Patent ID: 7893675

Claim:
An apparatus having an input voltage and an output voltage, the apparatus comprising: a switch that receives the input voltage and that is adapted to be coupled to a load; a modulator having a timing signal, wherein the modulator is coupled to the switch and wherein the modulator actuates the switch at a first frequency; and a compensator that is coupled to the modulator, wherein the compensator includes: an amplifier that amplifies the difference between at least a portion of the output voltage with a predetermined reference voltage and that outputs an amplified voltage; an overcurrent circuit that receives the amplified voltage and outputs an overcurrent signal to the modulator, wherein overcurrent circuit includes: a voltage-to-current converter; a first FET that is gated by the voltage-to-current converter; a second FET coupled in series with the first FET, wherein the second FET is gated by an actuation signal from the modulator; and a comparator that receives the voltage from a node between the first and second FETs; and a sampler interposed between the amplifier and the overcurrent circuit and coupled to the modulator, wherein the sampler samples the amplified voltage prior to each actuation of the switch based on the timing signal, and wherein the sampler outputs the compared voltage that was sampled to the overcurrent circuit through the duration of each actuation of the switch.