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US 11,770,000 B2Granted
Input voltage limiter for a microcontroller
AssigneeContinental Automotive Systems, Inc.
InventorMichael A. Haggerty
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An electronic control unit includes a microcontroller. The microcontroller includes a power supply pin configured to receive power and at least one input/output (I/O) pin. A voltage regulator includes a power input configured to connect to a power source and to a regulated power output connected to the power supply pin via an I/O fault protection circuit.
Claims14
An electronic control unit comprising:
- a microcontroller having a power supply pin configured to receive power and at least one input/output (I/O) pin;
- a voltage regulator including a power input configured to connect to a power source, and a regulated power output connected to the power supply pin via an I/O fault protection circuit, wherein the I/O fault protection circuit comprises a common collector transistor having an emitter connected to the power supply pin and a collector connected to a ground;
- and
- a second transistor connecting the regulated power output of the voltage regulator to the emitter of the common collector transistor.
1 more element
A method for protecting an electronic control unit comprising:
- engaging a protection circuit in response to an electrical control unit entering a lower power mode of operations, wherein engaging the protection circuit comprises allowing excess charge at a voltage regulator output to be sunk to ground through a PNP transistor in response to an occurrence of a short circuit at at least one input/output pin of a protected microcontroller;
- wherein operating the protection circuit while the electronic control unit is in a low power mode of operations comprises switching off a MOSFET transistor connecting a power output of a voltage regulator to a power input pin of a microcontroller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.