IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,446,131
Granted Patent B2
US 12,446,131 · App. 18/768,471 · Granted Oct 14, 2025

Load control device for a light-emitting diode light source

Inventors: Venkatesh Chitta (Center Valley, PA); Jeffrey S. Hayes (Allentown, PA); Robert D. Stevens, Jr. (Emmaus, PA)
Assignee: Lutron Technology Company LLC
H05B45/38H02M1/08H02M3/33507H02M3/33569H02M3/33571H05B44/00H05B45/10H05B45/327H05B45/345H05B45/37H05B45/385H05B45/39H05B45/395H05B45/50H02M1/0009H02M1/0035H02M1/0058H02M3/01H05B45/3725H05B45/375Y02B70/10
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,446,131
App. No.
18/768,471
Granted
Oct 14, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method for controlling an amount of power delivered to an electrical load may include controlling an average magnitude of a load current towards a target load current that ranges from a maximum-rated current to a minimum-rated current in a normal mode and controlling the average magnitude of the load current below the minimum-rated current in a burst mode. The burst mode may include at least one burst-mode period that comprises a first time period associated with an active state and a second time period associated with an inactive state. During the burst mode, the method may include regulating a peak magnitude of the load current towards the minimum-rated current during the active state and stopping the generation of at least one drive signal during the inactive state to control the average magnitude of the load current to be less than the minimum-rated current.

Claims (92)

1. A light-emitting diode (LED) lighting controller, comprising:

load regulation circuitry couplable to an LED lighting load;

control circuitry to generate one or more drive signal to cause the load regulation circuitry to control an average load current delivered to the operatively coupled LED lighting load, the control circuitry to:

receive an input that includes a target intensity for an operatively coupled LED lighting load;

determine one or more parameters associated with the received target intensity;

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to a determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within a defined parameter range;

wherein, in the first mode, the load regulation circuitry continuously supplies a load current to the LED lighting load; and

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range;

wherein, in the second mode, the load regulation circuitry periodically supplies the load current to the LED lighting load.

2. The LED lighting controller of claim 1 wherein to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within the defined parameter range, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate at a fixed duty cycle and vary a load current delivered to the LED lighting load.

3. The LED lighting controller of claim 1 wherein to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate on an adjustable duty cycle that alternates between an active state and an inactive state to provide an average load current to the LED lighting load.

4. The LED lighting controller of claim 3 wherein to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate on the adjustable duty cycle that alternates between the active state and the inactive state to provide the average load current to the LED lighting load, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

cause the load regulation circuitry to maintain a minimum duty cycle by varying a period of the duty cycle to adjust the average load current to the LED lighting load.

5. The LED lighting controller of claim 3 , wherein to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate on the adjustable duty cycle that alternates between the active state and the inactive state, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

cause the load regulation circuitry to provide the minimum fixed load current to the LED lighting load during the active state; and

cause the load regulation circuitry to not provide load current to the LED lighting load during the inactive state.

6. The LED lighting controller of claim 1 :

wherein to determine the one or more parameters associated with the received target intensity, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

determine a target load current to provide to the LED lighting load based on the received target intensity; and

wherein to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within the defined parameter range, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load current falls within a defined target load current range.

7. The LED lighting controller of claim 6 wherein to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load current falls below the defined target load current range.

8. The LED lighting controller of claim 1 :

wherein to determine the one or more parameters associated with the received target intensity, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

determine a target load power to provide to the LED lighting load based on the received target intensity; and

wherein to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within the defined parameter range, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load power falls within a defined target load current range.

9. The LED lighting controller of claim 8 wherein to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range, the LED lighting control circuitry to further:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load power falls below the defined target load power range.

10. A light-emitting diode (LED) lighting control method comprising:

receiving, by LED lighting control circuitry, an input that includes a target intensity for an operatively coupled LED lighting load;

determining, by the LED lighting control circuitry, one or more parameters associated with the received target intensity;

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to a determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within a defined parameter range;

wherein, in the first mode, the load regulation circuitry continuously supplies a load current to the LED lighting load; and

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range;

wherein, in the second mode, the load regulation circuitry periodically supplies the load current to the LED lighting load.

11. The LED lighting control method of claim 10 wherein causing the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within the defined parameter range further comprises:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to operate at a fixed duty cycle and vary a load current delivered to the LED lighting load.

12. The LED lighting control method of claim 10 wherein causing the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range further comprises:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to operate on an adjustable duty cycle that alternates between an active state and an inactive state to provide an average load current to the LED lighting load.

13. The LED lighting control method of claim 12 , wherein causing the load regulation circuitry to operate on the adjustable duty cycle that alternates between the active state and the inactive state to provide the average load current to the LED lighting load further comprises:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to maintain a minimum duty cycle by varying a period of the duty cycle to adjust the average load current to the LED lighting load.

14. The LED lighting control method of claim 12 , wherein causing the load regulation circuitry to operate on the adjustable duty cycle that alternates between the active state and the inactive state further comprises;

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to provide the minimum fixed load current to the LED lighting load during the active state; and

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to not provide load current to the LED lighting load during the inactive state.

15. The LED lighting control method of claim 10 :

wherein determining one or more parameters associated with the received target intensity further comprises:

determining, by the LED lighting control circuitry, a target load current to provide to the LED lighting load based on the received target intensity; and

wherein causing the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within the defined parameter range further comprises:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load current falls within a defined target load current range.

16. The LED lighting control method of claim 15 wherein causing the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range further comprises:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load current falls below the defined target load current range.

17. The LED lighting control method of claim 10 :

wherein determining one or more parameters associated with the received target intensity further comprises:

determining, by the LED lighting control circuitry, a target load power to provide to the LED lighting load based on the received target intensity; and

wherein causing the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within the defined parameter range further comprises:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load power falls within a defined target load current range.

18. The LED lighting control method of claim 17 wherein causing the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range further comprises:

causing, by the LED lighting control circuitry, the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load power falls below the defined target load power range.

19. A non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device that includes instructions that, when executed by light-emitting diode (LED) lighting control circuitry, cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

receive an input that includes a target intensity for an operatively coupled LED lighting load;

determine one or more parameters associated with the received target intensity;

cause operatively coupled load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to a determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within a defined parameter range;

wherein, in the first mode, the load regulation circuitry continuously supplies a load current to the LED lighting load; and

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range;

wherein, in the second mode, the load regulation circuitry periodically supplies the load current to the LED lighting load.

20. The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19 wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within the defined parameter range, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate at a fixed duty cycle and vary a load current delivered to the LED lighting load.

21. The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19 wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate on an adjustable duty cycle that alternates between an active state and an inactive state to provide an average load current to the LED lighting load.

22. The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 21 wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate on the adjustable duty cycle that alternates between the active state and the inactive state to provide the average load current to the LED lighting load, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

cause the load regulation circuitry to maintain a minimum duty cycle by varying the period of the duty cycle to adjust the average load current to the LED lighting load.

23. The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 21 wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate on the adjustable duty cycle that alternates between the active state and the inactive state, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

cause the load regulation circuitry to provide the minimum fixed load current to the LED lighting load during the active state; and

cause the load regulation circuitry to not provide load current to the LED lighting load during the inactive state.

24. The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19 :

wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to determine the one or more parameters associated with the received target intensity, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

determine a target load current to provide to the LED lighting load based on the received target intensity; and

wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within the defined parameter range, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load current falls within a defined target load current range.

25. The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 24 wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load current falls below the defined target load current range.

26. The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 19 :

wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to determine the one or more parameters associated with the received target intensity, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

determine a target load power to provide to the LED lighting load based on the received target intensity; and

wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall within the defined parameter range, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the first mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load power falls within a defined target load current range.

27. The non-transitory, machine-readable, storage device of claim 26 wherein the instructions that cause the LED lighting control circuitry to cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the one or more parameters associated with the target intensity fall below the defined parameter range, further cause the LED lighting control circuitry to:

cause the load regulation circuitry to operate in the second mode responsive to the determination that the determined target load power falls below the defined target load power range.

Continuity (13)
Continuation 18329859 · Jun 6, 2023
Continuation 17728609 · Apr 25, 2022
Continuation 17216378 · Mar 29, 2021
Continuation 16870646 · May 8, 2020
Continuation 16510028 · Jul 12, 2019
Continuation 16179774 · Nov 2, 2018
Continuation 15864662 · Jan 8, 2018
Continuation 15355230 · Nov 18, 2016
Continuation 14974853 · Dec 18, 2015
Continuation 14536491 · Nov 7, 2014
Provisional Application 62032229 · Aug 1, 2014
Provisional Application 61901480 · Nov 8, 2013
Related Publication 20240365450A1 · Oct 31, 2024
References Cited (101)
US 5568044A · Bittner · 1996 [cited by applicant]
US 5850127A · Zhu et al. · 1998 [cited by applicant]
US 6580309B2 · Jacobs et al. · 2003 [cited by applicant]
US 6707264B2 · Lin et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6788006B2 · Yamamoto et al. · 2004 [cited by applicant]
US 6841947B2 · Berg-Johansen et al. · 2005 [cited by applicant]
US 7061191B2 · Chitta · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7071762B2 · Xu et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7102339B1 · Ferguson · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7102340B1 · Ferguson et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 7211966B2 · Green et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 7265524B2 · Jordan et al. · 2007 [cited by applicant]
US 7420333B1 · Hamdad et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 7492619B2 · Ye et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 7535183B2 · Gurr et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 7642734B2 · De et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 7679939B2 · Gong et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 7759881B1 · Melanson et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 7791584B2 · Korcharz et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 7855520B2 · Leng et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 7863827B2 · Johnsen et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 7923939B1 · Hamdad et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 8044608B2 · Kuo et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 8076867B2 · Kuo et al. · 2011 [cited by applicant]
US 8154223B2 · Hsu et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8198832B2 · Bai et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8217591B2 · Chobot et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8258710B2 · Alexandrovich et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8258714B2 · Liu et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8283875B2 · Grotowski et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8288967B2 · Liu et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8288969B2 · Hsu et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8299987B2 · Neudorf et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8310845B2 · Gaknoki et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8319448B2 · Cecconello et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8339053B2 · Yamasaki et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8339063B2 · Lin et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8339066B2 · Thornton et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8339067B2 · Lin et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 8354804B2 · Otake et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8368322B2 · Yu et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8378589B2 · Kuo et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8400079B2 · Kanamori et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8427081B2 · Hsu et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US RE44228E · Park et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8466628B2 · Shearer et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8482219B2 · Kuo et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8487540B2 · Dijkstra et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8487546B2 · Melanson · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8492982B2 · Hagino et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8492987B2 · Nuhfer et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8492988B2 · Nuhfer et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8508150B2 · Kuo et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8541952B2 · Darshan et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8558474B1 · Park et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8558518B2 · Irissou et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8581511B2 · Kim et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8587968B2 · Zhu et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8593069B2 · Kang et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8598804B2 · Foxall et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 8624526B2 · Huang et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 8664888B2 · Nuhfer et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 8749174B2 · Angeles et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 8810159B2 · Nuhfer et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 8947017B2 · Kikuchi et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9030122B2 · Lin et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9048723B2 · Tsou et al. · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 9245734B2 · Goscha et al. · 2016 [cited by applicant]
US 20060273772A1 · Groom et al. · 2006 [cited by applicant]
US 20080043504A1 · Ye et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20080175029A1 · Jung et al. · 2008 [cited by applicant]
US 20090160360A1 · Lim et al. · 2009 [cited by applicant]
US 20100156319A1 · Melanson et al. · 2010 [cited by applicant]
US 20110227496A1 · Lin · 2011 [cited by examiner]
US 20120056548A1 · Duan · 2012 [cited by examiner]
US 20120153920A1 · Guenther et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 20120286687A1 · Kikuchi et al. · 2012 [cited by applicant]
US 20130063047A1 · Veskovic · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20130063100A1 · Henzler · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20130141001A1 · Datta et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20130229829A1 · Zhang et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20130234612A1 · Zeng et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20130278145A1 · Lin et al. · 2013 [cited by applicant]
US 20140009084A1 · Veskovic et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140009085A1 · Veskovic et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140184076A1 · Murphy et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20140312796A1 · Sauerländer et al. · 2014 [cited by applicant]
US 20150028778A1 · Zudrell-Koch · 2015 [cited by applicant]
US 20150351179A1 · Briggs · 2015 [cited by applicant]
CN 101127495A · 2008 [cited by applicant]
CN 101897239A · 2010 [cited by applicant]
CN 102612227A · 2012 [cited by applicant]
CN 102752907A · 2012 [cited by applicant]
CN 103001486A · 2013 [cited by applicant]
CN 103296892A · 2013 [cited by applicant]
EP 1635445A2 · 2006 [cited by applicant]
EP 2515611A1 · 2012 [cited by applicant]
EP 2579684A1 · 2013 [cited by applicant]
EP 2383873B1 · 2013 [cited by applicant]
WO 2008011041A2 · 2008 [cited by applicant]
Wikipedia, “Forward Converter”, Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_converter , retrieved on Mar. 16, 2015, 2 pages. [cited by applicant]