Charge pump regulator with load current control
AssigneeLinfinity Microelectronics
InventorGeorge C. Henry
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multiple output regulating charge pump includes a load current regulator to balance currents in multiple branches of at least one load, such as light emitting diodes in a parallel configuration. The load current regulator includes current mirror circuits to provide substantially identical currents to the respective light emitting diodes, thereby producing uniform light from each of the light emitting diodes. The multiple output charge pump includes a charge storage component that is alternately charged during a charge cycle and discharged during a discharge cycle. The charge pump provides current to a second load during the charge cycle and to a first load during a discharge cycle.
Claims17
A multiple output regulating charge pump that receives a supply voltage and that provides at least a first output and a second output, wherein the first output has a first voltage and the second output has a second voltage, and wherein a current provided to a first load connected to the first output is actively current regulated.
A regulating charge pump that receives a supply voltage and that provides currents to at least a first load and a second load, the charge pump comprising:
- a charge storage component;
- a variable current source;
- a reference voltage;
- a feedback voltage;
- an error amplifier that compares the reference voltage with the feedback voltage and that provides control signals to the variable current source;
- a plurality of switches that selectively interconnect the supply, the charge storage component, the variable current source, the error amplifier, the first load and the second load;
- a switch timing control circuit that controls the switches such that the variable current source supplies charging current to the charge storage component and the second load;
- and
- a load current regulator coupled in series with the first load, wherein currents within parallel branches of the first load are actively balanced by current mirror circuits.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.