Patent ID: 11968755
Assignee: ELMOS SEMICONDUCTOR SE
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G  Y | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A method for regulating an output voltage at an output of a voltage regulator for supplying a lighting device with electrical energy, wherein the lighting device comprises at least two integrated circuits, each of the at least two integrated circuits comprising at least one LED group, wherein the lighting device is supplied with the electrical energy by a respective current source belonging to each of the at least one LED groups in each of the at least two integrated circuits,
the method comprising:
generating the output voltage by the voltage regulator at the output of the voltage regulator;
setting a LED group current through each of the at least one LED groups in each of the at least two integrated circuits by the respective current source;
detecting respective voltage drop values across each of the respective current sources of each of the at least one LED groups of each of the at least two integrated circuits as the respective voltage drop value of the respective current sources within the respective integrated circuit;
selecting a voltage drop value of one of the respective current sources of the at least one LED groups of each of the at least two integrated circuit from the voltage drop values of the current sources of the respective integrated circuit as a characteristic voltage drop value of the respective integrated circuit and generating a control value signal at a node of the respective integrated circuit corresponding to the characteristic voltage drop value of the respective integrated circuit;
reducing an amount of a control voltage by the respective integrated circuit when the amount of the control voltage is greater than an amount of the control value signal at the node of the respective integrated circuit; and
regulating the output voltage of the voltage regulator at the output of the voltage regulator as a function of the control voltage or a control bus voltage derived from the control voltage.