Patent ID: 7268526

Claim:
A switched mode power converter that is arranged to provide an output signal to a load circuit, the switched mode power converter comprising: an inductor; a switching circuit that is coupled to the inductor and arranged to periodically energize the inductor in response to a control signal, wherein the switching circuit is operated in: a closed circuit position during a first operating phase of the converter, and an open circuit position during a second operating phase of the converter; a sense circuit that is arranged to provide a sense signal at a sense terminal, wherein a reference signal is coupled to the sense terminal via a resistor such that the sense terminal is a summing junction that generates the sense signal as a difference between a sensed current in the inductor and the reference signal only during a selected operating phase of the converter, wherein the reference signal is different from a signal ground associated with the switched mode power converter, wherein the selected operating phase corresponds to one of the first and second operating phases of the converter, and wherein a non-selected operating phase of the converter corresponds to the other of the first and second operating phases of the converter, wherein the sense circuit is arranged such that the sense signal is variable over more than two values, wherein the sense signal at the sense terminal corresponds to the reference signal during the non-selected operating phase; a feedback circuit that is arranged to provide a feedback signal at a feedback terminal in response to an output signal of the converter, wherein the feedback circuit is arranged such that the feedback signal is variable over more than two values; a comparator circuit that includes a first input that is the feedback terminal, a second input that is the sense terminal, and an output that is arranged to assert a start signal when the feedback signal and the sense signal are approximately equal during the selected operating phase of the converter; and a one-shot circuit that is arranged to initiate the control signal when the start signal is asserted such that the control signal has a variable pulse-width during the non-selected operating phase of the converter, wherein the inductor, the switching circuit, the sense circuit, the feedback circuit, the comparator circuit, and the one shot circuit are arranged such that error amplifier and associated compensation circuits are unnecessary in the switched mode power converter.