Patent ID: 7729147

Claim:
A semiconductor circuit for driving a load, comprising: a transformerless Alternative Current (AC) to Direct Current (DC) converter integrated circuit, including: a high voltage circuit fabricated on a substrate for converting a high voltage AC input signal to a first high voltage DC output signal; a second circuit fabricated on the substrate for regulating a drive signal for driving a load using power from the first high voltage output signal; the second circuit includes: a linear regulator coupled with the first high voltage Direct Current (DC) output signal output from the high voltage circuit for providing a first low voltage signal for an externally coupled device, with the externally coupled device providing a second low voltage signal to the second circuit; a reference voltage module coupled with the linear regulator for providing a reference voltage from which the first low voltage signal is determined; a current level control for activating a current regulator for a time; the current regulator outputs a predetermined amount of regulated output current within the time; a thermal protection for determining a temperature of the current regulator and shutting off the current regulator if the temperature exceeds a predetermined threshold level; and a power protection module for shutting off the current regulator if regulated output current exceeds a predetermined threshold level; the high voltage circuit and the second circuit are fabricated on the substrate forming a single integrated circuit (IC) chip.