Patent ID: 8154270

Claim:
An input protection circuit comprising: a first circuit configured to compare an input signal to a reference signal, and generate a first control signal indicative of whether the value of the input signal is greater than or equal to the value of the reference signal, or less than the value of the reference signal; a second circuit configured to receive the first control signal, and generate a second control signal according to the first control signal, wherein the second control signal is set to a first specified value for a first value of the first control signal, and wherein a value of the second control signal tracks the value of the input signal for a second value of the first control signal; and a third circuit configured to generate an output signal according to the first control signal and the second control signal, wherein a value of the output signal tracks the value of the input signal for the first value of the first control signal and the first specified value of the second control signal, and wherein the value of the output signal is set to a second specified value less than the value of the input signal for the second value of the first control signal.