Patent ID: 9473133
Filing Date: 2016-10-18
CPC Classification: G01R,H03K

Claim Text:
1. A control device for controlling the drive of a voltage-controlled switching element, the control device comprising: a drive circuit that generates and outputs a drive signal corresponding to an input signal; a plurality of transistors that are driven by the drive signal output from the drive circuit and control the drive of the switching element; and a transistor operation controller that controls operations of the plurality of transistors, wherein the transistor operation controller, in a normal operation, supplies the same drive signal, which is output from the drive circuit, to the plurality of transistors in order to collectively operate the plurality of transistors, and, in a test operation, sequentially selects any one of the plurality of transistors and supplies the same drive signal to the selected transistor in order to individually operate the plurality of transistors; wherein the transistor operation controller includes a plurality of test transistors, in the normal operation, none of the test transistors are turned on, and in the test operation, any one of the plurality of transistors is selected by one or more of the test transistors being turned on, the transistor operation controller further including a gate circuit provided between the drive circuit and the plurality of transistors; and a shift register that serially inputs input data, and converts and outputs the input data in parallel, wherein the gate circuit, in the normal operation, supplies the drive signal output from the drive circuit, to any gates of the plurality of transistors, and, in the test operation, supplies the drive signal to the gates of the plurality of transistors selectively in response to the data output from the shift register, and the test operation is triggered based on the contents of the input data.