Patent ID: 8258712

Claim:
A ballast circuit for a gas discharge lamp comprising: an inverter operable to convert a DC voltage into an AC voltage; a striation reduction circuit coupled to the inverter to receive an input signal associated with the AC voltage, the input signal having a DC component signal and an AC component signal, the striation reduction circuit further comprising: a first circuit path having a DC blocking component that blocks the DC component signal and transmits the AC component signal; and a second circuit path including a nonlinear component responsive to generate a harmonic component signal from the input signal, the second circuit path being operably associated with the first circuit path to superimpose a DC offset associated with the DC component signal and the harmonic component signal on the AC component signal, the second circuit path further comprises a diode that closes the second circuit path during a portion of a period of a low frequency signal associated with the input signal and opens the second circuit path during a different portion of the period of the low frequency signal associated with the input signal.