Patent ID: 7737763

Claim:
A method of changing a state of a virtual electronic fuse (VEF), the method comprising the steps of: providing a plurality of real electronic fuses (REFs) that together form the VEF, each REF in the VEF initially exhibiting an un-blown state; blowing-some of the plurality of REFs in the VEF; and detecting, by a detector in the VEF, that an odd number of REFs is blown in the VEF to indicate that the VEF exhibits one of a virtual blown state and a virtual un-blown state, the detector detecting that an even number of REFs is blown in the VEF to indicate that the VEF exhibits the other of the virtual blown state and the virtual un-blown state, the detector providing a virtual fuse output signal exhibiting one of a logic zero and a logic one as the state of the VEF.