Patent ID: 7793005

Claim:
A method for performing distributed power management, the method comprising: programming each POL regulator of a plurality of POL regulators belonging to a first address group by coupling at least a subset of a plurality of pins of each POL regulator to predefined voltage levels, each POL regulator thereby having a respective pinstrapping configuration and operating in a prescribed manner defined at least in part by the respective pinstrapping configuration, wherein the pinstrapping configuration of each POL regulator defines: an address assigned to the POL regulator, and stored in an address register comprised in the POL regulator, wherein the assigned address uniquely identifies the POL regulator, and wherein a first portion of the first address identifies the first address group; and a mask assigned to the POL regulator, and stored in a mask register comprised in the POL regulator, wherein the mask is configured to mask out all but the first portion of the first address in the address register, leaving the first portion of the first address unmasked to identify the POL regulator as a member of the first address group; coupling the plurality of POL regulators to a bus; at least a first one of the plurality of POL regulators becoming a bus master according to its pinstrapping configuration, and initiating a first bus operation over the bus by transmitting its assigned address onto the bus; and each POL regulator monitoring the bus and responding to the first bus operation according to its pinstrapping configuration, comprising at least a second one of the plurality of POL regulators identifying the first portion of the assigned address of the first one of the plurality of POL regulators, and performing at least one function according to its pinstrapping configuration in response to said identifying the first portion of the assigned address of the first one of the plurality of POL regulators.