Patent ID: 8030853

Claim:
A circuit comprising: a driver configured to generate an output for driving one or more light emitting diodes; and a voltage booster configured to boost an input voltage provided to the driver; wherein the voltage booster comprises two first diodes coupled in series, two second diodes coupled in series, and first and second capacitors coupled in series; wherein a first input voltage terminal is coupled between the first diodes and a second input voltage terminal is coupled between the second diodes and between the capacitors; wherein the voltage booster is configured to charge the first and second capacitors during first and second operational states, respectively; wherein the voltage booster is configured to charge the first capacitor to a voltage approximately equal to V 1 −V D during the first operational state and to charge the second capacitor to a voltage approximately equal to V 2 −V D during the second operational state, where V 1 represents a positive peak in the input voltage, V 2 represents a negative peak in the input voltage, and V D represents a voltage drop across at least one of the diodes; and wherein the voltage booster is configured to decrease a start-up voltage needed to turn on the one or more light emitting diodes by at least approximately 3V AC compared to a start-up voltage needed to turn on the one or more light emitting diodes without boosting of the input voltage.