DETAILED DESCRIPTION In the following detailed description, specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention.
However, it will be understood by those skilled in the relevant art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.
In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the present invention.
FIG.
1 is a circuit diagram illustrating an embodiment 100 of a configurable power distribution circuit in accordance with the present invention.
Of course, many embodiments are possible and the invention is not limited in scope to the one illustrated.
For example, although the invention is not limited scope in this respect, embodiment 100 is illustrated as embodied on an integrated circuit (IC) chip.
As illustrated in FIG.
1, embodiment 100 comprises a physical arrangement of power transistors, such as 160, 150, 130, 170, 180, 120, and 110.
The integrated circuit is adapted to couple a node to a power bus or power bus segment, such as a power distribution bus or cable, here comprising power bus segments 90, 105, and 95.
Bus segment 105 comprises a "pass-through" segment and is internal to the node in this embodiment.
In this context, a power bus or power distribution cable includes a collection of power bus segments that are coupled via intervening electrical circuitry.
Likewise, in this context, a power bus segment refers to an electrical connection or coupling for transferring power between or via electrically isolated sink, source or pass-through nodes.
As illustrated in FIG.
1, the node in this embodiment comprises at least a physical layer 190 and a link layer 222, although the invention is not limited in scope in this respect.
In this context, the term node refers to a bus or bus segment interface plus one or more coupled devices.
As will be explained in more detail hereinafter, the physical arrangement of power transistors is electronically configurable, based on externally derived electronic or electrical signals, to sink power to the node from a bus segment or segments, source power from the node to a bus segment or segments, and distribute power through the node, such as across a power bus segment or segments, to another node or nodes
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Control Computers 
