Electronic circuit protector

Claim 1

AN ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT PROTECTOR FOR INTERRUPTING AN ELECTRICAL CIRCUIT UPON THE OCCURRENCE OF A PREDETERMINED CONDITION THEREIN, SAID ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT PROTECTOR COMPRISING A SIGNAL RESPONSIVE SWITCH ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED IN SAID CIRCUIT, AND A CONTROL CIRCUIT HAVING A TIME DEPENDENT CHARACTERISTIC FOR CONTROLLING THE CONDITION OF SAID SWITCH, SAID CONTROL CIRCUIT COMPRISING MEANS FOR SENSING AN ELECTRICAL CONDITION IN THE CIRCUIT HAVING AN OUTPUT SIGNAL, A VARIABLE GAIN AMPLIFIER FOR CONTROLLING THE VARIATIONS OF THE OUTPUT OF SAID SENSING MEANS, A GENERALIZED FUNCTION CIRCUIT FOR MODIFYING THE OUTPUT FROM THE VARIABLE GAIN AMPLIFIER IN ACCORDANCE WITH A DESIRED FUNCTION, A THRESHOLD CIRCUIT FOR COMPARING THE OUTPUT OF SAID GENERALIZED OUTPUT FUNCTION CIRCUIT WITH A REFERENCE OUTPUT, AN ON-OFFRESET CONTROL SWITCH FOR PROVIDING ON AND OFF CONTROL OF THE CONTROLLED SWITCH AND RESET OF THE CONTROL CIRCUIT, A SWITCH CONTROL CIRCUIT FOR DETERMINING THE STATE OF THE SIGNAL RESPONSIVE SWITCH IN RESPONSE TO THE STATE OF THE ON-OFFRESET SWITCH AND THE THRESHOLD CIRCUIT, AND A GENERALIZED GAIN CONTROL FUNCTION FOR CONTROLLING VARIATIONS OF THE VARIABLE GAIN AMPLIFIER IN RELATION TO TIME.