Digital control circuit for switching power supply with serial data input

1. A method for converting DC power from a first voltage level on an input to a different voltage level on an output for delivery to a load, comprising the steps of:

switching current in a switching operation from the input to the output through an inductive element;

measuring the voltage/current parameters on the input and output;

determining with a control algorithm control parameters necessary to make a control move to effect the switching operation, the control algorithm utilizing as inputs the measured voltage/current parameters;

controlling the switching operation with a digital control system, which digital control system is operable to be controlled by the control algorithm;

receiving configuration data on a serial data bus for configuring the control algorithm; and

modifying the operation of the control algorithm in response to receiving the configuration information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of modifying the operation occurs on the fly with the step of controlling.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switching operation is a pulse width controlled operation and the step of controlling includes generating variable width control pulses with a pulse width modulator (PWM).

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of generating includes the step of delaying at least one edge of one of the control pulses relative to another thereof in a common switching cycle by a predetermined delay value, and the configuration data includes the predetermined delay value.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the digital control system includes an instruction based processor for at least a portion of the operation thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , and further comprising the step of storing the configuration information in a memory.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the serial data bus is an SM Bus.