Abstract:
The present invention discloses a backlight control circuit, and a method for controlling light emission devices. The method comprises: providing a plurality of light emission device paths connected in parallel; and setting a total current of the paths connected in parallel to a constant.

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention relates to a backlight control circuit, more particularly, to a backlight control circuit with low backlight brightness variation when some of the light emitting diodes (LEDs) do not properly operate. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    In a liquid crystal display (LCD), a backlight control circuit is used which controls LEDs to illuminate from the back side of an LCD screen, so that a user can observe an image from the front side of the LCD screen. 
         [0003]    In early days, LED backlight is used only in a small size screen, which does not require high backlight brightness. Therefore, the LEDs can be connected all in series or all in parallel.  FIG. 1  shows a prior art circuit wherein all LEDs are connected in series. As shown in the figure, a backlight control circuit  10  comprises a voltage supply circuit  11  providing output voltage Vout to a plurality of LEDs L 1 -LN connected in series. A resistor R is provided on a path of the LEDs connected in series, and a voltage at a node Vsense 1  is compared with a reference voltage Vref to check whether a current through the path satisfies a predetermined condition. If the current is lower than a predetermined value and the voltage at the node Vsense 1  decreases, an error amplifier circuit  13  sends a signal  15  to the voltage supply circuit  11  to pull up the output voltage Vout, so that the current flowing through the LEDs increases. Moreover, to prevent the voltage supply circuit  11  from unlimitedly increasing the output voltage Vout (for example, when the error amplifier circuit  13  malfunctions, or when the path of the LEDs is open), an over voltage protection circuit  12  is provided in the backlight control circuit  10 , which detects the output voltage Vout and sends a signal to stop the voltage supply circuit  11  from increasing the output voltage Vout if the output voltage Vout is excessively high. (Depending on circuit design, the voltage supply can be totally stopped, or kept at an upper limit value. The latter is more popular in a backlight control circuit.) 
         [0004]      FIG. 2  shows a typical structure of an over voltage protection circuit  12 , wherein the output voltage Vout is monitored by comparing the voltage at the node Vsense 2  with a reference voltage Vovp. The result of comparison determines a signal for controlling the voltage supply circuit  11 . 
         [0005]    The above arrangement wherein all LEDs are connected in series has several drawbacks. An obvious drawback is that, due to series connection, if one LED shuts down, all the other LEDs are shut down; the LCD will be in complete darkness. 
         [0006]    Referring to  FIG. 3 , it shows a conventional backlight control circuit with LEDs all connected in parallel. As shown in the figure, in a backlight control circuit  20 , the currents passing through LEDs L 1 -LN are respectively controlled by the current sources CS 1 -CSN. The backlight control circuit  20  comprises a lowest voltage selection circuit  21  (Lowest V. Sel. Ckt.) which chooses a lowest voltage value among all voltages at cathode ends of the LEDs L 1 -LN, and the error amplifier circuit  13  compares the lowest voltage value with a reference voltage to generate a signal controlling the voltage supply circuit  11 . Thus, the output voltage Vout is under control so that all current source circuits are provided with sufficient operating voltage for normal operation, and all LEDs can illuminate normally thereby. 
         [0007]    Similarly, the backlight control circuit  20  can further comprise an over voltage protection circuit  12  as the one described above. 
         [0008]    In the arrangement where all LEDs are connected in parallel, although an over voltage protection circuit or other means can be employed (for example the under current detection circuits as described in a co-pending patent application filed by the same assignee on the same filing date under the same title) to prevent the overall circuit from completely shut down because of one or a few inoperative LEDs, the overall brightness of the LCD still drops. Besides, as the size of the LCD screen becomes larger which requires higher backlight brightness, a series-parallel connection circuit as shown in  FIG. 4  is probably used to increase the number of LEDs to be connected. In this arrangement, if one of the LED paths is inoperative, the backlight brightness will drop more severely. 
         [0009]    Thus, a backlight control circuit with low backlight brightness variation when some of the LEDs do not properly operate, is desired. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0010]    In view of the foregoing, it is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a backlight control circuit capable of automatically adjusting supply current to LEDs, to compensate the brightness variation. 
         [0011]    It is another objective of the present invention to provide a backlight control method to solve the problems in prior art. 
         [0012]    In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives, and from one aspect of the present invention, a backlight control circuit comprises: a plurality of current matching circuits respectively controlling currents on corresponding plurality of light emission device paths; and a common node electrically connected with the plurality of current matching circuits, for electrically connecting with a total current setting circuit. 
         [0013]    The total current setting circuit described above can be a common resistor or a total control current source. 
         [0014]    From another aspect of the present invention, a backlight control circuit comprises: a plurality of light emission device paths; and a common node electrically connected with the plurality of light emission device paths, and also electrically connected with a total control current source, the total control current source controlling a total current on the plurality of light emission device paths. 
         [0015]    From a further aspect of the present invention, a method for controlling light emission devices comprises: providing a plurality of light emission device paths connected in parallel; and setting a total current of the paths connected in parallel to a constant. 
         [0016]    The total current can be set by a common resistor or a total control current source. 
         [0017]    Preferably, the brightness of each light emission device is set lower than a maximum brightness. 
         [0018]    Also preferably, the light emission devices form an array, in which two neighboring light emission devices belong to two different light emission device paths. 
         [0019]    These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description of preferred embodiments and accompanying drawings. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0020]      FIG. 1  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a prior art circuit including LEDs which are all connected in series and a backlight control circuit thereof. 
           [0021]      FIG. 2  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a conventional over voltage protection circuit. 
           [0022]      FIG. 3  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a prior art circuit including LEDs which are all connected in parallel and a backlight control circuit thereof. 
           [0023]      FIG. 4  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a prior art circuit including LEDs in series-parallel connection, and a backlight control circuit thereof. 
           [0024]      FIG. 5  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a backlight control circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0025]      FIG. 6  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a backlight control circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0026]      FIGS. 7A-7C  show, by way of example, how to embody the circuit of  FIG. 6  according to different current matching circuits. 
           [0027]      FIG. 8  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a backlight control circuit according to another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0028]      FIG. 9  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a backlight control circuit according to a further embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0029]      FIG. 10  illustrates more details of the circuit of  FIG. 9 . 
           [0030]      FIG. 11  shows an arrangement wherein neighboring LEDs are allocated to different paths to balance brightness. 
           [0031]      FIG. 12  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a backlight control circuit according to yet another embodiment of the present invention, which includes under current detection circuits. 
           [0032]      FIG. 13A  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit. 
           [0033]      FIGS. 13B and 13C  show two embodiments of the lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit. 
           [0034]      FIGS. 14A and 14B  show two embodiments of the voltage selection, comparison and amplifier circuit. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0035]      FIG. 5  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a backlight control circuit according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the backlight control circuit  30  according to this embodiment comprises a plurality of current matching circuits CM 1 -CMN, whose function is to match the currents at their respective paths with one another. The term “to match currents” as used in this specification means “to keep the currents in a constant ratio”, and in most cases the currents are kept the same or similar. Each of the current matching circuits CM 1 -CMN has a circuit structure very similar to that of a current source, but it is referred to as a “current matching circuit” in this specification because it can not actually decide the current amount in its path; it can only decide the ratio between paths. The current amount in each and all of the paths is primarily controlled by a total current setting circuit  35 . As shown in the figure, the current matching circuits CM 1 -CMN are all connected to a common node Nd, which is connected to ground via the total current setting circuit  35 . The total current setting circuit  35  serves to set the current i total  and keeps it. If the backlight control circuit  30  is an integrated circuit, the total current setting circuit  35  can be located partially or all in the outside of the integrated circuit so that the current setting can be performed externally. Of course, if the current i total  needs not be adjusted after setting, the total current setting circuit  35  can be located all inside the integrated circuit. 
         [0036]    In one embodiment, the total current setting circuit  35  can simply be a common resistor Rset, as shown in  FIG. 6 . 
         [0037]    The function of the common resistor Rset can be understood more clearly from  FIG. 7A  and the following description. The current matching circuits are made of field effect transistors in  FIG. 7A . As shown in the figure, the current matching circuit CM 1  includes a common operative amplifier OPA, a transistor Q 1 , and a resistor R 1 ; the current matching circuit CM 2  includes the common operative amplifier OPA, a transistor Q 2 , and a resistor R 2 ; and so on. The resistors R 1 -RN of the current matching circuits are all connected to the common node Nd, and the common node Nd is connected to the common resistor Rset. By virtue of the operative amplifier OPA, the voltage at the node Nd will be balanced at the level of the reference voltage VB, and thus the current i total  passing through the common resistor Rset will be kept at a constant (=VB/Rset). 
         [0038]    For convenience, let us assume the currents flowing to the paths  111 - 11 N are ignorable. Thus, the current i total  flowing through the common resistor Rset is the total of currents flowing through all of the LED paths  101 - 10 N, that is, 
         [0000]    
       
      
       i 
       total 
       =i 
       101 
       +i 
       102 
       +i 
       103 
       + . . . +i 
       10N  
      
     
         [0000]    and in the case where the LEDs are operating under the maximum brightness, the brightness of each LED is proportional to the current amount on each of the paths  101 - 10 N. 
         [0039]    When anyone or more of the paths  101 - 10 N are inoperative, for example when the path  101  is open, i 101  becomes zero, so 
         [0000]    
       
      
       i 
       total 
       =i 
       102 
       +i 
       103 
       + . . . +i 
       10N  
      
     
         [0000]    However, the total current i total  is a constant (=VB/Rset), so the currents on the other paths  102 - 10 N increase, and the brightness of the LEDs in the paths  102 - 10 N correspondingly increase to compensate the lost brightness of the LEDs in the path  101 . The overall brightness is thus compensated. 
         [0040]    Preferably, the currents i 101 -i 10N  on the paths  101 - 10 N are equal to each other, but the LEDs and the resistors R 1 -RN may be different from one another due to manufacture deviations, causing deviations of the currents i 101 -i 10N ; this does not affect the effect of the present invention, however. 
         [0041]    The current matching circuits can be made of bipolar transistors, as shown in  FIG. 7B . The circuit functions in a similar way to that in  FIG. 7A ; the details of its operation are not redundantly repeated here. 
         [0042]    In fact, the resistors R 1 -RN in the current matching circuits CM 1 -CMN are not absolutely necessary. As shown in  FIG. 7C , these resistors R 1 -RN can be omitted, and the current matching among the paths can be achieved by layout and matching design of the transistors in the current matching circuits CM 1 -CMN. 
         [0043]    The common resistor Rset in the foregoing embodiments is provided for setting and adjusting the current i total  from outside of the circuit. For the basic spirit “to automatically compensate the overall brightness”, it is sufficient as long as the current i total  is set to be a constant. Hence, the total current setting circuit  35  does not have to be a common resistor Rset, but instead can be any other device. For example, as shown in  FIG. 8 , the total current can be controlled by a total control current source CS total . Furthermore, as shown in  FIG. 9 , the current matching circuits CM 1 -CMN can be replaced by corresponding resistors in the LED paths  101 - 10 N, for rough current matching. In this embodiment the currents on the LED paths  101 - 10 N are not precisely equal to one another, but the circuit structure is simpler.  FIG. 10  shows a more detailed structure of the circuit of  FIG. 9 , in which the total control current source CS total  is composed of a transistor Qcs, an operative amplifier OPAcs, and a resistor Rcs. If it is desired to set and adjust the total current from outside of the circuit, the resistor Rcs can be located at the outside of the integrated circuit (thus the total control current source CS total  is partially located outside of the integrated circuit). The transistor Qcs is shown as a field effect transistor, but can be replaced by a bipolar transistor. 
         [0044]    From the above description, it can be seen that the idea of the present invention is to set the total current i total  to be a constant. All equivalent ways achieving such effect should belong to the scope of the present invention. 
         [0045]    In the present invention, when one of the LED paths is inoperative, the brightness of the LEDs in the other LED paths increases to compensate the lost brightness. Hence, the original brightness of each LED should not be set to the maximum brightness. The original brightness of each LED can be set as (N−1)/N, (N−2)/N, . . . , or (N−M)/N of the maximum brightness, wherein N is the number of original LED paths, 1≦M≦(N−1), and M is a positive integer. 
         [0046]    Furthermore, as shown in  FIG. 11 , to avoid perceivable darkness on the LCD screen when one of the LED paths is inoperative, the LED array  40  is preferably arranged in such a manner that the neighboring LEDs are allocated to different LED paths. Thus, when one of the LED paths is inoperative, the overall brightness of the screen is kept uniform.  FIG. 11  only shows one among many possible arrangements to this end, and there are numerous variations to allocate the LEDs under the same spirit. And as stated above, the total current setting circuit  35  needs not be located outside of the integrated circuit. 
         [0047]    Moreover, as shown in  FIG. 12 , the backlight control circuit  30  can further comprise under current detection (UCD) circuits  31 - 3 N. The UCD circuits  31 - 3 N detect the current conditions on the LED paths  101 - 10 N to determine whether an under current condition, i.e., a “no current” or “very low current” condition, occurs in any of the paths. When “no current” or “very low current” condition does not occur, the voltage signals on the LED paths  101 - 10 N pass through the UCD circuits  31 - 3 N to the corresponding voltage comparison paths  111 - 11 N, so that the lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  21  receives those signals. When anyone or more LED paths  101 - 10 N have no current or very low current, the UCD circuits  31 - 3 N exclude the corresponding one or more voltage comparison paths  111 - 11 N so that they are not valid inputs to the lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  21 , that is, the lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  21  does not accept signals on these invalid voltage comparison paths  111 - 11 N. 
         [0048]    By means of the UCD circuits  31 - 3 N, if anyone of the LED paths  101 - 10 N is open or floating, the corresponding UCD circuits  31 - 3 N will cut off the corresponding paths  111 - 11 N. For example, if the LED path  101  is open, because the path  111  is cut off, the lowest voltage selection circuit  21  will select the one with the lowest voltage only from the paths  112 - 11 N and input the selected one to the error amplifier circuit  13 . Although the LEDs in the path  101  can not function, the voltage supply circuit  11  can still supply proper voltage to the rest of the operating LEDs; the voltage supply circuit  11  will not increase the output voltage Vout unlimitedly to burn out the circuit. Furthermore, when the number of pins to be connected with LED paths is more than required, the excess pins can be simply floating or grounded; such arrangement does not consume power, nor do the devices connected with the pins have to be high voltage devices. 
         [0049]    In addition, if it is desired to ensure proper initialization of the backlight control circuit  30 , a start-up circuit or a logic circuit may be provided in the backlight control circuit  30 . 
         [0050]    For details of the UCD circuits, start-up circuit or logic circuit, please refer to the co-pending patent application filed by the same assignee under the same title, on the same filing date. 
         [0051]    Practically, in one embodiment, the lowest voltage selection circuit  21  in  FIGS. 5 ,  6 ,  8  and  12  can be integrated with the error amplifier  13  to become one “lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit”  25 , as shown in  FIG. 13A . Two examples of such lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  25  are shown in  FIG. 13B  (wherein only the input stage is shown; the circuit can be connected with another circuit stage to amplify the output) and  FIG. 13C . The lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  25  can be made of devices other than MOSFETs, such as of bipolar transistors or junction FETs. It is also doable to separate the error amplifier  13  from the lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  25 . All such variations should belong to the scope of the present invention. 
         [0052]    In addition to the above, the reference voltage Vref of the lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  25  does not have to be a constant, but instead can be a variable; the variable reference voltage Vref is preferably a function of the voltages extracted from the paths  101 - 10 N. For example, as shown in  FIGS. 14A and 14B  wherein the lowest voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  25  is replaced by a high-low voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  29 . In the high-low voltage comparison and amplifier circuit  29 , the other input of the error amplifier  13  is the output of the highest voltage selection circuit  22  instead of the reference voltage Vref; the control signal  15  is generated according to the comparison result between the highest voltage and the lowest voltage. For details of the high-low voltage comparison and amplifier circuit, please refer to another co-pending patent application filed by the same assignee on the same filing date, also titled “backlight control circuit”. 
         [0053]    Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments, these embodiments are for illustrative purpose and not for limiting the scope of the present invention. Other variations and modifications are possible. For example, in all of the embodiments, one can insert a circuit which does not affect the primary function, such as a delay circuit, between any two devices which are shown to be directly connected. In the embodiments, all the current matching circuits are connected to one common node Nd, but it can be arranged such that only some of the current matching circuits are connected to one common node, or, several common nodes and several common resistors are provided and the current matching circuits are grouped and each group of current matching circuits are connected to one of the nodes. The backlight control circuit  30  is shown to be one integrated circuit, but it can be divided into several integrated circuits, or integrated with other circuit functions. The present invention is not only applicable to series-parallel connection circuits, but also to all-in-parallel circuits. The light emitting device, although shown as LED in the above, are not limited thereto but can be other light emitting devices such as an organic light emitting diode. And the word “backlight” in the term “backlight control circuit” is not to be taken in a narrow sense that the circuit has to control the backlight of a screen; the present invention can be applied to “active light emission display”, or “LED illuminator”, or other apparatuses that employ light emitting devices. Therefore, all modifications and variations based on the spirit of the present invention should be interpreted to fall within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents.