Headroom control in regulator systems
AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated
InventorsMengmeng DU, Hua GUAN, Ngai Yeung HO, Chi Fan YUNG
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A voltage regulator control implementation dynamically detects and sets specified headroom for a low dropout (LDO) regulator at different loads to enable the LDO regulator to maintain high performance in conjunction with improved power efficiency. In one instance, an upstream voltage regulator may adaptively adjust an output voltage supplied to an input supply rail of a downstream LDO regulator based on an indication from the LDO regulator. The adaptively adjusted input voltage enables the downstream LDO regulator to achieve high performance and improved power efficiency across the entire range of load conditions.
Claims20
A method for headroom control in a voltage regulator, comprising:
- computing a minimum headroom of the voltage regulator based at least in part on a dynamic load current and current operation conditions of the voltage regulator;
- determining an offset value based at least in part on a difference between the minimum headroom and a current headroom of the voltage regulator according to a difference between an input voltage (VIN) and an output voltage (VOUT) of the voltage regulator;
- and
- adjusting a load power to be provided to a client device coupled to the voltage regulator based at least in part on the offset value.
A power management integrated circuit, comprising:
- a downstream voltage regulator including a power transistor to supply a load power including an output voltage supply rail according to an input supply rail from an upstream voltage regulator;
- a tracking circuit to dynamically detect a target operating condition for the power transistor and a target headroom of the downstream voltage regulator corresponding to the target operating condition of the power transistor, the dynamic detection based at least in part on a dynamic load current and current operation conditions of the downstream voltage regulator;
- feedback circuitry to generate an offset value based at least in part on a difference between the target headroom and a current headroom of the downstream voltage regulator;
- and
- load power adjustment circuitry to adjust the load power to a client device coupled to the downstream voltage regulator based at least in part on the offset value.
A power management integrated circuit (PMIC), comprising:
- means for supplying a load power including an output voltage supply rail according to an input supply rail from an upstream voltage regulator;
- means for dynamically detecting a target operating condition for the load power supplying means and a target headroom of the load power supplying means corresponding to the target operating condition of the load power supplying means, the dynamic detection based at least in part on a dynamic load current and current operation conditions of the load power supplying means;
- feedback circuitry configured to generate an offset value based at least in part on a difference between the target headroom and a current headroom of the load power supplying means;
- and
- means for adjusting the load power to a client device based at least in part on the offset value, the load power adjusting means coupled to the load power supplying means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.