Patent ID: 7741794
Filing Date: 2010-06-22
Classification: B60R,H02P,H03K

Abstract:
1. A load drive control circuit for controlling a load that includes connection terminals, the load drive control circuit comprising: bridge circuits respectively connected to the connection terminals of the load, with each bridge circuit including two semiconductor elements, which are connected in series between a power supply and ground, and an output terminal, which is arranged between the two semiconductor elements and connected to one of the connection terminals of the load, wherein the semiconductor elements are each controlled to be switched between an activated state and a deactivated state, the output terminal of each bridge circuit generates a bridge output that varies in accordance with a combination of the activated state and deactivated state of the two semiconductor elements in the bridge circuit, and the drive control circuit switches the load to one of an operation suspended state, a forward direction driven state, and a reverse direction driven state in accordance with the combination of the bridge outputs of the bridge circuits; a detection circuit for detecting whether or not a higher potential point short circuit is occurring in at least one of the connection terminals of the load; and a control circuit for switching the bridge circuits to a high impedance state to electrically disconnect the load from the power supply when the detection circuit detects the occurrence of the higher potential point short circuit during a period in which the load is in the operation suspended state.