Patent ID: 7612512

Claim:
An electronic control unit for controlling at least three external half-bridge power output stages, the electronic control unit comprising: control modules, one of said control modules connected to each of the half-bridge power output stages, said control modules including a first control module, a second control module and at least one third control module all having outputs, said first and second control modules being jointly pre-configured for controlling an electric motor via two of the half-bridge power output stages on a first common configuration level, said at least one third control module being on a second configuration level and freely configurable such that said outputs of said third control module are available for controlling an individual phase of the electric motor, and such that in an alternate configuration, one said outputs of said third control module is available for controlling a first power switching element for operating a first load and another one said outputs of said third control module is available for controlling a second power switching element independently with respect to said first power switching element, the second powers witching element for operating a second load.