1 ===================================
2 Regulator Consumer Driver Interface
3 ===================================
5 This text describes the regulator interface for consumer device drivers.
6 Please see overview.txt for a description of the terms used in this text.
9 1. Consumer Regulator Access (static & dynamic drivers)
10 =======================================================
12 A consumer driver can get access to its supply regulator by calling ::
14 regulator = regulator_get(dev, "Vcc");
16 The consumer passes in its struct device pointer and power supply ID. The core
17 then finds the correct regulator by consulting a machine specific lookup table.
18 If the lookup is successful then this call will return a pointer to the struct
19 regulator that supplies this consumer.
21 To release the regulator the consumer driver should call ::
23 regulator_put(regulator);
25 Consumers can be supplied by more than one regulator e.g. codec consumer with
26 analog and digital supplies ::
28 digital = regulator_get(dev, "Vcc"); /* digital core */
29 analog = regulator_get(dev, "Avdd"); /* analog */
31 The regulator access functions regulator_get() and regulator_put() will
32 usually be called in your device drivers probe() and remove() respectively.
35 2. Regulator Output Enable & Disable (static & dynamic drivers)
36 ===============================================================
39 A consumer can enable its power supply by calling::
41 int regulator_enable(regulator);
44 The supply may already be enabled before regulator_enable() is called.
45 This may happen if the consumer shares the regulator or the regulator has been
46 previously enabled by bootloader or kernel board initialization code.
48 A consumer can determine if a regulator is enabled by calling::
50 int regulator_is_enabled(regulator);
52 This will return > zero when the regulator is enabled.
55 A consumer can disable its supply when no longer needed by calling::
57 int regulator_disable(regulator);
60 This may not disable the supply if it's shared with other consumers. The
61 regulator will only be disabled when the enabled reference count is zero.
63 Finally, a regulator can be forcefully disabled in the case of an emergency::
65 int regulator_force_disable(regulator);
68 this will immediately and forcefully shutdown the regulator output. All
69 consumers will be powered off.
72 3. Regulator Voltage Control & Status (dynamic drivers)
73 =======================================================
75 Some consumer drivers need to be able to dynamically change their supply
76 voltage to match system operating points. e.g. CPUfreq drivers can scale
77 voltage along with frequency to save power, SD drivers may need to select the
78 correct card voltage, etc.
80 Consumers can control their supply voltage by calling::
82 int regulator_set_voltage(regulator, min_uV, max_uV);
84 Where min_uV and max_uV are the minimum and maximum acceptable voltages in
87 NOTE: this can be called when the regulator is enabled or disabled. If called
88 when enabled, then the voltage changes instantly, otherwise the voltage
89 configuration changes and the voltage is physically set when the regulator is
92 The regulators configured voltage output can be found by calling::
94 int regulator_get_voltage(regulator);
97 get_voltage() will return the configured output voltage whether the
98 regulator is enabled or disabled and should NOT be used to determine regulator
99 output state. However this can be used in conjunction with is_enabled() to
100 determine the regulator physical output voltage.
103 4. Regulator Current Limit Control & Status (dynamic drivers)
104 =============================================================
106 Some consumer drivers need to be able to dynamically change their supply
107 current limit to match system operating points. e.g. LCD backlight driver can
108 change the current limit to vary the backlight brightness, USB drivers may want
109 to set the limit to 500mA when supplying power.
111 Consumers can control their supply current limit by calling::
113 int regulator_set_current_limit(regulator, min_uA, max_uA);
115 Where min_uA and max_uA are the minimum and maximum acceptable current limit in
119 this can be called when the regulator is enabled or disabled. If called
120 when enabled, then the current limit changes instantly, otherwise the current
121 limit configuration changes and the current limit is physically set when the
122 regulator is next enabled.
124 A regulators current limit can be found by calling::
126 int regulator_get_current_limit(regulator);
129 get_current_limit() will return the current limit whether the regulator
130 is enabled or disabled and should not be used to determine regulator current
134 5. Regulator Operating Mode Control & Status (dynamic drivers)
135 ==============================================================
137 Some consumers can further save system power by changing the operating mode of
138 their supply regulator to be more efficient when the consumers operating state
139 changes. e.g. consumer driver is idle and subsequently draws less current
141 Regulator operating mode can be changed indirectly or directly.
143 Indirect operating mode control.
144 --------------------------------
145 Consumer drivers can request a change in their supply regulator operating mode
148 int regulator_set_load(struct regulator *regulator, int load_uA);
150 This will cause the core to recalculate the total load on the regulator (based
151 on all its consumers) and change operating mode (if necessary and permitted)
152 to best match the current operating load.
154 The load_uA value can be determined from the consumer's datasheet. e.g. most
155 datasheets have tables showing the maximum current consumed in certain
158 Most consumers will use indirect operating mode control since they have no
159 knowledge of the regulator or whether the regulator is shared with other
162 Direct operating mode control.
163 ------------------------------
165 Bespoke or tightly coupled drivers may want to directly control regulator
166 operating mode depending on their operating point. This can be achieved by
169 int regulator_set_mode(struct regulator *regulator, unsigned int mode);
170 unsigned int regulator_get_mode(struct regulator *regulator);
172 Direct mode will only be used by consumers that *know* about the regulator and
173 are not sharing the regulator with other consumers.
179 Regulators can notify consumers of external events. Events could be received by
180 consumers under regulator stress or failure conditions.
182 Consumers can register interest in regulator events by calling::
184 int regulator_register_notifier(struct regulator *regulator,
185 struct notifier_block *nb);
187 Consumers can unregister interest by calling::
189 int regulator_unregister_notifier(struct regulator *regulator,
190 struct notifier_block *nb);
192 Regulators use the kernel notifier framework to send event to their interested
195 7. Regulator Direct Register Access
196 ===================================
198 Some kinds of power management hardware or firmware are designed such that
199 they need to do low-level hardware access to regulators, with no involvement
200 from the kernel. Examples of such devices are:
202 - clocksource with a voltage-controlled oscillator and control logic to change
203 the supply voltage over I2C to achieve a desired output clock rate
204 - thermal management firmware that can issue an arbitrary I2C transaction to
205 perform system poweroff during overtemperature conditions
207 To set up such a device/firmware, various parameters like I2C address of the
208 regulator, addresses of various regulator registers etc. need to be configured
209 to it. The regulator framework provides the following helpers for querying
212 Bus-specific details, like I2C addresses or transfer rates are handled by the
213 regmap framework. To get the regulator's regmap (if supported), use::
215 struct regmap *regulator_get_regmap(struct regulator *regulator);
217 To obtain the hardware register offset and bitmask for the regulator's voltage
218 selector register, use::
220 int regulator_get_hardware_vsel_register(struct regulator *regulator,
222 unsigned *vsel_mask);
224 To convert a regulator framework voltage selector code (used by
225 regulator_list_voltage) to a hardware-specific voltage selector that can be
226 directly written to the voltage selector register, use::
228 int regulator_list_hardware_vsel(struct regulator *regulator,
231 To access the hardware for enabling/disabling the regulator, consumers must
232 use regulator_get_exclusive(), as it can't work if there's more than one
233 consumer. To enable/disable regulator use::
235 int regulator_hardware_enable(struct regulator *regulator, bool enable);