Patent ID: 8233299

Claim:
A drive control circuit for generating switching drive signals for a single phase of a multiphase voltage regulator, comprising: an interface for connecting the drive control circuit to a single bus, said interface including at least a clock interface for connecting to a clock line of the single bus and a phase number detect interface for connecting to a phase number detect line of the single bus; driver circuitry for generating the switching drive signals for the voltage regulator responsive to a clock signal; clock circuitry for generating the clock signal responsive to a monitored external clock signal provided on the clock interface; and a phase number detector for determining a number of active phases in the multiphase voltage regulator in real time responsive to an indicator received over the single bus on the phase number detect interface monitored by the phase number detector, wherein the phase number detector adjusts a phase timing of a phase associated with the drive control circuit responsive to the determined number of active phases.