Comic actor Danny Kaye received patent D166,807 for the co-design of "Blowout Toy or the Like". It's similar to one of those toys that unravels when you blow into at a birthday party except Kaye's has three blowouts going in different directions, not just one.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8179052 | Reduced power loss in electronic ballasts An electronic ballast is disclosed, in particular for operation of gas-discharge lamps, in which a further power semiconductor is provided in addition to the conventional power semiconductor, and provides the power required for steady-state operation. This avoids th... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8148906 | Constant current switching power supply apparatus, method of driving it, light source driving apparatus, method of driving it, and image display apparatus In a constant current switching power supply, the current flowing through the load, is feedback-controlled based on the deviation of the detection value (Id) from the target value (Ir), multiplied by a proportional gain (PG), the value of the gain is set to a predet... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8134302 | Offline LED driving circuits An offline LED driving circuit includes a controller, a shunt regulator, an opto-coupler, and a dimming circuit. The controller generates a switching signal to switch a transformer for providing an output voltage and an output current. The shunt regulator is coupled... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8106596 | Light source driving circuit A light source driving circuit includes a transformer, a switching circuit, a control circuit, a brightness adjusting circuit and an isolator circuit. The brightness adjusting circuit is connected to a secondary winding assembly of the transformer and the light-emit... | 01/31/2012 |
| 8084953 | Changing power input to a gas discharge lamp The present disclosure thus provides a technique for providing multi-level operation of ballast circuitry for discharge lamps. In one version, an auxiliary capacitance is switched in and out of circuit by a user controlled switch for lower the frequency of the volta... | 12/27/2011 |
| 8063569 | Discharge tube power supply apparatus and semiconductor integrated circuit An AC conversion circuit includes a main transformer having a primary winding and a secondary winding to electrically insulate the AC power source side and the discharge tube side from each other, an IC1 arranged on the AC power source side, a plurality of sw... | 11/22/2011 |
| 8053998 | Inverter and driving device of backlight module An inverter for driving at least one light-emitting unit includes a switching circuit, an electric-isolated circuit and a transforming circuit. The switching circuit generates at least one switching signal according to a DC signal and at least one switching control ... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8044600 | Brightness-adjustable LED driving circuit A brightness-adjustable LED driving circuit includes a rectifying and filtering circuit, a power factor correction power conversion circuit, and a detecting and controlling circuit. The rectifying and filtering circuit is used for filtering and rectifying a brightne... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8044601 | High voltage discharge lamp lighting device A high-voltage discharge lamp lighting device provides a starting pulse voltage sufficient to turn on a high-voltage discharge lamp having terminal wire connections of variable length. A power conversion circuit is coupled to a commercial AC power source input and r... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8022636 | Control of delivery of current through one or more discharge lamps Control of delivery of current through one or more discharge lamps. Methods include alternately switching on and off switching elements that control a fluorescent lamp, in response to receiving input, until the brightness of the lamp decreases to a threshold. Furthe... | 09/20/2011 |
| 8004202 | Apparatus and method for driving backlight An apparatus for driving a backlight includes a controller for driving a lamp; a limiter for preventing the controller from driving the lamp during a contact condition of the lamp; and means for disabling the limiter during a first time of the controller, wherein th... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7965047 | Fluorescent lamp driving circuit A fluorescent lamp driving circuit is provided. The fluorescent lamp driving circuit collects a pulse-width-modulation and a MOS switch in a single package. The pulse-width-modulation for driving multiple lamps only needs two pins to achieve feedback control and pro... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7956548 | Electronic ballast protection An electronic ballast powers at least one fluorescent tube or lamp which has a power source; a DC power supply having an input connected to the power source; an oscillator connected to an output of said DC power supply so as to be driven therefrom; a driver means; a... | 06/07/2011 |
| 7928661 | Self-excited inverter driving circuit To provide a low-cost self-excited inverter driving circuit exhibiting an excellent operational efficiency. A main inverter section is so constructed that a part of output signals is fed back by a resonance loop circuit to cause a self-excited oscillation to occur i... | 04/19/2011 |
| 7911148 | Circuit arrangement for operating a discharge lamp having temperature compensation The invention relates to a circuit arrangement which is used to operate a low pressure discharge lamp (EL), wherein the discharge lamp receives power. Said circuit arrangement is embodied in such a manner that power-determination components (C2a, L2... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7884554 | Ignition circuit for igniting a discharge lamp and method for igniting the discharge lamp A starting circuit arrangement for starting at least one discharge lamp by applying an electrical starting voltage pulse to the discharge lamp, the starting circuit arrangement has: at least one source circuit arrangement for providing an electrical primary voltage ... | 02/08/2011 |
| 7872424 | Lighting apparatus with current feedback A lighting apparatus comprises a plurality of light sources, a power conversion circuit, a plurality of load-driving coils and a feedback generation coil. The power conversion circuit generates a driving signal for the load-driving coils to generate substantially id... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7872425 | Light source driving device A light source driving device includes a power stage circuit, a first transformer circuit, a second transformer circuit, and a feedback control circuit. The power stage circuit converts a received signal to an alternating current (AC) signal, which includes a synchr... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7852013 | Electronic stabilizer circuit for suppressing startup instabilities in cold cathode fluorescent lamps According to the present invention an electronic stabilizer circuit for suppressing startup instabilities when supplying a cold cathode fluorescent lamp with current is proposed which is connected in series with a power supply line of the cold cathode fluorescent la... | 12/14/2010 |
| 7834558 | Control of delivery of current through one or more discharge lamps Control of delivery of current through one or more discharge lamps. Methods include alternately switching on and off switching elements that control a fluorescent lamp, in response to receiving input, until the brightness of the lamp decreases to a threshold. Furthe... | 11/16/2010 |
| 7808186 | Power supply apparatus for arc-generating load An output of a rectifying circuit (6), which rectifies commercial AC power, is supplied to an inverter (12) through a power factor correction circuit (8). The output of the inverter (12) is voltage-transformed in a transformer (16)... | 10/05/2010 |
| 7755296 | Resonant inverter The present invention provides a low-cost resonant inverter circuit for ballast. The resonant circuit includes a transformer connected in series with a lamp to operate the lamp. A first transistor and a second transistor are coupled to switch the resonant inverter c... | 07/13/2010 |
| 7750577 | Apparatus and method for providing an isolated set point from an input signal applied to a lamp ballast The present application discloses a method and apparatus for providing an isolated set point from an input signal. The set point can control the amount of power applied to a lamp via a lamp ballast. An AC output signal from the ballast powers a dimming circuit. The ... | 07/06/2010 |
| 7710043 | Discharge-lamp lighting apparatus A discharge-lamp lighting apparatus includes first and second cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) and first and second transformers. The second transformer has a primary winding connected in parallel to one of primary and secondary windings of the first transform... | 05/04/2010 |
| 7701147 | Apparatus and method for driving backlight An apparatus for driving a backlight includes a controller for driving a lamp; a limiter for preventing the controller from driving the lamp during a contact condition of the lamp; and means for disabling the limiter during a first time of the controller, wherein th... | 04/20/2010 |
| 7635955 | Back light assembly and display apparatus having the same A lamp assembly includes a lamp and a lamp driving device. The lamp includes a body and first and second electrodes. The body converts invisible ray generated by a discharge into visible ray, and the electrodes are disposed on the body. The lamp driving device provi... | 12/22/2009 |
| 7589476 | Power supply for external electrode fluorescent lamps The present invention provides a power supply circuit for providing power for a plurality of external electrode fluorescent lamps (EEFLs) connected in parallel, comprising a controllable voltage regulator for receiving an input power signal and for providing a regul... | 09/15/2009 |
| 7545103 | Cold-cathode tube lighting device for use in a plurality of cold-cathode tubes lit by one low-impedance power source A cold-cathode tube lighting device uniformly lights multiple cold-cathode tubes using a common power source, and the cold-cathode tube lighting device is effectively downsized by using ballast capacitors. A substrate is divided into blocks as many as the cold-catho... | 06/09/2009 |
| 7541745 | Fluorescent lamp assembly having multiple settings and method A fluorescent lamp assembly includes a fluorescent lamp ballast capable of detecting at least one of a plurality of input signals and generating an output signal. The output signal is associated with a power level that is based on the at least one detected input sig... | 06/02/2009 |
| 7521873 | Circuit designs and control techniques for high frequency electronic ballasts for high intensity discharge lamps The present invention provides an electronic ballast for a high intensity discharge lamp such as a metal halide lamp. The ballast includes an inverter and a resonant circuit with an ignition capacitor between the resonant circuit and the lamp. The ignition capacitor... | 04/21/2009 |
| 7456581 | Power supply, backlight apparatus, and display device A power supply includes a light source, a signal converting unit converting an externally supplied AC voltage into a DC voltage, a DC-DC converting unit converting a magnitude of the DC voltage, and a light source protecting unit. The light source protecting unit ou... | 11/25/2008 |
| 7441921 | Backlight unit and method of driving the same A backlight unit includes at least one cold cathode fluorescent lamp arranged at a lower end of a bottom cover, external electrode fluorescent lamps arranged on the bottom cover above the cold cathode fluorescent lamp, and inverters disposed on a rear side of the bo... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7443106 | Circuit with switch-off device for the operation of light sources Circuit with a switch-off device for the operation of light sources The invention relates to a circuit with a switch-off device for the operation of light sources (Lp), have the following features: a self-commutated half-bridge inv... | 10/28/2008 |
| 7436123 | Discharge lamp ballast device and lighting appliance An inverter controller dives an inverter to operate at a switching frequency selectively from one of a preheating frequency (f1), a starting frequency (f2), and a lighting frequency (f3) which are different from each other, thereby giving a preh... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7436126 | Resonant ballast circuit A low cost ballast circuit for fluorescent lamp is provided. A fluorescent lamp is connected in series with a resonant circuit having a transformer. A first switch and a second switch are coupled to switch the resonant circuit. A first winding of the transformer is ... | 10/14/2008 |
| 7417381 | Discharge lamp lighting circuit A DC/AC converter 3 performs AC conversion and a boosting function upon the reception of a DC voltage. A control unit 6 controls the DC/AC converter 3 to perform the lighting control of a discharge lamp. The DC/AC converter includes an AC conver... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7408356 | Method of determining a zero point of a current sensor A method of determining a zero point of a current sensor in a circuit arrangement for operating a gas discharge lamp includes switching off the current through the sensor for a short period during a first half wave and determining a first test value. Then the curren... | 08/05/2008 |
| 7394208 | Simplified electronic ballast circuit and method of operation The present invention relates to an electronic ballast for driving a fluorescent lamp or the like, and more particularly to a new topology ballast that has only one switch in its oscillating part. The new ballast is an improvement over the conventional half-bridge s... | 07/01/2008 |
| 7391163 | Apparatus of driving light source for display device An apparatus of driving a lamp for a display device is provided. The driving apparatus includes an inverter (920), a lamp current sensor (940), and an inverter controller (930). The lamp current sensor (940)senses a current flowing in the... | 06/24/2008 |
| 7388335 | Apparatus for providing a sinusoidally amplitude-modulated operating voltage, lighting system and method for generating an amplitude-modulated voltage In the case of an apparatus for providing a sinusoidally amplitude-modulated operating voltage, two switches are arranged in the form of a half bridge, and an LC element is arranged downstream of the half bridge. The first switch is driven by a first square-wave sig... | 06/17/2008 |