Patent ID: 8319548

Claim:
A voltage regulator, comprising: a node; circuitry coupled to the node for providing a current to the node; a regulating transistor coupled between the node and a first power supply voltage terminal; a disabling transistor coupled in parallel with the regulating transistor for selectively disabling the regulating transistor by directly connecting the first power supply voltage terminal to the node; an inverting stage coupled between the first power supply voltage terminal and a second power supply voltage terminal, the inverting stage having an output connected to a control terminal of the regulating transistor, the inverting stage having an input; a load transistor having a first current electrode coupled to the second power supply voltage terminal, and a control electrode and second current electrode connected together and coupled to the input of the inverting stage; a sensing transistor having a first current electrode coupled to the second current electrode of the load transistor, a control electrode connected directly to the node and a second current electrode coupled to the first power supply voltage terminal; an additional sensing transistor having a first current electrode coupled to the first current electrode of the sensing transistor, a control electrode connected to the node, and a second current electrode; and a mode select transistor having a first current electrode coupled to the second current electrode of the additional sensing transistor, a control electrode for receiving a mode control signal which selects one of a plurality of voltage amounts for voltage at the node to change when the disabling transistor is not disabling the regulating transistor, and a second current electrode coupled to the first power supply voltage terminal.