A conduction angl... | 03/11/2008 |
| 7339331 | Dimmer circuit with improved ripple control A dimmer circuit arrangement is disclosed including a second control circuit for controlling the operation of a triac for delivering current to a load, and a first control circuit for controlling the operation of an IGBT power semiconductor switch for controlling th... | 03/04/2008 |
| 7330695 | Bus powered wireless transmitter A process control system utilizes wireless transceivers to divorce the field devices from traditional wired network topologies. By providing field devices with wireless transceivers and shared wireless transceivers for adapting wired field devices, the field device ... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7329840 | Heater lamp control apparatus and method to detect an inputted AC voltage and providing a pulse signal to correspond thereto A heater lamp control apparatus and method of detecting an input AC voltage and providing a pulse signal corresponding thereto, includes an AC voltage phase detection unit to detect a phase of the inputted AC voltage when a magnitude of the inputted AC voltage is ov... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7329996 | Sine wave light-adjusting apparatus A sine wave light-adjusting apparatus adjusts the input sine wave voltage and output a desired output sine wave voltage to a lamp according to the desired brightness of the lamp to achieve the light-adjusting effect by adjusting the switching period of a switch and ... | 02/12/2008 |
| 7321199 | Display apparatus and control method thereof A display apparatus and method in which a current ripple is decreased to improve characteristics of a display apparatus are provided. A display apparatus comprises a light source, a plurality of driving power units providing driving electric powers to the light sour... | 01/22/2008 |
| 7312585 | Remote control of electronic light ballast and other devices An electronic ballast system controls one or more ballasts of HID or fluorescent lamps, which are controlled in an “on/off” manner by a ultra low power controller that is isolated for a primary power circuit or derives its very low switch power from the ballast ... | 12/25/2007 |
| 7307614 | Light emitting diode driver circuit Describe is a device for a multiplexing, output current-sensed, boost converter circuit which may be used as an LED driver. A boost converter LED driver circuit using a single set of passive external LC components for controlling the current through, and thus the ou... | 12/11/2007 |
| 7304441 | Method and apparatus for driving discharge lamps in a floating configuration A technique is described that facilitates sensing current through a load. A method according to the technique includes mounting a discharge lamp in a floating point configuration, sensing current through the discharge lamp, and controlling current through the discha... | 12/04/2007 |
| 7294974 | Fixed operating frequency inverter for cold cathode fluorescent lamp having strike frequency adjusted by voltage to current phase relationship A method of driving a lamp that uses a DC to AC inverter that is connected to a primary winding of a transformer is disclosed. The inverter frequency is variable, and in one embodiment, may be controlled by a voltage controlled oscillator. Circuitry is included that... | 11/13/2007 |
| 7292493 | Semiconductor device with electrically broken fuse and its manufacture method An electric fuse is formed over a semiconductor substrate, the electric fuse being broken when a current flows therethrough. A breaker transistor is formed in a first surface layer of the semiconductor substrate of a first conductivity type, the breaker transistor i... | 11/06/2007 |
| 7288897 | Circuit arrangement for operating at least one high pressure discharge lamp A circuit arrangement for operating at least one high-pressure discharge lamp having four switches in a full bridge arrangement, a first and a second switch forming the first half-bridge arm, and a third and a fourth switch forming the second half-bridge arm, at lea... | 10/30/2007 |
| 7286023 | Crystal oscillation circuit with frequency regulation It is an object of the invention to obtain a stable operation with a low phase noise. Moreover, it is another object to obtain an oscillating output which does not cause the delay of a starting time. According to the invention, it is possible to implement a crystal ... | 10/23/2007 |
| 7271550 | Dimmer circuit arrangement A dimmer circuit arrangement is disclosed including a second control circuit (40) for controlling the operation of a triac (50) for delivering current to a load (60), and a first control circuit (10) for controlling the operation of an IG... | 09/18/2007 |
| 7259524 | Apparatus and methods for regulating delivery of electrical energy Apparatus and methods for regulating delivery of electrical energy to a lighting load are disclosed. An electrical waveform is received from a source of electrical energy. An integration value is generated based on a square of an amplitude of the received waveform. ... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7259527 | Stepped dimming ballast for fluorescent lamps A stepped dimming ballast comprising a filter and rectifier circuit (1), a DC high voltage stabilizing circuit (2), a frequency control and switch circuit (3), a load current feedback circuit (5), a voltage signal processing circuit (6... | 08/21/2007 |
| 7253567 | Low-visual noise, jitterized pulse width modulation brightness control circuit A low visual noise, jitterized pulse width modulation brightness control circuit is provided. The circuit uses a brightness control signal generating unit to receive a brightness adjusting signal and to generate a brightness control signal in response to the brightn... | 08/07/2007 |
| 7246912 | Electroluminescent lighting system Electroluminescent panels for use in battery operated devices include a driver circuit and a plurality of panel regions having a capacitance. Each panel region has a substitute capacitor with a capacitance substantially equal to the capacitance of the panel region c... | 07/24/2007 |
| 7242152 | Systems and methods of controlling light systems An embodiment of the invention is a system for generating control signals. The system may allow a user to generate an image, representation of an image, algorithm or other effect information. The effect information may then be converted to lighting control signals t... | 07/10/2007 |
| 7235933 | Reversible dimmer device of gas discharge lamps and the control method for light adjusting thereof A reversible dimmer device of gas discharge lamp and a control method for light adjusting thereof are proposed, in which a power switch on the wall or on an appliance is used to control actions of at least of a gas discharge lamp. When the power switch is turned on,... | 06/26/2007 |
| 7230388 | Lighting of discharge lamp by frequency control A discharge lamp controlling apparatus includes a detector for detecting a discharge condition of a discharge lamp; a frequency changing unit for gradually changing a frequency of a voltage to be applied to the discharge lamp until the discharge condition reaches a ... | 06/12/2007 |
| 7230590 | Method and apparatus for driving display panel using pulse width modulation A method for driving a display panel is disclosed to form a desired waveform in driving a pulse width modulation (PWM) mode for adjusting a gray scale level. The method for driving a display panel includes the steps of turning off a plurality of signals respectively... | 06/12/2007 |
