Patent 7940118 was granted and assigned to Texas Instruments on May, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
In many applications, “dying gasp” periods following power down are used. Conventional circuits supply energy for the “dying gasp” periods generally by use of large external capacitors that are bulky and expensive. Here, a dying gasp charge controller is employed that allows for the use of smaller capacitors at higher voltages, which maintains or exceeds the energy storage capacities of conventional circuits.