S.C. (asker) Jun 20, 2010:

Thanks! Merci à tous les deux pour vos suggestions, en effet dans ce contexte il ne s'agit pas d'un dispositif d'antidémarrage. J'ignore encore la traduction retenue par le client. J'ai opté pour un "bloc de pré-commande"... sans conviction.

Tony M Jun 15, 2010:

Evolving list It seems to me that the first 6 items on your list do indeed refer to wuite specific pieces of equipment; but from then on, we seem to get more general: LED control, muting circuits, low-side circuits are not devices per se, but simply circuit elements that may be used within devices. Sloar batteries are perhaps a bit more of a grey area, but I believe that 'pre-drive blocks' is using 'block' in the sense of some kind of 'module' or 'unit', rather than in the sense of a hindrance or obstacle, and referring to a generic circuit element.

Tony M Jun 15, 2010:

Can't offer a translation, but... I would understand this as being a device intended not for power outputs stages, but for the pre-driver stages — I'm not quite clear why they are making the distinction here, but if they are considering that 'driver' = 'antenna (or speaker, etc.!) driver' (i.e. power output stage), then I can see that what drives that would have to be referred to as a pre-driver. This is not the only way these stages may be organized...

So I would suggest possibly something along the lines of 'étage' for the 'block' part, and as for 'pre-driver', one might need to consider something like 'préexcitation'...