Patent ID: 7365954

Claim:
Circuitry for protecting a power device, the protected power device comprising a power transistor having a control terminal, an internal control line coupled to the control terminal and operable to receive a control line current, and a fault detector coupled to the internal control line, the power device protection circuitry comprising: a power device driver operable to drive the protected power device through a control line; a current sensor coupled to the control line, the current sensor configured to sense a fault of the protected power device by monitoring current flowing through the control line; and to generate a fault-sensing signal; and control logic coupled to the current sensor and to the power device driver, the control logic configured to respond to the fault-sensing signal of the current sensor, the control logic comprising a fault logic configured to generate a response signal in response to the fault-sensing signal, the response signal representing at least one of identifying the faulty power device, safeguarding the faulty protected power device and reporting the fault to an other circuit block; and wherein the fault logic is coupled to a fault enable terminal and a fault input terminal; wherein the fault logic generates the response signal depending on the fault-sensing signal and signals from the fault enable and fault input terminals.