Patent ID: 7359173

Claim:
A system for protecting at least one component in an integrated circuit (IC), the system comprising: a disconnect element electrically connected in series between a terminal of the IC and the at least one component, the disconnect element being configured to have a first state to permit an electrical signal to propagate from the terminal to the at least one component and a second state corresponding to a high impedance condition that electrically disconnects the terminal relative to the at least one component; and a control system configured to cause the disconnecting element to transition from the first state to the second based on at least one predetermined activation condition; wherein the at least one activation condition further comprises exceeding a predetermined voltage at the terminal concurrently with input data that has been set to define an operating mode of the at least one component, the system further comprising a threshold detector that provides an output signal based on comparison of the voltage at the terminal relative to a predetermined threshold, the control system detecting the activation condition based on the output signal from the threshold detector and based on the input data that has been set to define the operating mode of the at least one component.