The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 21, 2021
Filed:
Jun. 26, 2020
Alpha and Omega Semiconductor International Lp, Toronto, CA;
Michael Scheel, San Jose, CA (US);
Alpha and Omega Semiconductor International LP, Toronto, CA;
Abstract
A multi-port system and method implements fault detection using a resistor connected to each port controller where the resistors of at least two port controllers are connected together in parallel. Each port controller supplies a predetermined current to the associated resistor and senses the resistor voltage of the parallelly connected resistors to detect for a fault condition. A failure condition is indicated when the resistor voltage is outside of a given threshold window. In this manner, for a single point failure, such as a short along the power path of a port controller, the other port controller senses a change in the resistor voltage and can assert a fault signal. In one embodiment, the fault signal is an open drain output and operates to pull down on a fault bus, which disables all the port controllers in the system through a disable input.