Did You Know...
...that one person who claimed to be the inventor of the television is Russian emigre Vladimir Zworykin? In 1929 David Sarnoff, founder of RCA, asked Zworykin what it would take to develop TV for commercial use. He said: a year and a half and $100,000. In reality, it took 20 years and $50 million! Before his death in 1982 at the age of 92, Zworykin said of his invention: "The technique is wonderful. It is beyond my expectations. But the programs! I would never let my children even come close to this thing."
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7277106 | Scanning apparatus having a fluorescent lamp and control method thereof A scanning apparatus having a cold cathode fluorescent lamp includes a central processing unit (CPU) controlling a scan unit to be in one of the stand-by mode, a scan mode and a sleep mode and outputting a PWM signal having a variable duty ratio based on an operatio... | 10/02/2007 |
| 7183726 | Cold cathode fluorescent lamp drive apparatus and method A cold cathode fluorescent lamp drive apparatus for lighting a cold cathode fluorescent lamp is disclosed. The cold cathode fluorescent lamp drive apparatus includes an abnormal current holding unit that is configured to hold an abnormal current that flows in the co... | 02/27/2007 |
| 7154227 | Circuit arrangement for operating at least one light source A circuit arrangement for operating at least one light source. Cost-effective power factor correction of the system input is achieved by a combination of a charge pump and a valley-fill circuit. According to the invention, the voltage (UN2) produced by th... | 12/26/2006 |
| 7102295 | Electronic device with illumination circuit and EL device utilizing the same An electronic device having an illumination circuit. The illumination circuit utilizes an AC current of an AC driving device to drive an illumination device such as an electroluminescent lamp and the remaining life of the AC driving device indicated by the brightnes... | 09/05/2006 |
| 7084579 | Two light level ballast An electronic ballast (100) for powering at least one gas discharge lamp (30) at two light levels includes a full-wave rectifier circuit (120) and a detector circuit (200). Detector circuit (200) provides an output voltage that is ... | 08/01/2006 |
| 6949885 | Discharge lamp lighting device and lighting apparatus A discharge lamp lighting device includes a discharge lamp that is lighted through an L-C resonance induced by an oscillation output of an inverter circuit. An on-off operation of switching elements of the inverter circuit is controlled by a control IC which include... | 09/27/2005 |
| 6927544 | Lighting control system with variable arc control including start-up circuit for providing a bias voltage supply A lighting control system provides variable arc current to one or more fluorescent gas discharge lamps and provides a heating voltage to the lamp electrodes. The system includes a start-up circuit which includes circuitry for providing a starting voltage to an outpu... | 08/09/2005 |
| 6900599 | Electronic dimming ballast for cold cathode fluorescent lamp An electronic ballast for powering a cold cathode fluorescent lamp of an electronic display device comprising: a rectifier coupled to a source of AC power for producing a rectified DC output voltage, a power factor correction circuit receiving the rectified DC outpu... | 05/31/2005 |
| 6667583 | Method and apparatus for efficiently driving a low-voltage device from a wide-range input supply A method an apparatus for efficiently driving a low-voltage device from a wide-range input supply uses and inductor and a diode coupled in parallel to provide a high-efficiency energy storage circuit. The parallel diode/inductor circuit is coupled to a sw... | 12/23/2003 |
| 6621222 | Power-saving lamp A power-saving lamp is constructed to include a lamp head, a bulb fastened to the lamp head, a polygonal light emitting circuit assembly suspended from a bracket in the lamp head within the bulb, the polygonal light emitting circuit assembly having LEDs i... | 09/16/2003 |
| 6452343 | Ballast circuit In a TRIAC dimmable ballast for a discharge lamp comprising a buffer capacitor and a control circuit, a shut off circuit is incorporated for switching off the control circuit when the voltage over the buffer capacitor drops below a predetermined value due... | 09/17/2002 |
| 6414447 | Discharge lamp lighting device and illuminating device A combination-type high frequency inverter connects an isolation leakage transformer, a smoothing condenser, a resonance condenser, a first field-effect transistor and a second field-effect transistor to a diode bridge and rectifies the voltage of an AC p... | 07/02/2002 |
| 5844379 | Circuit arrangement for igniting a high pressure discharge lamp The invention relates to a circuit arrangement for operating a high-pressure discharge lamp. A buffer capacitor is shunted by a branch which comprises a series circuit of a second capactor and a unidirectional element for blocking a current with which the... | 12/01/1998 |
| 5828182 | Apparatus for supplying power from a ballast circuit to an auxiliary load The present invention is directed to a power supply circuit for controlling a load which, for example, includes both a gas-discharge lamp and an auxiliary load. The power supply circuit includes a ballast circuit for limiting current supplied to the gas d... | 10/27/1998 |
| 5796215 | Soft start circuit for self-oscillating drivers A half bridge driver chip for driving a resonant load, such as a ballast, has first and second pairs to which an oscillation frequency timing circuit, matched to the resonant frequency of the load. A constant voltage drop circuit is connected to these inp... | 08/18/1998 |
| 5568018 | Fluorescent light ballast circuit An improved fluorescent light ballast circuit extends the on/off life of a florescent lamp within a lighting circuit having a pair of series connected fluorescent lamps. The ballast circuit includes a DC pulse generation circuit, filtering and voltage reg... | 10/22/1996 |
| 5517086 | Modified valley fill high power factor correction ballast A modified valley fill circuit, including a main ballasting inductor for supplying an electrolytic capacitor, has an additional charging winding on the main ballasting inductor for charging the electrolytic capacitor to a predetermined voltage which maxim... | 05/14/1996 |
| 5387847 | Passive power factor ballast circuit for the gas discharge lamps A ballast for a gas discharge lamp circuit has a d-c output which contains three series-connected diodes connected across the output terminals, a pair of capacitors connected from different respective nodes of the diodes to respective ones of the output t... | 02/07/1995 |
| 5115347 | Electronically power-factor-corrected ballast A fluorescent lamp is connected in parallel with the tank capacitor of a resonant L-C circuit series-excited by a 30 kHz voltage from a self-oscillating inverter. The inverter's DC supply voltage is at certain times obtained directly from unfiltered full-... | 05/19/1992 |
| 4956581 | Flyback converter microwave oven power supply In a microwave oven, a magnetron is powered by way of a self-oscillating flyback converter circuit, which operates at a conversion frequency controllable over a range of frequencies up to about 35 kHz. The converter circuit is powered from a DC voltage de... | 09/11/1990 |
| 4748381 | Circuit arrangement for A.C. operation of gas discharge lamps A circuit arrangement for A.C. operation of gas discharge lamps comprises a full-wave rectifier (1) connected to an alternating voltage source. The direct voltage is supplied to a combinatorial circuit part (3 to 8) in the form of a direct voltage convert... | 05/31/1988 |
| 4739225 | Reduced requirement energy storage for load having non-zero minimum operating potential A load is provided, at all times when in operation, with a D.C. voltage having at least a minimum holding magnitude by: providing a source voltage having a peak magnitude greater than the holding magnitude; connecting the source voltage to the load only w... | 04/19/1988 |
| 4488091 | High intensity discharge lamp A high intensity discharge lamp operable from an AC potential source includes an arc discharge tube having a pair of oppositely disposed main electrodes therein and an associated external starting electrode, all disposed within a sealed envelope having an... | 12/11/1984 |
| 4423478 | Phase controlled regulated power supply A circuit is provided for regulating the application of power to a load which is relatively insensitive to rapid power fluctuation of the type exemplified by typical AC line sources. In one embodiment, an AC line source is applied at a controlled rate to ... | 12/27/1983 |
| 4274033 | High-frequency lamp operating circuit High frequency circuit for operating gaseous discharge lamps includes oppositely poled controlled semiconductor switches connected to a resonant circuit comprising a capacitor and inductor connected to the lamp load and serving both as a high-frequency ba... | 06/16/1981 |
| 4090107 | Electric circuit control system using logic device A circuit is disclosed which is suitable for controlling lighting in a building from a multiple number of points. AC current to light bulbs is controlled by a triac which in turn is controlled by the output of an optical coupler which is controlled by the... | 05/16/1978 |
| 4051410 | Discharge lamp operating circuit Color properties of high pressure sodium vapor discharge lamps are improved by disclosed operating circuit for applying pulsed direct current to the lamp. The circuit comprises a direct current supply circuit, a transistor switch in series with the lamp a... | 09/27/1977 |
| 3991344 | Solid-state dimmer for dual high pressure discharge lamps A lighting control apparatus to provide variable intensity light from high pressure discharge lamps using two high pressure discharge lamp loads connected in series to provide more widely variable intensity of light. The outputs of two ballasts may be con... | 11/09/1976 |
| 3976910 | Operating circuit for discharge lamps with voltage starting circuit and auxiliary lighting means therefor Operating circuit for gaseous discharge lamps, such as those of metal vapor type, having a ballast device of conventional type is provided with high voltage generating means for applying high voltage starting pulses on the lamp. The circuit may be combine... | 08/24/1976 |
