Patent ID: 9679885
Date: 2017-06-13
CPC Classifications: G01R,H01L,H02H

Claim:
1. A system comprising: a power supply; a device; a switching mechanism coupled between the power supply and the device, the switching mechanism configured to have an on state in which the power supply is coupled to the device or an off state in which the power supply is de-coupled from the device, the on state allowing current to pass from the power supply to the device along a current path; and a monitoring mechanism having one or more sensing inputs and a reporting output, the one or more sensing inputs coupled to sense an electrical characteristic at the current path, the monitoring mechanism configured to provide a reporting signal at the reporting output responsive to the sensed electrical characteristic, the reporting signal indicative of the sensed electrical characteristic, the monitoring mechanism integrated with the switching mechanism on a chip, the monitoring mechanism including a reference transistor matched with a transistor of the switching mechanism, the reference transistor configured to cause the monitoring mechanism to output the reporting signal with reference to the sensed electrical characteristic.