Patent ID: 7566993

Claim:
An optimized battery usage circuit for a comprehensive system-on-a-chip, wherein the optimized battery usage circuit comprises: a first DC-to-DC converter operable to convert a battery voltage into a supply voltage when an alternate power source is not coupled to the comprehensive system-on-a-chip; a second DC-to-DC converter operable to convert an alternate power source voltage into the supply voltage when the alternate power source is coupled to the comprehensive system-on-a-chip; an alternate power source sense circuit operably coupled to determine whether the alternate power source is coupled to the comprehensive system-on-a-chip and to provide an alternate power source signal when the alternate power source is coupled to the comprehensive system-on-a-chip, wherein, when the alternate power source signal indicates a presence of the alternate power source, a control loop of the first DC-to-DC converter is disabled and a control loop of the second DC-to-DC converter is enabled and, when the alternate power source signal indicates that the alternate power source is not present, the control loop of the first DC-to-DC converter is enabled and the control loop of the second DC-to-DC converter is disabled; and a multiple stage voltage divider operably coupled to provide an active regulation voltage and a disabled regulation voltage from the supply voltage, wherein the active regulation voltage is provided to the control loop of the second DC-to-DC converter when the alternate power source is present and the disabled regulation voltage is provided to the control loop of the second DC-to-DC converter when the alternate power source is not present.