Patent ID: 8184416

Claim:
A lamp driver comprising: an inverter for converting an input voltage to driving voltages for a plurality of discharge lamps; and an inverter driver configured to control the inverter, and to sense an abnormal operation of the discharge lamps based on a first set of feedback voltages corresponding to the driving voltages applied to the plurality of discharge lamps and a second set of feedback voltages corresponding to currents flowing through the plurality of discharge lamps; wherein the inverter driver comprises: a voltage detector, configured to detect a first maximum value and a first minimum value from the first set of feedback voltages; a current detector, configured to detect a second maximum value and a second minimum value from the second set of feedback voltages; and a protection circuit controller, configured to sense abnormal operations of the discharge lamps based on at least one of the first maximum value, first minimum value, second maximum value, and second minimum value, and to control the inverter based on the sensed result.