Patent ID: 7467309

Claim:
A point-of-load (POL) regulator, the POL regulator comprising: a bus interface for interfacing to a serial bus; first circuitry for generating an output voltage; a plurality of control input pins, wherein at least one of the plurality of control input pins is configurable to couple to a static voltage value to configure at least one operating characteristic of the POL regulator; and a logic circuit coupled to the bus interface, the first circuitry, and the plurality of control input pins; wherein the logic circuit is operable to monitor first status information transmitted by another POL regulator on the serial bus, wherein the first status information indicates a status of the other POL regulator; and wherein the logic circuit is operable to control the first circuitry based on the first status information and the at least one operating characteristic; wherein the logic circuit is operable to transmit second status information onto the serial bus via the bus interface, wherein the second status information indicates a status of the POL regulator.