Patent Document ID: 20120262141
Application ID: 13526791
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A method for managing current sharing between a plurality of POL regulators coupled to a communication bus, the method comprising: selecting one of the plurality of POL regulators to operate as a master POL regulator; selecting remaining ones of the plurality of POL regulators to operate as slave POL regulators; the master POL regulator and the slave POL regulators each providing a respective regulated output voltage to a common load to provide a respective portion of a total current conducted by the common load; the master POL regulator transmitting in a packet, over the communication bus, a first digital value representative of a present value of the respective portion of the total current provided by the master POL regulator; each slave POL regulator receiving the first digital value over the bus; and the plurality of POL regulators balancing a current loading of each POL regulator of the plurality of POL regulators, comprising each slave POL regulator adjusting a duty cycle of a respective control signal of a high-side field effect transistor (FET) of an output stage of the slave POL regulator to effectively increase or decrease the respective regulated output voltage of the slave POL regulator, according to a difference between the received first digital value and a digital value representative of the respective portion of the total current provided by the slave POL regulator.