Patent ID: 8245069

Claim:
A method for supplying power in a computing system, comprising: monitoring power consumption of the computing system; supplying power to the computing system using only a first power supply over a first range of power consumption; and supplying power to the computing system using a combination of the first power supply and a second power supply over a second range of power consumption; wherein the first range is lower than the second range, wherein the first power supply provides greater efficiency than the combination of the first and second power supplies over the first range of power consumption, and wherein the combination of the first and second power supplies provides greater efficiency than the first power supply over the second range of power consumption; and switching from the first power supply to the combination of the first and second power supplies in response to the power consumption increasing to a first power consumption setpoint; and switching from the combination of the first and second power supplies to the first power supply in response to the power consumption decreasing to a second power consumption setpoint, wherein the first power consumption setpoint is greater than the second power consumption setpoint.