Power Levels

From the pm-components property exported by the device, the Device Power Management framework knows what power levels the device supports. Power-level values must be positive integers. The interpretation of power levels is determined by the device driver writer. Power levels must be listed in monotonically increasing order in the pm-components property. A power level of 0 is interpreted by the framework to mean off. When the framework must power up a device due to a dependency, the framework sets each component at its highest power level.

The following example shows a pm-components entry from the .conf file of a driver that implements a single power-managed component consisting of a disk spindle motor. The disk spindle motor is component 0. The spindle motor supports two power levels. These levels represent “stopped” and “spinning at full speed.”

Example 12–1 Sample pm-component Entry

pm-components="NAME=Spindle Motor", "0=Stopped", "1=Full Speed";

The following example shows how Example 12–1 could be implemented in the attach() routine of the driver.

Example 12–2 attach(9E) Routine With pm-components Property

static char *pmcomps[] = {
    "NAME=Spindle Motor",
    "0=Stopped",
    "1=Full Speed"
};
/* ... */
xxattach(dev_info_t *dip, ddi_attach_cmd_t cmd)
{
    /* ... */
    if (ddi_prop_update_string_array(DDI_DEV_T_NONE, dip,
        "pm-components", &pmcomp[0],
        sizeof (pmcomps) / sizeof (char *)) != DDI_PROP_SUCCESS)
        goto failed;
    /* ... */

The following example shows a frame buffer that implements two components. Component 0 is the frame buffer electronics that support four different power levels. Component 1 represents the state of power management of the attached monitor.

Example 12–3 Multiple Component pm-components Entry

pm-components="NAME=Frame Buffer", "0=Off", "1=Suspend", \
    "2=Standby", "3=On",
    "NAME=Monitor", "0=Off", "1=Suspend", "2=Standby", "3=On";

When a device driver is first attached, the framework does not know the power level of the device. A power transition can occur when:

• The driver calls pm_raise_power(9F) or pm_lower_power(9F).

• The framework has lowered the power level of a component because a time threshold has been exceeded.

• Another device has changed power and a dependency exists between the two devices. See Power Management Dependencies.

After a power transition, the framework begins tracking the power level of each component of the device. Tracking also occurs if the driver has informed the framework of the power level. The driver informs the framework of a power level change by calling pm_power_has_changed(9F).

The system calculates a default threshold for each potential power transition. These thresholds are based on the system idleness threshold. The default thresholds can be overridden using pmconfig or power.conf(4). Another default threshold based on the system idleness threshold is used when the component power level is unknown.