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