Patent ID: 9385605
Filing Date: 2016-07-05
CPC Classification: G05F,H02M,H03F

Claim Text:
1. A switching stage comprising: a first switching path having at least one switching element for selectively connecting an input of the switching stage to an output of the switching stage; and a second switching path having at least one switching element for selectively connecting the input of the switching stage to the output of the switching stage, wherein the first and second switching paths are controlled such that a signal is selectively routed from the input of the switching stage to the output of the switching stage via the first and second switching paths in dependence on the current of the signal to be routed, wherein the at least one switching element of the second switching path is selectively connected to route the signal from the input to the output such that with the at least one switching element of the second switching path in a first state, the current in the second path rises until a first current threshold level is reached, responsive to which condition the at least one switching element of the second switching path is switched to a second state, and wherein in the second state the current in the second path falls until a second current threshold level is reached, responsive to which condition the at least one switching element of the second switching path is switched to the first state, wherein there is provided a further switching element in the second switching path arranged to selectively connect a first terminal of a first inductor to a higher voltage level, wherein the connection to the higher voltage level is enabled responsive to the current in the second switching path falling to the second threshold level when the at least one switching element of the second switching path is in the first state.