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2 Regulator API design notes 2 Regulator API design notes
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4 4
5 This document provides a brief, partially stru 5 This document provides a brief, partially structured, overview of some
6 of the design considerations which impact the 6 of the design considerations which impact the regulator API design.
7 7
8 Safety 8 Safety
9 ------ 9 ------
10 10
11 - Errors in regulator configuration can have 11 - Errors in regulator configuration can have very serious consequences
12 for the system, potentially including lasti 12 for the system, potentially including lasting hardware damage.
13 - It is not possible to automatically determi 13 - It is not possible to automatically determine the power configuration
14 of the system - software-equivalent variant 14 of the system - software-equivalent variants of the same chip may
15 have different power requirements, and not 15 have different power requirements, and not all components with power
16 requirements are visible to software. 16 requirements are visible to software.
17 17
18 .. note:: 18 .. note::
19 19
20 The API should make no changes to the har 20 The API should make no changes to the hardware state unless it has
21 specific knowledge that these changes are 21 specific knowledge that these changes are safe to perform on this
22 particular system. 22 particular system.
23 23
24 Consumer use cases 24 Consumer use cases
25 ------------------ 25 ------------------
26 26
27 - The overwhelming majority of devices in a s 27 - The overwhelming majority of devices in a system will have no
28 requirement to do any runtime configuration 28 requirement to do any runtime configuration of their power beyond
29 being able to turn it on or off. 29 being able to turn it on or off.
30 30
31 - Many of the power supplies in the system wi 31 - Many of the power supplies in the system will be shared between many
32 different consumers. 32 different consumers.
33 33
34 .. note:: 34 .. note::
35 35
36 The consumer API should be structured so 36 The consumer API should be structured so that these use cases are
37 very easy to handle and so that consumers 37 very easy to handle and so that consumers will work with shared
38 supplies without any additional effort. 38 supplies without any additional effort.
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