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:
May. 25, 2010
Filed:
Feb. 24, 2006
Kenneth W. Fernald, Austin, TX (US);
Kenneth W. Fernald, Austin, TX (US);
Zilker Labs, Inc., Austin, TX (US);
Abstract
Rather than operating in asynchronous mode during turn-on ramps, a switching power regulator system may be configured to synthesize a digital waveform, which may protect against a pre-bias condition and maintain the desired ramp-up time and rate. The desired turn-on ramp may be generated digitally by counter logic, beginning with an initial value and incrementing at a programmed rate until a digital value equivalent to the desired output voltage is reached. When a pre-bias condition is not present, the output of the digital ramp generator may control a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), which may be configured to generate the reference voltage for the power regulator. To correct for a pre-bias condition, the pre-bias output of the power regulator may be measured prior to turn-on, using an analog-to-digital converter. The digital pre-bias value may be used to control the DAC until the value of the digital waveform generated by the ramp generator reaches the pre-bias value.