Power management unit for use in portable applications
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorChun-Ying Chen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A voltage regulator includes a first stage capable of receiving a reference voltage and capable of having a first current flowing through the first stage. A second stage is capable of having a second current flowing through the second stage. A third stage is capable of outputting an output voltage and capable of having a third current flowing through the second stage. The first, second and third currents are proportional to each other throughout a range of operation of the voltage regulator between substantially zero output current and maximum output current. The first stage drives the second stage as a low input impedance load.
Claims27
A voltage regulator circuit, comprising:
- a high voltage linear regulator configured to provide an intermediate voltage based upon an input voltage;
- and
- a plurality of parallel low voltage regulators coupled to the high voltage linear regulator, each of the plurality of parallel low voltage regulators being configured to provide a corresponding regulated output voltage based upon the intermediate voltage, wherein at least one of the plurality of parallel low voltage regulators comprises:
- a plurality of stages, each of the stages being configured to include a corresponding current that flows through its respective stage, the corresponding current for each of the stages being proportional to each other,
- wherein the at least one of the plurality of parallel low voltage regulators is configured to adjust the corresponding current for each of the stages to cause the corresponding regulated output voltage to be proportional to a reference voltage.
A voltage regulator circuit, comprising:
- a multiplexer configured to select a respective power source from a plurality of power sources, wherein the multiplexer includes a plurality of native NMOS devices, each native NMOS device being coupled to a corresponding power source from the plurality of power sources;
- a high voltage linear regulator configured to receive the power source and to provide an intermediate voltage;
- and
- a plurality of parallel low voltage regulators coupled to the high voltage linear regulator configured to provide a regulated output voltage based upon the intermediate voltage.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.