Power management apparatus and methods
View Patent ↗Apparatus and method for power management and especially to power management integrated circuits (PMICs). In one aspect, the invention relates to a PMIC having an internal non-volatile memory (NVM) for storing boot settings for the PMIC. The PMIC also has control circuitry for detecting whether a source of boot settings is available, such as an NVM external to the PMIC, and, if so, using any settings stored in the external source in preference to the relevant settings stored in the internal NVM. The external settings can thus override any internal settings, which is useful for fault diagnosis and/or development. In one aspect the PMIC may have programming circuitry for automatically programming boot settings from an external source into the internal NVM.
1. A power management integrated circuit for managing power supply of a device comprising:
an internal non-volatile memory for storing boot settings for the power management integrated circuit;
a data interface for connecting to an external source of boot settings; and
control circuitry adapted to, when boot settings are required by the power management integrated circuit,
in the event that an external source of boot settings is operably connected to the data interface, provide one or more boot configuration settings from the external source of boot settings in preference to any corresponding boot settings stored in the internal non-volatile memory; and
in the event that no external source of boot settings is operably connected to the data interface, provide any boot settings stored in the internal non-volatile memory,
said power management integrated circuit being configured to, in use, receive power from a power supply and provide regulated power to at least one power domain of a host device,
wherein the control circuitry is adapted to determine whether the internal non-volatile memory has been programmed with boot settings and, in the event that an external source of boot settings is not operably connected, to prevent a start-up sequence from occurring if the internal non-volatile has not been programmed with boot settings.
2. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the internal non-volatile memory is a one-time-programmable non-volatile memory.
3. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry is arranged to detect whether or not the external source of boot settings is operably connected to the data interface.
4. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 3 wherein the control circuitry is arranged to detect whether or not the external source of boot settings is operably connected to the data interface by detecting an electrical parameter of at least one signal line of the data interface.
5. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the data interface comprises one or more contacts for connecting the external source of boot settings with signal lines on the power management integrated circuit.
6. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 5 wherein the data interface comprises a serial data interface.
7. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry is arranged to provide some settings from only the internal non-volatile memory.
8. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry is adapted such that some protected boot settings may be provided from the internal non-volatile memory even when an external source of boot settings is operably connected.
9. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 8 wherein settings in the non-volatile memory are used to indicate protected boot settings.
10. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the control circuitry provides the boot settings by loading the boot settings into volatile memory of said power management integrated circuit.
11. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 10 wherein the control circuitry is adapted to load any data from the internal non-volatile memory into the volatile memory and, if an external source of boot settings is operably connected to the data interface, subsequently overwrite at least some of the volatile memory with data from the external source.
12. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 1 further comprising internal non-volatile memory programming circuitry for programming boot settings obtained from the external source into the internal non-volatile memory.
13. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 12 wherein the internal non-volatile memory programming circuitry automatically programs the internal non-volatile memory in response to a programming trigger.
14. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 13 wherein the programming trigger comprises a value of a programming setting in the external source of configuration settings.
15. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 12 wherein the internal non-volatile memory programming circuitry comprises circuitry for supplying power to the internal non-volatile memory for programming.
16. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the power management integrated circuit provides a power supply for powering the external source of boot settings when connected to the data interface.
17. A power management integrated circuit as claimed in claim 1 wherein the boot settings include an initial USB current limit.
18. A device comprising a power management integrated circuit according to claim 17 .
19. A device according to claim 18 wherein the device is a portable electronic device.
20. A device according to claim 19 wherein the device is at least one of: a computing device; a laptops; a notebook computer; a PDA; a media player; an MP3 player; a video player; a portable television device; a communication device; a mobile telephone; a mobile email device; GPS devices or a navigation device.
21. A method of obtaining boot settings for a power management integrated circuit comprising an internal non-volatile memory, the method comprising the steps of:
determining whether an external source of boot settings is available to the power management integrated circuit,
obtaining boot settings from the external source of boot settings if said external source is available,
obtaining any boot settings from the internal non-volatile memory if said external source is not available by determining whether the internal non-volatile memory has been programmed with boot settings,
in the event it is determined that the internal non-volatile memory has not been programmed with boot settings, preventing the power management integrated circuit from completing a start-up sequence,
wherein the power management integrated circuit is configured to receive power from a power supply and provide regulated power to at least one power domain of a host device.
22. A method as claimed in claim 21 wherein the step of determining whether an external source of boot settings is available comprises the step of determining whether said external source is connected to a data interface of the power management apparatus.
23. A method as claimed in claim 21 wherein the step of obtaining any boot settings from the internal non-volatile memory comprises utilizing data stored in the internal non-volatile memory only if the internal non-volatile memory has been programmed.
24. A method as claimed in claim 21 wherein the method comprises obtaining one or more boot settings from the internal non-volatile memory even when the external source of boot settings is connected.
25. A method as claimed in claim 21 comprising the step of reading the contents of the internal non-volatile memory into a volatile memory and subsequently, if an external source of boot settings is connected, overwriting at least some data in the volatile memory with data obtained from the external source.
26. A method as claimed in claim 21 further comprising an initial step of connecting an external source of boot settings to the power management integrated circuit.
27. A method of testing a device comprising performing the method of claim 26 and programming the external store of boot settings with test boot settings.
28. A method of programming the internal non-volatile memory of a power management integrated circuit comprising performing the method claimed in claim 26 and using the boot settings obtained to program the internal non-volatile memory.
29. A method of starting a device having a power management integrated circuit comprising performing the method as claimed in claim 21 and using any boot settings obtained to configure the power management apparatus.
30. A method of operating a power management integrated circuit comprising an internal non-volatile memory, the method comprising the steps of, on activation of the power management integrated circuit:
connecting an external source of boot settings to the power management integrated circuit;
if the external source of boot settings has a status setting indicating that the boot settings should be programmed into the internal non-volatile memory;
determining whether the external source of boot settings is available to the power management integrated circuit;
obtaining boot settings from the external source of boot settings if said external source is available;
obtaining any boot settings from the internal non-volatile memory if said external source is not available; and
using the boot settings obtained to program the internal non-volatile memory, or otherwise:
determining whether the external source of boot settings is available to the power management integrated circuit,
obtaining boot settings from the external source of boot settings if said external source is available,
obtaining any boot settings from the internal non-volatile memory if said external source is not available; and
using any boot settings obtained to configure the power management apparatus,
wherein the power management integrated circuit is configured to receive power from a power supply and provide regulated power to at least one power domain of a host device.