A light loading control circuit operates a switching circuit of a
buck-boost voltage converter alternately in a plurality of phase cycles
and a sleep period. Each phase cycle has a rising phase, a falling phase,
and a maintaining phase. In the rising phase, the switching circuit is
operated to increase an inductor current. In the falling phase, the
switching circuit is operated to decrease the inductor current. In the
maintaining phase, the switching circuit is operated to keep the inductor
current approximately constant. The sleep period prevents two terminals
of an inductor from being respectively coupled to two selected from a
group consisting of an input voltage, an output voltage, and a ground
potential.