US Patent 7375474 Apparatus and method for driving backlight

The apparatus for driving a backlight includes a plurality of lamps each of which has first and second electrodes, a transformer for receiving an AC waveform to provide high voltage AC waveform to drive the plurality of lamps, a detection circuit for generating a detection voltage corresponding to the high voltage AC waveform, an accumulation operation unit for accumulating the detection voltage from the detection circuit and generating a shutdown signal voltage, and a controller for receiving an input voltage to provide the AC waveform to the transformer and for receiving the shutdown signal voltage to shutdown the plurality of lamps in response to the shutdown signal voltage.