Patent ID: 8671295

Claim:
A circuit comprising: current monitoring inputs for receiving from a plurality of power supplies signals representing a current level being provided by each of the plurality of power supplies; impairment inputs for receiving from the plurality of power supplies signals indicating whether one or more power supplies of the plurality of power supplies is impaired; a throttle output for sending to a computer system a signal directing the computer system to reduce power consumption; logic circuits coupled to the current monitoring and impairment inputs and the throttle output, for asserting the throttle output when at least one of the impairment inputs indicates impairment of one or more power supplies of the plurality of power supplies and when at least one of the current monitoring inputs indicates that a current level provided by a power supply of the plurality of power supplies is above a threshold level; a DC combination circuit, for combining DC power outputs from each power supply to form a combined power output; and a comparison circuit for determining whether the combined power output has dropped below a reference voltage, wherein the logic circuits further include logic circuits for asserting the throttle output when at least one of the impairment inputs indicates impairment of one or more power supplies of the plurality of power supplies or the combined power output has dropped below the reference voltage, and when at least one of the current monitoring inputs indicates that a current level provided by a power supply of the plurality of power supplies is above a threshold level.