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:
Jul. 21, 1998
Filed:
May. 30, 1996
Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
In a lighting circuit, a battery voltage is sent via a DC power supply section to a DC-AC converter to be converted to a square-wave AC voltage which is in turn supplied to a discharge lamp. The lighting circuit comprises an auxiliary power supply section for producing a predetermined voltage based on the input voltage from a battery and supplying this predetermined voltage to the individual sections of the lighting circuit and an abnormality detection circuit for detecting an abnormality in the discharge lamp, the circuit status, the battery voltage and so forth. In accordance with a signal from the abnormality detection circuit, a switch section, which is provided on a current line whose current is smaller than a current flowing on a power supply line to the discharge lamp, is switched on or off to enable or disable the auxiliary power supply section, thereby permitting or inhibiting power supply to the discharge lamp.