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. 25, 2006
Filed:
Dec. 29, 2004
Kee Chee Tiew, Richardson, TX (US);
Thomas A. Schmidt, Murphy, TX (US);
Brett E. Smith, McKinney, TX (US);
John C. Vogt, Denton, TX (US);
Abidur Rahman, Allen, TX (US);
Kee Chee Tiew, Richardson, TX (US);
Thomas A. Schmidt, Murphy, TX (US);
Brett E. Smith, McKinney, TX (US);
John C. Vogt, Denton, TX (US);
Abidur Rahman, Allen, TX (US);
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Abstract
A switching regulator having a current limit with adaptive cycle skipping. A buck type switching regulator circuit is provided, including an energy storage component, such as an inductor or capacitor, and a switch for controllably providing an input current to the energy storage component. A control unit controls the on time and the off time of the switch by providing cyclically recurring control pulses to the switch that cause the switch to be on during the pulses and off otherwise. A current monitor circuit monitors a current corresponding to the input current applied to the energy storage component during the periodic control pulses. An overcurrent signal generator generates an overcurrent signal pulse upon detection of the monitored current at a level above a predetermined level corresponding to an overcurrent condition. A state machine responds to the overcurrent signal pulse and suppresses a number of the cyclically recurring control pulses, thereby controlling the period between the recurring control pulses that are not suppressed, in accordance with a predetermined algorithm that increases the number each time an overcurrent signal pulse is detected in successive periods.