Patent ID: 6960905

Claim:
A time-sharing current sense circuit for a multi-phase converter having a plurality of channels each including a high-side switch connected between an input voltage and a phase node, a low-side switch connected between said phase node and a system reference, and an inductor connected between said phase node and a converter output for a channel current flowing therethrough, said time-sharing current sense circuit comprising: a common transconductive amplifier for generating a sense current representative of said channel current for each of said plurality of channels; a plurality of first switches each between said common transconductive amplifier and one of said plurality of channels for switching between said channel currents to said common transconductive amplifier; a plurality of sampling-and-holding circuits each for generating a current sense signal responsive to said sense current to modulate respective one of said channel currents; and a plurality of second switches for switching said sense current to one of said plurality of sampling-and-holding circuits.