Patent ID: 8680893

Claim:
A circuit for energizing a load, comprising: a feedback circuit configured to monitor a load current provided to the load from a power supply; and a control circuit comprising: a first switch control output configured to control a first switch by providing a first control signal varying between establishing a cut-off state and a fully-on-state of the first switch; and a second switch control output configured to control a second switch by providing a second control signal varying between establishing a cut-off state and a fully-on state of the second switch; wherein the first and second switch control outputs of the control circuit are configured to respectively provide the first and second control signals to establish a specified load current to control a rate of change of a voltage across the load to energize the load using the first and second switches in a parallel configuration, including being configured to: establish an overlapping conduction sequence of the first and second switches; and use information from the feedback circuit about the monitored load current to establish an intermediate level of conduction between the cut-off state and the fully-on state in the first switch and the second switch to establish the specified load current to control the rate of change of the voltage across the load to energize the load.