Device with low-ohmic circuit path
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorJens Barrenscheen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A device, including a low-ohmic circuit path; a normal operation circuit path coupled in parallel with the low-ohmic circuit path; and a circuit element configured to select between the low-ohmic circuit path and the normal operation circuit path.
Claims22
A device, comprising:
- a low-ohmic circuit path coupled at one end directly to an input of the device and at the other end directly to an output of the device;
- a normal operation circuit path coupled in parallel with the low-ohmic circuit path;
- and
- a circuit element configured to select between the low-ohmic circuit path and the normal operation circuit path, wherein when the device is operating in a normal mode, is configured to select the normal operation circuit path, and when the device is not powered or is in a failure mode, is configured to select the low-ohmic circuit path.
A daisy-chain circuit, comprising:
- at least one slave device comprising:
- a low-ohmic circuit path having a first end coupled directly to an input of the at least one slave device and a second end coupled directly to an output of the at least one slave device;
- a normal operation circuit path coupled in parallel with the low-ohmic circuit path;
- and
- a circuit element configured to select between the low-ohmic circuit path and the normal operation circuit path, wherein when the device is operating in a normal mode, is configured to select the normal operation circuit path, and when the at least one slave device is not powered or is in a failure mode, is configured to select the low-ohmic circuit path;
- and
- a master device coupled to the at least one slave device,
- wherein the at least one slave device and the master device are coupled in a daisy-chain configuration, and the daisy-chain configuration is operable when the at least slave device is not powered or is in the failure mode.
The daisy-chain circuit 12, wherein an output current of the master device or of one of the plurality of slave devices is used to determine if another slave device is in transparent pin mode.
A method of operating a device having a low-ohmic circuit path and a normal operation circuit path coupled in parallel and at one end directly to an input of the device and at the other end directly to an output of the device, the method comprising:
- selecting the low-ohmic circuit path if the device is not powered or is in a failure mode;
- selecting the normal operation circuit path when the device is operating in a normal mode;
- and
- switching from the low ohmic circuit path to the normal operation circuit path after some delay has elapsed, defined information has been received, or a defined status of communication pins of the device has been detected.
A method of operating a daisy-chain circuit including a master device and a plurality of slave devices, comprising:
- detecting if any of the plurality of slave devices has a low-ohmic circuit path selected, wherein each of the plurality of slave devices has the low-ohmic circuit path having a first end coupled directly to an input of the respective slave device and a second end coupled directly to an output of the respective slave device, a normal operation circuit path coupled in parallel with the low-ohmic circuit path, and a circuit element configured to select between the low-ohmic circuit path and the normal operation circuit path, wherein when the device is operating in a normal mode, is configured to select the normal operation circuit path, and when the device is not powered or is in a failure mode, is configured to select the low-ohmic circuit path;
- and
- changing data transmitted by the master device according to a number of the plurality of slave devices having its normal operation circuit path selected.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.