Patent ID: 8729816

Claim:
A charge pump controller comprising: a plurality of external terminals; a first external terminal of the plurality of external terminals configured to supply a current to a load; a second external terminal of the plurality of external terminals configured to receive a sense signal that is representative of a value of the current to the load; no more than three switches internal to the charge pump controller wherein the no more than three switches are configured to alternately couple an external capacitor to a voltage source to charge the external capacitor and to couple the external capacitor to supply the current to the load; a third external terminal of the plurality of external terminals configured for receiving a voltage from the voltage source; a fourth external terminal of the plurality of external terminals configured for coupling to a first plate the external capacitor; a first switch of the no more than three switches coupled between the third external terminal and the first external terminal; a second switch of the no more than three switches coupled between the third external terminal and the fourth external terminal; and a control circuit configured to regulate a value of the current to substantially a first value.