Patent ID: 8710872

Claim:
A driver circuit for generating a drive signal in accordance with a control signal that has an operating voltage range represented by a reference voltage, the circuit comprising: an input stage configured to receive the control signal and the reference voltage and to generate a modified control signal; and an output stage coupled to the input stage downstream thereof and is configured to receive the modified control signal and to provide the drive signal in accordance with the modified control signal; wherein the input stage is configured to scale the control signal dependent on a level of the reference voltage, compare the scaled control signal with at least one threshold value that is related to the reference voltage, and generate the modified control signal dependent on a result of the compare, wherein the input stage comprises a first adjustable scaling circuit configured to amplify or attenuate the received control signal in accordance with a first adjustable scaling factor, a second adjustable scaling circuit configured to amplify or attenuate the reference voltage in accordance with a second adjustable scaling factor to obtain the at least one threshold, a comparator circuit configured to compare the scaled control signal with the at least one threshold and to supply the result of the compare as a modified control signal to the output stage, and a measurement circuit configure to provide a measurement signal representative of the level of the reference voltage, wherein the first adjustable scaling factor and the second adjustable scaling factor is related to the measurement signal.