Patent ID: 8441244

Claim:
A voltage converter circuit, comprising: a control circuit; and a switching DC-DC converter, the switching DC-DC converter adapted to receive an input voltage and an input current and configured responsive to a switching control signal from the control circuit to generate an output voltage and an output current from the input voltage and input current, the control circuit configured to detect the value of the output current and further configured in a normal operational mode when the output current is greater than a threshold value to apply the switching control signal to the switching DC-DC converter to control the value of the generated output voltage, and configured in a pulse-skipping mode when the output current is less than or equal to the threshold value to terminate application of the switching control signal to the DC-DC converter as a function of the duration between a first time when the output current is detected as reaching the threshold value and a second time defined by an end of at least a second period of the switching control signal.