Abstract: A switched mode power can use a digital controller to control the switching of the at least one switch of the switched mode power supply. The current through the power inductor can be estimated using a self-tuning digital current estimator.

Abstract: Limit-cycle oscillation (LCO) generation by altering a digital transfer function of a feedback loop element provides a controllable method and apparatus for generating LCOs within a switch-mode power supply (SMPS). Measurements of the LCO characteristics can then be used to determine characteristics of the SMPS and/or determine proper compensation schemes. At least a zero error code of the feedback loop element is removed, causing the control value to oscillate between at least two values. Additional codes may be progressively removed until an LCO is detected, in order to ensure LCO generation with minimum disruption of SMPS operation. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that converts an output voltage or current to a control value may be used to generate an LCO by removing one or more output codes to alter its transfer function. Alternatively, a quantization step of the pulse-width modulator or other modulator may be increased to temporarily cause LCOs.

Abstract: A method for improving heavy-to-light load transient response in low-power switch-mode power supplies is described. It uses a negative voltage input power rail and a digital controller with an extended duty ratio control value to provide faster discharging current slew rate in the switched mode power supplies (SMPS) inductor.

Abstract: A multichannel digital pulse width modulator/digital pulse frequency modulator uses a single ring oscillator that is shared by multiple channels. The ring oscillator has taps that can be used for least significant bit (LSB) precision of the generated PWM signal. The ring oscillator also produces a ring clock that is used to synchronize logic in the channels. Since the logic in the channels are synchronized by the ring clock, the channels can each independently produce different frequency PWM (or PFM) signals and still share the same ring oscillator.

Abstract: Described is looking up network information (e.g., port data) on demand upon receiving a (e.g., DHCP) request packet containing a MAC address. The MAC address may be looked up in a cache to find the port data. If not cached or cached but outdated, the lookup continues via a querying process that finds the relevant switch containing the port data; the cache is updated based on the querying process result. Successful querying results in a valid cache entry, while unsuccessful querying results in an invalid entry. For port data associated with the MAC address found via the cache or via querying, the port data is used to respond to the request packet, e.g., to assign an IP address to a network device corresponding to that MAC address. For a MAC address determined to be invalid via the cache or via querying, the request is rejected.

Abstract: One embodiment of the present invention is a digitally controlled DC-DC converter comprising of a power stage including at least one switch and an output capacitor. A digital controller can control the switching of the at least one switch. The digital controller can include logic to produce an indication related to a zero resulting from the equivalent series resistance (ESR) of the output capacitor and to update the control of the switching of the switch in the power stage based on the estimate.

Abstract: A switch-mode power supply (SMPS) with auto-tuning using limit-cycle oscillation response evaluation provides optimized performance with reduced capacitance and inductance requirements for a given design. During operation of the SMPS, parameters of the converter are extracted, and the feedback and/or feed-forward compensation is adjusted to either hold the loop bandwidth of the converter near the critical bandwidth of the output capacitors, or maintain output voltage transients within a specified limit. The compensator response is either periodically updated, or is updated in response to an event, such as detection of a transient voltage spike having a characteristic that exceeds one or more predetermined thresholds.

Abstract: A switched mode power can use a digital controller to control the switching of the at least one switch of the switched mode power supply. The current through the power inductor can be estimated using a self-tuning digital current estimator.

Abstract: A limit-cycle oscillation (LCO) based switch-mode power supply (SMPS) response evaluation provides an effective mechanism for determining the characteristic response of an SMPS during normal operation of the SMPS. LCOs are induced in the SMPS loop by introducing a non-linearity in the loop, for example, decreasing the resolution of a pulse-width modulator that controls the SMPS switching circuit. The frequency and amplitude of the LCOs are determined and used to evaluate the characteristic response of the SMPS. In order to produce symmetric LCOs, which are more easily modeled, a zero-offset calibration circuit adjusts values provided to the pulse-width modulator, so that each value introduced during calibration is at the midpoint of a resolution cell. The frequency can be measured by counting between zero-crossings of the LCOs and the amplitude measured by capturing the LCO values immediately prior to each zero-crossing of a first difference of the LCO samples.

Abstract: Described is looking up network information (e.g., port data) on demand upon receiving a (e.g., DHCP) request packet containing a MAC address. The MAC address may be looked up in a cache to find the port data. If not cached or cached but outdated, the lookup continues via a querying process that finds the relevant switch containing the port data; the cache is updated based on the querying process result. Successful querying results in a valid cache entry, while unsuccessful querying results in an invalid entry. For port data associated with the MAC address found via the cache or via querying, the port data is used to respond to the request packet, e.g., to assign an IP address to a network device corresponding to that MAC address. For a MAC address determined to be invalid via the cache or via querying, the request is rejected.

Abstract: The present invention is a voltage mode digital controller for low-power high-frequency dc-dc converters that has recovery time approaching physical limitations of a given power stage. It consists of a digital controller with load transient response approaching physical limitations of a given power stage that is suitable for low-power SMPS. In one aspect the invention is a method of utilizing a continuous-time digital signal processor (CT-DSP) for regulation of the operation of switch-mode power supplies. A CT-DSP can be used to instantaneously detect changes of voltage or current during transition periods and immediately perform control action that results in the fastest possible response. The invention may include current program mode controllers for SMPS where the input current is sensed as well as power factor correction rectifiers (PFC), where often input voltage, input current and output voltage are sensed.