Power regulator and power regulating method
A power regulator is applied to regulate a work frequency of a central processing unit and the power regulator comprises a power resister, a voltage amplifier and an analog-to-digital converter. The power resister is coupled to a load to generate a first voltage. The voltage amplifier is coupled to the power resister to output a second voltage. The analog-to-digital converter is coupled to the voltage amplifier, converts the second voltage into a control signal and transmits the control signal to the central processing unit. The control signal is switched between a first level and a second level according to a value of the second voltage.
1. A power regulator, applied to regulate a work frequency of a central processing unit, comprising:
a power resistor, with one end of the power resistor coupled to a load and another end coupled to a voltage source to generate a first voltage corresponding to a power consumption of the load;
a voltage amplifier coupled to the power resistor to amplify the first voltage and to output the amplified first voltage as a second voltage; and
an analog-to-digital converter, coupled to the output of the voltage amplifier, converting the second voltage into a control signal, and transmitting the control signal to the central processing unit; wherein a level of the control signal is switched between a first level and a second level according to a value of the second voltage to regulate the work frequency of the central processing unit.
2. The power regulator in claim 1 , wherein two ends of the power resistor are respectively coupled to a non-inverting input end of the voltage amplifier and an inverting input end of the voltage amplifier.
3. The power regulator in claim 2 , comprising a capacitor coupled to the power resistor in parallel, with two ends of the capacitor respectively coupled to the non-inverting input end of the voltage amplifier and the inverting input end of the voltage amplifier.
4. The power regulator in claim 1 , wherein the work frequency of the central processing unit is reduced when the control signal is at the first level, and wherein the work frequency of the central processing unit is maintained when the control signal is at the second level.
5. The power regulator in claim 4 , wherein the first level is smaller than the second level.
6. The power regulator in claim 1 , further comprising a buffering circuit, wherein the input end of the buffering circuit is coupled to the analog-to-digital converter and the output end of the buffering circuit is coupled to the central processing unit.
7. The power regulator in claim 1 , further comprising an enabling circuit, wherein the enabling circuit receives an enabling signal and provides power to the power resistor, the voltage amplifier, and the analog-to-digital converter.
8. The power regulator in claim 1 , wherein the analog-to-digital converter comprises a hysteresis circuit, the hysteresis circuit has a threshold voltage upper limit and a threshold voltage lower limit, the control signal is at the second level when the value of the second voltage is greater than a value of the threshold voltage upper limit, the control signal is at the first level when the value of the second voltage is less than a value of the threshold voltage lower limit, and the first level is less than the second level.
9. A power regulating method, applied to regulate a work frequency of a central processing unit and performed by a power regulator, and the power regulating method comprising:
receiving a voltage from a voltage source;
coupling to a load to generate a first voltage corresponding to a power consumption of the load via a power resistor of the power regulator, wherein one end of the power resistor is coupled to the load and wherein the other end of the power resistor is coupled to the voltage source;
receiving the first voltage from the power resistor by a voltage amplifier of the power regulator to amplify the first voltage and to output the amplified first voltage as a second voltage;
converting the second voltage into a first level via an analog-to-digital converter of the power regulator to reduce the work frequency of the central processing unit when the value of the second voltage is smaller than a value of a threshold voltage lower limit; and
converting the second voltage into a second level via the analog-to-digital converter to maintain the work frequency of the central processing unit when the value of the second voltage is greater than a value of a threshold voltage upper limit.
10. The method in claim 9 , wherein the analog-to-digital converter determines whether the value of the second voltage is smaller than the value of the threshold voltage lower limit, wherein the analog-to-digital converter outputs a first control signal to the central processing unit to reduce the work frequency of the central processing unit when the value of the second voltage is smaller than the value of the threshold voltage lower limit, and wherein the first control signal is at the first level.
11. The method in claim 9 , wherein the analog-to-digital converter determines whether the value of the second voltage is greater than the value of the threshold voltage upper limit, wherein the analog-to-digital converter outputs a second control signal to the central processing unit to maintain the work frequency of the central processing unit when the value of the second voltage is greater than the value of the threshold voltage upper limit, and wherein the second control signal is at the second level.