The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 29, 1997
Filed:
Mar. 28, 1996
Huston W Rice, Vancouver, WA (US);
George Barbehenn, Vancouver, WA (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A switching DC-DC converter, with regulation of the output, is disclosed. Unlike prior art converters, the source of the switching signal is not a free-running oscillator, but a rectangular waveform whose frequency and duty cycle parameters are under the control of an external processor. By appropriately varying these parameters, the processor dynamically modifies the characteristics of the converter, in effect optimizing its design to deal efficiently with different operating states such as circuit startup, sudden load changes the processor 'knows' about in advance, and even design changes over the life of the converter. Once the processor sets up appropriate parameters for an existing or anticipated state, a hardware feedback loop regulates the output voltage of the converter by reducing the width and/or number of switching pulses. Thus, the processor is not part of the voltage regulation process but is free to devote attention to other parts of the system in which the converter resides.