# Patent

## Title
Short protection control circuits and related control methods

## Abstract

Short protection control circuits and related control methods are disclosed. A disclosed short protection control circuit is adapted for controlling a short protection mechanism providing short protection to several LED chains. The disclosed short protection control circuit has a detection circuit, a first logic circuit and a timer. Coupled to the LED chains, the detection circuit asserts an indication signal when one of the node voltages of the LED chains is lower than an under-current reference. When the indication signal is enabled, the first logic circuit starts blocking the short protection mechanism. The timer times to provide a result when the short protection mechanism is blocked. When the result indicates that the short protection mechanism has been blocked for at least a predetermined time period, the first logic circuit resumes the short protection mechanism.

## Background
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to control methods and circuits for LED chains, and more particularly to control methods for short protection in LED chains.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an age concerned with energy conservation and carbon reduction, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are already a widely adopted light source due to their superior lighting efficiency and miniature component size. For example, LEDs have already replaced cold-cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) as a backlight in current liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an LED power supply 18 used in a backlight module of an LCD panel, which is primarily used to control lighting of LED chains L1-LN. Each LED chain has a plurality of series-connected LEDs. Backlight controller 20 controls a power switch of booster 19 to cause an inductive element to draw energy from input node IN, and release energy into output node OUT, so as to establish an appropriate output voltage VOUT on output node OUT to drive the LED chains. Backlight controller 20 detects output voltage VOUT through over-voltage protection node OVP and voltage divider resistors RD1, RD2.
Driving nodes LED1-LED4 of backlight controller 20 are connected to LED chains L1-L4, respectively, for draining driving current of LED chains L1-L4, and controlling current flowing through each LED chain to be approximately equal to achieve the goal of uniform brightness.
Backlight controller 20 may also determine whether any LED encounters a fault condition from driving nodes LED1-LED4, so as to trigger related protection. For example, if LED detection voltage VLED-1 on driving node LED1 is continually 0V, LED chain L1 may be an open-circuited LED chain, where at least one LED thereof is open-circuited, in which case backlight controller 20 turns off driving of LED chain L1. This type of protection is typically called open circuit protection. In another example, if LED detection voltage VLED-1 on driving node LED1 is much greater than LED detection voltage VLED-2 on driving node LED2, it can roughly be ascertained that LED chain L1 has a few LEDs that are short-circuited, and driving of LED chain L1 can be turned off. This type of protection is typically called short circuit protection.
However, open circuit protection and short circuit protection may interfere with each other. Thus, an appropriate process is needed to activate or stop open and short circuit protections, so as to achieve the desired protection effect.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to an embodiment, a control method is used in controlling a short protection mechanism providing short protection to a plurality of light-emitting diode (LED) chains. A plurality of driving currents flow through the LED chains. The control method comprises detecting whether at least one of the driving currents encounters an under-current event; blocking a short protection mechanism when the under-current event is encountered; and resuming the short protection mechanism after the short protection mechanism is blocked for at least a predetermined time period. The short protection mechanism provides short protection to the LED chains.
According to an embodiment, a short protection control circuit is for controlling a short protection mechanism. The short protection mechanism provides short protection applied to a plurality of light-emitting diode (LED) chains. The short protection control circuit comprises a detection circuit coupled to the LED chains for generating an indication signal whenever any terminal voltage of the LED chains is lower than an under-current reference value; a first logic circuit for starting blocking of the short protection mechanism when the indication signal is enabled; and a timer for counting time when the short protection mechanism is blocked to generate a timing result. The first logic circuit resumes the short protection mechanism after the timing result indicates that the short protection mechanism has been blocked for at least a predetermined time period.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an LED power supply used in a backlight module of an LCD panel.
FIG. 2 is a diagram of backlight controller according to an embodiment.
FIG. 3 shows one type of protection circuit.
FIG. 4 shows some signal waveforms of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 when an LED chain becomes open-circuited.
FIG. 5 shows another protection circuit.
FIG. 6 shows FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 some signal waveforms when an LED chain becomes open-circuited.
FIG. 7 shows another detection circuit.
FIG. 8 shows an analog timer.



DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 2 is a diagram of backlight controller 20 according to an embodiment, which can be used in LED power supply 18 of FIG. 1. In some embodiments, backlight controller 20 is a monolithic integrated circuit (IC). In the present disclosure, backlight controller 20 drives four LED chains L1-L4. In other embodiments, backlight controller 20 may drive different numbers of LED chains, and is not limited to four.
In backlight controller 20, fixed current drivers 221-224 are connected to driving nodes LED1-LED4, respectively, to cause driving currents ILED-1-ILED-4 flowing through LED chains L1-L4 to be roughly equal, so that LED chains L1-L4 have uniform brightness. For example, fixed current driver 221 has error amplifier 241, NMOS transistor N1, and current sense resistor RS1. From the circuit diagram of fixed current driver 221 it can be seen that, in normal operation, driving current ILED-1 is approximately equal to set voltage VC-SET divided by RRS1, where RRS1 is resistance value of current sense resistor RS1. Fixed current drivers 222-224 may be known from the description of fixed current driver 221.
In some embodiments, feedback selector 26 takes the smallest of LED detection voltages VLED-1-VLED-4 to be minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN for transmission to inverting terminal of error amplifier 27. Non-inverting terminal of error amplifier 27 receives preset target voltage VTAR. Pulse width adjuster 30 generates driving signal VDRV according to output of error amplifier 27 to control power switch of booster 19. Under stable conditions, minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN is roughly equal to target voltage VTAR, which roughly causes LED power supply 18 of FIG. 1 to operate in a relatively more efficient state.
Protection circuit 28 determines whether any of LED chains L1-L4 encounters a fault condition according to detection voltage VOVP on over-voltage protection node OVP and LED detection voltages VLED-1-VLED-4 on driving nodes LED1-LED4 to generate selection signals SEN-1-SEN-4. For example, fault conditions comprise LED open circuit events (at least one LED chain has an open circuit), LED short circuit events (at least one LED chain has a short circuit), etc. In other embodiments, protection circuit may determine whether any of LED chains L1-L4 encounters a fault condition further (or only) according to input or output of error amplifier 241-244. For example, if LED chain L1 is identified as encountering a fault condition, protection circuit 28 disables selection signal SEN-1. Disabled selection signal SEN-1 causes fixed current driver 221 to not drive LED chain L1, meaning driving current ILED-1 becomes 0 A. Disabled selection signal SEN-1 also causes minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN to be independent of LED detection voltage VLED-1, causing feedback selector 26 to not select LED detection voltage VLED-1 as minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN.
LED open circuit events may cause mistaken triggering of short circuit protection. For example, LED chain L1 may become open-circuited for some reason at a point in time, while LED chains L2-L4 are normal. LED detection voltage VLED-1 may roughly equal 0V, causing minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN to also be roughly 0V, which is lower than target voltage VTAR. At this time, output voltage of error amplifier 27 is pulled up continuously, and pulse width adjuster 30 causes booster 19 to increase output energy, pulling up output voltage VOUT and LED detection voltages VLED-2-VLED-4. If careful circuit design is not employed, at this time, LED chains L2-L4 are likely to be mistakenly determined as encountering LED short circuit events, which will mistakenly trigger short circuit protection, because LED detection voltages VLED-2-VLED-4 are much greater than LED detection voltage VLED-1 or target voltage VTAR at this time.
FIG. 3 shows one type of protection circuit 28a, which when used in FIG. 2, can prevent LED open circuit events from erroneously triggering short circuit protection. Protection circuit 28a has detection circuit 50, timer 57, protection determination circuit 64, AND gate 54, and SR flip-flop 62.
In detection circuit 50, comparators 601-604 respectively couple to LED chains L1-L4. Outputs of comparators 601-604 couple to pulse generators 701-704 having rising and falling edge triggering. Outputs of pulse generators 701-704 are all connected to OR gate 52. For the most part, any time any one LED detection voltage VLED-n (where n is an integer from 1-4) is lower than under-current reference value VOVER-LOW, comparator 60n changes state to logic “1,” thereby triggering pulse generator 70n to send out a pulse as an indicator signal. This pulse passes through OR gate 52 to appear in reset signal SRESET. Taking LED chain L1 as an example, when LED detection voltage VLED-1 is lower than under-current reference value VOVER-LOW, this indicates that driving current ILED-1 is also too low, so that LED chain L1 is determined to have encountered an under-current event. As long as any one LED chain encounters an under-current event, a pulse will appear on reset signal SRESET outputted by detection circuit 50.
Pulse on reset signal SRESET may set SR flip-flop 62, enabling SR flip-flop 62 outputted by short circuit blocking signal SSP-BLOCK. Pulse on reset signal SRESET also resets timer 57, causing timer 57 to return to a starting point thereof, to prepare to start counting.
Protection determination circuit 64 has LED open circuit protection circuit 66 and LED short circuit protection circuit 68, which respectively provide open circuit protection mechanisms and short circuit protection mechanisms. In an embodiment, when one LED chain is determined to have encountered an under-current event, and detection voltage VOVP exceeds over-voltage reference value VOVP-REF, open circuit protection mechanism provided by LED open circuit protection circuit 66 will determine that the LED chain encountered an LED open circuit event, and disable a corresponding selection signal, which is one of selection signals SEN-1-SED-4. In some embodiments, when LED detection voltage VLED-n exceeds a short circuit reference value VSP-REF, short circuit protection mechanism of LED short circuit protection circuit 68 will determine that LED chain Ln encountered an LED open circuit event, and disable selection signal SEN-n. When short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK is disabled, LED short circuit protection circuit 68 operates normally to provide short circuit protection mechanisms. When short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK is enabled, short circuit protection mechanisms provided by LED short circuit protection circuit 68 are blocked, meaning selection signals SEN-1-SED-4 are not affected by detection result of LED short circuit protection circuit 68, or LED short circuit protection circuit 68 completely ignores LED detection voltages VLED-1-VLED-4.
Timer 57 has counter 56 and digital comparator 58. Counter 56 counts according to a signal inputted by a clock. When timer results D1-D10 of counter 56 reach a certain condition, e.g. timer results D1-D10 are the same as reference values DS-1-DS-10, digital comparator 58 generates a pulse, resetting SR flip-flop 62, disabling short circuit blocking signal SSP-BLOCK, and restoring short circuit protection mechanisms provided by LED short circuit protection circuit 68.
AND gate 54 controls clock input to counter 56. Only when dimming signal SDIM and short circuit blocking signal SSP-BLOCK are both enabled is clock signal CLK able to be sent to clock input of counter 56 by AND gate 54. Dimming signal SDIM being enabled represents normal LED chains (LED chains that have not been discovered to have encountered fault conditions) need to be lit. Conversely, when dimming signal SDIM is disabled, all LED chains are unlit.
Simply stated, if anyone LED chain encounters an under-current event, short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK will be enabled, blocking short circuit protection mechanisms, and resetting counter 56. Counter 56 counts a paused time that passes while normal LED chains are lit, and short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK is enabled. After this paused time reaches a preset time corresponding to reference value DS-1-DS-10, short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK is disabled, restoring short circuit protection mechanisms.
In the embodiment of FIG. 3, when short circuit protection mechanisms are blocked, if another under-current event is encountered, counter 56 will be reset again, and prepare to count again. In some embodiments, when short circuit protection mechanisms are blocked, if another under-current event occurs, counter does not necessarily restart counting.
FIG. 4 shows some signal waveforms of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 when LED chain L1 becomes open-circuited. From top to bottom, signals represented include detection voltage VOVP, driving signal VDRV, LED detection voltage VLED-2, LED detection voltage VLED-1, selection signal SEN-1, minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN, reset signal SRESET, dimming signal SDIM, timer results D1-D10, and short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK.
Please refer to FIG. 2, FIG. 3, and FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, prior to time tOP, LED chains L1-L4 are approximately the same, and are all normal, with LED detection voltages VLED-1VLED-4 and minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN all roughly equal to target voltage VTAR.
Assume LED chain L1 suddenly becomes open-circuited at time tOP, and LED chains L2-L4 are normal. Thus, at time tOP, LED detection voltage VLED-1 and minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN both suddenly change to 0V. Because LED detection voltage VLED-1 is lower than under-current reference value VOVER-LOW, at time tOP, a pulse appears in reset signal SRESET, and short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK is enabled. Starting from time tOP, short circuit protection mechanisms provided by LED short circuit protection circuit 68 are blocked, and short circuit protection is no longer provided.
In order to cause minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN to approach target voltage VTAR, error amplifier 27 and pulse width adjuster 30 cause output voltage VOUT and detection voltage VOVP to rise together. Voltage drop across a normal LED chain is roughly fixed, so LED detection voltage VLED-2 rises with rising output voltage VOUT. However, because LED chain L1 is open-circuited, LED detection voltage VLED-1 and minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN stay at 0V, and do not change with varying output voltage VOUT.
At time tOVP, detection voltage VOVP exceeds over-voltage reference value VOVP-REF, thus LED open circuit protection circuit 66 determines that LED chain L1 corresponding to relatively low LED detection voltage VLED-1 (currently 0V) encounters an LED open circuit event, and disables selection signals SEN-1. Disabled selection signal SEN-1 causes minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN to break away from control of LED detection voltage VLED-1, so that minimum detection voltage VLEL-MIN suddenly jumps up, and starts to follow the minimum of other normal LED detection voltages, as shown.
After time tOVP, and in order to cause minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN to approach target voltage VTAR, output voltage VOUT and detection voltage VOVP slowly drop with consumed energy.
Counter 56 is reset at time tOP. Then, in a dimming ON period, i.e. when dimming signal SDIM is enabled, counter 56 counts with clock signal CLK. In a dimming OFF period, i.e. when dimming signal SDIM is disabled, counter 56 cannot receive clock signal CLK, and pauses counting. At time tRCV, timer results D1-D10 of counter 56 equal reference values DS-1-DS-10, and short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK is disabled, restoring short circuit protection mechanisms provided by LED short circuit protection circuit 68.
It can be seen from FIG. 4 that between time tOP and time tRCV, short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK is enabled, so that short circuit protection of all LED chains L1-LN is blocked and has no effect. It can be understood from FIG. 4 that time tOP and time tRCV, i.e. paused time in which short circuit protection mechanisms are blocked, is approximately equal to the sum of preset time corresponding to reference value DS-1-DS-10 and dimming OFF period. Thus, as long as preset time is designed to be sufficiently long, even though LED detection voltage VLED-2 may be relatively high due to open circuiting of LED chain L1, LED chain L2 will not be erroneously determined to have encountered a short circuit event.
FIG. 5 shows another protection circuit 28b, which when used in FIG. 2, may prevent LED open circuit events from erroneously triggering short circuit protection. Similar or the same features of protection circuit 28b of FIG. 5 and protection circuit 28a of FIG. 3 can be understood according to the above description of FIG. 3, and are not repeated.
Different from protection circuit 28a of FIG. 3, protection circuit 28b of FIG. 5 additionally includes SR flip-flop 82, comparator 80, and AND gate 54a. Stated simply, after detection voltage VOVP exceeds over-voltage reference value VOVP-REF, comparator 80 sets SR flip-flop 82, so that clock signal CLK can reach clock input of counter 56, and counter 56 can begin counting. While comparator 58 disables short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK, SR flip-flop 82 is also reset, and outputs logic “0.”
FIG. 6 shows FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 some signal waveforms when LED chain L1 becomes open-circuited. From top to bottom, signals represented include detection voltage VOVP, driving signal VDRV, LED detection voltage VLED-2, LED detection voltage VLED-1, selection signal SEN-1, minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN, reset signal SRESET, dimming signal SDIM, timer results D1-D10, and short circuit protection blocking signal SSP-BLOCK.
Please refer to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. Even though timer results D1-D10 become 0 when counter 56 is reset at time tOP, output of SR flip-flop 82 becomes logic 0, and counter 56 does not receive clock signal CLK, so that counter 56 does not start counting. Clock signal CLK must wait until after detection voltage VOVP exceeds over-voltage reference value VOVP-REF at time tOVP before being able to reach clock input of counter 56, so that counter 56 begins to count. Thus, it can be seen from FIG. 6 that time tOP and time tRCV, i.e. paused time during which short circuit protection mechanisms are blocked, is roughly equal to the sum of time from time tOP to time tOVP, preset time corresponding to reference value DS-1-DS-10, and dimming OFF period. If reference values DS-1-DS-10 are all the same, compared to paused time in FIG. 4, paused time in FIG. 6 is longer due to additional time from time tOP to time tOVP.
FIG. 7 shows another detection circuit 50a, which replaces detection circuit 50 of FIG. 3 and FIG. 5 in some embodiments. Minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN roughly corresponds to minimum LED detection voltage corresponding to normal LED chains. So, minimum detection voltage VLED-MIN dropping below under-current reference value VOVER-LOW represents one lit LED chain already encountered an under-current event, so that comparator 90 causes rising-edge-triggered pulse generator 92 to emit a pulse.
FIG. 8 shows an analog timer 57a, which replaces digital timer 57 of FIG. 3 and FIG. 5 in some embodiments. A pulse on clock input CLK-IN can cause stepwise increase of voltage drop across capacitor 96. When voltage drop across capacitor 96 reaches time reference voltage VTIME-REF, comparator 94 causes rising-edge-triggered pulse generator 98 to emit a pulse. Enable signal on reset node R may cause voltage drop across capacitor 96 to become 0V, causing timer 57a to count again with pulses on clock input CLK-IN.
In the above embodiments, protection circuit has the following features:
Short circuit protection mechanisms are blocked after under-current events occur.
Short circuit protection mechanisms are blocked for paused time at least as long as a preset time corresponding to reference values DS-1-DS-10.
After each under-current event occurs, counter starts counting again.
In dimming OFF period, counter pauses counting.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.

## Claims

1. A control method for use in controlling a short protection mechanism providing short protection to a plurality of light-emitting diode (LED) chains, wherein a plurality of driving currents flow through the LED chains, the control method comprising:
detecting whether at least one of the driving currents encounters an under-current event;
blocking a short protection mechanism and resetting a timer when the under-current event is encountered, wherein the short protection mechanism provides short protection to the LED chains; and
resuming the short protection mechanism after the short protection mechanism is blocked for at least a predetermined time period.

2. The control method of claim 1, further comprising:
resetting the timer every time the under-current event is encountered.

3. The control method of claim 1, further comprising:
pausing the timer when a dimming signal is disabled.

4. The control method of claim 1, wherein the timer is a counter, and the counter counts according to a clock signal when the short protection mechanism is blocked.

5. The control method of claim 1, further comprising:
resetting a counter every time the under-current event is encountered; and
resuming the short protection mechanism when a count result of the counter exceeds a predetermined result.

6. The control method of claim 1, further comprising:
detecting a smallest voltage of driving nodes of the LED chains to regulate an output power, wherein the output power is used for driving the LED chains;
detecting the output power; and
starting the timer after the output power exceeds an over-voltage value.

7. The control method of claim 1, further comprising:
detecting a smallest voltage of driving nodes of the LED chains to regulate an output power, wherein the output power is used for driving the LED chains;
comparing the output power with an over-voltage value; and
starting the timer after the output power exceeds the over-voltage value and the under-current event is encountered.

8. A short protection control circuit for controlling a short protection mechanism, wherein the short protection mechanism provides short protection applied to a plurality of light-emitting diode (LED) chains, the short protection control circuit comprising:
a detection circuit coupled to the LED chains for generating an indication signal whenever any terminal voltage of the LED chains is lower than an under-current reference value;
a first logic circuit for starting blocking of the short protection mechanism when the indication signal is enabled; and
a timer for counting time when the short protection mechanism is blocked to generate a timing result;
wherein the first logic circuit resumes the short protection mechanism after the timing result indicates that the short protection mechanism has been blocked for at least a predetermined time period.

9. The short protection control circuit of claim 8, wherein the detection circuit comprises:
at least one pulse generator for emitting a pulse to start blocking the short protection mechanism whenever any one of the terminal voltages is lower than the under-current reference value.

10. The short protection control circuit of claim 9, wherein the pulse resets the timer.

11. The short protection control circuit of claim 8, wherein the timer has a clock input terminal, the short protection control circuit further comprising:
a second logic circuit for sending a clock signal to the clock input terminal when a dimming signal is enabled.

12. The short protection control circuit of claim 8, wherein the timer has a clock input terminal, the short protection control circuit further comprising:
a second logic circuit coupled to the clock input terminal and the first logic circuit for blocking the clock signal from reaching the clock input terminal when the short protection mechanism is resumed.

13. The short protection control circuit of claim 8, wherein the timer has a clock input terminal, the short protection control circuit further comprising:
an over-voltage detection circuit for detecting whether an output power exceeds an over-voltage value; and
a second logic circuit coupled to the clock input terminal, the first logic circuit, and the over-voltage detection circuit for blocking the clock signal from reaching the clock input terminal after the short protection mechanism is blocked and when the output power does not exceed the over-voltage value.

14. A control method for use in controlling a short protection mechanism providing short protection to a plurality of light-emitting diode (LED) chains, wherein a plurality of driving currents flow through the LED chains, the control method comprising:
detecting whether at least one of the driving currents encounters an under-current event;
blocking a short protection mechanism when the under-current event is encountered, wherein the short protection mechanism provides short protection to the LED chains;
resetting a counter every time the under-current event is encountered; and
resuming the short protection mechanism when a count result of the counter exceeds a predetermined result.