Central combined active esd clamp

A method of providing overvoltage protection for an electronic circuit comprising:

• receiving at a first input of a trigger circuit a first highest voltage level provided by a first group of terminals, the first group of terminals operating in a first voltage class;
• receiving at a second input of the trigger circuit a second highest voltage level provided by a second group of terminals, the second group of terminals operating in a second voltage class that is different from the first voltage class;
• determining if the first highest voltage level exceeds a first trigger threshold voltage, and generating an output signal configured to turn on a semiconductor device to activate a path circuity coupling the first group of terminals to a reference voltage to clamp the first highest voltage level relative to the reference voltage during a time when the first highest voltage level exceeds the first trigger threshold voltage;
• and
• determining if the second highest voltage level exceeds a second trigger threshold voltage, and generating the output signal configured to turn on the semiconductor device to activate the path circuity coupling the second group of terminals to the reference voltage to clamp the second highest voltage level relative to the reference voltage during a time when the second highest voltage level exceeds the second trigger threshold voltage;
• wherein at least one of the first group of terminals or the second group of terminal includes a plurality of terminals.

A system comprising:

• an electronic device comprising a first group of terminals and a second group of terminals, the first group of terminals configured to operate within a first voltage class, the second group of terminals configured to operate within a second voltage class having a different operating voltage range than an operating voltage range of the first voltage class;
• functional circuity coupled to the first group of terminals and to the second group of terminals;
• a trigger circuit comprising a first input coupled to each terminal in the first group of terminals, each terminal in the first group of terminals coupled separately to the first input through a different forward biased diode, and a second input coupled to each terminal in the second group of terminals, each terminal in the second group of terminals coupled separately to the second input through another different forward biased diode,
• wherein the trigger circuit comprises a switched output and is configured to monitor a first voltage level at the first input and to provide an output signal at the switch output when the first voltage exceeds a first threshold trigger voltage, and to monitor the second voltage level at the second input and to provide an output signal at the switched output when the second voltage exceeds a second threshold trigger voltage;
• and
• a semiconductor device coupled to the first group of terminals, to the second group of terminals, and to the switched output, the semiconductor device configured to receive the output signal from the trigger circuit and to turn on when receiving the output signal to clamp a voltage level at the first group of terminal and at the second group of terminals and to provide path circuity through the semiconductor device to redirect current away from the functional circuitry.