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diff --git a/Documentation/power/regulator/overview.rst b/Documentation/power/regulator/overview.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..ee494c70a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/power/regulator/overview.rst @@ -0,0 +1,178 @@ +============================================= +Linux voltage and current regulator framework +============================================= + +About +===== + +This framework is designed to provide a standard kernel interface to control +voltage and current regulators. + +The intention is to allow systems to dynamically control regulator power output +in order to save power and prolong battery life. This applies to both voltage +regulators (where voltage output is controllable) and current sinks (where +current limit is controllable). + +(C) 2008 Wolfson Microelectronics PLC. + +Author: Liam Girdwood <lrg@slimlogic.co.uk> + + +Nomenclature +============ + +Some terms used in this document: + + - Regulator + - Electronic device that supplies power to other devices. + Most regulators can enable and disable their output while + some can control their output voltage and or current. + + Input Voltage -> Regulator -> Output Voltage + + + - PMIC + - Power Management IC. An IC that contains numerous + regulators and often contains other subsystems. + + + - Consumer + - Electronic device that is supplied power by a regulator. + Consumers can be classified into two types:- + + Static: consumer does not change its supply voltage or + current limit. It only needs to enable or disable its + power supply. Its supply voltage is set by the hardware, + bootloader, firmware or kernel board initialisation code. + + Dynamic: consumer needs to change its supply voltage or + current limit to meet operation demands. + + + - Power Domain + - Electronic circuit that is supplied its input power by the + output power of a regulator, switch or by another power + domain. + + The supply regulator may be behind a switch(s). i.e.:: + + Regulator -+-> Switch-1 -+-> Switch-2 --> [Consumer A] + | | + | +-> [Consumer B], [Consumer C] + | + +-> [Consumer D], [Consumer E] + + That is one regulator and three power domains: + + - Domain 1: Switch-1, Consumers D & E. + - Domain 2: Switch-2, Consumers B & C. + - Domain 3: Consumer A. + + and this represents a "supplies" relationship: + + Domain-1 --> Domain-2 --> Domain-3. + + A power domain may have regulators that are supplied power + by other regulators. i.e.:: + + Regulator-1 -+-> Regulator-2 -+-> [Consumer A] + | + +-> [Consumer B] + + This gives us two regulators and two power domains: + + - Domain 1: Regulator-2, Consumer B. + - Domain 2: Consumer A. + + and a "supplies" relationship: + + Domain-1 --> Domain-2 + + + - Constraints + - Constraints are used to define power levels for performance + and hardware protection. Constraints exist at three levels: + + Regulator Level: This is defined by the regulator hardware + operating parameters and is specified in the regulator + datasheet. i.e. + + - voltage output is in the range 800mV -> 3500mV. + - regulator current output limit is 20mA @ 5V but is + 10mA @ 10V. + + Power Domain Level: This is defined in software by kernel + level board initialisation code. It is used to constrain a + power domain to a particular power range. i.e. + + - Domain-1 voltage is 3300mV + - Domain-2 voltage is 1400mV -> 1600mV + - Domain-3 current limit is 0mA -> 20mA. + + Consumer Level: This is defined by consumer drivers + dynamically setting voltage or current limit levels. + + e.g. a consumer backlight driver asks for a current increase + from 5mA to 10mA to increase LCD illumination. This passes + to through the levels as follows :- + + Consumer: need to increase LCD brightness. Lookup and + request next current mA value in brightness table (the + consumer driver could be used on several different + personalities based upon the same reference device). + + Power Domain: is the new current limit within the domain + operating limits for this domain and system state (e.g. + battery power, USB power) + + Regulator Domains: is the new current limit within the + regulator operating parameters for input/output voltage. + + If the regulator request passes all the constraint tests + then the new regulator value is applied. + + +Design +====== + +The framework is designed and targeted at SoC based devices but may also be +relevant to non SoC devices and is split into the following four interfaces:- + + + 1. Consumer driver interface. + + This uses a similar API to the kernel clock interface in that consumer + drivers can get and put a regulator (like they can with clocks atm) and + get/set voltage, current limit, mode, enable and disable. This should + allow consumers complete control over their supply voltage and current + limit. This also compiles out if not in use so drivers can be reused in + systems with no regulator based power control. + + See Documentation/power/regulator/consumer.rst + + 2. Regulator driver interface. + + This allows regulator drivers to register their regulators and provide + operations to the core. It also has a notifier call chain for propagating + regulator events to clients. + + See Documentation/power/regulator/regulator.rst + + 3. Machine interface. + + This interface is for machine specific code and allows the creation of + voltage/current domains (with constraints) for each regulator. It can + provide regulator constraints that will prevent device damage through + overvoltage or overcurrent caused by buggy client drivers. It also + allows the creation of a regulator tree whereby some regulators are + supplied by others (similar to a clock tree). + + See Documentation/power/regulator/machine.rst + + 4. Userspace ABI. + + The framework also exports a lot of useful voltage/current/opmode data to + userspace via sysfs. This could be used to help monitor device power + consumption and status. + + See Documentation/ABI/testing/sysfs-class-regulator |