Patent ID: 6849834

Claim:
A power controller for an AC load comprising: a user interface adapted to interact with a user to produce at least one user interface signal; and a control module adapted to electrically couple a line voltage supply, electrically couple said AC load, and provide electrical power to said AC load as a function of said at least one user interface signal by implementing a low-flicker, cycle-skipping control algorithm, said control algorithm comprising a plurality of cycle patterns, said cycle patterns comprising a plurality of main power levels, said control module comprising: a threshold-crossing detector adanted to generate a threshold-crossing signal whenever an output voltage of said line voltage supply crosses a specified voltage threshold; a control processor adapted to receive said at least one user interface signal and said threshold-crossing signal and generate a switch command signal by implementing said low-flicker, cycle-skipping control algorithm; and a power module adapted to receive said switch command signal and provide electrical power to said AC load.