Patent ID: 7327051

Claim:
A lighting control circuit for a vehicle lamp comprising: a plurality of series regulators including: a plurality of current detection devices for detecting a current supplied to a plurality of semiconductor light sources connected in parallel; a plurality of switching devices connected in series to the semiconductor light sources; and a plurality of comparators for comparing currents detected by the current detection devices with a predetermined value, and for controlling the ON/OFF operations of the switching devices in accordance with the comparison results; a switching regulator for supplying a current to the plurality of semiconductor light sources, and for adjusting a voltage to be output to the semiconductor light source; and a plurality of protection controllers for setting the states of the switching devices to a safe state in response to a voltage applied to the switching devices or to abnormalities detected as a result of a comparison performed by the comparators, wherein the switching regulator monitors the voltage to be output to the semiconductor light sources and sets the states of the semiconductor light sources to safe states upon the detection of an abnormal drop in the output voltage.