| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20090121695 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR A MULTIPHASE POWER REGULATOR - Methods and apparatus for a multiphase power regulator according various aspects of the present invention operate in conjunction with an active transient response (ATR) system for applying a correction signal to a multiphase pulse width modulator. In the event of a transient, the ATR system may adjust the output of the pulse width modulator to quickly respond to load requirements. The output may be modified by adding pulses, blanking pulses, advancing pulses, and scaling pulses to one or more phases. | 05-14-2009 |
| 20090146643 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CURRENT SENSING - Methods and apparatus for current sensing according to various aspects of the present invention sense the current in a circuit, such as an inductor circuit. The current sensing systems may comprise an RC element connected such that the RC time constant matches the L/R time constant of the inductor. The current sensor may be configured to generate voltages that are proportional to the instantaneous current in the inductor with scaled gain for a wide range of inductor self resistance (DCR) values. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090261795 | MULTI-THRESHOLD MULTI-GAIN ACTIVE TRANSIENT RESPONSE CIRCUIT AND METHOD FOR DIGITAL MULTIPHASE PULSE WIDTH MODULATED REGULATORS - Disclosed is a multi-phase pulse width modulated voltage regulator and method in which transient voltage excursions or deviations that exceed the load line voltage by more than a pre-determined amount are detected by an ATR circuit and a correction signal is applied. The correction signal is in the form of asynchronous pulses and the number of such pulses is a function of the magnitude of the voltage excursion as determined by the number of thresholds that are exceeded. Also disclosed is an adaptive voltage positioning (AVP) circuit and method for early detection of a transient event by sensing voltage changes at the load and adjusting the target voltage with pre-determined current values prior to the time that ATR event changes in the current at the load are detected. | 10-22-2009 |
| 20100013452 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR POWER SUPPLY LOAD DUMP COMPENSATION - Methods and apparatus for power supply load dump compensation according to various aspects of the present invention may operate in conjunction with a power stage system, such as a power stage system comprising a bootstrapped driver circuit and a power stage responsive to the driver circuit. The power stage system may further include a load dump compensation circuit connected to the driver circuit, wherein the load dump compensation circuit is configured to remove a bias current generated by the bootstrapped driver circuit. Various aspects of the present invention may be implemented in conjunction with any appropriate power supply, such as a switching regulator, for example a buck converter. | 01-21-2010 |
| 20100148795 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING SETTINGS FOR CIRCUITS - Methods and apparatus selecting settings for circuits according to various aspects of the present invention may operate in conjunction with a measurement element connected to the circuit. The circuit may include a voltage source adapted to supply a voltage to the measurement element. The voltage may be substantially independent of the characteristics of the measurement element. The circuit may further include a measurement sensor responsive to a current in the measurement element. The measurement sensor may generate a control signal according to the current in the measurement element. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100166132 | PLL/DLL DUAL LOOP DATA SYNCHRONIZATION - A dual loop (PLL/DLL) data synchronization system and method for plesiochronous systems is provided. A dual loop data serializer includes a phase lock loop (PLL) and a delayed lock loop (DLL) configured with a phase shifter in the feedback path of the PLL. The dual loop serializer locks to the input of the DLL instead of the local reference. Thus, the DLL adjusts the frequency from the PLL so that it matches the desired data rate. Each loop may be optimized for jitter tolerance with the net effect generating a synthesized clean clock (due to narrow bandwidth filtering) and VCO noise suppression (due to wide bandwidth filtering). A dual loop retimer includes a dual loop serializer (PLL/DLL) and a clock recovery DLL. The retimer resets the jitter budget to meet transmission requirements for an infinite number of repeater stages. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20110084678 | MULTI-THRESHOLD MULTI-GAIN ACTIVE TRANSIENT RESPONSE CIRCUIT AND METHOD FOR DIGITAL MULTIPHASE PULSE WIDTH MODULATED REGULATORS - Disclosed is a multi-phase pulse width, modulated voltage regulator and method in which transient voltage excursions or deviations that exceed the load line voltage by more than a pre-determined amount are detected by an ATR circuit and a correction signal is applied. The correction signal is in the form of asynchronous pulses and the number of such pulses is a function of the magnitude of the voltage excursion as determined by the number of thresholds that are exceeded. Also disclosed is an adaptive voltage positioning (AVP) circuit and method for early detection of a transient event by sensing voltage changes at the load and adjusting the target voltage with pre-determined current values prior to the time that ATR event changes in the current at the load are detected. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110221405 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR CALIBRATION OF POWER CONVERTERS - Methods and apparatus for a power regulator according to various aspects of the present invention may comprise a sensor adapted to generate a measurement of a voltage or a current. A memory may store a correction parameter that corresponds to the measurement, and a correction system may be adapted to adjust the measurement according to the correction parameter. | 09-15-2011 |
| 20120200274 | MULTIPHASE POWER REGULATOR WITH ACTIVE TRANSIENT RESPONSE CIRCUITRY - A multiphase power regulator includes a multiphase pulse width modulator, an output stage and an active transient response circuit. The output stage includes a high side transistor, a low side transistor and an inductor. The output stage is configured to supply power to a load responsive to signals generated by the multiphase pulse width modulator. The active transient response circuit is coupled between the output stage and the multiphase pulse width modulator and configured to detect the voltage level at the output stage and provide a signal to the multiphase pulse width modulator that is a function of the amplitude of the deviation of the detected voltage level from a target voltage. | 08-09-2012 |
| 20120223693 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DC-DC CONVERSION USING DIGITALLY CONTROLLED ADAPTIVE PULSE FREQUENCY MODULATION - A method and apparatus for regulating voltage comprising calculating a first PFM on time and a second PFM on time and selecting one the PFM on times according to a selection criteria. Then activating and deactivating at least one switch according to the selected PFM on time. | 09-06-2012 |
| 20120229104 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR VOLTAGE REGULATION WITH DYNAMIC TRANSIENT OPTIMIZATION - Methods and apparatus of dynamic transient optimization in a voltage regulator according to various aspects of the present invention may comprise a transition detector configured to compare an output voltage error to an amplitude threshold. The voltage regulator may further comprise a frequency detector configured to measure the frequency of the amplitude threshold being exceeded and to compare the frequency to a frequency threshold and a response circuit configured to activate a response according to a comparison between the frequency threshold and the frequency of the amplitude threshold being exceeded. | 09-13-2012 |
| 20130027009 | Switching Regulator with Increased Light Load Efficiency - A switching regulator includes a multiphase converter which includes a plurality of main phases configured to covert a power supply voltage to a lower voltage for application to an electronic device at different load conditions. The switching regulator also includes an auxiliary phase configured to operate in a pulse frequency modulation mode during a light load condition so that power is supplied to the electronic device by at least the auxiliary phase during the light load condition. | 01-31-2013 |
| 20140002037 | Switching Regulator Cycle-by-Cycle Current Estimation | 01-02-2014 |
| 20140002044 | Switching Regulator Output Capacitor Current Estimation | 01-02-2014 |
| 20140002932 | Switching Regulator with Negative Current Limit Protection | 01-02-2014 |
| 20140015500 | MULTIPHASE DIGITAL CURRENT MODE CONTROLLER WITH DYNAMIC CURRENT ALLOCATION - A multiphase switching regulator includes a power stage with at least a first phase and a second phase for supplying power to a load through inductors coupling the phases to the load. The multiphase switching regulator is operated by switching the first phase at a higher switching frequency than the second phase via pulse width modulation (PWM) signals provided to the phases. A phase-specific target current is generated for each phase at the switching frequency for that phase based on the difference between an output voltage of the power stage and a reference voltage. The current in the inductors coupling the phases to the load is sensed, and a duty cycle of the PWM signal provided to each phase is adjusted based on the phase-specific target current and sensed inductor current for that phase. | 01-16-2014 |
| 20140035651 | Sensor Circuit for Detecting the Setting of an Integrated Circuit - Methods and apparatus selecting settings for circuits according to various aspects of the present invention may operate in conjunction with a measurement element connected to the circuit. The circuit may include a voltage source adapted to supply a voltage to the measurement element. The voltage may be substantially independent of the characteristics of the measurement element. The circuit may further include a measurement sensor responsive to a current in the measurement element. The measurement sensor may generate a control signal according to the current in the measurement element. | 02-06-2014 |
| 20140043008 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC VOLTAGE TRANSITION - Methods and apparatus for power regulation according to various aspects of the present invention may operate in conjunction with producing a voltage ramp starting at a first voltage and ending at a second voltage and compensating the voltage ramp according to a compensation parameter. The compensation parameter may be adapted to compensate for a circuit parameter. A voltage may then be generated according to the compensated voltage ramp. | 02-13-2014 |
| 20140055114 | System for Balancing Current Supplied to a Load - A system for balancing current supplied by a plurality of regulators coupled to a load includes circuitry operable to measure an average load current supplied by each regulator, determine an overall average current to be shared by the plurality of regulators, and compare each average load current with the overall average current to be shared by the plurality of regulators. The circuitry included in the system is also operable to adjust an output current of one or more of the plurality of regulators so that the plurality of regulators supply the same current to the load. | 02-27-2014 |
| 20140125306 | Switching Regulator Control with Nonlinear Feed-Forward Correction - A switching regulator includes a power stage and a controller. The power stage is operable to produce an output voltage. The controller is operable to set a duty cycle for the power stage based on feed-forward control so that the power stage produces the output voltage as a function of an input voltage and a reference voltage provided to the switching regulator. The controller is further operable to adjust the feed-forward control to counteract the effect of one or more nonlinearities of the switching regulator on the output voltage. | 05-08-2014 |
| 20140191736 | Active Transient Response for DC-DC Converters - A first power transistor of a DC-DC converter is connected between a voltage supply node and a common node, a second power transistor is connected between a reference node and the common node, and an inductor is connected between the common node and the output node of the DC-DC converter. A controller switches the first transistor off and the second transistor off during a step-down event at the load if current in the inductor exceeds a positive threshold value. | 07-10-2014 |
| 20150061619 | Switching Regulator with Increased Light Load Efficiency in Pulse Frequency Modulation Mode - A switching regulator includes a multiphase converter which includes a plurality of main phases configured to covert a power supply voltage to a lower voltage for application to an electronic device at different load conditions. The switching regulator also includes an auxiliary phase configured to operate in a pulse frequency modulation mode during a light load condition so that power is supplied to the electronic device by at least the auxiliary phase during the light load condition. | 03-05-2015 |
