Patent ID: 7624303

Claim:
A power control system comprising: a first power controller comprising: a first control terminal for connection to a first switch for selectively coupling a power supply voltage to a first electrical device; first fault detection circuitry for receiving a sense signal indicating any fault in delivery of the power supply voltage to the first electrical device, the fault detection circuitry generating at least one fault indication signal indicating whether there is a first fault condition; first circuitry for detecting a level of voltage provided to the first electrical device and generating a first signal, a first state of the first signal indicating that power to the first electrical device is satisfactory, a second state of the first signal indicating that power to the first electrical device is unsatisfactory; first logic circuitry receiving the first signal, the at least one fault indication signal, and at least one other first status signal, wherein the at least one other first status signal is processed by the first logic circuitry to determine whether the second state of the first signal is a result of other than the first fault condition; and a first output terminal connected to an output of the first logic circuitry, the first output terminal providing a first power-good signal having a first state that indicates that conditions of the first power controller are unsatisfactory, wherein the first logic circuitry is configured to output the first state of the first power-good signal at least if the second state of the first signal is due to the at least one fault indication signal indicating that there is a first fault condition, and wherein the first logic circuitry is configured such that the second state of the first signal does not force the first state of the first power-good signal to occur if the second state of the first signal is a result of other than the first fault condition, the first output terminal providing the first power-good signal having a second state that indicates that conditions of the first power controller are satisfactory, wherein the first logic circuitry is configured such that the second state of the first signal does not affect the state of the first power-good signal if the logic circuitry determines that the second state of the first signal is a result of other than the first fault condition, the first output terminal for connection to circuitry external to the first power controller.