Patent ID: 7035071

Claim:
A switching regulator having an adaptive current limit, comprising: a buck type switching regulator circuit, including an energy storage component and a switch for controllably providing an input current to the energy storage component; a control unit for controlling the on time and the off time of the switch by providing cyclically recurring control pulses to the switch that cause the switch to be on during the pulses and off otherwise; a current monitor circuit configured to monitor a current corresponding to the input current applied to the energy storage component during the periodic control pulses; an overcurrent signal generator configured to generate an overcurrent signal upon detection of the monitored current at a level above a predetermined level corresponding to an overcurrent condition; a state machine responsive to the overcurrent signal and configured to suppress a number of the cyclically recurring control pulses, and thereby control the period between the recurring control pulses that are not suppressed, in accordance with a predetermined algorithm that increases the number each time an overcurrent signal pulse is detected in successive periods.