A synchronous regulator includes a controller coupled to receive a reference signal and a feedback signal from the regulator operable to provide a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal at its output. The regulator includes at least one gate driver coupled to receive the PWM signal, and a synchronous output switch having a phase node there between controlled by the gate driver, and regulator input current measurement circuitry. The regulator input current measurement circuitry comprises a circuit operable for providing a signal representative of at least one phase node timing parameter, a sensing circuit operable for sensing inductor or output current provided by the regulator, and a calculation circuit coupled to receive the signal representative of the phase node timing parameters and the inductor or output current and is operable to determine the input current.

Switching regulator circuit, system, and method for providing input current measurement without a dedicated input current sense element

There is described a buck-boost converter comprising: a voltage source; an inductor, wherein a first terminal of the inductor is switchably connected to the voltage source; and a plurality of capacitors switchably connected to a second terminal of the inductor, wherein a respective plurality of output voltages are formed across the plurality of capacitors, further comprising: an error determination means, for determining an error in each of the plurality of voltages, an inner control loop adapted to switchably connect one of the plurality of capacitors to the second terminal of the inductor in dependence on the determined errors; and an outer control loop adapted to control switching between buck mode and boost mode in dependence upon the determined errors.

Control of multi-level supply stage

Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system, machine, device, manufacture, circuit, and/or user interface adapted for, and/or a method and/or machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for, activities that can comprise, based on a predicted non-zero future power requirement for performing one or more portions of an expected workload by a predetermined system, the predicted future power requirement based on a past power requirement for performing one or more portions of a known workload by the predetermined system, automatically causing a change from a first power state of the predetermined system to a second power state that does not violate a specification for performing the one or more portions of the expected workload.

Systems, devices, and/or methods for managing energy usage

Power supply voltage to an integrated circuit (IC) or a portion of an IC is maintained at an optimum level matching the IC performance. Voltage ranges and delay measures for corresponding operating frequencies are stored in tables in a voltage control block. When a new frequency of operation is desired, the voltage control block measures delay performance of the IC, and sets the supply voltage to a value specified in a corresponding entry in a table. The voltage control block then continues to measure delay performance, and dynamically adjusts the power supply voltage to an optimum value thereby minimizing power consumption.

Maintaining Optimum Voltage Supply To Match Performance Of An Integrated Circuit

A low dropout voltage regulator circuit that dynamically adjusts its output voltage has a voltage adjustment circuit in communication with a dynamic voltage controlling circuit for modifying the output voltage of the low dropout voltage regulator. A first amplification circuit is connected to receive an adjusted reference voltage from the voltage adjustment circuit and compare it with a feedback signal from the output voltage to provide a drive signal to a signal input terminal of a follower output transistor. An output terminal of the follower output transistor provides the output voltage of the regulation circuit. An adjustable internal load circuit applies a load current to the output terminal of the follower output transistor to increase the bandwidth of the output of the voltage regulation circuit that is sensed by a dynamic biasing sensing circuit to generate a dynamic biasing signal that modifies the bandwidth of the first amplification circuit.

Low drop-out voltage regulator with dynamic voltage control

An electronic device includes a low drop-out regulator for providing a regulated output voltage. The low drop-out regulator generally comprises a power MOSFET transistor having a gate coupled to a driver. The driver has a first path including an NMOS transistor and being coupled to the gate of the power MOSFET, a second path having a PMOS transistor and being coupled to the gate of the power MOSFET, and a switch for alternately switching between the first and second paths so as to provide a voltage to the gate of the power MOSFET ranging from ground to a power supply level.

Technique to improve dropout in low-dropout regulators by drive adjustment

A switching regulator provided according to an aspect of the present invention contains uses one or more error samples from prior iterations, in addition to an error sample of the present iteration, to determine the correction for the present iteration. Due to the use of multiple samples, a switching regulator may provide a regulated signal which is at least substantially constant even in the presence of line/load variations. A controller determining the correction can be implemented either in analog or digital domain.

Switching regulator with analog or digital control

A system and method is provided for supplying power to multiple outputs in a switching converter. One embodiment of the present invention includes a multiple-output switching converter that may comprise a switch arrangement operative to couple and decouple a supply voltage to an inductor, and to couple and decouple a given output of a plurality of outputs to the inductor. The multiple-output switching converter may also comprise a reference current generator operative to generate a reference current corresponding to an aggregated error of the plurality of outputs. The multiple-output switching converter may also comprise a current sensing device operative to dynamically measure the current through the inductor. The multiple-output switching converter may further comprise a controller that controls the switch arrangement to couple the supply voltage to the inductor during an inductor charge period and decouple the supply voltage from the inductor during an inductor discharge period. The inductor charge period may be based on an amount of time for the current through the inductor to be substantially equal to the reference current.

System and method for regulating power in a multiple-output switching converter

A characteristic is measured on multiple portions of an integrated circuit, and the supply voltage adjusted based on the measurements. In an embodiment, the characteristic corresponds to propagation delay which indicates whether the integrated circuit is implemented with a strong, weak or nominal process corner. In general, the supply voltage can be increased in the case of a weak process corner and decreased in the case of a strong process corner.

Anmol Sharma

Papers

Technique to improve dropout in low-dropout regulators by drive adjustment

Switching regulator with analog or digital control

System and method for regulating power in a multiple-output switching converter

Providing optimal supply voltage to integrated circuits

Reducing Line/ Load Regulation Problems In Switching Regulators