Patent ID: 7362166

Claim:
An apparatus for polarity-inversion-protected supplying of an electronic component with an intermediate voltage from a supply voltage, comprising: a first transistor connected in such a way between a terminal for the supply voltage and the electric component, that a path between a source terminal and a sink terminal of the first transistor is flown through by a supply current of the electric component; a potential-to-current converter formed such that it generates a rising response current at a rising voltage drop across the path between source terminal and sink terminal of the first transistor; and a coupler formed to provide a follow current proportional to the response current at an output of the coupler depending on the response current, wherein the output of the coupler is coupled to a control terminal of the first transistor; wherein the potential-to-current converter comprises a second transistor providing the response current; and wherein the potential-to-current converter further comprises a potential shifter coupled to the sink terminal of the first transistor and a control terminal of the second transistor, and formed to generate a potential dependent on a potential at the sink terminal of the first transistor at the control terminal of the second transistor.