ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,294,302, issued on May 6, was assigned to STMICROELECTRONICS S.r.l. (Agrate Brianza, Italy).

"Regulator circuit, corresponding system and method" was invented by Salvatore Tumminaro (Marianopoli, Italy), Alfio Pasqua (Piedimonte Etneo, Italy) and Marco Sammartano (Petrosino, Italy).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A circuit includes an electronic switch configured to be coupled intermediate a high-voltage node and low-voltage circuitry and configured to couple the low-voltage circuitry to the high-voltage node. A voltage-sensing node is configured to be coupled to the high-voltage node via a pull-up resistor. A further electronic switch can...