Patent ID: 6710603
Filing Date: 2004-03-23
Classification: H03K

Abstract:
A detection circuit for ascertaining a presence of an overshooting of a current flowing through a line above a predetermined value, comprising:a first current mirror having a first input transistor, a first output transistor, an input, and an output outputting an output signal; a second current mirror having a second input transistor, a second output transistor, an input and an output outputting an output signal, said first input transistor having a first threshold voltage being greater than a saturation voltage of said second output transistor, said second input transistor having a second threshold voltage being greater than a saturation voltage of said first output transistor, said input of said first current mirror and said output of said second current mirror being connected to each other at a common first node and said common first node is present at an end of the line, said input of said second current mirror and said output of said first current mirror being connected to each other at a common second node; a first controllable current source having an output connected to said common first node and outputting a first current; a second controllable current source having an output connected to said common second node and outputting a second current, the first current and the second current have a linear relationship to one another, and the predetermined value is a function of the linear relationship of the first current and second current; and an evaluation unit coupled to said first current mirror and to said second current mirror, said evaluation unit ascertains the presence of the overshooting of the current flowing through the line above the predetermined value from an evaluation signal corresponding to the output signal of one of said first current mirror and said second current mirror.