Patent ID: 9621162
Date: 2017-04-11
CPC Classifications: H03K

Claim:
1. A high voltage driver circuit comprising; a high side switching component to provide a supply voltage at a terminal to an output; a high side driver component to generate a drive signal at an output thereof to drive the high side switching component, the high side driver component comprising a plurality of drive stages, each drive stage comprising a first switching device controllable to operably couple the output of the high side driver component to a high voltage supply node of the high side driver component, and a second switching device controllable to operably couple the output of the high side driver component to a low voltage supply node of the high side driver component; wherein the high side driver component is arranged to operate in a reduced slew rate mode in which at least one of the drive stages is arranged to be in a non-drive state; and a discharge protection component to cause the second switching device within the at least one drive stage that is in a non-drive state to be turned on in response to receiving an indication that the high voltage driver circuit is in an idle state and that the high side driver component is operating in the reduced slew rate mode.