Means for instantaneously detecting abnormal voltage in a micro controller

Abstract

A voltage detector circuit for instantaneously detecting abnormal voltages in a micro controller includes a voltage detection circuit connected between the power supply and reset voltage ends of an internal circuit of the micro controller so as to instantaneously detect changes in the power supply, without the time delay associated with the external low pass filter that supplies the reset voltage. The detecting circuit is a logic "NOT" gate which has a power supply connecting end connected to a reset voltage end of the internal circuit, an input end connected to the power supply end of the internal circuit, and an output end connected to a cooperating input end of the latch circuit, so that the latch circuit latches a signal output by the voltage detector whenever an abnormal power supply voltage is detected, and outputs a flag signal to the micro controller to effect an instantaneous reset of the micro controller. The latch may be a flip-flop, in which case one of the flip-flop inputs is connected to the voltage detector output and the other input may be connected together with the flip-flop power supply input to the reset voltage, the flip-flop providing two outputs, one of which may be connected to the micro controller reset pin, and the other of which may be connected to an interrupt or other indicator device.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.