Patent ID: 7554377

Claim:
An apparatus including a voltage limiter, comprising: at least one input electrode to convey an input signal having a magnitude; a plurality of reference electrodes to convey lower and higher reference voltages; an output electrode to convey an output voltage signal having a magnitude with minimum and maximum values corresponding to lower and higher clamp voltages, respectively; amplifier circuitry coupled to said at least one input electrode and including one or more signal electrodes, and responsive to said input signal and said lower and higher clamp voltages by providing, via said one or more signal electrodes, one or more voltage signals having respective magnitudes corresponding to said input signal magnitude; signal clamp circuitry coupled to said plurality of reference electrodes and said one or more signal electrodes, and responsive to said lower and higher reference voltages by providing said lower and higher clamp voltages; and comparator circuitry coupled to said plurality of reference electrodes, said signal clamp circuitry, said one or more signal electrodes and said output electrode, and responsive to said lower and higher reference voltages, said lower and higher clamp voltages, and said one or more voltage signals by providing said output voltage signal, wherein said output voltage signal magnitude corresponds to said one or more voltage signal magnitudes when at least one of said one or more voltage signal magnitudes is greater than said lower reference voltage and less than said higher reference voltage, corresponds to said lower reference voltage when at least one of said one or more voltage signal magnitudes is less than said lower reference voltage, and corresponds to said higher reference voltage when at least one of said one or more voltage signal magnitudes is greater than said higher reference voltage.