| 摘要 |
<p>The present invention provides a simple, low cost power line protection device and method suitable for protecting data bus and power lines such as in the USB (Universal Serial Bus) configurations and other power management circuits. In one embodiment of the invention, an improved protection device, controllable by a control circuit, for protecting a power line is provided. The device includes a switch for switching on and off power supplied on the power line, and a detector for detecting a fault condition, such as an overload condition, on the power line. The detector includes a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) resistor thermally coupled to the switch for causing the fault condition to be reported to the control circuit. In this way, when a fault condition occurs, the control circuit activates the switch to switch off power supplied on the power line.</p> |
