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diff --git a/Documentation/driver-api/regulator.rst b/Documentation/driver-api/regulator.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..b43c78eb2 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/driver-api/regulator.rst @@ -0,0 +1,170 @@ +.. Copyright 2007-2008 Wolfson Microelectronics + +.. This documentation is free software; you can redistribute +.. it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public +.. License version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation. + +================================= +Voltage and current regulator API +================================= + +:Author: Liam Girdwood +:Author: Mark Brown + +Introduction +============ + +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). + +Note that additional (and currently more complete) documentation is +available in the Linux kernel source under +``Documentation/power/regulator``. + +Glossary +-------- + +The regulator API uses a number of terms which may not be familiar: + +Regulator + + Electronic device that supplies power to other devices. Most regulators + can enable and disable their output and some can also control their + output voltage or current. + +Consumer + + Electronic device which consumes power provided by a regulator. These + may either be static, requiring only a fixed supply, or dynamic, + requiring active management of the regulator at runtime. + +Power Domain + + The electronic circuit supplied by a given regulator, including the + regulator and all consumer devices. The configuration of the regulator + is shared between all the components in the circuit. + +Power Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC) + + An IC which contains numerous regulators and often also other + subsystems. In an embedded system the primary PMIC is often equivalent + to a combination of the PSU and southbridge in a desktop system. + +Consumer driver interface +========================= + +This offers a similar API to the kernel clock framework. Consumer +drivers use `get <#API-regulator-get>`__ and +`put <#API-regulator-put>`__ operations to acquire and release +regulators. Functions are provided to `enable <#API-regulator-enable>`__ +and `disable <#API-regulator-disable>`__ the regulator and to get and +set the runtime parameters of the regulator. + +When requesting regulators consumers use symbolic names for their +supplies, such as "Vcc", which are mapped into actual regulator devices +by the machine interface. + +A stub version of this API is provided when the regulator framework is +not in use in order to minimise the need to use ifdefs. + +Enabling and disabling +---------------------- + +The regulator API provides reference counted enabling and disabling of +regulators. Consumer devices use the :c:func:`regulator_enable()` and +:c:func:`regulator_disable()` functions to enable and disable +regulators. Calls to the two functions must be balanced. + +Note that since multiple consumers may be using a regulator and machine +constraints may not allow the regulator to be disabled there is no +guarantee that calling :c:func:`regulator_disable()` will actually +cause the supply provided by the regulator to be disabled. Consumer +drivers should assume that the regulator may be enabled at all times. + +Configuration +------------- + +Some consumer devices may need to be able to dynamically configure their +supplies. For example, MMC drivers may need to select the correct +operating voltage for their cards. This may be done while the regulator +is enabled or disabled. + +The :c:func:`regulator_set_voltage()` and +:c:func:`regulator_set_current_limit()` functions provide the primary +interface for this. Both take ranges of voltages and currents, supporting +drivers that do not require a specific value (eg, CPU frequency scaling +normally permits the CPU to use a wider range of supply voltages at lower +frequencies but does not require that the supply voltage be lowered). Where +an exact value is required both minimum and maximum values should be +identical. + +Callbacks +--------- + +Callbacks may also be registered for events such as regulation failures. + +Regulator driver interface +========================== + +Drivers for regulator chips register the regulators with the regulator +core, providing operations structures to the core. A notifier interface +allows error conditions to be reported to the core. + +Registration should be triggered by explicit setup done by the platform, +supplying a struct regulator_init_data for the regulator +containing constraint and supply information. + +Machine interface +================= + +This interface provides a way to define how regulators are connected to +consumers on a given system and what the valid operating parameters are +for the system. + +Supplies +-------- + +Regulator supplies are specified using struct +:c:type:`regulator_consumer_supply`. This is done at driver registration +time as part of the machine constraints. + +Constraints +----------- + +As well as defining the connections the machine interface also provides +constraints defining the operations that clients are allowed to perform +and the parameters that may be set. This is required since generally +regulator devices will offer more flexibility than it is safe to use on +a given system, for example supporting higher supply voltages than the +consumers are rated for. + +This is done at driver registration time` by providing a +struct regulation_constraints. + +The constraints may also specify an initial configuration for the +regulator in the constraints, which is particularly useful for use with +static consumers. + +API reference +============= + +Due to limitations of the kernel documentation framework and the +existing layout of the source code the entire regulator API is +documented here. + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/regulator/consumer.h + :internal: + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/regulator/machine.h + :internal: + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/regulator/driver.h + :internal: + +.. kernel-doc:: drivers/regulator/core.c + :export: |