Patent ID: 7734440

Claim:
A method of setting a trip-point temperature value for an over-temperature detector responsive to a main temperature sensor located in an integrated circuit comprising a plurality of heat generating circuits and a plurality of remote temperature sensors, the method comprising the steps of: a) enabling one of the plurality of heat generating circuits; b) reading at least one of the remote temperature sensors proximate the enabled heat generating circuit; c) reading the main temperature sensor; d) calculating a temperature difference, ΔT, between the main temperature sensor reading and the remote temperature sensor reading; e) disabling, after step d), the one heat generating circuit enabled in step a); f) executing steps a)-e) for each of the plurality of heat generating circuits; g) determining the largest ΔT calculated in step e); and h) setting the trip-point temperature value to a known temperature limit value offset by the largest ΔT; wherein the main temperature sensor is distal from the plurality of heat generating circuits, and wherein only one heat generating circuit at a time is enabled in step a), and wherein the plurality of heat generating circuits, the plurality of remote temperature sensors, and the main temperature sensor are located in one mixed-signal integrated circuit.