Patent ID: 8841870

Claim:
A driver for selectively performing a charging task and a discharging task for an on-off control terminal of a voltage-controlled switch having a conductive path, according to a drive signal directing selectively an on state and an off state of the voltage-controlled switch, thus setting the voltage-controlled switch to one of the on state and the off state, the driver comprising: a discharging-rate changing module adapted to change a rate of discharging the on-off control terminal of the voltage-controlled switch at least between a first value and a second value lower than the first value; a measuring module configured to measure a value of a parameter as a function of a current flowing through the conductive path of the voltage-controlled switch during the drive signal being in the on state; and a discharging control module configured to: control the discharging-rate changing module, as a function of the value of the parameter, to select one of the first value and the second value as the rate of discharging the on-off control terminal of the voltage-controlled switch upon the drive signal directing a change from the on state of the voltage-controlled switch to the off state thereof; and discharge the on-off control terminal of the voltage-controlled switch using the selected one of the first value and the second value as the rate of discharging the on-off control terminal of the voltage-controlled switch.