Patent ID: 7907002
Filing Date: 2011-03-15
Classification: G01R,G05F

Abstract:
1. A voltage regulation circuit, comprising: a voltage comparator having a first input coupled to receive a first voltage from an output pin of a circuit, a second input coupled to receive a reference voltage, and an output line configured to signal polarity of an error signal; a clocked state machine including a memory, the state machine configured to receive the error signal and to generate a voltage adjustment signal of corresponding polarity in response thereto; a voltage regulator configured to produce an incremental voltage step of either positive or negative polarity, a height of the step depending upon the polarity of a previous step, the polarity of the voltage step changing in response to a change in the polarity of the error signal, the voltage regulator having an output coupled to the first input; and a detector to detect a number of steps required to cross a reference voltage, the step number indicating a voltage level of the first input, wherein the incremental voltage step is repeatedly produced per clock cycle towards the reference voltage, and wherein the state machine stores a value corresponding to the number of steps required to cross the reference voltage and changes state to change the polarity of a next step when the output of the voltage regulator crosses the reference voltage.