Patent ID: 11940864
Assignee: SEMICONDUCTOR COMPONENTS INDUSTRIES, LLC
Field: Electrical machinery, apparatus, energy (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  H  Y | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A phase of a core supply, comprising:
a zero-current detector (ZCD) circuit configured to, during a pulse width modulation (PWM) cycle of a PWM signal received at the phase:
receive a sensed signal corresponding to an output current,
compare the sensed signal to a ZCD threshold, and
output a ZCD signal based on the comparison, the ZCD signal indicating a presence or absence of a ZCD point in the output current during the PWM cycle;

a PWM level detector circuit configured to determine a level of the PWM signal during the PWM cycle; and
a logic circuit including a state machine configured to determine a load condition during the PWM cycle based on the level of the PWM signal and the ZCD signal, wherein the phase of the core supply is configured to operate in an ON mode, a low-power mode, or an idle mode according to the load condition, and wherein in the idle mode, the PWM level detector circuit is functional, the ZCD circuit is non-functional, and the logic circuit is non-functional.