Patent ID: 7755215

Claim:
A power circuit within an information handling system, the power circuit comprising: a drive voltage selector operable to select at least one of a plurality of input voltage sources to output as a first selected drive voltage, wherein the plurality of input voltage sources comprises: a first power rail at a first voltage level; and a second power rail at a second voltage level maintained at a higher voltage level than the first voltage level; a first threshold current detection circuit operable to sense a first load current, the first threshold current detection circuit operably coupled to the drive voltage selector; a first power output stage coupled to the drive voltage selector and the first threshold current detection circuit, the first power output stage operable to: regulate the first selected drive voltage to provide a first regulated voltage at a third voltage level maintained at a different voltage level from the first and second voltage levels, the first regulated voltage being operable to drive the first load current; and couple the first load current to the first threshold current detection circuit; and wherein the first selected drive voltage is selected in response to comparing the first load current to a first threshold current setting, such that: when the first load current is lower than the first threshold current setting, the first power rail is selected; and when the first load current is higher than the first threshold current setting, the second power rail is selected.