Patent ID: 7382594

Claim:
A reverse-voltage and over-voltage protection circuit comprising: a first switch device having a control electrode, a current carrying electrode and a reference current carrying electrode, the reference current carrying electrode coupled to receive an unprotected voltage; a second switch device having a control electrode, a reference current carrying electrode coupled to a load, and a current carrying electrode that is coupled to the current carrying electrode of the first switch device; a control circuit configured to receive the unprotected voltage and disable the second switch device and decouple the load from receiving the unprotected voltage responsively to the unprotected voltage having a value that is greater than an over-voltage value, and to disable the first switch device and decouple the load from receiving the unprotected voltage responsively to the unprotected voltage having a reverse value; and a first transistor and a second transistor coupled in series wherein a current carrying electrode of one of the first and second transistors is coupled to the control electrodes of both the first and second switch devices, the first and second transistors operably coupled to receive a control signal and couple the control signal to the control electrodes of the first and second switch devices.