Multi-mode voltage regulation with feedback
First Claim
1. An apparatus, comprising:
- first and second of voltage regulator circuits, wherein the first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits are operable as respective first and second banks of parallel gates to regulate resistance between a power source and a voltage rail, and as first and second switched-capacitor voltage regulators; and
a controller configured to,operate the first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits as the respective first and second switched-capacitor voltage regulators when a reference voltage is within a first voltage range,operate the first bank of voltage regulator circuits as the first bank of parallel gates, including to determine a number of the gates to close, and operate the second bank of voltage regulator circuits as the second switched-capacitor voltage regulator, during a transition period that begins when the reference voltage transitions from the first voltage range to a second voltage range that is higher the first voltage range, andoperate the first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits as the respective first and second banks of parallel gates after the transition period.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and systems to regulate a voltage with multiple selectable voltage regulator (VR) modes, using multiple corresponding circuits and/or a configurable circuit. The circuit may be configurable for one or more of a power-gate VR mode, a switched-capacitor VR (SCVR) mode, and a linear mode, such as a low drop-out (LDO) VR mode. A feedback controller, such as a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller, may configure and/or control a multi-mode VR for a selected VR mode. The feedback controller may select a VR mode based on a reference voltage and voltage ranges associated with the VR modes. The circuit may be configurable as banks of VRs, and the controller may be implemented to transition between VR modes by switching sub-banks between modes until the transition is complete.
36 Citations
17 Claims
-
1. An apparatus, comprising:
-
first and second of voltage regulator circuits, wherein the first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits are operable as respective first and second banks of parallel gates to regulate resistance between a power source and a voltage rail, and as first and second switched-capacitor voltage regulators; and a controller configured to, operate the first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits as the respective first and second switched-capacitor voltage regulators when a reference voltage is within a first voltage range, operate the first bank of voltage regulator circuits as the first bank of parallel gates, including to determine a number of the gates to close, and operate the second bank of voltage regulator circuits as the second switched-capacitor voltage regulator, during a transition period that begins when the reference voltage transitions from the first voltage range to a second voltage range that is higher the first voltage range, and operate the first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits as the respective first and second banks of parallel gates after the transition period. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A system, comprising, an integrated circuit die that includes a first on-die multi-mode voltage regulator to regulate a first voltage rail of the integrated circuit die based on a first reference voltage, wherein the first multi-mode voltage regulator includes:
-
first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits, wherein the first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits are operable as respective first and second banks of parallel gates to regulate resistance between the first voltage rail and a power source of the integrated circuit die, and as respective first and second switched-capacitor voltage regulators; and a first controller configured to, operate the first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits as the respective first and second switched-capacitor voltage regulators when the first reference voltage is within a first voltage range; operate the first bank of voltage regulator circuits as the first bank of parallel gates, including to determine a number of the gates to close, and operate the second bank of voltage regulator circuits as the second switched-capacitor voltage regulator, during a transition period that begins when the reference voltage transitions from the first voltage range to a second voltage range that is higher than the first voltage range, and operate the first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits as the respective first and second banks of parallel gates at an end of the transition period. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a computer program that includes instructions to cause a controller to:
-
operate first and second banks of voltage regulator circuits as respective first and second switched-capacitor voltage regulators when a reference voltage is within a first voltage range; operate the first bank of voltage regulator circuits as a first bank of parallel gates, including to determine a number of the gates to close, to regulate resistance between a power source and a the voltage rail, and operate the second bank of voltage regulator circuits as the second switched-capacitor voltage regulator, when the reference voltage is within a second voltage range that is higher than the first voltage range, and operate the first bank of voltage regulator circuits as the first bank of parallel gates and operate the second bank of voltage regulator circuits as a second bank of parallel gates, after the transition period switched-capacitor voltage regulator when the reference voltage is within a second voltage range that is below the first voltage range. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
-
Specification