Patent ID: 9735679
Date: 2017-08-15
CPC Classifications: G05F,H02M,H03K

Claim:
1. A voltage regulator, comprising: a series delay chain including a plurality of delay elements providing a plurality of delayed logic signals as a thermometer code, the delay chain receiving an output voltage of the voltage regulator as its supply voltage; a first timing control clock coupled to the input of the series delay chain; a plurality of latches coupled to the corresponding plurality of delay elements for latching the thermometer code; a second timing control clock coupled to the plurality of latches to determine the latching time of the thermometer code; a thermometer to binary encoder coupled to the plurality of latches to provide a first binary number that is indicative of an estimated delay of the series delay chain; a signal processing circuit for providing a digital control signal indicative of a difference between the first binary number and a second binary number that represents a target delay; and a voltage control circuit coupled to the signal processing circuit for adjusting the output voltage based on the digital control signal from the processing circuit, such that the estimated delay of the delay chain matches the target delay, wherein the second binary number that represents the target delay is determined based on a timing difference between the first timing control clock and the second timing control clock.