O2Micro Assigned Patent for Circuits and Methods for Driving Light Sources

By Targeted News Service

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 3 -- O2Micro, Santa Clara, Calif., has been assigned a patent (8,232,738) developed by Sheng Tai Lee, Taipei, Taiwan, Yung Lin Lin, Palo Alto, Calif., and Chuan Chiung Kuo, Taipei, Taiwan, for "circuits and methods for driving light sources."The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Embodiments in accordance with the present invention provide circuits and methods for driving a light-emitting diode (LED) light source. In one embodiment, a printed circuit board (PCB) includes a bridge rectifier rectifying an AC voltage to a rectified AC voltage, an LED light source, and a first switch coupled to the LED light source in series controlling a current through the LED light source according to a predetermined current reference. The LED light source and the first switch coupled in series receive the rectified AC voltage while the first switch is controlled linearly. The circuit further includes a current path coupled in parallel with the LED light source and an illuminated switch coupled between the AC power source and the bridge rectifier."

The patent application was filed on April 28, 2011 (13/096,646). The full-text of the patent can be found at http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=82,32,738.PN.&OS=PN/82,32,738&RS=PN/82,32,738

Written by Kusum Sangma; edited by Anand Kumar.

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