Patent ID: 7034583

Claim:
A driver circuitry segment comprising: an output structure adapted to drive an output load; a transconductance component, communicatively coupled to the output structure and adapted to output a first current that is proportional to a first voltage across the output structure; a scaling component, communicatively coupled to the output structure and adapted to output a second current that is proportional to a third current across the output structure by some scaling factor; a qualifying component, communicatively coupled to the scaling component and adapted to activate a trigger component when the second current passes a first threshold; and the trigger component, communicatively coupled to the qualifying component, the transconductance component, and the output structure; wherein the trigger component, responsive to activation from the qualifying component, receives the first current from the transconductance component and accumulates charge, for an amount of time inversely proportional to the first current's magnitude, and triggers output structure shut off when the accumulated charge passes a second threshold.