Patent ID: 8289263

Claim:
A Light Emitting Diode (LED) driving apparatus, comprising: a first LED group including a plurality of LEDs connected in series; a first constant voltage providing unit that provides constant voltages to the first LED group; a second LED group including a plurality of LEDs connected in series; a second constant voltage providing unit that provides constant voltages to the second LED group; a single Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) control signal providing unit that provides a first PWM signal to the first constant voltage providing unit, and a second PWM signal to the second constant voltage providing unit; and a single feedback control unit that receives respective feedback voltages in parallel from respective outputs of the first and second LED groups, wherein the single feedback control unit comprises: a time-dividing sampling/holding unit, wherein the time-dividing sampling/holding unit sequentially samples and holds the respective feedback voltages over a duration based on time dividing information therein; a constant current compensation circuit comprises a comparator, wherein the comparator receives the respective sampled/held feedback voltages at a non-inverting input and a reference constant voltage with feedback gain at an inverting input, and if a voltage difference between the first and the second inputs exceeds a specified voltage range, outputs the reference constant voltage as a compensating voltage to enable constant current driving to the plurality of LEDs in the first and second constant voltage providing units; and a time-dividing holding/output unit, wherein the time-dividing holding/output unit sequentially holds and outputs the compensating voltage based on the time-dividing information; wherein the first constant voltage providing unit comprises: a first LED driver which controls lighting times of the first of LED group in response to the first PWM signal; and a first DC-DC converter unit electrically connected between the first LED driver and the first LED group, which is configured to boost input voltages, such that the constant voltages are provided to the first LED group, and wherein the second constant voltage providing unit comprises: a second LED driver which controls lighting times of the second LED group in response to the second PWM signal; and a second DC-DC converter unit electrically connected between the second LED driver and the second LED group, which is configured to boost input voltages, such that the constant voltages are provided to the second LED group, wherein the time-dividing sampling/holding unit comprises: a plurality of switches configured to be controlled by a sampling start signal to sample the respective feedback voltages, respectively; a plurality of first capacitors configured to store the respective sampled feedback voltages; and a plurality of first buffers configured to buffer the stored respective sampled feedback voltages for output to the constant current compensation circuit.