Patent ID: 8550056

Claim:
An electric circuit for triggering a piezoelectric element comprising: first and second transistors connected in series, each of which can be triggered using a separate clock pulse and whose shared connecting point is coupled to the piezoelectric element; and a control unit configured to: during normal circuit operation in which no short at a terminal of the piezoelectric element is detected, trigger the first transistor using a first set of clock pulses to discharge the piezoelectric element so that a voltage level of the piezoelectric element decreases over time towards a predefined target voltage; and in response to detecting a presence of a short at the terminal of the piezoelectric element: monitor a discharge current flowing through the first transistor; generate, based on the monitoring, an additional set of clock pulses that, when used to trigger the first transistor, prevent the discharge current from exceeding a predefined limit value; and trigger the first transistor using the additional set of clock pulses instead of the first set of clock pulses, to discharge the piezoelectric element towards the target voltage.