Patent ID: 9423809
Filing Date: 2016-08-23
CPC Classification: G05F

Claim Text:
1. A low dropout (LDO) regulator operative to regulate an output signal, said LDO regulator comprising an output stage adapted to be connected to an output capacitor having a capacitance value; a capacitance measuring circuit operative to determine the capacitance value of the output capacitor and to indicate the capacitance value falls within one of at least two non-zero capacitance value ranges, comprising a first circuit operative to measure a charging time of the output capacitor, and a second circuit operative to compare said charging time with predefined time windows to determine the range of capacitance values into which the output capacitor falls; an input stage adapted to receive a reference signal and a feedback signal depending on the output signal, and to output an intermediate signal based on said feedback signal and on said reference signal; a gain stage having a configurable gain value and operative to generate one of at least two gain values based on the indicated range of capacitance value; wherein the output signal is regulated based on the gain value of the gain stage and on the intermediate signal; a first circuit operative to measure a charging time of the output capacitor; and a second circuit operative to compare said charging time with predefined time windows to determine the range of capacitance values into which the output capacitor falls.