Patent ID: 7839130

Claim:
A switching regulator, comprising: a first switch configured to switch in accordance with a first control signal; an inductor configured to store charge from an input voltage by switching the first switch; a second switch configured to discharge a charge stored in the inductor in accordance with a second control signal; a control circuit configured to control a switching operation by switching the first switch and switching the second switch complementally to the first switch to obtain a constant output voltage; a reverse current protection circuit configured to shut off a current through the second switch to prevent a reverse current from an output terminal toward the second switch; and a soft-start circuit configured to cause the control circuit to perform a soft-start operation in which the output voltage is being increased gradually with a predetermined increment during a time period from a start-up to a predetermined elapsed time, wherein the soft-start circuit causes the reverse current protection circuit to stop a shutoff operation of the current through the second switch when a generation or an indication of the reverse current is detected during the soft-start operation instructed by the control circuit.