Abstract:
The present invention discloses a dimming control circuit and a method for generating analog and digital signals according to an analog control signal. The dimming control circuit according to the present invention comprises an input for receiving an analog control signal; a digital dimming circuit for receiving the analog control signal and generating a digital signal; an analog dimming circuit for receiving the analog control signal and generating an analog signal; and a power circuit enabled by the digital signal for converting a supply voltage to an output voltage according to the analog signal generated by the analog dimming circuit.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention relates to a dimming circuit and a corresponding method, and more particularly, to a method and device for generating analog and digital dimming signals according to one analog control signal, for use in, e.g., an LED driver circuit. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , a typical prior art method for controlling LED brightness is to control the average current flowing through the LEDs (light emitting diodes) by the duty ratio of a digital dimming signal  101 . 
         [0005]    However, it is required to adjust the LED brightness in an analog manner in certain products. Under such circumstance, the analog input can only adjust the brightness, but can not provide any other function, nor can it provide a digital function. For example, if it is intended to adjust the LED brightness in the analog manner, and it is also desired to provide an enable function (e.g., to turn ON/OFF the LEDs), it is then required to provide both an analog input pin and a digital input pin EN, and corresponding circuits, to the driver circuit  10  shown in  FIG. 1 , which is obviously not cost-effective. 
         [0006]    In view of the above, the present invention proposes a device and a method which is capable of generating analog and digital signals according to one analog control signal, to achieve a composite function of, e.g., dimming and ON/OFF control. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    A first objective of the present invention to provide a dimming control circuit. 
         [0008]    Another objective of the present invention to provide a method and device for generating analog and digital signals according to one analog control signal. 
         [0009]    In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives, and from one aspect of the present invention, a dimming control circuit comprises an input for receiving an analog control signal; a digital dimming circuit for receiving the analog control signal and generating a digital signal; an analog dimming circuit for receiving the analog control signal and generating an analog signal; and a power circuit enabled by the digital signal for converting a supply voltage to an output voltage according to the analog signal generated by the analog dimming circuit. 
         [0010]    From another aspect of the present invention, a method for generating analog and digital signals according to one analog control signal comprises: receiving an analog control signal; generating a digital signal according to the analog control signal; and generating an analog signal according to the analog control signal. 
         [0011]    Preferably, the method further comprises: driving a subject circuit by the analog signal generated according to the analog control signal; and enabling the subject circuit by the digital signal generated according to the analog control signal. 
         [0012]    Preferably, the method further comprises: supplying power by the subject circuit. 
         [0013]    From yet another aspect of the present invention, a device for generating analog and digital signals according to one analog control signal comprises: an input for receiving an analog control signal; a first circuit for generating a digital signal according to the analog control signal; and a second circuit for generating an analog signal according to the analog control signal. 
         [0014]    Preferably, the device further comprises a third circuit which is enabled by the digital signal generated by the first circuit and operates according to the analog signal generated by the second circuit. Preferably, the third circuit includes a power circuit supplying power to light emitting devices. 
         [0015]    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 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a schematic circuit diagram showing a prior art circuit which controls the LED brightness in a digital manner. 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is a schematic circuit diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  shows another embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  shows an example of the digital dimming circuit. 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  shows an example of the analog dimming circuit. 
           [0021]      FIGS. 6 and 7  show two more examples of the analog dimming circuit. 
           [0022]      FIG. 8  shows the relationship between the input voltage V ACTL  and the output current I LED  of the overall circuit when employing the analog dimming circuit of  FIG. 5 . 
           [0023]      FIG. 9  shows the relationship between the input voltage V ACTL  and the output current I LED  of the overall circuit when employing the analog dimming circuit of  FIG. 6  or  FIG. 7 . 
           [0024]      FIGS. 10A-10G  show several examples of the simplified power stage. 
           [0025]      FIGS. 11 and 12  show two further embodiments of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0026]      FIG. 2  is a schematic circuit diagram showing an embodiment according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, one single analog control signal ACTL is used in this invention to generate a digital signal EN and an analog signal Vref. Thus, if the LED driver circuit is an integrated circuit, only one pin P is required. 
         [0027]    More specifically, in this embodiment, a digital dimming circuit  21  receives the analog control signal ACTL and generate the digital signal EN; an analog dimming circuit  22  receives the analog control signal ACTL and generate the analog signal Vref. The analog signal Vref is compared with a feedback signal FB in an error amplifier  23 , to generate an analog error signal VE. The analog error signal VE is inputted to a duty generator  24 , which generates a duty signal D that drives a simplified power stage  25  to convert a supply voltage Vin to an output voltage Vout. The output voltage Vout is supplied to the LEDs. The duty generator  24  may be embodied in various ways; for example, it can be a pulse width modulation circuit. In one embodiment, the simplified power stage  25  is controlled by the digital signal EN; it operates only when the digital signal EN enables it. The simplified power stage  25  for example may be a buck converter, boost converter, buck-boost converter, inverter, fly-back converter, etc., as shown in  FIGS. 10A-10G . The operation of such circuits are well known to those skilled in this art, and therefore they are not redundantly explained here. 
         [0028]    In certain applications, the LEDs are connected in a reverse direction, and the simplified power stage  25  needs to output a negative voltage.  FIG. 3  shows such an embodiment. The rest of the circuit is similar to that of the previous embodiment. 
         [0029]    The digital dimming circuit  21  generates the digital signal EN according to the analog control signal ACTL.  FIG. 4  shows an embodiment of the digital dimming circuit  21 . The analog control signal ACTL is compared with a reference voltage Vth in a comparator CP; when the analog control signal ACTL is higher than the reference voltage Vth, the comparator CP outputs a high-level signal, and when the analog control signal ACTL is lower than the reference voltage Vth, the comparator CP outputs a low-level signal. 
         [0030]    The function of the analog dimming circuit  22  is to generate a signal according to the analog control signal ACTL, and the signal should be capable of controlling the error amplifier  23  to generate a proper analog error signal VE. In the embodiments of  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the analog dimming circuit  22  receives the analog control signal ACTL and generates the analog signal Vref, which is sent to the positive input of the error amplifier  23 ; however, this is not the only arrangement to embody the present invention. As alternatives, referring to  FIGS. 11 and 12 , it can be arranged so that the negative output of the analog dimming circuit  22  is added with the feedback signal FB, and the result thereof is inputted to the negative input of the error amplifier  23 , to be compared with a fixed reference voltage Vrefx inputted to the positive input of the error amplifier  23 . A similar effect can also be achieved by such arrangements. 
         [0031]    The following description is based on the analog dimming circuit  22  shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . However, under the teachings of the present invention, those skilled in this art can apply the same concept to other arrangements of the analog dimming circuit  22 . 
         [0032]      FIG. 5  shows one embodiment of the analog dimming circuit  22 . In this embodiment, the analog dimming circuit  22  includes an operational amplifier OP, which is supplied with a predefined working voltage Vsat. In other words, the operational amplifier OP also acts as a clamping circuit; under the working voltage Vsat, its output Vref follows the analog control signal ACTL, but when the analog control signal ACTL is higher than the working voltage Vsat, the output Vref will be kept as a constant Vsat. 
         [0033]    When using the analog dimming circuit  22  as shown in  FIG. 5 , the relationship of the input voltage (i.e., the voltage of the analog control signal ACTL, V ACTL ) and the output current (i.e., the current flowing through the LEDs, I LED ) of the overall circuit is shown in  FIG. 8 . When the input voltage V ACTL  is lower than the reference voltage Vth, the digital signal EN is low, and the simplified power stage  25  is thus inoperative; the output current is zero. When the input voltage V ACTL  is higher than the reference voltage Vth, but lower than the voltage limit Vsat, the output current is approximately proportional to the input voltage. When the input voltage V ACTL  is higher than the voltage limit Vsat, the output current is a constant. This provides an over current protection function for the output current. 
         [0034]    In the above embodiment, any input voltage lower than the reference voltage Vth will not be able to provide any analog dimming function; that is, the brightness of the LEDs can not be adjusted below a certain extremely low range. It is OK because such extremely low range is not perceptible by human eyes. But in case it is necessary to do so, the analog dimming circuit  22  can be embodied as shown in  FIG. 6  or  FIG. 7 . 
         [0035]    In the analog dimming circuit  22  shown in  FIG. 6 , there is a voltage drop V BE  between the operational amplifier OP and the output Vref of the circuit, and thus the upper limit of the voltage Vref is decreased and becomes Vsat-V BE . Similarly, in the circuit of  FIG. 7 , the upper limit of the voltage Vref is decreased and becomes Vsat-V GS . The relationship of the input voltage V ACTL  and the output current I LED  of the overall circuit is shown in  FIG. 9 . The output current I LED  can only be generated when the input voltage V ACTL  is larger than V BE  or V GS ; therefore, even in an extremely low range, the output current I LED  is adjustable to control the LED brightness correspondingly. To this end, the reference voltage Vth should be set lower than V BE  or V GS , so that the purpose of adjusting the LED brightness in the extremely low range can be achieved. When the input voltage V ACTL  is higher than V BE  or V GS , but lower than the upper limit Vsat-V BE  (or Vsat-V GS ), the output current approximately proportional to the input voltage. When the input voltage V ACTL  is higher than the upper limit Vsat-V BE  (or Vsat-V GS ), the output current is a constant. Thus, the overall circuit not only provides the over current protection function, but also provides brightness adjustment function in an extremely low range. 
         [0036]    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, the present invention can be applied to not only the dimming circuit, but also all applications which requires to generate both digital and analog signals from one single analog control signal. As another example, in all of the embodiments, one can insert a circuit which does not affect the primary function of the overall circuit, between any two devices which are shown to be in direct connection. As a further example, the voltage drop can be achieved by various ways other than those shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 . 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.