Patent ID: 8456463

Claim:
A low voltage driver comprising: a plurality of input terminals for respective bias voltages; an output terminal; an input transistor switching circuit having at least an input transistor for each bias voltage, each input transistor coupled on a first side to a respective input terminal and on a second side to a common node shared with at least one other input transistor; an output transistor switching circuit, responsive to said input transistor switching circuit having a plurality of output transistors, each output transistor coupled on a first side to the output terminal and on a second side to a respective common node of the input transistors; a level shifter providing a set of switching voltages to the plurality of input and output transistors; a logic circuit applying the set of switching voltages to said input and output transistor switches to connect a selected one of said bias voltages to said output terminal; and a safety mode monitor circuit that when a selected bias voltage has a magnitude that exceeds a breakdown voltage of the input and output transistor switches that couple the selected bias voltage to the output terminal, signals the level shifter to adjust switching voltages to coupled transistors based on the selected bias voltage, and selectively enables at least one input transistor coupled to a non-selected bias voltage to a common node that couple a non-selected output transistor to the output terminal.