Patent ID: 7148632

Claim:
A light emitting diode (LED) lighting device comprising: a first group of LEDs of a first color; a second group of LEDs of a second color; a third group of LEDs of a third color; and a control circuit, the control circuit being coupled to each of the groups of LEDs and comprising a data interface, wherein the control circuit independently controls each group of LEDs in accordance with data received at the data interface and includes: a processor, the processor being coupled to the data interface, and a controllable current source for each group of LEDs, the controllable current source being controlled by the processor, wherein: each group of LEDs comprises a plurality of LED strings coupled in parallel, each LED string comprising one or more LEDs coupled in series, and at least one of the first, second and third groups of LEDs includes one or more ballast LEDs, and the light emitted from each of the one or more ballast LEDs is obscured from combining with light emitted by other LEDs in the first, second and third groups of LEDs.