Control circuit for optical transducers

• US 8,093,825 B1
• Filed: 11/13/2007
• Issued: 01/10/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: Van Ess, David, Prendergast, Patrick N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Owens, Douglas W
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chen, Jianzi
• Application Number:
  US11/985,201
• Time in Patent Office: 1,519 Days
• Field of Search: 315/137, 315/160, 315/172, 315/161, 315/185.R, 315/186, 315/192, 315/209.R, 315/210, 315/217, 315/224, 315/225, 315/226, 315/209.T, 315/246, 315/250, 315/287, 315/291, 315/294, 315/295, 315/297, 315/299, 315/300, 315/301, 315/307, 315/308, 386/1, 386/9, 386/10, 386/12, 386/13, 386/14, 386/16, 386/17, 386/34, 386/35, 386/42, 386/43, 386/44
• US Class Current: 315/291
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/14 using electrical feedback from LEDs or from LED modules
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/24 using electrical feedback from LEDs or from LED modules
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/325 Pulse-width modulation [PWM]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 20/30 Semiconductor lamps, e.g. solid state lamps [SSL] light emitting diodes [LED] or organic LED [OLED]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for high-side control of an optical transducer provides improved current control and temperature compensation and uses stochastic modulation for improved spectral characteristics.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

referencing an optical transducer to a low-side voltage node; and

independently controlling a peak current and an average current of the optical transducer with stochastic control signals generated by a high-side stochastic modulator, wherein independently controlling the peak current and the average current comprises;

generating a first stochastic control signal with a first clock frequency;

generating a second stochastic control signal with a second clock frequency; and

combining the first stochastic control signal and the second stochastic control signal to generate a combined stochastic control signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein independently controlling the peak current and the average current further comprises:

filtering the combined stochastic control signal with a lowpass filter to generate a filtered control signal, the lowpass filter including a cutoff frequency less than the first clock frequency and greater than the second clock frequency.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising driving a controllable current supply with the filtered control signal, wherein a minimum value of the filtered control signal corresponds to an average value of the second stochastic control signal and a maximum value of the filtered control signal corresponds to a peak value of the first stochastic control signal.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

generating an analog sense voltage proportional to the peak current;

converting the analog sense voltage to a digital value;

comparing the digital value with a first stored signal density value of the first stochastic control signal; and

correcting the first stored signal density value when the digital value differs from the first stored signal density value by more than a specified amount.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising selecting a second stored signal density value associated with the second stochastic control signal, wherein the second stored signal density value corresponds to a specified percentage of the peak current.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the optical transducer comprises a light-emitting diode (LED), the method further comprising:

measuring a forward voltage across the LED at a specified current level;

converting the forward voltage to an equivalent junction temperature of the LED; and

adjusting the peak current and the average current of the LED to compensate for changes in luminous flux and dominant wavelength of the LED due to the junction temperature of the LED.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the low-side voltage node comprises a grounded node.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a light-emitting diode (LED) referenced to a low-side voltage node;

a controllable current supply coupled to a high-potential side of the LED; and

a stochastic controller coupled to the controllable current supply, the stochastic controller configured to provide independent control of a peak current and an average current of the controllable current supply, wherein the stochastic controller comprises;

a first stochastic signal density modulator (SSDM) configured to generate a first stochastic control signal with a first clock frequency, to control the peak current of the controllable current supply;

a second SSDM configured to generate a second stochastic control signal with a second clock frequency, to control the average current of the controllable current supply; and

a combiner configured to logically combine the first stochastic control signal and the second stochastic control signal into a combined stochastic control signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a lowpass filter coupled between the stochastic controller and the controllable current supply, wherein the lowpass filter includes a cutoff frequency less than the first clock frequency and greater than the second clock frequency.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

a sense resistor coupled between ground and the optical transducer to generate an analog sense voltage proportional to the peak current in the LED;

an analog to digital converter coupled between the sense resistor and the first SSDM to convert the analog sense voltage to a digital value, wherein the first SSDM is configured

to compare the digital value with a first stored signal density value of the first stochastic control signal and

to correct the first stored signal density value when the digital value differs from the first stored signal density value by more than a specified amount.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the second SSDM is configured to select a second stored signal density value associated with the second stochastic control signal, wherein the second stored signal density value corresponds to a specified percentage of the peak current.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

structure for measuring a forward voltage across the LED at a specified current level;

structure for converting the forward voltage to an equivalent junction temperature of the LED; and

structure for adjusting the peak current and the average current of the LED to compensate for changes in luminous flux and dominant wavelength of the LED due to the junction temperature of the LED.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein each of the stochastic signal density modulators comprises:

a comparator comprising a first input, a second input and an output;

a stochastic counter, coupled to the first input of the comparator, to generate a plurality of stochastic values;

a signal density register, coupled to the second input of the comparator, to hold a signal density value, wherein the output of the comparator comprises a first output value if a stochastic value of the plurality of stochastic values is greater than the signal density value and wherein the output of the comparator comprises a second output value if the stochastic value of the plurality of stochastic values is less than or equal to the signal density value.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the low-side voltage node comprises a grounded node.

15. A system, comprising:

a plurality of optical transducers referenced to a ground potential;

a plurality of controllable current supplies, each coupled to a high-potential side of one of the plurality of optical transducers; and

a plurality of stochastic controllers coupled to the plurality of controllable current supplies, wherein each stochastic controller is configured to provide independent control of a peak current and an average current in one of the plurality of optical transducers.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of optical transducers comprises a set of primary color optical transducers and wherein the plurality of stochastic controllers is configured to control a color mix of the plurality of optical transducers.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of optical transducers comprises a set of complementary color optical transducers and wherein the plurality of stochastic controllers is configured to control a color mix of the plurality of optical transducers.

18. An apparatus, comprising:

means for referencing an optical transducer to a low-side voltage node; and

means for independently controlling a peak current and an average current of the optical transducer with stochastic control signals generated by a high-side stochastic modulator, wherein the means for independently controlling the peak current and the average current comprises;

means for generating a first stochastic control signal with a first clock frequency;

means for generating a second stochastic control signal with a second clock frequency; and

means for combining the first stochastic control signal and the second stochastic control signal to generate a combined stochastic control signal.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the optical transducer comprises a light-emitting diode (LED), the apparatus further comprising:

means for measuring a forward voltage across the LED at a specified current level;

means for converting the forward voltage to an equivalent junction temperature of the LED; and

means for adjusting the peak current and the average current of the LED to compensate for changes in luminous flux and dominant wavelength of the LED due to the junction temperature of the LED.