System and method for controlling a point-of-load regulator
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A power control system comprising:
- a plurality of point-of-load regulators providing corresponding regulated output voltages; and
a bi-directional, serial data bus connected to each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators to permit communication of control and monitoring data therebetween, each one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators being adapted to initiate a communication cycle by providing a synchronizing signal onto said serial data bus followed by a multi-bit data message that includes at least one of an address set, a command set, and a data set.
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Abstract
A system and method is provided for using a serial bus to communicate (either passively or actively) with a point-of-load (“POL”) regulator. Specifically, a power supply controller (“controller”) communicates with at least one POL regulators by writing and/or reading data (either synchronously or asynchronous) over a unidirectional or bi-directional serial bus. In one embodiment of the present invention, the controller is adapted to write initial-configuration data (e.g., output voltage set-point, current limit set-point, etc.) to at least one POL regulator via the serial bus. At least a portion of the initial-configuration data is then used by the POL regulator to produce a particular output. In another embodiment of the invention, each POL regulator includes at least one register for maintaining POL information, such as unique identification information, fault protection information, output voltage set-point data, current limit set-point data, etc. The controller is then adapted to monitor and retrieve this information (i.e., fault-monitoring data) via the serial bus while the POL regulators are operating.
95 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A power control system comprising:
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a plurality of point-of-load regulators providing corresponding regulated output voltages; and
a bi-directional, serial data bus connected to each of said plurality of point-of-load regulators to permit communication of control and monitoring data therebetween, each one of said plurality of point-of-load regulators being adapted to initiate a communication cycle by providing a synchronizing signal onto said serial data bus followed by a multi-bit data message that includes at least one of an address set, a command set, and a data set. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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- 14. A point-of-load regulator having a serial data interface adapted to communicate control and monitoring data with other like point-of-load regulators via a serial data bus, said point-of-load regulator initiating a communication cycle by providing a synchronizing signal through said serial data interface followed by a multi-bit data message that includes at least one of an address set, a command set, and a data set.
Specification