MULTIPLE OUTPUT FIXED RATIO CONVERTER

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

Embodiments generally relate to power delivery. More particularly, embodiments relate to delivering multiple voltages at low platform cost.

Discussion

Most computing platforms may employ multiple Voltage Regulator (VR) implementations to deliver a myriad of output voltages to power silicon loads (e.g., processing units, chipsets, memory, etc). Each of these loads may be powered by individual VR's. The high number of VRs may result in higher cost, require more space and generate large power conversion losses.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The various advantages of the embodiments of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art by reading the following specification and appended claims, and by referencing the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 A is a block diagram that illustrates an example of a conventional approach of generating a output voltage;

FIG. I B is a circuit diagram of a switched capacitor based Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter (TOFRC), according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 2-5 include circuit diagrams and timing diagram associated with an example operation of the Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing an example current flow during a first time interval, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing an example current flow during a second time interval, according to an embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example application of the Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter, according to an embodiment;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are circuit diagrams showing examples of using a switched capacitor voltage divider to generate additional output voltages, according to an embodiment; FIG. 10 is a circuit diagram showing an example of a ladder network that may be used to generate multiple output voltages based on the same principle of the earlier instantiation of the Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter, according to an embodiment;

FIG. I I is a flowchart of an example method of using a switched capacitor voltage divider 5 to generate multiple output voltages, according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing an example computer system having electronic components that may be implemented using the multiple output fixed ratio converter, according to an embodiment.

DETAI LED DESCRIPTION

i o Embodiments may involve an apparatus which includes a switched capacitor voltage divider configured lo generate a first oulpul voltage. The switched capacitor voltage divider may be associated with an input voltage. A first low pass filter (or pair of inductor and capacitor) may be coupled to the switched capacitor voltage divider at a first junction point. The first low pass filter may be associated with a second output voltage.

15 Embodiments may involve an apparatus which includes a voltage divider configured to generate a first output voltage and a second output voltage. The voltage divider associated with an input voltage. A first low pass filter may be coupled to the voltage divider at a first junction point. The first low pass filter may be associated with a third output voltage. A second low pass filter may be coupled to the voltage divider at a second junction point. The second low pass0 filter may be associated with a fourth output voltage. A third low pass filter may be coupled to the voltage divider at third junction point. The third low pass filter may be associated with a fifth output voltage.

Embodiments may involve a computer system which includes a bus, a power supply coupled to the bus, and a clock generator coupled to the bus. The system may further include a5 voltage divider coupled to ihe power supply and the clock generator. The voltage divider may be configured lo receive an input voltage from the power supply and to generate a first output voltage. The voltage divider may be coupled to a first low pass filter at a first junction point to generate a second output voltage.

Embodiments may involve a computer implemented method which includes connecting a0 first low pass filter to a switched capacitor voltage divider at the first junction point. The switched capacitor voltage divider may be configured to receive an input voltage and to generate a first output voltage. The first low pass filter may be associated with a second output voltage. The first junction point may be positioned between a first switch and a second switch of the switched capacitor voltage divider.

Ί Turning to FIG. 1 A, a circuit diagram 5 of a conventional approach used to generate an output voltage is shown. The circuit diagram 5 may also be referred to as a buck converter, and it may be used as a step-down DC to DC converter. The buck converter may use two field-effect transistors (FETs) 10 and 15, an output inductor 20 and a filter capacitor 25 along with a controller 30. It may be noted that FET drivers (not shown) may be included in the controller 30. The output inductor 20 may be connected to the source voltage Vi. The two FETs 10 and 1 5 may control the output inductor 20 such that energy may be stored in the output inductor 20, or it may be may be discharged into the load Vo. As can be seen, five (5) components 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 may be needed to deliver an output voltage. To generate three (3) output voltages, about 1 5 components may be needed. This may result in large area requirement and higher cost.

Turning to FIG. I B, a circuit diagram 100 of a switched capacitor based Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter (TOFRC) 100 is shown. The phrase "Fixed Ratio Converter" is used to indicate that the output voltage V ₀ UT at any given point in the circuit diagram 100 may be a fixed ratio (e.g., 2: 1 ) of the input voltage VIN, and the output voltage Vour may not change with variation in the duty cycle under steady state conditions. A duty cycle may be defined as a ratio of a lime that a switch (or a pair of switches) is set to an ON state over a total switching period. The circuit diagram 100 may be used to generate multiple output voltages with a single power conversion topology while using fewer components than the conventional approach.

The circuit diagram 1 0 may include a switched capacitor voltage divider 101 , which may include four (4) switches 120, 125, 130, 135 and three (3) capacitors 160, 165 and 170. The switched capacitor voltage divider 101 may also include two junction points 1 50 and 155. It may be noted thai the junction point 150 is positioned between the first switch 120 and the second switch 125, and the junction point 155 is positioned between the third switch 130 and the fourth switch 1 35. The voltage at each of the three capacitors 160, 165 and 170 may be derived based on the following formula:

Vci60 V _C |65 = V _C i7o ⁼ IN / 2

The circuit diagram 100 may include two (2) inductors 1 10 and 1 15 and two (2) capacitors 140 and 145. The capacitor 140 may be associated with the inductor 1 10 and may be connected to a ground terminal . The capacitor 145 may be associated with the inductor 1 15 and may also be connected to the ground terminal. The input voltage of the circuit diagram 100 may be illustrated as VJN, and the three output voltages of the circuit diagram 100 may be illustrated as Voi, Vo? and V03. It may be noted that the output voltage Voi may be associated with the switched capacitor voltage divider 101 .

The switches 120 and 1 30 may be operated in a synchronous fashion (e.g., they may be turned ON or OFF at the same time). The switches 125 and 135 may be operated in a complementary fashion with respect to the switches 120 and 130. For example, when the switches 120 and 1 30 are set to ON, the switches 125 and 135 may be set to OFF. The complementary operations of die pair of switches 120, 130 and 125, 135 may generate an output voltage equal to one half of the supply voltage V _JN to be available at the output V ₀ i (or V ₀ i = V,N / 2).

It may be noted that the voltage at the junction point 1 5 in reference to a ground terminal may vary between Vrw / 2 and zero with a duty cycle of about one half (or 50%). The average value of the voltage at the junction point 155 may therefore be equal to VJN / 4. When a low pass filter consisting of the inductor 1 15 and the capacitor 145 is connected to the junction point 155, an additional output voltage of V 4 may be obtained. This additional voltage is shown as V ₀ i in the circuit diagram 100. The following formula may represent how the average voltage V03 may be derived:

Similarly, it may be noted that the voltage at the junction point 150 may vary between V| _N and VIN 2 with a duty cycle of about one half (or 50%). The average value of the voltage at the junction point 150 may therefore be equal to (3/4) * VIN. When a low pass filler consisting of the inductor 1 10 and the capacitor 140 is connected to the junction point 150, an additional output voltage ¾ Vi _N - may be obtained. This additional voltage is shown as V02 in the circuit diagram 100. The following formula may represent how the average voltage V ₀ _ may be derived:

Vo2 = ¾ V _IN = 0.75 * VrN.

Thus, using the circuit diagram 100, three (3) different output voltages (or voltage rails) VOL. V02 ^an ^ o3 may be derived based on the same input voltage V^. This is why the circuit diagram 100 may be referred to as a Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter. It may be noted that the secondary outputs V02 and V ₍ ¾ may act as typical buck converter outputs, and the primary output V ₀ i may be a result of the switched capacitor based divider 101.

The circuit diagram 100 may be used to deliver multiple supply voltages to various subsystems within a computer system. For example, the various subsystems may include a central processing unit (CPU), memory, input / output control hubs (or chipsets), graphics, audio, local area network (LAN), etc. The subsystems may operate at di ferent power supply voltage levels. The input voltage VIN may be associated with a power supply of the computer system, and the operations of the components in the circuit diagram 100 may be based on clock signals generated by a clock generator of the computer system. A diagram of an example computer system is shown in FIG. 12. An example of the operation of the switched capacitor based Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter is shown in FIGS. 2-5. FIG. 2 includes a circuit diagram 200 that is similar to the circuit diagram 100 of FIG 1 B. FIG. 3 includes a timing diagram 300 that shows the states of the switches 120, 125, 130 and 135 at different lime intervals. The horizontal axis of the timing diagram 300 may show the elapsed time, while the vertical axis of the timing diagram 300 may show ihe behavior of the switches 120, 125, 130, and 135 and at the junction points 1 5 and 155 with respect to the elapsed time. FIG. 4 includes an equivalent circuit diagram 400 that shows the states of the switches 120, 125, 130 and 135 during a first lime interval (e.g., T l ). FIG. 5 includes an equivalent circuit diagram 500 that shows the states of the switches 120, 125, 130 and 135 during a second time interval (e.g., T2).

Turning to the liming diagram 300 of FIG. 3, during the time interval T l , the switches 120 and 130 may be configured to be in the ON state, and the switches 125 and 1 35 may be configured to be in the OFF state. The states of the switches 120, 1 25, 130 and 135 during the time interval Tl may be shown in the equivalent circuit diagram 400 of FIG. 4. Also during the time interval Tl , the voltage at the junction point 150 may be equal to V _IN , while the voltage at the junction point 155 may be equal to Voi , which may be equal to / 2. This may be true under all steady state conditions. Under the steady state conditions, the three capacitors 160, 165 and 170 may all be charged equally to VIN / 2. The time interval Tl may be associated with a charge phase.

During the time interval T2, the switches 125 and 133 may be configured to be in the ON state, and the switches 120 and 130 may be configured to be in the OFF stale. The states of the switches 120, 125, 130 and 135 during ihe time interval T2 may be shown in the equivalent circuit diagram 500 of FIG. 5. The duty cycle used may be about 50% for the switching. During the time interval T2, ihe junction point 150 may be connected to ihe output V ₀ i which may be equal to VIN / 2 via the switch 1 25, while the junction point 155 may be connected to the ground terminal via the switch 135.

The combination of the inductor 1 10 and the capacitor 140 may act as a low pass filter at the junction point 150 resulting in ihe output voltage V02, which may be equal to ¾ V| _N . Similarly, the combination of the inductor 1 1 5 and the capacitor 145 may act as a low pass filter at the junction point 1 55 resulting in the output voltage V ₀ j, which may be equal to ¼ VIN. The time interval T2 may be associated with a discharge phase. A combination of the time intervals T l and T2 may be referred to as a period or a cycle, with each of the time intervals T l and T2 covering half a period or cycle.

Turning 10 FIG. 6, a circuit diagram showing current flow during the time interval T l is shown. When ihe switches 1 20, 130 are configured to be in the ON state, and ihe switches 1 25, 1 35 are configured to be in the OFF state, the current may flow along a first path in a direction from the switch 120 to the inductor 1 10 (from point 610 to point 615), along a second path in a direction from the switch 120 to the capacitor 170 and to the inductor 1 15 (from point 610 to point 620 and then point 630), and along a third path in a direction from the switch 120 to the capacitor 1 70 and to the switch 130 (from point 610 to point 620 and then point 625). Each of the three paths during the time interval Tl may be identified by arrows pointing in the direction of the current flow. It may be noted that during the time interval T l , the capacitors 160 and 170 may be charged, and the capacitor 1 5 may be discharging.

Turning to FIG. 7, a circuit diagram showing current flow during the time interval T2 is shown. When the switches 120, 130 are configured to be in the OFF state, there may be no current flowing through the switch 120 because it is in the OFF state. As a result, the current that may flow through the circuit diagram 700 may be based on the discharging of the capacitors 160 and 170. During the time interval T2, the capacitor 1 5 may be charged. The current may flow along a first path in a direction from the capacitor 170 to the switch 125 (from point 705 to point 7 10), along a second path in a direction from the capacitor 170 to the switch 125, the capacitor 165, and the inductor 1 15 (from point 705 to point 710 and then to point 71 5), and along a third path in a direction from the capacitor 1 70 to the inductor 1 10 (from point 720 to point 725). Each of the three paths during the time interval T2 may be identified by arrows pointing in the direction of the current flow. It may be noted that the condition of the output voltages V ₀ i, V02 and V03 and current flows may be as described when the duly cycle is maintained at about one half (or 50%).

Turning to FIG. 8, a block diagram 800 of an example application of the Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter is shown. The diagram 800 may include a buck converter 810, a capacitor 815 and a Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter 825. The Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter 825 may be preceded by the regulated buck converter 810 that may generate an output voltage V ₀ 820 of 6.6V from a power supply input voltage V _[N i 805 of 12V. The Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter 825 may then be used to generate three typical platform voltages V02 830 of 5 V, V01 835 of 3.3 V, and V ₀₃ 840 of 1.65V.

Turning 10 FIG. 9A, a circuit diagram 900 that may include the switched capacitor divider 101 of FIG. I B and a pair of inductor and capacitor is shown. The circuit diagram 800 may be similar to the circuit diagram 100 of FIG. I B except that there is only one pair of inductor 1 1 5 and capacitor 145. In this example, the inductor 1 15 and the capacitor 145 may be connected to the junction point 155 resulting in the output voltage V03 of ¼ VJN. FIG. 9B shows a circuit diagram 950 that may include the switched capacitor divider 101 of FIG. I B and the pair of inductor 1 10 and capacitor 140 connected to the junction point 150 resulting in the output voltage Vo2 of ¼ VIN. The circuit diagrams 900 and 950 may be used to show that it may be possible to have only two output voltages oi and ν< - or Voi and V02 using seven (7) components instead of eight (8) components based on the conventional approach.

Turning to FIG. 10, a circuit diagram 1 00 that includes a stacked configuration of a switched capacitor network is shown. The circuit diagram 1000 may include the circuit diagram 100 of FIG. I B connected to a circuit diagram 1001 (shown in the doited block 1001 ). The circuit diagram 1000 may be used to generate five (5) different output voltages using fewer components than the conventional approach. The circuit diagram 1000 may include six (6) switches 120, 125, 130, 135, 136, 137 and five (5) capacitors 160, 1 65, 168, 1 70 and 172. There may be three junction points 150, 155 and 156. The junction point 150 may be positioned between the first switch 120 and the second switch 125; the junction point 155 may be positioned between the third switch 1 30 and the fourth switch 135; and the junction 156 may be positioned between the fifth switch 136 and the sixth switch 137.

The circuit diagram 1000 may include three (3) pair of inductors and capacitors: 1 10 and 140, 1 15 and 145, and 1 16 and 146. The capacitors 140, 145 and 146 are connected to the ground terminal. The input voltage of the circuit diagram 1000 is shown as Vm, and the five output voltages of the circuit diagram 1 000 may be shown as Voi, V ₀ 2, ₀ .i, Voi and V05. The switches 120, 130 and 136 may be operated in a synchronous fashion (e.g., they may be turned ON or OFF at the same time). The switches 125, 135 and 137 may be operated in a complementary fashion with respect to the switches 120, 130 and 136. For example, when the switches 120, 130 and 136 are set to ON, the switches 125, 135 and 137 may be set to OFF.

The switches 120, 130 and 136 may be configured to operate at about one third (or 33%) duty cycle with the total switching period that comprises T l , T2 and T3. For example, during the time period T l , the switches 120, 130 and 136 may be set to the ON slate while the switches 125, 1 35 and 137 may be set to the OFF state. During the lime period T2 and T3, the switches 120, 1 30 and 136 may be set to the OFF state while the switches 125, 135 and 137 may be set to the ON state (or two third duty cycle). The complementary operations of the two groups of switches 120, 130, 136 and 125, 135, 137 may generate an output voltage V ₀ i = 2/3 V _iN and V ₀ s = 1 /3 V _1N .

When a low pass filter consisting of the inductor 1 1 5 and the capacitor 145 is connected to the junction point 155 of the circuit diagram 1000, an additional output voltage of 4/9 V _iN may be obtained. This additional voltage is shown as V ₀₃ in the circuit diagram 1000. The following formula may represent how the average voltage V ₀₃ may be derived:

Vo, = 4/9 V _IN . When a low pass filter consisting of the inductor 1 1 0 and the capacitor 140 is connected to the junction point 1 50 of the circuit diagram 1000, an additional output voltage 7/9 VIN may be obtained. This additional voltage is shown as V02 in the circuit diagram 1 000. The following formula may represent how the average voltage V02 may be derived:

V02 =7/9 V,N.

When a low pass filter consisting of the inductor 1 1 6 and the capacitor 1 46 is connected to the junction point 1 56 of the circuit diagram 1000, an additional output voltage 1 /9 VIN may be obtained. This additional voltage is shown as V04 in the circuit diagram 1 000. The following formula may represent how the average voltage V0 may be derived:

Thus, using the circuit diagram 1 000, five (5) di fferent output voltages (or voltage rails) Voi, V02, V03, Vex and V05 may be derived based on the same input voltage Vi _N . It may be noted that the circuit diagram 1 000 may be extended further to provide even more output voltages using the same technique.

Turning now to FIG. 1 1 , a method 1 100 of generating additional output voltages based on a switched capacitor voltage divider in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The method may be implemented as a set of logic instructions stored in a machine- or computer-readable storage medium such as RAM (random access memory), ROM (read only memory), PROM (programmable ROM), flash memory, etc., in configurable logic such as PLAs (programmable logic arrays), FPGAs (field programmable gale arrays), CPLDs (complex programmable logic devices), in fixed-functionality logic hardware using circuit technology such as ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) or TTL (transistor-transistor logic) technology, or any combination thereof. For example, computer program code to carry out operations shown in the method may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar programming languages.

The method 1 1 00 may be based on using a switched capacitor voltage divider 1 0 1 of FIG. I B having an input voltage, four switches, three capacitors and an output voltage. The method may start at block 1 1 05 where a first junction point in the switched capacitor voltage divider may be identified. This first junction point may correspond to the junction point 1 50 of FIG. I B. The switched capacitor voltage divider may be associated with a first output voltage.

At block 1 1 1 0, a pair of inductor and capacitor may be connected to the first junction point to generate a second output voltage. This pair of inductor and capacitor may correspond to the inductor 1 1 0 and the capacitor 140 of FIG. I B. At block 1 1 15, a second junction point in the switched capacitor voltage divider may be identified. This second junction point may correspond to the junction point 155 of FIG. I B.

At block 1 120, another pair of inductor and capacitor may be connected to the second junction point to generate a third output voltage. This pair of inductor and capacitor may correspond to the inductor 1 15 and the capacitor 145 of FIG. I B. It may be noted that the method 1 100 may be modi fied to enable the connection of only one pair of inductor and capacitor to generate only the output voltage V02 or V03 as shown in the circuit diagram 900 of FIG. 9. Similarly, the method 1 100 may be modified to enable the connection of multiple pairs of inductor and capacitor to generate multiple output voltages as shown in the circuit diagram 1000 of FIG. 10.

Turning to FIG. 12, a block diagram 1200 of a computer system 1210 and other examples peripherals and input/output devices are shown. The computer system 12 10 may include many electronic components that may be configured to operate using voltages supplied by one of the example circuits shown in FIG I B-FIG. 10. The computer system 1210 may be configured to operate as a mobile computer system, a desktop computer system, a server computer system, or any other computer systems that may be able to take advantage of the features of the example circuit diagrams shown in FIG. I B-FIG. 10.

The computer system 1210 may include, but is not limited to, a processing unit (or CPU) 1220 having one or more processing cores, a system memory 1230, and a system bus 1221 that couples various system components including the system memory 1230 to the processing unit 1220. The system bus 1221 may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus. Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) locale bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus also known as Mezzanine bus.

The computer system 1210 may include a variety of computer readable media. Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by computer system 1210 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and not limitation, computer readable media may store information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computer storage media include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by the computer system 1210. Communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, or program modules.

The system memory 1230 may include computer storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 1 23 1 and random access memory (RAM) 1232. A basic input/output system (BIOS) 1233, containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within computer system 1210, such as during start-up, may be stored in ROM 1231 . The RAM 1232 may contain data and/or program modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presently being operated on by processing unit 1220. By way of example, and not limitation, FIG. 12 illustrates operating system 1234, application programs 1235, other program modules 1236, and program data 1237.

The computer system 1210 may also include other removable/non-removable volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only, FIG. 12 illustrates a hard disk drive 1 241 that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolati le magnetic media, a magnetic disk drive 1251 that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile magnetic disk 1252, and an optical disk drive 1255 that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk 1256 such as a CD ROM or other optical media. Other removable/non-removable, volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in the exemplary operating environment include, but are not limited to, USB drives and devices, magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks, digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. The hard disk drive 1241 may be connected to the system bus 1221 through a nonremovable memory interface such as interface 1240, and magnetic disk drive 125 1 and optical disk drive 1 255 may be connected to the system bus 122 1 by a removable memory interface, such as interface 1250.

The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed above and illustrated in FIG. 12, may provide storage of computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules and other data for the computer system 12 10. In FIG. 12, for example, the hard disk drive 1 241 is illustrated as storing operating system 1244, application programs 1245, other program modules 1246, and program data 1247. Note that these components can either be the same as or different from operating system 1234, application programs 1235, other program modules 1236, and program data 1237. The operating system 1244, the application programs 1245, the other program modules 1246, and the program data 1247 are given different numeric identi fication here to illustrate that, at a minimum, they may be different copies.

A user may enter commands and information into the computer system 12 10 through input devices such as a keyboard 1262, a microphone 1263, and a pointing device 1 261 , such as a mouse, trackball or touch pad or touch screen. Other input devices (not shown) may include a joyslick, game pad, scanner, or the like. These and other input devices may be connected to the processing unit 1220 through a user input interface 1260 that may be coupled to the system bus 122 1 , but may be connected by other interface and bus structures, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 1291 or other type of display device may be connected to the system bus 1221 via an interface, such as a video interface 1290. In addition to the monitor, the computer system 1210 may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers 1297 and printer 1296, which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 1 295.

The computer system 1210 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 1280. The remote computer 1280 may be a personal computer, a hand-held device, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer system 1 210. The logical connections depicted in FIG . 12 may include a local area network (LAN) 1271 and a wide area network (WAN) 1273, but may also include other networks. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise- wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the ' computer system 12 10 may be connected to the LAN 1271 through a network interface or adapter 1270. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer system 12 10 may include a modem 1 272 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN 1273, such as the Internet. The modem 1272, which may be internal or external, may be connected to the system bus 1221 via the user-input interface 1 260, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer system 1210, or portions thereof, may be stored in a remote memory storage device. By way of example, and not limitation, FIG. 12 illustrates remote application programs 1285 as residing on remote computer 1280. It wi ll be appreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used.

It should be noted that some embodiments of the present invention may be carried out on a computer system such as that described with respect to FIG. 1 2. However, some embodiments of the present invention may be carried out on a server, a computer devoted to message handling, handheld devices, or on a distributed system in which different portions of the present design may be carried out on different parts of the distributed computing system.

Another device that may be coupled to the system bus 1221 is a power supply 1 298 such as a battery or a Direct Current (DC) power supply) and Alternating Current (AC) adapter circuit. The DC power supply may be a battery, a fuel cell, or similar DC power source needs to be recharged on a periodic basis. A clock generator 1299 may also be used to provide clock signals. For example, the clock generator 1299 may be associated with a Triple Output Fixed Ratio Converter shown in FIG. I B to providing liming information to control ihe operations of the switches 120, 125, 130 and 135. The communication module (or modem) 1272 may employ a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) to establish a wireless communication channel. The communication module 1272 may implement a wireless networking standard such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802. 1 1 standard, IEEE std. 802.1 1 - 1999, published by IEEE in 1999.

Embodiments of the present invention may be applicable for use with all types of semiconductor integrated circuit ("IC") chips. Examples of these IC chips include but are not limited to processors, controllers, chipset components, programmable logic arrays (PLAs), memory chips, network chips, systems on chip (SoCs), SSD/NAND control ler ASICs, and the like. In addition, in some of the drawings, signal conductor lines are represented with lines. Some may be different, to indicate more constituent signal paths, have a number label, to indicate a number of constituent signal paths, and/or have arrows at one or more ends, to indicate primary information flow direction. This, however, should not be construed in a limiting manner. Rather, such added detail may be used in connection with one or more exemplary embodiments to facilitate easier understanding of a circuit. Any represented signal lines, whether or not having additional information, may actually comprise one or more signals that may travel in multiple directions and may be implemented with any suitable type of signal scheme, e.g., digital or analog lines implemented with differential pairs, optical Fiber lines, and/or single-ended lines.

Example sizes/models/values/ranges may have been given, although embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the same. As manufacturing techniques (e.g., photolithography) mature over time, it is expected that devices of smaller size could be manufactured. In addition, well known power/ground connections to IC chips and other components may or may not be shown within the figures, for simplicity of illustration and discussion, and so as not to obscure certain aspects of the embodimenls of the invention. Further, arrangements may be shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring embodiments of the invention, and also in view of the fact thai specifics with respect to implementation of such block diagram arrangements are highly dependent upon the platform within which the embodiment is to be implemented, i.e., such specifics should be well within purview of one skilled in the art. Where speci fic details (e.g., circuits) are set forth in order to describe example embodiments of the invention, it should be apparent to one skilled in the art that embodiments of the invention can be practiced without, or with variation of, these specific details. The description is thus to be regarded as illustrative instead of limiting.

The term "coupled" may be used herein to refer to any type of relationship, direct or indirect, between the components in question, and may apply to electrical, mechanical, fluid, optical, electromagnetic, electromechanical or other connections. In addition, the terms "first", "second", elc. might be used herein only to facilitate discussion, and carry no particular temporal or chronological significance unless otherwise indicated.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate from the foregoing description that the broad techniques of the embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while the embodiments of this invention have been described in connection with particular examples thereof, the true scope of the embodiments of the invention should not be so limited since other modifications will become apparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings, specification, and following claims.