Apple Inc.

Ofir Gilad

Shawn Searles

Inder M Sodhi

Olivier Girard

Enrico Zanetti

Michele De Fazio

Andrea Lazzeri

Andrea Barsanti

Lothar Münch

Preethi Damodaran

Sanjay Pant

Alberto Alessandro Angelo Puggelli

Hubert Attah

Floyd L Dankert

Georg Diebel

A power management subsystem included in a computer system may include a host device and a power circuit group. The power circuit group includes multiple power circuits arranged in a tree-like structure. The resources of the multiple power circuits are mapped to corresponding addresses within a common address space. The host device sends, via a first communication bus, commands to a branch power circuit of the multiple power circuits, which, in turn, relays the commands, using a second communication bus, to corresponding ones of the other power circuits based on respective power resources specified in the commands received from the host device.

Power management unit

A power converter circuit that includes a switch node coupled to a regulated power supply node via an inductor is configured to regulate a voltage level of a power supply node using a particular one of multiple available operating modes. In response to receiving a command to reduce the voltage level of the power supply node, the power converter circuit begins to reduce the voltage level of the power supply node, while autonomously selecting different ones of available operating modes. The power converter circuit may compare to the voltage level of the power supply node to boundary levels and select a different operating mode when the voltage level of the power supply node exceeds one of the boundaries. By switching operating modes during the negative slew of the voltage level of the power supply node, the power converter may maintain a target efficiency during the reduction in voltage.

Negative slew rate control for power converters

Growing community of inventors

Berlin, Germany

Ofir Gilad