Patent ID: 7227118

Claim:
A light-emitting element driving circuit, comprising: a current supplier serially connectable to a light-emitting element and operative to supply a current to said light-emitting element; and a switching unit operative to control switching between the states of said current supplied to said light-emitting element from said current supplier, said switching unit including a current path comprising a diode and a semiconductor switching element, said diode being connected in parallel with said light-emitting element and in a forward direction directed from an anode to a cathode of said light-emitting element, said semiconductor switching element being connected serially to said diode and operative to switch between the states of conductive and non-conductive based on a control signal, wherein a voltage drop across said current path when said semiconductor switching element is made conductive is lower than a forward voltage of said light-emitting element when it emits light.