Programmable and adaptable interface for dimming light emitting diodes

1. A device comprising:

circuitry configured to

receive and decode an input signal, the decoded input signal having a first modulation format,

generate a light emitting diode (LED) dimming signal by converting the first modulation format to a second modulation format,

add a dither signal to the decoded input signal to form a dithered input signal;

modulate the dithered input signal to have the first modulation format, and

over-sample the dithered input signal at an over-sampling ratio that is programmable with respect to the input signal, the input signal being a digital signal corresponding to an intensity level of an LED.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the second modulation format is one of a delta sigma modulation, a pulse width modulation, a pulse amplitude modulation, a direct current modulation, and a pulse density modulation.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first modulation for at is delta-sigma modulation.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the first modulation format is identical to the second modulation format.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the circuitry is configured to covert the first modulation format to the second modulation format based on a counter.

6. A method for generating a light-emitting-diode (LED) dimming signal, the method comprising:

receiving and decoding an input signal, the input signal being an N-bit digital signal, and the decoded input signal having a first modulation format;

generating by the circuitry, the LED dimming signal by converting the first modulation format to a second modulation format;

adding a dither signal to the decoded input signal to form a dithered input signal;

modulating by the circuitry the dithered input signal to have the first modulation format; and

over-sampling the dithered input signal at an over-sampling ratio that is programmable with respect to the input signal, the input signal corresponding to an intensity level of an LED.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second modulation format is one of a delta sigma modulation, a pulse width modulation, a pulse amplitude modulation, a direct current modulation, and a pulse density modulation.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first modulation format is delta-sigma modulation.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

converting via a counter, the first modulation format to the second modulation format.

10. An apparatus comprising:

a decoder configured to decode a digital control code;

a modulator configured to modulate a combination of the decoded control code and a dither signal, the combined signal having a first modulation format; and

a converter configured to generate a dimming signal by converting the first modulation format associated with the combined signal to a second modulation format, wherein

the dither signal is over-sampled at an over-sampling ratio that is programmable with respect to the digital control code, the digital control code corresponding to an intensity level of a plurality of LEDs.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the first modulation format associated with the combined signal is a delta-sigma modulation, and the second modulation format associated with the dimming signal is one of a delta sigma modulation, a pulse width modulation, a pulse amplitude modulation, and a pulse density modulation.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the modulator is a delta-sigma modulator, and the converter is a counter.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:

a low-pass filter configured to convert a pulse-modulated signal to a high-precision DC signal without using a high-resolution DAC.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the dither signal is a random-noise signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:

a buffer configured to scale a magnitude of the generated dimming signal based on a plurality of LEDs.