The Best Idea for Design for 2007 comes from an academic and a working engineer. And in this IFD, originally published in our May 24 issue, they've reworked an idea for driving many LED segments when you have only a few microcontroller output pins. The authors found the basic concept through that prolific source of clever circuitry, Don Lancaster. Maxim Integrated Products uses it in MAX695x LED display drivers. In fact, Charles Allen at Maxim invented the technique, so it's often called "Charlieplexing."
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