The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Aug. 27, 1996
Filed:
Apr. 14, 1995
Felix Tobler, Schanis, CH;
Knobel AG Lichttechnische Komponenten, Ennenda, CH;
Abstract
Driver circuit for discharge lamps. The driver circuit contains an inverter driving a lamp circuit with a discharge lamp and the current in the lamp circuit is measured as a voltage U.sub.ILC over a resistor, with a control circuit comprising a strike detector that determines if the lamp did strike during a start-up phase of the driver, and if not, the inverter is switched off, with the control circuit going into a monitoring state where it operates the inverter for short periods at regular intervals, and during each such period, the voltage U.sub.ILC is monitored to detect a removal or an insertion of a lamp, so that, once the lamp has been replaced, a new start-up phase begins.