Method and system for an adaptive low-dropout regulator

1. A system for voltage regulation, the system comprising:

a voltage regulator comprising:

a pass transistor having a first terminal at a control gate, a voltage input at a second terminal, and a voltage output at a third terminal; and

an adaptive control circuit comprising a voltage summing circuit, with a first input of the voltage summing circuit connected to a reference voltage and a second input of the voltage summing circuit connected to the second terminal of the pass transistor, and an output of the voltage summing circuit connected to an input of an error amplifier that has an output connected to the first terminal of the pass transistor, the adaptive control circuit being operable to:

determine a difference ΔV between the second and third terminals of the pass transistor;

sum the reference voltage and the input voltage using the voltage summing circuit, thereby generating a comparison value;

generating an error signal from the comparison value and the voltage output using the error amplifier; and

applying the error signal to the first terminal of the pass transistor to keep ΔV essentially constant and allow an output voltage at the third terminal to vary as the voltage input varies.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the voltage regulator is operable to filter the voltage input before determining ΔV in order to track only moving average changes to the voltage input.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the pass transistor comprises a metal-oxide semiconductor transistor.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the reference voltage comprises a bandgap reference.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the voltage regulator acts as a low-pass filter, regulating input voltages within a loop bandwidth and rejecting input noise and/or ripple voltages above the loop bandwidth.

6. A method of voltage regulation, the method comprising:

in a voltage regulator comprising a pass transistor having a first terminal at a control gate, a voltage input at a second terminal, and a voltage output at a third terminal:

determining a difference ΔV between the second and third terminals of the pass transistor utilizing an adaptive control circuit connected to a reference voltage and to the first terminal of the pass transistor, the adaptive control circuit comprising a voltage summing circuit, with a first input of the voltage summing circuit connected to a reference voltage and a second input of the voltage summing circuit connected to the second terminal of the pass transistor, and an output of the voltage summing circuit connected to an input of an error amplifier that has an output connected to the first terminal of the pass transistor;

generating a comparison value using the voltage summing circuit;

generating an error signal using the error amplifier from the comparison value and the output voltage; and

controlling power dissipation of the pass transistor as a function of ΔV utilizing the adaptive control circuit by applying the error signal to the first terminal of the pass transistor so as to maintain such power dissipation approximately constant and allow the voltage output at the third terminal to vary as the voltage input varies.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising filtering the voltage input before determining ΔV in order to track only moving average changes to the voltage input.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein controlling the power dissipation of the pass transistor as a function of ΔV comprises maintaining ΔV approximately constant as the voltage input varies.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the pass transistor comprises a metal-oxide semiconductor transistor.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the reference voltage comprises a bandgap reference.

11. A method of regulating voltage in an adaptive low dropout voltage regulator circuit while maintaining low power dissipation, including:

providing a pass transistor having a first terminal at a control gate, a voltage input at a second terminal, and a voltage output at a third terminal;

providing adaptive control circuitry comprising a voltage summing circuit, with a first input of the voltage summing circuit connected to a reference voltage and a second input of the voltage summing circuit connected to the second terminal of the pass transistor, and an output of the voltage summing circuit connected to an error amplifier that has an output connected to the first terminal of the pass transistor, the adaptive control circuitry for determining a difference ΔV between the second and third terminals of the pass transistor;

generating a comparison value using the voltage summing circuit;

generating an error signal using the error amplifier from the comparison value and the output voltage; and

applying the error signal derived from the adaptive control circuitry to the control gate of the pass transistor to keep ΔV essentially constant and allow the voltage output at the third terminal to vary as the voltage input varies.

12. The method of claim 11 , comprising filtering the voltage input before determining ΔV in order to track only moving average changes to the voltage input.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the reference voltage comprises a bandgap reference.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the pass transistor comprises a metal-oxide semiconductor transistor.