Abstract: A charge pump based voltage regulator with smart power regulation employs an architecture that requires that the charge pump current be a linear combination of the load current and a clamp current with a possible offset current. The smart power regulation is based on automatic load activity (or load current) detection using the clamp current. The clamp current and the filtered charge pump current are compared with one another; and the charge pump current is then adjusted accordingly by stepping the frequency of the clock driving the charge pump, optimizing the power consumption of the entire voltage regulator with varying load activity. The negative voltage regulation is independent of the integrated circuit positive supply voltage. In one embodiment, a derivative of the desired output voltage is compared with a reference voltage to generate a clamp current control signal. In another embodiment, the reference voltage is solely positive.