Patent ID: 8089501

Claim:
A light emitting apparatus, comprising: a light emitting element including a first terminal, a second terminal connected to ground, and a third terminal, said light emitting element turning on to emit light when a drive current flows from the first terminal to the second terminal through said light emitting element; a driver circuit connected to the first terminal, said driver circuit supplying the drive current to said light emitting element when said light emitting element turns on; and a control circuit connected to the third terminal, said control circuit causing a control current to flow from the first terminal to the third terminal to turn on said light emitting element; wherein said control circuit applies a control voltage to the third terminal, the control voltage being higher than a voltage across the third terminal and the second terminal when said light emitting element remains turned on; wherein said control circuit includes a first switch element including a fourth terminal and fifth terminal and a second switch element including a sixth terminal and a seventh terminal, the first and second switch elements being of a common semiconductor conductivity type; and wherein the fourth terminal is connected to a power supply, the seventh terminal is connected to ground, and the fifth terminal and the sixth terminal are connected to the third terminal.