Circuit for maintaining the state of an output despite changes in the state of input

DETAILED DESCRIPTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a low voltage control circuit for maintaining at least one output in a known state regardless of the state of the inputs when a voltage to be monitored is below a predetermined limit voltage and above a threshold voltage.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a low voltage control circuit for maintaining digital outputs in a known state regardless of the input states.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a low voltage control circuit which provides two levels of voltage control.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a reliable low voltage control circuit.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a low voltage control circuit for maintaining at least one output in a known state during the power-up and power-down cycles of an electronic postage meter.
Briefly, in accordance with the present invention a low voltage control circuit and associated method is provided for maintaining at least one output terminal in a known state regardless of the input state of the inputs when at least one voltage to be monitored is above a threshold voltage and below a predetermined limit voltage, comprising control means for providing a deactivating output voltage when the voltage to be monitored is below the predetermined limit voltage, output means electrically coupled to the control means for receiving the output voltage from the control means and for receiving at least one input voltage, the output means being deactivated in response to the deactivating output voltage to provide a known voltage state at the output terminal until the voltage to be monitored reaches the predetermined limit voltage whereupon the control means will provide an activate output voltage to the output means to enable the voltage state at the output terminal to be controlled by the state of the inputs.
Other objects, aspects and advantages of the present invention should be understood from the detailed description considered in conjunction with the drawings, as follows: