Multi-output multi-phase boost converter with dynamically assignable phases

A power delivery system comprising:

• an inductive power converter comprising:
• a shared connection to a shared voltage from a battery;
• multiple inductive phases, each of the multiple inductive phases configured to generate a respective voltage from the shared voltage;
• multiple regulated voltage connections;
• and
• one or more switches configured and arranged to selectively assign at least one of the multiple inductive phases to a regulated voltage connection selected from the multiple regulated voltage connections;
• and
• a control circuit communicatively coupled to the one or more switches and configured to:
• generate one or more control signals to the inductive converter to cause the one or more switches to selectively assign the at least one of the multiple inductive phases to the regulated voltage connection selected from the multiple regulated voltage connections;
• and
• apply one or more assignment rules to prioritize downstream components electrically coupled to the multiple regulated voltage connections and maximize an efficiency of the inductive power converter, wherein the one or more assignment rules include a first assignment rule that provides that a number of the multiple inductive phases assigned to a downstream component is determined by a maximum converter efficiency achievable by the inductive power converter while meeting power requirements of the downstream component.

A method comprising, in a power delivery system having an inductive power converter including a shared connection to a shared voltage from a battery, multiple inductive phases wherein each of the multiple inductive phases are configured to generate a respective voltage from the shared voltage, and multiple regulated voltage connections:

• via one or more switches, selectively assigning at least one of the multiple inductive phases to a regulated voltage connection selected from the multiple regulated voltage connections;
• generating one or more control signals to the inductive converter to cause the one or more switches to selectively assign the at least one of the multiple inductive phases to the regulated voltage connection selected from the multiple regulated voltage connections;
• and
• applying one or more assignment rules to prioritize downstream components electrically coupled to the multiple regulated voltage connections and maximize an efficiency of the inductive power converter, wherein the one or more assignment rules include an assignment rule that provides that if two or more downstream components are simultaneously active with different voltage requirements and the total requested power of the downstream components is higher than the battery is capable of providing, a first downstream component is deemed to be of lower priority than a second downstream component and assignment of one or more of the multiple inductive phases is prioritized to the second downstream component.

A method comprising, in a power delivery system having an inductive power converter including a shared connection to a shared voltage from a battery, multiple inductive phases wherein each of the multiple inductive phases are configured to generate a respective voltage from the shared voltage, and multiple regulated voltage connections:

• via one or more switches, selectively assigning at least one of the multiple inductive phases to a regulated voltage connection selected from the multiple regulated voltage connections;
• generating one or more control signals to the inductive converter to cause the one or more switches to selectively assign the at least one of the multiple inductive phases to the regulated voltage connection selected from the multiple regulated voltage connections;
• and
• applying one or more assignment rules to prioritize downstream components electrically coupled to the multiple regulated voltage connections and maximize an efficiency of the inductive power converter, wherein the one or more assignment rules include a first assignment rule that provides that a number of the multiple inductive phases assigned to a downstream component are determined by a maximum converter efficiency achievable by the inductive power converter while meeting power requirements of the downstream component.