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US 10,649,479 B2Granted
Regulator and method of operating regulator
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsDonghun Heo, Tae-Hwang Kong, Yongjin Lee
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A regulator includes a first resistor and a second resistor that are connected between a ground node and an output node, an amplifier that outputs an amplification voltage by comparing a reference voltage to a feedback voltage between the first resistor and the second resistor, and amplifying a difference between the reference voltage and the feedback voltage, an analog-to-digital converter that converts the amplification voltage to a digital code, and a plurality of transistors that are connected between a power node supplied with a power supply voltage and the output node and which adjusts a current being supplied to the output node in response to the digital code.
Claims19
A regulator, comprising:
- a first resistor and a second resistor connected in series between a ground node and an output node;
- an analog amplifier configured to compare a reference voltage to a feedback voltage between the first resistor and the second resistor, to amplify a difference between the reference voltage and the feedback voltage, to output an analog amplification voltage having a magnitude which represents the difference between the reference voltage and the feedback voltage, and to output an analog inverted amplification voltage being an inverted signal of the analog amplification voltage;
- an analog-to-digital converter configured to convert the analog amplification voltage to a digital code, the digital code including at least two bits, wherein the at least two bits indicate the magnitude;
- a plurality of first transistors connected between a power node supplied with a power supply voltage and the output node and which are configured to adjust a digital current being supplied to the output node in response to the digital code;
- and
- an analog block configured to supply an analog current to the output node in response to the analog inverted amplification voltage,
- wherein the regulator is configured to output an output current to a load, wherein the output current is a sum of the digital current output by the plurality of transistors and the analog current output by the analog block.
4 more elements
A regulator, comprising:
- a first resistor and a second resistor connected between a ground node and an output node;
- an amplifier configured to compare a reference voltage to a feedback voltage between the first resistor and the second resistor, to amplify a difference between the reference voltage and the feedback voltage, to output an analog amplification voltage having a magnitude representing the difference between the reference voltage and the feedback voltage, and to output an analog inverted amplification voltage being an inverted signal of the analog amplification voltage;
- a digital block including a-an analog-to-digital converter configured to receive the analog amplification voltage and in response thereto to discretely adjust a digital current and supply the digital current to the output node depending on the analog amplification voltage;
- and
- an analog block configured to continuously adjust an analog current and supply the analog current to the output node depending on the analog inverted amplification voltage,
- wherein the regulator is configured to output an output current to a load, wherein the output current is a sum of the digital current output by the digital block and the analog current output by the analog block.
3 more elements
A method of operating a regulator, the method comprising:
- dividing an output voltage of an output node to generate a feedback voltage;
- amplifying a difference between the feedback voltage and a reference voltage to generate an analog amplification voltage having a magnitude which represents the difference between the reference voltage and the feedback voltage, and an analog inverted amplification voltage being an inverted signal of the analog amplification voltage;
- converting the analog amplification voltage to a digital codeword including at least two bits, wherein the at least two bits indicate the magnitude;
- supplying a digital current to the output node, depending on the digital codeword, to perform coarse regulation of the output voltage;
- supplying an analog current to the output node, depending on the analog inverted amplification voltage, to perform fine regulation of the output voltage;
- and
- outputting an output current from the output node to a load, wherein the output current is a sum of the digital current and the analog current.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.