Voltage regulator with drive override

摘要

Techniques to enable voltage regulators to adjust for coming load changes are presented herein. In some embodiments, a functional block such as a microprocessor core having an associated clock signal is powered by at least one switching-type voltage regulator. When the functional block is about to require an increased level of power, the associated clock is provided to drive the at least one regulator switches overriding their normal drive signal, which has a lower frequency. Thus, the switches are driven at a higher frequency sufficiently prior to (e.g., just ahead of) the load change to reduce the amount of droop that would otherwise occur.

主权项

1. An apparatus comprising:
a switching voltage regulator to be switched with a drive signal derived from a voltage regulator clock signal, the voltage regulator to provide a voltage supply to a functional circuit having an associated functional clock signal having a higher frequency than that of the voltage regulator clock signal; and synchronization circuit to synchronize the functional clock signal with the voltage regulator clock signal, wherein the synchronization circuit provides a first drive signal derived from the voltage regulator clock signal and a second drive signal derived from the functional clock signal, the first and second drive signals being in edge synchronization with one another, and wherein the second drive signal has a higher frequency than the first drive signal.