Power supply circuit containing multiple DC-DC converters having programmable output current capabilities

1. A method of operating a power circuit, the method comprising:

selectively activating one or more output driver stages of the power circuit to obtain a desired output current at one or more output voltage ports of the power circuit;

determining external connections made by a user from phase nodes of the output driver stages to output inductors; and

based on the determination, selectively activating the one or more output driver stages of the power circuit to obtain the desired output current at the one or more output voltage ports of the power circuit.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selectively activating one or more output driver stages further comprises:

closing select switches to selectively couple control signals from one or more controllers to select driver devices in select output driver stages.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the select driver devices is a semiconductor switch and wherein the method further comprises,

activating the semiconductor switch with the control signals.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

confirming the activation of the select output driver stages.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

controlling one or more controllers that activate the one or more output driver stages at least in part with select feedback signals from select output voltage ports.

6. A method of operating a power converter circuit, the method comprising:

selectively coupling control signals to at least one output driver stage of a plurality of output driver stages of the power converter circuit to obtain a desired output at a select output port of a plurality of output ports, wherein each output driver stage has a defined current drive capacity that is output to the select output port in response to the control signals;

determining external connections made by a user from phase nodes of the output driver stages to output inductors; and

based on the determination, selectively activating the at least one output driver stage to obtain the desired output at the select output port of the power converter circuit.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein selectively coupling control signals to the at least one output driver stage further comprises:

activating at least one switch to couple the control signals from at least one controller to the at least one output driver stage.

8. A power converter circuit comprising:

a plurality of output driver stages, each output driver stage having a select current drive capacity;

a plurality of controllers, each controller operative to cause at least one of the output driver stages to output a current;

a plurality of switches to selectively couple select controllers to select output driver stages;

a plurality of output inductors, each output inductor coupled to a plurality of select output driver stages;

an output voltage port coupled to each inductor, each output port configured to provide an output of the power supply circuit; and

combinational circuitry configured to determine the proper switching arrangement of the switches based upon external connections by a user, wherein the combinational circuitry comprises:

a pulse generator multiplexer configured to supply pulse inputs to select switches to create a response pulse from transistors in the output driver stages; and

a combinational logic circuit coupled between the output driver stages and the output inductors, the combinational logic configured to detect response pulses based on the external connections made by the user from phase nodes of the output driver stages to the output inductors.

9. The power converter circuit of claim 8 , wherein each output driver stage further comprises:

at least one transistor having its gate coupled to a respective controller, the at least one transistor further having a source-drain path coupled between a power supply rail and a respective one of the output inductors.

10. The power converter circuit of claim 9 , wherein the at least one transistor is a field effect transistor.

11. The power converter circuit of claim 8 , wherein each output driver stage further comprises:

an upper field effect transistor (UFET), the UFET having a gate coupled to a respective controller, the UFET also having source-drain current flow path coupled between an upper power supply rail and a respective output inductor; and

a lower field effect transistor (LFET), the LFET having a gate coupled to a respective controller, the LFET also having source-drain current flow path coupled between a lower power supply rail and a respective output inductor.

12. The power converter circuit of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the controllers is a buck controller.

13. The power converter circuit of claim 8 , wherein each controller is coupled to a respective output voltage port and is operable to control select output driver stages based in part on signals at the respective output voltage port.

14. The power converter circuit of claim 8 , further comprising:

an output filter capacitor coupled to each output voltage port.

15. The power converter circuit of claim 8 , wherein at least one output driver stage has a different select current drive capacity than the other output driver stages.

16. The power converter circuit of claim 8 , further comprising:

a test circuit configured to determine if the power converter is properly configured.

17. The power converter circuit of claim 16 , wherein the test circuit further comprises:

a pulse generator coupled between the output driver stages and the output inductors, the pulse generator configured to supply test pulses; and

fault detect logic coupled to the pulse generator and coupled to phase nodes of each output driver stage, the fault detect logic configured to detect a response pulse at the phase nodes.