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:
Sep. 03, 2002
Filed:
May. 08, 2001
Yongping Xia, Torrance, CA (US);
Yin Zhang, Torrance, CA (US);
Teldata Solutions LLC, Portland, OR (US);
Abstract
A portable, electronic device for remotely detecting and indicating whether a ballast driving a fluorescent lamp is of the magnetic type. The device comprises a power supply, a light sensor that receives emitted light from the fluorescent lamp and, in response, produces an output signal having a frequency proportional to the flicker frequency of the emitted light, a voltage detector that converts the output signal into a digital signal stream having a pulse frequency proportional to the frequency of the output signal, a microcontroller that determines whether the pulse frequency of the digital signal stream is between predetermined high and low threshold levels, wherein a first indicator signal indicating the presence of a magnetic ballast is produced as an output of the microcontroller when the pulse frequency of the digital signal stream is determined to be between the threshold levels. Until activated by a user, the microcontroller remains in a “sleep” mode, thus conserving the power supply.