Patent ID: 8791674

Claim:
A DC voltage regulating circuit configured to receive an unregulated DC input voltage, and to provide an output voltage to a load, the output voltage being a regulated DC voltage, and the voltage regulating circuit comprising: a primary pass element of variable impedance; a voltage dropping heat dissipating impedance element in series with the primary pass element, wherein a primary node is disposed between the primary pass element and the voltage dropping heat dissipating impedance element; a secondary pass element of variable impedance, wherein the secondary pass element is in parallel with the voltage dropping heat dissipating impedance element; a primary control circuit configured to control the variable impedance of the primary pass element responsive to one of the output voltage or the voltage on the primary node; and a secondary control circuit configured to control the variable impedance of the secondary pass element responsive to the other one of the output voltage or the voltage on the primary node; wherein the primary pass element, the secondary pass element, the primary control circuit, and the secondary control circuit are included on one or more dies; and wherein the voltage dropping heat dissipating impedance element is external to the one or more dies.