Acpi 6 2

Advanced Configuration and Power
Interface Specification
Version 6.2
May 2017
ACPI Specification
Acknowledgements
The material contained herein is not a license, either expressly or impliedly, to any intellectual
property owned or controlled by any of the authors or developers of this material or to any
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arising from future changes to them. ALSO, THERE IS NO WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF
TITLE, QUIET ENJOYMENT, QUIET POSSESSION, CORRESPONDENCE TO DESCRIPTION
OR NON-INFRINGEMENT WITH REGARD TO THE SPECIFICATION AND ANY
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Copyright 2017 Unified EFI Forum, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
ii May 2017 Version 6.2

ACPI Specification
Revision History
ACPI Mantis Number / Description Affected Sections

Revision
6.2 1795 ACPI Table Signature Reservation Table 5-31
6.2 1780 Add DescriptorName to PinFunction and Section 19.6.103 and
PinConfig Macros Section 19.6.104
6.2 1770 Update Revision History Revision History
6.2 1769 FADT Format: ACPI Version update to reflect Table 5-34
6.2 versus 6.1
6.2 1755 Deprecate PCC Platform Async Notifications Section 14.4, and Section 14.5.1
6.2 1743 PinGroupFunctionConfig resource descriptors Section 6.4.3.11, Section 6.4.3.12,
update Section 6.4.3.13,
6.2 1738 PCIEXP_WAKE Bits description updates Table 4-16, Table 4-17, and
Table 5-35
6.2 1731 Software Delegated Exception HW error Section 18-383
notitication
6.2 1725 NVST Updates - NFIT ARS Error Injection Section 9.20.7.9,
Section 9.20.7.10,and
Section 9.20.7.11
6.2 1724 NVST Updates - Platform RAS Capabilities Section 5.2.20.4
Updates
6.2 1723 NVST Updates - Translate SPA DSM Interface Section 2.1, Section 9.20.7.8
6.2 1722 NVST Updates - ARS Updates Section 2.1, Section 9.20.7.2,
Section 9.20.7.4,
Section 9.20.7.5,and
Section 9.20.7.6
6.2 1721 NVST Updates - Labels Section 2.1, Section 5-180,and
Section 6.5.10
6.2 1717 ASL Grammar Update for Reference Operators Section 19.2
6.2 1714 Reserve the table name "SDEI" Table 5-31
6.2 1705 Add Heterogeneous Memory Attributes Tables Section 5.2, Section 5.6.6,
(HMAT) Section 5.6.8, Section 6.2,
Section 6.2.18, and Section 17.4
6.2 1703 Time & Alarm Device _GCP new bits Section 9.18.2
6.2 1680 Pin Group, Pin Group Function and Pin Group Table 6-221 and Section 6.4.3.10
Configuration Descriptors and Macros
6.2 1679 Pin Configuration Descriptor and Macro Table 6-221 and Section 6.4.3.10
6.2 1677 CPPC Registers in System Memory Section 6.2.11.2 and Section 8.4.7.1
6.2 1674 GHES_ASSIST Proposal Section 18.3.2
6.2 1669 FADT HEADLESS flag should be valid for Section 5.2.9
HW_REDUCED_ACPI platforms
Version 6.2 May 2017 iii

ACPI Specification

Revision
6.2 1667 Processor properties and topology Section 5.2
6.2 1659 Master Slave PCC channels Chapter 14, Platform
Communications Channel (PCC)
6.2 1656 SRAT Support for ITS Section 5.2.16
6.2 1650 CPPC Support for Multiple PCC Channels Table 6-194 and Section 8.4.7.1.9
6.2 1649 ECR: Minor updates to IA-32 Architecture Section 18.3.2.10
Deferred Machine Check
6.2 1645 Add _STR Support for Thermal Zones Section 6.1, Section 6.1.10,
Section 11.4, Section 11.4.14, and
Section 11.7.1
6.2 1632 Secure Devices Table (SDEV) Table 5-31
6.2 1611 Add a _PPL object to processor devices Section 8.4.7
6.2 1597 ASL For() Conditional Loop Macro Section 19.6.51, Section 19.2.5,
Section 19.2.6, and Section 19.3.4
6.2 1588 Clarification on Interrupt Descriptor Usage for Section 6.2.11.2, Section 6.4.3.6,
"Interrupt Combining" Section 19.6.62
6.2 1585 Reserve table signature “WSMT,” with Table 5-31
reference to ACPI links page for more details
6.2 1583 Diverse Highest Processor Performance Table 5-154 and Table 6-194
6.2 1578 Function Config Descriptor and Macro Table 6-210 and Section 6.4.3.9
6.2 1576 Generic Debug Trigger Table (GDTT) Section 5.2.24
6.2 1573 Extensions to the ASL Concatenate operator Section 19.2.6 and Section 19.6.12
6.2 1569 Add new introduction (background) section Background chapter
6.1 Errata A 1796 Clarify that Type 1 can never support Level Section 14.1.4
triggered platform interrupt
6.1 Errata A 1785 Lack of clarity on use of System Vector Base on Section 5.2.12.15
GICD structures
6.1 Errata A 1783 Clarification on Interrupt Descriptor Usage for Table 6-234
Bit [0] Consumer/Producer
6.1 Errata A 1760 Typo - incorrect bit offsets in the PM1 Enable Table 4-17
Registers Fixed Hardware Feature Enable Bits table.
6.1 Errata A 1758 Minor Errata in ERST tables, Serialization Table 18-348 and Table 18-354
Instruction Entry and Injection Instruction Entry.
6.1 Errata A 1756 Errata: Ensure non-secure timers are accesible Table 5-123
to non-secure in the Flag Definitions: Common Flags
table.
6.1 Errata A 1740 Errata in section 9.13: wrong reference Section 9.13
6.1 Errata A 1715 0 is a valid GSIV for the secure EL1 physical Table 5-117
timer in GTDT
6.1 Errata A 1687 Typo in the Reserved field of the GIC ITS Table 5-67
Structure table.
iv May 2017 Version 6.2

ACPI Specification

Revision
6.1 Errata A 1686 Clarification of the FADT HW_REDUCED_ACPI Table 5-34
flag description in the FADT Format table.
6.1 Errata A 1676 Clarifications for the ASL Buffer (Declare Buffer Section 19.6.10
Object)
6.1 Errata A 1671 Typo in Memory Affinity Structure table Section 5-73
6.1 Errata A 1670 Update for _OSI return value Section 5.7.2
6.1 Errata A 1664 Clarification of the RSDP Structure table, Table 5-28
Revision description.
6.1 Errata A 1662 Clarification of the Generic Communications Table 14-359
Channel Command Field table.
6.1 Errata A 1661 typos in the Generic Communications Channel Table 14-360 and Section 14.5
Status Field table and the Platform Notification
section.
6.1 Errata A 1660 type in the Generic Communications Channel Table 14-358
Shared Memory Region table
6.1 Errata A 1651 LPI Clarifications Section 8.4.4.3
6.1 Errata A 1644 Mismatch of mantis number 1449 vs. change Revision History
description
6.1 Errata A 1643 Incorrect row order in Table 18-386
GET_EXECUTE_OPERATION_TIMINGS table
6.1 Errata A 1642 Clarifications and fixes to _PSD and _TSD Table 5-180
6.1 Errata A 1639 _WPC and _WPP are missing in the Predefined Table 5-161
ACPI Names table.
6.1 Errata A 1616 Clarify which processor ID to use in the EINJ for Table 18-359
ARM
6.1 Errata A 1606 Errata: typos in the Interrupt Resource Table 19.6.62
Descriptor Macro definition
6.1 Errata A 1602 Updates to the PMC Method Result Codes table Table 10-291
6.1 Errata A 1601 Typos in the _CPC Implementation Example Section 8.4.7.1.11
6.1 Errata A 1600 Typos in PCC Subspace Structure Type 1 and Table 14-320 and Table 14-321
Type 2.
6.1 Errata A 1599 Add clarification to existing text Table 6-177
6.1 Errata A 1591 ASL grammar clarification for “executable” AML Section 5.4
opcodes
6.1 Errata A 1589 Wireless Power Calibration Device ACPI ID not Section 10.5 (Table 10-292
defined removed) and Table 5-160
6.1 Errata A 1582 Clarification for Time and Alarm wake Section 9.18.1
description
6.1 Errata A 1581 Processing Sequence for Graceful Shutdown Table 5-143 and Section 6.3.5.1
Request - need to update section 6.3.5.1 to reflect
change
6.1 Errata A 1579 typos Table 5-127 and Table 5-128
Version 6.2 May 2017 v

ACPI Specification

Revision
6.1 Errata A 1577 BGRT Image Orientation Offset Table 5-103
6.1 Errata A 1572 Update ASL grammar to support multiple Section 19.2.3
Definition Blocks
6.1 Errata A 1571 Update AML Filename description for ASL Section 19.6.28
DefinitionBlock operator
6.1 Errata A 1552 GIC Redistributor base address language in Table 5-61
GICC leaves room for ambiguity
6.1 Errata A 1549 Errata: wrong offset in Generic Communications Table 14-321
Channel Shared Memory Region table.
6.1 1527 Qualcomm feedback on ACPI 6.1 draft 2 Throughout
6.1 1524 Strange hotlink Section 5.7.5
6.1 1514 Comments against 6.1 Draft from HPE Throughout--draft corrections and
typos, but especially
Section 9.20.7.2
6.1 1512 Microsoft feedbacks on ACPI 6.1 draft 2 Section 5.2.25, Section 9.20.7,
Section 18.3.2
6.1 1503 Editorial comments against 6.1 Draft 1 Throughout--draft corrections &
typos
6.1 1500 ACPI 6.1 - Graceful Shutdown (Device Object Table 5-162
Notification)
6.1 1499 _FIT and _MAT ASL nits in 6.0 and 6.1 Draft Section 6.2.10, Section 6.5.9
6.1 1490 ACPI Version update to reflect 6.1 versus 6.0 Table 5-34
6.1 1483 NFIT SPD extensions and clarifications Section 5.2.25x, Section 6.5.9,
Section 9.20x
6.1 1478 Wireless Power Calibration ACPI Device Section 10.5 & Section 10.6
6.1 1427 Addition to Memory Device State Flags in NFIT Table 5-130
6.1 1395 _DSM interfaces associated with NVDIMM-N Section 9.20.2x through
objects Section 9.20.7
6.1 1384 ERST/EINJ max wait time Table 18-386, Table 18-393
6.1 1367 Interrupt-signaled Events Section 4.1.1.1 Section 5.6, ,
Section 5.6.10, Section 5.6.4,
Section 5.6.5 Section 5.6.5.2,
Section 6.2.11.2, Section 7.3.13,
Section 18.3.2.7.2, Section 18.4
Added Section 5.6.9, through
Section 5.6.9.4
6.1 1356 ARM APEI extensions Section 18.3.2.7, Section 18.3.2.8,
Section 18.3.2.9
6.1 1344 Sharing of Connection Resources Section 5.5.2.4.6 through
NOTE: The changes were included in ACPI 6.0, but Section 5.5.2.4.6.3.9
was missed in the ACPI 6.0 Revision History Section 19.6.15
vi May 2017 Version 6.2

ACPI Specification

Revision
6.1 1326 Section 2.2, Table 5-38,
Section 7.4.2.5, Section 15,
Table 15-363, Section 16.1.4
6.0 Errata 1488 Typo on description of PkgLength encoding Section 5.4
(ACPI v6.0, section 5.4)
6.0 Errata 1487 The Length of GIC ITS Structure is wrong Table 5-67
6.0 Errata 1470 Region Format Interface Code clarification Table 5-134
6.0 Errata 1462 5.2.21 Errata Section 5.2.21
6.0 Errata 1461 5.2.21.10 Clarification Section 5.2.21.10
6.0 Errata 1449 Graceful Shutdown Request (Device Object Section 2.1, Table 5-45,
Notification Values) Section 5.2.12.6,Table 5-52,
Section 5.2.12.9, Section 5.2.12.14
through Section 5.2.12.18,
Section 5.2.25, Section 5.6, Table 6-
189, Table 6.2.10, Table 6-246,
Table 6.5.9
6.0 Errata 1445 Section 19.6.99 "Package" of the specification Section 19.6.101
needs updating
6.0 Errata 1444 GTDT CntReadBase Physical address should Section 5.2.24
be optional
6.0 Errata 1433 Time and Alarm _GCP changes in support of Section 9.18.2
wakes from S4/S5
6.0 Errata 1432 Errata - Explicit Data Type Conversions Section 19.3.4, Section 19.3.5.2,
Section 19.3.5.3
6.0 Errata 1406 NFIT RAMDisk Update Section 5.2.25.2
6.0 Errata 1403 Two distinct definitions of the MADT have the Table 5-44
same revision number
6.0 Errata 1393 In FADT: if X_DSDT field is non-zero, DSDT Table 5-34
field should be ignored or deprecated
6.0 Errata 1392 Incorrect length in the GIC ITS Structure Table 5-67
6.0 Errata 1386 Clarify APEI vs UEFI runtime variable support Table 18-386
6.0 Errata 1385 ACPI 6.0 typo and table misnumbering Section 18.5.2.1,
6.0 Errata 1380 Unnecessary restrictions to FW vendors in Section 5.2.12.14
ordering of GIC structures in MADT
6.0 Errata 1378 Duplication of table 5-155/156, section duplicates of Table 5-171 & Table 5-
mismatch in GIC redistributor 176 removed; Section 5.2.12.17
6.0 Errata 1374 section mismatch: _CCA method belongs to Table 6-185/Table 6-189
section 6.2 Device Configuration Objects?
6.0 Errata 1372 Fix inconsistency for _PXM method in section Section 17.2.1, Section 17.3.2
17
6.0 Errata 1368 Various errata fixes and clarifications in chapter Section 18.3.1,.Section 18.3.2.7.1,
18 APEI Section 18.5.1, Section 18.6.1,
Section 18.6.2 , Section 18.6.4
Version 6.2 May 2017 vii

ACPI Specification

Revision
6.0 Errata 1361 Clarify _PIC Method on ARM Section 5.8.1
6.0 Errata 1289 replace use of the term "BIOS" with more Throughout
accurate descriptions
6.0 Errata 1154 Ensure that ACPI and UEFI specs agree on the Section 15.4
treatment of "holes" in the memory map
6.0 1370 Changes needed for ACPI 6.0: persistent Section 16.3.4
memory S4 behavior
6.0 1359 Vendor Range for E820 Address Types and Table 15-363
UEFI memory Types
6.0 1354 Disambiguation of _REV Section 5.7.4
6.0 1343 Comments against v6.0 Final Draft Section 18.6.2; Section 18.6.4
6.0 1340 comment against the Final Draft: Minor errata in Section 8.4.4.3.4
register fields of LPI example
6.0 1332 Fixes for ACPI 6.0 Draft March 2 Table 5-38;
Section 5.2.25.2Table 5-129
6.0 1328 ACPI 6.0 Draft feedback - Mantis 1228 Table 5-63
6.0 1337 Missing reference in Extended Address Space Section 6.4.3.5.4
Descriptor Definition, Section 6.4.3.5.4
6.0 1333 ACPI 6.0 March2 Draft Feedback - Bits and NFIT throughout
NFIT related
6.0 1329 ACPI 6.0 Feb 18 Draft - Follow consistent throughout
notation for Bits and Bytes ranges
6.0 1327 ACPI 6.0 Feb 18 draft feedback - NFIT related NFIT throughout
6.0 1324 ACPI 6.0 Feb 5 Draft1 Feeback2 - Mantis 1250 Section 5.2;
Section 5.2.25;;Section 6.1.1Section
5.6.6
6.0 1320 ACPI 6.0 Feb 5 Draft1 Feedback - Mantis 1250 Section 5.2;
Section 5.2.25;;Section 6.1.1Section
5.6.6
6.0 1319 Comment against ACPI 6.0 Draft 1 concerning Section 19.1;Section 19.6.3;Section
Mantis 1279 19.6.5;Section 19.6.26;;Section 19.6
.31;Section 19.6.60;Section 19.6.61
Section 19.6.69 - Section 19.6.75;
Section 19.6.79Section 19.6.86Secti
on 19.6.87Section 19.6.93
6.0 1312 Add USB-C Connection support to _UPC Table 9-290;Section 9.14
6.0 1306 New ACPI Version Placeholder Table 5-34
6.0 1302 Errata on reference in section 6.2.11.2 Platform- Section 6.2.11.2
Wide OSPM Capabilities
6.0 1294 Typo in section 5.7.2: "Section" used when Section 5.7.2
"Table" was meant
6.0 1293 Reserve "STAO" and "XENV" table signatures Table 5-31
6.0 1292 A Missing space in first paragraph of Section 2.4 Section 2.4
viii May 2017 Version 6.2

ACPI Specification

Revision
6.0 1284 Battery ACPI ECR Section 5-180
Section 10.2.2.7;Table 10-318
;Section 10.2.2;Table 10-320
6.0 1282 AML: Improve Disassembly of Control Method Section 19.6.44;Section 20.2.5.2;Se
Invocations ction 20-429
6.0 1281 ASL Printf and Fprintf Debug MacrosTable 10- Section 19.2.5;Section 19.2.6;Sectio
320Table 10-320 n 19.3.4;Section 19.3.5.2;Section 19
.3;Section 19.4;Section 19.6.52;Sec
tion 19.6.108;
6.0 1280 ASL Helper Macro for _PLD (Physical Location Section 19.2.6;Section 19.3.4;Sectio
of Device) - ToPLD() n 19.3.5.2;Section 19.4;Section 19.5
;Section 19.6.141
6.0 1279 ASL Extensions for Symbolic Operators and Section 19.1;Section 19.6.3;Section
Expressions (ASL 2.0) 19.6.5;Section 19.6.26;;Section 19.6
.31;Section 19.6.60;Section 19.6.61
Section 19.6.69 - Section 19.6.75;
Section 19.6.79Section 19.6.86Secti
on 19.6.87Section 19.6.93
6.0 1265 Missing word in figure 1-1 Figure 1-1
6.0 1264 Device Power Management Clarifications Section 2.3;Section 2.3.1;Section 3.
3.1;
Section 3.3;Section 3.4Section 3.4.2
Section 3.4.3Section 3.4.3Section 3.
4.4x); Section 7;
Section 7.1Section 7.2x; Section 7.3
6.0 1262 New Thermal Zone Objects Table 5-
180;Section 11.1.5.1;Section 11.4.8;
Section 11.4.21
6.0 1261 _OSC, add OS-->Platform information to Table 6-194
communicate >16 p-states are supported
6.0 1258 Standby Thermal Trip Section 11.4.5
6.0 1253 Clarification of S5 (Soft-Off) and S1~S4 Section 2.4;Section 3.9.4;Section 4.
Sleeping States 7;Section 4.8.2.3;Section 4.8.3.2.1;
Section 7.3.1
6.0 1252 Incorrect Indentation in first page of Section 3 Section 3
6.0 1250 Support for Non-Volatile Memory Firmware Section 5.2;
Interfaces Section 5.2.25;;Section 6.1.1Section
5.6.6
6.0 1241 PCC and level interrupts for HW reduced Section 14.1.2;Section 14.1.5
platforms
6.0 1232 Deprecate Processor Keyword Table 5-47;Table 5-
53;Section 5.2.12.10;Section 5.2.12.
12;Section 8.4;
;Section 11.7.1;Section 11.7.2;
;Section 19.6.30;Section 19.6.109
Version 6.2 May 2017 ix

ACPI Specification

Revision
6.0 1231 Adjust max p-states Section 2.6
6.0 1230 Adding Support for Faster Thermal Sampling Table 6-194; Table 5-180
;Section 11.4.17
Section 11.4.22;Section 11.6
6.0 1229 Reserve IORT and support for ARM GICv3/4 Table 5-30; Table 5-46;
ITS in MADT Section 5.2.12.18
6.0 1206 Clarify _HID/_CID/_CLS usage model Section 6.1;Section 6.1.5;Section 6.
2x
6.0 1203 CPPC heterogeneous performance capabilities Section 8.4.7;Section 8.4.7.1.10;
6.0 1197: MADT Efficiency Classes and wording change Table 5-61
for MP Parking update
6.0 1176 FADT Hypervisor Vendor Identification Support Table 5-34
6.0 1171 Extend Address Ranger Types and UEFI Table 5-
Memory Type to comprehend persistent memory. 38;Section 6.4.3.5.4.1;Section 15;
Table 15-368,Section 15.4
Table 15-369
6.0 1152 Support for Platform-specific device reset Section 7.3.25 and Section 7.3.26 t;
Table 7-252 Table 7-253
6.0 1132 Generic Button(s) Abstraction Table 5-179; Add new Section 9.19
and following.
6.0 1125 ACPI Low Power Idle Table (LPIT) and _LPD Section 5.6.7;Section 5.6.8; Table 6-
proposal 194; Section 7.1;Section 7.2.5;
Section 7.4.2.1;Section 8.4;Section
8.4.1; Section 8.4.2;Section 8.4.2.1;
Section 8.4.3.1
5.1 Errata 1265 Missing word in figure 1-1 Figure 1-1
5.1 Errata 1252 Incorrect Indentation in first page of Section 3 Section 3
5.1 Errata 1243 Clarify whether or not the FACS is optional or Section 5.2.9; Table 5-34
not
5.1 Errata 1233 Fix broken Link and Example for _CLS Section 6.1.3
5.1 Errata 1228 Present GIC version in MADT table Table 5-63
5.1 Errata 1196 Table reference in Section 9.8.3.2 is Incorrect Section 9.9.3.2
5.1 Errata 1193 Parking protocol field link is incorrect Section 5.2.12.14;
Table 5-61
5.1 Errata 1190 Table references in Section 18 - ACPI Platform Table 18-372; Table 18-374
Error Interfaces (APEI) are incorrect
5.1 Errata 1189 _CCA attribute default value description does Section 6.2.17
not work for ARM systems
5.1 1181 MADT GICC table definition is wrong Table 5-61; 5.2.12.14
5.1 1180 FADT minor version byte length is wrong 5-34
5.1 1179 Errors in GTDT Section of 5.1 draft 5.2.24, 5.2.24.1;Tables 5-115, 5-
118, 5-121, 5-122
x May 2017 Version 6.2

ACPI Specification

Revision
5.1 1175 Bad section reference in ACPI 5.1 19.2.3
5.1 1164 Modifications to UEFI Forum ownership of PNP 6.1.5
ID and ACPI ID Registry
5.1 1161 Misc typos in draft documents 5.2.1.6; 5.2.16.4;5.2.24;5.2.12.14;
5.2.24.1.1; Table 5-74;Table 5-115-
116;Table 5-118-119; Table 5-121;
Table 5-61; 5-61 8.4.5.1, 8.4.5.1.2.3
Table 6-162, Table 8-229; RM
duplicates from 1123/
1130:8.4.5.1.31.1
5.1 1160 ACPI 5.1 draft corrections related to _DSD 6.2.5;Was Table 5-133 & 6-142
(SEE 1126 BELOW) now-->5-148 & 6-157
5.1 1157 Reserve ACPI Low Power Idle Table Signature Table 5-31
"LPIT"
5.1 1155 Updates to M1133 MADT Table 5-63, 5-64
5.1 1151 Bug in ASL example code PRT3 code example following
Figure 9-49
5.1 1149 GTDT changes for new GT Configurations 5.2.24, 5.24.1x
5.1 1136 Add a Notification Type for System Resource Table 5-119 Device Object
Affinity Change Event Notifications,
new 17.2.2
5.1 1134 FADT changes for PSCI Support on ARM Table 5-34, 5-36, New table 5-37
platforms
5.1 1135 PCC Doorbell Protocol for HW-Reduced 14.1.1, 14.1.2-4, 14.2.1-2, 14.3-4
Platforms
5.1 1133 MADT Updates for new GICs 5.2.12.15-17, Table 5-43, 5.2.12
table 5-45, 5-60, 5-61, 5-63, 5-66
5.1 1131 Per-device Cache-coherency Attribute 6.2, 6.2.16; Was Table 6-142--
>Table 6-153
5.1 1126 Add _DSD Predefined Object-- “DeviceSpecific Was Table 5-133 & 6-142 now-->5-
Data” properties 148 & 6-157
5.1 1123 CPPC Performance Feedback Counter Change Tables 5-126, 8.4.5, 8.4.5.1x
1130 CPPC2 8.4.5.1, 8.4.5.1.3.1-4; Was Table 8-
[overlapping/duplicate tickets] 218-->8-229
5.1 1116 Add x2APIC and GIC structure for _MAT 6.2.10
method
5.0 B 1145 Support GICs in proximity domain 5.2.16 5.2. new section 16.4 new
tables, 6.2.13 Table 5-65
5.0 B 1144 Fix the gap for Notify value description 5.6.6, new tables: Table 5-132, 5-
133
5.0 B 1142 Error Source Notifications 18.3.2.6.2, 18.4, Table 18-290
Version 6.2 May 2017 xi

ACPI Specification

Revision
5.0 B 1117 Move http://acpi.info/links.htm content to UEFI 1.10, 5.2.4, 5.2.22.3, 5.2.24,
Forum Website 5.6.7,9.8.3.2, 13, 13.2.2 A.2.4,
A.2.5; Tables 5-31, 5-60, 5-133
5.0 B 1113 Typos in ACPI 5.0a Table 6-184
5.0 B 1148 Inconsistent BIX object description/example Was Table 10-234-->10-250
5.0 B 1143 Typos in ACPI 5.0a 6.1.8, 8.4.1
5.0 B 1102 Clarify Use of GPE Block Devices in Hardware- 3.11.1, 4.1, 9.10
Reduced ACPI
5.0 B Mantis 1114 Lack of description on Bit 4 of _STA 6.3.7
5.0 A Jira 51 incorrect type information Table 19-322
5.0 A Jira 50 Misspelling of “management” 3.10
5.0 A Jira 49 Updated description of DerefOf to specify 19.5.29
behavior when attempt is made to de-reference a
reference (via Index) to a NULL (empty) package
element.
5.0 A Jira 48 Text changes to change PM Timer from 4.8.1.4, 4.8.2.1, 4.8.3.3, 5.2.9
required to optional
5.0 A Jira 46 Figure 5-29 is a printer killer Fig 5-29
5.0 A Jira 45 Typos in Figure 5-30 Fig 5-30
5.0 A Jira 44 Link issues in table 5-133 Table 5-133
5.0 A Jira 43 Invalid AddressSpaced keywords in example 6.5.4
ASL code, orphan _REG
5.0 A Jira 42 Serious bug in ASL example code for _OSC 6.2.10.4
5.0 A Jira 41 Fix problems with PCC address space 14.5
description
5.0 A Jira 40 Issues with _GRT and _SRT Buffer 9.18.3, 9.18.4
description
5.0 A Jira 39 Clarification needed for _CST Table 8-206
5.0 A Jira 38 Incorrect field name in "Generic Register 6.4.3.7
Descriptor".
5.0 A Jira 37 Clarifications for _CPC method 8.4.5.1.2.1-2
5.0 A Jira 36 Restore legality of module-level executable 19.1.3
AML code.
5.0 A Jira 35 ASL grammar: "UserTerm" is confusing 19.1
5.0 A Jira 34 Description of _GTM has a bad line with very 9.8.2.1.1
large font
5.0 A Jira 33 Missing information in _CPC description 8.4.5.1
5.0 A Jira3 2 Error in description of _REG method 6.5.4
5.0 A Jira 31 Clarify length field for Serial resource 6.4.3.8.2
descriptor Table 6-190
5.0 A Jira 30 Argument descriptions in incorrect order for 19.5.41,19.5.101
resource descriptors
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Revision
5.0 A Jira 29 Issues with memory descriptors (grammar and 19.1, 19.5
macros)
5.0 A Jira 28 Problems with ASL grammar entry for 19.1.8
DWordMemory
5.0 A Jira 27 Problems with Unicode description for _MLS 6.1.7
method
5.0 A Jira 26 Incorrect grammar for "32-bits" and "64-bits" throughout
5.0 A Jira 25 Incorrect table reference in 19.2.5.4 19.2.5.4
5.0 A Jira 24 Resource Descriptor tables -- formatting 6.4
issues
5.0 A Jira 23 Interrupt Descriptors: Wake bit should be split 6.4
from Share bit
5.0 A Jira 22 ASL grammar for ObjectType operator is 19.1.6
incorrect
5.0 A Jira 21 ASL grammar is missing description of type 6 19.1.5
opcodes
5.0 A Jira 20 Problems with table 5-31 (reserved ACPI table Table 5-31
signatures)
5.0 A Jira 19 Clarify description of _BQC method B.5.4
5.0 A Jira 18 Fix for EC OpRegion availability example 5.2.15
5.0 A Jira 17 Clarify meaning of BGRT status field Table 5-97
5.0 A Jira 16 Correction to _DSM example 9.14.1
5.0 A Jira 15 Clarify _DSM backward compatibility 9.15.1
requirement and example
5.0 A Jira 14 Description of _CPC is missing definition of 8.4.5.1
unsupported optional registers
5.0 A Jira 13 Incorrect _PLD name expansion Table 5-133, 6.1.8
5.0 A Jira 12 PLD description needs clarification 6.1.8
5.0 A Jira 11 Errata forwarded from HP 5.2.24,5.6.5.3
5.0 A Jira 10 More issues with ACPI table 5-133 Table 5-133
5.0 A Jira 7 Error in QWordIO, ExtendedIO descriptions 19.5.41,19.5.101
5.0 A Jira 6 Appendix A is now misnamed in ACPI 5.0 Appendix A
5.0 A Jira 5 PARTIAL--Need group agreement--Method 7.3, 7.3.3, 16.1, 16.1.6-7, fig. 7-204
_GTS and _BFS are unused, should be removed
from ACPI spec.
5.0 A Jira 4 Table 5-133 - issues with _Sx methods Table 5-133
5.0 A Jira 3 Issues with predefined names table (table 5- Table 5-133
133)
5.0 A Jira 2 Description of new sleep control register Table 4-24
incorrect
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Revision
5.0 A Jira 1 SystemCMOS keyword inconsistencies Table 5-114, 5.5.2.4.1, 6.5.4
19.,5.96, 9.15.1 - 2, 19.5.96,
20.2.5.2
5.0 Ptec-002 5.2.6
Dec. 2, 2011
5.0 MSFT-020 Enumeration Power Controls 7.2.7, 7.2.12,
5.0 MSFT-019 GTDT table 5.2.24
5.0 MSFT_0018 Locking Targets from AML 5.7.5
5.0 MSFT-0017 PLD clarification for handhelf form 5.1.8
factors
5.0 MSFT-0016 Extended GPIO-signaled Event Numbers 5.6.5.3
5.0 MSFT-0015 (0.1) D3 Cold Errata 7.2.1, 7.2.18 through 7.2.22
5.0 MSFT-0014 5.2.23
5.0 MSFT-0013_ADR for SIO 6.2
5.0 MSFT-0012 ROM (Get ROM Data) 5.6.6, 9.16
MSFT-010 Reserved Table Signatures 5.2.6
5.0 MSFT-0009 (0.4)TimeAndAlarmDevice Modification 9.18
5.0 MSFT-0008 Collaborative Processor Performance 8.4.5
Control
5.0 MSFT-0007 Platform Communications Channel Ch 14 (new)
added (new ch. 14)
5.0 MSFT-0007-0008 - (new) 14
Platform_Communication_Channel_and_CPPC_cha
nges
5.0 MSFT-0006 SPB Abstraction 3.11.3, 5.5.2.4.5.x, 6.4.3.8.2,
6.5.8,18.1.3, 18.1.6, 18.1.7, 18.5.44,
18.5x,19.2.5.2
5.0 MSFT-0005 GPIO Abstraction 5.5.2.4.x,5.6, 5.6.5.x, 6.4.3, 6.3.8.x,
18.5.51, 18.5.52, 18.5.89
5.0 MSFT-0004 (0.2) Fixed DMA Descriptor 6.4.2.9, 18.5.50
5.0 MSFT-0003 Device identification 6.1, 6.1.3, 6.1.5, 6.1.6, 6.1.9
5.0 MSFT-0002 Interrupt Descriptors for Generic Interrupt 5.2.11, 5.2.14-15
Controller
5.0 MSFT-0001 HW-reduced ACPI 3.11.x, 4, 4.1.x, 4.3.7, 5.2.9, 5.2.9.1,
6.4.2.1, 6.4.3.6, 7.2.11, 7.3.4, 9.6,
12, 12.1, 12.6, 12.11, 12.11.1, 15,
15.1.x, 15.3, 15.3.1.x, 18.5.55,
18.5.57
5.0 INTC-0014 Remove a line (reference) not needed A.2.3
5.0 INTC-0013
5.0 INTC-0012 fix AML opcode table 19.3
5.0 INTC-0011 fix table offsets 18.6.x (tables)
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Revision
5.0 INTC-0010 Update Constant Descriptions 18.5.88, 18.5.89,18.5.104,18.5.136
5.0 INTC0009 RASF 5.2.20.x
5.0 INTC-008 5.2.6
5.0 INTC-006 Fixed Example 6.2.10.4
5.0 INTC-005 Update Package Description 18.5.92
5.0 INTC-004 Table Definition Language 20, 21.x
5.0 INTC-003 MPST 6.1, 6.1.3, 6.1.5,6.1.6, 6.1.9
5.0 INTC-002 EINJ 17.6.1, 17.6.3, 17.6.5
5.0 INTC-001 (0.8) Firmware Performance Data Table 5.2.20.4, 5.2.20.6
(FPDT)
5.0 INTC-001 Firmware Performance Data Table (FPDT) 5.2.19- 5.2.20.6
(0.4)
5.0 HP-0002 Additional Hardware Error Notification 18.3.2.7
Types
5.0 HP-0001 (0.2) BMC Requested Graceful Shutdown 5.6.5, 6.3.5
5.0 ACPI4.0 _DSM function 0 clarification 9.14.1
5.0 AMD-002 0.3 ROM (Get ROM Data) B.3.3
4.0a Errata corrected and clarifications added.
Apr. 2010 Removed text concerning government requirement of 2.2
mechanical off 5.2.6
Clarified URL update document, Corrected section
references for APIC, SLIT, SRAT in Table 5-5, 5.2.12.4
Update URLs and reformated Table 5-6 5.2.18
Version 6.2 May 2017 xv

ACPI Specification

Revision
Removed “TODO” note. Updated example 10.4.1
Repaired diagram that would not display properly
Figure 15-1 10.5
Corrected error conditions from “fatal” to “corrected 15.1
Corrected several incorrect section references, 17.1
Clarified number of Generic Error Data Entry 17.3.1
structures is >=1 (not Zero)
Clarified number of Generic Error Data Entry 17.3.2.6.1
structures is >=1 (not Zero) 17.3.2.6.2
Added new section clarifying SCI notification for 17.4
generic error sources 17.5.1.1
Added new section describing Firmware First error 17.6.1
handling 17.6.3
Clarified purpose of the codes Table 17-17
Added reference to table of COMMAND_STATUS 18.1.8
codes Table 17-23 18.5.44,89
Clarified purpose of the command status codes in 18.5.101
Table 17-27 and the error type definitions in Table 17-
28
Added _ATT resource descriptor field name
Clarified rules for Buffer vs. Integer return types from
a field unit
Corrected section/page reference
4.0 Major specification revision. Clock Domains, x2APIC
June 2009 Support, Logical Processor Idling, Corrected Platform
Error Polling Table, Maximum System Characteristics
Table, Power Metering and Budgeting, IPMI
Operation Region, USB3 Support in _PLD, Re-
evaluation of _PPC acknowledgement via _OST,
Thermal Model Enhancements, _OSC at \_SB, Wake
Alarm Device, Battery Related Extensions, Memory
Bandwidth Monitoring and Reporting, ACPI Hardware
Error Interfaces, D3hot.
3.0b Errata corrected and clarifications added.
Oct. 2006
3.0a Errata corrected and clarifications added.
Dec. 2005
3.0  Major specification revision. General configuration
Sept. 2004 enhancements. Inter-Processor power, performance,
and throttling state dependency support added.
Support for > 256 processors added. NUMA
Distancing support added. PCI Express support
added. SATA support added. Ambient Light Sensor
and User Presence device support added. Thermal
model extended beyond processor-centric support.
2.0c Errata corrected and clarifications added.
Aug. 2003
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Revision
2.0b Errata corrected and clarifications added.
Oct. 2002
2.0a Errata corrected and clarifications added. ACPI 2.0
Mar. 2002 Errata Document Revision 1.0 through 1.5 integrated.
ACPI 2.0 Errata corrected and clarifications added.
Errata Doc.
Rev. 1.5
Errata Doc.
Rev. 1.4
Errata Doc.
Rev. 1.3
Errata Doc.
Rev. 1.2
Errata Doc.
Rev. 1.1
Errata Doc.
Rev. 1.0
2.0 Major specification revision. 64-bit addressing support
Aug. 2000 added. Processor and device performance state
support added. Numerous multiprocessor workstation
and server-related enhancements. Consistency and
readability enhancements throughout.
1.0b Errata corrected and clarifications added. New
Feb. 1999 interfaces added.
1.0a Errata corrected and clarifications added. New
Jul. 1998 interfaces added.
1.0 Original Release.
Dec. 1996
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Contents
Revision History ................................................................................................. iii

Contents ............................................................................................................ xix
Tables ........................................................................................................... xxxvii
Figures............................................................................................................. xlvii
Overview.............................................................................................................. 1
1 Introduction...................................................................................................... 9
1.1 Principal Goals.................................................................................................................. 9
1.2 Power Management Rationale........................................................................................ 10
1.3 Legacy Support............................................................................................................... 11
1.4 OEM Implementation Strategy ........................................................................................ 11
1.5 Power and Sleep Buttons ............................................................................................... 12
1.6 ACPI Specification and the Structure of ACPI ................................................................ 12
1.7 OS and Platform Compliance ......................................................................................... 14
1.7.1 Platform Implementations of ACPI-defined Interfaces ........................................ 14
1.7.2 OSPM Implementations ...................................................................................... 18
1.7.3 OS Requirements................................................................................................ 19
1.8 Target Audience.............................................................................................................. 19
1.9 Document Organization .................................................................................................. 20
1.9.1 ACPI Introduction and Overview ......................................................................... 20
1.9.2 Programming Models .......................................................................................... 21
1.9.3 Implementation Details........................................................................................ 21
1.9.4 Technical Reference ........................................................................................... 22
1.10 Related Documents ...................................................................................................... 23
2 Definition of Terms........................................................................................ 25
2.1 General ACPI Terminology ............................................................................................. 25
2.2 Global System State Definitions ..................................................................................... 35
2.3 Device Power State Definitions....................................................................................... 37
2.3.1 Device Performance States ............................................................................... 39
2.4 Sleeping and Soft-off State Definitions ........................................................................... 39
2.5 Processor Power State Definitions ................................................................................. 40
2.6 Device and Processor Performance State Definitions .................................................... 41
3 ACPI Concepts................................................................................................ 43
3.1 System Power Management........................................................................................... 45
3.2 Power States................................................................................................................... 45
3.2.1 Power Button....................................................................................................... 46
3.2.2 Platform Power Management Characteristics..................................................... 46
3.3 Device Power Management............................................................................................ 48
3.3.1 Device Power Management Model .................................................................... 48
3.3.2 Power Management Standards........................................................................... 49
3.3.3 Device Power States........................................................................................... 49
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3.3.4 Device Power State Definitions........................................................................... 50

3.4 Controlling Device Power................................................................................................ 50
3.4.1 Getting Device Power Capabilities...................................................................... 51
3.4.2 Setting Device Power States............................................................................... 51
3.4.3 Getting Device Power Status .............................................................................. 51
3.4.4 Waking the System ............................................................................................. 52
3.4.5 Example: Modem Device Power Management ................................................... 52
3.5 Processor Power Management....................................................................................... 55
3.6 Device and Processor Performance States .................................................................... 56
3.7 Configuration and “Plug and Play” .................................................................................. 56
3.7.1 Device Configuration Example: Configuring the Modem .................................... 57
3.7.2 NUMA Nodes ...................................................................................................... 57
3.8 System Events ................................................................................................................ 57
3.9 Battery Management....................................................................................................... 58
3.9.1 Battery Communications ..................................................................................... 58
3.9.2 Battery Capacity.................................................................................................. 59
3.9.3 Battery Gas Gauge ............................................................................................. 59
3.9.4 Low Battery Levels.............................................................................................. 60
3.9.5 Battery Calibration............................................................................................... 61
3.10 Thermal Management................................................................................................... 62
3.10.1 Active and Passive Cooling Modes................................................................... 63
3.10.2 Performance vs. Energy Conservation ............................................................. 64
3.10.3 Acoustics (Noise) .............................................................................................. 64
3.10.4 Multiple Thermal Zones..................................................................................... 64
3.11 Flexible Platform Architecture Support ......................................................................... 64
3.11.1 Hardware-reduced ACPI ................................................................................... 64
3.11.2 Low-Power Idle ................................................................................................. 65
3.11.3 Connection Resources...................................................................................... 65
4 ACPI Hardware Specification ....................................................................... 69
4.1 Hardware-Reduced ACPI ............................................................................................... 69
4.1.1 Hardware-Reduced Events ................................................................................. 70
4.2 Fixed Hardware Programming Model ............................................................................. 70
4.3 Generic Hardware Programming Model ......................................................................... 71
4.4 Diagram Legends............................................................................................................ 73
4.5 Register Bit Notation ....................................................................................................... 74
4.6 The ACPI Hardware Model ............................................................................................ 74
4.6.1 Hardware Reserved Bits ..................................................................................... 79
4.6.2 Hardware Ignored Bits ........................................................................................ 79
4.6.3 Hardware Write-Only Bits.................................................................................... 79
4.6.4 Cross Device Dependencies............................................................................... 79
4.7 ACPI Hardware Features ................................................................................................ 80
4.8 ACPI Register Model ...................................................................................................... 81
4.8.1 ACPI Register Summary ..................................................................................... 84
4.8.2 Fixed Hardware Features.................................................................................... 87
4.8.3 Fixed Hardware Registers................................................................................... 97
4.8.4 Generic Hardware Registers............................................................................. 106
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5 ACPI Software Programming Model .......................................................... 113

5.1 Overview of the System Description Table Architecture .............................................. 113
5.1.1 Address Space Translation ............................................................................... 116
5.2 ACPI System Description Tables.................................................................................. 116
5.2.1 Reserved Bits and Fields .................................................................................. 117
5.2.2 Compatibility...................................................................................................... 118
5.2.3 Address Format................................................................................................. 118
5.2.4 Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs).............................................................. 120
5.2.5 Root System Description Pointer (RSDP)......................................................... 121
5.2.6 System Description Table Header .................................................................... 122
5.2.7 Root System Description Table (RSDT) ........................................................... 127
5.2.8 Extended System Description Table (XSDT) .................................................... 128
5.2.9 Fixed ACPI Description Table (FADT) .............................................................. 128
5.2.10 Firmware ACPI Control Structure (FACS)....................................................... 144
5.2.11 Definition Blocks.............................................................................................. 149
5.2.12 Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT)........................................................ 152
5.2.13 Global System Interrupts................................................................................. 168
5.2.14 Smart Battery Table (SBST) ........................................................................... 169
5.2.15 Embedded Controller Boot Resources Table (ECDT) .................................... 170
5.2.16 System Resource Affinity Table (SRAT) ......................................................... 172
5.2.17 System Locality Distance Information Table (SLIT) ........................................ 176
5.2.18 Corrected Platform Error Polling Table (CPEP) .............................................. 177
5.2.19 Maximum System Characteristics Table (MSCT) ........................................... 179
5.2.20 ACPI RAS FeatureTable (RASF) .................................................................... 180
5.2.21 Memory Power State Table (MPST) ............................................................... 185
5.2.22 Boot Graphics Resource Table (BGRT).......................................................... 201
5.2.23 Firmware Performance Data Table (FPDT) .................................................... 204
5.2.24 Generic Timer Description Table (GTDT) ....................................................... 210
5.2.25 NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table (NFIT) ..................................................... 215
5.2.26 Secure Devices (SDEV) ACPI Table .............................................................. 230
5.2.27 Heterogeneous Memory Attribute Table (HMAT)............................................ 234
5.2.28 Platform Debug Trigger Table (PDTT) ............................................................ 242
5.2.29 Processor Properties Topology Table (PPTT) ................................................ 246
5.3 ACPI Namespace ........................................................................................................ 251
5.3.1 Predefined Root Namespaces .......................................................................... 254
5.3.2 Objects .............................................................................................................. 254
5.4 Definition Block Encoding ............................................................................................. 254
5.4.1 AML Encoding................................................................................................... 255
5.4.2 Definition Block Loading.................................................................................... 255
5.5 Control Methods and the ACPI Source Language (ASL).............................................. 257
5.5.1 ASL Statements ................................................................................................ 257
5.5.2 Control Method Execution................................................................................. 258
5.6 ACPI Event Programming Model .................................................................................. 280
5.6.1 ACPI Event Programming Model Components................................................ 281
5.6.2 Types of ACPI Events ....................................................................................... 282
5.6.3 Fixed Event Handling ........................................................................................ 282
5.6.4 General-Purpose Event Handling ..................................................................... 283
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5.6.5 GPIO-signaled ACPI Events ............................................................................. 287

5.6.6 Device Object Notifications ............................................................................... 289
5.6.7 Device Class-Specific Objects .......................................................................... 295
5.6.8 Predefined ACPI Names for Objects, Methods, and Resources....................... 297
5.6.9 Interrupt-signaled ACPI events ........................................................................ 309
5.6.10 Managing a Wake Event Using Device _PRW Objects ................................. 311
5.7 Predefined Objects ....................................................................................................... 312
5.7.1 \_GL (Global Lock Mutex) ................................................................................. 312
5.7.2 _OSI (Operating System Interfaces) ................................................................ 312
5.7.3 }\_OS (OS Name Object) .................................................................................. 315
5.7.4 \_REV (Revision Data Object)........................................................................... 316
5.7.5 _DLM (DeviceLock Mutex)................................................................................ 316
5.8 System Configuration Objects ...................................................................................... 318
5.8.1 _PIC Method ..................................................................................................... 318
6 Device Configuration .................................................................................. 321
6.1 Device Identification Objects......................................................................................... 321
6.1.1 _ADR (Address) ................................................................................................ 322
6.1.2 _CID (Compatible ID)........................................................................................ 323
6.1.3 _CLS (Class Code) ........................................................................................... 324
6.1.4 _DDN (DOS Device Name)............................................................................... 325
6.1.5 _HID (Hardware ID) .......................................................................................... 325
6.1.6 _HRV (Hardware Revision)............................................................................... 325
6.1.7 _MLS (Multiple Language String)...................................................................... 326
6.1.8 _PLD (Physical Location of Device).................................................................. 327
6.1.9 _SUB................................................................................................................. 334
6.1.10 _STR (String) .................................................................................................. 335
6.1.11 _SUN (Slot User Number)............................................................................... 335
6.1.12 _UID (Unique ID)............................................................................................. 336
6.2 Device Configuration Objects ....................................................................................... 336
6.2.1 _CDM (Clock Domain) ...................................................................................... 337
6.2.2 _CRS (Current Resource Settings)................................................................... 338
6.2.3 _DIS (Disable)................................................................................................... 338
6.2.4 _DMA (Direct Memory Access)......................................................................... 339
6.2.5 _DSD (Device Specific Data) ............................................................................ 340
6.2.6 _FIX (Fixed Register Resource Provider) ......................................................... 342
6.2.7 _GSB (Global System Interrupt Base) .............................................................. 344
6.2.8 _HPP (Hot Plug Parameters) ............................................................................ 345
6.2.9 _HPX (Hot Plug Parameter Extensions) ........................................................... 347
6.2.10 _MAT (Multiple APIC Table Entry) .................................................................. 352
6.2.11 _OSC (Operating System Capabilities)........................................................... 352
6.2.12 _PRS (Possible Resource Settings) ............................................................... 362
6.2.13 _PRT (PCI Routing Table) .............................................................................. 362
6.2.14 _PXM (Proximity) ............................................................................................ 364
6.2.15 _SLI (System Locality Information) ................................................................. 365
6.2.16 _SRS (Set Resource Settings)........................................................................ 368
6.2.17 _CCA (Cache Coherency Attribute) ................................................................ 368
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6.2.18 _HMA(Heterogeneous Memory Attributes) ..................................................... 370

6.3 Device Insertion, Removal, and Status Objects............................................................ 370
6.3.1 _EDL (Eject Device List) ................................................................................... 372
6.3.2 _EJD (Ejection Dependent Device)................................................................... 373
6.3.3 _EJx (Eject)....................................................................................................... 374
6.3.4 _LCK (Lock) ...................................................................................................... 375
6.3.5 _OST (OSPM Status Indication) ....................................................................... 375
6.3.6 _RMV (Remove) ............................................................................................... 381
6.3.7 _STA (Status).................................................................................................... 381
6.4 Resource Data Types for ACPI..................................................................................... 382
6.4.1 ASL Macros for Resource Descriptors.............................................................. 382
6.4.2 Small Resource Data Type ............................................................................... 382
6.4.3 Large Resource Data Type ............................................................................... 389
6.5 Other Objects and Control Methods ............................................................................. 430
6.5.1 _INI (Init) ........................................................................................................... 430
6.5.2 _DCK (Dock) ..................................................................................................... 431
6.5.3 _BDN (BIOS Dock Name)................................................................................. 431
6.5.4 _REG (Region).................................................................................................. 432
6.5.5 _BBN (Base Bus Number) ................................................................................ 434
6.5.6 _SEG (Segment)............................................................................................... 434
6.5.7 _GLK (Global Lock)........................................................................................... 435
6.5.8 _DEP (Operation Region Dependencies) ......................................................... 436
6.5.9 _FIT (Firmware Interface Table) ....................................................................... 436
6.5.10 NVDIMM Label Methods ................................................................................. 437
7 Power and Performance Management ...................................................... 441
7.1 Power Resource Objects and the Power Management Models ................................... 441
7.2 Declaring a Power Resource Object............................................................................. 443
7.2.1 Defined Methods for a Power Resource ........................................................... 444
7.2.2 _OFF ................................................................................................................. 444
7.2.3 _ON................................................................................................................... 445
7.2.4 _STA (Status).................................................................................................... 445
7.2.5 Passive Power Resources ................................................................................ 445
7.3 Device Power Management Objects............................................................................. 446
7.3.1 _DSW (Device Sleep Wake) ............................................................................. 447
7.3.2 _PS0 (Power State 0) ....................................................................................... 448
7.3.3 _PS1 (Power State 1) ....................................................................................... 448
7.3.4 _PS2 (Power State 2) ....................................................................................... 448
7.3.5 _PS3 (Power State 3) ....................................................................................... 449
7.3.6 _PSC (Power State Current)............................................................................. 449
7.3.7 _PSE (Power State for Enumeration) ............................................................... 449
7.3.8 _PR0 (Power Resources for D0)....................................................................... 450
7.3.9 _PR1 (Power Resources for D1)....................................................................... 450
7.3.10 _PR2 (Power Resources for D2)..................................................................... 451
7.3.11 _PR3 (Power Resources for D3hot)................................................................ 451
7.3.12 _PRE (Power Resources for Enumeration) .................................................... 452
7.3.13 _PRW (Power Resources for Wake)............................................................... 452
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7.3.14 _PSW (Power State Wake)............................................................................. 454

7.3.15 _IRC (In Rush Current) ................................................................................... 454
7.3.16 _S1D (S1 Device State) .................................................................................. 455
7.3.17 _S2D (S2 Device State) .................................................................................. 455
7.3.18 _S3D (S3 Device State) .................................................................................. 456
7.3.19 _S4D (S4 Device State) .................................................................................. 457
7.3.20 _S0W (S0 Device Wake State) ....................................................................... 457
7.3.25 _RST (Device Reset) ...................................................................................... 459
7.3.26 _PRR (Power Resource for Reset) ................................................................. 459
7.4 OEM-Supplied System-Level Control Methods ............................................................ 460
7.4.1 \_PTS (Prepare To Sleep)................................................................................. 460
7.4.2 System \_Sx states ........................................................................................... 461
7.4.3 _SWS (System Wake Source) .......................................................................... 466
7.4.4 \_TTS (Transition To State)............................................................................... 467
7.4.5 \_WAK (System Wake) ..................................................................................... 467
7.5 OSPM usage of _PTS, _TTS, and _WAK..................................................................... 468
8 Processor Configuration and Control ....................................................... 471
8.1 Processor Power States ............................................................................................... 471
8.1.1 Processor Power State C0................................................................................ 473
8.1.5 Additional Processor Power States................................................................... 476
8.2 Flushing Caches ........................................................................................................... 477
8.3 Power, Performance, and Throttling State Dependencies ............................................ 478
8.4 Declaring Processors ................................................................................................. 479
8.4.1 _PDC (Processor Driver Capabilities)............................................................... 479
8.4.2 Processor Power State Control......................................................................... 481
8.4.3 Processor Hierarchy.......................................................................................... 486
8.4.4 Lower Power Idle States ................................................................................... 488
8.4.5 Processor Throttling Controls............................................................................ 512
8.4.6 Processor Performance Control........................................................................ 520
8.4.7 Collaborative Processor Performance Control.................................................. 527
8.4.8 _PPE (Polling for Platform Errors) .................................................................... 547
8.5 Processor Aggregator Device ....................................................................................... 547
8.5.1 Logical Processor Idling .................................................................................... 547
8.5.2 OSPM _OST Evaluation ................................................................................... 548
9 ACPI-Defined Devices and Device-Specific Objects................................ 551
9.1 Device Object Name Collision ...................................................................................... 551
9.1.1 _DSM (Device Specific Method) ....................................................................... 551
9.2 \_SI System Indicators .................................................................................................. 554
9.2.1 _SST (System Status)....................................................................................... 554
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9.2.2 _MSG (Message) .............................................................................................. 555

9.2.3 _BLT (Battery Level Threshold) ........................................................................ 555
9.3 Ambient Light Sensor Device........................................................................................ 556
9.3.1 Overview ........................................................................................................... 556
9.3.2 _ALI (Ambient Light Illuminance) ...................................................................... 557
9.3.3 _ALT (Ambient Light Temperature)................................................................... 557
9.3.4 _ALC (Ambient Light Color Chromaticity) ......................................................... 558
9.3.5 _ALR (Ambient Light Response)....................................................................... 558
9.3.6 _ALP (Ambient Light Polling) ............................................................................ 563
9.3.7 Ambient Light Sensor Events............................................................................ 563
9.3.8 Relationship to Backlight Control Methods ....................................................... 564
9.4 Battery Device............................................................................................................... 564
9.5 Control Method Lid Device............................................................................................ 564
9.5.1 _LID................................................................................................................... 564
9.6 Control Method Power and Sleep Button Devices ........................................................ 565
9.7 Embedded Controller Device ........................................................................................ 565
9.8 Generic Container Device............................................................................................. 565
9.9 ATA Controller Devices................................................................................................. 566
9.9.1 Objects for Both ATA and SATA Controllers..................................................... 566
9.9.2 IDE Controller Device........................................................................................ 567
9.9.3 Serial ATA (SATA) Controller Device................................................................ 570
9.10 Floppy Controller Device Objects ............................................................................... 572
9.10.1 _FDE (Floppy Disk Enumerate) ...................................................................... 572
9.10.2 _FDI (Floppy Disk Information) ....................................................................... 573
9.10.3 _FDM (Floppy Disk Drive Mode)..................................................................... 574
9.11 GPE Block Device....................................................................................................... 574
9.11.1 Matching Control Methods for Events in a GPE Block Device........................ 575
9.12 Module Device ............................................................................................................ 576
9.13 Memory Devices ......................................................................................................... 579
9.13.1 Address Decoding........................................................................................... 579
9.13.2 Memory Bandwidth Monitoring and Reporting ................................................ 579
9.13.3 _OSC Definition for Memory Device ............................................................... 581
9.13.4 Example: Memory Device ............................................................................... 582
9.14 _UPC (USB Port Capabilities) .................................................................................... 582
9.14.1 USB 2.0 Host Controllers and _UPC and _PLD ............................................. 587
9.15 PC/AT RTC/CMOS Devices ....................................................................................... 589
9.15.1 PC/AT-compatible RTC/CMOS Devices (PNP0B00)...................................... 589
9.15.3 Dallas Semiconductor-compatible RTC/CMOS Devices (PNP0B02) ............. 591
9.16 User Presence Detection Device ................................................................................ 591
9.16.1 _UPD (User Presence Detect) ........................................................................ 592
9.16.2 _UPP (User Presence Polling)........................................................................ 592
9.16.3 User Presence Sensor Events ........................................................................ 593
9.17 I/O APIC Device.......................................................................................................... 593
9.18 Time and Alarm Device............................................................................................... 593
9.18.2 _GCP (Get Capability) .................................................................................... 597
9.18.3 _GRT (Get Real Time) .................................................................................... 598
9.18.4 _SRT (Set Real Time)..................................................................................... 598
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9.18.5 _GWS (Get Wake alarm status)...................................................................... 600

9.18.6 _CWS (Clear Wake alarm status) ................................................................... 600
9.18.7 _STP (Set Expired Timer Wake Policy) .......................................................... 600
9.18.8 _STV (Set Timer Value) .................................................................................. 601
9.18.9 _TIP (Expired Timer Wake Policy) .................................................................. 601
9.18.10 _TIV (Timer Values) ...................................................................................... 602
9.18.11 ACPI Wakeup Alarm Events ......................................................................... 602
9.18.12 Relationship to Real Time Clock Alarm ....................................................... 602
9.18.13 Time and Alarm device as a replacement to the RTC .................................. 602
9.18.14 Relationship to UEFI time source.................................................................. 602
9.18.15 Example ASL code ....................................................................................... 603
9.19 Generic Buttons Device .............................................................................................. 607
9.19.1 Button Interrupts.............................................................................................. 607
9.19.2 Button Usages and Collections ....................................................................... 608
9.19.3 Example .......................................................................................................... 610
9.20 NVDIMM Devices........................................................................................................ 611
9.20.1 Overview ......................................................................................................... 611
9.20.2 NVDIMM Root Device ..................................................................................... 611
9.20.3 NVDIMM Device.............................................................................................. 611
9.20.4 Example .......................................................................................................... 612
9.20.5 Loading NVDIMM drivers ................................................................................ 612
9.20.6 Hot Plug Support............................................................................................ 613
9.20.7 NVDIMM Root Device _DSMs ....................................................................... 615
10 Power Source and Power Meter Devices ................................................ 629
10.1 Smart Battery Subsystems ......................................................................................... 629
10.1.1 ACPI Smart Battery Status Change Notification Requirements...................... 632
10.1.2 Smart Battery Objects ..................................................................................... 633
10.1.3 _SBS (Smart Battery Subsystem) .................................................................. 634
10.2 Control Method Batteries ............................................................................................ 636
10.2.1 Battery Events................................................................................................. 637
10.2.2 Battery Control Methods ................................................................................. 637
10.3 AC Adapters and Power Source Objects .................................................................... 651
10.3.1 _PSR (Power Source)..................................................................................... 652
10.3.2 _PCL (Power Consumer List) ......................................................................... 652
10.3.3 _PIF (Power Source Information).................................................................... 652
10.3.4 _PRL (Power Source Redundancy List) ......................................................... 653
10.4 Power Meters.............................................................................................................. 654
10.4.1 _PMC (Power Meter Capabilities)................................................................... 654
10.4.2 _PTP (Power Trip Points) ............................................................................... 656
10.4.3 _PMM (Power Meter Measurement) ............................................................... 657
10.4.4 _PAI (Power Averaging Interval)..................................................................... 657
10.4.5 _GAI (Get Averaging Interval)......................................................................... 657
10.4.6 _SHL (Set Hardware Limit) ............................................................................. 658
10.4.7 _GHL (Get Hardware Limit) ............................................................................ 658
10.4.8 _PMD (Power Metered Devices)..................................................................... 659
10.5 Wireless Power Controllers......................................................................................... 659
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10.5.1 Wireless Power Calibration Device ................................................................. 660

10.5.2 Wireless Power Calibration (_WPC) ............................................................... 660
10.5.3 Wireless Power Polling (_WPP)...................................................................... 660
10.6 Wireless Power Calibration Event .............................................................................. 660
10.7 Example: Power Source and Power Meter Namespace ............................................. 661
11 Thermal Management................................................................................ 663
11.1 Thermal Control .......................................................................................................... 663
11.1.1 Active, Passive, and Critical Policies .............................................................. 664
11.1.2 Dynamically Changing Cooling Temperature Trip Points ............................... 665
11.1.3 Detecting Temperature Changes .................................................................... 666
11.1.4 Active Cooling ................................................................................................ 668
11.1.5 Passive Cooling .............................................................................................. 669
11.1.6 Critical Shutdown ............................................................................................ 670
11.2 Cooling Preferences .................................................................................................. 671
11.2.1 Evaluating Thermal Device Lists..................................................................... 672
11.2.2 Evaluating Device Thermal Relationship Information ..................................... 673
11.3 Fan Device.................................................................................................................. 673
11.3.1 Fan Objects..................................................................................................... 674
11.4 Thermal Objects.......................................................................................................... 677
11.4.1 _ACx (Active Cooling) ..................................................................................... 678
11.4.2 _ALx (Active List) ............................................................................................ 679
11.4.3 _ART (Active Cooling Relationship Table)...................................................... 679
11.4.4 _CRT (Critical Temperature)........................................................................... 682
11.4.5 _CR3 (Warm/Standby Temperature) .............................................................. 682
11.4.6 _DTI (Device Temperature Indication) ............................................................ 682
11.4.7 _HOT (Hot Temperature) ................................................................................ 683
11.4.8 _MTL (Minimum Throttle Limit) ....................................................................... 683
11.4.9 _NTT (Notification Temperature Threshold) ................................................... 683
11.4.10 _PSL (Passive List)....................................................................................... 684
11.4.11 _PSV (Passive) ............................................................................................. 684
11.4.12 _RTV (Relative Temperature Values) ........................................................... 684
11.4.13 _SCP (Set Cooling Policy) ............................................................................ 685
11.4.14 _STR (String) ................................................................................................ 688
11.4.15 _TC1 (Thermal Constant 1) .......................................................................... 688
11.4.16 _TC2 (Thermal Constant 2) .......................................................................... 688
11.4.17 _TFP (Thermal fast Sampling Period) .......................................................... 689
11.4.18 _TMP (Temperature)..................................................................................... 689
11.4.19 _TPT (Trip Point Temperature) ..................................................................... 689
11.4.20 _TRT (Thermal Relationship Table).............................................................. 690
11.4.21 _TSN (Thermal Sensor Device) .................................................................... 691
11.4.22 _TSP (Thermal Sampling Period) ................................................................. 691
11.4.23 _TST (Temperature Sensor Threshold) ........................................................ 691
11.4.24 _TZD (Thermal Zone Devices)...................................................................... 692
11.4.25 _TZM (Thermal Zone Member)..................................................................... 692
11.4.26 _TZP (Thermal Zone Polling)........................................................................ 692
11.5 Native OS Device Driver Thermal Interfaces .............................................................. 693
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11.6 Thermal Zone Interface Requirements ....................................................................... 693

11.7 Thermal Zone Examples ............................................................................................. 694
11.7.1 Example: The Basic Thermal Zone................................................................. 694
11.7.2 Example: Multiple-Speed Fans ....................................................................... 696
11.7.3 Example: Thermal Zone with Multiple Devices ............................................... 698
12 ACPI Embedded Controller Interface Specification ............................... 705
12.1 Embedded Controller Interface Description ................................................................ 705
12.2 Embedded Controller Register Descriptions ............................................................... 709
12.2.1 Embedded Controller Status, EC_SC (R) ....................................................... 709
12.2.2 Embedded Controller Command, EC_SC (W)................................................ 710
12.2.3 Embedded Controller Data, EC_DATA (R/W)................................................. 710
12.3 Embedded Controller Command Set .......................................................................... 710
12.3.1 Read Embedded Controller, RD_EC (0x80) ................................................... 711
12.3.2 Write Embedded Controller, WR_EC (0x81)................................................... 711
12.3.3 Burst Enable Embedded Controller, BE_EC (0x82)........................................ 711
12.3.4 Burst Disable Embedded Controller, BD_EC (0x83)....................................... 712
12.3.5 Query Embedded Controller, QR_EC (0x84).................................................. 712
12.4 SMBus Host Controller Notification Header (Optional), OS_SMB_EVT ..................... 712
12.5 Embedded Controller Firmware .................................................................................. 712
12.6 Interrupt Model............................................................................................................ 713
12.6.1 Event Interrupt Model...................................................................................... 713
12.6.2 Command Interrupt Model .............................................................................. 714
12.7 Embedded Controller Interfacing Algorithms .............................................................. 714
12.8 Embedded Controller Description Information ............................................................ 715
12.9 SMBus Host Controller Interface via Embedded Controller ....................................... 715
12.9.1 Register Description........................................................................................ 716
12.9.2 Protocol Description ........................................................................................ 720
12.10 SMBus Devices......................................................................................................... 725
12.10.1 SMBus Device Access Restrictions .............................................................. 726
12.10.2 SMBus Device Command Access Restriction .............................................. 726
12.11 Defining an Embedded Controller Device in ACPI Namespace ............................... 726
12.11.1 Example: EC Definition ASL Code ............................................................... 727
12.12 Defining an EC SMBus Host Controller in ACPI Namespace ................................... 728
12.12.1 Example: EC SMBus Host Controller ASL-Code .......................................... 728
13 ACPI System Management Bus Interface Specification ........................ 731
13.1 SMBus Overview ........................................................................................................ 731
13.1.1 SMBus Slave Addresses................................................................................. 731
13.1.2 SMBus Protocols............................................................................................. 732
13.1.3 SMBus Status Codes ...................................................................................... 732
13.1.4 SMBus Command Values ............................................................................... 733
13.2 Accessing the SMBus from ASL Code ....................................................................... 733
13.2.1 Declaring SMBus Host Controller Objects ...................................................... 733
13.2.2 Declaring SMBus Devices............................................................................... 734
13.2.3 Declaring SMBus Operation Regions ............................................................. 734
13.2.4 Declaring SMBus Fields.................................................................................. 736
13.2.5 Declaring and Using an SMBus Data Buffer ................................................... 738
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13.3 Using the SMBus Protocols ........................................................................................ 739

13.3.1 Read/Write Quick (SMBQuick)........................................................................ 739
13.3.2 Send/Receive Byte (SMBSendReceive) ......................................................... 740
13.3.3 Read/Write Byte (SMBByte)............................................................................ 741
13.3.4 Read/Write Word (SMBWord)......................................................................... 742
13.3.5 Read/Write Block (SMBBlock) ........................................................................ 742
13.3.6 Word Process Call (SMBProcessCall) ............................................................ 743
13.3.7 Block Process Call (SMBBlockProcessCall) ................................................... 744
14 Platform Communications Channel (PCC).............................................. 745
14.1 Platform Communications Channel Table .................................................................. 745
14.1.1 Platform Communications Channel Global Flags ........................................... 746
14.1.2 Platform Communications Channel Subspace Structures .............................. 746
14.1.3 Generic Communications Subspace Structure (type 0) .................................. 746
14.1.4 HW-Reduced Communications Subspace Structure (type 1) ......................... 747
14.1.5 HW-Reduced Communications Subspace Structure (type 2) ......................... 749
14.1.6 Extended PCC subspaces (types 3 and 4) ..................................................... 750
14.2 Generic Communications Channel Shared Memory Region ...................................... 754
14.2.1 Generic Communications Channel Command Field ....................................... 754
14.2.2 Generic Communications Channel Status Field ............................................. 755
14.3 Extended PCC Subspace Shared Memory Region .................................................... 755
14.4 Doorbell Protocol ........................................................................................................ 756
14.5 Platform Notification.................................................................................................... 758
14.5.1 Platform Notification for Subspace Types 0, 1 and 2 ...................................... 759
14.5.2 Platform Notification for slave PCC subspaces (type 4) ................................. 760
14.6 Referencing the PCC address space.......................................................................... 761
15 System Address Map Interfaces .............................................................. 763
15.1 INT 15H, E820H - Query System Address Map ......................................................... 764
15.2 E820 Assumptions and Limitations ............................................................................. 766
15.3 UEFI GetMemoryMap() Boot Services Function......................................................... 767
15.4 UEFI Assumptions and Limitations ............................................................................. 768
15.5 Example Address Map................................................................................................ 768
15.6 Example: Operating System Usage............................................................................ 769
16 Waking and Sleeping ................................................................................ 771
16.1 Sleeping States........................................................................................................... 772
16.1.1 S1 Sleeping State ........................................................................................... 774
16.1.2 S2 Sleeping State ........................................................................................... 775
16.1.3 S3 Sleeping State ........................................................................................... 776
16.1.4 S4 Sleeping State ........................................................................................... 777
16.1.5 S5 Soft Off State ............................................................................................. 778
16.1.6 Transitioning from the Working to the Sleeping State..................................... 778
16.1.7 Transitioning from the Working to the Soft Off State....................................... 779
16.2 Flushing Caches ......................................................................................................... 780
16.3 Initialization ................................................................................................................. 780
16.3.1 Placing the System in ACPI Mode .................................................................. 783
16.3.2 Platform Boot Firmware Initialization of Memory............................................. 783
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16.3.3 OS Loading ..................................................................................................... 785

16.3.4 Exiting ACPI Mode .......................................................................................... 787
17 Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) Architecture Platforms ............ 789
17.1 NUMA Node................................................................................................................ 789
17.2 System Locality........................................................................................................... 789
17.2.1 System Resource Affinity Table Definition ...................................................... 790
17.2.2 System Resource Affinity Update ................................................................... 790
17.3 System Locality Distance Information ......................................................................... 790
17.3.1 Online Hot Plug ............................................................................................... 791
17.3.2 Impact to Existing Localities............................................................................ 791
17.4 Heterogeneous Memory Attributes Information .......................................................... 791
17.4.1 Online Hot Plug ............................................................................................... 792
17.4.2 Impact to Existing Localities............................................................................ 792
18 ACPI Platform Error Interfaces (APEI)..................................................... 793
18.2 Relationship between OSPM and System Firmware .................................................. 794
18.3 Error Source Discovery ............................................................................................... 794
18.3.1 Boot Error Source ........................................................................................... 794
18.3.2 ACPI Error Source .......................................................................................... 795
18.4 Firmware First Error Handling ..................................................................................... 813
18.4.1 Example: Firmware First Handling Using NMI Notification ............................. 813
18.5 Error Serialization ....................................................................................................... 814
18.5.1 Serialization Action Table................................................................................ 815
18.5.2 Operations....................................................................................................... 821
18.6 Error Injection.............................................................................................................. 825
18.6.1 Error Injection Table (EINJ)............................................................................. 825
18.6.2 Injection Instruction Entries ............................................................................. 827
18.6.3 Injection Instructions ....................................................................................... 828
18.6.4 Trigger Action Table........................................................................................ 831
19 ACPI Source Language (ASL) Reference................................................ 835
19.1 ASL 2.0 Symbolic Operators and Expressions ........................................................... 835
19.2 ASL Language Grammar ............................................................................................ 836
19.2.1 ASL Grammar Notation................................................................................... 837
19.2.2 ASL Name and Pathname Terms ................................................................... 839
19.2.3 ASL Root and Secondary Terms .................................................................... 840
19.2.4 ASL Data and Constant Terms ....................................................................... 841
19.2.5 ASL Opcode Terms......................................................................................... 843
19.2.6 ASL Primary (Terminal) Terms ....................................................................... 845
19.2.7 ASL Parameter Keyword Terms ..................................................................... 861
19.2.8 ASL Resource Template Terms...................................................................... 863
19.3 ASL Concepts ............................................................................................................. 871
19.3.1 ASL Names ..................................................................................................... 871
19.3.2 ASL Literal Constants ..................................................................................... 872
19.3.3 ASL Resource Templates ............................................................................... 873
19.3.4 ASL Macros..................................................................................................... 875
19.3.5 ASL Data Types .............................................................................................. 876
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19.4 ASL Operator Summary ............................................................................................. 887

19.5 ASL Operator Summary by Type ............................................................................... 892
19.6 ASL Operator Reference ........................................................................................... 896
19.6.1 AccessAs (Change Field Unit Access)............................................................ 896
19.6.2 Acquire (Acquire a Mutex)............................................................................... 897
19.6.3 Add (Integer Add)............................................................................................ 897
19.6.4 Alias (Declare Name Alias) ............................................................................. 898
19.6.5 And (Integer Bitwise And) ............................................................................... 898
19.6.6 Argx (Method Argument Data Objects) ........................................................... 898
19.6.7 BankField (Declare Bank/Data Field).............................................................. 899
19.6.8 Break (Break from While)................................................................................ 900
19.6.9 BreakPoint (Execution Break Point)................................................................ 900
19.6.10 Buffer (Declare Buffer Object)....................................................................... 900
19.6.11 Case (Expression for Conditional Execution)................................................ 901
19.6.12 Concatenate (Concatenate Data) ................................................................. 902
19.6.13 ConcatenateResTemplate (Concatenate Resource Templates) .................. 903
19.6.14 CondRefOf (Create Object Reference Conditionally) ................................... 904
19.6.15 Connection (Declare Field Connection Attributes) ........................................ 904
19.6.16 Continue (Continue Innermost Enclosing While) .......................................... 905
19.6.17 CopyObject (Copy and Store Object)............................................................ 905
19.6.18 CreateBitField (Create 1-Bit Buffer Field) .................................................... 906
19.6.19 CreateByteField (Create 8-Bit Buffer Field) .................................................. 906
19.6.20 CreateDWordField (Create 32-Bit Buffer Field) ............................................ 906
19.6.21 CreateField (Create Arbitrary Length Buffer Field) ....................................... 907
19.6.22 CreateQWordField (Create 64-Bit Buffer Field) ............................................ 907
19.6.23 CreateWordField (Create 16-Bit Buffer Field) .............................................. 907
19.6.24 DataTableRegion (Create Data Table Operation Region) ............................ 907
19.6.25 Debug (Debugger Output)............................................................................. 908
19.6.26 Decrement (Integer Decrement) ................................................................... 908
19.6.27 Default (Default Execution Path in Switch) .................................................. 909
19.6.28 DefinitionBlock (Declare Definition Block)..................................................... 909
19.6.29 DerefOf (Dereference an Object Reference) ................................................ 910
19.6.30 Device (Declare Device Package) ................................................................ 910
19.6.31 Divide (Integer Divide)................................................................................... 912
19.6.32 DMA (DMA Resource Descriptor Macro) ...................................................... 913
19.6.33 DWordIO (DWord IO Resource Descriptor Macro) ....................................... 913
19.6.34 DWordMemory (DWord Memory Resource Descriptor Macro)..................... 915
19.6.35 DWordSpace (DWord Space Resource Descriptor Macro) .......................... 917
19.6.36 EISAID (EISA ID String To Integer Conversion Macro) ................................ 918
19.6.37 Else (Alternate Execution)............................................................................. 919
19.6.38 ElseIf (Alternate/Conditional Execution)........................................................ 919
19.6.39 EndDependentFn (End Dependent Function Resource Descriptor Macro) .. 920
19.6.40 Event (Declare Event Synchronization Object) ............................................. 921
19.6.41 ExtendedIO (Extended IO Resource Descriptor Macro) ............................... 921
19.6.42 ExtendedMemory (Extended Memory Resource Descriptor Macro) ............ 923
19.6.43 ExtendedSpace (Extended Address Space Resource Descriptor Macro) .... 924
19.6.44 External (Declare External Objects).............................................................. 926
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19.6.45 Fatal (Fatal Error Check)............................................................................... 927

19.6.46 Field (Declare Field Objects)......................................................................... 927
19.6.47 FindSetLeftBit (Find First Set Left Bit)........................................................... 930
19.6.48 FindSetRightBit (Find First Set Right Bit)...................................................... 930
19.6.49 FixedDMA (DMA Resource Descriptor Macro) ............................................. 930
19.6.50 FixedIO (Fixed IO Resource Descriptor Macro)............................................ 931
19.6.51 For (Conditional Loop) .................................................................................. 931
19.6.52 Fprintf (Create and Store formatted string) ................................................... 932
19.6.53 FromBCD (Convert BCD To Integer) ............................................................ 933
19.6.54 Function (Declare Control Method) ............................................................... 933
19.6.55 GpioInt (GPIO Interrupt Connection Resource Descriptor Macro)................ 934
19.6.56 GpioIo (GPIO Connection IO Resource Descriptor Macro) .......................... 935
19.6.57 I2CSerialBusV2 (I2C Serial Bus Connection Resource Descriptor (Version 2)
Macro) .................................................................................................................. 936
19.6.58 If (Conditional Execution) .............................................................................. 937
19.6.59 Include (Include Additional ASL File) ............................................................ 938
19.6.60 Increment (Integer Increment)....................................................................... 938
19.6.61 Index (Indexed Reference To Member Object)............................................. 939
19.6.62 Interrupt (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro) ........................................... 940
19.6.63 IndexField (Declare Index/Data Fields)......................................................... 942
19.6.64 Interrupt (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro) ........................................... 944
19.6.65 IO (IO Resource Descriptor Macro) .............................................................. 945
19.6.66 IRQ (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro) .................................................. 945
19.6.67 IRQNoFlags (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro) .................................... 946
19.6.68 LAnd (Logical And)........................................................................................ 947
19.6.69 LEqual (Logical Equal) .................................................................................. 947
19.6.70 LGreater (Logical Greater) ............................................................................ 947
19.6.71 LGreaterEqual (Logical Greater Than Or Equal) .......................................... 948
19.6.72 LLess (Logical Less) ..................................................................................... 948
19.6.73 LLessEqual (Logical Less Than Or Equal).................................................... 948
19.6.74 LNot (Logical Not) ......................................................................................... 949
19.6.75 LNotEqual (Logical Not Equal) ).................................................................... 949
19.6.76 Load (Load Definition Block) ......................................................................... 949
19.6.77 LoadTable (Load Definition Block From XSDT) ............................................ 950
19.6.78 Localx (Method Local Data Objects) ............................................................. 951
19.6.79 LOr (Logical Or) ............................................................................................ 951
19.6.80 Match (Find Object Match)............................................................................ 951
19.6.81 Memory24 (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro) ........................................ 953
19.6.82 Memory32 (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro) ....................................... 954
19.6.83 Memory32Fixed (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro) ............................... 955
19.6.84 Method (Declare Control Method)................................................................. 955
19.6.85 Mid (Extract Portion of Buffer or String) ........................................................ 957
19.6.86 Mod (Integer Modulo).................................................................................... 957
19.6.87 Multiply (Integer Multiply) .............................................................................. 958
19.6.88 Mutex (Declare Synchronization/Mutex Object)............................................ 958
19.6.89 Name (Declare Named Object)..................................................................... 959
19.6.90 NAnd (Integer Bitwise Nand)......................................................................... 959
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19.6.91 NoOp Code (No Operation) .......................................................................... 959

19.6.92 NOr (Integer Bitwise Nor).............................................................................. 960
19.6.93 Not (Integer Bitwise Not) ............................................................................... 960
19.6.94 Notify (Notify Object of Event)....................................................................... 960
19.6.95 Offset (Change Current Field Unit Offset)..................................................... 960
19.6.96 ObjectType (Get Object Type) ...................................................................... 961
19.6.97 One (Constant One Integer).......................................................................... 962
19.6.98 Ones (Constant Ones Integer) ...................................................................... 962
19.6.99 OperationRegion (Declare Operation Region) .............................................. 962
19.6.100 Or (Integer Bitwise Or) ................................................................................ 963
19.6.101 Package (Declare Package Object) ............................................................ 964
19.6.102 Pin Configuration......................................................................................... 966
19.6.103 Pin Function ................................................................................................ 970
19.6.104 Pin Group .................................................................................................... 973
19.6.105 Pin Group Configuration.............................................................................. 974
19.6.106 Pin Group Function ..................................................................................... 978
19.6.107 PowerResource (Declare Power Resource) ............................................... 979
19.6.108 Printf (Create and Store formatted string) ................................................... 979
19.6.109 Processor (Declare Processor) ................................................................... 980
19.6.110 QWordIO (QWord IO Resource Descriptor Macro)..................................... 981
19.6.111 QWordMemory (QWord Memory Resource Descriptor Macro) ................. 983
19.6.112 QWordSpace (QWord Space Resource Descriptor Macro)........................ 985
19.6.113 RawDataBuffer............................................................................................ 986
19.6.114 RefOf (Create Object Reference)................................................................ 986
19.6.115 Register (Generic Register Resource Descriptor Macro)............................ 987
19.6.116 Release (Release a Mutex Synchronization Object)................................... 988
19.6.117 Reset (Reset an Event Synchronization Object)......................................... 988
19.6.118 ResourceTemplate (Resource To Buffer Conversion Macro) ..................... 988
19.6.119 Return (Return from Method Execution) ..................................................... 989
19.6.120 Revision (Constant Revision Integer).......................................................... 989
19.6.121 Scope (Open Named Scope) ...................................................................... 989
19.6.122 ShiftLeft (Integer Shift Left) ......................................................................... 990
19.6.123 ShiftRight (Integer Shift Right) .................................................................... 991
19.6.124 Signal (Signal a Synchronization Event) ..................................................... 991
19.6.125 SizeOf (Get Data Object Size) .................................................................... 991
19.6.126 Sleep (Milliseconds Sleep).......................................................................... 992
19.6.127 SPISerialBusV2 (SPI Serial Bus Connection Resource Descriptor (Version 2)
Macro) .................................................................................................................. 992
19.6.128 Stall (Stall for a Short Time) ........................................................................ 993
19.6.129 StartDependentFn (Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor Macro)....
993
19.6.130 StartDependentFnNoPri (Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor
Macro) ................................................................................................................. 994
19.6.131 Store (Store an Object) ............................................................................... 994
19.6.132 Subtract (Integer Subtract).......................................................................... 995
19.6.133 Switch (Select Code To Execute Based On Expression)............................ 995
19.6.134 ThermalZone (Declare Thermal Zone)........................................................ 998
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19.6.135 Timer (Get 64-Bit Timer Value) .................................................................. 998

19.6.136 ToBCD (Convert Integer to BCD)................................................................ 999
19.6.137 ToBuffer (Convert Data to Buffer) ............................................................... 999
19.6.138 ToDecimalString (Convert Data to Decimal String)..................................... 999
19.6.139 ToHexString (Convert Data to Hexadecimal String) ................................. 1000
19.6.140 ToInteger (Convert Data to Integer) .......................................................... 1000
19.6.141 ToPLD (Creates a _PLD Buffer Object) .................................................... 1000
19.6.142 ToString (Convert Buffer To String) .......................................................... 1002
19.6.143 ToUUID (Convert String to UUID Macro) ................................................. 1003
19.6.144 UARTSerialBusV2 (UART Serial Bus Connection Resource Descriptor
(Version 2) Macro).............................................................................................. 1004
19.6.145 Unicode (String To Unicode Conversion Macro)....................................... 1005
19.6.146 Unload (Unload Definition Block) .............................................................. 1006
19.6.147 VendorLong (Long Vendor Resource Descriptor)..................................... 1006
19.6.148 VendorShort (Short Vendor Resource Descriptor).................................... 1006
19.6.149 Wait (Wait for a Synchronization Event) ................................................... 1007
19.6.150 While (Conditional Loop)........................................................................... 1007
19.6.151 WordBusNumber (Word Bus Number Resource Descriptor Macro)......... 1008
19.6.152 WordIO (Word IO Resource Descriptor Macro) ........................................ 1009
19.6.153 WordSpace (Word Space Resource Descriptor Macro) ) ......................... 1011
19.6.154 XOr (Integer Bitwise Xor) .......................................................................... 1012
19.6.155 Zero (Constant Zero Integer) .................................................................... 1013
20 ACPI Machine Language (AML) Specification ..................................... 1015
20.1 Notation Conventions................................................................................................ 1015
20.2 AML Grammar Definition .......................................................................................... 1016
20.2.1 Table and Table Header Encoding ............................................................... 1016
20.2.2 Name Objects Encoding ............................................................................... 1017
20.2.3 Data Objects Encoding ................................................................................. 1018
20.2.4 Package Length Encoding ............................................................................ 1018
20.2.5 Term Objects Encoding................................................................................. 1019
20.2.6 Miscellaneous Objects Encoding .................................................................. 1026
20.3 AML Byte Stream Byte Values.................................................................................. 1027
20.4 AML Encoding of Names in the Namespace ........................................................... 1033
21 ACPI Data Tables and Table Definition Language ............................... 1035
21.1 Types of ACPI Data Tables ...................................................................................... 1035
21.2 ACPI Table Definition Language Specification ......................................................... 1035
21.2.1 Overview of the Table Definition Language (TDL) ........................................ 1036
21.2.2 TDL Grammar Specification.......................................................................... 1037
21.2.3 Data Types.................................................................................................... 1039
21.2.4 Fields Set Automatically by the Compiler...................................................... 1041
21.2.5 Special Fields................................................................................................ 1042
21.2.6 TDL Generic Data Types .............................................................................. 1042
21.2.7 Defining a Known ACPI Table in TDL ........................................................... 1043
21.2.8 Defining an Unknown or New ACPI table in TDL.......................................... 1043
21.2.9 Table Definition Language Examples ........................................................... 1044
21.2.10 Minimal ECDT Definition ............................................................................. 1046
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Appendix A Device Class Specifications .................................................... 1049

Appendix B Video Extensions...................................................................... 1075
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Tables
Table 1-1 Hardware Type vs. OS Type Interaction............................................................... 11

Table 2-2 Summary of Global Power States......................................................................... 37
Table 2-3 Summary of Device Power States ........................................................................ 39
Table 3-4 Low Battery Levels ............................................................................................... 60
Table 3-5 Implementable Platform Types ............................................................................. 66
Table 4-6 Feature/Programming Model Summary................................................................ 80
Table 4-7 PM1 Event Registers ............................................................................................ 84
Table 4-8 PM1 Control Registers.......................................................................................... 84
Table 4-9 PM2 Control Register ........................................................................................... 85
Table 4-10 PM Timer Register.............................................................................................. 85
Table 4-11 Processor Control Registers ............................................................................... 85
Table 4-12 General-Purpose Event Registers ...................................................................... 85
Table 4-13 Power Button Support......................................................................................... 88
Table 4-14 Sleep Button Support.......................................................................................... 91
Table 4-15 Alarm Field Decodings within the FADT ............................................................. 95
Table 4-16 PM1 Status Registers Fixed Hardware Feature Status Bits ............................... 98
Table 4-17 PM1 Enable Registers Fixed Hardware Feature Enable Bits ........................... 100
Table 4-18 PM1 Control Registers Fixed Hardware Feature Control Bits .......................... 101
Table 4-19 PM Timer Bits ................................................................................................... 102
Table 4-20 PM2 Control Register Bits ............................................................................... 103
Table 4-21 Processor Control Register Bits........................................................................ 103
Table 4-22 Processor LVL2 Register Bits ........................................................................... 104
Table 4-23 Processor LVL3 Register Bits ........................................................................... 104
Table 4-24 Sleep Control Register ..................................................................................... 105
Table 4-25 Sleep Status Register ...................................................................................... 106
Table 5-26 Generic Address Structure (GAS) .................................................................... 119
Table 5-27 Address Space Format ..................................................................................... 120
Table 5-28 RSDP Structure ................................................................................................ 122
Table 5-29 DESCRIPTION_HEADER Fields...................................................................... 122
Table 5-30 DESCRIPTION_HEADER Signatures for tables defined by ACPI ................... 124
Table 5-31 DESCRIPTION_HEADER Signatures for tables reserved by ACPI ................. 125
Table 5-32 Root System Description Table Fields (RSDT) ................................................ 127
Table 5-33 Extended System Description Table Fields (XSDT) ......................................... 128
Table 5-34 FADT Format ................................................................................................... 129
Table 5-35 Fixed ACPI Description Table Fixed Feature Flags.......................................... 138
Table 5-36 Fixed ACPI Description Table Boot IA-PC Boot Architecture Flags ................. 143
Table 5-37 Fixed ACPI Description Table ARM Boot Architecture Flags ........................... 143
Table 5-38 Firmware ACPI Control Structure (FACS) ........................................................ 144
Table 5-39 Firmware Control Structure Feature Flags ....................................................... 147
Table 5-40 OSPM Enabled Firmware Control Structure Feature Flags.............................. 147
Table 5-41 Global Lock Structure within the FACS ............................................................ 148
Table 5-42 Differentiated System Description Table Fields (DSDT)................................... 150
Table 5-43 Secondary System Description Table Fields (SSDT) ....................................... 151
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Table 5-44 Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT) Format ............................................. 152
Table 5-45 Multiple APIC Flags .......................................................................................... 153
Table 5-46 Interrupt Controller Structure Types ................................................................. 153
Table 5-47 Processor Local APIC Structure ...................................................................... 154
Table 5-48 Local APIC Flags .............................................................................................. 155
Table 5-49 I/O APIC Structure ........................................................................................... 155
Table 5-50 Interrupt Source Override Structure ................................................................. 156
Table 5-51 MPS INTI Flags ................................................................................................ 156
Table 5-52 NMI Source Structure ...................................................................................... 157
Table 5-53 Local APIC NMI Structure ................................................................................ 158
Table 5-54 Local APIC Address Override Structure .......................................................... 158
Table 5-55 I/O SAPIC Structure ......................................................................................... 159
Table 5-56 Processor Local SAPIC Structure .................................................................... 159
Table 5-57 Platform Interrupt Source Structure .................................................................. 161
Table 5-58 Platform Interrupt Source Flags ........................................................................ 161
Table 5-59 Processor Local x2APIC Structure .................................................................. 162
Table 5-60 Local x2APIC NMI Structure ............................................................................ 162
Table 5-61 GICC Structure ................................................................................................. 163
Table 5-62 GICC CPU Interface Flags ............................................................................... 165
Table 5-63 GICD Structure ................................................................................................. 166
Table 5-64 GIC MSI Frame Structure ................................................................................ 166
Table 5-65 GIC MSI Frame Flags ....................................................................................... 167
Table 5-66 GICR Structure ................................................................................................ 167
Table 5-67 GIC ITS Structure ............................................................................................ 168
Table 5-68 Smart Battery Description Table (SBST) Format.............................................. 169
Table 5-69 Embedded Controller Boot Resources Table Format ....................................... 170
Table 5-70 Static Resource Affinity Table Format .............................................................. 172
Table 5-71 Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure ............................................... 173
Table 5-72 Flags – Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure................................... 173
Table 5-73 Memory Affinity Structure ................................................................................. 173
Table 5-74 Flags – Memory Affinity Structure..................................................................... 174
Table 5-75 Processor Local x2APIC Affinity Structure ....................................................... 174
Table 5-76 GICC Affinity Structure ................................................ 175
Table 5-77 Flags – GICC Affinity Structure......................................... 175
Table 5-78 Architecture Specific Affinity Structure.............................................................. 176
Table 5-79 SLIT Format...................................................................................................... 177
Table 5-80 Corrected Platform Error Polling Table Format ................................................ 178
Table 5-81 Corrected Platform Error Polling Processor Structure ...................................... 178
Table 5-82 Maximum System Characteristics Table (MSCT) Format................................. 179
Table 5-83 Maximum Proximity Domain Information Structure ......................................... 180
Table 5-84 RASF Table format ........................................................................................... 180
Table 5-85 RASF Platform Communication Channel Shared Memory Region .................. 181
Table 5-86 PCC Command Codes used by RASF Platform Communication Channel ..... 182
Table 5-87 Platform RAS Capabilities Bitmap .................................................................... 183
Table 5-88 Parameter Block Structure for PATROL_SCRUB ............................................ 183
Table 5-89 MPST Table Structure ...................................................................................... 187
Table 5-90 PCC Command Codes used by MPST Platform Communication Channel ..... 188
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Table 5-91 MPST Platform Communication Channel Shared Memory Region .................. 188
Table 5-92 Power state Values .......................................................................................... 190
Table 5-93 Command Status ............................................................................................. 191
Table 5-94 Memory Power Node Structure definition ......................................................... 192
Table 5-95 Flag format........................................................................................................ 193
Table 5-96 Memory Power State Structure definition ......................................................... 194
Table 5-97 Memory Power State Characteristics Structure ............................................... 194
Table 5-98 Flag format of Memory Power State Characteristics Structure ........................ 195
Table 5-99 Platform Memory Topology Table..................................................................... 198
Table 5-100 Common Memory Aggregator Device Structure ............................................. 198
Table 5-101 Socket Structure ............................................................................................. 199
Table 5-102 Memory Controller Structure........................................................................... 200
Table 5-103 Physical Components Identifier Structure ..................................................... 201
Table 5-104 Boot Graphics Resource Table Fields ............................................................ 202
Table 5-105 Status Description Field.................................................................................. 203
Table 5-106 Image Type Description Field ......................................................................... 203
Table 5-107 Firmware Performance Data Table (FPDT) Format ....................................... 204
Table 5-108 Performance Record Structure ...................................................................... 205
Table 5-109 Performance Record Types ............................................................................ 205
Table 5-110 Runtime Performance Record Types ............................................................. 206
Table 5-111 S3 Performance Table Pointer Record .......................................................... 207
Table 5-112 S4 Performance Table Pointer Record .......................................................... 207
Table 5-113 S3 Performance Table Header ...................................................................... 208
Table 5-114 Basic S3 Resume Performance Record ........................................................ 208
Table 5-115 Basic S3 Suspend Performance Record ....................................................... 208
Table 5-116 Firmware Basic Boot Performance Table Header ......................................... 209
Table 5-117 Firmware Basic Boot Performance Data Record Structure ........................... 209
Table 5-118 GTDT Table Structure .................................................................................... 210
Table 5-119 Flag Definitions: Secure EL1 Timer, Non-Secure EL1 Timer, EL2 Timers, and
Virtual Timer............................................................................................................... 211
Table 5-120 Platform Timer Type Structures ...................................................................... 212
Table 5-121 GT Block Structure Format ............................................................................. 212
Table 5-122 GT Block Timer Structure Format ................................................................... 213
Table 5-123 Flag Definitions: GT Block Physical Timers and Virtual timers ....................... 213
Table 5-124 Flag Definitions: Common Flags..................................................................... 214
Table 5-125 SBSA Generic Watchdog Structure Format ................................................... 214
Table 5-126 Flag Definitions: SBSA Generic Watchdog Timer .......................................... 215
Table 5-127 NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table (NFIT) ..................................................... 216
Table 5-128 NFIT Structure Types ..................................................................................... 217
Table 5-129 SPA Range Structure ..................................................................................... 218
Table 5-130 NVDIMM Region Mapping Structure ............................................................. 219
Table 5-131 Interleave Structure Index and Interleave Ways definition ............................. 223
Table 5-132 Interleave Structure ........................................................................................ 223
Table 5-133 SMBIOS Management Information Structure ................................................. 224
Table 5-134 NVDIMM Control Region Structure Mark........................................................ 224
Table 5-135 NVDIMM Block Data Windows Region Structure ........................................... 228
Table 5-136 Flush Hint Address Structure.......................................................................... 229
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Table 5-137 SDEV ACPI Table........................................................................................... 231

Table 5-138 PCIe Endpoint Device Based Device Structure Example ............................... 232
Table 5-139 Heterogeneous Memory Attribute Table Header ............................................ 235
Table 5-140 HMAT Structure Types ................................................................................... 236
Table 5-141 Memory Subsystem Address Range Structure............................................... 237
Table 5-142 System Locality Latency and Bandwidth Information Structure...................... 238
Table 5-143 Memory Side Cache Information Structure..................................................... 241
Table 5-144 PDTT Structure............................................................................................... 243
Table 5-145 PDTT Platform Communication Channel Identifier Structure ......................... 243
Table 5-146 PCC Commands Codes used by Platform Debug Trigger Table ................... 244
Table 5-147 PDTT Platform Communication Channel........................................................ 244
Table 5-148 Example: Platform with 4 debug triggers ........................................................ 245
Table 5-149 Processor Properties Topology Table ............................................................ 246
Table 5-150 Processor Hierarchy Node Structure .............................................................. 247
Table 5-151 Processor Structure Flags .............................................................................. 248
Table 5-152 Cache Type Structure..................................................................................... 249
Table 5-153 Cache Structure Flags .................................................................................... 250
Table 5-154 ID Type Structure............................................................................................ 251
Table 5-155 Namespaces Defined Under the Namespace Root........................................ 254
Table 5-156 Operation Region Address Space Identifiers.................................................. 260
Table 5-157 IPMI Status Codes.......................................................................................... 266
Table 5-158 Accsessor Type Values .................................................................................. 269
Table 5-159 ACPI Event Programming Model Components .............................................. 281
Table 5-160 Fixed ACPI Events.......................................................................................... 282
Table 5-161 Device Object Notification Values................................................................... 290
Table 5-162 System Bus Notification Values ...................................................................... 291
Table 5-163 Control Method Battery Device Notification Values ........................................ 291
Table 5-164 Power Source Object Notification Values ....................................................... 291
Table 5-165 Thermal Zone Object Notification Values ....................................................... 291
Table 5-166 Control Method Power Button Notification Values .......................................... 292
Table 5-167 Control Method Sleep Button Notification Values ........................................... 292
Table 5-168 Control Method Lid Notification Values........................................................... 292
Table 5-169 NVDIMM Root Device Notification Values ...................................................... 292
Table 5-170 NVDIMM Device Notification Values .............................................................. 293
Table 5-171 Processor Device Notification Values ............................................................. 293
Table 5-172 User Presence Device Notification Values ..................................................... 293
Table 5-173 Ambient Light Sensor Device Notification Values........................................... 293
Table 5-174 Power Meter Object Notification Values ......................................................... 294
Table 5-175 Processor Aggregator Device Notification Values .......................................... 294
Table 5-176 Error Device Notification Values .................................................................... 294
Table 5-177 Fan Device Notification Values....................................................................... 294
Table 5-178 Memory Device Notification Values ................................................................ 295
Table 5-179 ACPI Device IDs ............................................................................................. 295
Table 5-180 Predefined ACPI Names................................................................................. 297
Table 5-181 Predefined Object Names............................................................................... 312
Table 5-182 Predefined Operating System Vendor String Prefixes.................................... 313
Table 5-183 Standard ACPI-Defined Feature Group Strings.............................................. 314
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Table 5-184 DeviceLockInfo Package Values .................................................................... 317

Table 6-185 Device Identification Objects .......................................................................... 321
Table 6-186 ADR Object Address Encodings ..................................................................... 322
Table 6-187 Additional Language ID Alias Strings ............................................................. 327
Table 6-188 PLD Back Panel Example Settings................................................................. 333
Table 6-189 Device Configuration Objects ......................................................................... 337
Table 6-190 HPP Package Contents .................................................................................. 345
Table 6-191 PCI Setting Record Content ........................................................................... 348
Table 6-192 PCI-X Setting Record Content ........................................................................ 349
Table 6-193 PCI Express Setting Record Content ............................................................. 350
Table 6-194 Platform-Wide _OSC Capabilities DWORD 2................................................. 356
Table 6-195 Interpretation of _OSC Support Field ............................................................. 358
Table 6-196 Interpretation of _OSC Control Field, Passed in via Arg3 .............................. 359
Table 6-197 Interpretation of _OSC Control Field, Returned Value ................................... 360
Table 6-198 Mapping Fields ............................................................................................... 363
Table 6-199 Example Relative Distances Between Proximity Domains ............................ 366
Table 6-200 Example System Locality Information Table................................................... 366
Table 6-201 Example Relative Distances Between Proximity Domains - 5 Node .............. 367
Table 6-202 Device Insertion, Removal, and Status Objects ............................................. 372
Table 6-203 OST Source Event Codes .............................................................................. 376
Table 6-204 General Processing Status Codes.................................................................. 376
Table 6-205 Operating System Shutdown Processing (Source Events : 0x100) Status Codes
377
Table 6-206 Ejection Request / Ejection Processing (Source Events: 0x03 and 0x103) Status
Codes......................................................................................................................... 377
Table 6-207 Insertion Processing (Source Event: 0x200) Status Codes ............................ 378
Table 6-208 Small Resource Data Type Tag Bit Definitions............................................... 383
Table 6-209 Small Resource Items..................................................................................... 383
Table 6-210 IRQ Descriptor Definition ................................................................................ 383
Table 6-211 DMA Descriptor Definition .............................................................................. 384
Table 6-212 Start Dependent Functions Descriptor Definition............................................ 385
Table 6-213 Start Dependent Function Priority Byte Definition .......................................... 386
Table 6-214 End Dependent Functions Descriptor Definition ............................................. 386
Table 6-215 I/O Port Descriptor Definition .......................................................................... 387
Table 6-216 Fixed-Location I/O Port Descriptor Definition ................................................. 387
Table 6-217 Fixed DMA Resource Descriptor .................................................................... 388
Table 6-218 Vendor-Defined Resource Descriptor Definition ............................................. 388
Table 6-219 End Tag Definition .......................................................................................... 389
Table 6-220 Large Resource Data Type Tag Bit Definitions .............................................. 389
Table 6-221 Large Resource Items .................................................................................... 389
Table 6-222 24-bit Memory Range Descriptor Definition. ................................................... 390
Table 6-223 Large Vendor-Defined Resource Descriptor Definition................................... 391
Table 6-224 32-Bit Memory Range Descriptor Definition ................................................... 392
Table 6-225 32-bit Fixed-Location Memory Range Descriptor Definition ........................... 393
Table 6-226 Valid combination of Address Space Descriptors fields ................................. 394
Table 6-227 QWORD Address Space Descriptor Definition ............................................... 395
Table 6-228 DWORD Address Space Descriptor Definition ............................................... 398
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Table 6-229 WORD Address Space Descriptor Definition.................................................. 400

Table 6-230 Extended Address Space Descriptor Definition.............................................. 402
Table 6-231 Memory Resource Flag (Resource Type = 0) Definitions............................... 406
Table 6-232 I/O Resource Flag (Resource Type = 1) Definitions ....................................... 406
Table 6-233 Bus Number Range Resource Flag (Resource Type = 2) Definitions ............ 407
Table 6-234 Extended Interrupt Descriptor Definition......................................................... 408
Table 6-235 Generic Register Descriptor Definition ........................................................... 409
Table 6-236 GPIO Connection Descriptor Definition .......................................................... 410
Table 6-237 GenericSerialBus Connection Descriptors ..................................................... 414
Table 6-238 I2C Serial Bus Connection Descriptor ............................................................ 416
Table 6-239 SPI Serial Bus Connection Descriptor ............................................................ 418
Table 6-240 UART Serial Bus Connection Descriptor ........................................................ 419
Table 6-241 Pin Function Description Definition................................................................. 422
Table 6-242 Pin Configuration Descriptor Definition........................................................... 423
Table 6-243 Pin Group Descriptor Definition ...................................................................... 425
Table 6-244 Pin Group Function Descriptor Definition ....................................................... 426
Table 6-245 Pin Group Configuration Descriptor Description ............................................. 428
Table 6-246 Other Objects and Methods ............................................................................ 430
Table 6-247 OSPM _INI Object Actions ............................................................................. 431
Table 6-248 NVDIMM Label Methods................................................................................. 437
Table 6-249 _LSI Return Package Values.......................................................................... 439
Table 6-250 _LSR Return Package Values ........................................................................ 440
Table 7-251 Power Resource Object Provisions for Information and Control .................... 441
Table 7-252 Power Resource Methods .............................................................................. 444
Table 7-253 Device Power Management Child Objects ..................................................... 446
Table 7-254 PSC Device State Codes................................................................................ 449
Table 7-255 Power Resource Requirements Package ....................................................... 450
Table 7-256 S1 Action / Result Table ................................................................................. 455
Table 7-260 BIOS-Supplied Control Methods for System-Level Functions ........................ 460
Table 7-261 System State Package ................................................................................... 461
Table 8-262 Cstate Package Values .................................................................................. 482
Table 8-263 CStateDependency Package Values.............................................................. 484
Table 8-264 Processor Container Device Objects .............................................................. 488
Table 8-265 Valid Local State Combinations in Figure 2 example system ......................... 489
Table 8-266 Extended LPI fields......................................................................................... 497
Table 8-267 Flags for LPI states......................................................................................... 498
Table 8-268 Enabled Parent State values for example system .......................................... 499
Table 8-269 Entry method example.................................................................................... 506
Table 8-270 PTC Package Values...................................................................................... 513
Table 8-271 TState Package Values .................................................................................. 515
Table 8-272 TStateDependency Package Values .............................................................. 517
Table 8-273 PCT Package Values...................................................................................... 521
Table 8-274 PState Package Values .................................................................................. 522
Table 8-275 PStateDependency Package Values .............................................................. 525
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Table 8-276 Continuous Performance Control Package Values ........................................ 530

Table 8-277 Performance Limited Register Status Bits ...................................................... 541
Table 8-278 PCC Commands Codes used by Collaborative Processor Performance Control
543
Table 8-279 Processor Aggregator Device Objects........................................................... 547
Table 9-280 System Indicator Control Methods.................................................................. 554
Table 9-281 Control Method Ambient Light Sensor Device................................................ 556
Table 9-282 Control Method Lid Device ............................................................................. 564
Table 9-283 ATA Specific Objects ...................................................................................... 566
Table 9-284 GTM Method Result Codes ............................................................................ 569
Table 9-285 Tape Presence ............................................................................................... 573
Table 9-286 ACPI Floppy Drive Information ....................................................................... 573
Table 9-287 MBM Package Details .................................................................................... 580
Table 9-288 MSM Result Encoding .................................................................................... 581
Table 9-289 Memory Device _OSC Capabilities DWORD number 2 ................................. 581
Table 9-290 UPC Return Package Values ......................................................................... 583
Table 9-291 User Presence Detection Device.................................................................... 592
Table 9-292 Time and Alarm Device .................................................................................. 594
Table 9-293 Generic Buttons Device Child Objects............................................................ 607
Table 9-294 Usage Types and Interrupt Polarity ................................................................ 608
Table 9-295 Common HID Button Usages ......................................................................... 608
Table 9-296 NVDIMM Root Device Function Index ............................................................ 615
Table 9-297 Status and Extended Status Field Generic Interpretations ............................. 617
Table 9-298 Query ARS Capabilities – Input Buffer ........................................................... 617
Table 9-299 Query ARS Capabilities – Output Buffer......................................................... 618
Table 9-300 Start ARS – Input Buffer ................................................................................. 619
Table 9-301 Start ARS – Output Buffer .............................................................................. 619
Table 9-302 Query ARS Status – Output Buffer ................................................................. 620
Table 9-303 ARS Data........................................................................................................ 620
Table 9-304 ARS Error Record Format .............................................................................. 621
Table 9-305 Clear Uncorrectable Error – Input Buffer ........................................................ 622
Table 9-306 Clear Uncorrectable Error – Output Buffer ..................................................... 623
Table 9-307 Translate SPA - Input Payload Format ........................................................... 623
Table 9-308 Translate SPA - Output Payload Format ........................................................ 624
Table 9-309 Translate SPA – Translated NVDIMM Device List Output Payload Format ... 625
Table 9-310 ARS Error Inject – Input Format ..................................................................... 625
Table 9-311 ARS Error Inject – Output Format................................................................... 626
Table 9-312 ARS Error Inject Clear – Input Format............................................................ 626
Table 9-313 ARS Error Inject Clear – Output Format ......................................................... 626
Table 9-314 ARS Error Inject Status Query – Output Format............................................. 627
Table 9-315 ARS Error Inject Status Query – Error Record Format ................................... 627
Table 10-316 Example SMBus Device Slave Addresses ................................................... 631
Table 10-317 Smart Battery Objects................................................................................... 633
Table 10-318 Battery Control Methods ............................................................................... 638
Table 10-319 BIF Return Package Values ......................................................................... 639
Table 10-320 }BIX Return Package Values ........................................................................ 641
Table 10-321 Control Method Battery _OSC Capabilities DWORD2 Bit Definitions .......... 643
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Table 10-322 BST Return Package Values ....................................................................... 645

Table 10-323 BMD Return Package Values ....................................................................... 649
Table 10-324 Power Source Objects .................................................................................. 652
Table 10-325 PIF Method Result Codes............................................................................. 653
Table 10-326 Power Meter Objects .................................................................................... 654
Table 10-327 PMC Method Result Codes .......................................................................... 655
Table 10-328 Wireless Power Calibration........................................................................... 660
Table 10-329 Wireless Power Control Notification Values: ................................................ 661
Table 11-330 Fan Specific Objects ..................................................................................... 673
Table 11-331 FIF Package Details ..................................................................................... 674
Table 11-332 FPS FanPstate Package Details .................................................................. 675
Table 11-333 FST Package Details .................................................................................... 677
Table 11-334 Thermal Objects ........................................................................................... 677
Table 11-335 Thermal Relationship Package Values ......................................................... 680
Table 11-336 Thermal Relationship Package Values......................................................... 690
Table 12-337 Read only register table................................................................................ 709
Table 12-338 Register details ............................................................................................. 709
Table 12-339 Embedded Controller Commands ................................................................ 710
Table 12-340 Events for Which Embedded Controller Must Generate SCIs ...................... 714
Table 12-341 Read Command (3 Bytes) ............................................................................ 714
Table 12-342 Write Command (3 Bytes) ............................................................................ 714
Table 12-343 Query Command (2 Bytes ............................................................................ 714
Table 12-344 Burst Enable Command (2 Bytes) ................................................................ 714
Table 12-345 Burst Disable Command (1 Byte) ................................................................. 714
Table 12-346 SMBus Status Codes.................................................................................... 716
Table 12-347 SMB EC Interface ......................................................................................... 724
Table 12-348 Embedded Controller Device Object Control Methods ................................. 727
Table 12-349 EC SMBus HC Device Objects ..................................................................... 728
Table 13-350 SMBus Protocol Types ................................................................................. 732
Table 14-351 Platform Communications Channel Table (PCCT) ....................................... 745
Table 14-352 Platform Communications Channel Global Flags ......................................... 746
Table 14-353 Generic PCC Subspace Structure ................................................................ 746
Table 14-354 PCC Subspace Structure type 0 (Generic Communications Subspace) ...... 746
Table 14-355 PCC Subspace Structure type 1 (HW-Reduced Communications Subspace) ...
748
Table 14-356 PCC Subspace Structure type 2 (HW-Reduced Communications Subspace) ...
749
Table 14-357 PCC Subspace Structure type 3 and type 4, master and slave respectively 751
Table 14-358 Generic Communications Channel Shared Memory Region ........................ 754
Table 14-359 Generic Communications Channel Command Field..................................... 754
Table 14-360 Generic Communications Channel Status Field ........................................... 755
Table 14-361 Master Slave Communications Channel Shared Memory Region............... 755
Table 14-362 Master Slave Communications Channel Flags ............................................ 756
Table 15-363 Address Range Types .................................................................................. 763
Table 15-364 Input to the INT 15h E820h Call ................................................................... 765
Table 15-365 Output from the INT 15h E820h Call ............................................................ 765
Table 15-366 Address Range Descriptor Structure ............................................................ 766
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Table 15-367 Extended Attributes for Address Range Descriptor Structure ...................... 766
Table 15-368 UEFI Memory Types and mapping to ACPI address range types ................ 767
Table 15-369 Sample Memory Map.................................................................................... 769
Table 18-370 Boot Error Record Table (BERT) Table ........................................................ 795
Table 18-371 Hardware Error Source Table (HEST) .......................................................... 796
Table 18-372 IA-32 Architecture Machine Check Exception Structure ............................... 797
Table 18-373 IA-32 Architecture Machine Check Error Bank Structure ............................. 798
Table 18-374 IA-32 Architecture Corrected Machine Check Structure ............................... 799
Table 18-375 IA-32 Architecture NMI Error Structure ......................................................... 800
Table 18-376 PCI Express Root Port AER Structure.......................................................... 800
Table 18-377 PCI Express Device AER Structure .............................................................. 801
Table 18-378 PCI Express Bridge AER Structure .............................................................. 802
Table 18-379 Generic Hardware Error Source Structure.................................................... 804
Table 18-380 Generic Error Status Block ........................................................................... 805
Table 18-381 Generic Error Data Entry .............................................................................. 806
Table 18-382 Generic Hardware Error Source version 2 (GHESv2) Structure.................. 809
Table 18-383 Hardware Error Notification Structure........................................................... 810
Table 18-384 Architecture Deferred Machine Check Structure .......................................... 812
Table 18-385 Error Record Serialization Table (ERST)...................................................... 814
Table 18-386 Error Record Serialization Actions ................................................................ 815
Table 18-387 Command Status Definition .......................................................................... 817
Table 18-388 Serialization Instruction Entry ....................................................................... 817
Table 18-389 Serialization Instructions ............................................................................... 818
Table 18-390 Instruction Flags ........................................................................................... 819
Table 18-391 Error Record Serialization Info...................................................................... 820
Table 18-392 Error Injection Table (EINJ) .......................................................................... 825
Table 18-393 Error Injection Actions................................................................................... 826
Table 18-394 Injection Instruction Entry ............................................................................. 828
Table 18-395 Instruction Flags ........................................................................................... 828
Table 18-396 Injection Instructions ..................................................................................... 829
Table 18-397 Command Status Definition .......................................................................... 829
Table 18-398 Error Type Definition..................................................................................... 829
Table 18-399 SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS Data Structure.............................. 830
Table 18-400 Vendor Error Type Extension Structure........................................................ 830
Table 18-401 Trigger Error Action ...................................................................................... 831
Table 19-402 ASL Grammar Notation ................................................................................ 837
Table 19-403 Named Object Reference Encodings ........................................................... 871
Table 19-404 Definition Block Name Modifier Encodings ................................................... 871
Table 19-405 ASL Escape Sequences ............................................................................... 873
Table 19-406 Summary of ASL Data Types ....................................................................... 876
Table 19-407 Data Types and Type Conversions .............................................................. 880
Table 19-408 Object Conversion Rules .............................................................................. 881
Table 19-409 Object Storing and Copying Rules................................................................ 884
Table 19-410 Reading from ArgX Objects .......................................................................... 884
Table 19-411 Writing to ArgX Objects ................................................................................ 885
Table 19-412 Reading from LocalX Objects ....................................................................... 885
Table 19-413 Writing to LocalX Objects ............................................................................. 886
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ACPI Specification
Table 19-414 Reading from Named Objects ...................................................................... 886

Table 19-415 Writing to Named Objects ............................................................................. 886
Table 19-416 Concatenate Data Types .............................................................................. 902
Table 19-417 Concatenate Object Types ........................................................................... 902
Table 19-418 Debug Object Display Formats ..................................................................... 908
Table 19-419 Field Unit list entires ..................................................................................... 928
Table 19-420 OperationRegion Address Spaces and Access Types ................................. 928
Table 19-421 Match Term Operator Meanings ................................................................... 952
Table 19-422 TValues Returned By the ObjectType Operator ........................................... 961
Table 19-423 Pin Configuration Types and Values ............................................................ 967
Table 19-424 Pin Group Configuration Types and Values ................................................. 974
Table 19-425 PLD Keywords and Assignment Types ...................................................... 1001
Table 19-426 PLD Keywords and assignable String Values ............................................ 1001
Table 19-427 UUID Buffer Format .................................................................................... 1003
Table 20-428 AML Grammar Notation Conventions ......................................................... 1015
Table 20-429 AML Byte Stream Byte Values ................................................................... 1027
Table A-430 Default Power State Definitions.................................................................... 1052
Table B-431 Video Extension Object Requirements......................................................... 1075
Table B-432 Video Output Device Attributes .................................................................... 1080
Table B-433 Example Device Ids...................................................................................... 1081
Table B-434 Notifications for Display Devices. ................................................................ 1084
Table B-435 Device Status ............................................................................................... 1087
Table B-436 Device State for _DGS ................................................................................. 1088
Table B-437 Device State for _DSS ................................................................................. 1088
Table B-438 Notification Values for Output Devices ......................................................... 1089
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ACPI Specification
Figures
Figure 0-1. ACPI overview ...................................................................................................... 2

Figure 0-2. ACPI structure ...................................................................................................... 3
Figure 0-3. ASL and AML ....................................................................................................... 4
Figure 0-4. ACPI initialization.................................................................................................. 6
Figure 0-5. Runtime thermal event ......................................................................................... 7
Figure 1-1 OSPM/ACPI Global System ................................................................................ 13
Figure 3-2 Global System Power States and Transitions ..................................................... 45
Figure 3-3 Example Modem and COM Port Hardware ......................................................... 54
Figure 3-4 Reporting Battery Capacity.................................................................................. 59
Figure 3-5 Low Battery and Warning .................................................................................... 60
Figure 3-6 Thermal Zone ...................................................................................................... 63
Figure 4-7 Generic Hardware Feature Model ....................................................................... 72
Figure 4-8 Global States and Their Transitions .................................................................... 76
Figure 4-9 Example Event Structure for a Legacy/ACPI Compatible Event Model .............. 77
Figure 4-10 Block Diagram of a Status/Enable Cell.............................................................. 82
Figure 4-11 Example Fixed Hardware Feature Register Grouping....................................... 83
Figure 4-12 Register Blocks versus Register Groupings ...................................................... 83
Figure 4-13 Power Management Timer ................................................................................ 87
Figure 4-14 Fixed Power Button Logic.................................................................................. 89
Figure 4-15 Fixed Hardware Sleep Button Logic .................................................................. 91
Figure 4-16 Sleeping/Wake Logic ......................................................................................... 93
Figure 4-17 RTC Alarm......................................................................................................... 94
Figure 4-18 Power Management Events to SMI/SCI Control Logic ...................................... 96
Figure 4-19 Example of General-Purpose vs. Generic Hardware Events .......................... 107
Figure 4-20 Example Generic Address Space Lid Switch Logic......................................... 110
Figure 5-21 Root System Description Pointer and Table.................................................... 113
Figure 5-22 Description Table Structures ........................................................................... 114
Figure 5-23 APIC–Global System Interrupts....................................................................... 163
Figure 5-24 8259–Global System Interrupts ....................................................................... 169
Figure 5-25 MPST ACPI Table Overview ........................................................................... 186
Figure 5-26 Memory Power State Transitions .................................................................... 190
Figure 5-27 Image Offset .................................................................................................... 204
Figure 5-28 NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table (NFIT) Overview...................................... 216
Figure 5-29 HMAT Representation ..................................................................................... 235
Figure 5-30 Memory Side Cache Example ......................................................................... 236
Figure 5-31 Example: Platform with 4 debug triggers ......................................................... 245
Figure 5-32 Example ACPI NameSpace ............................................................................ 253
Figure 5-33 AML Encoding ................................................................................................. 255
Figure 6-34 System Panel and Panel Origin Positions ....................................................... 327
Figure 6-35 Laptop Panel and Panel Origin Positions ........................................................ 328
Figure 6-36 Default Shape Definitions ................................................................................ 332
Figure 6-37 PLD Back Panel Rendering ............................................................................ 334
Figure 6-38 System Locality information Table................................................................... 366
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ACPI Specification
Figure 6-39 Device Ejection Flow Example Using _OST.................................................... 379

Figure 7-40 Working / Sleeping State object evaluation flow.............................................. 469
Figure 8-41 Processor Power States .................................................................................. 472
Figure 8-42 Throttling Example........................................................................................... 473
Figure 8-43 Equation 1 Duty Cycle Equation.................................................................... 473
Figure 8-44 Example Control for the STPCLK#.................................................................. 474
Figure 8-45 ACPI Clock Logic (One per Processor) ........................................................... 474
Figure 8-46 Processor Hierarchy ........................................................................................ 487
Figure 8-47 Power states for processor hierarchy .............................................................. 489
Figure 8-48 Worst case wake latency ................................................................................. 500
Figure 8-49 Energy of states A,B and C versus sleep duration .......................................... 500
Figure 8-50 Platform performance thresholds .................................................................... 533
Figure 8-51 OSPM performance controls ........................................................................... 536
Figure 9-52 A five-point ALS Response Curve ................................................................... 559
Figure 9-53 A two-point ALS Response Curve ................................................................... 561
Figure 9-54 Example Response Curve for a Transflective Display .................................... 562
Figure 9-55 USB ports ........................................................................................................ 584
Figure 9-56 Persistence of expired timer events ................................................................ 595
Figure 9-57 System transitions with WakeAlarm -- Timer................................................... 596
Figure 9-58 System transitions with WakeAlarm -- Policy .................................................. 597
Figure 9-59 Vendor/Device Specific Driver Loading ........................................................... 613
Figure 10-60 Typical Smart Battery Subsystem (SBS) ....................................................... 631
Figure 10-61 Single Smart Battery Subsystem ................................................................... 635
Figure 10-62 Smart Battery Subsystem .............................................................................. 636
Figure 10-63 Remaining Battery Percent Formula ............................................................. 646
Figure 10-64 Remaining Battery Life Formula .................................................................... 646
Figure 10-65 Power Meter and Power Source/Docking Namespace Example .................. 662
Figure 11-66 ACPI Thermal Zone....................................................................................... 664
Figure 11-67 Thermal Events ............................................................................................. 667
Figure 11-68 Temperature and CPU Performance Versus Time........................................ 669
Figure 11-69 Active and Passive Threshold Values ........................................................... 671
Figure 11-70 Cooling Preferences ...................................................................................... 672
Figure 12-71 Shared Interface ............................................................................................ 706
Figure 12-72 Private Interface ............................................................................................ 707
Figure 12-73 Interrupt Model .............................................................................................. 713
Figure 13-74 Bit Encoding Example ................................................................................... 732
Figure 13-75 Smart Battery Subsystem Devices ................................................................ 735
Figure 13-76 Smart Battery Device Virtual Registers ......................................................... 737
Figure 14-77 Communication flow of the doorbell protocol................................................. 757
Figure 14-78 Communication flow for notifications on slave subspaces ............................ 760
Figure 16-79 Example Sleeping States .............................................................................. 773
Figure 16-80 Platform Firmware Initialization ..................................................................... 781
Figure 16-81 Example Physical Memory Map .................................................................... 784
Figure 16-82 Memory as Configured after Boot.................................................................. 785
Figure 16-83 OS Initialization.............................................................................................. 786
Figure 18-84 APEI error flow example with external RAS controller .................................. 809
Figure B-1 Example Display Architecture ......................................................................... 1081
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ACPI Specification
Overview
This chapter provides a high-level overview of the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface
(ACPI). To make it easier to understand ACPI, this section focuses on broad and general statements
about ACPI and does not discuss every possible exception or detail about ACPI. The rest of the
ACPI specification provides much greater detail about the inner workings of ACPI than is discussed
here, and is recommended reading for developers using ACPI.
History of ACPI
ACPI was developed through collaboration between Intel, Microsoft*, Toshiba*, HP*, and
Phoenix* in the mid-1990s. Before the development of ACPI, operating systems (OS) primarily
used BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) interfaces for power management and device discovery and
configuration. This power management approach used the OS’s ability to call the system BIOS
natively for power management. The BIOS was also used to discover system devices and load
drivers based on probing input/output (I/O) and attempting to match the correct driver to the correct
device (plug and play). The location of devices could also be hard coded within the BIOS because
the platform itself was non-enumerable.
These solutions were problematic in three key ways. First, the behavior of OS applications could be
negatively affected by the BIOS-configured power management settings, causing systems to go to
sleep during presentations or other inconvenient times. Second, the power management interface
was proprietary on each system. This required developers to learn how to configure power
management for each individual system. Finally, the default settings for various devices could also
conflict with each other, causing devices to crash, behave erratically, or become undiscoverable.
ACPI was developed to solve these problems and others.
What is ACPI?
ACPI can first be understood as an architecture-independent power management and configuration
framework that forms a subsystem within the host OS. This framework establishes a hardware
register set to define power states (sleep, hibernate, wake, etc). The hardware register set can
accommodate operations on dedicated hardware and general purpose hardware.
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Overview ACPI Specification
The primary intention of the standard ACPI framework and the hardware register set is to enable
power management and system configuration without directly calling firmware natively from the
OS. ACPI serves as an interface layer between the system firmware (BIOS) and the OS, as shown in
Figure 0-1 and Figure 0-2, with certain restrictions and rules.
Figure 0-1. ACPI overview
Fundamentally, ACPI defines two types of data structures that are shared between the system
firmware and the OS: data tables and definition blocks. These data structures are the primary
communication mechanism between the firmware and the OS. Data tables store raw data and are
consumed by device drivers. Definition blocks consist of byte code that is executable by an
interpreter.
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Figure 0-2. ACPI structure

This definition block byte code is compiled from the ACPI Source Language (ASL) code. ASL is
the language used to define ACPI objects and to write control methods. An ASL compiler translates
ASL into ACPI Machine Language (AML) byte code. AML is the language processed by the AML
interpreter, as shown in Figure 0-3.
Figure 0-3. ASL and AML
The AML interpreter executes byte code and evaluates objects in the definition blocks to allow the
byte code to perform loop constructs, conditional evaluations, access defined address spaces, and
perform other operations that applications require. The AML interpreter has read/write access to
defined address spaces, including system memory, I/O, PCI configuration, and more. It accesses
these address spaces by defining entry points called objects. Objects can either have a directly
defined value or else must be evaluated and interpreted by the AML interpreter.
This collection of enumerable objects is an OS construct called the ACPI namespace. The
namespace is a hierarchical representation of the ACPI devices on a system. The system bus is the
root of enumeration for these ACPI devices. Devices that are enumerable on other buses, like PCI or
USB devices, are usually not enumerated in the namespace. Instead, their own buses enumerate the
devices and load their drivers. However, all enumerable buses have an encoding technique that
allows ACPI to encode the bus-specific addresses of the devices so they can be found in ACPI, even
though ACPI usually does not load drivers for these devices.

Generally, devices that have a _HID object (hardware identification object) are enumerated and
have their drivers loaded by ACPI. Devices that have an _ADR object (physical address object) are
usually not enumerated by ACPI and generally do not have their drivers loaded by ACPI. _ADR
devices usually can perform all necessary functions without involving ACPI, but in cases where the
device driver cannot perform a function, or if the driver needs to communicate to system firmware,
ACPI can evaluate objects to perform the needed function.
As an example of this, PCI does not support native hotplug. However, PCI can use ACPI to evaluate
objects and define methods that allow ACPI to fill in the functions necessary to perform hotplug on
PCI.
An additional aspect of ACPI is a runtime model that handles any ACPI interrupt events that occur
during system operation. ACPI continues to evaluate objects as necessary to handle these events.
This interrupt-based runtime model is discussed in greater detail in the Runtime model section
below.
ACPI Initialization
The best way to understand how ACPI works is chronologically. The moment the user powers up the
system, the system firmware completes its setup, initialization, and self tests.
The system firmware then uses information obtained during firmware initialization to update the
ACPI tables as necessary with various platform configurations and power interface data, before
passing control to the bootstrap loader. The extended root system description table (XSDT) is the
first table used by the ACPI subsystem and contains the addresses of most of the other ACPI tables
on the system. The XSDT points to the fixed ACPI description table (FADT) as well as other major
tables that the OS processes during initialization. After the OS initializes, the FADT directs the
ACPI subsystem to the differentiated system description table (DSDT), which is the beginning of the
namespace because it is the first table that contains a definition block.
The ACPI subsystem then processes the DSDT and begins building the namespace from the ACPI
definition blocks. The XSDT also points to the secondary system description tables (SSDTs) and
adds them to the namespace. The ACPI data tables give the OS raw data about the system hardware.
After the OS has built the namespace from the ACPI tables, it begins traversing the namespace and
loading device drivers for all the _HID devices it encounters in the namespace.

Figure 0-4. ACPI initialization
Runtime Model
After the system is up and running, ACPI works with the OS to handle any ACPI events that occur
via an interrupt. This interrupt invokes ACPI events in one of two general ways: fixed events and
general purpose events (GPEs).
Fixed events are ACPI events that have a predefined meaning in the ACPI specification. These fixed
events include actions like pressing the power button or ACPI timer overflows. These events are
handled directly by the OS handlers.
GPEs are ACPI events that are not predefined by the ACPI specification. These events are usually
handled by evaluating control methods, which are objects in the namespace and can access system
hardware. When the ACPI subsystem evaluates the control method with the AML interpreter, the
GPE object handles the events according to the OS’s implementation. Typically this might involve
issuing a notification to a device to invoke the device driver to perform a function.
We discuss a generic example of this runtime model in the next section.

Thermal Event Example

ACPI includes a thermal model to allow systems to control the system temperature either actively
(by performing actions like turning a fan on) or passively by reducing the amount of power the
system uses (by performing actions like throttling the processor). We can use an example of a
generic thermal event shown in Figure 5 to demonstrate how the ACPI runtime model works.
Figure 0-5. Runtime thermal event
The ACPI thermal zone includes control methods to read the current system temperature and trip
points.
When the OS initially finds a thermal zone in the namespace, it loads the thermal zone driver, which
evaluates the thermal zone to obtain the current temperature and trip points.
When a system component heats up enough to trigger a trip point, a thermal zone GPE occurs.
The GPE causes an interrupt to occur. When the ACPI subsystem receives the interrupt, it first
checks whether any fixed events have occurred. In this example, the thermal zone event is a GPE, so
no fixed event has occurred.

The ACPI subsystem then searches the namespace for the control method that matches the GPE
number of the interrupt. Upon finding it, the ACPI subsystem evaluates the control method, which
might then access hardware and/or notify the thermal zone handler.
The operating system’s thermal zone handler then takes whatever actions are necessary to handle the
event, including possibly accessing hardware.
ACPI is a very robust interface implementation. The thermal zone trip point could notify the system
to turn on a fan, reduce a device’s performance, read the temperature, shut down the system, or any
combination of these and other actions depending on the need.
This runtime model is used throughout the system to manage all of the ACPI events that occur
during system operation.
Summary
ACPI can best be described as a framework of concepts and interfaces that are implemented to form
a subsystem within the host OS. The ACPI tables, handlers, interpreter, namespace, events, and
interrupt model together form this implementation of ACPI, creating the ACPI subsystem within the
host OS. In this sense, ACPI is the interface between the system hardware/firmware and the OS and
OS applications for configuration and power management. This gives various OS a standardized
way to support power management and configuration via the ACPI namespace.
The ACPI namespace is the enumerable, hierarchical representation of all ACPI devices on the
system and is used to both find and load drivers for ACPI devices on the system. The namespace can
be dynamic by evaluating objects and sending interrupts in real time, all without the need for the OS
to call native system firmware code. This enables device manufacturers to code their own
instructions and events into devices. It also reduces incompatibility and instability by implementing
a standardized power management interface.

ACPI Specification
1 Introduction
The Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) specification was developed to establish
industry common interfaces enabling robust operating system (OS)-directed motherboard device
configuration and power management of both devices and entire systems. ACPI is the key element
in Operating System-directed configuration and Power Management (OSPM).
ACPI evolved the existing pre-ACPI collection of power management BIOS code, Advanced Power
Management (APM) application programming interfaces (APIs, PNPBIOS APIs, Multiprocessor
Specification (MPS) tables and so on into a well-defined power management and configuration
interface specification. ACPI provides the means for an orderly transition from existing (legacy)
hardware to ACPI hardware, and it allows for both ACPI and legacy mechanisms to exist in a single
machine and to be used as needed.
Further, system architectures being built at the time of the original ACPI specification’s inception,
stretched the limits of historical “Plug and Play” interfaces. ACPI evolved existing motherboard
configuration interfaces to support advanced architectures in a more robust, and potentially more
efficient manner.
The interfaces and OSPM concepts defined within this specification are suitable to all classes of
computers including (but not limited to) desktop, mobile, workstation, and server machines. From a
power management perspective, OSPM/ACPI promotes the concept that systems should conserve
energy by transitioning unused devices into lower power states including placing the entire system in
a low-power state (sleeping state) when possible.
This document describes ACPI hardware interfaces, ACPI software interfaces and ACPI data
structures that, when implemented, enable support for robust OS-directed configuration and power
management (OSPM).
1.1 Principal Goals

ACPI is the key element in implementing OSPM. ACPI-defined interfaces are intended for wide
adoption to encourage hardware and software vendors to build ACPI-compatible (and, thus, OSPM-
compatible) implementations.
The principal goals of ACPI and OSPM are to:
1. Enable all computer systems to implement motherboard configuration and power management
functions, using appropriate cost/function tradeoffs.
• Computer systems include (but are not limited to) desktop, mobile, workstation, and server
machines.
• Machine implementers have the freedom to implement a wide range of solutions, from the
very simple to the very aggressive, while still maintaining full OS support.
• Wide implementation of power management will make it practical and compelling for
applications to support and exploit it. It will make new uses of PCs practical and existing
uses of PCs more economical.
2. Enhance power management functionality and robustness.

Introduction ACPI Specification
• Power management policies too complicated to implement in platform firmware can be

implemented and supported in the OS, allowing inexpensive power managed hardware to
support very elaborate power management policies.
• Gathering power management information from users, applications, and the hardware
together into the OS will enable better power management decisions and execution.
• Unification of power management algorithms in the OS will reduce conflicts between the
firmware and OS and will enhance reliability.
3. Facilitate and accelerate industry-wide implementation of power management.
• OSPM and ACPI reduces the amount of redundant investment in power management
throughout the industry, as this investment and function will be gathered into the OS. This
will allow industry participants to focus their efforts and investments on innovation rather
than simple parity.
• The OS can evolve independently of the hardware, allowing all ACPI-compatible machines
to gain the benefits of OS improvements and innovations.
4. Create a robust interface for configuring motherboard devices.
• Enable new advanced designs not possible with existing interfaces.
1.2 Power Management Rationale

It is necessary to move power management into the OS and to use an abstract interface (ACPI)
between the OS and the hardware to achieve the principal goals set forth above.
• Minimal support for power management inhibits application vendors from supporting or
exploiting it.
• Moving power management functionality into the OS makes it available on every machine
on which the OS is installed. The level of functionality (power savings, and so on) varies
from machine to machine, but users and applications will see the same power interfaces and
semantics on all OSPM machines.
• This will enable application vendors to invest in adding power management functionality to
their products.
• Legacy power management algorithms were restricted by the information available to the
platform firmware that implemented them. This limited the functionality that could be
implemented.
• Centralizing power management information and directives from the user, applications, and
hardware in the OS allows the implementation of more powerful functionality. For example,
an OS can have a policy of dividing I/O operations into normal and lazy. Lazy I/O
operations (such as a word processor saving files in the background) would be gathered up
into clumps and done only when the required I/O device is powered up for some other
reason. A non-lazy I/O request made when the required device was powered down would
cause the device to be powered up immediately, the non-lazy I/O request to be carried out,
and any pending lazy I/O operations to be done. Such a policy requires knowing when I/O
devices are powered up, knowing which application I/O requests are lazy, and being able to
assure that such lazy I/O operations do not starve.
• Appliance functions, such as answering machines, require globally coherent power
decisions. For example, a telephone-answering application could call the OS and assert, “I
am waiting for incoming phone calls; any sleep state the system enters must allow me to

ACPI Specification Introduction
wake and answer the telephone in 1 second.” Then, when the user presses the “off” button,
the system would pick the deepest sleep state consistent with the needs of the phone
answering service.
• Platform firmware has become very complex to deal with power management. It is difficult to
make work with an OS and is limited to static configurations of the hardware.
• There is much less state information for the platform firmware to retain and manage
(because the OS manages it).
• Power management algorithms are unified in the OS, yielding much better integration
between the OS and the hardware.
• Because additional ACPI tables (Definition Blocks) can be loaded, for example, when a
mobile system docks, the OS can deal with dynamic machine configurations.
• Because the platform firmware has fewer functions and they are simpler, it is much easier
(and therefore cheaper) to implement and support.
• The existing structure of the PC platform constrains OS and hardware designs.
• Because ACPI is abstract, the OS can evolve separately from the hardware and, likewise, the
hardware from the OS.
• ACPI is by nature more portable across operating systems and processors. ACPI control
methods allow for very flexible implementations of particular features.
1.3 Legacy Support

ACPI provides support for an orderly transition from legacy hardware to ACPI hardware, and allows
for both mechanisms to exist in a single machine and be used as needed.
Table 1-1 Hardware Type vs. OS Type Interaction
Hardware\OS Legacy OS ACPI OS with OSPM

Legacy hardware A legacy OS on legacy hardware If the OS lacks legacy support, legacy
does what it always did. support is completely contained within the
hardware functions.
Legacy and ACPI It works just like a legacy OS on During boot, the OS tells the hardware to
hardware support in legacy hardware. switch from legacy to OSPM/ACPI mode
machine and from then on, the system has full
OSPM/ACPI support.
ACPI-only hardware There is no power management. There is full OSPM/ACPI support.
1.4 OEM Implementation Strategy

Any OEM is, as always, free to build hardware as they see fit. Given the existence of the ACPI
specification, two general implementation strategies are possible:
• An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) can adopt the OS vendor-provided ACPI OSPM
software and implement the hardware part of the ACPI specification (for a given platform) in
one of many possible ways.

• An OEM can develop a driver and hardware that are not ACPI-compatible. This strategy opens
up even more hardware implementation possibilities. However, OEMs who implement hardware
that is OSPM-compatible but not ACPI-compatible will bear the cost of developing, testing, and
distributing drivers for their implementation.
1.5 Power and Sleep Buttons

OSPM provides a new appliance interface to consumers. In particular, it provides for a sleep button
that is a “soft” button that does not turn the machine physically off but signals the OS to put the
machine in a soft off or sleeping state. ACPI defines two types of these “soft” buttons: one for
putting the machine to sleep and one for putting the machine in soft off.
This gives the OEM two different ways to implement machines: A one-button model or a two-button
model. The one-button model has a single button that can be used as a power button or a sleep button
as determined by user settings. The two-button model has an easily accessible sleep button and a
separate power button. In either model, an override feature that forces the machine to the soft-off
state without OSPM interaction is also needed to deal with various rare, but problematic, situations.
1.6 ACPI Specification and the Structure of ACPI

This specification defines ACPI hardware interfaces, ACPI software interfaces and ACPI data
structures. This specification also defines the semantics of these interfaces.
Figure 1-1 lays out the software and hardware components relevant to OSPM/ACPI and how they
relate to each other. This specification describes the interfaces between components, the contents of
the ACPI System Description Tables, and the related semantics of the other ACPI components.
Notice that the ACPI System Description Tables, which describe a particular platform’s hardware,
are at heart of the ACPI implementation and the role of the ACPI System Firmware is primarily to
supply the ACPI Tables (rather than a native instruction API).
ACPI is not a software specification; it is not a hardware specification, although it addresses both
software and hardware and how they must behave. ACPI is, instead, an interface specification
comprised of both software and hardware elements.

Figure 1-1 OSPM/ACPI Global System
There are three run-time components to ACPI:

ACPI System Description Tables.
Describe the interfaces to the hardware. Some descriptions limit what can be built (for
example, some controls are embedded in fixed blocks of registers and the table
specifies the address of the register block). Most descriptions allow the hardware to be
built in arbitrary ways and can describe arbitrary operation sequences needed to make
the hardware function. ACPI Tables containing “Definition Blocks” can make use of a
pseudo-code type of language, the interpretation of which is performed by the OS.
That is, OSPM contains and uses an interpreter that executes procedures encoded in

the pseudo-code language and stored in the ACPI tables containing “Definition
Blocks.” The pseudo-code language, known as ACPI Machine Language (AML), is a
compact, tokenized, abstract type of machine language.
ACPI Registers.
The constrained part of the hardware interface, described (at least in location) by the
ACPI System Description Tables.
ACPI Platform Firmware.
Refers to the portion of the firmware that is compatible with the ACPI specifications.
Typically, this is the code that boots the machine (as legacy BIOSs have done) and
implements interfaces for sleep, wake, and some restart operations. It is called rarely,
compared to a legacy BIOS. The ACPI Description Tables are also provided by the
ACPI Platform Firmware.
1.7 OS and Platform Compliance

The ACPI specification contains only interface specifications. ACPI does not contain any platform
compliance requirements. The following sections provide guidelines for class specific platform
implementations that reference ACPI-defined interfaces and guidelines for enhancements that
operating systems may require to completely support OSPM/ACPI. The minimum feature
implementation requirements of an ACPI-compatible OS are also provided.
1.7.1 Platform Implementations of ACPI-defined Interfaces

System platforms implement ACPI-defined hardware interfaces via the platform hardware and
ACPI-defined software interfaces and system description tables via the ACPI system firmware.
Specific ACPI-defined interfaces and OSPM concepts while appropriate for one class of machine
(for example, a mobile system), may not be appropriate for another class of machine (for example, a
multi-domain enterprise server). It is beyond the capability and scope of this specification to specify
all platform classes and the appropriate ACPI-defined interfaces that should be required for the
platform class.
Platform design guide authors are encouraged to require the appropriate ACPI-defined interfaces
and hardware requirements suitable to the particular system platform class addressed in a particular
design guide. Platform design guides should not define alternative interfaces that provide similar
functionality to those defined in the ACPI specification.
1.7.1.1 Recommended Features and Interface Descriptions for Design Guides

Common description text and category names should be used in design guides to describe all
features, concepts, and interfaces defined by the ACPI specification as requirements for a platform
class. Listed below is the recommended set of high-level text and category names to be used to
describe the features, concepts, and interfaces defined by ACPI.
Note: Where definitions or relational requirements of interfaces are localized to a specific section, the
section number is provided. The interface definitions and relational requirements of the interfaces

specified below are generally spread throughout the ACPI specification. The ACPI specification
defines:
System address map reporting interfaces (Section 14)

ACPI System Description Tables (Section 5.2):
Root System Description Pointer (RSDP)
System Description Table Header
Root System Description Table (RSDT)
Fixed ACPI Description Table (FADT)
Firmware ACPI Control Structure (FACS)
Differentiated System Description Table (DSDT)
Secondary System Description Table (SSDT)
Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT)
Smart Battery Table (SBST)
Extended System Description Table (XSDT)
Embedded Controller Boot Resources Table (ECDT)
System Resource Affinity Table (SRAT)
System Locality Information Table (SLIT)
Corrected Platform Error Polling Table (CPEP)
Maximum System Characteristics Table (MSCT)
ACPI RAS FeatureTable (RASF)
Memory Power StateTable (MPST)
Platform Memory Topology Table (PMTT)
Boot Graphics Resource Table (BGRT)
Firmware Performance Data Table (FPDT)
Generic Timer Description Table (GTDT)
ACPI-defined Fixed Registers Interfaces (Section 4, Section 5.2.9):
Power management timer control/status
Power or sleep button with S5 override (also possible in generic space)
Real time clock wakeup alarm control/status
SCI /SMI routing control/status for Power Management and General-purpose events
System power state controls (sleeping/wake control) (Section 7)
Processor power state control (c states) (Section 8)
Processor throttling control/status (Section 8)
Processor performance state control/status (Section 8)
General-purpose event control/status
Global Lock control/status
System Reset control (Section 4.7.3.6)
Embedded Controller control/status (Section 12)
SMBus Host Controller (HC) control/status (Section 13)
Smart Battery Subsystem (Section 10.1)

ACPI-defined Generic Register Interfaces and object definitions in the ACPI Namespace (Section 4.2, Section 5.6.5):
General-purpose event processing
Motherboard device identification, configuration, and insertion/removal (Section 6)
Thermal zones (Section 11)
Power resource control (Section 7.1)
Device power state control (Section 7.2)
System power state control (Section 7.3)
System indicators (Section 9.1)
Devices and device controls (Section 9):
Processor (Section 8)
Control Method Battery (Section 10)
Smart Battery Subsystem (Section 10)
Mobile Lid
Power or sleep button with S5 override (also possible in fixed space)
Embedded controller (Section 12)
Fan
Generic Bus Bridge
ATA Controller
Floppy Controller
GPE Block
Module
Memory
Global Lock related interfaces
ACPI Event programming model (Section 5.6)
ACPI-defined Platform Firmware Responsibilities (Section 15)
ACPI-defined State Definitions (Section 2):

Global system power states (G-states, S0, S5)
System sleeping states (S-states S1-S4) (Section 15)
Device power states (D-states (Appendix B))
Processor power states (C-states) (Section 8)
Device and processor performance states (P-states) (Section 3, Section 8)
1.7.1.2 Terminology Examples for Design Guides

The following provides an example of how a client platform design guide, whose goal is to require
robust configuration and power management for the system class, could use the recommended
terminology to define ACPI requirements.
Note: This example is provided as a guideline for how ACPI terminology can be used. It should not be
interpreted as a statement of ACPI requirements.
Platforms compliant with this platform design guide must implement the following ACPI defined system features,
concepts, and interfaces, along with their associated event models:
System address map reporting interfaces

ACPI System Description Tables provided in the system firmware

ACPI-defined Fixed Registers Interfaces:
Power or sleep button with S5 override (may also be implemented in generic register space)
Real time clock wakeup alarm control/status
(control required only if system supports legacy mode)
System power state controls (sleeping/wake control)
Processor power state control (for C1)
Global Lock control/status (if Global Lock interfaces are required by the system)
· ACPI-defined Generic Register Interfaces and object definitions in the ACPI Namespace:
System power state control ( Section 7.3)
Devices and device controls:
Processor
Control Method Battery (or Smart Battery Subsystem on a mobile system)
Smart Battery Subsystem (or Control Method Battery on a mobile system)
Power or sleep button with S5 override (may also be implemented in fixed register space)
Global Lock related interfaces when a logical register in the hardware is shared between OS and firm-
ware environments
· ACPI Event programming model (Section 5.6)
· ACPI-defined Platform Firmware Responsibilities (Section 15)
· ACPI-defined State Definitions:
System sleeping states (At least one system sleeping state, S1-S4, must be implemented)
Device power states (D-states must be implemented in accordance with device class specifications)
Processor power states (All processors must support the C1 Power State)
The following provides an example of how a design guide for systems that execute multiple OS
instances, whose goal is to require robust configuration and continuous availability for the system
class, could use the recommended terminology to define ACPI related requirements.
Note: This example is provided as a guideline for how ACPI terminology can be used. It should not be
interpreted as a statement of ACPI requirements.
Platforms compliant with this platform design guide must implement the following ACPI defined system features and
interfaces, along with their associated event models:
System address map reporting interfaces
ACPI System Description Tables provided in the system firmware
ACPI-defined Fixed Registers Interfaces:


(control required only if system supports legacy mode)
System power state controls (sleeping/wake control)
Processor power state control (for C1)
Global Lock control/status (if Global Lock interfaces are required by the system)
· ACPI-defined Generic Register Interfaces and object definitions in the ACPI Namespace:
System power state control (Section 7.3)
System indicators
Devices and device controls:
Processor
Global Lock related interfaces when a logical register in the hardware is shared between OS and firm-
ware environments
· ACPI Event programming model ( Section 5.6)
· ACPI-defined Platform Firmware Responsibilities (Section 15)
· ACPI-defined State Definitions:
Processor power states (All processors must support the C1 Power State)
1.7.2 OSPM Implementations

OS enhancements are needed to support ACPI-defined features, concepts, and interfaces, along with
their associated event models appropriate to the system platform class upon which the OS executes.
This is the implementation of OSPM. The following outlines the OS enhancements and elements
necessary to support all ACPI-defined interfaces. To support ACPI through the implementation of
OSPM, the OS needs to be modified to:
• Use system address map reporting interfaces.
• Find and consume the ACPI System Description Tables.
• Interpret ACPI machine language (AML).
• Enumerate and configure motherboard devices described in the ACPI Namespace.
• Interface with the power management timer.
• Interface with the real-time clock wake alarm.
• Enter ACPI mode (on legacy hardware systems).
• Implement device power management policy.
• Implement power resource management.
• Implement processor power states in the scheduler idle handlers.
• Control processor and device performance states.
• Implement the ACPI thermal model.

• Support the ACPI Event programming model including handling SCI interrupts, managing fixed
events, general-purpose events, embedded controller interrupts, and dynamic device support.
• Support acquisition and release of the Global Lock.
• Use the reset register to reset the system.
• Provide APIs to influence power management policy.
• Implement driver support for ACPI-defined devices.
• Implement APIs supporting the system indicators.
• Support all system states S1–S5.
1.7.3 OS Requirements
The following list describes the minimum requirements for an OSPM/ACPI-compatible OS:
• Use system address map reporting interfaces to get the system address map on Intel Architecture
(IA) platforms:
• INT 15H, E820H - Query System Address Map interface (see Section 15,“System Address
Map Interfaces”)
• EFI GetMemoryMap() Boot Services Function (see Section 15, “System Address Map
Interfaces”)
• Find and consume the ACPI System Description Tables (see Section 5, “ACPI Software
Programming Model”).
• Implementation of an AML interpreter supporting all defined AML grammar elements (see
Section 20, ACPI Machine Language Specification”).
• Support for the ACPI Event programming model including handling SCI interrupts, managing
fixed events, general-purpose events, embedded controller interrupts, and dynamic device
support.
• Enumerate and configure motherboard devices described in the ACPI Namespace.
• Implement support for the following ACPI devices defined within this specification:
• Embedded Controller Device (see Section 12, “ACPI Embedded Controller Interface
Specification”)
• GPE Block Device (see Section 9.11, “GPE Block Device”)
• Module Device (see Section 9.12, “Module Device”)
• Implementation of the ACPI thermal model (see Section 11, “Thermal Management”).
• Support acquisition and release of the Global Lock.
• OS-directed power management support (device drivers are responsible for maintaining device
context as described by the Device Power Management Class Specifications described in
Section A).
1.8 Target Audience

This specification is intended for the following users:
• OEMs building hardware containing ACPI-compatible interfaces

• Operating system and device driver developers

• All platform system firmware developers
• CPU and chip set vendors
• Peripheral vendors
1.9 Document Organization

The ACPI specification document is organized into the following four parts:
• The first part of the specification (sections 1 through 3) introduces ACPI and provides an
executive overview.
• The second part (sections 4 and 5) defines the ACPI hardware and software programming
models.
• The third part (sections 6 through 17) specifies the ACPI implementation details; this part of the
specification is primarily for developers.
• The fourth part (sections 18 and 19) is technical reference material; section 18 is the ACPI
Source Language (ASL) reference, parts of which are referred to by most of the other sections in
the document.
• Appendices contain device class specifications, describing power management characteristics of
specific classes of devices, and device class-specific ACPI interfaces.
1.9.1 ACPI Introduction and Overview

The first three sections of the specification provide an executive overview of ACPI.
Section 1: Introduction.
Discusses the purpose and goals of the specification, presents an overview of the
ACPI-compatible system architecture, specifies the minimum requirements for an
ACPI-compatible system, and provides references to related specifications.
Section 2: Definition of Terms.
Defines the key terminology used in this specification. In particular, the global
system states (Mechanical Off, Soft Off, Sleeping, Working, and Non-Volatile Sleep)
are defined in this section, along with the device power state definitions: Off (D3),
D3hot, D2, D1, and Fully-On (D0). Device and processor performance states (P0, P1,
…Pn) are also discussed.
Section 3: ACPI Overview.
Gives an overview of the ACPI specification in terms of the functional areas covered
by the specification: system power management, device power management,
processor power management, Plug and Play, handling of system events, battery
management, and thermal management.

1.9.2 Programming Models

Sections 4 and 5 define the ACPI hardware and software programming models. This part of the
specification is primarily for system designers, developers, and project managers.
All of the implementation-oriented, reference, and platform example sections of the specification
that follow (all the rest of the sections of the specification) are based on the models defined in
sections 4 and 5. These sections are the heart of the ACPI specification. There are extensive cross-
references between the two sections.
Section 4: ACPI Hardware Specification.
Defines a set of hardware interfaces that meet the goals of this specification.
Section 5: ACPI Software Programming Model.
Defines a set of software interfaces that meet the goals of this specification.
1.9.3 Implementation Details

The third part of the specification defines the implementation details necessary to actually build
components that work on an ACPI-compatible platform. This part of the specification is primarily
for developers.
Section 6: Configuration.
Defines the reserved Plug and Play objects used to configure and assign resources to
devices, and share resources and the reserved objects used to track device insertion
and removal. Also defines the format of ACPI-compatible resource descriptors.
Section 7: Power and Performance Management.
Defines the reserved device power-management objects and the reserved-system
power-management objects.
Section 8: Processor Configuration and Control.
Defines how the OS manages the processors’ power consumption and other controls
while the system is in the working state.
Section 9: ACPI-Specific Device Objects.
Lists the integrated devices that need support for some device-specific ACPI controls,
along with the device-specific ACPI controls that can be provided. Most device
objects are controlled through generic objects and control methods and have generic
device IDs; this section discusses the exceptions.
Section 10: Power Source Devices.
Defines the reserved battery device and AC adapter objects.
Section 11: Thermal Management.
Defines the reserved thermal management objects.
Section 12: ACPI Embedded Controller Interface Specification.
Defines the interfaces between an ACPI-compatible OS and an embedded controller.

Section 13: ACPI System Management Bus Interface Specification.

Defines the interfaces between an ACPI-compatible OS and a System Management
Bus (SMBus) host controller.
Section 14: Platform Communications Channel.
Explains the generic mechanism for OSPM to communicate with an entity in the
platform defines a new address space type
Section 15: System Address Map Interfaces.
Explains the special INT 15 call for use in ISA/EISA/PCI bus-based systems. This
call supplies the OS with a clean memory map indicating address ranges that are
reserved and ranges that are available on the motherboard. UEFI-based memory
address map reporting interfaces are also described.
Section 16: Waking and Sleeping.
Defines in detail the transitions between system working and sleeping states and their
relationship to wake events. Refers to the reserved objects defined in sections 6, 7, and
8.
Section 17: Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) Architecture Platforms.
Discusses in detail how ACPI define interfaces can be used to describe a NUMA
architecture platform. Refers to the reserved objects defined in sections 5, 6, 8, and 9.
Section 18: ACPI Platform Error Interfaces.
Defines interfaces that enable OSPM to processes different types of hardware error
events that are detected by platform-based error detection hardware.
1.9.4 Technical Reference

The fourth part of the specification contains reference material for developers.
Section 19: ACPI Source Language Reference.
Defines the syntax of all the ASL statements that can be used to write ACPI control
methods, along with example syntax usage.
Section 20: ACPI Machine Language Specification.
Defines the grammar of the language of the ACPI virtual machine language. An ASL
translator (compiler) outputs AML.
Section 21: ACPI Data Tables and Table Language Definition.
Describes a simple language (the Table Definition Language or TDL) that can be used
to generate any ACPI data table.
Appendix A: Device class specifications.
Describes device-specific power management behavior on a per device-class basis.
Appendix B: Video Extensions.
Contains video device class-specific ACPI interfaces.

1.10 Related Documents

Power management and Plug and Play specifications for legacy hardware platforms are the
following, available from “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the
heading "Legacy PNP Guidelines".
• Advanced Power Management (APM) BIOS Specification, Revision 1.2.
• Plug and Play BIOS Specification, Version 1.0a.
Intel Architecture specifications are available from http://developer.intel.com:
Intel® ItaniumTM Architecture Software Developer’s Manual, see “Links to ACPI-Related
Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Intel Architecture Specifications".
ItaniumTM Processor Family System Abstraction Layer Specification, Intel Corporation, December
2003 (June 2004 Update).
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Specifications are available from http://www.uefi.org:
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Specification, see “Links to ACPI-Related Documents”
(http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Specifications"
Documentation and specifications for the Smart Battery System components and the SMBus are
available from http://www.sbs-forum.org:
• “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Smart Battery
System Components and SMBus Specification".
• Smart Battery Data Specification, see “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi)
under the heading "Smart Battery System Components and SMBus Specification".
• Smart Battery Selector Specification, Revision 1.1, Smart Battery System Implementers Forum,
December, 1998.
• Smart Battery System Manager Specification, Revision 1.0, Smart Battery System Implementers
Forum, December, 1998.
• System Management Bus Specification, Revision 1.1, Smart Battery System Implementers
Forum, December, 1998.


ACPI Specification Definition of Terms
2 Definition of Terms
This specification uses a particular set of terminology, defined in this section. This section has three
parts:
General ACPI terms are defined and presented alphabetically.
The ACPI global system states (working, sleeping, soft off, and mechanical off) are defined. Global
system states apply to the entire system, and are visible to the user.
The ACPI device power states are defined. Device power states are states of particular devices; as
such, they are generally not visible to the user. For example, some devices may be in the off state
even though the system as a whole is in the working state. Device states apply to any device on any
bus.
2.1 General ACPI Terminology

Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)
As defined in this document, ACPI is a method for describing hardware interfaces in
terms abstract enough to allow flexible and innovative hardware implementations and
concrete enough to allow shrink-wrap OS code to use such hardware interfaces.
ACPI Hardware
Computer hardware with the features necessary to support OSPM and with the
interfaces to those features described using the Description Tables as specified by this
document.
ACPI Namespace
A hierarchical tree structure in OS-controlled memory that contains named objects.
These objects may be data objects, control method objects, bus/device package
objects, and so on. The OS dynamically changes the contents of the namespace at run-
time by loading and/or unloading definition blocks from the ACPI Tables that reside
in the ACPI system firmware. All the information in the ACPI Namespace comes
from the Differentiated System Description Table (DSDT), which contains the
Differentiated Definition Block, and one or more other definition blocks.
ACPI Machine Language (AML)
Pseudo-code for a virtual machine supported by an ACPI-compatible OS and in which
ACPI control methods and objects are written. The AML encoding definition is
provided in section 19, “ACPI Machine Language (AML) Specification.”
Add-in Card
A generic term used to refer to any device which can be inserted or removed from a
platform through a connection bus, such as PCI. Add-in cards are typically inserted
within a platform’s physical enclosure, rather than residing physically external to a
platform. An add-in card will have its own devices and associated firmware, and may
have its own Expansion ROM Firmware.

Definition of Terms ACPI Specification
Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC)

An interrupt controller architecture commonly found on Intel Architecture-based 32-
bit PC systems. The APIC architecture supports multiprocessor interrupt management
(with symmetric interrupt distribution across all processors), multiple I/O subsystem
support, 8259A compatibility, and inter-processor interrupt support. The architecture
consists of local APICs commonly attached directly to processors and I/O APICs
commonly in chip sets.
ACPI Source Language (ASL)
The programming language equivalent for AML. ASL is compiled into AML images.
The ASL statements are defined in section 18, “ACPI Source Language (ASL)
Reference.”
Address Range Scrub (ARS)
Process by which regions of memory can be scrubbed to look for memory locations
that contain correctable or uncorrectable errors.
BIOS
BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) is firmware that provides basic boot capabilities
for a platform; it is used here to refer specifically to traditional x86 BIOS, and not as a
general term for all firmware, or a replacement term for UEFI Core System BIOS.
The ambiguity of this the term is what we are trying to remove. See also: Legacy
BIOS, System BIOS.
Boot Firmware
Generic term to describe any firmware on a platform used during the boot process.
Use a more specific term, if possible.
Component
Synonym for device. Please use the term “device” if possible.
Control Method
A control method is a definition of how the OS can perform a simple hardware task.
For example, the OS invokes control methods to read the temperature of a thermal
zone. Control methods are written in an encoded language called AML that can be
interpreted and executed by the ACPI-compatible OS. An ACPI-compatible system
must provide a minimal set of control methods in the ACPI tables. The OS provides a
set of well-defined control methods that ACPI table developers can reference in their
control methods. OEMs can support different revisions of chip sets with one version
of platform firmware by either including control methods in the platform firmware
that test configurations and respond as needed or including a different set of control
methods for each chip set revision.
Central Processing Unit (CPU) or Processor
The part of a platform that executes the instructions that do the work. An ACPI-
compatible OS can balance processor performance against power consumption and
thermal states by manipulating the processor performance controls. The ACPI
specification defines a working state, labeled G0 (S0), in which the processor executes

instructions. Processor sleeping states, labeled C1 through C3, are also defined. In the
sleeping states, the processor executes no instructions, thus reducing power
consumption and, potentially, operating temperatures. The ACPI specification also
defines processor performance states, where the processor (while in C0) executes
instructions, but with lower performance and (potentially) lower power consumption
and operating temperature. For more information, see section 8, “Processor
Configuration and Control.”
A definition block contains information about hardware implementation and
configuration details in the form of data and control methods, encoded in AML. An
OEM can provide one or more definition blocks in the ACPI Tables. One definition
block must be provided: the Differentiated Definition Block, which describes the base
system. Upon loading the Differentiated Definition Block, the OS inserts the contents
of the Differentiated Definition Block into the ACPI Namespace. Other definition
blocks, which the OS can dynamically insert and remove from the active ACPI
Namespace, can contain references to the Differentiated Definition Block. For more
information, see section 5.2.11, “Definition Blocks.”
Device
A generic term used to refer to any computing, input/output or storage element, or any
collection of computing, input/output or storage elements, on a platform. An example
of a device is a CPU, APU, embedded controller (EC), BMC, Trusted Platform
Module (TPM), graphics processing unit (GPU), network interface controller (NIC),
hard disk drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD), Read Only Memory (ROM), flash
ROM, or any of the large number of other possible devices. If at all possible, use a
more specific term.
Device Context
The variable data held by the device; it is usually volatile. The device might forget this
information when entering or leaving certain states (for more information, see section
2.3, “Device Power State Definitions.”), in which case the OS software is responsible
for saving and restoring the information. Device Context refers to small amounts of
information held in device peripherals. See System Context.
Device Firmware
Firmware that is only used by a specific device and cannot be used with any other
device. This firmware is typically provided by the device manufacturer.
Differentiated System Description Table (DSDT)
An OEM must supply a DSDT to an ACPI-compatible OS. The DSDT contains the
Differentiated Definition Block, which supplies the implementation and configuration
information about the base system. The OS always inserts the DSDT information into
the ACPI Namespace at system boot time and never removes it.
DIMM Physical Address (DPA)
An NVDIMM relative memory address.

Embedded Controller
The general class of microcontrollers used to support OEM-specific implementations,
mainly in mobile environments. The ACPI specification supports embedded
controllers in any platform design, as long as the microcontroller conforms to one of
the models described in this section. The embedded controller performs complex low-
level functions through a simple interface to the host microprocessor(s).
Embedded Controller Interface
A standard hardware and software communications interface between an OS driver
and an embedded controller. This allows any OS to provide a standard driver that can
directly communicate with an embedded controller in the system, thus allowing other
drivers within the system to communicate with and use the resources of system
embedded controllers (for example, Smart Battery and AML code). This in turn
enables the OEM to provide platform features that the OS and applications can use.
Expansion ROM Firmware
Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) term for firmware executed on a host
processor which is used by an add-in device during the boot process. This includes
Option ROM Firmware and UEFI drivers. Expansion ROM Firmware may be
embedded as part of the Host Processor Boot Firmware, or may be separate (e.g., from
an add-in card). See also: Option ROM Firmware
Firmware
Generic term to describe any BIOS or firmware on a platform; it refers to the general
class of things, not a specific type. Use a more specific term, if possible.
Firmware ACPI Control Structure (FACS)
A structure in read/write memory that the platform runtime firmware uses for
handshaking between the firmware and the OS. The FACS is passed to an ACPI-
compatible OS via the Fixed ACPI Description Table (FADT). The FACS contains
the system’s hardware signature at last boot, the firmware waking vector, and the
Global Lock.
Firmware Storage Device
A memory device used to store firmware. This could include Read Only Memory
(ROM), flash memory, eMMC, UFS drives, etc.
Fixed ACPI Description Table (FADT)
A table that contains the ACPI Hardware Register Block implementation and
configuration details that the OS needs to directly manage the ACPI Hardware
Register Blocks, as well as the physical address of the DSDT, which contains other
platform implementation and configuration details. An OEM must provide an FADT
to an ACPI-compatible OS in the RSDT/XSDT. The OS always inserts the namespace
information defined in the Differentiated Definition Block in the DSDT into the ACPI
Namespace at system boot time, and the OS never removes it.

Fixed Features
A set of features offered by an ACPI interface. The ACPI specification places
restrictions on where and how the hardware programming model is generated. All
fixed features, if used, are implemented as described in this specification so that
OSPM can directly access the fixed feature registers.
Fixed Feature Events
A set of events that occur at the ACPI interface when a paired set of status and event
bits in the fixed feature registers are set at the same time. When a fixed feature event
occurs, a system control interrupt (SCI is raised. For ACPI fixed feature events,
OSPM (or an ACPI-aware driver) acts as the event handler.
Fixed Feature Registers
A set of hardware registers in fixed feature register space at specific address locations
in system I/O address space. ACPI defines register blocks for fixed features (each
register block gets a separate pointer from the FADT). For more information, see
section 4.6, “ACPI Hardware Features.”
General-Purpose Event Registers
The general-purpose event registers contain the event programming model for generic
features. All general-purpose events generate SCIs.
Generic Feature
A generic feature of a platform is value-added hardware implemented through control
methods and general-purpose events.
Generic Interrupt Controller (GIC)
An interrupt controller architecture for ARM processor-based systems.
Global System Status
Global system states apply to the entire system, and are visible to the user. The various
global system states are labeled G0 through G3 in the ACPI specification. For more
information, see Section 2.2, “Global System State Definitions.”
Host Processor
A host processor is the primary processing unit in a platform, traditionally called a
Central Processing Unit (CPU), now also sometimes referred to as an Application
Processing Unit (APU), or a System on Chip (SoC). This is the processing unit on
which the primary operating system (and/or hypervisor), as well as user applications
run. This is the processor that is responsible for loading and executing the Host
Processor Boot Firmware. This term and "Boot Processor" should be considered
synonyms for this particular text clean-up effort (i.e., making them consistent should
probably be part of a different ECR, if needed).
Host Processor Boot Firmware
Generic term used to describe firmware loaded and executed by the Host Processor
which provides basic boot capabilities for a platform. This class of firmware is a
reference to Legacy BIOS and UEFI, which were sometimes referred to as System

BIOS. Where the distinction between Legacy BIOS and UEFI is not important, the
term Host Processor Boot Firmware will be used. Where the distinction is important,
it will be referenced appropriately. Expansion ROM firmware may also be considered
as part of the Host Processor Boot Firmware. Expansion ROM Firmware may be
embedded as part of the Host Processor Boot Firmware, or may be separate from the
Host Processor Boot Firmware (e.g., loaded from an add-in card).
Host Processor Runtime Firmware
Host processor runtime firmware is any runtime firmware which executes on the host
processor.
Ignored Bits
Some unused bits in ACPI hardware registers are designated as “ignored” in the ACPI
specification. Ignored bits are undefined and can return zero or one (in contrast to
reserved bits, which always return zero). Software ignores ignored bits in ACPI
hardware registers on reads and preserves ignored bits on writes.
Intel Architecture-Personal Computer (IA-PC)
A general descriptive term for computers built with processors conforming to the
architecture defined by the Intel processor family based on the Intel Architecture
instruction set and having an industry-standard PC architecture.
I/O APIC
An Input/Output Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller routes interrupts from
devices to the processor’s local APIC.
I/O SAPIC
An Input/Output Streamlined Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller routes
interrupts from devices to the processor’s local APIC.
Label Storage Area
A persistent storage area reserved for Label storage.
Legacy
A computer state where power management policy decisions are made by the platform
hardware/firmware shipped with the system. The legacy power management features
found in today’s systems are used to support power management in a system that uses
a legacy OS that does not support the OS-directed power management architecture.
Legacy BIOS
One form of Host Processor Boot Firmware used on x86 platforms which uses a
legacy x86 BIOS structure. This form of host processor boot firmware has been or is
being replaced by UEFI. This term will likely be most useful in distinguishing and
comparing older forms of firmware to newer forms (e.g., "it was done this way in
legacy BIOS, but is now done another way in UEFI). See also: BIOS, System BIOS
Legacy Hardware
A computer system that has no ACPI or OSPM power management support.

Legacy OS
An OS that is not aware of and does not direct the power management functions of the
system. Included in this category are operating systems with APM 1.x support.
Local APIC
A local Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller receives interrupts from the I/O
APIC.
Local SAPIC
A local Streamlined Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller receives interrupts
from the I/O SAPIC.
Management Firmware
Firmware used only by a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) or other Out-of-
Band (OOB) management controller.
Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT)
The Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT) is used on systems supporting the
APIC and SAPIC to describe the APIC implementation. Following the MADT is a list
of APIC/SAPIC structures that declare the APIC/SAPIC features of the machine.
Namespace
A namespace defines a contiguously-addressed range of Non-Volatile Memory,
conceptually similar to a SCSI Logical Unit (LUN) or an NVM Express namespace.
A namespace can be described by one or more Labels.
Non-Host Processor
A non-host processor is a generic term used to describe any processing unit on a
platform which is not a host processor (e.g. a microcontroller, co-processor, etc). For
the purposes of this particular ECR, this should also be considered a synonym for
"secondary processor", those CPUs that might be on an SoC, for example, that are not
the host (or "boot") processor.
NVDIMM
Non Volatile Dual In-line Memory Module.
Object
The nodes of the ACPI Namespace are objects inserted in the tree by the OS using the
information in the system definition tables. These objects can be data objects, package
objects, control method objects, and so on. Package objects refer to other objects.
Objects also have type, size, and relative name.
Object name
Part of the ACPI Namespace. There is a set of rules for naming objects.
Operating System-directed Power Management (OSPM)
A model of power (and system) management in which the OS plays a central role and
uses global information to optimize system behavior for the task at hand.

Option ROM FirmwareDevice Firmware

Legacy term for boot firmware typically executed on a host processor which is used
by a device during the boot process. Option ROM firmware may be included with the
host processor boot firmware or may be carried separately by a device (such as an
add-in card). See also: Expansion ROM Firmware
Package
An array of objects.
Peripheral
A peripheral (also known as an external device) is a device which resides physically
external to a platform and is connected to a platform, either wired or wirelessly. A
peripheral is comprised of its own devices which may have their own firmware.
Persistent Memory (pmem)
Byte-addressable memory that retains its contents across power loss.
Platform
A platform consists of multiple devices assembled and working together to deliver a
specific computing function, but does not include any other software other than the
firmware as part of the devices in the platform. Examples of platforms include a
notebook, a desktop, a server, a network switch, a blade, etc. - all without and
independent of any operating system, user applications, or user data.
Platform Boot Firmware
The collection of all boot firmware on a platform. This firmware is initially loaded by
a platform (such as an SoC, a motherboard, or a complete system) at power-on to do
basic initialization of the platform hardware and then hand control to a boot loader or
OS. In some cases this will be x86 BIOS, or it may be UEFI Core System BIOS, or it
could be something else entirely. Once control has been handed over to a boot loader
or an OS, this firmware has no further role.
Platform Runtime Firmware
The collection of all run-time firmware on a platform. This is firmware that can
provide functions that can be invoked by an OS, but those functions are still concerned
only with the platform hardware (e.g., PSCI on ARM). The assumption is that
platform boot firmware has since been superceded by the OS since the OS is now up
and running, but that there is still a need for an OS to access specific features of
hardware that may only be possible via firmware.
Platform Firmware
The collection of platform boot firmware and platform runtime firmware.
Power Button
A user push button or other switch contact device that switches the system from the
sleeping/soft off state to the working state, and signals the OS to transition to a
sleeping/soft off state from the working state.

Power Management
Mechanisms in software and hardware to minimize system power consumption,
manage system thermal limits, and maximize system battery life. Power management
involves trade-offs among system speed, noise, battery life, processing speed, and
alternating current (AC) power consumption. Power management is required for some
system functions, such as appliance (for example, answering machine, furnace
control) operations.
Power Resources
Resources (for example, power planes and clock sources) that a device requires to
operate in a given power state.
Power Sources
The battery (including a UPS battery) and AC line powered adapters or power
supplies that supply power to a platform.
Register Grouping
Consists of two register blocks (it has two pointers to two different blocks of
registers). The fixed-position bits within a register grouping can be split between the
two register blocks. This allows the bits within a register grouping to be split between
two chips.
Reserved Bits
Some unused bits in ACPI hardware registers are designated as “Reserved” in the
ACPI specification. For future extensibility, hardware-register reserved bits always
return zero, and data writes to them have no side effects. OSPM implementations must
write zeros to all reserved bits in enable and status registers and preserve bits in
control registers.
Root System Description Pointer (RSDP)
An ACPI-compatible system must provide an RSDP in the system’s low address
space. This structure’s only purpose is to provide the physical address of the RSDT
and XSDT.
Root System Description Table (RSDT)
A table with the signature ‘RSDT,’ followed by an array of physical pointers to other
system description tables. The OS locates that RSDT by following the pointer in the
RSDP structure.
Runtime Firmware
Generic term to describe any firmware on a platform used during runtime (i.e., after
the boot process has completed). Use a more specific term, if possible.
Secondary System Description Table (SSDT)
SSDTs are a continuation of the DSDT. Multiple SSDTs can be used as part of a
platform description. After the DSDT is loaded into the ACPI Namespace, each
secondary description table listed in the RSDT/XSDT with a unique OEM Table ID is

loaded. This allows the OEM to provide the base support in one table, while adding
smaller system options in other tables.
System Physical Address (SPA)
The platform physical address assigned and programmed by the platform and utilized
by the OS.
Sleep Button
A user push button that switches the system from the sleeping/soft off state to the
working state, and signals the OS to transition to a sleeping state from the working
state.
Smart Battery Subsystem
A battery subsystem that conforms to the following specifications: Smart Battery and
either Smart Battery System Manager or Smart Battery Charger and Selector—and the
additional ACPI requirements.
Smart Battery Table
An ACPI table used on platforms that have a Smart Battery subsystem. This table
indicates the energy-level trip points that the platform requires for placing the system
into different sleeping states and suggested energy levels for warning the user to
SMBus Interface
A standard hardware and software communications interface between an OS bus
driver and an SMBus controller.
Software
Software is comprised of elements required to load the operating system and all user
applications and user data subsequently handled by the operating system.
Streamlined Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (SAPIC)
An advanced APIC commonly found on Intel ItaniumTM Processor Family-based 64-
bit systems.
transition the platform into a sleeping state.
System
A system is the entirety of a computing entity, including all elements in a platform
(hardware, firmware) and software (operating system, user applications, user data). A
system can be thought of both as a logical construct (e.g. a software stack) or physical
construct (e.g. a notebook, a desktop, a server, a network switch, etc).
System BIOS
A term sometimes used in industry to refer to either Legacy BIOS, or to UEFI Core
System BIOS, or both. Please use this term only when referring to Legacy BIOS. See
also: BIOS, Legacy BIOS.
System Context
The volatile data in the system that is not saved by a device driver.

System Control Interrupt (SCI)

A system interrupt used by hardware to notify the OS of ACPI events. The SCI is an
active, low, shareable, level interrupt.
System Management Bus (SMBus)
A two-wire interface based upon the I²C protocol. The SMBus is a low-speed bus that
provides positive addressing for devices, as well as bus arbitration.
System Management Interrupt (SMI)
An OS-transparent interrupt generated by interrupt events on legacy systems. By
contrast, on ACPI systems, interrupt events generate an OS-visible interrupt that is
shareable (edge-style interrupts will not work). Hardware platforms that want to
support both legacy operating systems and ACPI systems must support a way of re-
mapping the interrupt events between SMIs and SCIs when switching between ACPI
and legacy models.
Thermal States
Thermal states represent different operating environment temperatures within thermal
zones of a system. A system can have one or more thermal zones; each thermal zone is
the volume of space around a particular temperature-sensing device. The transitions
from one thermal state to another are marked by trip points, which are implemented to
generate an SCI when the temperature in a thermal zone moves above or below the
trip point temperature.
UEFI
One form of Host Processor Boot Firmware which uses a Unified Extensible
Firmware Interface (UEFI) structure (as defined by the UEFI Forum). This is the
current host processor boot firmware structure being adopted as a standard in the
industry. This term should be used when referring specifically to UEFI code on a
platform.
UEFI Drivers
Standalone binary executables in PECOFF format which are loaded by UEFI during
the boot process to handle specific pieces of hardware.
Extended Root System Description Table (XSDT)
The XSDT provides identical functionality to the RSDT but accommodates physical
addresses of DESCRIPTION HEADERs that are larger than 32 bits. Notice that both
the XSDT and the RSDT can be pointed to by the RSDP structure.
2.2 Global System State Definitions

Global system states (Gx states) apply to the entire system and are visible to the user.
Global system states are defined by six principal criteria:
1. Does application software run?
2. What is the latency from external events to application response?

3. What is the power consumption?

4. Is an OS reboot required to return to a working state?
5. Is it safe to disassemble the computer?
6. Can the state be entered and exited electronically?
Following is a list of the system states:
G3 Mechanical Off
A computer state that is entered and left by a mechanical means (for example, turning
off the system’s power through the movement of a large red switch). It is implied by
the entry of this off state through a mechanical means that no electrical current is
running through the circuitry and that it can be worked on without damaging the
hardware or endangering service personnel. The OS must be restarted to return to the
Working state. No hardware context is retained. Except for the real-time clock, power
consumption is zero.
G2/S5 Soft Off
A computer state where the computer consumes a minimal amount of power. No user
mode or system mode code is run. This state requires a large latency in order to return
to the Working state. The system’s context will not be preserved by the hardware. The
system must be restarted to return to the Working state. It is not safe to disassemble
the machine in this state.
G1 Sleeping
A computer state where the computer consumes a small amount of power, user mode
threads are not being executed, and the system “appears” to be off (from an end user’s
perspective, the display is off, and so on). Latency for returning to the Working state
varies on the wake environment selected prior to entry of this state (for example,
whether the system should answer phone calls). Work can be resumed without
rebooting the OS because large elements of system context are saved by the hardware
and the rest by system software. It is not safe to disassemble the machine in this state.
G0 Working
A computer state where the system dispatches user mode (application) threads and
they execute. In this state, peripheral devices (peripherals) are having their power state
changed dynamically. The user can select, through some UI, various performance/
power characteristics of the system to have the software optimize for performance or
battery life. The system responds to external events in real time. It is not safe to
disassemble the machine in this state.
S4 Non-Volatile Sleep
A special global system state that allows system context to be saved and restored
(relatively slowly) when power is lost to the motherboard. If the system has been
commanded to enter S4, the OS will write all system context to a file on non-volatile
storage media and leave appropriate context markers. The machine will then enter the
S4 state. When the system leaves the Soft Off or Mechanical Off state, transitioning to
Working (G0) and restarting the OS, a restore from a NVS file can occur. This will
only happen if a valid non-volatile sleep data set is found, certain aspects of the

configuration of the machine have not changed, and the user has not manually aborted
the restore. If all these conditions are met, as part of the OS restarting, it will reload
the system context and activate it. The net effect for the user is what looks like a
resume from a Sleeping (G1) state (albeit slower). The aspects of the machine
configuration that must not change include, but are not limited to, disk layout and
memory size. It might be possible for the user to swap a PC Card or a Device Bay
device, however.
Notice that for the machine to transition directly from the Soft Off or Sleeping states to S4, the
system context must be written to non-volatile storage by the hardware; entering the Working state
first so that the OS or platform runtime firmware can save the system context takes too long from the
user's point of view. The transition from Mechanical Off to S4 is likely to be done when the user is
not there to see it.
Because the S4 state relies only on non-volatile storage, a machine can save its system context for an
arbitrary period of time (on the order of many years).
Table 2-2 Summary of Global Power States

Global system Software Latency Power OS restart Safe to Exit state
state runs consumption required disassemble electronically
computer
G0 Working Yes 0 Large No No Yes
G1 Sleeping No >0, Smaller No No Yes

varies
with
sleep
state
G2/S5 Soft Off No Long Very near 0 Yes No Yes
G3 Mechanical Off No Long RTC battery Yes Yes No
Notice that the entries for G2/S5 and G3 in the Latency column of the above table are “Long.” This
implies that a platform designed to give the user the appearance of “instant-on,” similar to a home
appliance device, will use the G0 and G1 states almost exclusively (the G3 state may be used for
moving the machine or repairing it).
2.3 Device Power State Definitions

Device power states are states of particular devices; as such, they are generally not visible to the
user. For example, some devices may be in the Off state even though the system as a whole is in the
Working state.
Device states apply to any device on any bus. They are generally defined in terms of four principal
criteria:
• Power consumption-How much power the device uses.
• Device context--How much of the context of the device is retained by the hardware. The OS is
responsible for restoring any lost device context (this may be done by resetting the device).

• Device driver--What the device driver must do to restore the device to full on.
• Restore time--How long it takes to restore the device to full on.
The device power states are defined below, although very generically. Many devices do not have all
four power states defined. Devices may be capable of several different low-power modes, but if
there is no user-perceptible difference between the modes, only the lowest power mode will be used.
The Device Class Power Management Specifications, included in Appendix A of this specification,
describe which of these power states are defined for a given type (class) of device and define the
specific details of each power state for that device class. For a list of the available Device Class
Power Management Specifications, see “Appendix A: Device Class Specifications.”
D3 (Off)
Power has been fully removed from the device. Also referred to as D3cold in this and
other specs. All device context is lost when this state is entered, so the OS software
will reinitialize the device when powering it back on. Since all device context and
power are lost, devices in this state do not decode their address lines, and cannot be
enumerated by software. Devices in this state have the longest restore times.
D3hot
The meaning of the D3hot State is defined by each device class. In general, D3hot is
expected to save as much power as possible without affecting PNP Enumeration.
Devices in D3hot must have enough power to remain enumerable by software. For
example, PCI Configuration space access and contents must operate as in shallower
power states. Similarly, ACPI identification and configuration objects must operate as
in shallower power states. Otherwise, no device functionality is supported, and Driver
software is required to restore any lost context, or reinitialize the device, during its
transition back to D0.
Devices in this state can have long restore times. All classes of devices define this
state.
Note: For devices that support both D3hot and D3 exposed to OSPM via _PR3, device software/drivers
must always assume OSPM will target D3and must assume all device context will be lost and the
device will no longer be enumerable.
D2
The meaning of the D2 Device State is defined by each device class. Many device
classes may not define D2. In general, D2 is expected to save more power and
preserve less device context than D1 or D0. Buses in D2 may cause the device to lose
some context (for example, by reducing power on the bus, thus forcing the device to
turn off some of its functions).
D1
The meaning of the D1 Device State is defined by each device class. Many device
classes may not define D1. In general, D1 is expected to save less power and preserve
more device context than D2.

D0 (Fully-On)
This state is assumed to be the highest level of power consumption. The device is
completely active and responsive, and is expected to remember all relevant context
continuously.
Transitions amongst these power states are restricted for simplicity. Power-down transitions (from
higher-power, or shallower, to lower-power, or deeper) are allowed between any two states.
However, power-up transitions (from deeper to shallower) are required to go through D0; i.e. Dy to
Dx<y is illegal for all x !=0.
Table 2-3 Summary of Device Power States

Device State Power Consumption Device Context Retained Driver Restoration
D0 - Fully-On As needed for operation All None
D1 D0>D1>D2> D3hot>D3 >D2 <D2
D2 D0>D1>D2> D3hot>D3 <D1 >D1
D3hot D0>D1>D2>D3hot>D3 Optional None <->Full initialization and
load
D3 - Off 0 None Full initialization and load
Note: Devices often have different power modes within a given state. Devices can use these modes as
long as they can automatically transparently switch between these modes from the software,
without violating the rules for the current Dx state the device is in. Low-power modes that
adversely affect performance (in other words, low speed modes) or that are not transparent to
software cannot be done automatically in hardware; the device driver must issue commands to
use these modes.
2.3.1 Device Performance States

Device performance states (Px states) are power consumption and capability states within the active
(D0) device power state. Performance states allow OSPM to make tradeoffs between performance
and energy conservation. Device performance states have the greatest impact when the
implementation is such that the states invoke different device efficiency levels as opposed to a linear
scaling of performance and energy consumption. Since performance state transitions occur in the
active device states, care must be taken to ensure that performance state transitions do not adversely
impact the system.
Device performance states, when necessary, are defined on a per device class basis (See Appendix A
for more information).
2.4 Sleeping and Soft-off State Definitions

S1-S4 are types of sleeping states within the global system state, G1, while S5 is a soft-off state
associated with the G2 system state. The Sx states are briefly defined below. For a detailed definition
of the system behavior within each Sx state, see Section 7.4.2, “System \_Sx States.” For a detailed
definition of the transitions between each of the Sx states, see Section 16.1, “Sleeping States.”

S1 Sleeping State
The S1 sleeping state is a low wake latency sleeping state. In this state, no system
context is lost (CPU or chip set) and hardware maintains all system context.
S2 Sleeping State
The S2 sleeping state is a low wake latency sleeping state. This state is similar to the
S1 sleeping state except that the CPU and system cache context is lost (the OS is
responsible for maintaining the caches and CPU context). Control starts from the
processor’s reset vector after the wake event.
S3 Sleeping State
The S3 sleeping state is a low wake latency sleeping state where all system context is
lost except system memory. CPU, cache, and chip set context are lost in this state.
Hardware maintains memory context and restores some CPU and L2 configuration
context. Control starts from the processor’s reset vector after the wake event.
S4 Sleeping State
The S4 sleeping state is the lowest power, longest wake latency sleeping state
supported by ACPI. In order to reduce power to a minimum, it is assumed that the
hardware platform has powered off all devices. Platform context is maintained.
S5 Soft Off State
The S5 state is similar to the S4 state except that the OS does not save any context.
The system is in the “soft” off state and requires a complete boot when it wakes.
Software uses a different state value to distinguish between the S5 state and the S4
state to allow for initial boot operations within the platform boot firmware to
distinguish whether the boot is going to wake from a saved memory image.
2.5 Processor Power State Definitions

Processor power states (Cx states) are processor power consumption and thermal management states
within the global working state, G0. The Cx states possess specific entry and exit semantics and are
briefly defined below. For a more detailed definition of each Cx state, see section 8.1, “Processor
Power States.”
C0 Processor Power State
While the processor is in this state, it executes instructions.
This processor power state has the lowest latency. The hardware latency in this state
must be low enough that the operating software does not consider the latency aspect of
the state when deciding whether to use it. Aside from putting the processor in a non-
executing power state, this state has no other software-visible effects.
The C2 state offers improved power savings over the C1 state. The worst-case
hardware latency for this state is provided via the ACPI system firmware and the
operating software can use this information to determine when the C1 state should be

used instead of the C2 state. Aside from putting the processor in a non-executing
power state, this state has no other software-visible effects.
The C3 state offers improved power savings over the C1 and C2 states. The worst-
case hardware latency for this state is provided via the ACPI system firmware and the
operating software can use this information to determine when the C2 state should be
used instead of the C3 state. While in the C3 state, the processor’s caches maintain
state but ignore any snoops. The operating software is responsible for ensuring that the
caches maintain coherency.
2.6 Device and Processor Performance State Definitions

Device and Processor performance states (Px states) are power consumption and capability states
within the active/executing states, C0 for processors and D0 for devices. The Px states are briefly
defined below. For a more detailed definition of each Px state from a processor perspective, see
section 8.4.4, “Processor Performance Control.” For a more detailed definition of each Px state from
a device perspective see section 3.6, “Device and Processor Performance States,” and the device
class specifications in Appendix A.
P0 Performance State
While a device or processor is in this state, it uses its maximum performance
capability and may consume maximum power.
P1 Performance State
In this performance power state, the performance capability of a device or processor is
limited below its maximum and consumes less than maximum power.
Pn Performance State
In this performance state, the performance capability of a device or processor is at its
minimum level and consumes minimal power while remaining in an active state. State
n is a maximum number and is processor or device dependent. Processors and devices
may define support for an arbitrary number of performance states not to exceed 255.


ACPI Specification ACPI Concepts
3 ACPI Concepts
Platforms compliant with the ACPI specification provide OSPM with direct and exclusive control
over the power management and motherboard device configuration functions of a computer. During
OS initialization, OSPM takes over these functions from legacy implementations such as the APM
BIOS, SMM-based firmware, legacy applications, and the PNPBIOS. Having done this, OSPM is
responsible for handling motherboard device configuration events as well as for controlling the
power, performance, and thermal status of the system based on user preference, application requests
and OS imposed Quality of Service (QOS) / usability goals. ACPI provides low-level interfaces that
allow OSPM to perform these functions. The functional areas covered by the ACPI specification are:
System power management
ACPI defines mechanisms for putting the computer as a whole in and out of system
sleeping states. It also provides a general mechanism for any device to wake the
computer.
Device power management
ACPI tables describe motherboard devices, their power states, the power planes the
devices are connected to, and controls for putting devices into different power states.
This enables the OS to put devices into low-power states based on application usage.
Processor power management
While the OS is idle but not sleeping, it will use commands described by ACPI to put
processors in low-power states.
Device and processor performance management
While the system is active, OSPM will transition devices and processors into different
performance states, defined by ACPI, to achieve a desirable balance between
performance and energy conservation goals as well as other environmental
requirements (for example, visibility and acoustics).
Configuration / Plug and Play
ACPI specifies information used to enumerate and configure motherboard devices.
This information is arranged hierarchically so when events such as docking and
undocking take place, the OS has precise, a priori knowledge of which devices are
affected by the event.
System Events
ACPI provides a general event mechanism that can be used for system events such as
thermal events, power management events, docking, device insertion and removal,
and so on. This mechanism is very flexible in that it does not define specifically how
events are routed to the core logic chip set.
Battery management
Battery management policy moves from the APM BIOS to the ACPI OS. An ACPI-
compatible battery device needs either a Smart Battery subsystem interface, which is

ACPI Concepts ACPI Specification
controlled by the OS directly through the embedded controller interface, or a Control

Method Battery interface. A Control Method Battery interface is completely defined
by AML control methods, allowing an OEM to choose any type of the battery and any
kind of communication interface supported by ACPI. The battery must comply with
the requirements of its interface, as described either herein or in other applicable
standards. The OS may choose to alter the behavior of the battery, for example, by
adjusting the Low Battery or Battery Warning trip point. When there are multiple
batteries present, the battery subsystem is not required to perform any synthesis of a
“composite battery” from the data of the separate batteries. In cases where the battery
subsystem does not synthesize a “composite battery” from the separate battery’s data,
the OS must provide that synthesis.
Thermal management
Since the OS controls the power and performance states of devices and processors,
ACPI also addresses system thermal management. It provides a simple, scalable
model that allows OEMs to define thermal zones, thermal indicators, and methods for
cooling thermal zones.
Embedded Controller
ACPI defines a standard hardware and software communications interface between an
OS bus enumerator and an embedded controller. This allows any OS to provide a
standard bus enumerator that can directly communicate with an embedded controller
in the system, thus allowing other drivers within the system to communicate with and
use the resources of system embedded controllers. This in turn enables the OEM to
provide platform features that the OS and applications can use.
SMBus Controller
ACPI defines a standard hardware and software communications interface between an
OS bus driver and an SMBus Controller. This allows any OS to provide a standard bus
driver that can directly communicate with SMBus devices in the system. This in turn
enables the OEM to provide platform features that the OS and applications can use.
OSPM’s mission is to optimally configure the platform and to optimally manage the system’s
power, performance, and thermal status given the user’s preferences and while supporting OS
imposed Quality of Service (QOS) / usability goals. To achieve these goals, ACPI requires that once
an ACPI compliant platform is in ACPI mode, the platform’s hardware, firmware, or other non-OS
software must not manipulate the platform’s configuration, power, performance, and thermal control
interfaces independently of OSPM. OSPM alone is responsible for coordinating the configuration,
power management, performance management, and thermal control policy of the system.
Manipulation of these interfaces independently of OSPM undermines the purpose of OSPM/ACPI
and may adversely impact the system’s configuration, power, performance, and thermal policy
goals. There are two exceptions to this requirement. The first is in the case of the possibility of
damage to a system from an excessive thermal conditions where an ACPI compatible OS is present
and OSPM latency is insufficient to remedy an adverse thermal condition. In this case, the platform
may exercise a failsafe thermal control mechanism that reduces the performance of a system
component to avoid damage. If this occurs, the platform must notify OSPM of the performance
reduction if the reduction is of significant duration (in other words, if the duration of reduced
performance could adversely impact OSPM’s power or performance control policy - operating

system vendors can provide guidance in this area). The second exception is the case where the
platform contains Active cooling devices but does not contain Passive cooling temperature trip
points or controls,. In this case, a hardware based Active cooling mechanism may be implemented
without impacting OSPM’s goals. Any platform that requires both active and passive cooling must
allow OSPM to manage the platform thermals via ACPI defined active and passive cooling
interfaces.
3.1 System Power Management

Under OSPM, the OS directs all system and device power state transitions. Employing user
preferences and knowledge of how devices are being used by applications, the OS puts devices in
and out of low-power states. Devices that are not being used can be turned off. Similarly, the OS
uses information from applications and user settings to put the system as a whole into a low- power
state. The OS uses ACPI to control power state transitions in hardware.
3.2 Power States

From a user-visible level, the system can be thought of as being in one of the states in the following
diagram:
Figure 3-2 Global System Power States and Transitions
See Section 2.2, “Global System State Definitions,” for detailed definitions of these states.
In general use, computers alternate between the Working and Sleeping states. In the Working state,
the computer is used to do work. User-mode application threads are dispatched and running.

Individual devices can be in low-power (Dx) states and processors can be in low-power (Cx) states if
they are not being used. Any device the system turns off because it is not actively in use can be
turned on with short latency. (What “short” means depends on the device. An LCD display needs to
come on in sub-second times, while it is generally acceptable to wait a few seconds for a printer to
wake.)
The net effect of this is that the entire machine is functional in the Working state. Various Working
sub-states differ in speed of computation, power used, heat produced, and noise produced. Tuning
within the Working state is largely about trade-offs among speed, power, heat, and noise.
When the computer is idle or the user has pressed the power button, the OS will put the computer
into one of the sleeping (Sx) states. No user-visible computation occurs in a sleeping state. The
sleeping sub-states differ in what events can arouse the system to a Working state, and how long this
takes. When the machine must awaken to all possible events or do so very quickly, it can enter only
the sub-states that achieve a partial reduction of system power consumption. However, if the only
event of interest is a user pushing on a switch and a latency of minutes is allowed, the OS could save
all system context into an NVS file and transition the hardware into the S4 sleeping state. In this
state, the machine draws almost zero power and retains system context for an arbitrary period of
time (years or decades if needed).
The other states are used less often. Computers that support legacy BIOS power management
interfaces boot in the Legacy state and transition to the Working state when an ACPI OS loads. A
system without legacy support (for example, a RISC system) transitions directly from the
Mechanical Off state to the Working state. Users typically put computers into the Mechanical Off
state by flipping the computer’s mechanical switch or by unplugging the computer.
3.2.1 Power Button

In legacy systems, the power button typically either forces the machine into Soft Off or Mechanical
Off or, on a laptop, forces it to some sleeping state. No allowance is made for user policy (such as
the user wants the machine to “come on” in less than 1 second with all context as it was when the
user turned the machine “off”), system alert functions (such as the system being used as an
answering machine or fax machine), or application function (such as saving a user file).
In an OSPM system, there are two switches. One is to transition the system to the Mechanical Off
state. A mechanism to stop current flow is required for legal reasons in some jurisdictions (for
example, in some European countries). The other is the “main” power button. This is in some
obvious place (for example, beside the keyboard on a laptop). Unlike legacy on/off buttons, all it
does is send a request to the system. What the system does with this request depends on policy issues
derived from user preferences, user function requests, and application data.
3.2.2 Platform Power Management Characteristics
3.2.2.1Mobile PC
Mobile PCs will continue to have aggressive power management functionality. Going to OSPM/
ACPI will allow enhanced power savings techniques and more refined user policies.
Aspects of mobile PC power management in the ACPI specification are thermal management (see
Section 11, “Thermal Management”) and the embedded controller interface (see Section 12, “ACPI
Embedded Controller Interface Specification”).

3.2.2.2 Desktop PCs

Power-managed desktops will be of two types, though the first type will migrate to the second over
time.
Ordinary “Green PC”
Here, new appliance functions are not the issue. The machine is really only used for
productivity computations. At least initially, such machines can get by with very
minimal function. In particular, they need the normal ACPI timers and controls, but
don’t need to support elaborate sleeping states, and so on. They, however, do need to
allow the OS to put as many of their devices/resources as possible into device standby
and device off states, as independently as possible (to allow for maximum compute
speed with minimum power wasted on unused devices). Such PCs will also need to
support wake from the sleeping state by means of a timer, because this allows
administrators to force them to turn on just before people are to show up for work.
Home PC
Computers are moving into home environments where they are used in entertainment
centers and to perform tasks like answering the phone. A home PC needs all of the
functionality of the ordinary green PC. In fact, it has all of the ACPI power
functionality of a laptop except for docking and lid events (and need not have any
legacy power management). Note that there is also a thermal management aspect to a
home PC, as a home PC user wants the system to run as quietly as possible, often in a
thermally constrained environment.
3.2.2.3 Multiprocessor and Server PCs

Perhaps surprisingly, server machines often get the largest absolute power savings. Why? Because
they have the largest hardware configurations and because it’s not practical for somebody to hit the
off switch when they leave at night.
Day Mode
In day mode, servers are power-managed much like a corporate ordinary green PC,
staying in the Working state all the time, but putting unused devices into low-power
states whenever possible. Because servers can be very large and have, for example,
many disk spindles, power management can result in large savings. OSPM allows
careful tuning of when to do this, thus making it workable.
Night Mode
In night mode, servers look like home PCs. They sleep as deeply as they can and are
still able to wake and answer service requests coming in over the network, phone
links, and so on, within specified latencies. So, for example, a print server might go
into deep sleep until it receives a print job at 3 A.M., at which point it wakes in
perhaps less than 30 seconds, prints the job, and then goes back to sleep. If the print
request comes over the LAN, then this scenario depends on an intelligent LAN
adapter that can wake the system in response to an interesting received packet.

3.3 Device Power Management

This section describes ACPI-compatible device power management. The ACPI device power states
are introduced, the controls and information an ACPI-compatible OS needs to perform device power
management are discussed, the wake operation devices use to wake the computer from a sleeping
state is described, and an example of ACPI-compatible device management using a modem is given
3.3.1 Device Power Management Model

ACPI Device Power Management is based on an integrated model consisting of:
Distributed device power state policy.
For each hardware device on the system, there is a Power Policy Owner in the
Operating System that is responsible for continuously determining the best power
state for the device. The best device power state is the one that, at any point in time,
minimizes the consumption of power by the device consistent with the usage
requirements of the device by the system and its user. Policy is typically defined for a
class of devices, and incorporates application activity, user scenarios and other
operating state as necessary. It is applied to all devices of a given class.
Layered device power state control.
Once power state decisions are made for a device, they must be carried-out by device
drivers. The model partitions the control functionality between the device, bus and
platform layers. Device drivers at each layer perform control using mechanisms
available at that level, coordinated by OSPM. In general, the ordering proceeds from
Device/Class level, to Bus level, to Platform level when a device is powering down,
and the inverse when powering-up.
For instance, a device-level driver has access, via the device programming interface,
to settings and control registers that invoke specific, sometimes proprietary, power
control features in the device. The device driver uses these controls as appropriate for
the target ACPI-defined power state determined by the policy owner. Similarly,
classes of devices may have standardized power features, invoked in standardized
ways that Class Drivers might use when entering a target power state.
At the bus level, power management standards come into play to provide bus-specific
controls that work for every device connected to the bus, regardless of device class.
PCI, for instance, defines fields in the device Configuration Space for setting the
device’s power state (D0-D3). Bus-level drivers utilize these standards to perform
control in addition to that applied by the device-specific or device class driver. Bus-
specific mechanisms also enable additional power savings in the system by enabling
the bus infrastructure hardware itself to enter lower power states, as defined in the bus
standard.
Finally, for platform-level power state control, ACPI defines mechanisms (_PRx,
_PSx, _ON, _OFF) for putting a device into a given power state. The Operating
System’s ACPI software (“OSPM”) utilizes these mechanisms to execute the lowest-
level, platform-specific control for a given device, such as turning off and on power
rails and clocks, resetting HW, etc.
Operating System coordination.

Finally, ACPI defines information and behavior requirements that enable OSPM to
inform the Power Policy Owner about supported state and wake-up capabilities, and to
coordinate the actions of the various levels of device drivers in controlling power.
OSPM, in this role, is responsible for ensuring that device power management is
coordinated with System Power Management such as entering sleep states (S1-S4) or
Low-power Idle states (LPI). Integrated with device power state policy and control,
wake-up policy and control are also coordinated by OSPM. Power Policy Owners,
which decide when the device might be needed to wake the system, ensure that only
device power states that the device can wake from are selected when the platform
enters a Sleep or LPI state. Enabling of wake-up hardware is also performed at the
device, bus and platform levels and coordinated by OSPM. OSPM ensures further that
the Sleep or LPI state selected for the system is compatible with the device state and
wake-up capabilities of all the devices currently enabled for wake.
3.3.2 Power Management Standards

To manage power of all the devices in the system, the OS needs standard methods for sending
commands to a device. These standards define the operations used to manage power of devices on a
particular I/O interconnect and the power states that devices can be put into. Defining these
standards for each I/O interconnect creates a baseline level of power management support the OS
can utilize. Independent Hardware Vendors (IHVs) do not have to spend extra time writing software
to manage power of their hardware, because simply adhering to the standard gains them direct OS
support. For OS vendors, the I/O interconnect standards allow the power management code to be
centralized in the driver for each I/O interconnect. Finally, I/O interconnect-driven power
management allows the OS to track the states of all devices on a given I/O interconnect. When all
the devices are in a given state (or example, D3 - off), the OS can put the entire I/O interconnect into
the power supply mode appropriate for that state (for example, D3 - off).
I/O interconnect-level power management specifications are written for a number of buses
including:
• PCI
• PCI Express
• CardBus
• USB
• IEEE 1394
3.3.3 Device Power States

To unify nomenclature and provide consistent behavior across devices, standard definitions are used
for the power states of devices. Generally, these states are defined in terms of the following criteria:
• Power consumption--How much power the device uses.
• Device context--How much of the context of the device is retained by the hardware.
• Device driver--What the device driver must do to restore the device to fully on.
• Restore latency--How long it takes to restore the device to fully on.

More specifically, power management specifications for each class of device (for example, modem,
network adapter, hard disk, and so on) more precisely define the power states and power policy for
the class. See Section 2.3, “Device Power State Definitions,” for the detailed description of the
general device power states (D0-D3).
3.3.4 Device Power State Definitions

The device power state definitions are device-independent, but classes of devices on a bus must
support some consistent set of power-related characteristics. For example, when the bus-specific
mechanism to set the device power state to a given level is invoked, the actions a device might take
and the specific sorts of behaviors the OS can assume while the device is in that state will vary from
device type to device type. For a fully integrated device power management system, these class-
specific power characteristics must also be standardized:
Device Power State Characteristics.
Each class of device has a standard definition of target power consumption levels,
state-change latencies, and context loss.
Minimum Device Power Capabilities.
Each class of device has a minimum standard set of power capabilities.
Device Functional Characteristics.
Each class of device has a standard definition of what subset of device functionality or
features is available in each power state (for example, the net card can receive, but
cannot transmit; the sound card is fully functional except that the power amps are off,
and so on).
Device Wakeup Characteristics.
Each class of device has a standard definition of its wake policy.
The Device Class Power Management specifications define these power state characteristics for
each class of device. See Appendix A.
3.4 Controlling Device Power

ACPI interfaces provide the control methods and information needed to manage device power.
OSPM leverages these interfaces to perform tasks like determining the capabilities of a device,
executing methods to set a device's power state or get its status, and enabling a device to wake the
machine.
Note: Other buses enumerate some devices on the main board. For example, PCI devices are reported
through the standard PCI enumeration mechanisms. Power management of these devices is
handled through their own bus specification (in this case, PCI). All other devices on the main board
are handled through ACPI. Specifically, the ACPI table lists legacy devices that cannot be reported
through their own bus specification, the root of each bus in the system, and devices that have
additional power management or configuration options not covered by their own bus specification.
For more detailed information see Section 7, “Power and Performance Management.”

3.4.1 Getting Device Power Capabilities

As the OS enumerates devices in the system, it gets information about the power management
features that the device supports. The Differentiated Definition Block given to the OS by the
platform boot firmware describes every device handled by ACPI. This description contains the
following information:
• A description of what power resources (power planes and clock sources) the device needs in
each power state that the device supports. For example, a device might need a high power bus
and a clock in the D0 state but only a low-power bus and no clock in the D2 state.
• A description of what power resources a device needs in order to wake the machine (or none to
indicate that the device does not support wake). The OS can use this information to infer what
device and system power states from which the device can support wake.
• The optional control method the OS can use to set the power state of the device and to get and
set resources.
In addition to describing the devices handled by ACPI, the table lists the power planes and clock
sources themselves and the control methods for turning them on and off. For detailed information,
see Section 7, “Power and Performance Management.”
3.4.2 Setting Device Power States

OSPM uses the Set Power State operation to put a device into one of the four power states.
When a device is put in a lower power state, it configures itself to draw as little power from the bus
as possible. The OS tracks the state of all devices on the bus, and will put the bus in the best power
state based on the current device requirements on that bus. For example, if all devices on a bus are in
the D3 state, the OS will send a command to the bus control chip set to remove power from the bus
(thus putting the bus in the D3 state). If a particular bus supports a low-power supply state, the OS
puts the bus in that state if all devices are in the D1 or D2 state. Whatever power state a device is in,
the OS must be able to issue a Set Power State command to resume the device.
Note: The device does not need to have power to do this. The OS must turn on power to the device
before it can send commands to the device.
OSPM also uses the Set Power State operation to enable power management features such as wake
(described in Section 7, “Power and Performance Management.”).
For power-down operations (transitions from Dx to some deeper Dy), OSPM first evaluates the
appropriate control method for the target state (_PSx), then turns-off any unused power resources.
Notice that this might not mean that power is actually removed from the device. If other active
devices are sharing a power resource, the power resource will remain on. In the power-up case
(transitions from some Dx back to the shallower D0), the power resources required for D0 are first
turned on, and then the control method (_PS0) is evaluated.
3.4.3 Getting Device Power Status

OSPM uses the Get Power Status operation to determine the current power configuration (states and
features), as well as the status of any batteries supported by the device. The device can signal an SCI
to inform the OS of changes in power status. For example, a device can trigger an interrupt to inform
the OS that the battery has reached low power level.

Devices use the ACPI event model to signal power status changes (for example, battery status
changes) to OSPM. The platform signals events to the OS via an interrupt, either SCI, or GPIO. An
interrupt status bit is set to indicate the event to the OS. The OS runs the control method associated
with the event. This control method signals to the OS which device has changed.
ACPI supports two types of batteries: batteries that report only basic battery status information and
batteries that support the Smart Battery System Implementers Forum Smart Battery Specification.
For batteries that report only basic battery status information (such as total capacity and remaining
capacity), the OS uses control methods from the battery’s description table to read this information.
To read status information for Smart Batteries, the OS can use a standard Smart Battery driver that
directly interfaces to Smart Batteries through the appropriate bus enumerator.
3.4.4 Waking the System

The wake operation enables devices to wake the system from a sleeping or low-power idle state.
This operation must not depend on the CPU because the CPU will not be executing instructions.
The OS ensures any bridges between the device and the core logic are in the lowest power state in
which they can still forward the wake signal. When a device with wake enabled decides to wake the
system, it sends the defined signal on its bus. Bus bridges must forward this signal to upstream
bridges using the appropriate signal for that bus. Thus, the signal eventually reaches the core chip set
(for example, an ACPI chip set), which in turn wakes the system.
Before putting the system in a sleeping power state, the OS determines which devices are needed to
wake the system based on application requests, and then enables wake on those devices in a device
and bus specific manner.
The OS enables the wake feature on devices by setting that device's SCI Enable bit or unmasking its
wake interrupt. The location of this control is listed in the device's entry in the description table.
Only devices that have their wake feature enabled can wake the system. The OS keeps track of the
power states that the wake devices support, and keeps the system in a power state in which the wake
can still wake the system (based on capabilities reported in the description table).
When the system is in a Sleeping or low-power idle state and a wake device decides to wake the
system, it signals to the core logic. The status bit corresponding to the device waking the system is
set, and the core logic resumes the system. After the OS is running again, it determines the device
responsible for the wake event by either running a control method (for wake events) or processing
the device's ISR (for wake interrupts).
Note: Besides using ACPI mechanism to enable a particular device to wake the system, an ACPI
platform must also be able to record and report the wake source to OSPM. When a system is
woken from certain states (such as the S4 state), it may start out in non-ACPI mode. In this case,
the SCI status bit may be cleared when ACPI mode is re-entered. However the platform must still
attempt to record the wake source for retrieval by OSPM at a later point.
Note: Although the above description explains how a device can wake the system, note that a device
can also be put into a low power state during the S0 system state, and that this device may
generate a wake signal in the S0 state as the following example illustrates.
3.4.5 Example: Modem Device Power Management

To illustrate how these power management methods function in ACPI, consider an integrated
modem. (This example is greatly simplified for the purposes of this discussion.) The power states of

a modem are defined as follows (this is an excerpt from the Modem Device Class Power
Management Specification):
D0
Modem controller on
Phone interface on
Speaker on
Can be on hook or off hook
Can be waiting for answer
D1
Modem controller in low-power mode (context retained by device)
Phone interface powered by phone line or in low-power mode
Speaker off
Must be on hook
D2
Same as D3
D3
Modem controller off (context lost)
Phone interface powered by phone line or off
Speaker off
On hook
The power policy for the modem is defined as follows:
D3 D0
COM port opened
D0, D1 D3
COM port closed
D0 D1
Modem put in answer mode
D1 D0
Application requests dial or the phone rings while the modem is in answer mode
The wake policy for the modem is very simple: When the phone rings and wake is enabled, wake the
system.
Based on that policy, the modem and the COM port to which it is attached can be implemented in
hardware as shown in Figure 3-2. This is just an example for illustrating features of ACPI. This
example is not intended to describe how OEMs should build hardware.

PWR1 PWR2
Switched
Switched
power
power
PWR1_EN
PWR2_EN
MDM_D3
MDM_D1
COM_D3
ACPI core I/O

I/O COM port I/O Modem Phone Phone
chip set
Control
(UART) controller interface line
RI
WAKE
Figure 3-3 Example Modem and COM Port Hardware
Note: Although not shown above, each discrete part has some isolation logic so that the part is isolated
when power is removed from it. Isolation logic controls are implemented as power resources in the
ACPI Differentiated Description Block so that devices are isolated as power planes are sequenced
off.
3.4.5.1 Obtaining the Modem Capabilities

The OS determines the capabilities of this modem when it enumerates the modem by reading the
modem’s entry in the Differentiated Definition Block. In this case, the entry for the modem would
report:
The device supports D0, D1, and D3:
• D0 requires PWR1 and PWR2 as power resources
D1 requires PWR1 as a power resource
(D3 implicitly requires no power resources)
• To wake the system, the modem needs no power resources (implying it can wake the system
from D0, D1, and D3)
Control methods for setting power state and resources
3.4.5.2 Setting the Modem Power State

While the OS is running (G0 state), it switches the modem to different power states according to the
power policy defined for modems.
When an application opens the COM port, the OS turns on the modem by putting it in the D0 state.
Then if the application puts the modem in answer mode, the OS puts the modem in the D1 state to
wait for the call. To make this power-down transition, OSPM first runs a control method (_PS1)
provided in the modem's entry to put the device in the D1 state. In this example, this control method
asserts the MDM_D1 signal that tells the modem controller to go into a low-power mode. OSPM
then checks to see what power resources are no longer needed by the modem device. In this case,

PWR2 is no longer needed. Then it checks to make sure no other device in the system requires the
use of the PWR2 power resource. If the resource is no longer needed, the OSPM uses the _OFF
control method associated with that power resource in the Differentiated Definition Block to turn off
the PWR2 power plane. This control method sends the appropriate commands to the core chip set to
stop asserting the PWR2_EN line.
OSPM does not always turn off power resources when a given device is put in a lower power state.
For example, assume that the PWR1 power plane also powers an active line printer (LPT) port.
Suppose the user terminates the modem application, causing the COM port to be closed, and
therefore causing the modem to be shut off (state D3). As always, OSPM begins the state transition
process by running the modem's control method to switch the device to the D3 power state. The
control method causes the MDM_D3 line to be asserted. Notice that these registers might not be in
the device itself. For example, the control method could read the register that controls
MDM_D3.The modem controller now turns off all its major functions so that it draws little power, if
any, from the PWR1 line. OSPM continues by checking to see which power resources are no longer
needed. Because the LPT port is still active, PWR1 is in use. OSPM does not turn off the PWR1
resource. Because the COM port is closed, the same sequence of events take place to put it in the D3
state, but the power resource is not turned off due to the LPT dependency.
3.4.5.3 Obtaining the Modem Power Status

Integrated modems have no batteries; the only power status information for the device is the power
state of the modem. To determine the modem’s current power state (D0-D3), OSPM runs a control
method (_PSC) supplied in the modem’s entry in the Differentiated Definition Block. This control
method reads from the necessary registers to determine the modem’s power state.
3.4.5.4 Waking the System

As indicated in the modem capabilities, this modem can wake the machine from any device power
state. Before putting the system in a Sleep or LPI state, the OS enables wake on any devices that
applications have requested to be able to wake the system. Then, it chooses the deepest sleeping or
LPI state that can still provide the power resources necessary to allow all enabled wake devices to
wake the system. Next, the OS puts each of those devices in the appropriate power state. In this case,
the OS puts the modem in the D3 state because it supports wake from that state. Finally, the OS puts
the system into a sleep or LPI state.
Waking the system via modem starts with the modem's phone interface asserting its ring indicate
(RI) line when it detects a ring on the phone line. This line is routed to the core logic to generate a
wake event. The chipset then wakes the system and the hardware will eventually pass control back to
the OS (the wake mechanism differs depending on the sleeping state, or LPI). After the OS is
running, it puts the device in the D0 state and begins handling interrupts from the modem to process
the event.
3.5 Processor Power Management

To further save power in the Working state, the OS puts the CPU into low-power states (C1, C2, and
C3) when the OS is idle. In these low-power states, the CPU does not run any instructions, and
wakes when an interrupt, such as the OS scheduler’s timer interrupt, occurs.

The OS determines how much time is being spent in its idle loop by reading the ACPI Power
Management Timer. This timer runs at a known, fixed frequency and allows the OS to precisely
determine idle time. Depending on this idle time estimate, the OS will put the CPU into different
quality low-power states (which vary in power and latency) when it enters its idle loop.
The CPU states are defined in detail in Section 8, “Processor Configuration and Control.”
3.6 Device and Processor Performance States

This section describes the concept of device and processor performance states. Device and processor
performance states (Px states) are power consumption and capability states within the active/
executing states, C0 for processors and D0 for devices. Performance states allow OSPM to make
tradeoffs between performance and energy conservation. Device and processor performance states
have the greatest impact when the states invoke different device and processor efficiency levels as
opposed to a linear scaling of performance and energy consumption. Since performance state
transitions occur in the active/executing device states, care must be taken to ensure that performance
state transitions do not adversely impact the system.
Examples of device performance states include:
• A hard drive that provides levels of maximum throughput that correspond to levels of power
consumption.
• An LCD panel that supports multiple brightness levels that correspond to levels of power
consumption.
• A graphics component that scales performance between 2D and 3D drawing modes that
corresponds to levels of power consumption.
• An audio subsystem that provides multiple levels of maximum volume that correspond to levels
of maximum power consumption.
• A Direct-RDRAMTM controller that provides multiple levels of memory throughput
performance, corresponding to multiple levels of power consumption, by adjusting the
maximum bandwidth throttles.
Processor performance states are described in Section 8, “Processor Configuration and Control.”
3.7 Configuration and “Plug and Play”

In addition to power management, ACPI interfaces provide controls and information that enable
OSPM to configure the required resources of motherboard devices along with their dynamic
insertion and removal. ACPI Definition Blocks, including the Differentiated System Description
Table (DSDT) and Secondary System Description Tables (SSDTs), describe motherboard devices in
a hierarchical format called the ACPI namespace. The OS enumerates motherboard devices simply
by reading through the ACPI Namespace looking for devices with hardware IDs.
Each device enumerated by ACPI includes ACPI-defined objects in the ACPI Namespace that report
the hardware resources that the device could occupy, an object that reports the resources that are
currently used by the device, and objects for configuring those resources. The information is used by
the Plug and Play OS (OSPM) to configure the devices.

Note: When preparing to boot a system, the platform boot firmware only needs to configure boot
devices. This includes boot devices described in the ACPI system description tables as well as
devices that are controlled through other standards.
3.7.1 Device Configuration Example: Configuring the Modem

Returning to the modem device example above, the OS will find the modem and load a driver for it
when the OS finds it in the DSDT. This table will have control methods that give the OS the
following information:
• The device can use IRQ 3, I/O 3F8-3FF or IRQ 4, I/O 2E8-2EF
• The device is currently using IRQ 3, I/O 3F8-3FF
The OS configures the modem’s hardware resources using Plug and Play algorithms. It chooses one
of the supported configurations that does not conflict with any other devices. Then, OSPM
configures the device for those resources by running a control method supplied in the modem’s
section of the Differentiated Definition Block. This control method will write to any I/O ports or
memory addresses necessary to configure the device to the given resources.
3.7.2 NUMA Nodes

Systems employing a Non Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture contain collections of
hardware resources including processors, memory, and I/O buses, that comprise what is commonly
known as a “NUMA node”. Processor accesses to memory or I/O resources within the local NUMA
node is generally faster than processor accesses to memory or I/O resources outside of the local
NUMA node. ACPI defines interfaces that allow the platform to convey NUMA node topology
information to OSPM both statically at boot time and dynamically at run time as resources are added
or removed from the system.
3.8 System Events

ACPI includes a general event model used for Plug and Play, Thermal, and Power Management
events. There are two registers that make up the event model: an event status register and an event
enable register.
When an event occurs, the core logic sets a bit in the status register to indicate the event. If the
corresponding bit in the enable register is set, the core logic will assert the SCI to signal the OS.
When the OS receives this interrupt, it will run the control methods corresponding to any bits set in
the event status register. These control methods use AML commands to tell the OS what event
occurred.
For example, assume a machine has all of its Plug and Play, Thermal, and Power Management
events connected to the same pin in the core logic. The event status and event enable registers would
only have one bit each: the bit corresponding to the event pin.
When the system is docked, the core logic sets the status bit and signals the SCI. The OS, seeing the
status bit set, runs the control method for that bit. The control method checks the hardware and
determines the event was a docking event (for example). It then signals to the OS that a docking
event has occurred, and can tell the OS specifically where in the device hierarchy the new devices
will appear.

Since the event model registers are generalized, they can describe many different platform
implementations. The single pin model above is just one example. Another design might have Plug
and Play, Thermal, and Power Management events wired to three different pins so there would be
three status bits (and three enable bits). Yet another design might have every individual event wired
to its own pin and status bit. This design, at the opposite extreme from the single pin design, allows
very complex hardware, yet very simple control methods. Countless variations in wiring up events
are possible. However, note that care must be taken to ensure that if events share a signal that the
event that generated the signal can be determined in the corresponding event handling control
method allowing the proper device notification to be sent.
3.9 Battery Management

Battery management policy moves from the APM BIOS to the ACPI-compatible OS. Batteries must
comply with the requirements of their associated interfaces, as described either herein or in other
applicable standards. The OS may choose to alter the behavior of the battery, for example, by
adjusting the Low Battery or Battery Warning trip point. When there are multiple batteries present,
the battery subsystem is not required to perform any synthesis of a “composite battery” from the data
of the separate batteries. In cases where the battery subsystem does not synthesize a “composite
battery” from the separate battery's data, the OS must provide that synthesis.
An ACPI-compatible battery device needs either a Smart Battery subsystem interface or a Control
Method Battery interface.
• Smart Battery is controlled by the OS directly through the embedded controller (EC). For more
information about the ACPI Embedded Controller SMBus interface, see Section 12.9, “SMBus
Host Controller Interface via Embedded Controller.” For additional information about the Smart
Battery subsystem interface, see Section 10.1, “Smart Battery Subsystems.”
• Control Method Battery is completely accessed by AML code control methods, allowing the
OEM to choose any type of battery and any kind of communication interface supported by
ACPI. For more information about the Control Method Battery Interface, see Section 10.2,
“Control Method Batteries.”
This section describes concepts common to all battery types.
3.9.1 Battery Communications

Both the Smart Battery and Control Method Battery interfaces provide a mechanism for the OS to
query information from the platform’s battery system. This information may include full charged
capacity, present battery capacity, rate of discharge, and other measures of the battery’s condition.
All battery system types must provide notification to the OS when there is a change such as inserting
or removing a battery, or when a battery starts or stops discharging. Smart Batteries and some
Control Method Batteries are also able to give notifications based on changes in capacity. Smart
batteries provide extra information such as estimated run-time, information about how much power
the battery is able to provide, and what the run-time would be at a predetermined rate of
consumption.

3.9.2 Battery Capacity

Each battery must report its designed capacity, latest full-charged capacity, and present remaining
capacity. Remaining capacity decreases during usage, and it also changes depending on the
environment. Therefore, the OS must use latest full-charged capacity to calculate the battery
percentage. In addition the battery system must report warning and low battery levels at which the
user must be notified and the system transitioned to a sleeping state. See Figure 3-4 for the relation
of these five values.
A system may use either rate and capacity [mA/mAh] or power and energy [mW/mWh] for the unit
of battery information calculation and reporting. Mixing [mA] and [mW] is not allowed on a system.
Designed capacity
Last full charged capacity
Present remaining capacity
OEM designed initial capacity for warning

OEM designed initial capacity for low
Figure 3-4 Reporting Battery Capacity
3.9.3 Battery Gas Gauge

At the most basic level, the OS calculates Remaining Battery Percentage [%] using the following
formula:
Battery Remaining Capacity [mAh/mWh]

Remaining Battery Percentage[%] = * 100
Last Full Charged Capacity [mAh/mWh]
Control Method Battery also reports the Present Drain Rate [mA or mW] for calculating the
remaining battery life. At the most basic level, Remaining Battery life is calculated by following
formula:

Remaining Battery Life [h]=
Battery Present Drain Rate [mA/mW]
Smart Batteries also report the present rate of drain, but since they can directly report the estimated
run-time, this function should be used instead as it can more accurately account for variations
specific to the battery.

3.9.4 Low Battery Levels

A system has an OEM-designed initial capacity for warning, initial capacity for low, and a critical
battery level or flag. The values for warning and low represent the amount of energy or battery
capacity needed by the system to take certain actions. The critical battery level or flag is used to
indicate when the batteries in the system are completely drained. OSPM can determine independent
warning and low battery capacity values based on the OEM-designed levels, but cannot set these
values lower than the OEM-designed values, as shown in the figure below
Full Last full charged capacity
OSPM-selected low battery warning capacity
Warning
OEM-designed initial capacity for warning (minimum)
OSPM-selected low battery

E Low OEM-designed initial capacity for low (minimum)
Critical OEM-defined Battery Critical flag
Figure 3-5 Low Battery and Warning
Each Control Method Battery in a system reports the OEM-designed initial warning capacity and
OEM-designed initial low capacity as well as a flag to report when that battery has reached or is
below its critical energy level. Unlike Control Method Batteries, Smart Batteries are not necessarily
specific to one particular machine type, so the OEM-designed warning, low, and critical levels are
reported separately in a Smart Battery Table described in Section 5.2.14.
The table below describes how these values should be set by the OEM and interpreted by the OS.
Table 3-4 Low Battery Levels

Level Description
Warning When the total available energy (mWh) or capacity (mAh) in the batteries falls below this level,
the OS will notify the user through the UI. This value should allow for a few minutes of run-time
before the “Low” level is encountered so the user has time to wrap up any important work,
change the battery, or find a power outlet to plug the system in.

Level Description
Low This value is an estimation of the amount of energy or battery capacity required by the system to
transition to any supported sleeping state. When the OS detects that the total available battery
capacity is less than this value, it will transition the system to a user defined system state (S1-
S4). In most situations this should be S4 so that system state is not lost if the battery eventually
becomes completely empty. The design of the OS should consider that users of a multiple battery
system may remove one or more of the batteries in an attempt replace or charge it. This might
result in the remaining capacity falling below the “Low” level not leaving sufficient battery capacity
for the OS to safely transition the system into the sleeping state. Therefore, if the batteries are
discharging simultaneously, the action might need to be initiated at the point when both batteries
reach this level.
Critical The Critical battery state indicates that all available batteries are discharged and do not appear to
be able to supply power to run the system any longer. When this occurs, the OS must attempt to
perform an emergency shutdown as described below.
For a smart battery system, this would typically occur when all batteries reach a capacity of 0, but
an OEM may choose to put a larger value in the Smart Battery Table to provide an extra margin
of safely.
For a Control Method Battery system with multiple batteries, the flag is reported per battery. If any
battery in the system is in a critically low state and is still providing power to the system (in other
words, the battery is discharging), the system is considered to be in a critical energy state. The
_BST control method is required to return the Critical flag on a discharging battery only when all
batteries have reached a critical state; the ACPI system firmware is otherwise required to
switch to a non-critical battery.
3.9.4.1 Emergency Shutdown

Running until all batteries in a system are critical is not a situation that should be encountered
normally, since the system should be put into a sleeping state when the battery becomes low. In the
case that this does occur, the OS should take steps to minimize any damage to system integrity. The
emergency shutdown procedure should be designed to minimize bad effects based on the assumption
that power may be lost at any time. For example, if a hard disk is spun down, the OS should not try
to spin it up to write any data, since spinning up the disk and attempting to write data could
potentially corrupt files if the write were not completed. Even if a disk is spun up, the decision to
attempt to save even system settings data before shutting down would have to be evaluated since
reverting to previous settings might be less harmful than having the potential to corrupt the settings
if power was lost halfway through the write operation.
3.9.5 Battery Calibration

The reported capacity of many batteries generally degrade over time, providing less run time for the
user. However, it is possible with many battery systems to provide more usable runtime on an old
battery if a calibration or conditioning cycle is run occasionally. The user has typically been able to
perform a calibration cycle either by going into the platform boot firmware setup menu, or by
running a custom driver and calibration application provided by the OEM. The calibration process
typically takes several hours, and the laptop must be plugged in during this time. Ideally the
application that controls this should make this as good of a user experience as possible, for example
allowing the user to schedule the system to wake up and perform the calibration at some time when

the system will not be in use. Since the calibration user experience does not need to be different from
system to system it makes sense for this service to be provided by the OSPM. In this way OSPM can
provide a common experience for end users and eliminate the need for OEMs to develop custom
battery calibration software.
In order for OSPM to perform generic battery calibration, generic interfaces to control the two basic
calibration functions are required. These functions are defined in Section 10.2.2.5 and
Section 10.2.2.6. First, there is a means to detect when it would be beneficial to calibrate the battery.
Second there is a means to perform that calibration cycle. Both of those functions may be
implemented by dedicated hardware such as a battery controller chip, by firmware in the embedded
controller, by the platform firmware, or by OSPM. From here on any function implemented through
AML, whether or not the AML code relies on hardware, will be referred to as “AML controlled”
since the interface is the same whether the AML passes control to the hardware or not.
Detection of when calibration is necessary can be implemented by hardware or AML code and be
reported through the _BMD method. Alternately, the _BMD method may simply report the number
of cycles before calibration should be performed and let the OS attempt to count the cycles. A
counter implemented by the hardware or the platform firmware will generally be more accurate
since the batteries can be used without the OS running, but in some cases, a system designer may opt
to simplify the hardware or firmware implementation.
When calibration is desirable and the user has scheduled the calibration to occur, the calibration
cycle can be AML controlled or OSPM controlled. OSPM can only implement a very simple
algorithm since it doesn’t have knowledge of the specifics of the battery system. It will simply
discharge the battery until it quits discharging, then charge it until it quits charging. In the case
where the AC adapter cannot be controlled through the _BMC, it will prompt the user to unplug the
AC adapter and reattach it after the system powers off. If the calibration cycle is controlled by AML,
the OS will initiate the calibration cycle by calling _BMC. That method will either give control to
the hardware, or will control the calibration cycle itself. If the control of the calibration cycle is
implemented entirely in AML code, the platform runtime firmware may avoid continuously running
AML code by having the initial call to _BMC start the cycle, set some state flags, and then exit.
Control of later parts of the cycle can be accomplished by putting code that checks these state flags
in the battery event handler (_Qxx, _Lxx, or _Exx).
Details of the control methods for this interface are defined in Section 10.2.
3.10 Thermal Management

ACPI allows the OS to play a role in the thermal management of the system while maintaining the
platform’s ability to mandate cooling actions as necessary. In the passive cooling mode, OSPM can
make cooling decisions based on application load on the CPU as well as the thermal heuristics of the
system. OSPM can also gracefully shutdown the computer in case of high temperature emergencies.
The ACPI thermal design is based around regions called thermal zones. Generally, the entire PC is
one large thermal zone, but an OEM can partition the system into several logical thermal zones if
necessary. Figure 3-6 is an example mobile PC diagram that depicts a single thermal zone with a
central processor as the thermal-coupled device. In this example, the whole notebook is covered as
one large thermal zone. This notebook uses one fan for active cooling and the CPU for passive
cooling.

Thermal (Passive Cooling) CPU/ D

R
Memory/ A
Zone CPU
L
PCI Bridge
M
NVRAM
2
L M
PCI/PCI P
A E
Fan
P Bridge N G
L (Active Cooling)
L D LCD
R
A Graphics
M CRT
USB
Port 1 Docking
Momentary
Keyboard
F0: PIC, PITs, F2: Embedded
DMA, RTC, EIO, ... USB Controller PS/2
HDD Ports
0 Mouse
F1: BM
IDE
HDD
1
DPR0
FDD
SIO:
EPROM COMs, DPR1
LPT, COM
FDC, LPT
ACPI
Figure 3-6 Thermal Zone
The following sections are an overview of the thermal control and cooling characteristics of a
computer. For some thermal implementation examples on an ACPI platform, see Section 11.6,
“Thermal Zone Interface Requirements.”
3.10.1 Active and Passive Cooling Modes

ACPI defines two cooling modes, Active and Passive:
Passive cooling
OS reduces the power consumption of devices at the cost of system performance to
reduce the temperature of the system.
Active cooling
OS increases the power consumption of the system (for example, by turning on a fan)
to reduce the temperature of the system.
These two cooling modes are inversely related to each other. Active cooling requires increased
power to reduce the heat within the system while Passive cooling requires reduced power to decrease
the temperature. The effect of this relationship is that Active cooling allows maximum system
performance, but it may create undesirable fan noise, while Passive cooling reduces system
performance, but is inherently quiet.

3.10.2 Performance vs. Energy Conservation

A robust OSPM implementation provides the means for the end user to convey to OSPM a
preference (or a level of preference) for either performance or energy conservation. Allowing the
end user to choose this preference is most critical to mobile system users where maximizing system
run-time on a battery charge often has higher priority over realizing maximum system performance.
A user’s preference for performance corresponds to the Active cooling mode while a user’s
preference for energy conservation corresponds to the Passive cooling mode. ACPI defines an
interface to convey the cooling mode to the platform. Active cooling can be performed with minimal
OSPM thermal policy intervention. For example, the platform indicates through thermal zone
parameters that crossing a thermal trip point requires a fan to be turned on. Passive cooling requires
OSPM thermal policy to manipulate device interfaces that reduce performance to reduce thermal
zone temperature.
3.10.3 Acoustics (Noise)

Active cooling mode generally implies that fans will be used to cool the system and fans vary in their
audible output. Fan noise can be quite undesirable given the loudness of the fan and the ambient
noise environment. In this case, the end user’s physical requirement for fan silence may override the
preference for either performance or energy conservation.
A user’s desire for fan silence corresponds to the Passive cooling mode. Accordingly, a user’s desire
for fan silence also means a preference for energy conservation.
For more information on thermal management and examples of platform settings for active and
passive cooling, see Section 11, “Thermal Management.”
3.10.4 Multiple Thermal Zones

The basic thermal management model defines one thermal zone, but in order to provide extended
thermal control in a complex system, ACPI specifies a multiple thermal zone implementation. Under
a multiple thermal zone model, OSPM will independently manage several thermal-coupled devices
and a designated thermal zone for each thermal-coupled device, using Active and/or Passive cooling
methods available to each thermal zone. Each thermal zone can have more than one Passive and
Active cooling device. Furthermore, each zone might have unique or shared cooling resources. In a
multiple thermal zone configuration, if one zone reaches a critical state then OSPM must shut down
the entire system.
3.11 Flexible Platform Architecture Support

ACPI defines mechanisms and models to accommodate platform architectures that deviate from the
traditional PC. ACPI provides support for platform technologies that enable lower-power, lower
cost, more design flexibility and more device diversity. This support is described in the following
sections, and detailed in later chapters.
3.11.1 Hardware-reduced ACPI

ACPI offers an alternative platform interface model that removes ACPI hardware requirements for
platforms that do not implement the PC Architecture. In the Hardware-reduced ACPI model, the

Fixed hardware interface requirements of Chapter 4 are removed, and Generic hardware interfaces
are used instead. This provides the level of flexibility needed to innovate and differentiate in low-
power hardware designs while enabling support by multiple Operating Systems.
Hardware-reduced ACPI has the following requirements:
• UEFI firmware interface for boot (Legacy BIOS is not supported).
• Boot in ACPI mode only (ACPI Enable, ACPI Disable, SMI_CMD and Legacy mode are not
supported)
• No hardware resource sharing between OSPM and other asynchronous operating environments,
such as UEFI Runtime Services or System Management Mode. (The Global Lock is not
supported)
• No dependence on OS-support for maintaining cache coherency across processor sleep states
(Bus Master Reload and Arbiter Disable are not supported)
• GPE block devices are not supported
Systems that do not meet the above requirements must implement the ACPI Fixed Hardware
interface.
3.11.1.1 Interrupt-based Wake Events

On HW-reduced ACPI platforms, wakeup is an attribute of connected interrupts. Interrupts that are
designed to wake the processor or the entire platform are defined as wake-capable. Wake-capable
interrupts, when enabled by OSPM, wake the system when they assert.
3.11.2 Low-Power Idle

Platform architectures may support hardware power management models other than the traditional
ACPI Sleep/Resume model. These are typically implemented in proprietary hardware and are
capable of delivering low-latency, connected idle while saving as much energy as ACPI Sleep states.
To support the diversity of hardware implementations, ACPI provides a mechanism for the platform
to indicate to OSPM that such capability is available.
3.11.2.1 Low Power S0 Idle Capable Flag

This flag in the FADT informs OSPM whether a platform has advanced idle power capabilities such
that S0 idle achieves savings similar to or better than those typically achieved in S3. With this flag,
OSPM can keep the system in S0 idle for its low-latency response and its connectedness rather than
transitioning to a system sleep state which has neither. The flag enables support for a diversity of
platform implementations: traditional Sleep/Resume systems, systems with advanced idle power,
systems that support neither, and systems that can support both, depending on the capabilities of the
installed OS.
3.11.3 Connection Resources

General-purpose I/O (GPIO) and Simple Peripheral Bus (SPB) controllers are hardware resources
provided in silicon solutions to enable flexible configuration of a broad range of system designs.
These controllers can provide input, output, interrupt and serial communication connections to
arbitrary devices in a system. The function to which one of these connections is put depends on the

specific device involved and the needs of the platform design. In order to support these platform
technologies, ACPI defines a general abstraction for flexible connections.
In order to maintain compatibility with existing software models, ACPI abstracts these connections
as hardware resources.
The Connection Resource abstraction mirrors the hardware functionality of GPIO and SPB
controllers. Like other resources, these connections are allocated and configured before use. With
the resources described by the platform, OSPM abstracts the underlying configuration from device
drivers. Drivers, then, can be written for the device's function only, and reused with that functional
hardware regardless of how it is integrated into a given system.
The key aspects of the Connection Resource abstraction are:

• GPIO and SPB controllers are enumerated as devices in the ACPI Namespace.
• GPIO Connection and SPB Connection resource types are defined.
• Namespace devices that are connected to GPIO or SPB controllers use Resource Template
Macros to add Connection Resources to their resource methods (_CRS, _SRS, etc.).
• GPIO Connection Resources can be designated by the platform for use as GPIO-signaled ACPI
Events.
• Connection Resources can be used by AML methods to access pins and peripherals through
GPIO and SPB operation regions.
3.11.3.1 Supported Platforms

The HW-reduced ACPI and Low power S0 Idle Capable flags combine to represent 4 platform types
that can be implemented. The following table enumerates these, as well as the intended OSPM
behavior and specific platform requirements.
Table 3-5 Implementable Platform Types

Low Power Hardware- OSPM Behavior Platform Implementation
S0 Idle reduced
Capable ACPI
0 0 Fixed hardware interface accessed Implement Fixed-feature hardware
for features, events and system interface.
power management.
Traditional Sleep/Resume power
management.
0 1 Fixed-feature hardware interface not Implement GPIO-signaled ACPI Events;
accessed. Implement software alternatives to any
Sleep/Resume Power Management ACPI fixed features, including the Sleep
using FADT SLEEP_*_REG fields registers.
and Interrupt-based wake signaling. Implement wake-capable interrupts for
wake events.

Low Power Hardware- OSPM Behavior Platform Implementation

S0 Idle reduced
Capable ACPI
1 0 Fixed hardware interface accessed Implement Fixed-feature hardware
for features and events. interface.
Platform-specific Low-power Idle Implement low-power hardware such
power management. that the platform achieves power savings
in S0 similar to or better than those
typically achieved in S3.
1 1 Fixed-feature hardware interface not Implement GPIO-signaled ACPI Events;
accessed. Implement software alternatives to any
Platform-specific Low-power Idle ACPI fixed features desired;
power management. Implement wake-capable interrupts for
any wake events.
Implement low-power hardware such
that the platform achieves power savings
in S0 similar to or better than those
typically achieved in S3.


ACPI Specification ACPI Hardware Specification
4 ACPI Hardware Specification
ACPI defines standard interface mechanisms that allow an ACPI-compatible OS to control and
communicate with an ACPI-compatible hardware platform. These interface mechanisms are
optional (See "Hardware-Reduced ACPI", below).However, if the ACPI Hardware Specification is
implemented, platforms must comply with the requirements in this section.
This section describes the hardware aspects of ACPI.
ACPI defines “hardware” as a programming model and its behavior. ACPI strives to keep much of
the existing legacy programming model the same; however, to meet certain feature goals, designated
features conform to a specific addressing and programming scheme. Hardware that falls within this
category is referred to as “fixed.”
Although ACPI strives to minimize these changes, hardware engineers should read this section
carefully to understand the changes needed to convert a legacy-only hardware model to an ACPI/
Legacy hardware model or an ACPI-only hardware model.
ACPI classifies hardware into two categories: Fixed or Generic. Hardware that falls within the fixed
category meets the programming and behavior specifications of ACPI. Hardware that falls within
the generic category has a wide degree of flexibility in its implementation.
4.1 Hardware-Reduced ACPI

For certain classes of systems the ACPI Hardware Specification may not be adequate. Examples
include legacy-free, UEFI-based platforms with recent processors, and those implementing mobile
platform architectures. For such platforms, a Hardware-reduced ACPI mode is defined. Under this
definition, the ACPI Fixed Hardware interface is not implemented, and software alternatives for
many of the features it supports are used instead. Note, though, that Hardware-reduced ACPI is not
intended to support every possible ACPI system that can be built today. Rather, it is intended to
introduce new systems that are designed to be HW-reduced from the start. The ACPI HW
Specification should be used if the platform cannot be designed to work without it. Specifically, the
following features are not supported under the HW-reduced definition:
• The Global Lock, SMI_CMD, ACPI Enable and ACPI Disable. Hardware-reduced ACPI
systems always boot in ACPI mode, and do not support hardware resource sharing between
OSPM and other asynchronous operating environments, such as UEFI Runtime Services or
System Management Mode.
• Bus Master Reload and Arbiter Disable. Systems that depend on OS use of these bits to maintain
cache coherency across processor sleep states are not supported.
• GPE block devices are not supported.
Platforms that require the above features must implement the ACPI Hardware Specification.
Platforms that are designed for the Hardware-reduced ACPI definition must implement Revision 5
or greater of the Fixed ACPI Descriptor Table, and must set the HW_REDUCED_ACPI flag in the
Flags field.

ACPI Hardware Specification ACPI Specification
Note: FFH is permitted and applicable to both full and HW-reduced ACPI implementations.
4.1.1 Hardware-Reduced Events

HW-reduced ACPI platforms require alternatives to some of the features supported in the ACPI HW
Specification, where none already exists. There are two areas that require such alternatives: The
ACPI Platform Event Model, and System and Device Wakeup.
4.1.1.1 GPIO-Signaled Events or Interrupt Signaled Events

General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) hardware can be used for signaling platform events. GPIO
HW is a generalization of the GPE model, and is a shared hardware resource used for many
applications. ACPI support for GPIO is described in section Section 3.11.3, "Connection
Resources". ACPI 6.1introduces the capability to signal events via interrupts. See Section 5.6.9 for
further details.
GPIO based event signaling is provided through GPIO interrupt connections, which describe the
connection to a GPIO controller and pin, and which are mapped to the ACPI Event Handling
mechanism via the ACPI Event Information namespace object (_AEI). OSPM treats GPIO Interrupt
Connections listed in _AEI exactly as it does SCI interrupts: it executes the Event Method associated
with the specific event. The name of the method to run is determined by the pin information
contained in the GPIO Interrupt Connection resource. See Section 5.6.5 for further details.
GPIO-signaled events can also be wake events, just as GPE events can on traditional ACPI
platforms. Designating which events are wake events is done through attributes of the GPIO
Interrupt Connection resource used.Devices may use _PRW to manage wake events as described in
Section 7.3.13.
Interrupt based event signaling follows a similar methodology, a generic event device (GED) is
declared which in turn describes all interrupts associated with event generation. The interrupts are
listed in a _CRS object. When an interrupt is asserted the OSPM will execute the event method
(_EVT) declared in the GED object specifying the interrupt identifier as a parameter. In this way the
interrupt can be associated with specific platform events.
4.1.1.2 Interrupt-based Wake Events

Wake events on HW-reduced ACPI platforms are always caused by an interrupt reaching the
processor. Therefore, there are two requirements for waking the system from a sleep or low-power
idle state, or a device from a low-power state. First, the interrupt line must be Wake-Capable. Wake-
capable interrupts are designed to be able to be delivered to the processor from low-power states.
This implies that it must also cause the processor and any required platform hardware to power-up so
that an Interrupt Service Routine can run. Secondly, an OS driver must enable the interrupt before
entering a low-power state, or before OSPM puts the system into a sleep or low-power idle state.
Wake-capable interrupts are designated as such in their Extended Interrupt or GPIO Interrupt
Connection resource descriptor.
4.2 Fixed Hardware Programming Model

Because of the changes needed for migrating legacy hardware to the fixed category, ACPI limits the
features specified by fixed hardware. Fixed hardware features are defined by the following criteria:

• Performance sensitive features

• Features that drivers require during wake
• Features that enable catastrophic OS software failure recovery
ACPI defines register-based interfaces to fixed hardware. CPU clock control and the power
management timer are defined as fixed hardware to reduce the performance impact of accessing this
hardware, which will result in more quickly reducing a thermal condition or extending battery life. If
this logic were allowed to reside in PCI configuration space, for example, several layers of drivers
would be called to access this address space. This takes a long time and will either adversely affect
the power of the system (when trying to enter a low-power state) or the accuracy of the event (when
trying to get a time stamp value).
Access to fixed hardware by OSPM allows OSPM to control the wake process without having to
load the entire OS. For example, if PCI configuration space access is needed, the bus enumerator is
loaded with all drivers used by the enumerator. Defining these interfaces in fixed hardware at
addresses with which OSPM can communicate without any other driver’s assistance, allows OSPM
to gather information prior to making a decision as to whether it continues loading the entire OS or
puts it back to sleep.
If elements of the OS fail, it may be possible for OSPM to access address spaces that need no driver
support. In such a situation, OSPM will attempt to honor fixed power button requests to transition
the system to the G2 state. In the case where OSPM event handler is no longer able to respond to
power button events, the power button override feature provides a back-up mechanism to
unconditionally transition the system to the soft-off state.
4.3 Generic Hardware Programming Model

Although the fixed hardware programming model requires hardware registers to be defined at
specific address locations, the generic hardware programming model allows hardware registers to
reside in most address spaces and provides system OEMs with a wide degree of flexibility in the
implementation of specific functions in hardware. OSPM directly accesses the fixed hardware
registers, but relies on OEM-provided ACPI Machine Language (AML) code to access generic
hardware registers.
AML code allows the OEM to provide the means for OSPM to control a generic hardware feature’s
control and event logic.
The section entitled “ACPI Source Language Reference” describes the ACPI Source Language
(ASL)—a programming language that OEMs use to create AML. The ASL language provides many
of the operators found in common object-oriented programming languages, but it has been
optimized to enable the description of platform power management and configuration hardware. An
ASL compiler converts ASL source code to AML, which is a very compact machine language that
the ACPI AML code interpreter executes.
AML does two things:
• Abstracts the hardware from OSPM
• Buffers OEM code from the different OS implementations
One goal of ACPI is to allow the OEM “value added” hardware to remain basically unchanged in an
ACPI configuration. One attribute of value-added hardware is that it is all implemented differently.

To enable OSPM to execute properly on different types of value added hardware, ACPI defines
higher level “control methods” that it calls to perform an action. The OEM provides AML code,
which is associated with control methods, to be executed by OSPM. By providing AML code,
generic hardware can take on almost any form.
Another important goal of ACPI is to provide OS independence. To do this, the OEM AML code has
to execute the same under any ACPI-compatible OS. ACPI allows for this by making the AML code
interpreter part of OSPM. This allows OSPM to take care of synchronizing and blocking issues
specific to each particular OS.
The generic feature model is represented in the following block diagram. In this model the generic
feature is described to OSPM through AML code. This description takes the form of an object that
sits in the ACPI Namespace associated with the hardware to which it is adding value.
ACPI Driver
Rds AML
and AML-
Interpreter
Control
Events
GP Event Status
Generic
Generic Child Control
Event Status Logic
Generic Event
Logic
Figure 4-7 Generic Hardware Feature Model
As an example of a generic hardware control feature, a platform might be designed such that the IDE
HDD’s D3 state has value-added hardware to remove power from the drive. The IDE drive would
then have a reference to the AML PowerResource object (which controls the value added power
plane) in its namespace, and associated with that object would be control methods that OSPM
invokes to control the D3 state of the drive:
• _PS0: A control method to sequence the IDE drive to the D0 state.
• _PS3: A control method to sequence the IDE drive to the D3 state.
• _PSC: A control method that returns the status of the IDE drive (on or off).
The control methods under this object provide an abstraction layer between OSPM and the
hardware. OSPM understands how to control power planes (turn them on or off or to get their status)
through its defined PowerResource object, while the hardware has platform-specific AML code
(contained in the appropriate control methods) to perform the desired function. In this example, the
platform would describe its hardware to the ACPI OS by writing and placing the AML code to turn
the hardware off within the _PS3 control method. This enables the following sequence:
When OSPM decides to place the IDE drive in the D3 state, it calls the IDE driver and tells it to
place the drive into the D3 state (at which point the driver saves the device’s context).
When the IDE driver returns control, OSPM places the drive in the D3 state.

OSPM finds the object associated with the HDD and then finds within that object any AML code
associated with the D3 state.
OSPM executes the appropriate _PS3 control method to control the value-added “generic” hardware
to place the HDD into an even lower power state.
As an example of a generic event feature, a platform might have a docking capability. In this case, it
will want to generate an event. Notice that all ACPI events generate an SCI, which can be mapped to
any shareable system interrupt. In the case of docking, the event is generated when a docking has
been detected or when the user requests to undock the system. This enables the following sequence:
OSPM responds to the SCI and calls the AML code event handler associated with that generic event.
The ACPI table associates the hardware event with the AML code event handler.
The AML-code event handler collects the appropriate information and then executes an AML Notify
command to indicate to OSPM that a particular bus needs re-enumeration.
The following sections describe the fixed and generic hardware feature set of ACPI. These sections
enable a reader to understand the following:
• Which hardware registers are required or optional when an ACPI feature, concept or interface is
required by a design guide for a platform class
• How to design fixed hardware features
• How to design generic hardware features
• The ACPI Event Model
4.4 Diagram Legends

The hardware section uses simplified logic diagrams to represent how certain aspects of the
hardware are implemented. The following symbols are used in the logic diagrams to represent
programming bits.
Write-only control bit
Enable, control or status bit
Sticky status bit

##
Query value
The half round symbol with an inverted “V” represents a write-only control bit. This bit has the
behavior that it generates its control function when it is set. Reads to write-only bits are treated as
ignore by software (the bit position is masked off and ignored).
The round symbol with an “X” represents a programming bit. As an enable or control bit, software
setting or clearing this bit will result in the bit being read as set or clear (unless otherwise noted). As
a status bit it directly represents the value of the signal.
The square symbol represents a sticky status bit. A sticky status bit is set by the level (not edge) of a
hardware signal (active high or active low). The bit is only cleared by software writing a “1” to its bit
position.

The rectangular symbol represents a query value from the embedded controller. This is the value the
embedded controller returns to the system software upon a query command in response to an SCI
event. The query value is associated with the event control method that is scheduled to execute upon
an embedded controller event.
4.5 Register Bit Notation

Throughout this section there are logic diagrams that reference bits within registers. These diagrams
use a notation that easily references the register name and bit position. The notation is as follows:
Registername.Bit
Registername contains the name of the register as it appears in this specification
Bit contains a zero-based decimal value of the bit position.
For example, the SLP_EN bit resides in the PM1x_CNT register bit 13 and would be represented in
diagram notation as:
SLP_EN
PM1x_CNT.13
4.6 The ACPI Hardware Model

The ACPI hardware model is defined to allow OSPM to sequence the platform between the various
global system states (G0-G3) as illustrated in the following figure by manipulating the defined
interfaces. When first powered on, the platform finds itself in the global system state G3 or
“Mechanical Off.” This state is defined as one where power consumption is very close to zero—the
power plug has been removed; however, the real-time clock device still runs off a battery. The G3
state is entered by any power failure, defined as accidental or user-initiated power loss.
The G3 state transitions into either the G0 working state or the Legacy state depending on what the
platform supports. If the platform is an ACPI-only platform, then it allows a direct boot into the G0
working state by always returning the status bit SCI_EN set (1) (for more information, see
Section 4.8.2.5, “Legacy/ACPI Select and the SCI Interrupt”). If the platform supports both legacy
and ACPI operations (which is necessary for supporting a non-ACPI OS), then it would always boot
into the Legacy state (illustrated by returning the SCI_EN clear (0)). In either case, a transition out of
the G3 state requires a total boot of OSPM.
The Legacy system state is the global state where a non-ACPI OS executes. This state can be entered
from either the G3 “Mechanical Off,” the G2 “Soft Off,” or the G0 “Working” states only if the
hardware supports both Legacy and ACPI modes. In the Legacy state, the ACPI event model is
disabled (no SCIs are generated) and the hardware uses legacy power management and
configuration mechanisms. While in the Legacy state, an ACPI-compliant OS can request a
transition into the G0 working state by performing an ACPI mode request. OSPM performs this
transition by writing the ACPI_ENABLE value to the SMI_CMD, which generates an event to the
hardware to transition the platform into ACPI mode. When hardware has finished the transition, it
sets the SCI_EN bit and returns control back to OSPM. While in the G0 “working state,” OSPM can
request a transition to Legacy mode by writing the ACPI_DISABLE value to the SMI_CMD
register, which results in the hardware going into legacy mode and resetting the SCI_EN bit LOW
(for more information, see Section 4.8.2.5, “Legacy/ACPI Select and the SCI Interrupt”).

The G0 “Working” state is the normal operating environment of an ACPI system. In this state
different devices are dynamically transitioning between their respective power states (D0, D1, D2,
D3hot, or D3) and processors are dynamically transitioning between their respective power states
(C0, C1, C2 or C3). In this state, OSPM can make a policy decision to place the platform into the
system G1 “sleeping” state. The platform can only enter a single sleeping state at a time (referred to
as the global G1 state); however, the hardware can provide up to four system sleeping states that
have different power and exit latencies represented by the S1, S2, S3, or S4 states. When OSPM
decides to enter a sleeping state it picks the most appropriate sleeping state supported by the
hardware (OS policy examines what devices have enabled wake events and what sleeping states
these support). OSPM initiates the sleeping transition by enabling the appropriate wake events and
then programming the SLP_TYPx field with the desired sleeping state and then setting the
SLP_ENx bit. The system will then enter a sleeping state; when one of the enabled wake events
occurs, it will transition the system back to the working state (for more information, see Section 16,
“Waking and Sleeping”).
Another global state transition option while in the G0 “working” state is to enter the G2 “soft off” or
the G3 “mechanical off” state. These transitions represent a controlled transition that allows OSPM
to bring the system down in an orderly fashion (unloading applications, closing files, and so on). The
policy for these types of transitions can be associated with the ACPI power button, which when
pressed generates an event to the power button driver. When OSPM is finished preparing the
operating environment for a power loss, it will either generate a pop-up message to indicate to the
user to remove power, in order to enter the G3 “Mechanical Off” state, or it will initiate a G2 “soft-
off” transition by writing the value of the S5 “soft off” system state to the SLP_TYPx register and
setting the SLP_EN bit.
The G1 sleeping state is represented by four possible sleeping states that the hardware can support.
Each sleeping state has different power and wake latency characteristics. The sleeping state differs
from the working state in that the user’s operating environment is frozen in a low-power state until
awakened by an enabled wake event. No work is performed in this state, that is, the processors are
not executing instructions. Each system sleeping state has requirements about who is responsible for
system context and wake sequences (for more information, see Section 16, Waking and Sleeping”).
The G2 “soft off” state is an OS initiated system shutdown. This state is initiated similar to the
sleeping state transition (SLP_TYPx is set to the S5 value and setting the SLP_EN bit initiates the
sequence). Exiting the G2 soft-off state requires rebooting the system. In this case, an ACPI-only
system will re-enter the G0 state directly (hardware returns the SCI_EN bit set), while an ACPI/
Legacy system transitions to the Legacy state (SCI_EN bit is clear).

Figure 4-8 Global States and Their Transitions
The ACPI architecture defines mechanisms for hardware to generate events and control logic to
implement this behavior model. Events are used to notify OSPM that some action is needed, and
control logic is used by OSPM to cause some state transition. ACPI-defined events are “hardware”
or “interrupt” events. A hardware event is one that causes the hardware to unconditionally perform
some operation. For example, any wake event will sequence the system from a sleeping state (S1,
S2, S3, and S4 in the global G1 state) to the G0 working state (see Figure 16-79).
An interrupt event causes the execution of an event handler (AML code or an ACPI-aware driver),
which allows the software to make a policy decision based on the event. For ACPI fixed-feature
events, OSPM or an ACPI-aware driver acts as the event handler. For generic logic events OSPM
will schedule the execution of an OEM-supplied AML control method associated with the event.
For legacy systems, an event normally generates an OS-transparent interrupt, such as a System
Management Interrupt, or SMI. For ACPI systems the interrupt events need to generate an OS-
visible interrupt that is shareable; edge-style interrupts will not work. Hardware platforms that want
to support both legacy operating systems and ACPI systems support a way of re-mapping the
interrupt events between SMIs and SCIs when switching between ACPI and legacy models. This is
illustrated in the following block diagram.

Legacy Only Event Logic

Device Idle ACPI/Legacy Event Logic
Timers
ACPI Only Event Logic
Device ACPI/Legacy Generic Control Features
Traps ACPI/Legacy Fixed Control Features
GLBL STBY
SCI_EN SMI Arbiter SMI#
Timer
0
PWRBTN User Dec
LID Interface 1 SCI Arbiter SCI#

Sleep/Wake
Thermal
THRM State machine
Logic
DOCK Power Plane

Hardware Control
STS_CHG SMI Events Generic Space
Events
RI SCI/SMI Events
Wake-up Events CPU Clock
RTC Control
PM Timer
Figure 4-9 Example Event Structure for a Legacy/ACPI Compatible Event Model
This example logic illustrates the event model for a sample platform that supports both legacy and
ACPI event models. This example platform supports a number of external events that are power-
related (power button, LID open/close, thermal, ring indicate) or Plug and Play-related (dock, status
change). The logic represents the three different types of events:
OS Transparent Events
These events represent OEM-specific functions that have no OS support and use
software that can be operated in an OS-transparent fashion (that is, SMIs).
Interrupt Events
These events represent features supported by ACPI-compatible operating systems, but
are not supported by legacy operating systems. When a legacy OS is loaded, these
events are mapped to the transparent interrupt (SMI# in this example), and when in
ACPI mode they are mapped to an OS-visible shareable interrupt (SCI#). This logic is
represented by routing the event logic through the decoder that routes the events to the
SMI# arbiter when the SCI_EN bit is cleared, or to the SCI# arbiter when the SCI_EN
bit is set.
Hardware events
These events are used to trigger the hardware to initiate some hardware sequence such
as waking, resetting, or putting the system to sleep unconditionally.
In this example, the legacy power management event logic is used to determine device/system
activity or idleness based on device idle timers, device traps, and the global standby timer. Legacy
power management models use the idle timers to determine when a device should be placed in a
low-power state because it is idle—that is, the device has not been accessed for the programmed
amount of time. The device traps are used to indicate when a device in a low-power state is being
accessed by OSPM. The global standby timer is used to determine when the system should be

allowed to go into a sleeping state because it is idle—that is, the user interface has not been used for
the programmed amount of time.
These legacy idle timers, trap monitors, and global standby timer are not used by OSPM in the ACPI
mode. This work is handled by different software structures in an ACPI-compatible OS. For
example, the driver model of an ACPI-compatible OS is responsible for placing its device into a
low-power state (D1, D2, D3hot, or D3) and transitioning it back to the On state (D0) when needed.
And OSPM is responsible for determining when the system is idle by profiling the system (using the
PM Timer) and other knowledge it gains through its operating structure environment (which will
vary from OS to OS). When the system is placed into the ACPI mode, these events no longer
generate SMIs, as OSPM handles this function. These events are disabled through some OEM-
proprietary method.
On the other hand, many of the hardware events are shared between the ACPI and legacy models
(docking, the power button, and so on) and this type of interrupt event changes to an SCI event when
enabled for ACPI. The ACPI OS will generate a request to the platform runtime firmware to enter
into the ACPI mode. The firmware sets the SCI_EN bit to indicate that the system has successfully
entered into the ACPI mode, so this is a convenient mechanism to map the desired interrupt (SMI or
SCI) for these events (as shown in Figure 4-3).
The ACPI architecture specifies some dedicated hardware not found in the legacy hardware model:
the power management timer (PM Timer). This is a free running timer that the ACPI OS uses to
profile system activity. The frequency of this timer is explicitly defined in this specification and
must be implemented as described.
Although the ACPI architecture reuses most legacy hardware as is, it does place restrictions on
where and how the programming model is generated. If used, all fixed hardware features are
implemented as described in this specification so that OSPM can directly access the fixed hardware
feature registers.
Generic hardware features are manipulated by ACPI control methods residing in the ACPI
Namespace. These interfaces can be very flexible; however, their use is limited by the defined ACPI
control methods (for more information, see Section 9, “ACPI Devices and Device Specific
Objects”). Generic hardware usually controls power planes, buffer isolation, and device reset
resources. Additionally, “child” interrupt status bits can be accessed via generic hardware interfaces;
however, they have a “parent” interrupt status bit in the GP_STS register. ACPI defines eight
address spaces that may be accessed by generic hardware implementations. These include:
• System I/O space
• System memory space
• PCI configuration space
• Embedded controller space
• System Management Bus (SMBus) space
• CMOS
• PCI BAR Target
• IPMI space

Generic hardware power management features can be implemented accessing spare I/O ports
residing in any of these address spaces. The ACPI specification defines an optional embedded
controller and SMBus interfaces needed to communicate with these associated address spaces.
4.6.1 Hardware Reserved Bits

ACPI hardware registers are designed such that reserved bits always return zero, and data writes to
them have no side affects. OSPM implementations must write zeros to reserved bits in enable and
status registers and preserve bits in control registers, and they will treat these bits as ignored.
4.6.2 Hardware Ignored Bits

ACPI hardware registers are designed such that ignored bits are undefined and are ignored by
software. Hardware-ignored bits can return zero or one. When software reads a register with ignored
bits, it masks off ignored bits prior to operating on the result. When software writes to a register with
ignored bit fields, it preserves the ignored bit fields.
4.6.3 Hardware Write-Only Bits

ACPI hardware defines a number of write-only control bits. These bits are activated by software
writing a 1 to their bit position. Reads to write-only bit positions generate undefined results. Upon
reads to registers with write-only bits, software masks out all write-only bits.
4.6.4 Cross Device Dependencies

Cross Device Dependency is a condition in which an operation to a device interferes with the
operation of other unrelated devices, or allows other unrelated devices to interfere with its behavior.
This condition is not supportable and can cause platform failures. ACPI provides no support for
cross device dependencies and suggests that devices be designed to not exhibit this behavior. The
following two examples describe cross device dependencies:
4.6.4.1 Example 1: Related Device Interference

This example illustrates a cross device dependency where a device interferes with the proper
operation of other unrelated devices. Device A has a dependency that when it is being configured it
blocks all accesses that would normally be targeted for Device B. Thus, the device driver for Device
B cannot access Device B while Device A is being configured; therefore, it would need to
synchronize access with the driver for Device A. High performance, multithreaded operating
systems cannot perform this kind of synchronization without seriously impacting performance.
To further illustrate the point, assume that Device A is a serial port and Device B is a hard drive
controller. If these devices demonstrate this behavior, then when a software driver configures the
serial port, accesses to the hard drive need to block. This can only be done if the hard disk driver
synchronizes access to the disk controller with the serial driver. Without this synchronization, hard
drive data will be lost when the serial port is being configured.
4.6.4.2 Example 2: Unrelated Device Interference

This example illustrates a cross-device dependency where a device demonstrates a behavior that
allows other unrelated devices to interfere with its proper operation. Device A exhibits a

programming behavior that requires atomic back-to-back write accesses to successfully write to its
registers; if any other platform access is able to break between the back-to-back accesses, then the
write to Device A is unsuccessful. If the Device A driver is unable to generate atomic back-to-back
accesses to its device, then it relies on software to synchronize accesses to its device with every other
driver in the system; then a device cross dependency is created and the platform is prone to Device A
failure.
4.7 ACPI Hardware Features

This section describes the different hardware features defined by the ACPI interface. These features
are categorized as the following:
• Fixed Hardware Features
• Generic Hardware Features
Fixed hardware features reside in a number of the ACPI-defined address spaces at the locations
described by the ACPI programming model. Generic hardware features reside in one of four address
spaces (system I/O, system memory, PCI configuration, embedded controller, or serial device I/O
space) and are described by the ACPI Namespace through the declaration of AML control methods.
Fixed hardware features have exact definitions for their implementation. Although many fixed
hardware features are optional, if implemented they must be implemented as described since OSPM
manipulates the registers of fixed hardware devices and expects the defined behavior. Functional
fixed hardware provides functional equivalents of the fixed hardware feature interfaces as described
in Section 4.3, “Functional Fixed Hardware.”
Generic hardware feature implementation is flexible. This logic is controlled by OEM-supplied
AML code (for more information, see Section 5, “ACPI Software Programming Model”), which can
be written to support a wide variety of hardware. Also, ACPI provides specialized control methods
that provide capabilities for specialized devices. For example, the Notify command can be used to
notify OSPM from a generic hardware event handler (control method) that a docking or thermal
event has taken place. A good understanding of this section and Section 5 of this specification will
give designers a good understanding of how to design hardware to take full advantage of an ACPI-
compatible OS.
Notice that the generic features are listed for illustration only, the ACPI specification can support
many types of hardware not listed.
Table 4-6 Feature/Programming Model Summary

Feature Name Description Programming Model
Power Management 24-bit or 32-bit free running timer. Fixed Hardware Feature Control
Timer Logic
Power Button User pushes button to switch the system Fixed Hardware Event and Control
between the working and sleeping/soft-off Logic or Generic Hardware Event
states. and Logic
Sleep Button User pushes button to switch the system Fixed Hardware Event and Control
between the working and sleeping/soft-off Logic or Generic Hardware Event
states. and Logic

Feature Name Description Programming Model

Power Button Override User sequence (press the power button
for 4 seconds) to turn off a hung system.
Real Time Clock Alarm Programmed time to wake the system. Optional Fixed Hardware Eventa
Sleep/Wake Control Logic used to transition the system Fixed Hardware Control and Event
Logic between the sleeping and working states. Logic
Embedded Controller ACPI Embedded Controller protocol and Generic Hardware Event Logic, must
Interface interface, as described in Section 12, reside in the general-purpose register
“ACPI Embedded Controller Interface block
Specification.”
Legacy/ACPI Select Status bit that indicates the system is Fixed Hardware Control Logic
using the legacy or ACPI power
management model (SCI_EN).
Lid switch Button used to indicate whether the Generic Hardware Event Feature
system’s lid is open or closed (mobile
systems only).
C1 Power State Processor instruction to place the Processor ISA
processor into a low-power state.
C2 Power Control Logic to place the processor into a C2 Fixed Hardware Control Logic
power state.
C3 Power Control Logic to place the processor into a C3 Fixed Hardware Control Logic
power state.
Thermal Control Logic to generate thermal events at Generic Hardware Event and Control
specified trip points. Logic (See description of thermal
logic in Section 3.10, “Thermal
Management.”)
Device Power Control logic for switching between Generic Hardware control logic
Management different device power states.
AC Adapter Logic to detect the insertion and removal Generic Hardware event logic
of the AC adapter.
Docking/device insertion Logic to detect device insertion and Generic Hardware event logic
and removal removal events.
a. RTC wakeup alarm is required, the fixed hardware feature status bit is optional.
4.8 ACPI Register Model

ACPI hardware resides in one of six address spaces:
• System I/O
• System memory
• PCI configuration
• SMBus
• Embedded controller
• Functional Fixed Hardware

Different implementations will result in different address spaces being used for different functions.
The ACPI specification consists of fixed hardware registers and generic hardware registers. Fixed
hardware registers are required to implement ACPI-defined interfaces. The generic hardware
registers are needed for any events generated by value-added hardware.
ACPI defines register blocks. An ACPI-compatible system provides an ACPI table (the FADT, built
in memory at boot-up) that contains a list of pointers to the different fixed hardware register blocks
used by OSPM. The bits within these registers have attributes defined for the given register block.
The types of registers that ACPI defines are:
• Status/Enable Registers (for events)
• Control Registers
If a register block is of the status/enable type, then it will contain a register with status bits, and a
corresponding register with enable bits. The status and enable bits have an exact implementation
definition that needs to be followed (unless otherwise noted), which is illustrated by the following
diagram:
Status Bit
Event Input
Event Output
Enable Bit
Figure 4-10 Block Diagram of a Status/Enable Cell
Notice that the status bit, which hardware sets by the Event Input being set in this example, can only
be cleared by software writing a 1 to its bit position. Also, the enable bit has no effect on the setting
or resetting of the status bit; it only determines if the SET status bit will generate an “Event Output,”
which generates an SCI when set if its enable bit is set.
ACPI also defines register groupings. A register grouping consists of two register blocks, with two
pointers to two different blocks of registers, where each bit location within a register grouping is
fixed and cannot be changed. The bits within a register grouping, which have fixed bit positions, can
be split between the two register blocks. This allows the bits within a register grouping to reside in
either or both register blocks, facilitating the ability to map bits within several different chips to the
same register thus providing the programming model with a single register grouping bit structure.
OSPM treats a register grouping as a single register; but located in multiple places. To read a register
grouping, OSPM will read the “A” register block, followed by the “B” register block, and then will
logically “OR” the two results together (the SLP_TYP field is an exception to this rule). Reserved
bits, or unused bits within a register block always return zero for reads and have no side effects for
writes (which is a requirement).
The SLP_TYPx field can be different for each register grouping. The respective sleeping object \_Sx
contains a SLP_TYPa and a SLP_TYPb field. That is, the object returns a package with two integer
values of 0-7 in it. OSPM will always write the SLP_TYPa value to the “A” register block followed
by the SLP_TYPb value within the field to the “B” register block. All other bit locations will be
written with the same value. Also, OSPM does not read the SLP_TYPx value but throws it away.

te td tc tb ta
Bi Bi Bi Bi Bi
Register Block A
Register
Grouping
Register Block B
Figure 4-11 Example Fixed Hardware Feature Register Grouping
As an example, the above diagram represents a register grouping consisting of register block A and
register block b. Bits “a” and “d” are implemented in register block B and register block A returns a
zero for these bit positions. Bits “b”, “c” and “e” are implemented in register block A and register
block B returns a zero for these bit positions. All reserved or ignored bits return their defined ACPI
values.
When accessing this register grouping, OSPM must read register block a, followed by reading
register block b. OSPM then does a logical OR of the two registers and then operates on the results.
When writing to this register grouping, OSPM will write the desired value to register group A
followed by writing the same value to register group B.
ACPI defines the following fixed hardware register blocks. Each register block gets a separate
pointer from the FADT. These addresses are set by the OEM as static resources, so they are never
changed—OSPM cannot re-map ACPI resources. The following register blocks are defined:
Registers Register Blocks Register Groupings
PM1a_STS
PM1a_EVT_BLK
PM1a_EN
PM1 EVT Grouping
PM1b_STS
PM1b_EVT_BLK
PM1b_EN
PM1a_CNT PM1a_CNT_BLK
PM1 CNT Grouping
PM1b_CNT PM1b_CNT_BLK
PM2_CNT PM2_CNT_BLK PM2 Control Block
PM_TMR PM_TMR_BLK PM Timer Block
P_CNT
P_LVL2 P_BLK Processor Block
P_LVL3
GPE0_STS
GPE0_BLK General Purpose Event 0
GPE0_EN
Block
GPE1_STS
GPE1_BLK General Purpose Event 1
GPE1_EN
Block
Figure 4-12 Register Blocks versus Register Groupings
The PM1 EVT grouping consists of the PM1a_EVT and PM1b_EVT register blocks, which contain
the fixed hardware feature event bits. Each event register block (if implemented) contains two
registers: a status register and an enable register. Each register grouping has a defined bit position

that cannot be changed; however, the bit can be implemented in either register block (A or B). The A
and B register blocks for the events allow chipsets to vary the partitioning of events into two or more
chips. For read operations, OSPM will generate a read to the associated A and B registers, OR the
two values together, and then operate on this result. For write operations, OSPM will write the value
to the associated register in both register blocks. Therefore, there are two rules to follow when
implementing event registers:
• Reserved or unimplemented bits always return zero (control or enable).
• Writes to reserved or unimplemented bits have no affect.
The PM1 CNT grouping contains the fixed hardware feature control bits and consists of the
PM1a_CNT_BLK and PM1b_CNT_BLK register blocks. Each register block is associated with a
single control register. Each register grouping has a defined bit position that cannot be changed;
however, the bit can be implemented in either register block (A or B). There are two rules to follow
when implementing CNT registers:
• Reserved or unimplemented bits always return zero (control or enable).
• Writes to reserved or unimplemented bits have no affect.
The PM2_CNT_BLK register block currently contains a single bit for the arbiter disable function.
The general-purpose event register contains the event programming model for generic features. All
generic events, just as fixed events, generate SCIs. Generic event status bits can reside anywhere;
however, the top-level generic event resides in one of the general-purpose register blocks. Any
generic feature event status not in the general-purpose register space is considered a child or sibling
status bit, whose parent status bit is in the general-purpose event register space. Notice that it is
possible to have N levels of general-purpose events prior to hitting the GPE event status.
General-purpose event registers are described by two register blocks: The GPE0_BLK or the
GPE1_BLK. Each register block is pointed to separately from within the FADT. Each register block
is further broken into two registers: GPEx_STS and GPEx_EN. The status and enable registers in the
general-purpose event registers follow the event model for the fixed hardware event registers.
4.8.1 ACPI Register Summary

The following tables summarize the ACPI registers:
Table 4-7 PM1 Event Registers

Register Size (Bytes) Address (relative to register block)
PM1a_STS PM1_EVT_LEN/2 <PM1a_EVT_BLK >
PM1a_EN PM1_EVT_LEN/2 <PM1a_EVT_BLK >+PM1_EVT_LEN/2
PM1b_STS PM1_EVT_LEN/2 <PM1b_EVT_BLK >
PM1b_EN PM1_EVT_LEN/2 <PM1b_EVT_BLK >+PM1_EVT_LEN/2
Table 4-8 PM1 Control Registers

PM1_CNTa PM1_CNT_LEN <PM1a_CNT_BLK >
PM1_CNTb PM1_CNT_LEN <PM1b_CNT_BLK >

Table 4-9 PM2 Control Register

PM2_CNT PM2_CNT_LEN <PM2_CNT_BLK >
Table 4-10 PM Timer Register

PM_TMR PM_TMR_LEN <PM_TMR_BLK >
Table 4-11 Processor Control Registers

P_CNT 4 Either <P_BLK> or specified by the PTC object (See
Section 8.4.5.1, “PTC [Processor Throttling Control].”)
P_LVL2 1 <P_BLK>+4h
P_LVL3 1 <P_BLK>+5h
Table 4-12 General-Purpose Event Registers

GPE0_STS GPE0_LEN/2 <GPE0_BLK>
GPE0_EN GPE0_LEN/2 <GPE0_BLK>+GPE0_LEN/2
GPE1_STS GPE1_LEN/2 <GPE1_BLK>
GPE1_EN GPE1_LEN/2 <GPE1_BLK>+GPE1_LEN/2
4.8.1.1 PM1 Event Registers

The PM1 event register grouping contains two register blocks: the PM1a_EVT_BLK is a required
register block when the following ACPI interface categories are required by a class specific platform
design guide:
• Power management timer control/status
• Processor power state control/status
• Global Lock related interfaces
• Power or Sleep button (fixed register interfaces)
• System power state controls (sleeping/wake control)
The PM1b_EVT_BLK is an optional register block. Each register block has a unique 32-bit pointer
in the Fixed ACPI Table (FADT) to allow the PM1 event bits to be partitioned between two chips. If
the PM1b_EVT_BLK is not supported, its pointer contains a value of zero in the FADT.
Each register block in the PM1 event grouping contains two registers that are required to be the same
size: the PM1x_STS and PM1x_EN (where x can be “a” or “b”). The length of the registers is
variable and is described by the PM1_EVT_LEN field in the FADT, which indicates the total length
of the register block in bytes. Hence if a length of “4” is given, this indicates that each register
contains two bytes of I/O space. The PM1 event register block has a minimum size of 4 bytes.

4.8.1.2 PM1 Control Registers

The PM1 control register grouping contains two register blocks: the PM1a_CNT_BLK is a required
register block when the following ACPI interface categories are required by a class specific platform
design guide:
• SCI/SMI routing control/status for power management and general-purpose events
• Processor power state control/status
• Global Lock related interfaces
• System power state controls (sleeping/wake control)
The PM1b_CNT_BLK is an optional register block. Each register block has a unique 32-bit pointer
in the Fixed ACPI Table (FADT) to allow the PM1 event bits to be partitioned between two chips. If
the PM1b_CNT_BLK is not supported, its pointer contains a value of zero in the FADT.
Each register block in the PM1 control grouping contains a single register: the PM1x_CNT. The
length of the register is variable and is described by the PM1_CNT_LEN field in the FADT, which
indicates the total length of the register block in bytes. The PM1 control register block must have a
minimum size of 2 bytes.
4.8.1.3 PM2 Control Register

The PM2 control register is contained in the PM2_CNT_BLK register block. The FADT contains a
length variable for this register block (PM2_CNT_LEN) that is equal to the size in bytes of the
PM2_CNT register (the only register in this register block). This register block is optional, if not
supported its block pointer and length contain a value of zero.
4.8.1.4 PM Timer Register

The PM timer register is contained in the PM_TMR_BLK register block. It is an optional register
block that must be implemented when the power management timer control/status ACPI interface
category is required by a class specific platform design guide.
If defined, this register block contains the register that returns the running value of the power
management timer. The FADT also contains a length variable for this register block
(PM_TMR_LEN) that is equal to the size in bytes of the PM_TMR register (the only register in this
register block).
4.8.1.5 Processor Control Block (P_BLK)

There is an optional processor control register block for each processor in the system. As this is a
homogeneous feature, all processors must have the same level of support. The ACPI OS will revert
to the lowest common denominator of processor control block support. The processor control block
contains the processor control register (P_CNT-a 32-bit performance control configuration register),
and the P_LVL2 and P_LVL3 CPU sleep state control registers. The 32-bit P_CNT register controls
the behavior of the processor clock logic for that processor, the P_LVL2 register is used to place the
CPU into the C2 state, and the P_LVL3 register is used to place the processor into the C3 state.
4.8.1.6 General-Purpose Event Registers

The general-purpose event registers contain the root level events for all generic features. To
facilitate the flexibility of partitioning the root events, ACPI provides for two different general-

purpose event blocks: GPE0_BLK and GPE1_BLK. These are separate register blocks and are not a
register grouping, because there is no need to maintain an orthogonal bit arrangement. Also, each
register block contains its own length variable in the FADT, where GPE0_LEN and GPE1_LEN
represent the length in bytes of each register block.
Each register block contains two registers of equal length: GPEx_STS and GPEx_EN (where x is 0
or 1). The length of the GPE0_STS and GPE0_EN registers is equal to half the GPE0_LEN. The
length of the GPE1_STS and GPE1_EN registers is equal to half the GPE1_LEN. If a generic
register block is not supported then its respective block pointer and block length values in the FADT
table contain zeros. The GPE0_LEN and GPE1_LEN do not need to be the same size.
4.8.2 Fixed Hardware Features

This section describes the fixed hardware features defined by ACPI.
4.8.2.1 Power Management Timer

The ACPI specification defines an optional power management timer that provides an accurate time
value that can be used by system software to measure and profile system idleness (along with other
tasks). The power management timer provides an accurate time function while the system is in the
working (G0) state. To allow software to extend the number of bits in the timer, the power
management timer generates an interrupt when the last bit of the timer changes (from 0 to 1 or 1 to
0). ACPI supports either a 24-bit or 32-bit power management timer. The PM Timer is accessed
directly by OSPM, and its programming model is contained in fixed register space. The
programming model can be partitioned in up to three different register blocks. The event bits are
contained in the PM1_EVT register grouping, which has two register blocks, and the timer value can
be accessed through the PM_TMR_BLK register block. A block diagram of the power management
timer is illustrated in the following figure:
TMR_STS
24/32-bit PM1x_STS.0
Counter PMTMR_PME
3.579545 MHz Bits(23/31-0)
-- 24/32 TMR_EN
PM1x_EN.0
TMR_VAL
PM_TMR.0-23/0-31
Figure 4-13 Power Management Timer
The power management timer is a 24-bit or 32-bit fixed rate free running count-up timer that runs off
a 3.579545 MHz clock. The ACPI OS checks the FADT to determine whether the PM Timer is a 32-
bit or 24-bit timer. The programming model for the PM Timer consists of event logic, and a read port
to the counter value. The event logic consists of an event status and enable bit. The status bit is set
any time the last bit of the timer (bit 23 or bit 31) goes from set to clear or clear to set. If the
TMR_EN bit is set, then the setting of the TMR_STS will generate an ACPI event in the PM1_EVT
register grouping (referred to as PMTMR_PME in the diagram). The event logic is only used to
emulate a larger timer.
OSPM uses the read-only TMR_VAL field (in the PM TMR register grouping) to read the current
value of the timer. OSPM never assumes an initial value of the TMR_VAL field; instead, it reads an

initial TMR_VAL upon loading OSPM and assumes that the timer is counting. It is allowable to stop
the Timer when the system transitions out of the working (G0/S0) state. The only timer reset
requirement is that the timer functions while in the working state.
The PM Timer’s programming model is implemented as a fixed hardware feature to increase the
accuracy of reading the timer.
4.8.2.2 Console Buttons

ACPI defines user-initiated events to request OSPM to transition the platform between the G0
working state and the G1 sleeping, G2 soft off and G3 mechanical off states. ACPI also defines a
recommended mechanism to unconditionally transition the platform from a hung G0 working state
to the G2 soft-off state.
ACPI operating systems use power button events to determine when the user is present. As such,
these ACPI events are associated with buttons in the ACPI specification.
The ACPI specification supports two button models:
• A single-button model that generates an event for both sleeping and entering the soft-off state.
The function of the button can be configured using OSPM UI.
• A dual-button model where the power button generates a soft-off transition request and a sleep
button generates a sleep transition request. The type of button implies the function of the button.
Control of these button events is either through the fixed hardware programming model or the
generic hardware programming model (control method based). The fixed hardware programming
model has the advantage that OSPM can access the button at any time, including when the system is
crashed. In a crashed system with a fixed hardware power button, OSPM can make a “best” effort to
determine whether the power button has been pressed to transition to the system to the soft-off state,
because it doesn’t require the AML interpreter to access the event bits.
4.8.2.2.1 Power Button

The power button logic can be used in one of two models: single button or dual button. In the single-
button model, the user button acts as both a power button for transitioning the system between the
G0 and G2 states and a sleep button for transitioning the system between the G0 and G1 states. The
action of the user pressing the button is determined by software policy or user settings. In the dual-
button model, there are separate buttons for sleeping and power control. Although the buttons still
generate events that cause software to take an action, the function of the button is now dedicated: the
sleep button generates a sleep request to OSPM and the power button generates a wake request.
Support for a power button is indicated by a combination of the PWR_BUTTON flag and the power
button device object, as shown in the following:
Table 4-13 Power Button Support

Indicated Support PWR_BUTTON Flag Power Button Device Object
Fixed hardware power button Clear Absent
Control method power button Set Present
The power button can also have an additional capability to unconditionally transition the system
from a hung working state to the G2 soft-off state. In the case where OSPM event handler is no

longer able to respond to power button events, the power button override feature provides a back-up
mechanism to unconditionally transition the system to the soft-off state. This feature can be used
when the platform doesn’t have a mechanical off button, which can also provide this function. ACPI
defines that holding the power button active for four seconds or longer will generate a power button
override event.
4.8.2.2.1.1 Fixed Power Button
Figure 4-14 Fixed Power Button Logic
The fixed hardware power button has its event programming model in the PM1x_EVT_BLK. This
logic consists of a single enable bit and sticky status bit. When the user presses the power button, the
power button status bit (PWRBTN_STS) is unconditionally set. If the power button enable bit
(PWRBTN_EN) is set and the power button status bit is set (PWRBTN_STS) due to a button press
while the system is in the G0 state, then an SCI is generated. OSPM responds to the event by
clearing the PWRBTN_STS bit. The power button logic provides debounce logic that sets the
PWRBTN_STS bit on the button press “edge.”
While the system is in the G1 or G2 global states (S1, S2, S3, S4 or S5 states), any further power
button press after the button press that transitioned the system into the sleeping state unconditionally
sets the power button status bit and wakes the system, regardless of the value of the power button
enable bit. OSPM responds by clearing the power button status bit and waking the system.
4.8.2.2.1.2 Control Method Power Button

The power button programming model can also use the generic hardware programming model. This
allows the power button to reside in any of the generic hardware address spaces (for example, the
embedded controller) instead of fixed space. If the power button is implemented using generic
hardware, then the OEM needs to define the power button as a device with an _HID object value of
“PNP0C0C,” which then identifies this device as the power button to OSPM. The AML event
handler then generates a Notify command to notify OSPM that a power button event was generated.
While the system is in the working state, a power button press is a user request to transition the
system into either the sleeping (G1) or soft-off state (G2). In these cases, the power button event
handler issues the Notify command with the device specific code of 0x80. This indicates to OSPM to
pass control to the power button driver (PNP0C0C) with the knowledge that a transition out of the
G0 state is being requested. Upon waking from a G1 sleeping state, the AML event handler
generates a notify command with the code of 0x2 to indicate it was responsible for waking the
system.
The power button device needs to be declared as a device within the ACPI Namespace for the
platform and only requires an _HID. An example definition follows.
This example ASL code performs the following:

• Creates a device named “PWRB” and associates the Plug and Play identifier (through the _HID
object) of “PNP0C0C.”
• The Plug and Play identifier associates this device object with the power button driver.
• Creates an operational region for the control method power button’s programming model:
System I/O space at 0x200.
• Fields that are not accessed are written as zeros. These status bits clear upon writing a 1 to their
bit position, therefore preserved would fail in this case.
• Creates a field within the operational region for the power button status bit (called PBP). In this
case the power button status bit is a child of the general-purpose event status bit 0. When this bit
is set, it is the responsibility of the ASL-code to clear it (OSPM clears the general-purpose status
bits). The address of the status bit is 0x200.0 (bit 0 at address 0x200).
• Creates an additional status bit called PBW for the power button wake event. This is the next bit
and its physical address would be 0x200.1 (bit 1 at address 0x200).
• Generates an event handler for the power button that is connected to bit 0 of the general-purpose
event status register 0. The event handler does the following:
• Clears the power button status bit in hardware (writes a one to it).
• Notifies OSPM of the event by calling the Notify command passing the power button object and
the device specific event indicator 0x80.
// Define a control method power button
Device(\_SB.PWRB){
Name(_HID, EISAID(“PNP0C0C”))
Name(_PRW, Package(){0, 0x4})
OperationRegion(\PHO, SystemIO, 0x200, 0x1)

Field(\PHO, ByteAcc, NoLock, WriteAsZeros){
PBP, 1, // sleep/off request
PBW, 1 // wakeup request
}
} // end of power button device object
Scope(\_GPE){ // Root level event handlers

Method(_L00){ // uses bit 0 of GP0_STS register
If(\PBP){
Store(One, \PBP) // clear power button status
Notify(\_SB.PWRB, 0x80) // Notify OS of event
}
If(\PBW){
Store(One, \PBW)
Notify(\_SB.PWRB, 0x2)
}
} // end of _L00 handler
} // end of \_GPE scope
4.8.2.2.1.3 Power Button Override

The ACPI specification also allows that if the user presses the power button for more than four
seconds while the system is in the working state, a hardware event is generated and the system will
transition to the soft-off state. This hardware event is called a power button override. In reaction to
the power button override event, the hardware clears the power button status bit (PWRBTN_STS).

4.8.2.2.2 Sleep Button

When using the two button model, ACPI supports a second button that when pressed will request
OSPM to transition the platform between the G0 working and G1 sleeping states. Support for a sleep
button is indicated by a combination of the SLEEP_BUTTON flag and the sleep button device
object:
Table 4-14 Sleep Button Support

Indicated Support SLEEP_BUTTON Flag Sleep Button Device Object
No sleep button Set Absent
Fixed hardware sleep button Clear Absent
Control method sleep button Set Present
4.8.2.2.2.1 Fixed Hardware Sleep Button
SLPBTN_STS
Debounce PM1x_STS.9
SLPBTN# SLPBTN
Logic State machine
SLPBTN Event
SLPBTN_EN
PM1x_EN.9
Figure 4-15 Fixed Hardware Sleep Button Logic
The fixed hardware sleep button has its event programming model in the PM1x_EVT_BLK. This
logic consists of a single enable bit and sticky status bit. When the user presses the sleep button, the
sleep button status bit (SLPBTN_STS) is unconditionally set. Additionally, if the sleep button
enable bit (SLPBTN_EN) is set, and the sleep button status bit is set (SLPBTN_STS, due to a button
press) while the system is in the G0 state, then an SCI is generated. OSPM responds to the event by
clearing the SLPBTN_STS bit. The sleep button logic provides debounce logic that sets the
SLPBTN_STS bit on the button press “edge.”
While the system is sleeping (in either the S0, S1, S2, S3 or S4 states), any further sleep button press
(after the button press that caused the system transition into the sleeping state) sets the sleep button
status bit (SLPBTN_STS) and wakes the system if the SLP_EN bit is set. OSPM responds by
clearing the sleep button status bit and waking the system.
4.8.2.2.2.2 Control Method Sleep Button

The sleep button programming model can also use the generic hardware programming model. This
allows the sleep button to reside in any of the generic hardware address spaces (for example, the
embedded controller) instead of fixed space. If the sleep button is implemented via generic
hardware, then the OEM needs to define the sleep button as a device with an _HID object value of
“PNP0C0E”, which then identifies this device as the sleep button to OSPM. The AML event handler
then generates a Notify command to notify OSPM that a sleep button event was generated. While in
the working state, a sleep button press is a user request to transition the system into the sleeping (G1)
state. In these cases the sleep button event handler issues the Notify command with the device
specific code of 0x80. This will indicate to OSPM to pass control to the sleep button driver
(PNP0C0E) with the knowledge that the user is requesting a transition out of the G0 state. Upon

waking-up from a G1 sleeping state, the AML event handler generates a Notify command with the
code of 0x2 to indicate it was responsible for waking the system.
The sleep button device needs to be declared as a device within the ACPI Namespace for the
platform and only requires an _HID. An example definition is shown below.
The AML code below does the following:
• Creates a device named “SLPB” and associates the Plug and Play identifier (through the _HID
object) of “PNP0C0E.”
• The Plug and Play identifier associates this device object with the sleep button driver.
• Creates an operational region for the control method sleep button’s programming model: System
I/O space at 0x201.
• Fields that are not accessed are written as “1s” (these status bits clear upon writing a “1” to their
bit position, hence preserved would fail in this case).
• Creates a field within the operational region for the sleep button status bit (called PBP). In this
case the sleep button status bit is a child of the general-purpose status bit 0. When this bit is set it
is the responsibility of the AML code to clear it (OSPM clears the general-purpose status bits).
The address of the status bit is 0x201.0 (bit 0 at address 0x201).
• Creates an additional status bit called PBW for the sleep button wake event. This is the next bit
and its physical address would be 0x201.1 (bit 1 at address 0x201).
• Generates an event handler for the sleep button that is connected to bit 0 of the general-purpose
status register 0. The event handler does the following:
• Clears the sleep button status bit in hardware (writes a “1” to it).
• Notifies OSPM of the event by calling the Notify command passing the sleep button object and
the device specific event indicator 0x80.
// Define a control method sleep button
Device(\_SB.SLPB){
Name(_HID, EISAID(“PNP0C0E”))
Name(_PRW, Package(){0x01, 0x04})
OperationRegion(\Boo, SystemIO, 0x201, 0x1)
Field(\Boo, ByteAcc, NoLock, WriteAsZeros){
SBP, 1, // sleep request
SBW, 1 // wakeup request
} // end of field definition
}
If(\SBP){
Store(One, \SBP) // clear sleep button status
Notify(\_SB.SLPB, 0x80) // Notify OS of event
}
If(\SBW){
Store(One, \SBW)
Notify(\_SB.SLPB, 0x2)
}
} // end of _L01 handler

4.8.2.3 Sleeping/Wake Control

The sleeping/wake logic consists of logic that will sequence the system into the defined low-power
hardware sleeping state (S1-S4) or soft-off state (S5) and will wake the system back to the working
state upon a wake event. Notice that the S4BIOS state is entered in a different manner (for more
information, see Section 16.1.4.2, “The S4BIOS Transition”).
SLP_EN SLP_TYP:3
PM1x_CNT.S4.13 PM1x_CNT.S4.[10-12]
WAK_STS
PM1x_STS.S0.15
Sleeping
"OR" or all
Wake Wakeup/
Events
Sleep
Logic
PWRBTN_OR
Figure 4-16 Sleeping/Wake Logic
The logic is controlled via two bit fields: Sleep Enable (SLP_EN) and Sleep Type (SLP_TYPx). The
type of sleep or soft-off state desired is programmed into the SLP_TYPx field and upon assertion of
the SLP_EN the hardware will sequence the system into the defined sleeping state. OSPM gets
values for the SLP_TYPx field from the \_Sx objects defined in the static definition block. If the
object is missing OSPM assumes the hardware does not support that sleeping state. Prior to entering
the desired sleeping state, OSPM will read the designated \_Sx object and place this value in the
SLP_TYP field.
Additionally ACPI defines a fail-safe Off protocol called the “power button override,” which allows
the user to initiate an Off sequence in the case where the system software is no longer able to recover
the system (the system has hung). ACPI defines that this sequence be initiated by the user pressing
the power button for over 4 seconds, at which point the hardware unconditionally sequences the
system to the Off state. This logic is represented by the PWRBTN_OR signal coming into the sleep
logic.
While in any of the sleeping states (G1), an enabled “Wake” event will cause the hardware to
sequence the system back to the working state (G0). The “Wake Status” bit (WAK_STS) is provided
for OSPM to “spin-on” after setting the SLP_EN/SLP_TYP bit fields. When waking from the S1
sleeping state, execution control is passed backed to OSPM immediately, whereas when waking
from the S2-S4 states execution control is passed to the platform boot firmware (execution begins at
the CPU’s reset vector). The WAK_STS bit provides a mechanism to separate OSPM’s sleeping and
waking code during an S1 sequence. When the hardware has sequenced the system into the sleeping
state (defined here as the processor is no longer able to execute instructions), any enabled wake
event is allowed to set the WAK_STS bit and sequence the system back on (to the G0 state). If the
system does not support the S1 sleeping state, the WAK_STS bit can always return zero.
-If more than a single sleeping state is supported, then the sleeping/wake logic is required to be able
to dynamically sequence between the different sleeping states. This is accomplished by waking the
system; OSPM programs the new sleep state into the SLP_TYP field, and then sets the SLP_EN bit–
placing the system again in the sleeping state.

4.8.2.4 Real Time Clock Alarm

If implemented, the Real Time Clock (RTC) alarm must generate a hardware wake event when in
the sleeping state. The RTC can be programmed to generate an alarm. An enabled RTC alarm can be
used to generate a wake event when the system is in a sleeping state. ACPI provides for additional
hardware to support OSPM in determining that the RTC was the source of the wake event: the
RTC_STS and RTC_EN bits. Although these bits are optional, if supported they must be
implemented as described here.
If the RTC_STS and RTC_EN bits are not supported, OSPM will attempt to identify the RTC as a
possible wake source; however, it might miss certain wake events. If implemented, the RTC wake
feature is required to work in the following sleeping states: S1-S3. S4 wake is optional and
supported through the RTC_S4 flag within the FADT (if set, then the platform supports RTC wake
in the S4 state)1.
When the RTC generates a wake event the RTC_STS bit will be set. If the RTC_EN bit is set, an
RTC hardware power management event will be generated (which will wake the system from a
sleeping state, provided the battery low signal is not asserted).
RTC_STS
PM1x_STS.10
Real Time Clock
(RTC) RTC Wake-up
Event
RTC_EN
PM1x_EN.10
Figure 4-17 RTC Alarm
The RTC wake event status and enable bits are an optional fixed hardware feature and a flag within
the FADT (FIX_RTC) indicates if the register bits are to be used by OSPM. If the RTC wake event
status and enable bits are implemented in fixed hardware, OSPM can determine if the RTC was the
source of the wake event without loading the entire OS. This also gives the platform the capability of
indicating an RTC wake source without consuming a GPE bit, as would be required if RTC wake
was not implemented using the fixed hardware RTC feature. If the fixed hardware feature event bits
are not supported, then OSPM will attempt to determine this by reading the RTC’s status field. If the
platform implements the RTC fixed hardware feature, and this hardware consumes resources, the
_FIX method can be used to correlate these resources with the fixed hardware. See Section 6.2.5,
“_FIX (Fixed Register Resource Provide”, for details.
OSPM supports enhancements over the existing RTC device (which only supports a 99 year date and
24-hour alarm). Optional extensions are provided for the following features:
Day Alarm.
The DAY_ALRM field points to an optional CMOS RAM location that selects the
day within the month to generate an RTC alarm.
1. Notice that the G2/S5 “soft off” and the G3 “mechanical off” states are not sleeping states. The OS will dis-
able the RTC_EN bit prior to entering the G2/S5 or G3 states regardless.

Month Alarm.
The MON_ALRM field points to an optional CMOS RAM location that selects the
month within the year to generate an RTC alarm.
Centenary Value.
The CENT field points to an optional CMOS RAM location that represents the
centenary value of the date (thousands and hundreds of years).
The RTC_STS bit may be set through the RTC interrupt (IRQ8 in IA-PC architecture systems).
OSPM will insure that the periodic and update interrupt sources are disabled prior to sleeping. This
allows the RTC’s interrupt pin to serve as the source for the RTC_STS bit generation. Note however
that if the RTC interrupt pin is used for RTC_STS generation, the RTC_STS bit value may not be
accurate when waking from S4. If this value is accurate when waking from S4, the platform should
set the S4_RTC_STS_VALID flag, so that OSPM can utilize the RTC_STS information.
Table 4-15 Alarm Field Decodings within the FADT

Field Value Address (Location) in RTC CMOS RAM
(Must be Bank 0)
DAY_ALRM Eight bit value that can represent 0x01-0x31 The DAY_ALRM field in the FADT will
days in BCD or 0x01-0x1F days in binary. Bits contain a non-zero value that represents
6 and 7 of this field are treated as Ignored by an offset into the RTC’s CMOS RAM area
software. The RTC is initialized such that this that contains the day alarm value. A value
field contains a “don’t care” value when the of zero in the DAY_ALRM field indicates
platform firmware switches from legacy to that the day alarm feature is not
ACPI mode. A don’t care value can be any supported.
unused value (not 0x1-0x31 BCD or 0x01-
0x1F hex) that the RTC reverts back to a 24
hour alarm.
MON_ALRM Eight bit value that can represent 01-12 The MON_ALRM field in the FADT will
months in BCD or 0x01-0xC months in binary. contain a non-zero value that represents
The RTC is initialized such that this field an offset into the RTC’s CMOS RAM area
contains a don’t care value when the platform that contains the month alarm value. A
firmware switches from legacy to ACPI mode. value of zero in the MON_ALRM field
A “don’t care” value can be any unused value indicates that the month alarm feature is
(not 1-12 BCD or x01-xC hex) that the RTC not supported. If the month alarm is
reverts back to a 24 hour alarm and/or 31 day supported, the day alarm function must
alarm). also be supported.
CENTURY 8-bit BCD or binary value. This value indicates The CENTURY field in the FADT will
the thousand year and hundred year contain a non-zero value that represents
(Centenary) variables of the date in BCD (19 an offset into the RTC’s CMOS RAM area
for this century, 20 for the next) or binary (x13 that contains the Centenary value for the
for this century, x14 for the next). date. A value of zero in the CENTURY
field indicates that the Centenary value is
not supported by this RTC.
4.8.2.5 Legacy/ACPI Select and the SCI Interrupt

As mentioned previously, power management events are generated to initiate an interrupt or
hardware sequence. ACPI operating systems use the SCI interrupt handler to respond to events,

while legacy systems use some type of transparent interrupt handler to respond to these events (that
is, an SMI interrupt handler). ACPI-compatible hardware can choose to support both legacy and
ACPI modes or just an ACPI mode. Legacy hardware is needed to support these features for non-
ACPI-compatible operating systems. When the ACPI OS loads, it scans the platform firmware tables to
determine that the hardware supports ACPI, and then if the it finds the SCI_EN bit reset (indicating
that ACPI is not enabled), issues an ACPI activate command to the SMI handler through the SMI
command port. The platform firmware acknowledges the switching to the ACPI model of power
management by setting the SCI_EN bit (this bit can also be used to switch over the event mechanism
as illustrated below):
SCI_EN
PM1x_CNT.0
Power 0 SMI_EVNT
Management Dec
Event Logic 1 SCI_EVNT

Shareable
Interrupt
Figure 4-18 Power Management Events to SMI/SCI Control Logic
The interrupt events (those that generate SMIs in legacy mode and SCIs in ACPI mode) are sent
through a decoder controlled by the SCI_EN bit. For legacy mode this bit is reset, which routes the
interrupt events to the SMI interrupt logic. For ACPI mode this bit is set, which routes interrupt
events to the SCI interrupt logic. This bit always returns set for ACPI-compatible hardware that does
not support a legacy power management mode (in other words, the bit is wired to read as “1” and
ignore writes).
The SCI interrupt is defined to be a shareable interrupt and is connected to an OS visible interrupt
that uses a shareable protocol. The FADT has an entry that indicates what interrupt the SCI interrupt
is mapped to (see Section 5.2.6, “System Description Table Header”).
If the ACPI platform supports both legacy and ACPI modes, it has a register that generates a
hardware event (for example, SMI for IA-PC processors). OSPM uses this register to make the
hardware switch in and out of ACPI mode. Within the FADT are three values that signify the
address (SMI_CMD) of this port and the data value written to enable the ACPI state
(ACPI_ENABLE), and to disable the ACPI state (ACPI_DISABLE).
To transition an ACPI/Legacy platform from the Legacy mode to the ACPI mode the following
would occur:
• ACPI driver checks that the SCI_EN bit is zero, and that it is in the Legacy mode.
• OSPM does an OUT to the SMI_CMD port with the data in the ACPI_ENABLE field of the
FADT.
• OSPM polls the SCI_EN bit until it is sampled as SET.
To transition an ACPI/Legacy platform from the ACPI mode to the Legacy mode the following
would occur:
• ACPI driver checks that the SCI_EN bit is one, and that it is in the ACPI mode.

• OSPM does an OUT to the SMI_CMD port with the data in the ACPI_DISABLE field of the
FADT.
• OSPM polls the SCI_EN bit until it is sampled as RESET.
Platforms that only support ACPI always return a 1 for the SCI_EN bit. In this case OSPM skips the
Legacy to ACPI transition stated above.
4.8.2.6 Processor Control

The ACPI specification defines several processor controls including power state control, throttling
control, and performance state control. See Section 8, “Processor Configuration and Control,” for a
complete description of the processor controls.
4.8.3 Fixed Hardware Registers

The fixed hardware registers are manipulated directly by OSPM. The following sections describe
fixed hardware features under the programming model. OSPM owns all the fixed hardware resource
registers; these registers cannot be manipulated by AML code. Registers are accessed with any
width up to its register width (byte granular).
4.8.3.1 PM1 Event Grouping

The PM1 Event Grouping has a set of bits that can be distributed between two different register
blocks. This allows these registers to be partitioned between two chips, or all placed in a single chip.
Although the bits can be split between the two register blocks (each register block has a unique
pointer within the FADT), the bit positions are maintained. The register block with unimplemented
bits (that is, those implemented in the other register block) always returns zeros, and writes have no
side effects.
4.8.3.1.1 PM1 Status Registers

Register Location: <PM1a_EVT_BLK / PM1b_EVT_BLK> System I/O or Memory Space
Default Value: 00h
Attribute: Read/Write
Size: PM1_EVT_LEN / 2
The PM1 status registers contain the fixed hardware feature status bits. The bits can be split between
two registers: PM1a_STS or PM1b_STS. Each register grouping can be at a different 32-bit aligned
address and is pointed to by the PM1a_EVT_BLK or PM1b_EVT_BLK. The values for these
pointers to the register space are found in the FADT. Accesses to the PM1 status registers are done
through byte or word accesses.
For ACPI/legacy systems, when transitioning from the legacy to the G0 working state this register is
cleared by platform firmware prior to setting the SCI_EN bit (and thus passing control to OSPM).
For ACPI only platforms (where SCI_EN is always set), when transitioning from either the
mechanical off (G3) or soft-off state to the G0 working state this register is cleared prior to entering
the G0 working state.
This register contains optional features enabled or disabled within the FADT. If the FADT indicates
that the feature is not supported as a fixed hardware feature, then software treats these bits as
ignored.

Table 4-16 PM1 Status Registers Fixed Hardware Feature Status Bits
Bit Name Description
0 TMR_STS This is the timer carry status bit. This bit gets set any time the most significant
bit of a 24/32-bit counter changes from clear to set or set to clear. While
TMR_EN and TMR_STS are set, an interrupt event is raised.
1-3 Reserved Reserved
4 BM_STS This is the bus master status bit. This bit is set any time a system bus master
requests the system bus, and can only be cleared by writing a “1” to this bit
position. Notice that this bit reflects bus master activity, not CPU activity (this
bit monitors any bus master that can cause an incoherent cache for a
processor in the C3 state when the bus master performs a memory
transaction).
5 GBL_STS This bit is set when an SCI is generated due to the platform runtime firmware
wanting the attention of the SCI handler. Platform runtime firmware will have a
control bit (somewhere within its address space) that will raise an SCI and set
this bit. This bit is set in response to the platform runtime firmware releasing
control of the Global Lock and having seen the pending bit set.
6-7 Reserved Reserved. These bits always return a value of zero.
8 PWRBTN_STS This optional bit is set when the Power Button is pressed. In the system
working state, while PWRBTN_EN and PWRBTN_STS are both set, an
interrupt event is raised. In the sleep or soft-off state, a wake event is
generated when the power button is pressed (regardless of the PWRBTN_EN
bit setting). This bit is only set by hardware and can only be reset by software
writing a “1” to this bit position.
ACPI defines an optional mechanism for unconditional transitioning a system
that has stopped working from the G0 working state into the G2 soft-off state
called the power button override. If the Power Button is held active for more
than four seconds, this bit is cleared by hardware and the system transitions
into the G2/S5 Soft Off state (unconditionally).
Support for the power button is indicated by the PWR_BUTTON flag in the
FADT being reset (zero). If the PWR_BUTTON flag is set or a power button
device object is present in the ACPI Namespace, then this bit field is ignored by
OSPM.
If the power button was the cause of the wake (from an S1-S4 state), then this
bit is set prior to returning control to OSPM.
9 SLPBTN_STS This optional bit is set when the sleep button is pressed. In the system working
state, while SLPBTN_EN and SLPBTN_STS are both set, an interrupt event is
raised. In the sleep or soft-off states a wake event is generated when the
sleeping button is pressed and the SLPBTN_EN bit is set. This bit is only set by
hardware and can only be reset by software writing a “1” to this bit position.
Support for the sleep button is indicated by the SLP_BUTTON flag in the FADT
being reset (zero). If the SLP_BUTTON flag is set or a sleep button device
object is present in the ACPI Namespace, then this bit field is ignored by
OSPM.
If the sleep button was the cause of the wake (from an S1-S4 state), then this
bit is set prior to returning control to OSPM.


10 RTC_STS This optional bit is set when the RTC generates an alarm (asserts the RTC IRQ
signal). Additionally, if the RTC_EN bit is set then the setting of the RTC_STS
bit will generate a power management event (an SCI, SMI, or resume event).
This bit is only set by hardware and can only be reset by software writing a “1”
to this bit position.
If the RTC was the cause of the wake (from an S1-S3 state), then this bit is set
prior to returning control to OSPM. If the RTC_S4 flag within the FADT is set,
and the RTC was the cause of the wake from the S4 state), then this bit is set
prior to returning control to OSPM.
11 Ignore This bit field is ignored by software.
12-13 Reserved Reserved. These bits always return a value of zero.

14 PCIEXP_WAKE_ This bit is optional for chipsets that implement PCI Express.
STS
This bit is set by hardware to indicate that the system woke due to a PCI
Express wakeup event. A PCI Express wakeup event is defined as the PCI
Express WAKE# pin being active , one or more of the PCI Express ports being
in the beacon state, or receipt of a PCI Express PME message at a root port.
This bit should only be set when one of these events causes the system to
transition from a non-S0 system power state to the S0 system power state.
This bit is set independent of the state of the PCIEXP_WAKE_DIS bit.
Software writes a 1 to clear this bit. If the WAKE# pin is still active during the
write, one or more PCI Express ports is in the beacon state or the PME
message received indication has not been cleared in the root port, then the bit
will remain active (i.e. all inputs to this bit are level-sensitive).
Note: This bit does not itself cause a wake event or prevent entry to a sleeping
state. Thus if the bit is 1 and the system is put into a sleeping state, the system
will not automatically wake.
15 WAK_STS This bit is set when the system is in the sleeping state and an enabled wake
event occurs. Upon setting this bit system will transition to the working state.
This bit is set by hardware and can only be cleared by software writing a “1” to
this bit position.
4.8.3.1.2 PM1Enable Registers

Register Location: <PM1a_EVT_BLK / PM1b_EVT_BLK> + PM1_EVT_LEN / 2 System I/O or Memory Space
Default Value: 00h
Size: PM1_EVT_LEN / 2
The PM1 enable registers contain the fixed hardware feature enable bits. The bits can be split
between two registers: PM1a_EN or PM1b_EN. Each register grouping can be at a different 32-bit
aligned address and is pointed to by the PM1a_EVT_BLK or PM1b_EVT_BLK. The values for
these pointers to the register space are found in the FADT. Accesses to the PM1 Enable registers are
done through byte or word accesses.
For ACPI/legacy systems, when transitioning from the legacy to the G0 working state the enables
are cleared by platform firmware prior to setting the SCI_EN bit (and thus passing control to
OSPM). For ACPI-only platforms (where SCI_EN is always set), when transitioning from either the

mechanical off (G3) or soft-off state to the G0 working state this register is cleared prior to entering
the G0 working state.
that the feature is not supported as a fixed hardware feature, then software treats the enable bits as
write as zero.
Table 4-17 PM1 Enable Registers Fixed Hardware Feature Enable Bits
0 TMR_EN This is the timer carry interrupt enable bit. When this bit is set then an
SCI event is generated anytime the TMR_STS bit is set. When this bit is
reset then no interrupt is generated when the TMR_STS bit is set.
4:1 Reserved Reserved. These bits always return a value of zero.
5 GBL_EN The global enable bit. When both the GBL_EN bit and the GBL_STS bit
are set, an SCI is raised.
7:6 Reserved Reserved
8 PWRBTN_EN This optional bit is used to enable the setting of the PWRBTN_STS bit to
generate a power management event (SCI or wake). The PWRBTN_STS
bit is set anytime the power button is asserted. The enable bit does not
have to be set to enable the setting of the PWRBTN_STS bit by the
assertion of the power button (see description of the power button
hardware).
Support for the power button is indicated by the PWR_BUTTON flag in
the FADT being reset (zero). If the PWR_BUTTON flag is set or a power
button device object is present in the ACPI Namespace, then this bit field
is ignored by OSPM.
9 SLPBTN_EN This optional bit is used to enable the setting of the SLPBTN_STS bit to
generate a power management event (SCI or wake). The SLPBTN_STS
bit is set anytime the sleep button is asserted. The enable bit does not
have to be set to enable the setting of the SLPBTN_STS bit by the active
assertion of the sleep button (see description of the sleep button
hardware).
Support for the sleep button is indicated by the SLP_BUTTON flag in the
FADT being reset (zero). If the SLP_BUTTON flag is set or a sleep
button device object is present in the ACPI Namespace, then this bit field
is ignored by OSPM.
10 RTC_EN This optional bit is used to enable the setting of the RTC_STS bit to
generate a wake event. The RTC_STS bit is set any time the RTC
generates an alarm.
13:11 Reserved Reserved. These bits always return a value of zero.


14 PCIEXP_WAKE_DIS This bit is optional for chipsets that implement PCI Express.
This bit disables the inputs to the PCIEXP_WAKE_STS bit in the PM1
Status register from waking the system. Modification of this bit has no
impact on the value of the PCIEXP_WAKE_STS bit.
PCIEXP_WAKE_DIS bit. Software writes a 1 to clear this bit. If the
WAKE# pin is still active during the write, one or more PCI Express ports
is in the beacon state or the PME message received indication has not
been cleared in the root port, then the bit will remain active (i.e. all inputs
to this bit are level-sensitive). Note: This bit does not itself cause a wake
event or prevent entry to a sleeping state. Thus if the bit is 1 and the
system is put into a sleeping state, the system will not automatically
wake.
15 Reserved Reserved. These bits always return a value of zero.
4.8.3.2 PM1 Control Grouping

The PM1 Control Grouping has a set of bits that can be distributed between two different registers.
This allows these registers to be partitioned between two chips, or all placed in a single chip.
Although the bits can be split between the two register blocks (each register block has a unique
pointer within the FADT), the bit positions specified here are maintained. The register block with
unimplemented bits (that is, those implemented in the other register block) returns zeros, and writes
have no side effects.
4.8.3.2.1 PM1 Control Registers

Register Location: <PM1a_CNT_BLK / PM1b_CNT_BLK> System I/O or Memory Space
Default Value: 00h
Size: PM1_CNT_LEN
The PM1 control registers contain the fixed hardware feature control bits. These bits can be split
between two registers: PM1a_CNT or PM1b_CNT. Each register grouping can be at a different 32-
bit aligned address and is pointed to by the PM1a_CNT_BLK or PM1b_CNT_BLK. The values for
these pointers to the register space are found in the FADT. Accesses to PM1 control registers are
accessed through byte and word accesses.
ignored.
Table 4-18 PM1 Control Registers Fixed Hardware Feature Control Bits
0 SCI_EN Selects the power management event to be either an SCI or SMI interrupt for the
following events. When this bit is set, then power management events will
generate an SCI interrupt. When this bit is reset power management events will
generate an SMI interrupt. It is the responsibility of the hardware to set or reset this
bit. OSPM always preserves this bit position.


1 BM_RLD When set, this bit allows the generation of a bus master request to cause any
processor in the C3 state to transition to the C0 state. When this bit is reset, the
generation of a bus master request does not affect any processor in the C3 state.
2 GBL_RLS This write-only bit is used by the ACPI software to raise an event to the platform
runtime firmware, that is, generates an SMI to pass execution control to the
platform runtime firmware for IA-PC platforms. Platform runtime firmware software
has a corresponding enable and status bit to control its ability to receive ACPI
events (for example, BIOS_EN and BIOS_STS). The GBL_RLS bit is set by
OSPM to indicate a release of the Global Lock and the setting of the pending bit in
the FACS memory structure.
8:3 Reserved Reserved. These bits are reserved by OSPM.
9 Ignore Software ignores this bit field.
12:10 SLP_TYPx Defines the type of sleeping or soft-off state the system enters when the SLP_EN
bit is set to one. This 3-bit field defines the type of hardware sleep state the system
enters when the SLP_EN bit is set. The \_Sx object contains 3-bit binary values
associated with the respective sleeping state (as described by the object). OSPM
takes the two values from the \_Sx object and programs each value into the
respective SLP_TYPx field.
13 SLP_EN This is a write-only bit and reads to it always return a zero. Setting this bit causes
the system to sequence into the sleeping state associated with the SLP_TYPx
fields programmed with the values from the \_Sx object.
15:14 Reserved Reserved. This field always returns zero.
4.8.3.3 Power Management Timer (PM_TMR)

Register Location: <PM_TMR_BLK> System I/O or Memory Space
Default Value: 00h
Attribute: Read-Only
Size: 32 bits
This optional read-only register returns the current value of the power management timer (PM timer)
if it is implemented on the platform. The FADT has a flag called TMR_VAL_EXT that an OEM sets
to indicate a 32-bit PM timer or reset to indicate a 24-bit PM timer. When the last bit of the timer
toggles the TMR_STS bit is set. This register is accessed as 32 bits.
ignored.
Table 4-19 PM Timer Bits

23:0 TMR_VAL This read-only field returns the running count of the power management timer.
This is a 24-bit counter that runs off a 3.579545-MHz clock and counts while in
the S0 working system state. The starting value of the timer is undefined, thus
allowing the timer to be reset (or not) by any transition to the S0 state from any
other state. The timer is reset (to any initial value), and then continues counting
until the system’s 14.31818 MHz clock is stopped upon entering its Sx state. If the
clock is restarted without a reset, then the counter will continue counting from
where it stopped.

31:24 E_TMR_VAL This read-only field returns the upper eight bits of a 32-bit power management
timer. If the hardware supports a 32-bit timer, then this field will return the upper
eight bits; if the hardware supports a 24-bit timer then this field returns all zeros.
4.8.3.4 PM2 Control (PM2_CNT)

Register Location: <PM2_CNT_BLK> System I/O, System Memory, or Functional
Fixed Hardware Space
Default Value: 00h
Size: PM2_CNT_LEN
This register block is naturally aligned and accessed based on its length. For ACPI 1.0 this register is
byte aligned and accessed as a byte.
ignored.
Table 4-20 PM2 Control Register Bits

0 ARB_DIS This bit is used to enable and disable the system arbiter. When this bit is CLEAR
the system arbiter is enabled and the arbiter can grant the bus to other bus
masters. When this bit is SET the system arbiter is disabled and the default CPU
has ownership of the system.
OSPM clears this bit when using the C0, C1 and C2 power states.
>0 Reserved Reserved
4.8.3.5 Processor Register Block (P_BLK)

This optional register block is used to control each processor in the system. There is one unique
processor register block per processor in the system. For more information about controlling
processors and control methods that can be used to control processors, see Section 8, “Processor
Configuration and Control.” This register block is DWORD aligned and the context of this register
block is not maintained across S3 or S4 sleeping states, or the S5 soft-off state.
4.8.3.5.1 Processor Control (P_CNT): 32

Register Location: Either <P_BLK>: System I/O Space
or specified by _PTC Object: System I/O, System Memory, or
Functional Fixed Hardware Space
Default Value: 00h
Size: 32 bits
This register is accessed as a DWORD. The CLK_VAL field is where the duty setting of the
throttling hardware is programmed as described by the DUTY_WIDTH and DUTY_OFFSET values
in the FADT. Software treats all other CLK_VAL bits as ignored (those not used by the duty setting
value).
Table 4-21 Processor Control Register Bits


3:0 CLK_VAL Possible locations for the clock throttling value.
4 THT_EN This bit enables clock throttling of the clock as set in the CLK_VAL field. THT_EN bit
must be reset LOW when changing the CLK_VAL field (changing the duty setting).
31:5 CLK_VAL Possible locations for the clock throttling value.
4.8.3.5.2 Processor LVL2 Register (P_LVL2): 8

Register Location: Either <P_BLK> + 4: System I/O Space
or specified by _CST Object: System I/O, System Memory, or
Default Value: 00h
Size: 8 bits
This register is accessed as a byte.
Table 4-22 Processor LVL2 Register Bits

7:0 P_LVL2 Reads to this register return all zeros; writes to this register have no effect. Reads to
this register also generate an “enter a C2 power state” to the clock control logic.
4.8.3.5.3 Processor LVL3 Register (P_LVL3): 8

Register Location: Either <P_BLK> + 5: System I/O Space
or specified by _CST Object: System I/O, System Memory, or
Default Value: 00h
Size: 8 bits
This register is accessed as a byte.
Table 4-23 Processor LVL3 Register Bits

7:0 P_LVL3 Reads to this register return all zeros; writes to this register have no effect. Reads to
this register also generate an “enter a C3 power state” to the clock control logic.
4.8.3.6 Reset Register

The optional ACPI reset mechanism specifies a standard mechanism that provides a complete
system reset. When implemented, this mechanism must reset the entire system. This includes
processors, core logic, all buses, and all peripherals. From an OSPM perspective, asserting the reset
mechanism is the logical equivalent to power cycling the system. Upon gaining control after a reset,
OSPM will perform actions in like manner to a cold boot.
The reset mechanism is implemented via an 8-bit register described by RESET_REG in the FADT
(always accessed via the natural alignment and size described in RESET_REG). To reset the system,
software will write a value (indicated in RESET_VALUE in FADT) to the reset register. The
RESET_REG field in the FADT indicates the location of the reset register.
The reset register may exist only in I/O space, Memory space, or in PCI Configuration space on a
function in bus 0. Therefore, the Address_Space_ID value in RESET_REG must be set to System I/

O space, System Memory space, or PCI Configuration space (with a bus number of 0). As the
register is only 8 bits, Register_Bit_Width must be 8 and Register_Bit_Offset must be 0.
The system must reset immediately following the write to this register. OSPM assumes that the
processor will not execute beyond the write instruction. OSPM should execute spin loops on the
CPUs in the system following a write to this register.
4.8.3.7 Sleep Control and Status Registers

The optional ACPI sleep registers (SLEEP_CONTROL_REG and SLEEP_STATUS_REG) specify
a standard mechanism for system sleep state entry on HW-Reduced ACPI systems. When
implemented, the Sleep registers are a replacement for the SLP_TYP, SLP_EN and WAK_STS
registers in the PM1_BLK. Use of these registers is at the discretion of OSPM. OSPM can decide
whether to enter sleep states on the platform based on the LOW_POWER_S0_IDLE_CAPABLE
flag. Even when implemented, OSPM may use other provided options for hibernate and shutdown
(e.g. UEFI ResetSystem()).
The HW-reduced Sleep mechanism is implemented via two 8-bit registers described by
SLEEP_CONTROL_REG and SLEEP_STATUS_REG in the FADT (always accessed via the
natural alignment and size described in SLEEP_*_REG). To put the system into a sleep state,
software will write the HW-reduced Sleep Type value (obtained from the \_Sx object in the DSDT)
and the SLP_EN bit to the sleep control register. The OSPM then polls the WAK_STS bit of the
SLEEP_STATUS_REG waiting for it to be one (1), indicating that the system has been transitioned
back to the Working state.
The Sleep registers may exist only in I/O space, Memory space, or in PCI Configuration space on a
function in bus 0. Therefore, the Address_Space_ID value must be set to System I/O space,
SystemMemory space, or PCI Configuration space (with a bus number of 0). As the registers are
only 8 bits, Register_Bit_Width must be 8 and Register_Bit_Offset must be 0.
Table 4-24 Sleep Control Register

Field Name Bit Bit Description
Length Offset
Reserved 1 0 Reserved. This bit is reserved by OSPM.
Ignore 1 1 Software ignores this bit field.
SLP_TYPx 3 2 Defines the type of sleeping state the system enters when the
SLP_EN bit is set to one. This 3-bit field defines the type of hardware
sleep state the system enters when the SLP_EN bit is set. The \_Sx
object contains 3-bit binary values associated with the respective
sleeping state (as described by the object). OSPM takes the HW-
reduced Sleep Type value from the _SX object and programs it into
the SLP_TYPx field.
SLP_EN 1 5 This is a write-only bit and reads to it always return a zero. Setting
this bit causes the system to sequence into the sleeping state
associated with the SLP_TYPx fields programmed with the values
from the \_Sx object.
Reserved 2 6 Reserved. This field always returns zero.

Table 4-25 Sleep Status Register

Field Name Bit Bit Description
Length Offset
Reserved 2 4 Reserved. These bits always return a value of zero.
WAK_STS 1 7 This bit is set when the system is in the sleeping state and an
enabled wake event occurs. Upon setting this bit system will
transition to the working state. This bit is set by hardware and can
only be cleared by software writing a “1” to this bit position.
4.8.4 Generic Hardware Registers

ACPI provides a mechanism that allows a unique piece of “value added” hardware to be described to
OSPM in the ACPI Namespace. There are a number of rules to be followed when designing ACPI-
compatible hardware.
Programming bits can reside in any of the defined generic hardware address spaces (system I/O,
system memory, PCI configuration, embedded controller, or SMBus), but the top-level event bits are
contained in the general-purpose event registers. The general-purpose event registers are pointed to
by the GPE0_BLK and GPE1_BLK register blocks, and the generic hardware registers can be in any
of the defined ACPI address spaces. A device’s generic hardware programming model is described
through an associated object in the ACPI Namespace, which specifies the bit’s function, location,
address space, and address location.
The programming model for devices is normally broken into status and control functions. Status bits
are used to generate an event that allows OSPM to call a control method associated with the pending
status bit. The called control method can then control the hardware by manipulating the hardware
control bits or by investigating child status bits and calling their respective control methods. ACPI
requires that the top level “parent” event status and enable bits reside in either the GPE0_STS or
GPE1_STS registers, and “child” event status bits can reside in generic address space.
The example below illustrates some of these concepts. The top diagram shows how the logic is
partitioned into two chips: a chipset and an embedded controller.
• The chipset contains the interrupt logic, performs the power button (which is part of the fixed
register space, and is not discussed here), the lid switch (used in portables to indicate when the
clam shell lid is open or closed), and the RI# function (which can be used to wake a sleeping
system).
• The embedded controller chip is used to perform the AC power detect and dock/undock event
logic. Additionally, the embedded controller supports some system management functions using
an OS-transparent interrupt in the embedded controller (represented by the EXTSMI# signal).

Momentary
8
Embedded Controller Interface

Power EC_CS#
AC#
Button PWRBTN# Embedded
EXTSMI#
Controller
ACPI-Compatible EXTPME#
Chip Set DOCK# Docking

Chip
Momentary
LID
LID#
Switch RI#
EXTSMI# SMI-only
SMI Only EXTSMI# EXTSMI# sources
GPx_REG Events
AC_STS
Block E0.0
34 AC#
EC_STS
GP_STS.0
EXTPME# DOCK_STS
EXTPME# EXTPME#
P0.40.1
35 DOCK# DOCK#
EC_EN
SCI#
GP_EN.0
Shareable
Interrupt RI_STS
GP_STS.1
RI#
RI_EN
GP_EN.1
LID_STS
GP_STS.2
Debounce LID
LID_POL
LID_EN S33.2
GP_EN.2
Other SCI
sources
Figure 4-19 Example of General-Purpose vs. Generic Hardware Events
At the top level, the generic events in the GPEx_STS register are the:
• Embedded controller interrupt, which contains two query events: one for AC detection and one
for docking (the docking query event has a child interrupt status bit in the docking chip).
• Ring indicate status (used for waking the system).
• Lid status.
The embedded controller event status bit (EC_STS) is used to indicate that one of two query events
is active.
• A query event is generated when the AC# signal is asserted. The embedded controller returns a
query value of 34 (any byte number can be used) upon a query command in response to this
event; OSPM will then schedule for execution the control method associated with query value
34.
Another query event is for the docking chip that generates a docking event. In this case, the
embedded controller will return a query value of 35 upon a query command from system software
responding to an SCI from the embedded controller. OSPM will then schedule the control method
associated with the query value of 35 to be executed, which services the docking event.

For each of the status bits in the GPEx_STS register, there is a corresponding enable bit in the
GPEx_EN register. Notice that the child status bits do not necessarily need enable bits (see the
DOCK_STS bit).
The lid logic contains a control bit to determine if its status bit is set when the LID is open
(LID_POL is set and LID is set) or closed (LID_POL is clear and LID is clear). This control bit
resides in generic I/O space (in this case, bit 2 of system I/O space 33h) and would be manipulated
with a control method associated with the lid object.
As with fixed hardware events, OSPM will clear the status bits in the GPEx register blocks.
However, AML code clears all sibling status bits in the generic hardware.
Generic hardware features are controlled by OEM supplied control methods, encoded in AML.
ACPI provides both an event and control model for development of these features. The ACPI
specification also provides specific control methods for notifying OSPM of certain power
management and Plug and Play events. Section 5, “ACPI Software Programming Model,” provides
information on the types of hardware functionality that support the different types of subsystems.
The following is a list of features supported by ACPI. The list is not intended to be complete or
comprehensive.
• Device insertion/ejection (for example, docking, device bay, A/C adapter)
• Batteries2
• Platform thermal subsystem
• Turning on/off power resources
• Mobile lid Interface
• Embedded controller
• System indicators
• OEM-specific wake events
• Plug and Play configuration
4.8.4.1 General-Purpose Event Register Blocks

ACPI supports up to two general-purpose register blocks as described in the FADT (see Section 5,
“ACPI Software Programming Model”) and an arbitrary number of additional GPE blocks described
as devices within the ACPI namespace. Each register block contains two registers: an enable and a
status register. Each register block is 32-bit aligned. Each register in the block is accessed as a byte.
It is up to the specific design to determine if these bits retain their context across sleeping or soft-off
states. If they lose their context across a sleeping or soft-off state, then platform boot firmware resets
the respective enable bit prior to passing control to the OS upon waking.
4.8.4.1.1 General-Purpose Event 0 Register Block

This register block consists of two registers: The GPE0_STS and the GPE0_EN registers. Each
register’s length is defined to be half the length of the GPE0 register block, and is described in the
2. ACPI operating systems assume the use of the Smart Battery System Implementers Forum defined standard
for batteries, called the “Smart Battery Specification” (SBS). ACPI provides a set of control methods for use by
OEMs that use a proprietary “control method” battery interface.

ACPI FADT’s GPE0_BLK and GPE0_BLK_LEN operators. OSPM owns the general-purpose
event resources and these bits are only manipulated by OSPM; AML code cannot access the general-
purpose event registers.
It is envisioned that chipsets will contain GPE event registers that provide GPE input pins for
various events.
The platform designer would then wire the GPEs to the various value-added event hardware and the
AML code would describe to OSPM how to utilize these events. As such, there will be the case
where a platform has GPE events that are not wired to anything (they are present in the chip set), but
are not utilized by the platform and have no associated AML code. In such, cases these event pins
are to be tied inactive such that the corresponding SCI status bit in the GPE register is not set by a
floating input pin.
4.8.4.1.1.1 General-Purpose Event 0 Status Register

Register Location:<GPE0_STS> System I/O or System Memory Space
Default Value: 00h
Size: GPE0_BLK_LEN/2
The general-purpose event 0 status register contains the general-purpose event status bits in bank
zero of the general-purpose registers. Each available status bit in this register corresponds to the bit
with the same bit position in the GPE0_EN register. Each available status bit in this register is set
when the event is active, and can only be cleared by software writing a “1” to its respective bit
position. For the general-purpose event registers, unimplemented bits are ignored by OSPM.
Each status bit can optionally wake the system if asserted when the system is in a sleeping state with
its respective enable bit set. OSPM accesses GPE registers through byte accesses (regardless of their
length).
4.8.4.1.1.2 General-Purpose Event 0 Enable Register

Register Location: <GPE0_EN> System I/O or System Memory Space
Default Value: 00h
The general-purpose event 0 enable register contains the general-purpose event enable bits. Each
available enable bit in this register corresponds to the bit with the same bit position in the
GPE0_STS register. The enable bits work similarly to how the enable bits in the fixed-event
registers are defined: When the enable bit is set, then a set status bit in the corresponding status bit
will generate an SCI bit. OSPM accesses GPE registers through byte accesses (regardless of their
length).
4.8.4.1.2 General-Purpose Event 1 Register Block

This register block consists of two registers: The GPE1_STS and the GPE1_EN registers. Each
register’s length is defined to be half the length of the GPE1 register block, and is described in the
ACPI FADT’s GPE1_BLK and GPE1_BLK_LEN operators.

4.8.4.1.2.1 General-Purpose Event 1 Status Register

Register Location: <GPE1_STS> System I/O or System Memory Space
Default Value: 00h
The general -purpose event 1 status register contains the general-purpose event status bits. Each
available status bit in this register corresponds to the bit with the same bit position in the GPE1_EN
register. Each available status bit in this register is set when the event is active, and can only be
cleared by software writing a “1” to its respective bit position. For the general-purpose event
registers, unimplemented bits are ignored by the operating system.
Each status bit can optionally wake the system if asserted when the system is in a sleeping state with
its respective enable bit set.
OSPM accesses GPE registers through byte accesses (regardless of their length).
4.8.4.1.2.2 General-Purpose Event 1 Enable Register

Register Location: <GPE1_EN> System I/O or System Memory Space
Default Value: 00h
The general-purpose event 1 enable register contains the general-purpose event enable. Each
available enable bit in this register corresponds to the bit with the same bit position in the
GPE1_STS register. The enable bits work similarly to how the enable bits in the fixed-event
registers are defined: When the enable bit is set, a set status bit in the corresponding status bit will
generate an SCI bit.
OSPM accesses GPE registers through byte accesses (regardless of their length).
4.8.4.2 Example Generic Devices

This section points out generic devices with specific ACPI driver support.
4.8.4.2.1 Lid Switch

The Lid switch is an optional feature present in most “clam shell” style mobile computers. It can be
used by the OS as policy input for sleeping the system, or for waking the system from a sleeping
state. If used, then the OEM needs to define the lid switch as a device with an _HID object value of
“PNP0C0D”, which identifies this device as the lid switch to OSPM. The Lid device needs to
contain a control method that returns its status. The Lid event handler AML code reconfigures the lid
hardware (if it needs to) to generate an event in the other direction, clear the status, and then notify
OSPM of the event.
Example hardware and ASL code is shown below for such a design.
8 ms
Debounce
Momentary Normally LID_STS
Open push button
LID_POL
Figure 4-20 Example Generic Address Space Lid Switch Logic

This logic will set the Lid status bit when the button is pressed or released (depending on the
LID_POL bit).
The ASL code below defines the following:
• An operational region where the lid polarity resides in address space System address space in
registers 0x201.
• A field operator to allow AML code to access this bit: Polarity control bit (LID_POL) is called
LPOL and is accessed at 0x201.0.
• A device named \_SB.LID with the following:
— A Plug and Play identifier “PNP0C0D” that associates OSPM with this object.
— Defines an object that specifies a change in the lid’s status bit can wake the system from the
S4 sleep state and from all higher sleep states (S1, S2, or S3).
• The lid switch event handler that does the following:
— Defines the lid status bit (LID_STS) as a child of the general-purpose event 0 register bit 1.
— Defines the event handler for the lid (only event handler on this status bit) that does the
following:
• Flips the polarity of the LPOL bit (to cause the event to be generated on the opposite
condition).
• Generates a notify to the OS that does the following:
• Passes the \_SB.LID object.
• Indicates a device specific event (notify value 0x80).
// Define a Lid switch
OperationRegion(\PHO, SystemIO, 0x201, 0x1)
Field(\PHO, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {
LPOL, 1 // Lid polarity control bit
}
Device(\_SB.LID){
Name(_HID, EISAID(“PNP0C0D”))
Method(_LID){Return(LPOL)}
Name(_PRW, Package(2){
1, // bit 1 of GPE to enable Lid wakeup
0x04} // can wakeup from S4 state
)
}
Not(LPOL, LPOL) // Flip the lid polarity bit
Notify(LID, 0x80) // Notify OS of event
}
}
4.8.4.2.2 Embedded Controller

ACPI provides a standard interface that enables AML code to define and access generic logic in
“embedded controller space.” This supports current computer models where much of the value
added hardware is contained within the embedded controller while allowing the AML code to access
this hardware in an abstracted fashion.
• The embedded controller is defined as a device and must contain a set number of control
methods:

• _HID with a value of PNP0C09 to associate this device with the ACPI’s embedded controller’s
driver.
• _CRS to return the resources being consumed by the embedded controller.
• _GPE that returns the general-purpose event bit that this embedded controller is wired to.
Additionally the embedded controller can support up to 255 generic events per embedded controller,
referred to as query events. These query event handles are defined within the embedded controller’s
device as control methods. An example of defining an embedded controller device is shown below:
Device(EC0) {
// PnP ID
Name(_HID, EISAID(“PNP0C09”))
// Returns the “Current Resources” of EC
Name(_CRS,
ResourceTemplate(){
IO(Decode16, 0x62, 0x62, 0, 1)
IO(Decode16, 0x66, 0x66, 0, 1)
})
// Indicate that the EC SCI is bit 0 of the GP_STS register
Name(_GPE, 0) // embedded controller is wired to bit 0 of GPE
OperationRegion(\EC0, EmbeddedControl, 0, 0xFF)

Field(EC0, ByteAcc, Lock, Preserve) {
// Field definitions
}
// Query methods
Method(_Q00){...}
Method(_QFF){...}
}
For more information on the embedded controller, see Section 12, “ACPI Embedded Controller
Interface Specification.”
4.8.4.2.3 Fan
ACPI has a device driver to control fans (active cooling devices) in platforms. A fan is defined as a
device with the Plug and Play ID of “PNP0C0B.” It should then contain a list power resources used
to control the fan.
For more information, see Section 9, “ACPI-Defined Devices and Device Specific Objects.” .

ACPI Specification ACPI Software Programming Model
5 ACPI Software Programming Model
ACPI defines a hardware register interface that an ACPI-compatible OS uses to control core power
management features of a machine, as described in Section 4, “ACPI Hardware Specification.”
ACPI also provides an abstract interface for controlling the power management and configuration of
an ACPI system. Finally, ACPI defines an interface between an ACPI-compatible OS and the
platform runtime firmware.
To give hardware vendors flexibility in choosing their implementation, ACPI uses tables to describe
system information, features, and methods for controlling those features. These tables list devices on
the system board or devices that cannot be detected or power managed using some other hardware
standard, plus their capabilities as described in Section 3, “Overview.” They also list system
capabilities such as the sleeping power states supported, a description of the power planes and clock
sources available in the system, batteries, system indicator lights, and so on. This enables OSPM to
control system devices without needing to know how the system controls are implemented.
Topics covered in this section are:
• The ACPI system description table architecture is defined, and the role of OEM-provided
definition blocks in that architecture is discussed.
• The concept of the ACPI Namespace is discussed.
5.1 Overview of the System Description Table Architecture

The Root System Description Pointer (RSDP) structure is located in the system’s memory address
space and is setup by the platform firmware. This structure contains the address of the Extended
System Description Table (XSDT), which references other description tables that provide data to
OSPM, supplying it with knowledge of the base system’s implementation and configuration (see
Figure 5-21).
Located in system's memory address space
Root System Extended System

Description Pointer Description Table
RSD PTR XSDT Sig Sig
Pointer Header Header Header
Pointer Entry
Entry contents contents
Entry
...
Figure 5-21 Root System Description Pointer and Table

ACPI Software Programming Model ACPI Specification
All system description tables start with identical headers. The primary purpose of the system
description tables is to define for OSPM various industry-standard implementation details. Such
definitions enable various portions of these implementations to be flexible in hardware requirements
and design, yet still provide OSPM with the knowledge it needs to control hardware directly.
The Extended System Description Table (XSDT) points to other tables in memory. Always the first
table, it points to the Fixed ACPI Description table (FADT). The data within this table includes
various fixed-length entries that describe the fixed ACPI features of the hardware. The FADT table
always refers to the Differentiated System Description Table (DSDT), which contains information
and descriptions for various system features. The relationship between these tables is shown in
Figure 5-22.
Fixed ACPI Differentiated System Firmware ACPI

Description Table Description Table Control Structure
FACP DSDT FACS
Header Header Wake Vector
Shared Lock
Static info
FIRM Differentiated
DSDT Definition ACPI
Block Driver
BLKs
Software
Hardware
...
GPx_BLK
OEM-Specific
PM2x_BLK
PM1x_BLK
Located in
port space
Device I/O
Device Memory
PCI configuration
Embedded Controller space
Figure 5-22 Description Table Structures
OSPM finds the RSDP structure as described in Section 5.2.5.1 (“Finding the RSDP on IA-PC
Systems”) or Section 5.2.5.2 (“Finding the RSDP on UEFI Enabled Systems”).
When OSPM locates the structure, it looks at the physical address for the Root System Description
Table or the Extended System Description Table. The Root System Description Table starts with the
signature “RSDT”, while the Extended System Description Table starts with the signature “XSDT”.
These tables contain one or more physical pointers to other system description tables that provide

various information about the system. As shown in Figure 5-22, there is always a physical address in
the Root System Description Table for the Fixed ACPI Description table (FADT).
When OSPM follows a physical pointer to another table, it examines each table for a known
signature. Based on the signature, OSPM can then interpret the implementation-specific data within
the description table.
The purpose of the FADT is to define various static system information related to configuration and
power management. The Fixed ACPI Description Table starts with the “FACP” signature. The
FADT describes the implementation and configuration details of the ACPI hardware registers on the
platform.
For a specification of the ACPI Hardware Register Blocks (PM1a_EVT_BLK, PM1b_EVT_BLK,
PM1a_CNT_BLK, PM1b_CNT_BLK, PM2_CNT_BLK, PM_TMR_BLK, GP0_BLK, GP1_BLK,
and one or more P_BLKs), see Section 4.8, “ACPI Register Model.” The PM1a_EVT_BLK,
PM1b_EVT_BLK, PM1a_CNT_BLK, PM1b_CNT_BLK, PM2_CNT_BLK, and PM_TMR_BLK
blocks are for controlling low-level ACPI system functions.
The GPE0_BLK and GPE1_BLK blocks provide the foundation for an interrupt-processing model
for Control Methods. The P_BLK blocks are for controlling processor features.
Besides ACPI Hardware Register implementation information, the FADT also contains a physical
pointer to a data structure known as the Differentiated System Description Table (DSDT), which is
encoded in Definition Block format (See Section 5.2.11, “Definition Blocks”).
A Definition Block contains information about the platform’s hardware implementation details in
the form of data objects arranged in a hierarchical (tree-structured) entity known as the “ACPI
namespace”, which represents the platform’s hardware configuration. All definition blocks loaded
by OSPM combine to form one namespace that represents the platform. Data objects are encoded in
a format known as ACPI Machine Language or AML for short. Data objects encoded in AML are
“evaluated” by an OSPM entity known as the AML interpreter. Their values may be static or
dynamic. The AML interpreter’s dynamic data object evaluation capability includes support for
programmatic evaluation, including accessing address spaces (for example, I/O or memory
accesses), calculation, and logical evaluation, to determine the result. Dynamic namespace objects
are known as “control methods”. OSPM “loads” or “unloads” an entire definition block as a logical
unit – adding to or removing the associated objects from the namespace. The DSDT is always loaded
by OSPM at boot time and cannot be unloaded. It contains a Definition Block named the
Differentiated Definition Block that contains implementation and configuration information OSPM
can use to perform power management, thermal management, or Plug and Play functionality that
goes beyond the information described by the ACPI hardware registers.
Definition Blocks can either define new system attributes or, in some cases, build on prior
definitions. A Definition Block can be loaded from system memory address space. One use of a
Definition Block is to describe and distribute platform version changes.
Definition blocks enable wide variations of hardware platform implementations to be described to
the ACPI-compatible OS while confining the variations to reasonable boundaries. Definition blocks
enable simple platform implementations to be expressed by using a few well-defined object names.
In theory, it might be possible to define a PCI configuration space-like access method within a
Definition Block, by building it from I/O space, but that is not the goal of the Definition Block
specification. Such a space is usually defined as a “built in” operator.

Some operators perform simple functions and others encompass complex functions. The power of
the Definition Block comes from its ability to allow these operations to be glued together in
numerous ways, to provide functionality to OSPM. The operators present are intended to allow
many useful hardware designs to be ACPI-expressed, not to allow all hardware designs to be
expressed.
5.1.1 Address Space Translation

Some platforms may contain bridges that perform translations as I/O and/or Memory cycles pass
through the bridges. This translation can take the form of the addition or subtraction of an offset. Or
it can take the form of a conversion from I/O cycles into Memory cycles and back again. When
translation takes place, the addresses placed on the processor bus by the processor during a read or
write cycle are not the same addresses that are placed on the I/O bus by the I/O bus bridge. The
address the processor places on the processor bus will be known here as the processor-relative
address. And the address that the bridge places on the I/O bus will be known as the bus-relative
address. Unless otherwise noted, all addresses used within this section are processor-relative
addresses.
For example, consider a platform with two root PCI buses. The platform designer has several
choices. One solution would be to split the 16-bit I/O space into two parts, assigning one part to the
first root PCI bus and one part to the second root PCI bus. Another solution would be to make both
root PCI buses decode the entire 16-bit I/O space, mapping the second root PCI bus’s I/O space into
memory space. In this second scenario, when the processor needs to read from an I/O register of a
device underneath the second root PCI bus, it would need to perform a memory read within the
range that the root PCI bus bridge is using to map the I/O space.
Note: Industry standard PCs do not provide address space translations because of historical
compatibility issues.
5.2 ACPI System Description Tables

This section specifies the structure of the system description tables:
• Root System Description Pointer (RSDP)
• System Description Table Header
• Root System Description Table (RSDT)
• Fixed ACPI Description Table (FADT)
• Firmware ACPI Control Structure (FACS)
• Differentiated System Description Table (DSDT)
• Secondary System Description Table (SSDT)
• Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT)
• Smart Battery Table (SBST)
• Extended System Description Table (XSDT)
• Embedded Controller Boot Resources Table (ECDT)
• System Locality Distance Information Table (SLIT)

• System Resource Affinity Table (SRAT)

• Corrected Platform Error Polling Table (CPEP)
• Maximum System Characteristics Table (MSCT)
• ACPI RAS FeatureTable (RASF)
• Memory Power StateTable (MPST)
• Platform Memory Topology Table (PMTT)
• Boot Graphics Resource Table (BGRT)
• Firmware Performance Data Table (FPDT)
• Generic Timer Description Table (GTDT)
• NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table (NFIT)
• Heterogeneous Memory Attributes Table (HMAT)
• Processor Properties Topology Table (PPTT)
All numeric values in ACPI-defined tables, blocks, and structures are always encoded in little endian
format. Signature values are stored as fixed-length strings.
5.2.1 Reserved Bits and Fields

For future expansion, all data items marked as reserved in this specification have strict meanings.
This section lists software requirements for reserved fields. Notice that the list contains terms such
as ACPI tables and AML code defined later in this section of the specification.
5.2.1.1 Reserved Bits and Software Components

• OEM implementations of software and AML code return the bit value of 0 for all reserved bits
in ACPI tables or in other software values, such as resource descriptors.
• For all reserved bits in ACPI tables and registers, OSPM implementations must:
• Ignore all reserved bits that are read.
• Preserve reserved bit values of read/write data items (for example, OSPM writes back reserved
bit values it reads).
• Write zeros to reserved bits in write-only data items.
5.2.1.2 Reserved Values and Software Components

• OEM implementations of software and AML code return only defined values and do not return
reserved values.
• OSPM implementations write only defined values and do not write reserved values.
5.2.1.3 Reserved Hardware Bits and Software Components

• Software ignores all reserved bits read from hardware enable or status registers.
• Software writes zero to all reserved bits in hardware enable registers.
• Software ignores all reserved bits read from hardware control and status registers.

• Software preserves the value of all reserved bits in hardware control registers by writing back
read values.
5.2.1.4 Ignored Hardware Bits and Software Components

• Software handles ignored bits in ACPI hardware registers the same way it handles reserved bits
in these same types of registers.
5.2.2 Compatibility
All versions of the ACPI tables must maintain backward compatibility. To accomplish this,
modifications of the tables consist of redefinition of previously reserved fields and values plus
appending data to the 1.0 tables. Modifications of the ACPI tables require that the version numbers
of the modified tables be incremented. The length field in the tables includes all additions and the
checksum is maintained for the entire length of the table.
5.2.3 Address Format

Addresses used in the ACPI 1.0 system description tables were expressed as either system memory
or I/O space. This was targeted at the IA-32 environment. Newer architectures require addressing
mechanisms beyond that defined in ACPI 1.0. To support these architectures ACPI must support 64-
bit addressing and it must allow the placement of control registers in address spaces other than
System I/O.
5.2.3.1 Functional Fixed Hardware

ACPI defines the fixed hardware low-level interfaces as a means to convey to the system OEM the
minimum interfaces necessary to achieve a level of capability and quality for motherboard
configuration and system power management. Additionally, the definition of these interfaces, as
well as others defined in this specification, conveys to OS Vendors (OSVs) developing ACPI-
compatible operating systems, the necessary interfaces that operating systems must manipulate to
provide robust support for system configuration and power management.
While the definition of low-level hardware interfaces defined by ACPI 1.0 afforded OSPM
implementations a certain level of stability, controls for existing and emerging diverse CPU
architectures cannot be accommodated by this model as they can require a sequence of hardware
manipulations intermixed with native CPU instructions to provide the ACPI-defined interface
function. In this case, an ACPI-defined fixed hardware interface can be functionally implemented by
the CPU manufacturer through an equivalent combination of both hardware and software and is
defined by ACPI as Functional Fixed Hardware.
In IA-32-based systems, functional fixed hardware can be accommodated in an OS independent
manner by using System Management Mode (SMM) based system firmware. Unfortunately, the
nature of SMM-based code makes this type of OS independent implementation difficult if not
impossible to debug. As such, this implementation approach is not recommended. In some cases,
Functional Fixed Hardware implementations may require coordination with other OS components.
As such, an OS independent implementation may not be viable.
OS-specific implementations of functional fixed hardware can be implemented using technical
information supplied by the CPU manufacturer. The downside of this approach is that functional
fixed hardware support must be developed for each OS. In some cases, the CPU manufacturer may

provide a software component providing this support. In other cases support for the functional fixed
hardware may be developed directly by the OS vendor.
The hardware register definition was expanded, in ACPI 2.0, to allow registers to exist in address
spaces other than the System I/O address space. This is accomplished through the specification of an
address space ID in the register definition (see Section 5.2.3.2, “Generic Address Structure,” for
more information). When specifically directed by the CPU manufacturer, the system firmware
may define an interface as functional fixed hardware by indicating 0x7F (Functional Fixed
Hardware), in the address space ID field for register definitions. It is emphasized that functional
fixed hardware definitions may be declared in the ACPI system firmware only as indicated by the
CPU Manufacturer for specific interfaces as the use of functional fixed hardware requires specific
coordination with the OS vendor.
Only certain ACPI-defined interfaces may be implemented using functional fixed hardware and only
when the interfaces are common across machine designs for example, systems sharing a common
CPU architecture that does not support fixed hardware implementation of an ACPI-defined
interface. OEMs are cautioned not to anticipate that functional fixed hardware support will be
provided by OSPM differently on a system-by-system basis. The use of functional fixed hardware
carries with it a reliance on OS specific software that must be considered. OEMs should consult OS
vendors to ensure that specific functional fixed hardware interfaces are supported by specific
operating systems.
Note: FFH is permitted and applicable to both full and HW-reduced ACPI implementations.
5.2.3.2 Generic Address Structure

The Generic Address Structure (GAS) provides the platform with a robust means to describe register
locations. This structure, described below (Table 5-26), is used to express register addresses within
tables defined by ACPI .
Table 5-26 Generic Address Structure (GAS)

Field Byte Byte Description
Length Offset
Address Space 1 0 The address space where the data structure or register exists.
ID Defined values are:
0 System Memory space
1 System I/O space
2 PCI Configuration space
3 Embedded Controller
4 SMBus
5 to 0x09 Reserved
0x0A Platform Communications Channel (PCC)
0x0B to 0x7E Reserved
0x7F Functional Fixed Hardware
0x80 to 0xBF Reserved
0xC0 to 0xFF OEM Defined
Register Bit 1 1 The size in bits of the given register. When addressing a data
Width structure, this field must be zero.


Length Offset
Register Bit 1 2 The bit offset of the given register at the given address. When
Offset addressing a data structure, this field must be zero.
Access Size 1 3 Specifies access size. Unless otherwise defined by the Address
Space ID:
0 Undefined (legacy reasons)
1 Byte access
2 Word access
3 Dword access
4 QWord access
Address 8 4 The 64-bit address of the data structure or register in the given
address space (relative to the processor). (See below for specific
formats.)
Table 5-27 Address Space Format

Address Space Format
0–System Memory The 64-bit physical memory address (relative to the processor) of the register. 32-bit
platforms must have the high DWORD set to 0.
1–System I/O The 64-bit I/O address (relative to the processor) of the register. 32-bit platforms
must have the high DWORD set to 0.
2–PCI Configuration PCI Configuration space addresses must be confined to devices on
Space PCI Segment Group 0, bus 0. This restriction exists to accommodate access to fixed
hardware prior to PCI bus enumeration. The format of addresses are defined as
follows:
WORD Location Description
Highest WORD Reserved (must be 0)
… PCI Device number on bus 0
… PCI Function number
Lowest WORD Offset in the configuration space header
For example: Offset 23h of Function 2 on device 7 on bus 0 segment 0 would be
represented as: 0x0000000700020023.
0x7F–Functional Use of GAS fields other than Address_Space_ID is specified by the CPU
Fixed Hardware manufacturer. The use of functional fixed hardware carries with it a reliance on OS
specific software that must be considered. OEMs should consult OS vendors to
ensure that specific functional fixed hardware interfaces are supported by specific
operating systems.
0x0A-PCC
5.2.4 Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs)

UUIDs (Universally Unique IDentifiers), also known as GUIDs (Globally Unique IDentifiers) are
128 bit long values that extremely likely to be different from all other UUIDs generated until 3400
A.D. UUIDs are used to distinguish between callers of ASL methods, such as _DSM and _OSC.

The format of both the binary and string representations of UUIDs along with an algorithm to
generate them is specified in ISO/IEC 11578:1996 Information technology - Open Systems
Interconnection - Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and can be found as part of the Distributed
Computing Environment 1.1: Remote Procedure Call specification, which can be found in “Links to
ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Universal Uniform Identifiers
(UUID)".
5.2.5 Root System Description Pointer (RSDP)

During OS initialization, OSPM must obtain the Root System Description Pointer (RSDP) structure
from the platform. When OSPM locates the Root System Description Pointer (RSDP) structure, it
then locates the Root System Description Table (RSDT) or the Extended Root System Description
Table (XSDT) using the physical system address supplied in the RSDP.
5.2.5.1 Finding the RSDP on IA-PC Systems

OSPM finds the Root System Description Pointer (RSDP) structure by searching physical memory
ranges on 16-byte boundaries for a valid Root System Description Pointer structure signature and
checksum match as follows:
• The first 1 KB of the Extended BIOS Data Area (EBDA). For EISA or MCA systems, the
EBDA can be found in the two-byte location 40:0Eh on the BIOS data area.
• The BIOS read-only memory space between 0E0000h and 0FFFFFh.
5.2.5.2 Finding the RSDP on UEFI Enabled Systems

In Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) enabled systems, a pointer to the RSDP structure
exists within the EFI System Table. The OS loader is provided a pointer to the EFI System Table at
invocation. The OS loader must retrieve the pointer to the RSDP structure from the EFI System
Table and convey the pointer to OSPM, using an OS dependent data structure, as part of the hand off
of control from the OS loader to the OS.
The OS loader locates the pointer to the RSDP structure by examining the EFI Configuration Table
within the EFI System Table. EFI Configuration Table entries consist of Globally Unique Identifier
(GUID)/table pointer pairs. The UEFI specification defines two GUIDs for ACPI; one for ACPI 1.0
and the other for ACPI 2.0 or later specification revisions.
The EFI GUID for a pointer to the ACPI 1.0 specification RSDP structure is:
• EB9D2D30-2D88-11D3-9A16-0090273FC14D.
The EFI GUID for a pointer to the ACPI 2.0 or later specification RSDP structure is:
• 8868E871-E4F1-11D3-BC22-0080C73C8881.
The OS loader for an ACPI-compatible OS will search for an RSDP structure pointer using the
current revision GUID first and if it finds one, will use the corresponding RSDP structure pointer. If
the GUID is not found then the OS loader will search for the RSDP structure pointer using the ACPI
1.0 version GUID.
The OS loader must retrieve the pointer to the RSDP structure from the EFI System Table before
assuming platform control via the EFI ExitBootServices interface. See the UEFI Specification for
more information.

5.2.5.3 Root System Description Pointer (RSDP) Structure

The revision number contained within the structure indicates the size of the table structure.
Table 5-28 RSDP Structure

Length Offset
Signature 8 0 “RSD PTR ” (Notice that this signature must contain a trailing blank
character.)
Checksum 1 8 This is the checksum of the fields defined in the ACPI 1.0
specification. This includes only the first 20 bytes of this table, bytes
0 to 19, including the checksum field. These bytes must sum to
zero.
OEMID 6 9 An OEM-supplied string that identifies the OEM.
Revision 1 15 The revision of this structure. Larger revision numbers are backward
compatible to lower revision numbers. The ACPI version 1.0
revision number of this table is zero. The ACPI version 1.0 RSDP
Structure only includes the first 20 bytes of this table, bytes 0 to 19.
It does not include the Length field and beyond. The current value
for this field is 2.
RsdtAddress 4 16 32 bit physical address of the RSDT.
Length* 4 20 The length of the table, in bytes, including the header, starting from
offset 0. This field is used to record the size of the entire table. This
field is not available in the ACPI version 1.0 RSDP Structure.
XsdtAddress* 8 24 64 bit physical address of the XSDT.
Extended 1 32 This is a checksum of the entire table, including both checksum
Checksum* fields.
Reserved* 3 33 Reserved field
* These fields are only valid when the Revision value is 2 or above.
5.2.6 System Description Table Header

All system description tables begin with the structure shown in Table 5-29. The Signature field
determines the content of the system description table. System description table signatures defined
by this specification are listed in Table 5-30.
Table 5-29 DESCRIPTION_HEADER Fields

Length Offset
Signature 4 0 The ASCII string representation of the table identifier. Notice that if
OSPM finds a signature in a table that is not listed in Table 5-30,
OSPM ignores the entire table (it is not loaded into ACPI
namespace); OSPM ignores the table even though the values in the
Length and Checksum fields are correct.

Length 4 4 The length of the table, in bytes, including the header, starting from
offset 0. This field is used to record the size of the entire table.
Revision 1 8 The revision of the structure corresponding to the signature field for
this table. Larger revision numbers are backward compatible to
lower revision numbers with the same signature.
Checksum 1 9 The entire table, including the checksum field, must add to zero to
be considered valid.
OEM Table ID 8 16 An OEM-supplied string that the OEM uses to identify the particular
data table. This field is particularly useful when defining a definition
block to distinguish definition block functions. The OEM assigns
each dissimilar table a new OEM Table ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 An OEM-supplied revision number. Larger numbers are assumed to
be newer revisions.
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID of utility that created the table. For tables containing
Definition Blocks, this is the ID for the ASL Compiler.
Creator Revision 4 32 Revision of utility that created the table. For tables containing
Definition Blocks, this is the revision for the ASL Compiler.
For OEMs, good design practices will ensure consistency when assigning OEMID and OEM Table
ID fields in any table. The intent of these fields is to allow for a binary control system that support
services can use. Because many support functions can be automated, it is useful when a tool can
programmatically determine which table release is a compatible and more recent revision of a prior
table on the same OEMID and OEM Table ID.
Table 5-30 and Table 5-31 contain the system description table signatures defined by this
specification. These system description tables may be defined by ACPI and documented within this
specification (Table 5-30) or they may be simply reserved by ACPI and defined by other industry
specifications (Table 5-31). This allows OS and platform specific tables to be defined and pointed to
by the RSDT/XSDT as needed. For tables defined by other industry specifications, the ACPI
specification acts as gatekeeper to avoid collisions in table signatures.
Table signatures will be reserved by the ACPI promoters and posted independently of this
specification in ACPI errata and clarification documents on the ACPI web site. Requests to reserve a
4-byte alphanumeric table signature should be sent to the email address [email protected] and should
include the purpose of the table and reference URL to a document that describes the table format.
Tables defined outside of the ACPI specification may define data value encodings in either little
endian or big endian format. For the purpose of clarity, external table definition documents should
include the endian-ness of their data value encodings.
Since reference URLs can change over time and may not always be up-to-date in this specification, a
separate document containing the latest known reference URLs can be found at “Links to ACPI-
Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi), which should conspicuously be placed in the same
location as this specification.

Table 5-30 DESCRIPTION_HEADER Signatures for tables defined by ACPI

Signature Description Reference
“APIC” Multiple APIC Description Table Section 5.2.12, “Multiple APIC Description Table”
“BERT” Boot Error Record Table Section 18.3.1, “Boot Error Source”
“BGRT” Boot Graphics Resource Table Section 5.2.22, “Boot Graphics Resource Table”
“CPEP” Corrected Platform Error Polling Section 5.2.18, “Corrected Platform Error Polling Table”
Table
“DSDT” Differentiated System Description Section 5.2.11.1, “Differentiated System Description
Table Table”
“ECDT” Embedded Controller Boot Section 5.2.15 “Embedded Controller Boot Resources
Resources Table Table”
“EINJ” Error Injection Table Section 18.6.1, “Error Injection Table”
“ERST” Error Record Serialization Table Section 18.5, “Error Serialization”
”FACP” Fixed ACPI Description Table Section 5.2.9, “Fixed ACPI Description Table”
(FADT)
“FACS” Firmware ACPI Control Structure Section 5.2.10, “Firmware ACPI Control Structure”
“FPDT” Firmware Performance Data Table Section 5.2.23, “Firmware Performance Data Table”
“GTDT” Generic Timer Description Table Section 5.2.24, “Generic Timer Description Table”
“HEST” Hardware Error Source Table Section 18.3.2, “ACPI Error Source”
“MSCT” Maximum System Characteristics Section 5.2.19, “Maximum System Characteristics
Table Table”
“MPST” Memory Power StateTable Section 5.2.21, “Memory Power StateTable”
“NFIT” NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table Section 5.2.25, “NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table
(NFIT)
“OEMx” OEM Specific Information Tables OEM Specific tables. All table signatures starting with
“OEM” are reserved for OEM use.
“PCCT” Platform Communications Channel Section 14.1 “Platform Communications Channel Table”
Table
“PMTT” Platform Memory Topology Table Section 5.2.21.12, Memory Topology Table (PMTT)
“PSDT” Persistent System Description Section 5.2.11.3, “Persistent System Description Table”
Table
“RASF” ACPI RAS FeatureTable Section 5.2.20.3, “ACPI RAS FeatureTable”
“RSDT” Root System Description Table Section 5.2.7, “Root System Description Table”
“SBST” Smart Battery Specification Table Section 5.2.14, “Smart Battery Table”
“SDEV” Secure DEVices Table Section 5.2.26 “Secure Devices (SDEV) Table”
“SLIT” System Locality Distance Section 5.2.17, “System Locality Distance Information
Information Table Table”
“SRAT” System Resource Affinity Table Section 5.2.16, “System Resource Affinity Table”
“SSDT” Secondary System Description Section 5.2.11.2, “Secondary System Description Table”
Table
“XSDT” Extended System Description Section 5.2.8, “Extended System Description Table”
Table

Table 5-31 DESCRIPTION_HEADER Signatures for tables reserved by ACPI
Signature Description and External Reference

“BOOT” Reserved Signature
“CSRT” Core System Resource Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Core
System Resource Table".
“DBG2” Debug Port Table 2
Microsoft Debug Port Table 2 Specification
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Debug Port
Table 2".
“DBGP” Debug Port Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Debug Port
Table".
“DMAR” DMA Remapping Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading “DMA
Remapping Table”.
“DPPT” DMA Protection Policy Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading “DMA
Protection Policy Table”.
“DRTM” Dynamic Root of Trust for Measurement Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading “TCG D-
RTM Architecture Specification”.
“ETDT” Event Timer Description Table (Obsolete)
IA-PC Multimedia Timers Specification. This signature has been superseded by “HPET” and is
now obsolete.
“HPET” IA-PC High Precision Event Timer Table
IA-PC High Precision Event Timer Specification
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "IA-PC High
Precision Event Timer Table".
“IBFT” iSCSI Boot Firmware Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "iSCSI Boot
Firmware Table".
"IORT" I/O Remapping Table
See "Links to ACPI-Related Documents" (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "I/O
Remapping Table"
“IVRS” I/O Virtualization Reporting Structure
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "I/O
Virtualization Reporting Structure".
"LPIT" Low Power Idle Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Low Power
Idle Table".
“MCFG” PCI Express memory mapped configuration space base address Description Table
PCI Firmware Specification, Revision 3.0
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "PCI Sig".


“MCHI” Management Controller Host Interface Table
DSP0256 Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) Host Interface Specification
See“Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading
"Management Controller Host Interface Table".
“MSDM” Microsoft Data Management Table
See: Microsoft Data Management Table Specification
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Microsoft
Data Management Table".
“SDEI” Software Delegated Exceptions Interface
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Software
Delegated Exceptions Interface.”
“SLIC” Microsoft Software Licensing Table Specification
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Microsoft
Software Licensing Table Specification".
“SPCR” Serial Port Console Redirection Table
Microsoft Serial Port Console Redirection Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Serial Port
Console Redirection Table".
“SPMI” Server Platform Management Interface Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Server
Platform Management Interface Table".
“STAO” _STA Override Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "_STA
Override Table".
“TCPA” Trusted Computing Platform Alliance Capabilities Table
TCPA PC Specific Implementation Specification
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Trusted
Computing Platform Alliance Capabilities Table".
TPM2 Trusted Platform Module 2 Table
See: Trusted Platform Module 2 Table Specification
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Trusted
Platform Module 2 Table".
“UEFI” UEFI ACPI Data Table
UEFI Specification
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Unified
Extensible Firmware Interface Specifications".
“WAET” Windows ACPI Emulated Devices Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Windows
ACPI Emulated Devices Table".
“WDAT” Watch Dog Action Table
Requirements for Hardware Watchdog Timers Supported by Windows – Design Specification
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Watchdog
Action Table".


“WDRT” Watchdog Resource Table
Watchdog Timer Hardware Requirements for Windows Server 2003
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Watchdog
Timer Resource Table (WDRT)".
“WPBT” Windows Platform Binary Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Windows
Platform Binary Table".
“WSMT” See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading “Windows
SMM Security Mitigation Table (WSMT).”
"XENV" Xen Project Table
See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Xen
Project Table".
5.2.7 Root System Description Table (RSDT)

OSPM locates that Root System Description Table by following the pointer in the RSDP structure.
The RSDT, shown in Table 5-32, starts with the signature ‘RSDT’ followed by an array of physical
pointers to other system description tables that provide various information on other standards
defined on the current system. OSPM examines each table for a known signature. Based on the
signature, OSPM can then interpret the implementation-specific data within the table.
Platforms provide the RSDT to enable compatibility with ACPI 1.0 operating systems. The XSDT,
described in the next section, supersedes RSDT functionality.
Table 5-32 Root System Description Table Fields (RSDT)

Byte Byte
Field Length Offset Description
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘RSDT’ Signature for the Root System Description Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire RSDT. The length implies the
number of Entry fields (n) at the end of the table.
Revision 1 8 1
Checksum 1 9 Entire table must sum to zero.
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the RSDT, the table ID is the manufacture model ID. This
field must match the OEM Table ID in the FADT.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of RSDT table for supplied OEM Table ID.

Entry 4*n 36 An array of 32-bit physical addresses that point to other

DESCRIPTION_HEADERs. OSPM assumes at least the
DESCRIPTION_HEADER is addressable, and then can further
address the table based upon its Length field.
5.2.8 Extended System Description Table (XSDT)

The XSDT provides identical functionality to the RSDT but accommodates physical addresses of
DESCRIPTION HEADERs that are larger than 32 bits. Notice that both the XSDT and the RSDT
can be pointed to by the RSDP structure. An ACPI-compatible OS must use the XSDT if present.
Table 5-33 Extended System Description Table Fields (XSDT)

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘XSDT’. Signature for the Extended System Description Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire table. The length implies the
number of Entry fields (n) at the end of the table.
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the XSDT, the table ID is the manufacture model ID. This
field must match the OEM Table ID in the FADT.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of XSDT table for supplied OEM Table ID.
Entry 8*n 36 An array of 64-bit physical addresses that point to other
DESCRIPTION_HEADERs. OSPM assumes at least the
DESCRIPTION_HEADER is addressable, and then can further
address the table based upon its Length field.
5.2.9 Fixed ACPI Description Table (FADT)

The Fixed ACPI Description Table (FADT) defines various fixed hardware ACPI information vital
to an ACPI-compatible OS, such as the base address for the following hardware registers blocks:
PM1a_EVT_BLK, PM1b_EVT_BLK, PM1a_CNT_BLK, PM1b_CNT_BLK, PM2_CNT_BLK,
PM_TMR_BLK, GPE0_BLK, and GPE1_BLK.
The FADT also has a pointer to the DSDT that contains the Differentiated Definition Block, which
in turn provides variable information to an ACPI-compatible OS concerning the base system design.
All fields in the FADT that provide hardware addresses provide processor-relative physical
addresses.

Note: If the HW_REDUCED_ACPI flag in the table is set, OSPM will ignore fields related to the ACPI
HW register interface: Fields at offsets 46 through 108 and 148 through 232, as well as FADT Flag
bits 1, 2, 3,7,8,13, 14, 16, and 17).
Note: In all cases where the FADT contains a 32-bit field and a corresponding 64-bit field the 64-bit field
should always be preferred by the OSPM if the 64-bit field contains a non-zero value which can be
used by the OSPM. In this case, the 32-bit field must be ignored regardless of whether or not it is
zero, and whether or not it is the same value as the 64-bit field. The 32-bit field should only be
used if the corresponding 64-bit field contains a zero value, or if the 64-bit value can not be used
by the OSPM subject to e.g. CPU addressing limitations.
Table 5-34 FADT Format

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘FACP’. Signature for the Fixed ACPI Description Table. (This
signature predates ACPI 1.0, explaining the mismatch with
this table's name.)
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire FADT.
FADT Major Version 1 8 6
Major Version of this FADT structure, in "Major.Minor" form,
where 'Minor' is the value in the Minor Version Field (Byte
offset 131 in this table)
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the FADT, the table ID is the manufacture model ID. This
field must match the OEM Table ID in the RSDT.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of FADT for supplied OEM Table ID.
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID of utility that created the table. For tables
containing Definition Blocks, this is the ID for the ASL
Compiler.
FIRMWARE_CTRL 4 36 Physical memory address of the FACS, where OSPM and
Firmware exchange control information. See Section 5.2.6,
“Root System Description Table,” for a description of the
FACS. If the X_FIRMWARE_CTRL field contains a non zero
value which can be used by the OSPM, then this field must be
ignored by the OSPM. If the HARDWARE_REDUCED_ACPI
flag is set, and both this field and the X_FIRMWARE_CTRL
field are zero, there is no FACS available.
DSDT 4 40 Physical memory address of the DSDT. If the X_DSDT field
contains a non-zero value which can be used by the OSPM,
then this field must be ignored by the OSPM.
Reserved 1 44 ACPI 1.0 defined this offset as a field named INT_MODEL,
which was eliminated in ACPI 2.0. Platforms should set this
field to zero but field values of one are also allowed to
maintain compatibility with ACPI 1.0.


Length Offset
Preferred_PM_Profile 1 45 This field is set by the OEM to convey the preferred power
management profile to OSPM. OSPM can use this field to set
default power management policy parameters during OS
installation.
Field Values:
0 Unspecified
1 Desktop
2 Mobile
3 Workstation
4 Enterprise Server
5 SOHO Server
6 Appliance PC
7 Performance Server
8) Tablet
>8 Reserved
SCI_INT 2 46 System vector the SCI interrupt is wired to in 8259 mode. On
systems that do not contain the 8259, this field contains the
Global System interrupt number of the SCI interrupt. OSPM is
required to treat the ACPI SCI interrupt as a sharable, level,
active low interrupt.
SMI_CMD 4 48 System port address of the SMI Command Port. During ACPI
OS initialization, OSPM can determine that the ACPI
hardware registers are owned by SMI (by way of the SCI_EN
bit), in which case the ACPI OS issues the ACPI_ENABLE
command to the SMI_CMD port. The SCI_EN bit effectively
tracks the ownership of the ACPI hardware registers. OSPM
issues commands to the SMI_CMD port synchronously from
the boot processor. This field is reserved and must be zero on
system that does not support System Management mode.
ACPI_ENABLE 1 52 The value to write to SMI_CMD to disable SMI ownership of
the ACPI hardware registers. The last action SMI does to
relinquish ownership is to set the SCI_EN bit. During the OS
initialization process, OSPM will synchronously wait for the
transfer of SMI ownership to complete, so the ACPI system
releases SMI ownership as quickly as possible. This field is
reserved and must be zero on systems that do not support
Legacy Mode.
ACPI_DISABLE 1 53 The value to write to SMI_CMD to re-enable SMI ownership
of the ACPI hardware registers. This can only be done when
ownership was originally acquired from SMI by OSPM using
ACPI_ENABLE. An OS can hand ownership back to SMI by
relinquishing use to the ACPI hardware registers, masking off
all SCI interrupts, clearing the SCI_EN bit and then writing
ACPI_DISABLE to the SMI_CMD port from the boot
processor. This field is reserved and must be zero on systems
that do not support Legacy Mode.


Length Offset
S4BIOS_REQ 1 54 The value to write to SMI_CMD to enter the S4BIOS state.
The S4BIOS state provides an alternate way to enter the S4
state where the firmware saves and restores the memory
context. A value of zero in S4BIOS_F indicates
S4BIOS_REQ is not supported. (See Table 5-38)
PSTATE_CNT 1 55 If non-zero, this field contains the value OSPM writes to the
SMI_CMD register to assume processor performance state
control responsibility.
PM1a_EVT_BLK 4 56 System port address of the PM1a Event Register Block. See
Section 4.8.3.1, “PM1 Event Grouping,” for a hardware
description layout of this register block. This is a required
field. If the X_PM1a_CNT_BLK field contains a non zero
ignored by the OSPM.
PM1b_EVT_BLK 4 60 System port address of the PM1b Event Register Block. See
description layout of this register block. This field is optional; if
this register block is not supported, this field contains zero. If
the X_PM1b_EVT_BLK field contains a non zero value which
can be used by the OSPM, then this field must be ignored by
the OSPM.
PM1a_CNT_BLK 4 64 System port address of the PM1a Control Register Block. See
Section 4.8.3.2, “PM1 Control Grouping,” for a hardware
field. If the X_PM1a_CNT_BLK field contains a non zero
PM1b_CNT_BLK 4 68 System port address of the PM1b Control Register Block. See
the X_PM1b_CNT_BLK field contains a non zero value which
the OSPM.
PM2_CNT_BLK 4 72 System port address of the PM2 Control Register Block. See
Section 4.8.3.4, “PM2 Control (PM2_CNT),” for a hardware
the X_PM2_CNT_BLK field contains a non zero value which
the OSPM.


Length Offset
PM_TMR_BLK 4 76 System port address of the Power Management Timer
Control Register Block. See Section 4.8.3.3, “Power
Management Timer (PM_TMR),” for a hardware description
layout of this register block. This is an optional field; if this
register block is not supported, this field contains zero. If the
X_PM2_CNT_BLK field contains a non-zero value which can
be used by the OSPM, then this field must be ignored by the
OSPM.
GPE0_BLK 4 80 System port address of General-Purpose Event 0 Register
Block. See Section 4.8.4.1, “General-Purpose Event Register
Blocks,” for a hardware description of this register block. This
is an optional field; if this register block is not supported, this
field contains zero. If the X_GPE0_BLK field contains a
nonzero value which can be used by the OSPM, then this
field must be ignored by the OSPM.
GPE1_BLK 4 84 System port address of General-Purpose Event 1 Register
Block. See Section 4.8.4.1, “General-Purpose Event Register
Blocks,” for a hardware description of this register block. This
is an optional field; if this register block is not supported, this
field contains zero. If the X_GPE1_BLK field contains a
nonzero value which can be used by the OSPM, then this
field must be ignored by the OSPM.
PM1_EVT_LEN 1 88 Number of bytes decoded by PM1a_EVT_BLK and, if
supported, PM1b_ EVT_BLK. This value is  4.
PM1_CNT_LEN 1 89 Number of bytes decoded by PM1a_CNT_BLK and, if
supported, PM1b_CNT_BLK. This value is  2.
PM2_CNT_LEN 1 90 Number of bytes decoded by PM2_CNT_BLK. Support for the
PM2 register block is optional. If supported, this value is  1. If
not supported, this field contains zero.
PM_TMR_LEN 1 91 Number of bytes decoded by PM_TMR_BLK. If the PM Timer
is supported, this field’s value must be 4. If not supported, this
field contains zero.
GPE0_BLK_LEN 1 92 Number of bytes decoded by GPE0_BLK. The value is a non-
negative multiple of 2.
GPE1_BLK_LEN 1 93 Number of bytes decoded by GPE1_BLK. The value is a non-
negative multiple of 2.
GPE1_BASE 1 94 Offset within the ACPI general-purpose event model where
GPE1 based events start.
CST_CNT 1 95 If non-zero, this field contains the value OSPM writes to the
SMI_CMD register to indicate OS support for the _CST object
and C States Changed notification.
P_LVL2_LAT 2 96 The worst-case hardware latency, in microseconds, to enter
and exit a C2 state. A value > 100 indicates the system does
not support a C2 state.


Length Offset
P_LVL3_LAT 2 98 The worst-case hardware latency, in microseconds, to enter
and exit a C3 state. A value > 1000 indicates the system does
not support a C3 state.
FLUSH_SIZE 2 100 If WBINVD=0, the value of this field is the number of flush
strides that need to be read (using cacheable addresses) to
completely flush dirty lines from any processor’s memory
caches. Notice that the value in FLUSH_STRIDE is typically
the smallest cache line width on any of the processor’s
caches (for more information, see the FLUSH_STRIDE field
definition). If the system does not support a method for
flushing the processor’s caches, then FLUSH_SIZE and
WBINVD are set to zero. Notice that this method of flushing
the processor caches has limitations, and WBINVD=1 is the
preferred way to flush the processors caches. This value is
typically at least 2 times the cache size. The maximum
allowed value for FLUSH_SIZE multiplied by
FLUSH_STRIDE is 2 MB for a typical maximum supported
cache size of 1 MB. Larger cache sizes are supported using
WBINVD=1.
This value is ignored if WBINVD=1.
This field is maintained for ACPI 1.0 processor compatibility
on existing systems. Processors in new ACPI-compatible
systems are required to support the WBINVD function and
indicate this to OSPM by setting the WBINVD field = 1.
FLUSH_STRIDE 2 102 If WBINVD=0, the value of this field is the cache line width, in
bytes, of the processor’s memory caches. This value is
typically the smallest cache line width on any of the
processor’s caches. For more information, see the description
of the FLUSH_SIZE field.
This value is ignored if WBINVD=1.
This field is maintained for ACPI 1.0 processor compatibility
on existing systems. Processors in new ACPI-compatible
systems are required to support the WBINVD function and
indicate this to OSPM by setting the WBINVD field = 1.
DUTY_OFFSET 1 104 The zero-based index of where the processor’s duty cycle
setting is within the processor’s P_CNT register.


Length Offset
DUTY_WIDTH 1 105 The bit width of the processor’s duty cycle setting value in the
P_CNT register. Each processor’s duty cycle setting allows
the software to select a nominal processor frequency below
its absolute frequency as defined by:
THTL_EN = 1
BF * DC/(2DUTY_WIDTH)
Where:
BF–Base frequency
DC–Duty cycle setting
When THTL_EN is 0, the processor runs at its absolute BF. A
DUTY_WIDTH value of 0 indicates that processor duty cycle
is not supported and the processor continuously runs at its
base frequency.
DAY_ALRM 1 106 The RTC CMOS RAM index to the day-of-month alarm value.
If this field contains a zero, then the RTC day of the month
alarm feature is not supported. If this field has a non-zero
value, then this field contains an index into RTC RAM space
that OSPM can use to program the day of the month alarm.
See Section 4.8.2.4 “Real Time Clock Alarm,” for a
description of how the hardware works.
MON_ALRM 1 107 The RTC CMOS RAM index to the month of year alarm value.
If this field contains a zero, then the RTC month of the year
alarm feature is not supported. If this field has a non-zero
value, then this field contains an index into RTC RAM space
that OSPM can use to program the month of the year alarm. If
this feature is supported, then the DAY_ALRM feature must
be supported also.
CENTURY 1 108 The RTC CMOS RAM index to the century of data value
(hundred and thousand year decimals). If this field contains a
zero, then the RTC centenary feature is not supported. If this
field has a non-zero value, then this field contains an index
into RTC RAM space that OSPM can use to program the
centenary field.
IAPC_BOOT_ARCH 2 109 IA-PC Boot Architecture Flags. See Table 5-36 for a
description of this field.
Reserved 1 111 Must be 0.
Flags 4 112 Fixed feature flags. See Table 5-35 for a description of this
field.
RESET_REG 12 116 The address of the reset register represented in Generic
Address Structure format (See Section 4.8.3.6, “Reset
Register,” for a description of the reset mechanism.)
Note: Only System I/O space, System Memory space and
PCI Configuration space (bus #0) are valid for values for
Address_Space_ID. Also, Register_Bit_Width must be 8 and
Register_Bit_Offset must be 0.


Length Offset
RESET_VALUE 1 128 Indicates the value to write to the RESET_REG port to reset
the system. (See Section 4.8.3.6, “Reset Register,” for a
description of the reset mechanism.)
ARM_BOOT_ARCH 2 129 ARM Boot Architecture Flags. See Table 5-37 for a
FADT Minor Version 1 131 2
Minor Version of this FADT structure, in "Major.Minor" form,
where 'Major' is the value in the Major Version Field (Byte
offset 8 in this table).
X_FIRMWARE_CTRL 8 132 Extended physical address of the FACS. If this field contains
a nonzero value which can be used by the OSPM, then the
FIRMWARE_CTRL field must be ignored by the OSPM. If the
HARDWARE_REDUCED_ACPI flag is set, and both this field
and the FIRMWARE_CTRL field are zero, there is no FACS
available.
X_DSDT 8 140 Extended physical address of the DSDT. If this field contains
a nonzero value which can be used by the OSPM, then the
DSDT field must be ignored by the OSPM.
X_PM1a_EVT_BLK 12 148 Extended address of the PM1a Event Register Block,
represented in Generic Address Structure format. See
field. If this field contains a nonzero value which can be used
by the OSPM, then the PM1a_EVT_BLK field must be
X_PM1b_EVT_BLK 12 160 Extended address of the PM1b Event Register Block,
this field contains a nonzero value which can be used by the
OSPM, then the PM1b_EVT_BLK field must be ignored by
the OSPM.
X_PM1a_CNT_BLK 12 172 Extended address of the PM1a Control Register Block,
field. If this field contains a nonzero value which can be used
by the OSPM, then the PM1a_CNT_BLK field must be


Length Offset
X_PM1b_CNT_BLK 12 184 Extended address of the PM1b Control Register Block,
OSPM, then the PM1b_CNT_BLK field must be ignored by
the OSPM.
X_PM2_CNT_BLK 12 196 Extended address of the PM2 Control Register Block,
Section 4.8.3.4 “PM2 Control (PM2_CNT),” for a hardware
OSPM, then the PM2_CNT_BLK field must be ignored by the
OSPM.
X_PM_TMR_BLK 12 208 Extended address of the Power Management Timer Control
Register Block, represented in Generic Address Structure
format. See Section 4.8.3.3, “Power Management Timer
(PM_TMR),” for a hardware description layout of this register
block. This field is optional; if this register block is not
supported, this field contains zero. If this field contains a
nonzero value which can be used by the OSPM, then the
PM_TMR_BLK field must be ignored by the OSPM.
X_GPE0_BLK 12 220 Extended address of the General-Purpose Event 0 Register
Block, represented in Generic Address Structure format. See
Section 4.8.4.1 “General-Purpose Event Register Blocks,” for
a hardware description of this register block. This is an
optional field; if this register block is not supported, this field
contains zero. If this field contains a nonzero value which can
be used by the OSPM, then the GPE0_BLK field must be
ignored by the OSPM.ns a non-zero value then this field must
be zero.
X_GPE1_BLK 12 232 Extended address of the General-Purpose Event 1 Register
Block, represented in Generic Address Structure format. See
Section 4.8.4.1 “General-Purpose Event Register Blocks,” for
a hardware description of this register block. This is an
optional field; if this register block is not supported, this field
contains zero. If this field contains a nonzero value which can
be used by the OSPM, then the GPE1_BLK field must be


Length Offset
SLEEP_CONTROL_RE 12 244 The address of the Sleep register, represented in Generic
G Address Structure format (See Section 4.8.3.7, "Sleep
Control and Status Registers," for a description of the sleep
mechanism.)
SLEEP_STATUS_REG 12 256 The address of the Sleep status register, represented in
Generic Address Structure format (See Section 4.8.3.7,
"Sleep Control and Status Registers," for a description of the
sleep mechanism.)
Hypervisor Vendor 8 268 64-bit identifier of hypervisor vendor. All bytes in this field are
Identity considered part of the vendor identity.
These identifiers are defined independently by the vendors
themselves, usually following the name of the hypervisor
product.
Version information should NOT be included in this field - this
shall simply denote the vendor's name or identifier. Version
information can be communicated through a supplemental
vendor-specific hypervisor API.
Firmware implementers would place zero bytes into this field,
denoting that no hypervisor is present in the actual firmware.

Note: [Hypervisor Vendor Identity ] A firmware implementer would place zero bytes into this field,
denoting that no hypervisor is present in the actual firmware.
Note: [Hypervisor Vendor Identity ] A hypervisor vendor that presents ACPI tables of its own construction
to a guest (for 'virtual' firmware or its 'virtual' platform), would provide its identity in this field.
Note: [Hypervisor Vendor Identity ] If a guest operating system is aware of this field it can consult it and
act on the result, based on whether it recognized the vendor and knows how to use the API that is
defined by the vendor.
Table 5-35 Fixed ACPI Description Table Fixed Feature Flags

FACP - Flag Bit Bit Description
Length Offset
WBINVD 1 0 Processor properly implements a functional equivalent to the
WBINVD IA-32 instruction.
If set, signifies that the WBINVD instruction correctly flushes
the processor caches, maintains memory coherency, and
upon completion of the instruction, all caches for the current
processor contain no cached data other than what OSPM
references and allows to be cached. If this flag is not set, the
ACPI OS is responsible for disabling all ACPI features that
need this function. This field is maintained for ACPI 1.0
processor compatibility on existing systems. Processors in
new ACPI-compatible systems are required to support this
function and indicate this to OSPM by setting this field.
WBINVD_FLUSH 1 1 If set, indicates that the hardware flushes all caches on the
WBINVD instruction and maintains memory coherency, but
does not guarantee the caches are invalidated. This provides
the complete semantics of the WBINVD instruction, and
provides enough to support the system sleeping states. If
neither of the WBINVD flags is set, the system will require
FLUSH_SIZE and FLUSH_STRIDE to support sleeping
states. If the FLUSH parameters are also not supported, the
machine cannot support sleeping states S1, S2, or S3.
PROC_C1 1 2 A one indicates that the C1 power state is supported on all
processors.
P_LVL2_UP 1 3 A zero indicates that the C2 power state is configured to only
work on a uniprocessor (UP) system. A one indicates that the
C2 power state is configured to work on a UP or
multiprocessor (MP) system.
PWR_BUTTON 1 4 A zero indicates the power button is handled as a fixed
feature programming model; a one indicates the power button
is handled as a control method device. If the system does not
have a power button, this value would be “1” and no sleep
button device would be present.
Independent of the value of this field, the presence of a power
button device in the namespace indicates to OSPM that the
power button is handled as a control method device.


Length Offset
SLP_BUTTON 1 5 A zero indicates the sleep button is handled as a fixed feature
programming model; a one indicates the sleep button is
handled as a control method device.
If the system does not have a sleep button, this value would
be “1” and no sleep button device would be present.
Independent of the value of this field, the presence of a sleep
button device in the namespace indicates to OSPM that the
sleep button is handled as a control method device.
FIX_RTC 1 6 A zero indicates the RTC wake status is supported in fixed
register space; a one indicates the RTC wake status is not
supported in fixed register space.
RTC_S4 1 7 Indicates whether the RTC alarm function can wake the
system from the S4 state. The RTC must be able to wake the
system from an S1, S2, or S3 sleep state. The RTC alarm can
optionally support waking the system from the S4 state, as
indicated by this value.
TMR_VAL_EXT 1 8 A zero indicates TMR_VAL is implemented as a 24-bit value.
A one indicates TMR_VAL is implemented as a 32-bit value.
The TMR_STS bit is set when the most significant bit of the
TMR_VAL toggles.
DCK_CAP 1 9 A zero indicates that the system cannot support docking. A
one indicates that the system can support docking. Notice
that this flag does not indicate whether or not a docking
station is currently present; it only indicates that the system is
capable of docking.
RESET_REG_SUP 1 10 If set, indicates the system supports system reset via the
FADT RESET_REG as described in Section 4.8.3.6, “Reset
Register.”
SEALED_CASE 1 11 System Type Attribute. If set indicates that the system has no
internal expansion capabilities and the case is sealed.
HEADLESS 1 12 System Type Attribute. If set indicates the system cannot
detect the monitor or keyboard / mouse devices.
CPU_SW_SLP 1 13 If set, indicates to OSPM that a processor native instruction
must be executed after writing the SLP_TYPx register.
PCI_EXP_WAK 1 14 If set, indicates the platform supports the
PCIEXP_WAKE_STS bit in the PM1 Status register and the
PCIEXP_WAKE_EN bit in the PM1 Enable register. This bit
must be set on platforms containing chipsets that implement
PCI Express and supports PM1 PCIEXP_WAK bits.


Length Offset
USE_PLATFORM_CLO 1 15 A value of one indicates that OSPM should use a platform
CK provided timer to drive any monotonically non-decreasing
counters, such as OSPM performance counter services.
Which particular platform timer will be used is OSPM specific,
however, it is recommended that the timer used is based on
the following algorithm: If the HPET is exposed to OSPM,
OSPM should use the HPET. Otherwise, OSPM will use the
ACPI power management timer. A value of one indicates that
the platform is known to have a correctly implemented ACPI
power management timer.
A platform may choose to set this flag if a internal processor
clock (or clocks in a multi-processor configuration) cannot
provide consistent monotonically non-decreasing counters.
Note: If a value of zero is present, OSPM may arbitrarily
choose to use an internal processor clock or a platform timer
clock for these operations. That is, a zero does not imply that
OSPM will necessarily use the internal processor clock to
generate a monotonically non-decreasing counter to the
system.
S4_RTC_STS_VALID 1 16 A one indicates that the contents of the RTC_STS flag is valid
when waking the system from S4.
See Table 4-16 – PM1 Status Registers Fixed Hardware
Feature Status Bits for more information. Some existing
systems do not reliably set this input today, and this bit allows
OSPM to differentiate correctly functioning platforms from
platforms with this errata.
REMOTE_POWER_ON 1 17 A one indicates that the platform is compatible with remote
_CAPABLE power- on.
That is, the platform supports OSPM leaving GPE wake
events armed prior to an S5 transition. Some existing
platforms do not reliably transition to S5 with wake events
enabled (for example, the platform may immediately generate
a spurious wake event after completing the S5 transition).
This flag allows OSPM to differentiate correctly functioning
platforms from platforms with this type of errata.
FORCE_ 1 18 A one indicates that all local APICs must be configured for the
APIC_CLUSTER_MOD cluster destination model when delivering interrupts in logical
EL mode.
If this bit is set, then logical mode interrupt delivery operation
may be undefined until OSPM has moved all local APICs to
the cluster model.
Note that the cluster destination model doesn’t apply to
Itanium™ Processor Family (IPF) local SAPICs. This bit is
intended for xAPIC based machines that require the cluster
destination model even when 8 or fewer local APICs are
present in the machine.


Length Offset
FORCE_APIC_PHYSIC 1 19 A one indicates that all local xAPICs must be configured for
AL_DESTINATION_MO physical destination mode. If this bit is set, interrupt delivery
DE operation in logical destination mode is undefined. On
machines that contain fewer than 8 local xAPICs or that do
not use the xAPIC architecture, this bit is ignored.
HW_REDUCED_ACPI* 1 20 A one indicates that the Hardware-Reduced ACPI (section
4.1) is implemented, therefore software-only alternatives are
used for supported fixed-features defined in chapter 4.
LOW_POWER_S0_IDL 1 21 A one informs OSPM that the platform is able to achieve
E_CAPABLE power savings in S0 similar to or better than those typically
achieved in S3. In effect, when this bit is set it indicates that
the system will achieve no power benefit by making a sleep
transition to S3.
Reserved 10 22
* The description of HW_REDUCED_ACPI provided here applies to ACPI specifications 5.0 and later.
5.2.9.1 Preferred PM Profile System Types

The following descriptions of preferred power management profile system types are to be used as a
guide for setting the Preferred_PM_Profile field in the FADT. OSPM can use this field to set default
power management policy parameters during OS installation.
Desktop
A single user, full featured, stationary computing device that resides on or near an
individual’s work area. Most often contains one processor. Must be connected to AC
power to function. This device is used to perform work that is considered mainstream
corporate or home computing (for example, word processing, Internet browsing,
spreadsheets, and so on).
Mobile
A single-user, full-featured, portable computing device that is capable of running on
batteries or other power storage devices to perform its normal functions. Most often
contains one processor. This device performs the same task set as a desktop. However
it may have limitations dues to its size, thermal requirements, and/or power source
life.
Workstation
A single-user, full-featured, stationary computing device that resides on or near an
individual’s work area. Often contains more than one processor. Must be connected to
AC power to function. This device is used to perform large quantities of computations
in support of such work as CAD/CAM and other graphics-intensive applications.
Enterprise Server
A multi-user, stationary computing device that frequently resides in a separate, often
specially designed, room. Will almost always contain more than one processor. Must

be connected to AC power to function. This device is used to support large-scale

networking, database, communications, or financial operations within a corporation or
government.
SOHO Server
A multi-user, stationary computing device that frequently resides in a separate area or
room in a small or home office. May contain more than one processor. Must be
connected to AC power to function. This device is generally used to support all of the
networking, database, communications, and financial operations of a small office or
home office.
Appliance PC
A device specifically designed to operate in a low-noise, high-availability
environment such as a consumer’s living rooms or family room. Most often contains
one processor. This category also includes home Internet gateways, Web pads, set top
boxes and other devices that support ACPI. Must be connected to AC power to
function. Normally they are sealed case style and may only perform a subset of the
tasks normally associated with today’s personal computers.
Performance Server
A multi-user stationary computing device that frequently resides in a separate, often
specially designed room. Will often contain more than one processor. Must be
connected to AC power to function. This device is used in an environment where
power savings features are willing to be sacrificed for better performance and quicker
responsiveness.
Tablet
A full-featured, highly mobile computing device which resembles writing tablets and
which users interact with primarily through a touch interface. The touch digitizer is
the primary user input device, although a keyboard and/or mouse may be present.
Tablet devices typically run on battery power and are generally only plugged into AC
power in order to charge. This device performs many of the same tasks as Mobile;
however battery life expectations of Tablet devices generally require more aggressive
power savings especially for managing display and touch components.
5.2.9.2 System Type Attributes

This set of flags is used by the OS to assist in determining assumptions about power and device
management. These flags are read at boot time and are used to make decisions about power
management and device settings. For example, a system that has the SEALED_CASE bit set may
take a very aggressive low noise policy toward thermal management. In another example an OS
might not load video, keyboard or mouse drivers on a HEADLESS system.
5.2.9.3 IA-PC Boot Architecture Flags

This set of flags is used by an OS to guide the assumptions it can make in initializing hardware on
IA-PC platforms. These flags are used by an OS at boot time (before the OS is capable of providing
an operating environment suitable for parsing the ACPI namespace) to determine the code paths to
take during boot. In IA-PC platforms with reduced legacy hardware, the OS can skip code paths for

legacy devices if none are present. For example, if there are no ISA devices, an OS could skip code
that assumes the presence of these devices and their associated resources. These flags are used
independently of the ACPI namespace. The presence of other devices must be described in the ACPI
namespace as specified in Section 6, “Configuration.” These flags pertain only to IA-PC platforms.
On other system architectures, the entire field should be set to 0.
Table 5-36 Fixed ACPI Description Table Boot IA-PC Boot Architecture Flags
IAPC_BOOT_ARCH Bit Bit Description
length offset
LEGACY_DEVICES 1 0 If set, indicates that the motherboard supports user-visible
devices on the LPC or ISA bus. User-visible devices are devices
that have end-user accessible connectors (for example, LPT
port), or devices for which the OS must load a device driver so
that an end-user application can use a device. If clear, the OS
may assume there are no such devices and that all devices in the
system can be detected exclusively via industry standard device
enumeration mechanisms (including the ACPI namespace).
8042 1 1 If set, indicates that the motherboard contains support for a port
60 and 64 based keyboard controller, usually implemented as an
8042 or equivalent micro-controller.
VGA Not Present 1 2 If set, indicates to OSPM that it must not blindly probe the VGA
hardware (that responds to MMIO addresses A0000h-BFFFFh
and IO ports 3B0h-3BBh and 3C0h-3DFh) that may cause
machine check on this system. If clear, indicates to OSPM that it
is safe to probe the VGA hardware.
MSI Not Supported 1 3 If set, indicates to OSPM that it must not enable Message
Signaled Interrupts (MSI) on this platform.
PCIe ASPM Controls 1 4 If set, indicates to OSPM that it must not enable OSPM ASPM
control on this platform.
CMOS RTC Not 1 5 If set, indicates that the CMOS RTC is either not implemented, or
Present does not exist at the legacy addresses. OSPM uses the Control
Method Time and Alarm Namespace device instead.
Reserved 10 6 Must be 0.
5.2.9.4 ARM Architecture boot flags

These flags are used by an OS at boot time (before the OS is capable of providing an operating
environment suitable for parsing the ACPI namespace) to determine the code paths to take during
boot. For the PSCI flags, specifically, the flags describe if the platform is compliant with the PSCI
specification. The PSCI specification is found at Links to ACPI-Related Document" (http://uefi.org/
acpi) under the heading PSCI Specification.
The ARM Architecture boot flags are described in Table 5-37:
Table 5-37 Fixed ACPI Description Table ARM Boot Architecture Flags
ARM_BOOT_ARCH Bit Bit Description
Length Offset

PSCI_COMPLIANT 1 0 1 if PSCI is implemented.

PSCI_USE_HVC 1 1 1 if HVC must be used as the PSCI conduit.instead of SMC.
Reserved 14 2 This value is zero.
5.2.10 Firmware ACPI Control Structure (FACS)

The Firmware ACPI Control Structure (FACS) is a structure in read/write memory that the platform
boot firmware reserves for ACPI usage. This structure is optional if and only if the
HARDWARE_REDUCED_ACPI flag in the FADT is set. The FACS is passed to an ACPI-
compatible OS using the FADT. For more information about the FADT FIRMWARE_CTRL field,
see Table 5.2.9, “Fixed ACPI Description Table (FADT).”
The platform boot firmware aligns the FACS on a 64-byte boundary anywhere within the system’s
memory address space. The memory where the FACS structure resides must not be reported as
system AddressRangeMemory in the system address map. For example, the E820 address map
reporting interface would report the region as AddressRangeReserved. For more information about
system address map reporting interfaces, see Section 15, “System Address Map Interfaces.”
Table 5-38 Firmware ACPI Control Structure (FACS)

Byte Byte
Signature 4 0 ‘FACS’
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire Firmware ACPI Control Structure.
This value is 64 bytes or larger.
Hardware Signature 4 8 The value of the system's "hardware signature" at last boot.
This value is calculated by the platform boot firmware on a best
effort basis to indicate the base hardware configuration of the
system such that different base hardware configurations can
have different hardware signature values. Although memory
described using or EfiPersistentMemory (Section 15) iis not
saved/restored by OS during S4, any change to persistent
memory that impacts any OS visible firmware interfaces must
change hardware signature. Any change to the data in
Persistent Memory itself should not be included in computing
the hardware signature.
OSPM uses this information in waking from an S4 state, by
comparing the current hardware signature to the signature
values saved in the non-volatile sleep image. If the values are
not the same, OSPM assumes that the saved non-volatile
image is from a different hardware configuration and cannot be
restored.

Byte Byte
Firmware Waking 4 12 This field is superseded by the X_Firmware_Waking_Vector
Vector field.
The 32-bit address field where OSPM puts its waking vector.
Before transitioning the system into a global sleeping state,
OSPM fills in this field with the physical memory address of an
OS-specific wake function. During POST, the platform firmware
first checks if the value of the X_Firmware_Waking_Vector field
is non-zero and if so transfers control to OSPM as outlined in
the X_Firmware_Waking_vector field description below. If the
X_Firmware_Waking_Vector field is zero then the platform
firmware checks the value of this field and if it is non-zero,
transfers control to the specified address.
On PCs, the wake function address is in memory below 1 MB
and the control is transferred while in real mode. OSPM’s wake
function restores the processors’ context.
For IA-PC platforms, the following example shows the
relationship between the physical address in the Firmware
Waking Vector and the real mode address the BIOS jumps to.
If, for example, the physical address is 0x12345, then the BIOS
must jump to real mode address 0x1234:0x0005. In general this
relationship is
Real-mode address =
Physical address>>4 : Physical address and 0x000F
Notice that on IA-PC platforms, A20 must be enabled when the
BIOS jumps to the real mode address derived from the physical
address stored in the Firmware Waking Vector.
Global Lock 4 16 This field contains the Global Lock used to synchronize access
to shared hardware resources between the OSPM environment
and an external controller environment (for example, the SMI
environment). This lock is owned exclusively by either OSPM or
the firmware at any one time. When ownership of the lock is
attempted, it might be busy, in which case the requesting
environment exits and waits for the signal that the lock has
been released. For example, the Global Lock can be used to
protect an embedded controller interface such that only OSPM
or the firmware will access the embedded controller interface at
any one time. See Section 5.2.10.1, “Global Lock,” for more
information on acquiring and releasing the Global Lock.
Flags 4 20 Firmware control structure flags. See Table 5-39 for a

Byte Byte
X Firmware Waking 8 24 64-bit physical address of OSPM’s Waking Vector.
Vector Before transitioning the system into a global sleeping state,
OSPM fills in this field and the OSPM Flags field to describe the
waking vector. OSPM populates this field with the physical
memory address of an OS-specific wake function. During
POST, the platform firmware checks if the value of this field is
non-zero and if so transfers control to OSPM by jumping to this
address after creating the appropriate execution environment,
which must be configured as follows:
For 64-bit Itanium™ Processor Family (IPF) -based platforms:
Interrupts must be disabled
The processor must have psr.i set to 0. See the Intel® ItaniumTM
Architecture Software Developer’s Manual for more information.
Memory address translation must be disabled
The processor must have psr.it, psr.dt, and psr.rt set to 0. See
the Intel® ItaniumTM Architecture Software Developer’s Manual
for more information.
For IA 32 and x64 platforms, platform firmware is required to
support a 32 bit execution environment. Platform firmware can
additionally support a 64 bit execution environment. If platform
firmware supports a 64 bit execution environment, firmware
inspects the OSPM Flags during POST. If the 64BIT_WAKE_F
flag is set, the platform firmware creates a 64 bit execution
environment. Otherwise, the platform firmware creates a 32 bit
execution environment.
For 64 bit execution environment:
EFLAGS.IF set to 0
Long mode enabled
Paging mode is enabled and physical memory for waking vector
is identity mapped (virtual address equals physical address)
Waking vector must be contained within one physical page
Selectors are set to be flat and are otherwise not used
For 32 bit execution environment:
EFLAGS.IF set to 0
Memory address translation / paging must be disabled
4 GB flat address space for all segment registers
Version 1 32 2–Version of this table
OSPM Flags 4 36 OSPM enabled firmware control structure flags. Platform
firmware must initialize this field to zero. See Table 5-40 for a
description of the OSPM control structure feature flags.

Table 5-39 Firmware Control Structure Feature Flags

FACS – Flag Bit Bit Description
Length Offset
S4BIOS_F 1 0 Indicates whether the platform supports S4BIOS_REQ. If
S4BIOS_REQ is not supported, OSPM must be able to save
and restore the memory state in order to use the S4 state.
64BIT_WAKE_SUPP 1 1 Indicates that the platform firmware supports a 64 bit execution
ORTED_F environment for the waking vector. When set and the OSPM
additionally set 64BIT_WAKE_F, the platform firmware will
create a 64 bit execution environment before transferring
control to the X_Firmware_Waking_Vector.
Reserved 30 2 The value is zero.
Table 5-40 OSPM Enabled Firmware Control Structure Feature Flags

FACS – Flag Bit Bit Description
Length Offset
64BIT_WAKE_F 1 0 OSPM sets this bit to indicate to platform firmware that the
X_Firmware_Waking_Vector requires a 64 bit execution
environment.
This flag can only be set if platform firmware sets
64BIT_WAKE_SUPPORTED_F in the FACS flags field.
This bit field has no affect on ItaniumTM Processor Family
(IPF) -based platforms, which require a 64 bit execution
environment.
Reserved 31 1 The value is zero.
5.2.10.1 Global Lock

The purpose of the ACPI Global Lock is to provide mutual exclusion between the host OS and the
platform runtime firmware. The Global Lock is a 32-bit (DWORD) value in read/write memory
located within the FACS and is accessed and updated by both the OS environment and the SMI
environment in a defined manner to provide an exclusive lock. Note: this is not a pointer to the
Global Lock, it is the actual memory location of the lock. The FACS and Global Lock may be
located anywhere in physical memory.
By convention, this lock is used to ensure that while one environment is accessing some hardware,
the other environment is not. By this convention, when ownership of the lock fails because the other
environment owns it, the requesting environment sets a “pending” state within the lock, exits its
attempt to acquire the lock, and waits for the owning environment to signal that the lock has been
released before attempting to acquire the lock again. When releasing the lock, if the pending bit in
the lock is set after the lock is released, a signal is sent via an interrupt mechanism to the other
environment to inform it that the lock has been released. During interrupt handling for the “lock
released” event within the corresponding environment, if the lock ownership were still desired an
attempt to acquire the lock would be made. If ownership is not acquired, then the environment must
again set “pending” and wait for another “lock release” signal.
The table below shows the encoding of the Global Lock DWORD in memory.

Table 5-41 Global Lock Structure within the FACS

Field Bit Length Bit Offset Description
Pending 1 0 Non-zero indicates that a request for ownership of the Global
Lock is pending.
Owned 1 1 Non-zero indicates that the Global Lock is Owned.
Reserved 30 2 Reserved for future use.
The following code sequence is used by both OSPM and the firmware to acquire ownership of the
Global Lock. If non-zero is returned by the function, the caller has been granted ownership of the
Global Lock and can proceed. If zero is returned by the function, the caller has not been granted
ownership of the Global Lock, the “pending” bit has been set, and the caller must wait until it is
signaled by an interrupt event that the lock is available before attempting to acquire access again.
Note: In the examples that follow, the “GlobalLock” variable is a pointer that has been previously
initialized to point to the 32-bit Global Lock location within the FACS.
AcquireGlobalLock:
mov ecx, GlobalLock ; ecx = Address of Global Lock in FACS
acq10: mov eax, [ecx] ; Get current value of Global Lock
mov edx, eax

and edx, not 1 ; Clear pending bit
bts edx, 1 ; Check and set owner bit
adc edx, 0 ; If owned, set pending bit
lock cmpxchg dword ptr[ecx], edx ; Attempt to set new value

jnz short acq10 ; If not set, try again
cmp dl, 3 ; Was it acquired or marked pending?

sbb eax, eax ; acquired = -1, pending = 0
ret
The following code sequence is used by OSPM and the firmware to release ownership of the Global
Lock. If non-zero is returned, the caller must raise the appropriate event to the other environment to
signal that the Global Lock is now free. Depending on the environment, this signaling is done by
setting the either the GBL_RLS or BIOS_RLS within their respective hardware register spaces. This
signal only occurs when the other environment attempted to acquire ownership while the lock was
owned.

ReleaseGlobalLock:
mov ecx, GlobalLock ; ecx = Address of Global Lock in FACS
rel10: mov eax, [ecx] ; Get current value of Global Lock
mov edx, eax

and edx, not 03h ; Clear owner and pending field
lock cmpxchg dword ptr[ecx], edx ; Attempt to set it

jnz short rel10 ; If not set, try again
and eax, 1 ; Was pending set?
; If one is returned (we were pending) the caller must signal that the
; lock has been released using either GBL_RLS or BIOS_RLS as appropriate
ret
Although using the Global Lock allows various hardware resources to be shared, it is important to
notice that its usage when there is ownership contention could entail a significant amount of system
overhead as well as waits of an indeterminate amount of time to acquire ownership of the Global
Lock. For this reason, implementations should try to design the hardware to keep the required usage
of the Global Lock to a minimum.
The Global Lock is required whenever a logical register in the hardware is shared. For example, if
bit 0 is used by ACPI (OSPM) and bit 1 of the same register is used by SMI, then access to that
register needs to be protected under the Global Lock, ensuring that the register’s contents do not
change from underneath one environment while the other is making changes to it. Similarly if the
entire register is shared, as the case might be for the embedded controller interface, access to the
register needs to be protected under the Global Lock.
5.2.11 Definition Blocks

A Definition Block consists of data in AML format (see Section 5.4 “Definition Block Encoding”)
and contains information about hardware implementation details in the form of AML objects that
contain data, AML code, or other AML objects. The top-level organization of this information after
a definition block is loaded is name-tagged in a hierarchical namespace.
OSPM “loads” or “unloads” an entire definition block as a logical unit. OSPM will load a definition
block either as a result of executing the AML Load() or LoadTable() operator or encountering a
table definition during initialization. During initialization, OSPM loads the Differentiated System
Description Table (DSDT), which contains the Differentiated Definition Block, using the DSDT
pointer retrieved from the FADT. OSPM will load other definition blocks during initialization as a
result of encountering Secondary System Description Table (SSDT) definitions in the RSDT/XSDT.
The DSDT and SSDT are described in the following sections.
As mentioned, the AML Load() and LoadTable() operators make it possible for a Definition Block
to load other Definition Blocks, either statically or dynamically, where they in turn can either define
new system attributes or, in some cases, build on prior definitions. Although this gives the hardware
the ability to vary widely in implementation, it also confines it to reasonable boundaries. In some
cases, the Definition Block format can describe only specific and well-understood variances. In
other cases, it permits implementations to be expressible only by means of a specified set of “built
in” operators. For example, the Definition Block has built in operators for I/O space.

In theory, it might be possible to define something like PCI configuration space in a Definition
Block by building it from I/O space, but that is not the goal of the definition block. Such a space is
usually defined as a “built in” operator.
Some AML operators perform simple functions, and others encompass complex functions. The
power of the Definition block comes from its ability to allow these operations to be glued together in
numerous ways, to provide functionality to OSPM.
The AML operators defined in this specification are intended to allow many useful hardware designs
to be easily expressed, not to allow all hardware designs to be expressed.
Note: To accommodate addressing beyond 32 bits, the integer type was expanded to 64 bits in ACPI
2.0, see Section 19.3.5, “ASL Data Types”. Existing ACPI definition block implementations may
contain an inherent assumption of a 32-bit integer width. Therefore, to maintain backwards
compatibility, OSPM uses the Revision field, in the header portion of system description tables
containing Definition Blocks, to determine whether integers declared within the Definition Block
are to be evaluated as 32-bit or 64-bit values. A Revision field value greater than or equal to 2
signifies that integers declared within the Definition Block are to be evaluated as 64-bit values. The
ASL writer specifies the value for the Definition Block table header’s Revision field via the ASL
Definition Block’s ComplianceRevision field. See Section 19.6.28, “DefinitionBlock (Declare
Definition Block)”, for more information. It is the responsibility of the ASL writer to ensure the
Definition Block’s compatibility with the corresponding integer width when setting the
ComplianceRevision field.
5.2.11.1 Differentiated System Description Table (DSDT)

The Differentiated System Description Table (DSDT) is part of the system fixed description. The
DSDT is comprised of a system description table header followed by data in Definition Block
format. This Definition Block is like all other Definition Blocks, with the exception that it cannot be
unloaded. See Section 5.2.11, “Definition Blocks,” for a description of Definition Blocks. During
initialization, OSPM finds the pointer to the DSDT in the Fixed ACPI Description Table (using the
FADT’s DSDT or X_DSDT fields) and then loads the DSDT to create the ACPI Namespace.
Table 5-42 Differentiated System Description Table Fields (DSDT)

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘DSDT’ Signature for the Differentiated System Description
Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire DSDT (including the header).
Revision 1 8 2. This field also sets the global integer width for the AML
interpreter. Values less than two will cause the interpreter to use
32-bit integers and math. Values of two and greater will cause the
interpreter to use full 64-bit integers and math.
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 The manufacture model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of DSDT for supplied OEM Table ID.


Length Offset
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID for the ASL Compiler.
Creator Revision 4 32 Revision number of the ASL Compiler.
Definition Block n 36 n bytes of AML code (see Section 5.4, “Definition Block
Encoding”)
5.2.11.2 Secondary System Description Table (SSDT)

Secondary System Description Tables (SSDT) are a continuation of the DSDT. The SSDT is
comprised of a system description table header followed by data in Definition Block format. There
can be multiple SSDTs present. After OSPM loads the DSDT to create the ACPI Namespace, each
secondary system description table listed in the RSDT/XSDT with a unique OEM Table ID is
loaded.
Note: Additional tables can only add data; they cannot overwrite data from previous tables.
This allows the OEM to provide the base support in one table and add smaller system options in
other tables. For example, the OEM might put dynamic object definitions into a secondary table such
that the firmware can construct the dynamic information at boot without needing to edit the static
DSDT. A SSDT can only rely on the DSDT being loaded prior to it.
Table 5-43 Secondary System Description Table Fields (SSDT)

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘SSDT’ Signature for the Secondary System Description Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire SSDT (including the header).
Revision 1 8 2
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 The manufacture model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of DSDT for supplied OEM Table ID.
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID for the ASL Compiler.
Creator Revision 4 32 Revision number of the ASL Compiler.
Definition Block n 36 n bytes of AML code (see Section 5.4 , “Definition Block
Encoding”)
5.2.11.3 Persistent System Description Table (PSDT)

The table signature, “PSDT” refers to the Persistent System Description Table (PSDT) defined in the
ACPI 1.0 specification. The PSDT was judged to provide no specific benefit and as such has been
deleted from follow-on versions of the ACPI specification. OSPM will evaluate a table with the
“PSDT” signature in like manner to the evaluation of an SSDT as described in Section 5.2.11.2,
“Secondary System Description Table.”

5.2.12 Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT)

The ACPI interrupt model describes all interrupts for the entire system in a uniform interrupt model
implementation. Supported interrupt models include the PC-AT-compatible dual 8259 interrupt
controller, for Intel processor-based systems, the Intel Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller
(APIC) and Intel Streamlined Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (SAPIC), and, for ARM
processor-based systems, the Generic Interrupt Controller (GIC). The choice of the interrupt
model(s) to support is up to the platform designer. The interrupt model cannot be dynamically
changed by the system firmware; OSPM will choose which model to use and install support for that
model at the time of installation. If a platform supports multiple models, an OS will install support
for only one of the models; it will not mix models. Multi-boot capability is a feature in many modern
operating systems. This means that a system may have multiple operating systems or multiple
instances of an OS installed at any one time. Platform designers must allow for this.
This section describes the format of the Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT), which provides
OSPM with information necessary for operation on systems with APIC, SAPIC or GIC
implementations.
ACPI represents all interrupts as "flat" values known as global system interrupts. Therefore to
support APICs, SAPICs or GICs on an ACPI-enabled system, each used interrupt input must be
mapped to the global system interrupt value used by ACPI. See Section 5.2.13. Global System
Interrupts,” for a description of Global System Interrupts.
Additional support is required to handle various multi-processor functions that implementations
might support (for example, identifying each processor's local interrupt controller ID).
All addresses in the MADT are processor-relative physical addresses.
Table 5-44 Multiple APIC Description Table (MADT) Format

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘APIC’ Signature for the Multiple APIC Description Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire MADT.
Revision 1 8 4
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the MADT, the table ID is the manufacturer model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of MADT for supplied OEM Table ID.
Local Interrupt 4 36 The 32-bit physical address at which each processor can access
Controller Address its local interrupt controller.
Flags 4 40 Multiple APIC flags. See Table 5-45 for a description of this field.


Length Offset
Interrupt Controller — 44 A list of interrupt controller structures for this implementation. This
Structure[n] list will contain all of the structures from Table 5-46 needed to
support this platform. These structures are described in the
following sections.
Table 5-45 Multiple APIC Flags

Multiple APIC Bit Bit Description
Flags Length Offset
PCAT_COMPAT 1 0 A one indicates that the system also has a PC-AT-compatible
dual-8259 setup. The 8259 vectors must be disabled (that is,
masked) when enabling the ACPI APIC operation.
Immediately after the Flags value in the MADT is a list of interrupt controller structures that declare
the interrupt features of the machine. The first byte of each structure declares the type of that
structure and the second byte declares the length of that structure.
Table 5-46 Interrupt Controller Structure Types

Value Description _MAT for _MAT for an I/O Reference
Processor APIC object b
object a
0 Processor Local APIC yes no Section 5.2.12.2
1 I/O APIC no yes Section 5.2.12.3
2 Interrupt Source Override no yes Section 5.2.12.5
3 Non-maskable Interrupt (NMI) no yes Section 5.2.12.6
Source
4 Local APIC NMI yes no Section 5.2.12.7
5 Local APIC Address Override no no Section 5.2.12.8
6 I/O SAPIC no yes Section 5.2.12.9
7 Local SAPIC yes no Section 5.2.12.9
8 Platform Interrupt Sources no yes Section 5.2.12.11
9 Processor Local x2APIC yes no Section 5.2.12.12
0xA Local x2APIC NMI yes no Section 5.2.12.13
0xB GIC CPU Interface (GICC) yes no Section 5.2.12.14
0xC GIC Distributor (GICD) no no Section 5.2.12.15
0xD GIC MSI Frame no no Section 5.2.12.16
0xE GIC Redistributor (GICR) no no Section 5.2.12.17
0xF GIC Interrupt Translation no no Section 5.2.12.18
Service (ITS)

0x10- Reserved. OSPM skips no no

0x7F structures of the reserved
type.
0x80- Reserved for OEM use no no
0xFF
a
When _MAT (see Section 6.2.10) appears under a Processor Device object (see Section 8.4), OSPM
processes the Interrupt Controller Structures returned by _MAT with the types labeled "yes" and ignores
other types.
b
When _MAT appears under an I/O APIC Device (see Section 9.17), OSPM processes the Interrupt
Controller Structures returned by _MAT with the types labeled "yes" and ignores other types.
5.2.12.1 MADT Processor Local APIC / SAPIC Structure Entry Order

OSPM implementations may limit the number of supported processors on multi-processor
platforms. OSPM executes on the boot processor to initialize the platform including other
processors. To ensure that the boot processor is supported post initialization, two guidelines should
be followed. The first is that OSPM should initialize processors in the order that they appear in the
MADT. The second is that platform firmware should list the boot processor as the first processor
entry in the MADT.
The advent of multi-threaded processors yielded multiple logical processors executing on common
processor hardware. ACPI defines logical processors in an identical manner as physical processors.
To ensure that non multi-threading aware OSPM implementations realize optimal performance on
platforms containing multi-threaded processors, two guidelines should be followed. The first is the
same as above, that is, OSPM should initialize processors in the order that they appear in the
MADT. The second is that platform firmware should list the first logical processor of each of the
individual multi-threaded processors in the MADT before listing any of the second logical
processors. This approach should be used for all successive logical processors.
Failure of OSPM implementations and platform firmware to abide by these guidelines can result in
both unpredictable and non optimal platform operation.
5.2.12.2 Processor Local APIC Structure

When using the APIC interrupt model, each processor in the system is required to have a Processor
Local APIC record in the MADT, and a processor device object in the DSDT. OSPM does not
expect the information provided in this table to be updated if the processor information changes
during the lifespan of an OS boot. While in the sleeping state, processors are not allowed to be
added, removed, nor can their APIC ID or Flags change. When a processor is not present, the
Processor Local APIC information is either not reported or flagged as disabled.
Table 5-47 Processor Local APIC Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0 Processor Local APIC structure
Length 1 1 8

ACPI 1 2 The OS associates this Local APIC Structure with a processor object
Processor UID in the namespace when the _UID child object of the processor's
device object (or the ProcessorId listed in the Processor declaration
operator) evaluates to a numeric value that matches the numeric
value in this field. Note that the use of the Processor declaration
operator is deprecated. See the compatibility note in Section 5.2.12.2
and see Section 19.6.109, “Processor (Declare Processor).”
APIC ID 1 3 The processor’s local APIC ID.
Flags 4 4 Local APIC flags. See Table 5-47 for a description of this field.
Table 5-48 Local APIC Flags

LocalAPIC Flags Bit Bit Description
Length Offset
Enabled 1 0 If zero, this processor is unusable, and the operating system
support will not attempt to use it.
Reserved 31 1 Must be zero.
5.2.12.3 I/O APIC Structure

In an APIC implementation, there are one or more I/O APICs. Each I/O APIC has a series of
interrupt inputs, referred to as INTIn, where the value of n is from 0 to the number of the last
interrupt input on the I/O APIC. The I/O APIC structure declares which global system interrupts are
uniquely associated with the I/O APIC interrupt inputs. There is one I/O APIC structure for each I/O
APIC in the system. For more information on global system interrupts see Section 5.2.13, “Global
System Interrupts.”
Table 5-49 I/O APIC Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 1 I/O APIC structure
Length 1 1 12
I/O APIC ID 1 2 The I/O APIC’s ID.
Reserved 1 3 0
I/O APIC Address 4 4 The 32-bit physical address to access this I/O APIC. Each I/O APIC
resides at a unique address.
Global System 4 8 The global system interrupt number where this I/O APIC’s interrupt
Interrupt Base inputs start. The number of interrupt inputs is determined by the I/O
APIC’s Max Redir Entry register.
5.2.12.4 Platforms with APIC and Dual 8259 Support

Systems that support both APIC and dual 8259 interrupt models must map global system interrupts
0-15 to the 8259 IRQs 0-15, except where Interrupt Source Overrides are provided (see
Section 5.2.12.5, “Interrupt Source Override Structure” below). This means that I/O APIC interrupt
inputs 0-15 must be mapped to global system interrupts 0-15 and have identical sources as the 8259

IRQs 0-15 unless overrides are used. This allows a platform to support OSPM implementations that
use the APIC model as well as OSPM implementations that use the 8259 model (OSPM will only
use one model; it will not mix models).
When OSPM supports the 8259 model, it will assume that all interrupt descriptors reporting global
system interrupts 0-15 correspond to 8259 IRQs. In the 8259 model all global system interrupts
greater than 15 are ignored. If OSPM implements APIC support, it will enable the APIC as described
by the APIC specification and will use all reported global system interrupts that fall within the limits
of the interrupt inputs defined by the I/O APIC structures. For more information on hardware
resource configuration see Section 6, “Configuration.”
5.2.12.5 Interrupt Source Override Structure

Interrupt Source Overrides are necessary to describe variances between the IA-PC standard dual
8259 interrupt definition and the platform’s implementation.
It is assumed that the ISA interrupts will be identity-mapped into the first I/O APIC sources. Most
existing APIC designs, however, will contain at least one exception to this assumption. The Interrupt
Source Override Structure is provided in order to describe these exceptions. It is not necessary to
provide an Interrupt Source Override for every ISA interrupt. Only those that are not identity-
mapped onto the APIC interrupt inputs need be described.
Note: This specification only supports overriding ISA interrupt sources.

For example, if your machine has the ISA Programmable Interrupt Timer (PIT) connected to ISA
IRQ 0, but in APIC mode, it is connected to I/O APIC interrupt input 2, then you would need an
Interrupt Source Override where the source entry is ‘0’ and the Global System Interrupt is ‘2.’
Table 5-50 Interrupt Source Override Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 2 Interrupt Source Override
Length 1 1 10
Bus 1 2 0 Constant, meaning ISA
Source 1 3 Bus-relative interrupt source (IRQ)
Global System 4 4 The Global System Interrupt that this bus-relative interrupt source
Interrupt will signal.
Flags 2 8 MPS INTI flags. See Table 5-51 for a description of this field.
The MPS INTI flags listed in Table 5-51 are identical to the flags used in Table 4-10 of the MPS
version 1.4 specifications. The Polarity flags are the PO bits and the Trigger Mode flags are the EL
bits.
Table 5-51 MPS INTI Flags

Local APIC - Bit Bit Description
Flags Length Offset

Polarity 2 0 Polarity of the APIC I/O input signals:

00 Conforms to the specifications of the bus
(For example, EISA is active-low for level-triggered interrupts)
01 Active high
10 Reserved
11 Active low
Trigger Mode 2 2 Trigger mode of the APIC I/O Input signals:
00 Conforms to specifications of the bus
(For example, ISA is edge-triggered)
01 Edge-triggered
10 Reserved
11 Level-triggered
Interrupt Source Overrides are also necessary when an identity mapped interrupt input has a non-
standard polarity.
Note: You must have an interrupt source override entry for the IRQ mapped to the SCI interrupt if this
IRQ is not identity mapped. This entry will override the value in SCI_INT in FADT. For example, if
SCI is connected to IRQ 9 in PIC mode and IRQ 9 is connected to INTIN11 in APIC mode, you
should have 9 in SCI_INT in the FADT and an interrupt source override entry mapping IRQ 9 to
INTIN11.
5.2.12.6 Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) Source Structure

This structure allows a platform designer to specify which I/O (S)APIC interrupt inputs should be
enabled as non-maskable. Any source that is non-maskable will not be available for use by devices.
Table 5-52 NMI Source Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 3 NMI Source
Length 1 1 8
Flags 2 2 Same as MPS INTI flags
Global System 4 4 The Global System Interrupt that this NMI will signal.
Interrupt
5.2.12.7 Local APIC NMI Structure

This structure describes the Local APIC interrupt input (LINTn) that NMI is connected to for each of
the processors in the system where such a connection exists. This information is needed by OSPM to
enable the appropriate local APIC entry.
Each Local APIC NMI connection requires a separate Local APIC NMI structure. For example, if
the platform has 4 processors with ID 0-3 and NMI is connected LINT1 for processor 3 and 2, two
Local APIC NMI entries would be needed in the MADT.

Table 5-53 Local APIC NMI Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 4 Local APIC NMI Structure
Length 1 1 6
ACPI Processor 1 2 Value corresponding to the _UID listed in the processor’s device
UID object, or the Processor ID corresponding to the ID listed in the
processor object. A value of 0xFF signifies that this applies to all
processors in the machine.
Note that the use of the Processor declaration operator is
deprecated. See the compatibility note in Section 5.2.12.12 and
see Section 19.6.109, “Processor (Declare Processor).”
Local APIC LINT# 1 5 Local APIC interrupt input LINTn to which NMI is connected.
5.2.12.8 Local APIC Address Override Structure

This optional structure supports 64-bit systems by providing an override of the physical address of
the local APIC in the MADT’s table header, which is defined as a 32-bit field.
If defined, OSPM must use the address specified in this structure for all local APICs (and local
SAPICs), rather than the address contained in the MADT’s table header. Only one Local APIC
Address Override Structure may be defined.
Table 5-54 Local APIC Address Override Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 5 Local APIC Address Override Structure
Length 1 1 12
Reserved 2 2 Reserved (must be set to zero)
Local APIC 8 4 Physical address of Local APIC. For Itanium™ Processor Family
Address (IPF)-based platforms, this field contains the starting address of the
Processor Interrupt Block. See the Intel® ItaniumTM Architecture
Software Developer’s Manual for more information.
5.2.12.9 I/O SAPIC Structure

The I/O SAPIC structure is very similar to the I/O APIC structure. If both I/O APIC and I/O SAPIC
structures exist for a specific APIC ID, the information in the I/O SAPIC structure must be used.
The I/O SAPIC structure uses the I/O APIC ID field as defined in the I/O APIC table. The Global
System Interrupt Base field remains unchanged but has been moved. The I/O APIC Address field
has been deleted. A new address and reserved field have been added.

Table 5-55 I/O SAPIC Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 6 I/O SAPIC Structure
Length 1 1 16
I/O APIC ID 1 2 I/O SAPIC ID
Reserved 1 3 Reserved (must be zero)
Global System 4 4 The global system interrupt number where this I/O SAPIC’s
Interrupt Base interrupt inputs start. The number of interrupt inputs is determined
by the I/O SAPIC’s Max Redir Entry register.
I/O SAPIC 8 8 The 64-bit physical address to access this I/O SAPIC. Each I/O
Address SAPIC resides at a unique address.
If defined, OSPM must use the information contained in the I/O SAPIC structure instead of the
information from the I/O APIC structure.
If both I/O APIC and an I/O SAPIC structures exist in an MADT, the OEM/platform firmware
writer must prevent “mixing” I/O APIC and I/O SAPIC addresses. This is done by ensuring that
there are at least as many I/O SAPIC structures as I/O APIC structures and that every I/O APIC
structure has a corresponding I/O SAPIC structure (same APIC ID).
5.2.12.10 Local SAPIC Structure

The Processor local SAPIC structure is very similar to the processor local APIC structure. When
using the SAPIC interrupt model, each processor in the system is required to have a Processor Local
SAPIC record in the MADT, and a processor device object in the DSDT. OSPM does not expect the
information provided in this table to be updated if the processor information changes during the
lifespan of an OS boot. While in the sleeping state, processors are not allowed to be added, removed,
nor can their SAPIC ID or Flags change. When a processor is not present, the Processor Local
SAPIC information is either not reported or flagged as disabled.
Table 5-56 Processor Local SAPIC Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 7 Processor Local SAPIC structure
Length 1 1 Length of the Local SAPIC Structure in bytes.
ACPI Processor 1 2 OSPM associates the Local SAPIC Structure with a processor
ID object declared in the namespace using the Processor statement
by matching the processor object’s ProcessorID value with this
field. The use of the Processor statement is deprecated. See the
compatibility note in Section 5.2.12.12, and Section 19.6.109,
“Processor (Declare Processor).”
Local SAPIC ID 1 3 The processor’s local SAPIC ID
Local SAPIC EID 1 4 The processor’s local SAPIC EID
Reserved 3 5 Reserved (must be set to zero)

Flags 4 8 Local SAPIC flags. See Table 5-48 for a description of this field.
ACPI Processor 4 12 OSPM associates the Local SAPIC Structure with a processor
UID Value object declared in the namespace using the Device statement,
when the _UID child object of the processor device evaluates to a
numeric value, by matching the numeric value with this field.
ACPI Processor >=1 16 OSPM associates the Local SAPIC Structure with a processor
UID String object declared in the namespace using the Device statement,
when the _UID child object of the processor device evaluates to a
string, by matching the string with this field. This value is stored as a
null-terminated ASCII string.
5.2.12.11 Platform Interrupt Source Structure

The Platform Interrupt Source structure is used to communicate which I/O SAPIC interrupt inputs
are connected to the platform interrupt sources.
Platform Management Interrupts (PMIs) are used to invoke platform firmware to handle various
events (similar to SMI in IA-32). The Intel® ItaniumTM architecture permits the I/O SAPIC to send a
vector value in the interrupt message of the PMI type. This value is specified in the I/O SAPIC
Vector field of the Platform Interrupt Sources Structure.
INIT messages cause processors to soft reset.
If a platform can generate an interrupt after correcting platform errors (e.g., single bit error
correction), the interrupt input line used to signal such corrected errors is specified by the Global
System Interrupt field in the following table. Some systems may restrict the retrieval of corrected
platform error information to a specific processor. In such cases, the firmware indicates the
processor that can retrieve the corrected platform error information through the Processor ID and
EID fields in the structure below. OSPM is required to program the I/O SAPIC redirection table
entries with the Processor ID, EID values specified by the ACPI system firmware. On platforms
where the retrieval of corrected platform error information can be performed on any processor, the
firmware indicates this capability by setting the CPEI Processor Override flag in the Platform
Interrupt Source Flags field of the structure below. If the CPEI Processor Override Flag is set,
OSPM uses the processor specified by Processor ID, and EID fields of the structure below only as a
target processor hint and the error retrieval can be performed on any processor in the system.
However, firmware is required to specify valid values in Processor ID, EID fields to ensure
backward compatibility.
If the CPEI Processor Override flag is clear, OSPM may reject a ejection request for the processor
that is targeted for the corrected platform error interrupt. If the CPEI Processor Override flag is set,
OSPM can retarget the corrected platform error interrupt to a different processor when the target
processor is ejected.
Note that the _MAT object can return a buffer containing Platform Interrupt Source Structure
entries. It is allowed for such an entry to refer to a Global System Interrupt that is already specified
by a Platform Interrupt Source Structure provided through the static MADT table, provided the
value of platform interrupt source flags are identical.
Refer to the ItaniumTM Processor Family System Abstraction Layer (SAL) Specification for details
on handling the Corrected Platform Error Interrupt.

Table 5-57 Platform Interrupt Source Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 8 Platform Interrupt Source structure
Length 1 1 16
Interrupt Type 1 4 1 PMI
2 INIT
3 Corrected Platform Error Interrupt
All other values are reserved.
Processor ID 1 5 Processor ID of destination.
Processor EID 1 6 Processor EID of destination.
I/O SAPIC Vector 1 7 Value that OSPM must use to program the vector field of the I/O
SAPIC redirection table entry for entries with the PMI interrupt type.
Global System 4 8 The Global System Interrupt that this platform interrupt will signal.
Interrupt
Platform Interrupt 4 12 Platform Interrupt Source Flags. See Table 5-58 for a description of
Source Flags this field
Table 5-58 Platform Interrupt Source Flags

Platform Bit Bit Description
Interrupt Source Length Offset
Flags
CPEI Processor 1 0 When set, indicates that retrieval of error information is allowed
Override from any processor and OSPM is to use the information provided
by the processor ID, EID fields of the Platform Interrupt Source
Structure (Table 5-57) as a target processor hint.
5.2.12.12 Processor Local x2APIC Structure

The Processor X2APIC structure is very similar to the processor local APIC structure. When using
the X2APIC interrupt model, logical processors are required to have a processor device object in the
DSDT and must convey the processor's APIC information to OSPM using the Processor Local
X2APIC structure.
Note: [Compatibility note] On some legacy OSes, Logical processors with APIC ID values less than 255
(whether in XAPIC or X2APIC mode) must use the Processor Local APIC structure to convey their
APIC information to OSPM, and those processors must be declared in the DSDT using the
Processor() keyword. Logical processors with APIC ID values 255 and greater must use the
Processor Local x2APIC structure and be declared using the Device() keyword. See
Section 19.6.109 "Processor (Declare Processor)" for more information.
OSPM does not expect the information provided in this table to be updated if the processor
information changes during the lifespan of an OS boot. While in the sleeping state, logical
processors must not be added or removed, nor can their X2APIC ID or x2APIC Flags change. When

a logical processor is not present, the processor local X2APIC information is either not reported or
flagged as disabled.
The format of x2APIC structure is listed in Table 5-59.
Table 5-59 Processor Local x2APIC Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 9 Processor Local x2APIC structure
Length 1 1 16
Reserved 2 2 Reserved - Must be zero
X2APIC ID 4 4 The processor’s local x2APIC ID.
Flags 4 8 Same as Local APIC flags. See Table 5-47 for a description of this
field.
ACPI Processor 4 12 OSPM associates the X2APIC Structure with a processor object
UID declared in the namespace using the Device statement, when the
_UID child object of the processor device evaluates to a numeric
value, by matching the numeric value with this field
5.2.12.13 Local x2APIC NMI Structure

The Local APIC NMI and Local x2APIC NMI structures describe the interrupt input (LINTn) that
NMI is connected to for each of the logical processors in the system where such a connection exists.
Each NMI connection to a processor requires a separate NMI structure. This information is needed
by OSPM to enable the appropriate APIC entry.
NMI connection to a logical processor with local x2APIC ID 255 and greater requires an X2APIC
NMI structure. NMI connection to a logical processor with an x2APIC ID less than 255 requires a
Local APIC NMI structure. For example, if the platform contains 8 logical processors with x2APIC
IDs 0-3 and 256-259 and NMI is connected LINT1 for processor 3, 2, 256 and 257 then two Local
APIC NMI entries and two X2APIC NMI entries must be provided in the MADT.
The Local APIC NMI structure is used to specify global LINTx for all processors if all logical
processors have x2APIC ID less than 255. If the platform contains any logical processors with an
x2APIC ID of 255 or greater then the Local X2APIC NMI structure must be used to specify global
LINTx for ALL logical processors. The format of x2APIC NMI structure is listed in Table 5-60.
Table 5-60 Local x2APIC NMI Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0AH Local x2APIC NMI Structure
Length 1 1 12
Flags 2 2 Same as MPS INTI flags. See Table 5-51 for a description of this
field.
ACPI Processor 4 4 UID corresponding to the ID listed in the processor Device object. A
UID value of 0xFFFFFFFF signifies that this applies to all processors in
the machine.

Local x2APIC 1 8 Local x2APIC interrupt input LINTn to which NMI is connected.
LINT#
Reserved 3 9 Reserved - Must be zero.
Global System Interrupt Vector Interrupt Input Lines ‘System Vector Base’
(ie ACPI PnP IRQ# ) on IOAPIC reported in IOAPIC Struc
24 input
0 INTI_0 0
IOAPIC .
.
.
23 INTI_23
16 input
24 INTI_0 24
IOAPIC .
.
.
39 INTI_15
24 input 40 INTI_0 40
IOAPIC .
51 INTI_11
.
55 INTI_23
Figure 5-23 APIC–Global System Interrupts
5.2.12.14 GIC CPU Interface (GICC) Structure

In the GIC interrupt model, logical processors are required to have a Processor Device object in the
DSDT, and must convey each processor’s GIC information to the OS using the GICC structure.
The format of the GICC structure is shown in Table 5-61.
Table 5-61 GICC Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0xB GICC structure
Length 1 1 80


Length Offset
CPU Interface 4 4 GIC's CPU Interface Number. In GICv1/v2 implementations, this
Number value matches the bit index of the associated processor in the GIC
distributor's GICD_ITARGETSR register.
For GICv3/4 implementations this field must be provided by the
platform, if compatibility mode is supported.
If it is not supported by the implementation, then this field must be
zero.
ACPI Processor 4 8 The OS associates this GICC Structure with a processor device
UID object in the namespace when the _UID child object of the
processor device evaluates to a numeric value that matches the
numeric value in this field.
Flags 4 12 See Table 5-62.
Parking Protocol 4 16 Version of the ARM-Processor Parking Protocol implemented. See
Version http://uefi.org/acpi. The document link is listed under
"Multiprocessor Startup for ARM Platforms"
For systems that support PSCI exclusively and do not support the
parking protocol, this field must be set to 0.
Performance 4 20 The GSIV used for Performance Monitoring Interrupts
Interrupt GSIV
Parked Address 8 24 The 64-bit physical address of the processor’s Parking Protocol
mailbox
Physical Base 8 32 On GICv1/v2 systems and GICv3/4 systems in GICv2 compatibility
Address mode, this field holds the 64-bit physical address at which the
processor can access this GIC CPU Interface. If provided here, the
"Local Interrupt Controller Address" field in the MADT must be
GICV 8 40 Address of the GIC virtual CPU interface registers. If the platform is
not presenting a GICv2 with virtualization extensions this field can
be 0.
GICH 8 48 Address of the GIC virtual interface control block registers. If the
platform is not presenting a GICv2 with virtualization extensions
this field can be 0.
VGIC 4 56 GSIV for Virtual GIC maintenance interrupt
Maintenance
interrupt
GICR Base 8 60 On systems supporting GICv3 and above, this field holds the 64-bit
Address physical address of the associated Redistributor. If all of the GIC
Redistributors are in the always-on power domain, GICR structures
should be used to describe the Redistributors instead, and this field
must be set to 0. If a GICR structure is present in the MADT then
this field must be ignored by the OSPM.


Length Offset
MPIDR 8 68 This fields follows the MPIDR formatting of ARM architecture.
If the implements ARMv7 architecure then the format must be:
Bits [63:24] Must be zero

Bits [23:16] Aff2 : Match Aff2 of target processor MPIDR
For platforms implementing ARMv8 the format must be:

Processor Power 1 76 Describes the relative power efficiency of the associated
Efficiency Class processor. Lower efficiency class numbers are more efficient than
higher ones (e.g. efficiency class 0 should be treated as more
efficient than efficiency class 1).
However, absolute values of this number have no meaning: 2 isn't
necessarily half as efficient as 1.
Table 5-62 GICC CPU Interface Flags

GIC Flags Bit Bit Description
Length Offset
Enabled 1 0 If zero, this processor is unusable, and the operating system
support will not attempt to use it.
Performance 1 1 0 - Level-triggered
Interrupt Mode 1 - Edge-Triggered
VGIC 1 2 0 - Level-triggered
Maintenance 1 - Edge-Triggered
interrupt Mode
Flags
5.2.12.15 GIC Distributor (GICD) Structure

ACPI represents all interrupts as “flat” values known as global system interrupts (GSIVs)
(Section 5.2.13). On ARM, the GIC Distributor has some number of interrupt inputs corresponding
to the same number of contiguous GSIVs. Therefore, each used interrupt input must be mapped to
the global system interrupt value used by ACPI for that input. This mapping is provided by the GIC
Distributor structure, by setting the base GSIV for the GIC Distributor.

The format of the GICD structure is listed in Table 5-63.
Table 5-63 GICD Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0xC GICD structure
Length 1 1 24
GIC ID 4 4 This GIC Distributor’s hardware ID
Physical Base 8 8 The 64-bit physical address for this Distributor
Address
System Vector 4 16 The global system interrupt number where this GIC Distributor’s
Base interrupt inputs start.
For a given GSIV, GIC INT ID = GSIV - System Vector Base.
GIC version 1 20 0x00: No GIC version is specified, fall back to hardware discovery
for GIC version
0x01: GICv1
0x02: GICv2
0x03: GICv3
0x04: GICv4
0x05-0xFF, Reserved for future use.
Reserved 3 21 Must be zero
5.2.12.16 GIC MSI Frame Structure

Each GICv2m MSI frame consists of a 4k page which includes registers to generate message
signaled interrupts to an associated GIC distributor. The frame also includes registers to discover the
set of distributor lines which may be signaled by MSIs from that frame. A system may have multiple
MSI frames, and separate frames may be defined for secure and non-secure access. This structure
must only be used to describe non-secure MSI frames.
The format of the GIC MSI Frame Structure is listed in Table 5-64.
Table 5-64 GIC MSI Frame Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0xD GIC MSI Frame structure
Length 1 1 24
GIC MSI Frame ID 4 4 GIC MSI Frame ID. In a system with multiple GIC MSI frames, this
value must be unique to each one.
Physical Base 8 8 The 64-bit physical address for this MSI Frame
Address
Flags 4 16 GIC MSI Frame Flags. See Table 5-65


Length Offset
SPI Count 2 20 SPI Count used by this frame. Unless the SPI Count Select flag is
set to 1 this value should match the lower 16 bits of the
MSI_TYPER register in the frame.
SPI Base 2 22 SPI Base used by this frame. Unless the SPI Base Select flag is
set to 1 this value should match the upper 16 bits of the
MSI_TYPER register in the frame.
Table 5-65 GIC MSI Frame Flags
GIC MSI Frame Bit Bit Description

Flags Length Offset
SPI Count/Base 1 0 0: The SPI Count and Base fields should be ignored, and the
Select actual values should be queried from the MSI_TYPER register in
the associated GIC MSI frame.
1: The SPI Count and Base values override the values specified in
the MSI_TYPER register in the associated GIC MSI frame.
5.2.12.17 GIC Redistributor (GICR) Structure

The GICR Structure is described in Table 5-66. This structure enables the discovery of GIC
Redistributor base addresses by providing the Physical Base Address of a page range containing the
GIC Redistributors. More than one GICR Structure may be presented in the MADT. GICR
structures should only be used when describing GIC implementations which conform to version 3 or
higher of the GIC architecture and which place all Redistributors in the always-on power
domain.When a GICR structure is presented, the OSPM must ignore the GICR Base Address field of
the GICC structures (see Table 5-61).
Table 5-66 GICR Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0xE GICR structure
Length 1 1 16
Discovery Range 8 4 The 64-bit physical address of a page range containing all GIC
Base Address Redistributors
Discovery Range 4 12 Length of the GIC Redistributor Discovery page range.
Length
5.2.12.18 GIC Interrupt Translation Service (ITS) Structure

The GIC ITS is optionally supported in GICv3/v4 implementations. The format of the GIC ITS
Structure is listed in Table 5-67:

Table 5-67 GIC ITS Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0xF GIC ITS structure
Length 1 1 20
GIC ITS ID 4 4 GIC ITS ID. In a system with multiple GIC ITS units, this value must
be unique to each one.
Physical Base 8 8 The 64-bit physical address for the Interrupt Translation Service
Address
Reserved 4 16 Reserved – Must be zero
5.2.13 Global System Interrupts

Global System Interrupts can be thought of as ACPI Plug and Play IRQ numbers. They are used to
virtualize interrupts in tables and in ASL methods that perform resource allocation of interrupts. Do
not confuse global system interrupts with ISA IRQs although in the case of the IA-PC 8259
interrupts they correspond in a one-to-one fashion.
There are two interrupt models used in ACPI-enabled systems.
The first model is the APIC model. In the APIC model, the number of interrupt inputs supported by
each I/O APIC can vary. OSPM determines the mapping of the Global System Interrupts by
determining how many interrupt inputs each I/O APIC supports and by determining the global
system interrupt base for each I/O APIC as specified by the I/O APIC Structure. OSPM determines
the number of interrupt inputs by reading the Max Redirection register from the I/O APIC. The
global system interrupts mapped to that I/O APIC begin at the global system interrupt base and
extending through the number of interrupts specified in the Max Redirection register. This mapping
is depicted in Figure 5-23.
There is exactly one I/O APIC structure per I/O APIC in the system.

Global System Interrupt Vector 8259 ISA IRQs

(ie ACPI PnP IRQ# )
0 IRQ0
.
M aster IRQ3
8259
.
7 IRQ7
8 IR8
Slave .
8259 IRQ11
.
15 IRQ15
Figure 5-24 8259–Global System Interrupts
The other interrupt model is the standard AT style mentioned above which uses ISA IRQs attached
to a master slave pair of 8259 PICs. The system vectors correspond to the ISA IRQs. The ISA IRQs
and their mappings to the 8259 pair are part of the AT standard and are well defined. This mapping
is depicted in Figure 5-24.
5.2.14 Smart Battery Table (SBST)

If the platform supports batteries as defined by the Smart Battery Specification 1.0 or 1.1, then an
Smart Battery Table (SBST) is present. This table indicates the energy level trip points that the
platform requires for placing the system into the specified sleeping state and the suggested energy
levels for warning the user to transition the platform into a sleeping state. Notice that while Smart
Batteries can report either in current (mA/mAh) or in energy (mW/mWh), OSPM must set them to
operate in energy (mW/mWh) mode so that the energy levels specified in the SBST can be used.
OSPM uses these tables with the capabilities of the batteries to determine the different trip points.
For more precise definitions of these levels, see Section 3.9.3, “Battery Gas Gauge.”
Table 5-68 Smart Battery Description Table (SBST) Format

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘SBST’ Signature for the Smart Battery Description Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire SBST
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID


Length Offset
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the SBST, the table ID is the manufacturer model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of SBST for supplied OEM Table ID.
Warning Energy 4 36 OEM suggested energy level in milliWatt-hours (mWh) at which
Level OSPM warns the user.
Low Energy Level 4 40 OEM suggested platform energy level in mWh at which OSPM will
transition the system to a sleeping state.
Critical Energy 4 44 OEM suggested platform energy level in mWh at which OSPM
Level performs an emergency shutdown.
5.2.15 Embedded Controller Boot Resources Table (ECDT)

This optional table provides the processor-relative, translated resources of an Embedded Controller.
The presence of this table allows OSPM to provide Embedded Controller operation region space
access before the namespace has been evaluated. If this table is not provided, the Embedded
Controller region space will not be available until the Embedded Controller device in the AML
namespace has been discovered and enumerated. The availability of the region space can be detected
by providing a _REG method object underneath the Embedded Controller device.
Table 5-69 Embedded Controller Boot Resources Table Format

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘ECDT’ Signature for the Embedded Controller Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire Embedded Controller Table
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the Embedded Controller Table, the table ID is the
manufacturer model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of Embedded Controller Table for supplied OEM
Table ID.


Length Offset
EC_CONTROL 12 36 Contains the processor relative address, represented in Generic
Address Structure format, of the Embedded Controller Command/
Status register.
Note: Only System I/O space and System Memory space are
valid for values for Address_Space_ID.
EC_DATA 12 48 Contains the processor-relative address, represented in Generic
Address Structure format, of the Embedded Controller Data
register.
UID 4 60 Unique ID–Same as the value returned by the _UID under the
device in the namespace that represents this embedded
controller.
GPE_BIT 1 64 The bit assignment of the SCI interrupt within the GPEx_STS
register of a GPE block described in the FADT that the embedded
controller triggers.
EC_ID Variable 65 ASCII, null terminated, string that contains a fully qualified
reference to the namespace object that is this embedded
controller device (for example, “\\_SB.PCI0.ISA.EC”). Quotes are
omitted in the data field.
ACPI OSPM implementations supporting Embedded Controller devices must also support the
ECDT. ACPI 1.0 OSPM implementation will not recognize or make use of the ECDT. The
following example code shows how to detect whether the Embedded Controller operation regions
are available in a manner that is backward compatible with prior versions of ACPI/OSPM.
Device(EC0) {
Name(REGC,Ones)
Method(_REG,2) {
If(Lequal(Arg0, 3)) {
Store(Arg1, REGC)
}
}
}
Method(ECAV,0) {
If(Lequal(REGC,Ones)) {
If(LgreaterEqual(_REV,2)) {
Return(One)
}
Else {
Return(Zero)
}
}
Else {
Return(REGC)
}
}

To detect the availability of the region, call the ECAV method. For example:
If (\_SB.PCI0.EC0.ECAV()) {
...regions are available...
}
else {
...regions are not available...
}
5.2.16 System Resource Affinity Table (SRAT)

This optional table provides information that allows OSPM to associate processors and memory
ranges, including ranges of memory provided by hot-added memory devices, with system localities /
proximity domains and clock domains. On NUMA platforms, SRAT information enables OSPM to
optimally configure the operating system during a point in OS initialization when evaluation of
objects in the ACPI Namespace is not yet possible. OSPM evaluates the SRAT only during OS
initialization. The Local APIC ID / Local SAPIC ID / Local x2APIC ID or the GICC ACPI
Processor UID of all processors started at boot time must be present in the SRAT. If the Local APIC
ID / Local SAPIC ID / Local x2APIC ID or the GICC ACPI Processor UID of a dynamically added
processor is not present in the SRAT, a _PXM object must exist for the processor’s device or one of
its ancestors in the ACPI Namespace.
Table 5-70 Static Resource Affinity Table Format

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘SRAT’. Signature for the System Resource Affinity Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire SRAT. The length implies the
number of Entry fields at the end of the table
Revision 1 8 3
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the System Resource Affinity Table, the table ID is the
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of System Resource Affinity Table for supplied OEM
Table ID.
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID of utility that created the table.
Creator Revision 4 32 Revision of utility that created the table.
Reserved 4 36 Reserved to be 1 for backward compatibility
Reserved 8 40 Reserved
Static Resource --- 48 A list of static resource allocation structures for the platform. See
Allocation Section 5.2.16.1,”Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure”,
Structure[n] Section 5.2.16.2 “Memory Affinity Structure”, Section 5.2.16.3
“Processor Local x2APIC Affinity Structure”, and Section 5.2.16.4,
“GICC Affinity Structure.

5.2.16.1 Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure

The Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity structure provides the association between the APIC ID
or SAPIC ID/EID of a processor and the proximity domain to which the processor belongs. Table 5-
71 provides the details of the Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity structure.
Table 5-71 Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0 Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure
Length 1 1 16
Proximity Domain 1 2 Bit [7:0] of the proximity domain to which the processor belongs.
[7:0]
APIC ID 1 3 The processor local APIC ID.
Flags 4 4 Flags – Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure. See
Table 5-72 for a description of this field.
Local SAPIC EID 1 8 The processor local SAPIC EID.
Proximity Domain 3 9 Bit [31:8] of the proximity domain to which the processor belongs.
[31:8]
Clock Domain 4 12 The clock domain to which the processor belongs. See
Section 6.2.1, “_CDM (Clock Domain)”.
Table 5-72 Flags – Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure

Field Bit Bit Description
Length Offset
Enabled 1 0 If clear, the OSPM ignores the contents of the Processor Local
APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure. This allows system firmware to
populate the SRAT with a static number of structures but only
enable them as necessary.
5.2.16.2 Memory Affinity Structure

The Memory Affinity structure provides the following topology information statically to the
operating system:
• The association between a range of memory and the proximity domain to which it belongs
• Information about whether the range of memory can be hot-plugged.
Table 5-73 provides the details of the Memory Affinity structure.
Table 5-73 Memory Affinity Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 1 Memory Affinity Structure
Length 1 1 40


Length Offset
Proximity Domain 4 2 Integer that represents the proximity domain to which the "range
of memory" belongs.
Base Address Low 4 8 Low 32 Bits of the Base Address of the memory range
Base Address High 4 12 High 32 Bits of the Base Address of the memory range
Length Low 4 16 Low 32 Bits of the length of the memory range.
Length High 4 20 High 32 Bits of the length of the memory range.
Reserved 4 24 Reserved.
Flags 4 28 Flags – Memory Affinity Structure. Indicates whether the region of
memory is enabled and can be hot plugged. See Table 5-74.
Table 5-74 Flags – Memory Affinity Structure

Length Offset
Enabled 1 0 If clear, the OSPM ignores the contents of the Memory Affinity
Structure. This allows system firmware to populate the SRAT with
a static number of structures but only enable then as necessary.
Hot Pluggable 1 1 The information conveyed by this bit depends on the value of the
Enabled bit.
If the Enabled bit is set and the Hot Pluggable bit is also set. The
system hardware supports hot-add and hot-remove of this memory
region
If the Enabled bit is set and the Hot Pluggable bit is clear, the
system hardware does not support hot-add or hot-remove of this
memory region.
If the Enabled bit is clear, the OSPM will ignore the contents of the
Memory Affinity Structure
NonVolatile 1 2 If set, the memory region represents Non-Volatile memory
5.2.16.3 Processor Local x2APIC Affinity Structure

The Processor Local x2APIC Affinity structure provides the association between the local x2APIC
ID of a processor and the proximity domain to which the processor belongs. Table 5-75 provides the
details of the Processor Local x2APIC Affinity structure.
Table 5-75 Processor Local x2APIC Affinity Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 2 Processor Local x2APIC Affinity Structure
Length 1 1 24

Reserved 2 2 Reserved – Must be zero

Proximity Domain 4 4 The proximity domain to which the logical processor belongs.
X2APIC ID 4 8 The processor local x2APIC ID.
Flags 4 12 Same as Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure flags. See
Table 5-72 for a description of this field.
Clock Domain 4 16 The clock domain to which the logical processor belongs. See
On x86-based platforms, the OSPM uses the Hot Pluggable bit to determine whether it should shift
into PAE mode to allow for insertion of hot-plug memory with physical addresses over 4 GB.
5.2.16.4 GICC Affinity Structure

The GICC Affinity Structure provides the association between the ACPI Processor UID of a
processor and the proximity domain to which the processor belongs. Table 5-76 provides the details
of the GICC Affinity structure.
Table 5-76 GICC Affinity Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 3 GICC Affinity Structure.
Length 1 1 18
Proximity Domain 4 2 The proximity domain to which the logical processor belongs.
ACPI Processor 4 6 The ACPI Processor UID of the associated GICC.
UID
Flags 4 10 Flags – GICC Affinity Structure. See Table 5-77 for a description of
this field.
Clock Domain 4 14 The clock domain to which the logical processor belongs. See
Table 5-77 Flags – GICC Affinity Structure

Length Offset
Enabled 1 0 If clear, the OSPM ignores the contents of the GICC Affinity
Structure. This allows system firmware to populate the SRAT with
a static number of structures but only enable them as necessary.
5.2.16.5 GIC Interrupt Translation Service (ITS) Affinity Structure

The GIC ITS Affinity Structure provides the association between a GIC ITS and a proximity
domain. This enables the OSPM to discover the memory that is closest to the ITS, and use that in
allocating its management tables and command queue. The ITS is identified using an ID matching a

declaration of a GIC ITS in the MADT, see Section 5.2.12.18 for details. The following table
provides the details of the GIC ITS Affinity structure.
Table 5-78 Architecture Specific Affinity Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 4 GIC ITS Affinity Structure
Length 1 1 12
Proximity domain 4 2 Integer that represents the proximity domain to which the
GIC ITS belongs to.
Reserved 2 6 Reserved must be zero
ITS ID 4 8 ITS ID matching a GIC ITS entry in the MADT
5.2.17 System Locality Distance Information Table (SLIT)

This optional table provides a matrix that describes the relative distance (memory latency) between
all System Localities, which are also referred to as Proximity Domains. Systems employing a Non
Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture contain collections of hardware resources including
for example, processors, memory, and I/O buses, that comprise what is known as a “NUMA node”.
Processor accesses to memory or I/O resources within the local NUMA node is generally faster than
processor accesses to memory or I/O resources outside of the local NUMA node.
The value of each Entry[i,j] in the SLIT table, where i represents a row of a matrix and j represents a
column of a matrix, indicates the relative distances from System Locality / Proximity Domain i to
every other System Locality j in the system (including itself).
The i,j row and column values correlate to the value returned by the _PXM object in the ACPI
namespace. See Section 6.2.14, “_PXM (Proximity)” for more information.
The entry value is a one-byte unsigned integer. The relative distance from System Locality i to
System Locality j is the i*N + j entry in the matrix, where N is the number of System Localities.
Except for the relative distance from a System Locality to itself, each relative distance is stored
twice in the matrix. This provides the capability to describe the scenario where the relative distances
for the two directions between System Localities is different.
The diagonal elements of the matrix, the relative distances from a System Locality to itself are
normalized to a value of 10. The relative distances for the non-diagonal elements are scaled to be
relative to 10. For example, if the relative distance from System Locality i to System Locality j is
2.4, a value of 24 is stored in table entry i*N+ j and in j*N+ i, where N is the number of System
Localities.
If one locality is unreachable from another, a value of 255 (0xFF) is stored in that table entry.
Distance values of 0-9 are reserved and have no meaning.

Table 5-79 SLIT Format

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘SLIT’. Signature for the System Locality Distance Information
Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire System Locality Distance
Information Table.
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the System Locality Information Table, the table ID is the
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of System Locality Information Table for supplied
OEM Table ID.
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID of utility that created the table. For the DSDT,
RSDT, SSDT, and PSDT tables, this is the ID for the ASL
Compiler.
Creator Revision 4 32 Revision of utility that created the table. For the DSDT, RSDT,
SSDT, and PSDT tables, this is the revision for the ASL
Compiler.
Number of System 8 36 Indicates the number of System Localities in the system.
Localities
Entry[0][0] 1 44 Matrix entry (0,0), contains a value of 10.
…
Entry[0][Number of 1 Matrix entry (0, Number of System Localities-1)
System Localities-1]
Entry[1][0] 1 Matrix entry (1,0)
…… ……
Entry[Number of 1 Matrix entry (Number of System Localities-1, Number of

System Localities- System Localities-1), contains a value of 10
1][Number of System
Localities-1]
5.2.18 Corrected Platform Error Polling Table (CPEP)

Platforms may contain the ability to detect and correct certain operational errors while maintaining
platform function. These errors may be logged by the platform for the purpose of retrieval.
Depending on the underlying hardware support, the means for retrieving corrected platform error
information varies. If the platform hardware supports interrupt-based signaling of corrected platform
errors, the MADT Platform Interrupt Source Structure describes the Corrected Platform Error
Interrupt (CPEI). See Section 5.2.12.11,”Platform Interrupt Source Structure”. Alternatively, OSPM
may poll processors for corrected platform error information. Error log information retrieved from a
processor may contain information for all processors within an error reporting group. As such, it

may not be necessary for OSPM to poll all processors in the system to retrieve complete error
information. This optional table provides information that allows OSPM to poll only the processors
necessary for a complete report of the platform’s corrected platform error information.
Table 5-80 Corrected Platform Error Polling Table Format

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘CPEP’. Signature for the Corrected Platform Error Polling Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire CPET. The length implies the
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the Corrected Platform Error Polling Table, the table ID is the
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of Corrected Platform Error Polling Table for
supplied OEM Table ID.
Reserved 8 36 Reserved, must be 0.
CPEP Processor --- 44 A list of Corrected Platform Error Polling Processor structures for
Structure[n] the platform. See Section 5.2.18.1,” Corrected Platform Error
Polling Processor Structure”.
5.2.18.1 Corrected Platform Error Polling Processor Structure

The Corrected Platform Error Polling Processor structure provides information on the specific
processors OSPM polls for error information. Table 5-81 provides the details of the Corrected
Platform Error Polling Processor structure.
Table 5-81 Corrected Platform Error Polling Processor Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0 Corrected Platform Error Polling Processor structure for
APIC/SAPIC based processors
Length 1 1 8
Processor ID 1 2 Processor ID of destination.
Processor EID 1 3 Processor EID of destination.
Polling Interval 4 4 Platform-suggested polling interval (in milliseconds)

5.2.19 Maximum System Characteristics Table (MSCT)

This section describes the format of the Maximum System Characteristic Table (MSCT), which
provides OSPM with information characteristics of a system’s maximum topology capabilities. If
the system maximum topology is not known up front at boot time, then this table is not present.
OSPM will use information provided by the MSCT only when the System Resource Affinity Table
(SRAT) exists. The MSCT must contain all proximity and clock domains defined in the SRAT.
Table 5-82 Maximum System Characteristics Table (MSCT) Format

Field Byte Byte Offset Description
Length
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘MSCT’ Signature for the Maximum System
Characteristics Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire MSCT.
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the MSCT, the table ID is the manufacturer model
ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of MSCT for supplied OEM Table ID.
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID of utility that created the table. For tables
containing Definition Blocks, this is the ID for the ASL
Compiler.
Creator Revision 4 32 Revision of utility that created the table. For tables
containing Definition Blocks, this is the revision for the
ASL Compiler.
Offset to Proximity 4 36 Offset in bytes to the Proximity Domain Information
Domain Information Structure table entry.
Structure
[OffsetProxDomInfo]
Maximum Number of 4 40 Indicates the maximum number of Proximity Domains
Proximity Domains ever possible in the system. The number reported in this
field is (maximum domains – 1). For example if there are
0x10000 possible domains in the system, this field
would report 0xFFFF.
Maximum Number of 4 44 Indicates the maximum number of Clock Domains ever
Clock Domains possible in the system. The number reported in this field
is (maximum domains – 1). See Section 6.2.1, “_CDM
(Clock Domain)”.
Maximum Physical 8 48 Indicates the maximum Physical Address ever possible
Address in the system. Note: this is the top of the reachable
physical address.


Length
Proximity Domain — [OffsetProx A list of Proximity Domain Information for this
Information DomInfo] implementation. The structure format is defined in the
Structure[Maximum Maximum Proximity Domain Information Structure
Number of Proximity section.
Domains]
5.2.19.1 Maximum Proximity Domain Information Structure

The Maximum Proximity Domain Information Structure is used to report system maximum
characteristics. It is likely that these characteristics may be the same for many proximity domains,
but they can vary from one proximity domain to another. This structure optimizes to cover the
former case, while allowing the flexibility for the latter as well. These structures must be organized
in ascending order of the proximity domain enumerations. All proximity domains within the
Maximum Number of Proximity Domains reported in the MSCT must be covered by one of these
structures.
Table 5-83 Maximum Proximity Domain Information Structure

Length Offset
Revision 1 0 1
Length 1 1 22
Proximity Domain 4 2 The starting proximity domain for the proximity domain range that
Range (low) this structure is providing information.
Proximity Domain 4 6 The ending proximity domain for the proximity domain range that
Range (high) this structure is providing information.
Maximum 4 10 The Maximum Processor Capacity of each of the Proximity
Processor Domains specified in the range. A value of 0 means that the
Capacity proximity domains do not contain processors. This field must be >=
the number of processor entries for the domain in the SRAT.
Maximum Memory 8 14 The Maximum Memory Capacity (size in bytes) of the Proximity
Capacity Domains specified in the range. A value of 0 means that the
proximity domains do not contain memory.
5.2.20 ACPI RAS FeatureTable (RASF)

The following table describes structure of ACPI RAS Feature Table.
Table 5-84 RASF Table format

Length
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘RASF’ is Signature for RAS Feature Table

Length 4 4 Length in bytes for entire RASF. The length

implies the number of Entry fields at the end of
the table
Revision 1 8 1
Checksum 1 9 Entire table must sum to zero
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 The table ID is the manufacturer model ID
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of table for supplied OEM Table ID
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID of utility that created the table
Creator Revision 4 32 Revision of utility that created the table
RASF Specific Entries
RASF Platform 12 36 Identifier of the RASF Platform Communication
Communication Channel Channel. OSPM should use this value to identify
Identifier the PCC Sub channel structure in the RASF table
5.2.20.1 RASF PCC Sub Channel Identifier

RASF PCC Sub Channel Identifier is used by the OSPM to identify the PCC Sub channel structure.
RASF table references its PCC Subspace by this identifier as shown in Table 5-84.
5.2.20.2 Using PCC registers

OSPM will write PCC registers by filling in the register value in PCC sub channel space and issuing
a PCC Execute command. See Table 5-86.
To minimize the cost of PCC transactions, OSPM should read or write all registers in the same PCC
subspace via a single read or write command.
5.2.20.3 RASF Communication Channel

RASF Action Entries are defined in the PCC sub channel as below.
Table 5-85 RASF Platform Communication Channel Shared Memory Region

Field Byte Length Byte Description
Offset
Signature 4 0 The PCC Signature of 0x52415346 (corresponds
to ASCII signature of RASF)
Command 2 4 PCC command field; see Table 5-86 and
Section 14.
Status 2 6 PCC status field, see Section 14.
Communication Space
Version 2 8 Byte 0 – Minor Version
Byte 1 – Major Version

Field Byte Length Byte Description

Offset
RAS Capabilities 16 10 Bit Map describing the platform RAS capabilities as
shown in Section 5.2.20.4.
The Platform populates this field. The OSPM uses

this field to determine the RAS capabilities of the
platform.
Set RAS Capabilities 16 26 Bit Map of the RAS features for which the OSPM is
invoking the command. The Bit Map is described in
Section 5.2.20.4.
OSPM sets the bit corresponding to a RAS
capability to invoke a command on that capability.
The bitmap implementation allows OSPM to invoke
a command on each RAS feature supported by the
platform at the same time.
Number of RASF Parameter 2 42 The Number of parameter blocks will depend on
blocks how many RAS Capabilities the Platform Supports.
Typically, there will be one Parameter Block per
RAS Feature, using which that feature can be
managed by OSPM.
Set RAS Capabilities Status 4 44 Status
0000b = Success
0001b = Not Valid
0010b = Not Supported
0011b = Busy
0100b = Failed
0101b = Aborted
0110b = Invalid Data
Parameter Blocks Varies (N 48 Start of the parameter blocks, the structure of
Bytes) which is shown in Table 5-88.
These parameter blocks are used as

communication mailbox between the OSPM and
the platform, and there is 1 parameter block for
each RAS feature.
NOTE: There can be only on parameter block per

type.
Table 5-86 PCC Command Codes used by RASF Platform Communication Channel
Command Description
0x00 Reserved
0x01 Execute RASF Command.

Command Description
0x02-0xFF All other values are reserved.
5.2.20.4 Platform RAS Capabilities

The following table defines the Platform RAS capabilities:
Table 5-87 Platform RAS Capabilities Bitmap

Bit RAS Feature Description
0 Hardware based patrol Indicates that the platform supports hardware based patrol scrub of
scrub supported DRAM memory
1 Hardware based patrol Indicates that the platform supports hardware based patrol scrub of
scrub supported and DRAM memory and platform exposes this capability to software
exposed to software using this RASF mechanism
2 CPU Cache Flush to Indicates that platform ensures the entire CPU store data path is
NVDIMM Durability on flushed to persistent memory on system power loss.
Power Loss Capable
3 Memory Controller Flush Indicates that platform provides mechanisms to automatically flush
to NVDIMM Durability on outstanding write data from the memory controller to persistent
Power Loss Capable memory in the event of platform power loss.
Note: If bit 2 is set then this bit shall be set as well.
4 Byte Addressable Indicates that platform supports mirroring multiple byte addressable
Persistent Memory persistent memory regions together. If this feature is supported and
Hardware Mirroring enabled, healthy hardware mirrored interleave sets will have the
Capable EFI_MEMORY_MORE_RELIABLE Address Range Memory
Mapping Attribute set in the System Physical Address Range
structure in the NFIT table.
5-127 Reserved Reserved for future use
5.2.20.5 Parameter Block

The following table describes the Parameter Blocks. The structure is used to pass parameters for
controlling the corresponding RAS Feature.
Each RAS Feature is assigned a TYPE number, which is the bit index into the RAS capabilities
bitmap described in Table 5-87.
Table 5-88 Parameter Block Structure for PATROL_SCRUB

Field Byte Length Byte Offset Description
Type 2 0 0x0000 – Patrol scrub
Version 2 2 Byte 0 – Minor Version
Byte 1 – Major Version
Length 2 4 Length, in bytes of the entire parameter
block structure


Patrol Scrub 2 6 0x01 - GET_PATROL_PARAMETERS
Command 0x02 - START_PATROL_SCRUBBER
(INPUT) 0x03 – STOP_PATROL_SCRUBBER
Requested 16 8 OSPM Specifies the BASE (Bytes 7-0) and
Address Range SIZE (Bytes 15-8) of the address range to
(INPUT) be patrol scrubbed.
OSPM sets this parameter for the following

commands
GET_PATROL_PARAMETERS
START_PATROL_SCRUBBER
Actual Address 16 24 The platform returns this value in response
Range to GET_PATROL_PARAMETERS. The
(OUTPUT) platform calculates the nearest patrol scrub
boundary address from where it can start.
This range should be a superset of the
Requested Address Range.
BASE (Bytes 7-0) and SIZE (Bytes 15-8) of

the address
Flags (OUTPUT) 2 40 The platform returns this value in response
to GET_PATROL_PARAMETERS
Bit [0]: Will be set if patrol scrubber is

already running for address range specified
in “Actual Address Range”
Bits [3:1]: Current Patrol Speeds, if Bit [0] is

set
000b – Slow
100b – Medium
111b – Fast
All other combinations are reserved.
Bits [15:4]: RESERVED


Requested Speed 1 42 The OSPM Sets this field as follows, for the
(INPUT) START_PATROL_SCRUBBER command
Bit [0]: Will be set if patrol scrubber is

already running for address range specified
in “Actual Address Range”
Bits [2:0]: Requested Patrol Speeds

000b – Slow
100b – Medium
111b – Fast
All other combinations are reserved.
Bits [7:3]: RESERVED
5.2.20.5.1 Sequence of Operations:

The following sequence documents the steps for OSPM to identify whether the platform supports
hardware based patrol scrub and invoke commands to request hardware to patrol scrub the specified
address range.
1. Identify whether the platform supports hardware based patrol scrub and exposes the support to
software by reading the RAS capabilities bitmap in RASF table
2. Call GET_PATROL_PARAMETERS, by setting the Requested Address Range.
3. Platform Returns Actual Address Range and Flags.
4. Based on the above two data, if the OPSM decides to start the patrol scrubber or change the
speed of the patrol scrubber, then the OSPM calls START_PATROL_SCRUBBER, by setting
the Requested Address Range and Requested Speed.
5.2.21 Memory Power State Table (MPST)

The following table describes the structure of new ACPI memory power state table (MPST). This
table defines the memory power node topology of the configuration, as described earlier in
Section 1. The configuration includes specifying memory power nodes and their associated
information. Each memory power node is specified using address ranges, supported memory power
states. The memory power states will include both hardware controlled and software controlled
memory power states. There can be multiple entries for a given memory power node to support non
contiguous address ranges. MPST table also defines the communication mechanism between OSPM
and platform runtime firmware for triggering software controlled memory powerstate transitions
implemented in platform runtime firmware.

Figure 5-25 below provides structure organization overview of MPST table.
Memory Power
Node Structure
Memory Power
State Structure
Flag, Mem Power Node Id ,
Power State Value len etc ..
(m0, M1, M2…)
Address range (low, high
Power State address bits , length low ,
Information Index high)
MPST Top Memory Power State
Memory Power State - 0 level Structure Characteristics Structure
Flags
Header etc..
Power State Value Memory Power State - M Avg. Power Consumed
Memory Power State
(M0, M1, M2, …) Command fields ...
Power State (Memory Power Node

Exit Latency
Information Index structure) MPN-0
MPN-Y
Memory Power State

Characteristics (0)
Flags
Avg. Power Consumed

Flag, Mem Power Node Id ,
len etc ..
Exit Latency
Address range (low, high Memory Power State
Characteristics (M)
address bits , length low ,
high)
Memory Power State - 0
Memory Power State - M
Figure 5-25 MPST ACPI Table Overview

Table 5-89 MPST Table Structure

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘MPST’. Signature for Memory Power State Table
Length 4 4 Length in bytes for entire MPST. The length implies the
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the memory power state table, the table ID is the
manufacturer model ID
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of memory power state Table for supplied
OEM Table ID
Memory PCC
MPST Platform 1 36 Identifier of the MPST Platform Communication Channel.
Communication Channel
Identifier
Memory Power Node
Memory Power Node 2 40 Number of Memory power Node structure entries
Count
Memory Power Node --- --- This field provides information on the memory power
Structure[ Memory Power nodes present in the system. The information includes
Node Count] memory node id, power states supported & associated
latencies. Further details of this field are specified in
Section 5.2.21.4
Memory Power State
Characteristics
Memory Power State 2 --- Number of Memory power State Characteristics
Characteristics Count Structure entries
Reserved 2 Reserved
Memory Power State --- --- This field provides information of memory power states
Characteristics Structure supported in the system. The information includes power
[m] consumed, transition latencies, relevant flags.
5.2.21.1 MPST PCC Sub Channel

The MPST PCC Sub Channel Identifier value provided by the platform in this field should be
programmed to the Type field of PCC Communications Subspace Structure. The MPST table
references its PCC Subspace in a given platform by this identifier, as shown in Table 5-89.

5.2.21.1.1 Using PCC registers

a PCC Execute command. See Table 5-90, below. All other command values are reserved.
Table 5-90 PCC Command Codes used by MPST Platform Communication Channel
Command Description
0x00-0x02 All other values are reserved.
0x03 Execute MPST Command.
Table 5-91 MPST Platform Communication Channel Shared Memory Region

Length Offset
Signature 4 0 The PCC signature. The signature of a subspace is computed by
a bitwise-or of the value 0x50434300 with the subspace ID. For
example, subspace 3 has signature 0x50434303.
Command 2 4 PCC command field, seeSection 14 and Table 5-90.
Status 2 6 PCC status field, see Section 14
Communication Space
4 8 Memory region for OSPM to write the requested memory power
MEMORY_POWER state.
_COMMAND_REGI Write:
STER 1 to this field to GET the memory power state
2 to this field to set the memory power state
3 – GET AVERAGE POWER CONSUMED
4 – GET MEMORY ENERGY CONSUMED

MEMORY_POWER 4 12 Bits [3:0]: Status (specific to

_STATUS_REGIST MEMORY_POWER_COMMAND_REGISTER)
ER • 0000b = Success
• 0001b = Not Valid
• 0010b = Not Supported
• 0011b = Busy
• 0100b = Failed
• 0101b = Aborted
• 0110b = Invalid Data
• Other values reserved
Bit [4]: Background Activity specific to the following

MEMORY_POWER _COMMAND_REGISTER value:
3 - GET AVERAGE POWER CONSUMED
4 - GET MEMORY ENERGY CONSUMED
0b = inactive
1b = background memory activity is in progress
Bits [31:5]: Reserved

POWER STATE ID 4 16 On completion of a GET operation, OSPM reads the current
platform state ID from this field. Prior to a SET operation, OSPM
populates this field with the power state value which needs to be
triggered. Power State values will be based on the platform
capability
MEMORY_POWER 4 20 This field identifies Memory power node number for the
_NODE_ID command.
MEMORY_ENERG 8 24 This field returns the energy consumed by the memory that
Y_CONSUMED constitutes the MEMORY_POWER_NODE_ID specified in the
previous field. A value of all 1s in this field indicates that platform
does not implement this field.
EXPECTED_AVER 8 32 This field returns the expected average power consumption for
AGE_POWER_CO the memory constituted by MEMORY_POWER_NODE_ID. A
NSUMED value of all 1s in this field indicates that platform does not
implement this field.
Note: OSPM should use the ratio of computed memory power consumed to expected average power
consumed in determining the memory power management action.
5.2.21.2 Memory Power State

Memory Power State represents the state of a memory power node (which maps to a memory
address range) while the platform is in the G0 working state. Memory power node could be in active
state named MPS0 or in one of the power manage states MPS1-MPSn.
It should be noted that active memory power state (MPS0) does not preclude memory power
management in that state. It only indicates that any active state memory power management in
MPS0 is transparent to the OSPM and more importantly does not require assist from OSPM in terms
of restricting memory occupancy and activity.

MPS1-MPSn states are characterized by non-zero exit latency for exit from the state to MPS0. These
states could require explicit OSPM-initiated entry and exit, explicit OSPM-initiated entry but
autonomous exit or autonomous entry and exit. In all three cases, these states require explicit OSPM
action to isolate and free the memory address range for the corresponding memory power node.
Transitions to more aggressive memory power states (for example, from MPS1 to MPS2) can be
entered on progressive idling but require transition through MPS0 (i.e. MPS1MPS0MPS2).
Power state transition diagram is shown in Figure 5-26.
It is possible that after OSPM request a memory power state, a brief period of activity returns the
memory power node to MPS0 state . If platform is capable of returning to a memory power state on
subsequent period of idle, the platform must treat the previously requested memory power state as a
persistent hint.
MPS0
Exit
Enter
Exit
Enter Enter
Exit
MPS1 MPS2 MPSn
Figure 5-26 Memory Power State Transitions
The following table enumerates the power state values that a node can transition to.
Table 5-92 Power state Values

Value State Name Description
0 MPS0 This state value maps to active state of memory node (Normal operation).
OSPM can access memory during this state.
1 MPS1 This state value can be mapped to any memory power state depending on
the platform capability. The platform will inform the features of MPS1 state
using the Memory Power State Structure. By convention, it is required that
low value power state will have lower power savings and lower latencies than
the higher valued power states.
2,3…n MPS2, Same description as MPS1.
MPS3, …
MPSn
The following provides the list of command status:

Table 5-93 Command Status

Length Offset
Command 1 0 If set, the platform has completed processing the last command.
Complete
SCI Doorbell 1 1 If set, then this PCC Sub-Channel has signaled the SCI door
bell. In Response to this SCI, OSPM should probe the
Command Complete and the Platform Notification fields to
determine the cause of SCI.
Error 1 2 If set, an error occurred executing the last command.
Platform 1 3 Indicates that the SCI doorbell was invoked by the platform.
Notification
5.2.21.3 Action Sequence

SetMemoryPowerState: The following sequence needs to be done to set a memory power state
1. Write target POWER NODE ID value to MEMORY_POWER_NODE_ID register of PCC sub
channel.
2. Write desired POWER STATE ID value to POWER STATE ID register of PCC sub channel .
3. Write SET (See Table 5-91) to MEMORY_POWER_STATE register of PCC sub channel.
4. Write PCC EXECUTE (See Table 5-90) to PCC Command register for the PCC sub channel.
5. OSPM rings the door bell by writing to Doorbell register.
6. Platform completes the request and will generate SCI to indicate that the command is complete.
7. OSPM reads the Status register for the PCC sub channel and confirms that the command was
successfully completed.
GetMemoryPowerState: The following sequence needs to be done to get the current memory power
state
1. Write target POWER NODE ID value to MEMORY_POWER_NODE_ID register of PCC sub
channel.
2. Write GET (See Table 5-91) to MEMORY_POWER_STATE register of PCC sub channel.
3. Write PCC EXECUTE (See Table 5-90) to PCC Command register for the PCC sub channel.
4. OSPM rings the door bell by writing to Doorbell register.
5. Platform completes the request and will generate SCI to indicate that command is complete.
6. OSPM reads Status register for the PCC sub channel and confirms that the command was
successfully completed.
7. OSPM reads POWER STATE from POWER_STATE_ID register of PCC sub channel.
5.2.21.4 Memory Power Node

Memory Power Node is a representation of a logical memory region that needs to be transitioned in
and out of a memory power state as a unit. This logical memory region is made up of one more

system memory address range(s). A Memory Power Node is uniquely identified by Memory Power
Node ID.
Note that memory power node structure defined in Table 5-94 can only represent a single address
range. This address range should be 4K aligned. If a Memory Power Node contains more than one
memory address range (i.e. non-contiguous range), firmware must construct a Memory power Node
structure for each of the memory address ranges but specify the same Memory Power Node ID in all
the structures.
Memory Power Nodes are not hierarchical. However, a given memory address range covered by a
Memory power node could be fully covered by another memory power node if that nodes memory
address range is inclusive of the other node’s range. For example, memory power node MPN0 may
cover memory address range 1G-2G and memory power node MPN1 covers 1-4G. Here MPN1
memory address range also comprehends the range covered by MPN0.
OSPM is expected to identify the memory power node(s) that corresponds to the maximum memory
address range that OSPM is able to power manage at a given time. For example, if MPN0 covers 1G-
2G and MPN1 covers 1-4G and OSPM is able to power manage 1-4G, it should select MPN1. If
MPN0 is in a non-active memory power state, OSPM must move MPN0 to MPS0 (Active state)
before placing MPN1 in desired Memory Power State. Further, MPN1 can support more power
states than MPN0. If MPN1 is in such a state , say MPS3 , that MPN0 does not support, software
must not query MPN0. If queried, MPN0 will return "not Valid" until MPN1 returns to MPS0.
Note: [Implementation Note] In general, memory nodes corresponding to larger address space ranges
correspond to higher memory aggregation (e.g. memory covered by a DIMM vs. memory covered
by a memory channel) and hence typically present higher power saving opportunities.
5.2.21.4.1 Memory Power Node Structure

The following structure specifies the fields used for communicating memory power node
information. Each entry in the MPST table will be having corresponding memory power node
structure defined.
This structure communicates address range, number of power states implemented, information about
individual power states, number of distinct physical components that comprise this memory power
node.
The physical component identifiers can be cross-referenced against the memory topology table
entries.
Table 5-94 Memory Power Node Structure definition

Length Offset
Flag 1 0 The flag describes type of memory node. Refer to
Table 5-95 for details.
Reserved 1 1 For future use
Memory Power Node Id 2 2 This field provides memory power node number.
This is a unique identification for Memory Power
State Command and creation of freelists/cache lists
in OSPM memory manager to bias allocation of non
power managed nodes vs. power managed nodes.


Length Offset
Length 4 4 Length in bytes for Memory Power Node Structure.
The length implies the number of Entry fields at the
end of the table
Base Address Low 4 8 Low 32 bits of Base Address of the memory range.
Base Address High 4 12 High 32 bits of Base Address of the memory range.
Length Low 4 16 Low 32 bits of Length of the memory range. This
field along with “Length High” field is used to derive
the end physical address of this address range.
Length High 4 20 High 32 bits of Length of the memory range.
Number of Power States (n) 4 24 This field indicates number of power states
supported for this memory power node and in turn
determines the number of entries in memory power
state structure.
Number of Physical 4 28 This field indicates the number of distinct Physical
Components Components that constitute this memory power
node. This field is also used to identify the number of
entries of Physical Component Identifier entries
present at end of this table.
Memory Power State Structure --- 32 This field provides information of various power
[n] states supported in the system for a given memory
power node
Physical Component Identifier1 2 --- 2 byte identifier of distinct physical component that
makes up this memory power node
. … …
Physical Component Identifier m 2 --- 2 byte identifier of distinct physical component that
makes up this memory power node
Table 5-95 Flag format

0 Enabled If clear, the OSPM ignores this Memory Power Node Structure. This allows
system firmware to populate the MPST with a static number of structures
but enable them as necessary.
1 Power Managed 1 – Memory node is power managed
Flag 0 – Memory node is not power managed. For non power managed node,
OSPM shall not attempt to transition node into low power state. System
behavior is undefined if OSPM attempts this.
NOTE: If the memory range corresponding to the memory node includes
platform firmware reserved memory that cannot be power managed, the
platform should indicate such memory as “not power managed” to OSPM.
This allows OSPM to ignore such ranges from its power optimization.
2 Hot Pluggable This flag indicates that the memory node supports the hot plug feature.
Refer to Section 5.2.21.10 for interaction with memory hot plug.

5.2.21.5 Memory Power State Structure

Table 5-96 Memory Power State Structure definition
Length Offset
Power State Value 1 0 This field provides value of power state. The specific value to be
used is system dependent. However convention needs to be
maintained where higher numbers indicates deeper power states
with higher power savings and higher latencies. For example, a
power state value of 2 will have higher power savings and higher
latencies than a power state value of 1.
Power State 1 1 This field provides unique index into the memory power state
Information Index characteristics entries which will provide details about the power
consumed, power state characteristics and transition latencies.
The indexing mechanism is to avoid duplication (and hence
reduce potential for mismatch errors) of memory power state
characteristics entries across multiple memory nodes.
5.2.21.6 Memory Power State Characteristics structure

The table below describes the power consumed, exit latency and the characteristics of the memory
power state. This table is referenced by a memory power node.
Table 5-97 Memory Power State Characteristics Structure
Field Byte Length Byte Offset

Power State 1 0 Bit [5:0] = This field describes the format of table Structure
Structure ID
Power State Structure ID Value = 1
Bit [7:6] = Structure Revision

Current revision is 1
Flag 1 1 The flag describes the caveats associated with entering the
specified power state. Refer to Table 5-98 for details.
Average Power 4 4 This field provides average power consumed for this memory
Consumed in power node in MPS0 state. This power is measured in
MPS0 state (in milliWatts and signifies the total power consumed by this
milli watts) memory the given power state as measured in DC watts. Note
that this value should be used as guideline only for estimating
power savings and not as actual power consumed. Also
memory power node can map to single or collection of
RANKs/DIMMs. The actual power consumed is dependent on
DIMM type, configuration and memory load.
Relative Power 4 8 This is a percentage of power saved in MPSx state relative to
Saving to MPS0 MPS0 state and should be calculated as ((MPS0 power –
state MPSx power)/MPS0 Power)*100. When this entry is
describing MPS0 state itself, OSPM should ignore this field.

Field Byte Length Byte Offset

Exit Latency (in 8 12 This field provides latency of exiting out of a power state
ns) (MPSx (MPSx) to active state (MPS0). The unit of this field is
MPS0) nanoseconds.
When this entry is describing MPS0 state itself, OSPM should
ignore this field.
Reserved 8 20 Reserved for future use.
Table 5-98 Flag format of Memory Power State Characteristics Structure

0 Memory Content If Bit [0] is set, it indicates memory contents will be preserved in the
Preserved specified power state
If Bit [0] is clear, it indicates memory contents will be lost in the
specified power state (e.g. for states like offline)
1 Autonomous Memory If Bit [1] is set, this field indicates that given memory power state entry
Power State Entry transition needs to be triggered explicitly by OSPM by calling the Set
Power State command.
If Bit [1] is clear, this field indicates that given memory power state entry
transition is automatically implemented in hardware and does not
require a OSPM trigger. The role of OSPM in this case is to ensure that
the corresponding memory region is idled from a software standpoint to
facilitate entry to the state.
Not meaningful for MPS0 – write it for this table
2 Autonomous Memory If Bit [1] is set, this field indicates that given memory power state exit
Power State Exit needs to be explicitly triggered by the OSPM before the memory can be
accessed. System behavior is undefined if OSPM or other software
agents attempt to access memory that is currently in a low power state.
If Bit [1] is clear, this field indicates that given memory power state is
exited automatically on access to the memory address range
corresponding to the memory power node.
5.2.21.6.1 Power Consumed

Average Power Consumed in MPS0 state indicates the power in milli Watts for the MPS0 state.
Relative power savings to MPS0 indicates the savings in the MPSx state as a percentage of savings
relative to MPS0 state.
5.2.21.6.2 Exit Latency

Exit Latency provided in the Memory Power Characteristics structure for a specific power state is
inclusive of the entry latency for that state.
Exit latency must always be provided for a memory power state regardless of whether the memory
power state entry and/or exit are autonomous or requires explicit trigger from OSPM.

5.2.21.7 Autonomous Memory Power Management

Not all memory power management states require OSPM to actively transition a memory power
node in and out of the memory power state. Platforms may implement memory power states that are
fully handled in hardware in terms of entry and exit transition. In such fully autonomous states, the
decision to enter the state is made by hardware based on the utilization of the corresponding memory
region and the decision to exit the memory power state is initiated in response to a memory access
targeted to the corresponding memory region.
The role of OSPM software in handling such autonomous memory power states is to vacate the use
of such memory regions when possible in order to allow hardware to effectively save power. No
other OSPM initiated action is required for supporting these autonomously power managed regions.
However, it is not an error for OSPM explicitly initiates a state transition to an autonomous entry
memory power state through the MPST command interface. The platform may accept the command
and enter the state immediately in which case it must return command completion with SUCCESS
(00000b) status. If platform does not support explicit entry, it must return command completion with
NOT SUPPORTED (00010b) status.
5.2.21.8 Handling BIOS Reserved Memory

Platform firmware may have regions of memory reserved for its own use that are unavailable to
OSPM for allocation. Memory nodes where all (or a portion) of the memory is reserved by platform
firmware may pose a problem for OSPM because it does not know whether the platform firmware
reserved memory is in use.
If the platform firmware reserved memory impacts the ability of the memory power node to enter
memory power state(s), the platform must indicate to OSPM (by clearing the Power Managed Flag –
see Table 5-95 for details) that this memory power node cannot be power managed. This allows
OSPM to ignore such ranges from its memory power optimization.
5.2.21.9 Interaction with NUMA processor and memory affinity tables

The memory power state table describes address range for each of the memory power nodes
specified. OSPM can use the address ranges information provided in MPST table and derive
processor affinity of a given memory power node based on the SRAT entries created by the platform
boot firmware. The association of memory power node to proximity domain can be used by OSPM
to implement memory coalescing taking into account NUMA node topology for memory allocation/
release and manipulation of different page lists in memory management code (implementation
specific).
An example of policy which can be implemented in OSPM for memory coalescing is: OSPM can
prefer allocating memory from local memory power nodes before going to remote memory power
nodes. The later sections provide sample NUMA configurations and explain the policy for various
memory power nodes.
5.2.21.10 Interaction with Memory Hot Plug

The hot pluggable memory regions are described using memory device objects (see Section 9.14).
The memory address ranges of these memory device objects are defined using the _CRS method.

Scope (\_SB) {
Device (MEM0) {
Name (_HID, EISAID (“PNP0C80”))
Name (_CRS, ResourceTemplate () {
QwordMemory (
ResourceConsumer,
,
MinFixed,
MaxFixed,
Cacheable,
ReadWrite,
0xFFFFFFF,
0x10000000,
0x30000000,
0, , ,
)
})
}
}
The memory power state table (MPST) is a static structure created for all memory objects
independent of hot plug status (online or offline) during initialization. The OSPM will populate the
MPST table during the boot. If hot-pluggable flag is set for a given memory power node in MPST
table, OSPM will not use this node till physical presence of memory is communicated through ACPI
notification mechanism.
The association between memory device object (e.g. MEM0) to the appropriate memory power node
id in the MPST table is determined by comparing the address range specified using _CRS method
and address ranges configured in the MPST table entries. This association needs to be identified by
OSPM as part of ACPI memory hot plug implementation. When memory device is hot added, as part
of existing acpi driver for memory hot plug, OSPM will scan device object for _CRS method and
get the relevant address ranges for the given memory object, OSPM will determine the appropriate
memory power node ids based on the address ranges from _CRS and enable it for power
management and memory coalescing.
Similarly when memory is hot removed, the corresponding memory power nodes will be disabled.
5.2.21.11 OS Memory Allocation Considerations

OSes (non-virtualized OS or a hypervisor/VMM) may need to allocate non-migratable memory. It is
recommended that the OSes (if possible) allocate this memory from memory ranges corresponding
to memory power nodes that indicate they are not power manageable. This allows OS to optimize
the power manageable memory power nodes for optimal power savings.
OSes can assume that memory ranges that belong to memory power nodes that are power
manageable (as indicated by the flag) are interleaved in a manner that does no impact the ability of
that range to enter power managed states. For example, such memory is not cacheline interleaved.
Reference to memory in this document always refers to host physical memory. For virtualized
environments, this requires hypervisors to be responsible for memory power management.
Hypervisors also have the ability to create opportunities for memory power management by vacating
appropriate host physical memory through remapping guest physical memory.
OSes can assume that the memory ranges included in MPST always refer to memory store – either
volatile or non-volatile and never to MMIO or MMCFG ranges.

5.2.21.12 Memory Topology Table (PMTT)

This table describes the memory topology of the system to OSPM, where the memory topology can
be logical or physical. The topology is provided to the last level physical component (e.g. DIMM).
Table 5-99 Platform Memory Topology Table

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘PMTT’. Signature for Platform Memory Topology Table.
Length 4 4 Length in bytes of the entire PMTT. The length implies the
number of Memory Aggregator structures at the end of the table.
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the PMTT, the table ID is the manufacturer model ID
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of the PMTT for supplied OEM Table ID.
Reserved 4 36 Reserved, must be zero.
Memory Aggregator --- 40 A list of memory aggregator device structures for the platform.
Device Structure [n] See Table 5-100.
Table 5-100 Common Memory Aggregator Device Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 The field describes type of the Memory Aggregator Device.
0 – Socket
1 – Memory Controller
2 – DIMM
3 – 0xFF - Reserved
Length 2 2 Length in bytes for this Structure. This length implies the length
of the Type Specific Data at the end of the structure.

Flags 2 4 Bit [0] – set to 1 to indicate that this is a top level aggregator
device. This device must be counted in the number of top level
aggregator devices in PMTT table and must be surfaces via
PMTT.
Bit [0] – 0 indicates that this is not a top level aggregator device.
Bit [1] - 1 indicates a physical element of the topology.
0 indicates a logical element of topology
Bit [2] and [3] –
• 00 - Indicates that all components aggregated by this device
implement volatile memory
• 01 - Indicates that components aggregated by this device
implement both volatile and non-volatile memory
implement non-volatile memory
• 11 - Reserved
Bits [15:4] Reserved, must be zero
Type Specific Data __ 8 Type specific data. Interpretation of this data is specific to the
type of the memory aggregator device. See Table 5-101,
Table 5-102, and Table 5-103.
Table 5-101 Socket Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0 – Socket
Length 2 2 Length in bytes for this Structure. The length implies the number
of memory controller structures at the end of this structure.
Flags 2 4 Bit [0] – 1 indicates that this is a top level aggregator device.
Bit [1] – Set to 1 since socket is a physical element of the
topology
Bit [2] and [3] –
implement volatile memory
implement non-volatile memory
• 11 - Reserved
Bit [4] – Bit [15] Reserved, must be zero
Socket Identifier 2 8 Uniquely identifies the socket in the system.
Memory Controller --- 12 A list of Memory Controller Structures.This list provides
Structure [n] information on the memory controllers present in the socket. See
Table 5-102.

Table 5-102 Memory Controller Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 1 – Memory Controller

Length 2 2 Length in bytes for this Structure. The length implies the
number of physical component identifier structures at the
end of this structure.
Flag 2 4 Bit [0] – 1 indicates that this is a top level aggregator device.
Bit [1] – 1 indicates a physical element of the topology.
0 indicates a logical element of the topology
Bit [2] and [3] –
• 00 - Indicates that all components aggregated by this
device implement volatile memory
device implement non-volatile memory
• 11 - Reserved
Bit [4] – Bit [15] Reserved
Read Latency 4 8 In nanoseconds as seen at the controller for a cacheline
(typical) access.
Write latency (typical) 4 12 In nanoseconds as seen at the controller for a cacheline
access.
Read Bandwidth 4 16 In MB/s
(typical)
Write Bandwidth 4 20 In MB/s
(typical)
Optimal access unit 2 24 In bytes
Optimal access 2 26 In bytes
alignment
Reserved 2 28 Reserved , must be zero.
Number of Proximity 2 30 Number of Proximity Domains that immediately follow. A
Domains (m) zero in this field indicates that proximity domain information
is not provided by the platform and that no 4-byte domains
follow
Proximity Domain [m] 4*m 32 Proximity domains for memory address space(s) spawned
by this memory controller. Each proximity domain is a 4-byte
entity as defined in the System Resource Allocation Table
(SRAT).
Physical Component __ - A list of Physical Components structures for this memory
Identifier Structure [n] controller. See Table 5-103.

Table 5-103 Physical Components Identifier Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 2– DIMM
Length 2 2 Length in bytes for this Structure.
Flag 2 4 Bit [0] – 0 indicates that this is not a top level memory
aggregator. DIMM is typically behind a memory controller or
a socket device or both.
Bit [1] – 1 indicates a physical element of the topology.
Set to 0 to indicate a logical element of the topology
Bit [2] and [3] –
device implement volatile memory
device implement non-volatile memory
• 11 - Reserved
Bit [4] – Bit [15] Reserved
Physical Component 2 8 Uniquely identifies the physical memory component in the
Identifier system.
Size of DIMM 4 12 Size in MB of the DIMM device.
SMBIOS Handle 4 16 Refers to Type 17 table handle of corresponding SMBIOS
record. The platform indicates that this field is not valid by
setting a value of 0xFFFFFFFF. If the platform provides a
valid handle, the upper 2 bytes must be 0 ( since SMBIOS
handles are 2 bytes only).
NOTE: The use of this handle is for management software to
be able to cross-reference the physical DIMM described in
SMBIOS against the topology described in this table. It is not
expected that OSPM will utilize this field.
5.2.22 Boot Graphics Resource Table (BGRT)

The Boot Graphics Resource Table (BGRT) is an optional table that provides a mechanism to
indicate that an image was drawn on the screen during boot, and some information about the image.
The table is written when the image is drawn on the screen. This should be done after it is expected
that any firmware components that may write to the screen are done doing so and it is known that the
image is the only thing on the screen. If the boot path is interrupted (e.g., by a key press), the valid
bit within the status field should be changed to 0 to indicate to the OS that the current image is
invalidated.
This table is only supported on UEFI systems.

Table 5-104 Boot Graphics Resource Table Fields

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 “BGRT” Signature for the table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire table
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 The table ID is the manufacturer model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision for supplied OEM Table ID.
Version 2 36 2-bytes (16 bit) version ID. This value must be 1.
Status 1 38 1-byte status field indicating current status of the image.
Bits [7:3] = Reserved (must be zero)
Bits [2:1] = Orientation Offset. These bits describe the clockwise
degree offset from the image’s default orientation.
[00] = 0, no offset
[01] = 90
[10] = 180
[11] = 270
Image Type 1 39 1-byte enumerated type field indicating format of the image.
0 = Bitmap
1 – 255 Reserved (for future use)
Image Address 8 40 8-byte (64 bit) physical address pointing to the firmware’s in-
memory copy of the image bitmap.
Image Offset X 4 48 A 4-byte (32-bit) unsigned long describing the display X-offset of
the boot image. (X, Y) display offset of the top left corner of the
boot image. The top left corner of the display is at offset (0, 0).
Image Offset Y 4 52 A 4-byte (32-bit) unsigned long describing the display Y-offset of
the boot image. (X, Y) display offset of the top left corner of the
boot image. The top left corner of the display is at offset (0, 0).
The BGRT is a dynamic ACPI table that enables boot firmware to provide OPSM with a pointer to
the location in memory where the boot graphics image is stored.
5.2.22.1 Version
The version field identifies which revision of the BGRT table is implemented. The version field
should be set to 1.

5.2.22.2 Status
Table 5-105 Status Description Field
Offset Field Name
Bit 0 Displayed
The status field contains information about the current status of the table. The Valid bit is bit 0 of
the lowest byte. It should be set to 1 while the image resource is displayed on the screen, and set to
0 while it is not displayed.
All other bits are reserved.
5.2.22.3 Image Type

Table 5-106 Image Type Description Field
Value Definition
0 Image Type is Bitmap
The Image type field contains information about the format of the image being returned. If the
value is 0, the Image Type is Bitmap. The format for a Bitmap is defined atthe reference located in
“Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Types of Bitmaps".
All other values not defined in the table are reserved for future use.
5.2.22.4 Image Address

The Image Address contains the location in memory where an in-memory copy of the boot image
can be found. The image should be stored in EfiBootServicesData, allowing the system to reclaim
the memory when the image is no longer needed.
Implementations must present the image in a 24 bit bitmap with pixel format 0xRRGGBB, or a32-
bit bitmap with the pixel format 0xrrRRGGBB, where ‘rr’ is reserved.
5.2.22.5 Image Offset

The Image Offset contains 2 consecutive 4 byte unsigned longs describing the (X, Y) display offset
of the top left corner of the boot image. The top left corner of the display is at offset (0, 0).

Image
Figure 5-27 Image Offset
5.2.23 Firmware Performance Data Table (FPDT)

This section describes the format of the Firmware Performance Data Table (FPDT), which provides
sufficient information to describe the platform initialization performance records. This information
represents the boot performance data relating to specific tasks within the firmware boot process.
The FPDT includes only those mileposts that are part of every platform boot process:
• End of reset sequence (Timer value noted at beginning of platform boot firmware initialization -
typically at reset vector)
• Handoff to OS Loader
This information represents the firmware boot performance data set that would be used to track
performance of each UEFI phase, and would be useful for tracking impacts resulting from changes
due to hardware/software configuration.
All timer values are express in 1 nanosecond increments. For example, if a record indicates an event
occurred at a timer value of 25678, this means that 25.678 microseconds have elapsed from the last
reset of the timer measurement. All timer values will be required to have an accuracy of +/- 10%.
Table 5-107 Firmware Performance Data Table (FPDT) Format

Length
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘FPDT’ Signature for the Firmware Performance Data
Table.
Length 4 4 The length of the table, in bytes, of the entire FPDT.
Revision 1 8 The revision of the structure corresponding to the
signature field for this table.
For the Firmware Performance Data Table conforming to
this revision of the specification, the revision is 1.


Length
Checksum 1 9 The entire table, including the checksum field, must add
to zero to be considered valid.
OEM Table ID 8 16 An OEM-supplied string that the OEM uses to identify this
particular data table.
OEM Revision 4 24 An OEM-supplied revision number.
Creator ID 4 28 The Vendor ID of the utility that created this table.
Creator Revision 4 32 The revision of the utility that created this table.
Performance Records — 36 The set of Performance Records.
5.2.23.1 Performance Record Format

A performance record is comprised of a sub-header including a record type and length, and a set of
data, which may include a timer. The format of the record layout is specific to the record type. In
this manner, records are only as large as needed to contain the specific type of data to be conveyed.
Table 5-108 Performance Record Structure

Length Offset
Performance 2 0 This value depicts the format and contents of the performance
Record Type record.
Record Length 1 2 This value depicts the length of the performance record, in bytes.
Revision 1 3 This value is updated if the format of the record type is extended.
Any changes to a performance record layout must be backwards-
compatible in that all previously defined fields must be maintained
if still applicable, but newly defined fields allow the length of the
performance record to be increased. Previously defined record
fields must not be redefined, but are permitted to be deprecated.
Data — 4 The content of this field is defined by the Performance Record
Type definition.
5.2.23.2 Performance Record Types

The table below describes the various types of records contained within the FPDT, and their
associated Performance Record Type. Note that unless otherwise specified, multiple performance
records are permitted in the FPDT for a given type, because some events can occur multiple times
during the boot process.
Table 5-109 Performance Record Types

Record Type Type Description
Value

0x0000 Firmware Record containing a pointer to the Basic Boot Performance Data
Basic Boot Record.
Performance
Pointer
Record
0x0001 S3 Record containing a pointer to an S3 Performance Table.
Performance
Table Pointer
Record
0x0002 – 0x0FFF Reserved Reserved for ACPI specification usage.
0x1000 – 0x1FFF Reserved Reserved for Platform Vendor usage.
0x2000 – 0x2FFF Reserved Reserved for Hardware Vendor usage.
0x3000 – 0x3FFF Reserved Reserved for platform firmware Vendor usage.
0x4000 – 0xFFFF Reserved Reserved for future use
5.2.23.3 Runtime Performance Record Types

The table below describes the various types of runtime records and their associated Runtime
Performance Record types. These Records are not contained within the FPDT; they are referenced
by their respective pointer records in the FPDT.
Table 5-110 Runtime Performance Record Types

Record Type Type Description
Value
0x0000 Basic S3 Performance record describing minimal firmware
Resume performance metrics for S3 resume operations
Performance
Record
0x0001 Basic S3 Performance record describing minimal firmware
Suspend performance metrics for S3 suspend operations
Performance
Record
0x0002 Firmware Performance record showing basic performance metrics for
Basic Boot critical phases of the firmware boot process.
Performance
Data Record
0x0003 – 0x0FFF Reserved Reserved for ACPI specification usage.
0x1000 – 0x1FFF Reserved Reserved for Platform Vendor usage.
0x2000 – 0x2FFF Reserved Reserved for Hardware Vendor usage.
0x3000 – 0x3FFF Reserved Reserved for platform firmware Vendor usage.
0x4000 – 0xFFFF Reserved Reserved for future use
5.2.23.4 S3 Performance Table Pointer Record

The S3 Performance Table Pointer Record contains a pointer to the S3 Performance Table. The S3
Performance Table itself exists in a range of memory described as ACPI AddressRangeReserved in

the system memory map. The record pointer is a required entry in the FPDT for any system
supporting the S3 state, and the pointer must point to a valid static physical address. Only one of
these records will be produced.
Table 5-111 S3 Performance Table Pointer Record

Length Offset
Performance 2 0 1 - S3 Performance Table Record
Record Type
Record Length 1 2 16 - This value depicts the length of the performance record, in
bytes.
Revision 1 3 1 - Revision of this Performance Record
S3PT Pointer 8 8 64-bit processor-relative physical address of the S3 Performance
Table
5.2.23.5 Firmware Basic Boot Performance Pointer Record

The Firmware Basic Boot Performance Pointer Record contains a pointer to the Firmware Basic
Boot Performance Data Record. The Firmware Basic Boot Performance Data Record itself exists in
a range of memory described as ACPI AddressRangeReserved in the system memory map. The
record pointer is a required entry in the FPDT for any system and the pointer must point to a valid
static physical address. Only one of these records will be produced.
Table 5-112 S4 Performance Table Pointer Record

Length Offset
Performance 2 0 0 – Firmware Basic Boot Performance Pointer Record
Record Type
bytes.
FBPT Pointer 8 8 64-bit processor-relative physical address of the Firmware Basic
Boot Performance Table
5.2.23.6 S3 Performance Table

The S3 Performance Table resides outside of the FPDT. It includes a header, defined in Table 5-114,
and one or more Performance Records.
All event entries must be initialized to zero during the initial boot sequence, and overwritten during
the platform runtime firmware S3 resume sequence. The S3 Performance Table must include the
Basic S3 Resume Performance Record. Other entries are optional.

Table 5-113 S3 Performance Table Header

Length Offset
Signature 4 0 ‘S3PT’ is the signature to use.
Length 4 4 Length of the S3 Performance Table. This includes the header and
allocated size of the subsequent records. This size would at
minimum include the size of the header and the Basic S3 Resume
Performance Record.
Table 5-114 Basic S3 Resume Performance Record

Length Offset
Runtime 2 0 0 - The Basic S3 Resume Performance Record Type. Zero to one
Performance of these records will be produced.
Record Type
Record Length 1 2 24 - The value depicts the length of this performance record, in
bytes.
Resume Count 4 4 A count of the number of S3 resume cycles since the last full boot
sequence.
FullResume 8 8 Timer recorded at the end of platform runtime firmware S3 resume,
just prior to handoff to the OS waking vector. Only the most recent
resume cycle’s time is retained.
AverageResume 8 16 Average timer value of all resume cycles logged since the last full
boot sequence, including the most recent resume. Note that the
entire log of timer values does not need to be retained in order to
calculate this average. AverageResumenew = (AverageResumeold
* (ResumeCount -1) + FullResume) / ResumeCount
Table 5-115 Basic S3 Suspend Performance Record

Length Offset
Runtime 2 0 1 - The Basic S3 Suspend Performance Record Type. Zero to one
Performance of these records will be produced.
Record Type
Record Length 1 2 20 - The value depicts the length of this performance record, in
bytes.
SuspendStart 8 4 Timer value recorded at the OS write to SLP_TYP upon entry to
S3. Only the most recent suspend cycle’s timer value is retained.
SuspendEnd 8 12 Timer value recorded at the final firmware write to SLP_TYP (or
other mechanism) used to trigger hardware entry to S3. Only the
most recent suspend cycle’s timer value is retained.

5.2.23.7 Firmware Basic Boot Performance Table

The Firmware Basic Boot Performance Table resides outside of the FPDT. It includes a header,
defined in Table 5-116, and one or more Performance Records.
All event entries will be overwritten during the platform runtime firmware S4 resume sequence. The
Firmware Basic Boot Performance Table must include the Firmware Basic Boot Performance Table.
Table 5-116 Firmware Basic Boot Performance Table Header

Length Offset
Signature 4 0 ‘FBPT’ is the signature to use.
Length 4 4 Length of the Firmware Basic Boot Performance Table. This
includes the header and allocated size of the subsequent records.
This size would at minimum include the size of the header and the
Firmware Basic Boot Performance Record.
5.2.23.8 Firmware Basic Boot Performance Data Record

A firmware basic boot performance data record which contains timer information associated with
final OS loader activity as well as the data associated with starting and ending boot time information.
Only one of these records will be produced.
Table 5-117 Firmware Basic Boot Performance Data Record Structure

Length Offset
Performance 2 0 2 – Firmware Basic Boot Performance Data Record
Record Type
bytes.
Reset End 8 8 Timer value logged at the beginning of firmware image execution.
This may not always be zero or near zero.
OS Loader 8 16 Timer value logged just prior to loading the OS boot loader into
LoadImage Start memory.
For non-UEFI compatible boots, this field must be zero.
OS Loader 8 24 Timer value logged just prior to launching the currently loaded OS
StartImage Start boot loader image.
For non-UEFI compatible boots, the timer value logged will be just
prior to the INT 19h handler invocation.
ExitBootServices 8 32 Timer value logged at the point when the OS loader calls the
Entry ExitBootServices function for UEFI compatible firmware.


Length Offset
ExitBootServices 8 40 Timer value logged at the point just prior to the OS loader gaining
Exit control back from the ExitBootServices function for UEFI
compatible firmware.
5.2.24 Generic Timer Description Table (GTDT)

This section describes the format of the Generic Timer Description Table (GTDT), which provides
OSPM with information about a system’s Generic Timers configuration. The Generic Timer (GT) is
a standard timer interface implemented on ARM processor-based systems. The GT hardware
specification can be found at Links to ACPI-Related Documents (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the
heading ARM Architecture. The GTDT provides OSPM with information about a system's GT
interrupt configurations, for both per-processor timers, and platform (memory-mapped) timers.
The GT specification defines the following per-processor timers:
• Secure privilege level 1 (EL1) timer,
• Non-Secure EL1 timer,
• Non-Secure privilege level 2 (EL2) timer,
• Virtual timer,
and the following Platform (memory-mapped) timers.
• GT Block
• Server Base System Architecture (SBSA) Generic Watchdog
Table 5-118 GTDT Table Structure

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘GTDT’. Signature for the Generic Timer Description Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire Generic Timer Description Table.
Revision 1 8 2
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the Generic Timer Description Table, the table ID is the
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of Generic Timer Description Table for supplied
OEM Table ID.
CntControlBase 8 36 The 64-bit physical address at which the Counter Control block
Physical Address is located.This value is optional if the system implements EL3
(Security Extensions). If not provided, this field must be
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.


Length Offset
Secure EL1 timer 4 48 GSIV for the secure EL1 physical timer. This value is optional.
GSIV an operating system executing in the non-secure world (EL2 or
NS-EL1), will ignore the content of these fields.
Secure EL1 timer 4 52 Flags for the secure EL1 physical timer (defined below). An
Flags operating system executing in the non-secure world (EL2 or NS-
EL1), will ignore the content of this field
Non-Secure EL1 4 56 GSIV for the non-secure EL1 timer physical timer interrupt
timer GSIV
Non-Secure EL1 4 60 Flags for the non-secure EL1 physical timer (defined below)
timer Flags
Virtual timer GSIV 4 64 GSIV for the non-secure virtual timer interrupt
Virtual Timer Flags 4 68 Flags for the virtual timer (defined below)
Non-Secure EL2 4 72 GSIV for the Non-Secure EL2 physical timer
timer GSIV
Non-Secure EL2 4 76 Flags for the Non-Secure EL2 physical timer(defined below)
timer Flags
CntReadBase 8 80 The 64-bit physical address at which the Counter Read block is
Physical address located. This value is optional if the system implements EL3
(Security Extensions). If not provided, this field must be
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
Platform Timer Count 4 88 Number of entries in the Platform Timer Structure[] array
Platform Timer Offset 4 92 Offset to the Platform Timer Structure[] array from the start of
this table
Platform Timer --- Platfor Array of Platform Timer Type structures describing memory-
Structure[] m mapped Timers available on this platform. These structures are
Timer described in the below sections.
Offset
Table 5-119 Flag Definitions: Secure EL1 Timer, Non-Secure EL1 Timer, EL2 Timers, and
Virtual Timer
Secure EL1 timer Flags, Non-Secure EL1 timer Flags, EL2 timer Flags, and Virtual timer Flags all
have the same definition as follows.
Bit Field Bit Number Description
Offset of bits
Timer interrupt 0 1 This bit indicates the mode of the timer interrupt
Mode 
1: Interrupt is Edge triggered
0: Interrupt is Level triggered
Timer Interrupt 1 1 This bit indicates the polarity of the timer interrupt
polarity 
1: Interrupt is Active low
0: Interrupt is Active high


Offset of bits
Always-on 2 1 This bit indicates the always-on capability of the timer
Capability implementation.
1: This timer is guaranteed to assert its interrupt and wake a

processor, regardless of the processor’s power state. All of the
methods by which an ARM Generic Timer may generate an
interrupt must be supported, and must be capable of waking the
processor.
0: This timer may lose context or may not be guaranteed to assert
interrupts when its associated processor enters a low-power state
The GTDT Platform Timer Structure [] field is an array of Platform Timer Type structures, each of
which describes the configuration of an available platform timer. These timers are in addition to the
per-processor timers described above them in the GTDT.
Table 5-120 Platform Timer Type Structures

Value Description
0 GT Block
1 SBSA Generic Watchdog
0x02-0xFF Reserved for future use
The first byte of each structure declares the type of that structure and the second and third bytes
declare the length of that structure.
5.2.24.1 GT Block Structure

The GT Block is a standard timer block that is mapped into the system address space. Each GT
Block implements up to 8 GTs (GT0 – GT7).
The format of the GT Block structure is shown in Table 5-121.
Table 5-121 GT Block Structure Format

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0x0 GT Block
Length 2 1 20+n*40, where n is the number of timers implemented in the
GT Block
GT Block 8 4 The 64-bit physical address at which the GT CntCTLBase Block

Physical address is located
(CntCtlBase)


Length Offset
GT Block Timer 4 12 Number of Timers implemented in this GT Block ('n'). . Must be
Count less than or equal to 8.
GT Block Timer 4 16 Offset to the Platform Timer Structure array from the start of this
Offset structure
GT Block Timer n*40 GT Array of GT Block Timer Structures. See Table 5-122.
Structure[] Block
Timer
Offset
Table 5-122 GT Block Timer Structure Format

Length Offset
GT Frame Number 1 0 The frame number (0-7) for this timer (‘x’)
GTx Physical 8 4 Physical Address at which the CntBase block for GTx is located
Address
(CntBaseX)
GTx Physical 8 12 Physical Address at which the CntEL0Base block for GTx is
Address located. If this block is not implemented for GTx, must be
(CntEL0BaseX) 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
GTx Physical Timer 4 20 GSIV for the GTx physical timer
GSIV
GTx Physical Timer 4 24 Flags for the GTx physical timer. See Table 5-123
Flags
GTx Virtual Timer 4 28 GSIV for the GTx virtual timer If the Virtual Timer is not
GSIV implemented for GTx, this field must be 0.
GTx Virtual Timer 4 32 Flags for the GTx virtual timer, if implemented. See Table 5-123.
Flags
GTx Common Flags 4 36 See Table 5-124.
Table 5-123 Flag Definitions: GT Block Physical Timers and Virtual timers
Offset of bits
Timer interrupt 0 1 This bit indicates whether the timer is secure or non-secure:
Mode • 1: Timer is Secure
• 0: Timer is Non-secure. Non-secure access to the timer has
been enabled in CNTCTLBase.CNTNSAR.
polarity

Table 5-124 Flag Definitions: Common Flags

Offset of bits
Secure Timer 0 1 This bit indicates whether the timer is secure or non-secure
1: Timer is Secure
0: Timer is Non-secure
Always-on 1 1 This bit indicates the always-on capability of the Physical and
Capability Virtual Timers implementation.
1: This timer is guaranteed to assert its interrupt and wake a
processor, regardless of the processor’s power state. All of the
methods by which an ARM Generic Timer may generate an
interrupt must be supported, and must be capable of waking the
processor.
0: This timer may lose context or may not be guaranteed to assert
interrupts when its associated processor enters a low-power state.
5.2.24.2 SBSA Generic Watchdog Structure

The SBSA Generic Watchdog is a Platform GT with built-in support for use as the Watchdog timer
on Server Base System Architecture (SBSA)-compliant platforms.
The format of the SBSA Generic Watchdog structure is shown in Table 5-125.
The link for SBSA is http://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.arm.doc.den0029/
index.html.
Table 5-125 SBSA Generic Watchdog Structure Format

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0x1 Watchdog GT
Length 2 1 28
RefreshFrame Physical 8 4 Physical Address at which the RefreshFrame block is
Address located
WatchdogControlFrame 8 12 Physical Address at which the Watchdog Control Frame
Physical Address block is located
Watchdog Timer GSIV 4 20 GSIV for the SBSA Generic Watchdog timer
Watchdog Timer Flags 4 24 Flags for the SBSA Generic Watchdog timer. See
Table 5-126

Table 5-126 Flag Definitions: SBSA Generic Watchdog Timer

Offset of bits
Timer interrupt 0 1 This bit indicates the mode of the timer interrupt
Mode

polarity

Secure Timer 2 1 This bit indicates whether the timer is secure or non-secure
1: Timer is Secure
0: Timer is Non-secure
5.2.25 NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table (NFIT)

5.2.25.1 NFIT Overview
This optional table provides information that allows OSPM to enumerate NVDIMMs present in the
platform and associate system physical address ranges created by the NVDIMMs. NVDIMMs are
represented by zero or more NVDIMM devices under a single NVDIMM root device in ACPI
namespace.
OSPM evaluates NFIT only during system initialization. Any changes to the NVDIMM state at
runtime or information regarding hot added NVDIMMs are communicated using the _FIT method
(See Section 6.5.9) of the NVDIMM root device.
The NFIT consists of the following structures:
1. System Physical Address (SPA) Range Structure(s) (see Section 5.2.25.2) – Describes the SPA
ranges occupied by NVDIMMs and the types of the SPA ranges.
2. NVDIMM Region Mapping Structure(s) (see Section 5.2.25.3) – Describes mappings of
NVDIMM regions to SPA ranges and NVDIMM region properties.
3. Interleave Structure(s) (see Section 5.2.25.4) – Describes the various interleave options used by
NVDIMM regions.
4. SMBIOS Management Information Structure(s) (see Section 5.2.25.5) – Describes SMBIOS
Table entries for hot added NVDIMMs.
5. NVDIMM Control Region Structure(s) (see Section 5.2.25.6) – Describes NVDIMM function
interfaces, and if applicable, their Block Control Windows.
6. NVDIMM Block Data Window Region Structure(s) (see Section 5.2.25.7) – Describes Block
Data Windows for a NVDIMM function interfaces that have Block Control Windows.

7. Flush Hint Address Structure(s) (see Section 5.2.25.8) – Describes special system physical
addresses that when written help achieve durability for writes to NVDIMM regions.
Figure 5-28 illustrates the above structures and how they are associated with each other.
ACPI NVM SMBIOS
Root Management SPA Range SPA Range Structure Index
Device Information Structure(s)
(in ACPI name Structure(s)
space)
NVDIMM
Implicit
Region Mapping
Association
Structure(s)
Interleave Structure
Interleave Index
Structure(s)
NFIT Device Handle
Flush Hint
NVDIMM
NVDIMM Block Data Address
NVDIMM Control Structure(s) Control Region
Window Region
Region Structure(s) Structure Index
Structure(s)
NVDIMM Control Region
Structure Index
Figure 5-28 NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table (NFIT) Overview
Table 5-127 defines the NFIT.
Table 5-127 NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table (NFIT)

Header
Signature 4 0 ‘NFIT’ is Signature for this table
Length 4 4 Length in bytes for entire table.
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of table for supplied OEM
Table ID
Reserved 4 36

NFIT Structure[n] _ 40 A list of NFIT structures for this

implementation.
Each NFIT Structure must start with a 2 byte Type field followed by a 2 byte length field. This
allows OSPM to ignore unrecognized types. Supported NFIT Structure types are listed in Table 5-
128.
Table 5-128 NFIT Structure Types

Value Description
0 System Physical Address (SPA) Range Structure
1 NVDIMM Region Mapping Structure
2 Interleave Structure
3 SMBIOS Management Information Structure
4 NVDIMM Control Region Structure
5 NVDIMM Block Data Window Region Structure
6 Flush Hint Address Structure
7-0xFFFF Reserved
5.2.25.2 System Physical Address (SPA) Range Structure

This structure describes the system physical address ranges occupied by NVDIMMs and the types of
the regions. This structure is also used to describe Volatile Memory Region, Virtual CD Region and
Virtual Disk Region.
System physical address ranges described as address type Virtual CD or Virtual Disk shall be
described as EFI Reserved Memory Type in UEFI GetMemoryMap API (AddressRangeReserved in
E820 Table).
If a region is described as Virtual CD Region – Persistent or Virtual Disk Region – Persistent,
platform firmware also has to describe this region as part of a byte addressable persistent memory
address range.
OSPM has to exclude the ranges of type Virtual CD Region - Persistent or Virtual Disk Region -
Persistent from the contiguous address ranges described by this structure as byte addressable
persistent memory.
If a region is described as Virtual CD Region – Volatile or Virtual Disk Region – Volatile and if
those ranges are also described by an entry in this structure of type Volatile Memory Region, OSPM
has to exclude these ranges.
Platform is allowed to implement this structure just to describe system physical address ranges that
describe Virtual CD and Virtual Disk. For Virtual CD Region and Virtual Disk Region (both volatile
and persistent), the following fields - Proximity Domain, SPA Range Structure Index, Flags, and
Address Range Memory Mapping Attribute, are not relevant and shall be set to 0.
The default mapping of the NVDIMM Control Region shall be UC memory attributes with
AddressRangeReserved type in E820 and EfiMemoryMappedIO type in UEFI GetMemoryMap. The
default mapping of the NVDIMM Block Data Window Region shall be WB memory attributes with
AddressRangeReserved type in E820 and EfiMemoryMappedIO type in UEFI GetMemoryMap.

Table 5-129 SPA Range Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 0 - SPA Range Structure
Length 2 2 Length in bytes for entire structure.
SPA Range Structure 2 4 Used by NVDIMM Region Mapping Structure to
Index uniquely refer to this structure. Value of 0 is
Reserved and shall not be used as an index.
Flags 2 6 Bit [0] set to 1 indicates that Control region is strictly
for management during hot add/online operation.
Bit [1] set to 1 to indicate that data in Proximity
Domain field is valid.
Bits [15:2] : Reserved
Proximity Domain 4 12 Integer that represents the proximity domain to which
the memory belongs. This number must match with
corresponding entry in the SRAT table.
Address Range Type GUID 16 16 GUID that defines the type of the Address Range
Type. The GUID can be any of the values defined in
this section, or a vendor defined GUID.
System Physical Address 8 32 Start Address of the System Physical Address Range
Range Base
System Physical Address 8 40 Range Length of the region in bytes
Range Length
Address Range Memory 8 48 Memory mapping attributes for this address range:
Mapping Attribute EFI_MEMORY_UC = 0x00000001
EFI_MEMORY_WC = 0x00000002
EFI_MEMORY_WT = 0x00000004
EFI_MEMORY_WB = 0x00000008
EFI_MEMORY_UCE = 0x00000010
EFI_MEMORY_WP = 0x00001000
EFI_MEMORY_RP = 0x00002000
EFI_MEMORY_XP = 0x00004000
EFI_MEMORY_NV = 0x00008000
EFI_MEMORY_MORE_RELIABLE = 0x00010000
These types can be OR’d together as needed.

Refer to UEFI Specification for memory attributes
description
The following GUIDs are used to describe the Address Range Types currently defined in this
specification. Additional GUIDs can be generated to describe additional Address Range Types.
This GUID defines a volatile memory region:
{ 0x7305944F, 0xFDDA, 0x44E3, 0xB1, 0x6C, 0x3F, 0x22, 0xD2, 0x52, 0xE5, 0xD0 }
This GUID defines a Byte Addressable Persistent Memory (PM) Region:

{ 0x66F0D379, 0xB4F3, 0x4074, 0xAC, 0x43, 0x0D, 0x33, 0x18, 0xB7, 0x8C, 0xDB }
This GUID defines a NVDIMM Control Region:

{ 0x92F701F6, 0x13B4, 0x405D, 0x91, 0x0B, 0x29, 0x93, 0x67, 0xE8, 0x23, 0x4C }
This GUID defines a NVDIMM Block Data Window Region:

{ 0x91AF0530, 0x5D86, 0x470E, 0xA6, 0xB0, 0x0A, 0x2D, 0xB9, 0x40, 0x82, 0x49 }
This GUID defines a RAM Disk supporting a Virtual Disk Region – Volatile (a volatile memory
region that contains a raw disk format):
{ 0x77AB535A,0x45FC,0x624B,0x55,0x60,0xF7,0xB2,0x81,0xD1,0xF9,0x6E }
This GUID defines a RAM Disk supporting a Virtual CD Region – Volatile (a volatile memory
region that contains an ISO image):
{ 0x3D5ABD30,0x4175,0x87CE,0x6D,0x64,0xD2,0xAD,0xE5,0x23,0xC4,0xBB }
This GUID defines a RAM Disk supporting a Virtual Disk Region – Persistent (a persistent memory
region that contains a raw disk format):
{ 0x5CEA02C9,0x4D07,0x69D3,0x26,0x9F,0x44,0x96,0xFB,0xE0,0x96,0xF9 }
This GUID defines a RAM Disk supporting a Virtual CD Region – Persistent (a persistent memory
region that contains an ISO image):
{ 0x08018188,0x42CD,0xBB48,0x10,0x0F,0x53,0x87,0xD5,0x3D,0xED,0x3D }
Note: The Address Range Type GUID values used in the ACPI NFIT must match the corresponding
values in the Disk Type GUID of the RAM Disk device path that describe the same RAM Disk
Type. Refer to the UEFI specification for details.
5.2.25.3 NVDIMM Region Mapping Structure

The NVDIMM Region Mapping structure describes an NVDIMM region and its mapping, if any, to
a SPA range.
Table 5-130 NVDIMM Region Mapping Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 1 - NVDIMM Region Mapping Structure
NFIT Device Handle 4 4 The _ADR of the NVDIMM device (see Section 9.20.3)
containing the NVDIMM region
NVDIMM Physical ID 2 8 Handle (i.e., instance number) for the SMBIOS a Memory
Device (Type 17) structure describing the NVDIMM
containing the NVDIMM region


Length Offset
NVDIMM Region ID 2 10 Unique identifier for the NVDIMM region.
This identifier shall be unique across all the NVDIMM
regions in the NVDIMM.
There could be multiple regions within the device

corresponding to different address types. Also, for a given
address type, there could be multiple regions due to
interleave discontinuity.
SPA Range Structure 2 12 The SPA range, if any, associated with the NVDIMM
Index region.
0x0000: The NVDIMM region does not map to a SPA

range. The following fields are not valid and should be
ignored:
• NVDIMM Region Size;
• Region Offset;
• NVDIMM Physical Address Region Base;
• Interleave Structure Index; and
• Interleave Ways.
Fields other than those (e.g., NFIT Device Handle,
NVDIMM Physical ID, NVDIMM Region ID, and NVDIMM
State Flags) are valid.
0x0001 to 0xFFFF: The index of the SPA Range

Structure (see Section 5.2.25.2) for the NVDIMM region.
NVDIMM Control Region 2 14 The index of the NVDIMM Control Region Structure (see
Structure Index Section 5.2.25.6) for the NVDIMM region.
NVDIMM Region Size 8 16 In bytes.
The size of the NVDIMM region.
If SPA Range Structure Index and Interleave Ways are

both non-zero, this field shall match System Physical
Address Range Length divided by Interleave Ways.
NOTE: the size in SPA Range occupied by the NVDIMM
for this region will not be the same as the NVDIMM
Region Size when Interleave Ways is greater than 1.
Region Offset 8 24 In bytes.
The Starting Offset for the NVDIMM region in the
Interleave Set. This offset is with respect to System
Physical Address Range Base in the SPA Range
Structure.
NOTE: The starting SPA of the NVDIMM region in the
NVDIMM is provided by System Physical Address Range
Base + Region Offset
NVDIMM Physical 8 32 In bytes. The base physical address within the NVDIMM
Address Region Base of the NVDIMM region.


Length Offset
Interleave Structure Index 2 40 The Interleave Structure (see Table 5.2.25.4), if any, for
the NVDIMM region, as defined in Table 5-131.
Interleave Ways 2 42 Number of NVDIMMs in the interleave set, including the

NVDIMM containing the NVDIMM region, as defined in
Table 5-131.


Length Offset
NVDIMM State Flags 2 44 Bit [0] set to 1 indicates that the previous SAVE operation
to the NVDIMM containing the NVDIMM region failed.
Bit [0] set to 0 indicates that the previous SAVE
succeeded, or there was no previous SAVE.
Bit [1] set to 1 indicates that the last RESTORE operation

from the NVDIMM containing the NVDIMM region failed.
Bit [1] set to 0 indicates that the last RESTORE
succeeded or there was no last RESTORE.
Bit [2] set to 1 indicates that the platform flush of data to

the NVDIMM containing the NVDIMM region before the
previous SAVE failed. As a result, the restored data
content may be inconsistent even if Bit [0] and Bit [1] do
not indicate failure.
Bit [2] set to 0 indicates that the platform flush succeeded,
or there was no platform flush.
Bit [3] set to 1 indicates that the NVDIMM containing the

NVDIMM region is not able to accept persistent writes.
For an energy-source backed NVDIMM device, Bit [3] is
set if it is not armed or the previous ERASE operation did
not complete.
NVDIMM region is armed.

NVDIMM region observed SMART and health events
prior to OSPM handoff.
Bit [5] set to 1 indicates that platform firmware is enabled

to notify OSPM of SMART and health events related to
the NVDIMM containing the NVDIMM region using Notify
codes as specified in Table 5-170.
Bit [6] set to 1 indicates that the platform firmware did not
map the NVDIMM containing the NVDIMM region into an
SPA range. This could be due to various issues such as a
device initialization error, device error, insufficient
hardware resources to map the device, or a disabled
device.
Implementation Note: In case of device error, Bit [4] might
be set along with Bit [6].
Bit [7] to Bit [15] are reserved.

Implementation Note: Platform firmware might report
several set bits.
Reserved 2 46


Length Offset
a
See DSP0134 System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) Reference Specification, Version 3.0.0 (2015-02-12)
by the Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. (DMTF). See http://www.dmtf.org/standards/smbios.
Table 5-131 Interleave Structure Index and Interleave Ways definition
Interleave Interleave Interpretation

Structure Ways
Index
0 0 Interleaving, if any, of the NVDIMM region is not reported
0 1 The NVDIMM region is not interleaved with other NVDIMMs (i.e., it is
one-way interleaved)
0 >1 The NVDIMM region is part of an interleave set with the number of
NVDIMMs indicated in the Interleave Ways field, including the NVDIMM
containing the NVDIMM region, but the Interleave Structure is not
described.
>0 >1 The NVDIMM region is part of an interleave set with:
a) the number of NVDIMMs indicated in the Interleave Ways field,
including the NVDIMM containing the NVDIMM region; and
b) the Interleave Structure (see Section 5.2.25.4) indicated by the
Interleave Structure Index field.
All other combinations Invalid case
Note: Interleave Structure Index=0, Interleave Ways !=1 is to allow a PM range which is interleaved but
the actual interleave is not described but only provides the physical Memory Devices (as
described by SMBIOS Type 17) that contribute to the PM region. Typically, only block region
requires the interleave structure since software has to undo the effect of interleave.
5.2.25.4 Interleave Structure

Memory from DIMMs/NVDIMMs could be interleaved across memory channels, memory
controller and processor sockets. This structure describes the memory interleave for a given address
range. Since interleave is a repeating pattern, this structure only describes the lines involved in the
memory interleave before the pattern start to repeat.
Table 5-132 Interleave Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 2 - Interleave Structure
Interleave Structure Index 2 4 Index Number uniquely identifies the interleave
description – this allows reuse of interleave
description across multiple NVDIMMs. Index must be
non-zero.
Reserved 2 6
Number of Lines Described 4 8 Only need to describe the number of lines needed
(m) before the interleave pattern repeats

Line Size ( in bytes ) 4 12 e.g. 64, 128, 256, 4096

Line 1 Offset 4 16 Line 1 Offset refers to the offset of the line, in
multiples of Line Size, from the corresponding SPA
Range Base for the NVDIMM region.
Line 1 SPA = SPA Range Base + Region Offset +
(Line 1 Offset*Line Size). Line SPA is naturally
aligned to the Line size.
… 4
Line m Offset 4 16+((m- Line m Offset refers to the offset of the line, in
1)*4) multiples of Line Size, from the corresponding SPA
Range Base for the NVDIMM region.
Line m SPA = SPA Range Base + Region Offset +
(Line m Offset*Line Size) where m is the last line
number before the pattern repeats.
Line SPA is naturally aligned to the Line size.
5.2.25.5 SMBIOS Management Information Structure

This structure enables platform to communicate the additional SMBIOS entries beyond the entries
provided by SMBIOS Table at boot to the OS (e.g. Type 17 entries corresponding to hot added
NVDIMMs).
Table 5-133 SMBIOS Management Information Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 3 - SMBIOS Management Information Structure
Reserved 4 4
Data _ 8 SMBIOS Table Entries
5.2.25.6 NVDIMM Control Region Structure

The system shall include an NVDIMM Control Region Structure for every Function Interface in the
NVDIMM.
Table 5-134 NVDIMM Control Region Structure Mark

Length Offset
Type 2 0 4 - NVDIMM Control Region Structure
The length of this structure is either 32 bytes or 80 bytes. The
length of the structure can be 32 bytes only if the Number of
Block Control Windows field has a value of 0.
NVDIMM Control 2 4 Index Number uniquely identifies the NVDIMM Control Region
Region Structure Structure.
Index


Length Offset
Vendor ID 2 6 Identifier indicating the vendor of the NVDIMM.
This field shall be set to the value of the NVDIMM SPD Module
Manufacturer ID Code field a with byte 0 set to DDR4 SPD byte
320 and byte 1 set to DDR4 SPD byte 321.
Device ID 2 8 Identifier for the NVDIMM, assigned by the module vendor.
Product Identifier field b with byte 0 set to SPD byte 192 and
byte 1 set to SPD byte 193.
Revision ID 2 10 Revision of the NVDIMM, assigned by the module vendor.
Byte 1 of this field is reserved.
Byte 0 of this field shall be set to the value of the NVDIMM SPD
Module Revision Code field a (i.e., SPD byte 349).
Subsystem 2 12 Vendor of the NVDIMM non-volatile memory subsystem
Vendor ID controller c.
This field shall be set to the value of the NVDIMM SPD Non-
Volatile Memory Subsystem Controller Vendor ID field b with
byte 0 set to SPD byte 194 and byte 1 set to SPD byte 195.
Subsystem 2 14 Identifier for the NVDIMM non-volatile memory subsystem
Device ID controller, assigned by the non-volatile memory subsystem
controller vendor.
This field shall be set to the value of the NVDIMM SPD Non-
Volatile Memory Subsystem Controller Device ID field b with
byte 0 set to SPD byte 196 and byte 1 set to SPD byte 197.
Subsystem 2 16 Revision of the NVDIMM non-volatile memory subsystem
Revision ID controller, assigned by the non-volatile memory subsystem
controller vendor.
Byte 1 of this field is reserved.
Byte 0 of this field shall be set to the value of the NVDIMM SPD
Non-Volatile Memory Subsystem Controller Revision Code
field b (i.e., SPD byte 198).


Length Offset
Valid Fields 1 18 Valid bits for fields defined after the initial NFIT definition in
ACPI 6.0 within the initially defined lengths of 32 and 80 bytes.
Bits [7-1]: Reserved

Bit [0]: Manufacturing Location field and Manufacturing Date
field
Bit [0] set to one indicates that the Manufacturing Location field
and Manufacturing Date field are valid. Bit [0] set to zero
indicates that the Manufacturing Location field and
Manufacturing Date field are not valid and should be ignored.
Systems compliant with this specification shall set Bit [0] to

one. Systems that were compliant with ACPI 6.0 had Bit [0] set
to zero, meaning they did not have Manufacturing Location and
Manufacturing Date fields.
Manufacturing 1 19 Manufacturing location for the NVDIMM, assigned by the
Location module vendor.
Manufacturing Location field a (SPD byte 322).
Validity of this field is indicated in Valid Fields Bit [0].

Manufacturing 2 20 Date the NVDIMM was manufactured, assigned by the module
Date vendor.
Manufacturing Date field a with byte 0 set to SPD byte 323 and
byte 1 set to SPD byte 324.
Validity of this field is indicated in Valid Fields Bit [0].

Reserved 2 22
Serial Number 4 24 Serial number of the NVDIMM, assigned by the module vendor.
Serial Number field a with byte 0 set to SPD byte 325, byte 1
set to SPD byte 326, byte 2 set to SPD byte 327, and byte 3 set
to SPD byte 328.


Length Offset
Region Format 2 28 Identifier for the programming interface.
Interface Code
This field shall be set to the value of the NVDIMM SPD
Function Interface descriptor b for the function interface
represented by the NVDIMM Control Region structure, with:
a) byte 0 bits 7:5 set to 000b;
b) byte 0 bits 4:0 set to the Function Interface field (i.e.,
Function Interface descriptor bits 4:0);
c) byte 1 bits 7:0 set to 000b; and
d) byte 1 bits 4:0 set to the Function Class field (i.e., Function
Interface descriptor bits 9:5).
EXAMPLE: A Function Interface Descriptor of 0x8021 means:

a) Function Interface Descriptor is implemented;
b) there is no Extended Function Parameter Block;
c) function class is byte-addressable energy backed (0x01);
and
d) function interface is byte addressable energy backed
function interface 1 (0x01) d,
and maps to a Region Format Interface Code of 0x0101.
Number of Block 2 30 Number of Block Control Windows must match the
Control Windows corresponding number of Block Data Windows. Fields that
follow this field are valid only if the number of Block Control
Windows is non-zero.
Size of Block 8 32 In Bytes
Control Window
Command 8 40 In Bytes.
Register Offset in Logical offset. Refer to Note. The start of the subsequent Block
Block Control Control Windows is calculated by adding Size of Block Control
Window Window.
Size of Command 8 48 In Bytes
Register in Block
Control Windows
Status Register 8 56 In Bytes.
Offset in Block Logical offset. Refer to Note1. The start of the subsequent
Control Window Block Control Window is calculated by adding Size of Block
Control Window.
Size of Status 8 64 In Bytes
Register in Block
Control Windows
NVDIMM Control 2 72 Bit [0] – set to 1 to indicate that the Block Data Windows
Region Flag implementation is buffered. The content of the data window is
only valid when so indicated by Status Register.
Reserved 6 74


Length Offset
a
See JEDEC Standard No. 21-C JEDEC Configurations for Solid State Memories, Annex L: Serial Presence
Detect (SPD) for DDR4 SDRAM modules, DDR4 SPD Document Release 2.
b See JEDEC Standard No. 21-C JEDEC Configurations for Solid State Memories, Annex L: Serial Presence
Detect (SPD) for DDR4 SDRAM modules, DDR4 SPD Document Release 3 (forthcoming).
c In an NVDIMM, the module contains a non-volatile memory subsystem controller.
d
See JEDEC Standard No. 2233-22 Byte Addressable Energy Backed Interface, Version 1.0 (forthcoming).
Note: Logical offset in structure above refers to offset from the start of NVDIMM Control Region. The
logical offset is with respect to the device not with respect to system physical address space.
Software should construct the device address space (accounting for interleave) before applying
the block control start offset.
5.2.25.7 NVDIMM Block Data Window Region Structure

This structure shall be provided only if the number of Block Data Windows is non-zero.
Table 5-135 NVDIMM Block Data Windows Region Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 5 - NVDIMM Block Data Window Region
Structure
NVDIMM Control Region 2 4 Provides association for the corresponding
Structure Index NVDIMM Control Region. Shall be Non-zero.
Number of Block Data 2 6 Number of Block Data Windows shall match the
Windows corresponding number of Block Control
Windows.
Block Data Window Start 8 8 In Bytes.
Offset Logical offset. Refer to Note2. The start of the
subsequent Block Data Window is calculated by
adding Size of Block Data Window.
Size of Block Data Window 8 16 In Bytes
Block Accessible Memory 8 24 In Bytes

Capacity
Beginning address of first 8 32 In Bytes. The address of the next block is
block in Block Accessible obtained by adding the value of this field to Size
Memory of Block Data Window.
Note: Logical offset in table above refers to offset from the start of NVDIMM Data Window Region. The
logical offset is with respect to the device not with respect to system physical address space.

Software should construct the device address space (accounting for interleave) before applying
the Block Data Window start offset.
5.2.25.8 Flush Hint Address Structure

Software needs an assurance of durability (i.e. a guarantee that the writes have reached the target
NVDIMM) after writing to a NVDIMM region. The Flush Hint feature is platform specific and if
supported, the platform exposes this durability mechanism to OSPM by providing a Flush Hint
Address Structure.
For a given NVDIMM (as indicated by the NFIT Device Handle in the Flush Hint Address
Structure), software can write to any one of these Flush Hint Addresses to cause any preceding
writes to the NVDIMM region to be flushed out of the intervening platform buffers1 to the targeted
NVDIMM (to achieve durability).
Table 5-136 Flush Hint Address Structure

Length
Type 2 0 6 - Flush Hint Address Structure
NFIT Device Handle 4 4 Indicates the NVDIMM supported by the Flush
Hint Addresses in this structure.
Number of Flush Hint 2 8 Number of Flush Hint Addresses in this structure.
Addresses in this structure
(m)
Flush Hint Address 1 8 16 64-bit system physical address that needs to be
written to cause durability flush. Software is
allowed to write up to a cache line of data. The
content of the data is not relevant to the
functioning of the flush hint mechanism.
… 8 24
Flush Hint Address m 8 16+ ((m- 64-bit system physical address that needs to be
1)*8) written to cause durability flush. Software is
allowed to write up to a cache line of data. The
content of the data is not relevant to the
functioning of the flush hint mechanism.
5.2.25.9 NVDIMM representation format

If software or an NVDIMM manufacturer displays, prints on a label, or otherwise makes available
an identifier for an NVDIMM (e.g., to uniquely identify the NVDIMM), then the following
hexadecimal format should be used:
• If the Manufacturing Location and Manufacturing Date fields are valid:
1. Note that the platform buffers do not include processor cache(s)! Processors typically include ISA to flush
data out of processor caches.

C language format string: "%02x%02x-%02x-%02x%02x-%02x%02x%02x%02x"

Format values:
1. Vendor ID byte 0 (including the parity bit)
2. Vendor ID byte 1
3. Manufacturing Location byte
4. Manufacturing Date byte 0 (i.e., the year)
5. Manufacturing Date byte 1 (i.e., the week)
6. Serial Number byte 0
• If the Manufacturing Location and Manufacturing Date fields are not valid:
C language format string: "%02x%02x-%02x%02x%02x%02x"
Format values:
1. Vendor ID byte 0 (including the parity bit)
2. Vendor ID byte 1
This format matches the order of SPD bytes 320 to 328 from low to high (i.e., showing the lowest or
first byte on the left).
5.2.26 Secure Devices (SDEV) ACPI Table

The Secure DEVices (SDEV) table is a list of secure devices known to the system. The table is
applicable to systems where a secure OS partition and a non-secure OS partition co-exist. A secure
device is a device that is protected by the secure OS, preventing accesses from non-secure OS.
The table provides a hint as to which devices should be protected by the secure OS. The enforcement
of the table is provided by the secure OS and any pre-boot environment preceding it. The table itself
does not provide any security guarantees. It is the responsibility of the system manufacturer to
ensure that the operating system is configured to enable security features that make use of the SDEV
table.
There are three options for each device in the system:
1) Device is listed in SDEV. “Allow handoff…” flag is clear.
This provides a hint that the device should be always protected within the secure OS.
For example, the secure OS may require that a device used for user authentication must be
protected to guard against tampering by malicious software.
2) Device is listed in SDEV. “Allow handoff…” flag is set.

This provides a hint that the device should be initially protected by the secure OS, but it is
up to the discretion of the secure OS to allow the device to be handed off to the non-secure
OS when requested. Any OS component that expected the device to be operating in secure
mode would not correctly function after the handoff has been completed.
For example, a device may be used for variety of purposes, including user authentication.
If the secure OS determines that the necessary components for driving the device are
missing, it may release control of the device to the non-secure OS. In this case, the device
cannot be used for secure authentication, but other operations can correctly function.
3) Device not listed in SDEV
For example, the status quo is that no hints are provided. Any OS component that expected
the device to be in secure mode would not correctly function.
The OS vendor provides guidance on which devices can be listed in the SDEV table; in
other words, which devices are compatible with the secure OS, and which devices should
have the “allow handoff” flag set.
See table below for the SDEV ACPI definition.
Table 5-137 SDEV ACPI Table

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘SDEV’. Signature for the Table
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire Table.
Revision 1 8 1
OEM ID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the SDEV Table, the table ID is the manufacturer model
ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of SDEV Table for supplied OEM Table ID.
Secure Device - 36 A list of structures containing one or more Secure Device
Structures [] Structures as defined in next section.
5.2.26.1 Secure Device Structures

Value Description
1 PCIe Endpoint Device based Secure Device.
0 ACPI_NAMESPACE_DEVICE based Secure Device.
All Other Values Reserved for future use. For forward compatibility, software skips structures it
does not comprehend by skipping the appropriate number of bytes indicated by
the Length field.
All new device structures must include the Type, Flags, and Length fields as the
first 3 fields respectively.

5.2.26.2 PCIe Endpoint Device Based Device Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0x01: PCIe Endpoint device.
Flags 1 1 Bit 0: Allow handoff to non-secure OS.
All other bits are reserved and must be zero.
Length 2 2 Length of this Entry in Bytes.
PCI Segment Number 2 4 PCI segment number of the device .
Start Bus Number 2 6 This field describes the bus number (bus number of the first
PCI Bus produced by the PCI Host Bridge) under which the
secure device resides.
PCI Path Offset 2 8 Pointer to the PCI path* entry offset in the Secure PCI Device
Structure data region.
A PCI Path describes the hierarchal path from the Host

Bridge to the device.
For example, a device in an N-deep hierarchy is identified by

N {PCI Device Number, PCI Function Number} pairs, where
N is a positive integer. Even offsets contain the Device
numbers, and odd offsets contain the Function numbers. The
first {Device, Function} pair resides on the bus identified by
the ‘Start Bus Number’ field. Each subsequent pair resides on
the bus directly behind the bus of the device identified by the
previous pair. The identity (Bus, Device and Function) of the
target device is obtained by recursively walking down these N
{Device, Function} pairs.
PCI Path Length 2 10 Length of the PCI path entry.
Vendor specific data 2 12 Offset of the data specific to the device.
Offset
Vendor specific data 2 14 Length of the data specific to the device.
Length
Example:
The following table is an example for implementing a PCIe Endpoint Device Based Device
Structure for a PCIe device (Bus 1, Dev 2, Function 1), that is a child of a PCIe Root Port (Bus 0,
Dev 18, Function 0).
Table 5-138 PCIe Endpoint Device Based Device Structure Example

Field Byte Byte Value
Length Offset
Type 1 0 0x01: PCIe Endpoint device.

Flags 1 1 0x01
Length 2 2 0x18

PCI Segment Number 2 4 0x0

Start Bus Number 2 6 0x0
PCI Path Offset 2 8 0x10 (16 DEC)
PCI Path Length 2 10 0x4

Vendor specific data 2 12 0x14 (20 DEC)
Offset
Vendor specific data 2 14 0x4
Length
PCI Path
PCI Device 1 16 0x12 (18 DEC)
PCI Function 1 17 0x0
PCI Device 1 18 0x2
PCI Function 1 19 0x1
Vendor specific data 4 20 0xDEADBEEF

5.2.26.3 ACPI_NAMESPACE_DEVICE based Secure Device Structure

Length
Type 1 0 0x00: ACPI integrated devices
Flags 1 1 Bit 0: Allow handoff to non-secure OS.
All other bits are reserved and must be zero.
Length 2 2 Length of this entry in bytes.
Device Identifier Offset 2 4 Offset, in Secure ACPI Device structure of null terminated ASCII
string that contains a fully qualified reference to the ACPI name-
space object that is this device. (For example, “\\_SB.I2C0”
represents the ACPI object name for an embedded I2C Device in
southbridge; Quotes are omitted in the data field). Refer to ACPI
specification for fully qualified references for ACPI name-space
objects.
Device Identifier Length 2 6 Length of Device Identifier string in bytes, including the
termination byte
Vendor specific data 2 8 Offset, in Secure ACPI Device Structure, of the data specific to
Offset the device supplied by the vendor
Vendor specific data 2 10 Length of the data specific to the device supplied by the vendor
Length
5.2.27 Heterogeneous Memory Attribute Table (HMAT)

5.2.27.1 HMAT Overview
Heterogeneous Memory Attribute Table (HMAT) describes the memory attributes, such as memory
side cache attributes and bandwidth and latency details, related to the System Physical Address
(SPA) Memory Ranges. The software is expected to use this information as hint for optimization.
OSPM evaluates HMAT only during system initialization. Any changes to the HMAT state at
runtime or information regarding HMAT for hot plug are communicated using the _HMA method
(see Section 6.2.18).
The HMAT consists of the following structures:
1. Memory Subsystem Address Range Structure(s) (see Section 5.2.27.3) – Describes the System
Physical Address (SPA) ranges occupied by memory, the types of SPA ranges, Proximity
Domain and Reservation hint information.
2. System Locality Latency and Bandwidth Information Structure (s) (see Section 5.2.27.4) –
Describes the memory access latency and bandwidth information from various memory access
initiator proximity domains. The latency and bandwidth numbers represented in this structure
correspond to rated latency and bandwidth for the platform.
3. Memory Side Cache Information Structure(s) (see Section 5.2.27.5) – Describes memory side
cache information for memory proximity domains if the memory side cache is present and the
physical device (SMBIOS handle) forms the memory side cache.
These structures are illustrated by the following figure.

SRAT
Proximity Domain 1 Proximity
Proximity Domains
Proximity Domain 2
Domain # Memory
Subsystem
ACPI Root Proximity Domain n Address Range
Table Structure(s)
System Locality
Heterogeneous
Latency and
Memory Bandwidth
Attributes Memory
Information Proximity Domains
Table (HMAT) Structure(s)
Memory Side
Cache
Information
Structure(s)
Figure 5-29 HMAT Representation
Table 5-139 Heterogeneous Memory Attribute Table Header

Header
Signature 4 0 ‘HMAT’ is Signature for this table
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of table for supplied OEM
Table ID
Reserved 4 36 To make the structures 8 byte aligned
HMAT Table _ 40 A list of HMAT table structures for this
Structures[n] implementation.

Table 5-140 HMAT Structure Types
Value Description
0 Memory Subsystem Address Range Structure
1 System Locality Latency and Bandwidth Information Structure
2 Memory Side Cache Information Structure
3-0xFFFF Reserved
5.2.27.2 Memory Side Cache Overview

Memory side cache allows to optimize the performance of memory subsystems. Table 5-30 shows
an example of system physical address range with memory side cache in front of actual memory that
is seen by the software. When the software access an SPA, if it is not present in the near memory
(hit) it would be returned the software, if it is not present in the near memory (miss) it would access
the next level of memory and so on.
Figure 5-30 Memory Side Cache Example
The term “far memory” is used to denote the last level memory (Level 0 Memory) in the memory
hierarchy as shown in Table 5-30. The Level n Memory acts as memory side cache to Level n-1
Memory and Level n-1 memory acts as memory side cache for Level n-2 memory and so on. If Non-
Volatile memory is cached by memory side cache, then platform is responsible for persisting the

modified contents of the memory side cache corresponding to the Non-Volatile memory area on
power failure, system crash or other faults.
5.2.27.3 Memory Subsystem Address Range Structure

This structure describes the system physical address (SPA) range occupied by the memory
subsystem and its associativity with processor proximity domain as well as hint for memory usage.
Table 5-141 Memory Subsystem Address Range Structure

Type 2 0 0 - Memory Subsystem Address Range Structure
Reserved 2 2
Length 4 4 40 - Length in bytes for entire table.
Flags 2 8 Bit [0]: set to 1 to indicate Processor Proximity Domain

field is valid
Bit [1]: set to 1 to indicate that data in Memory
Proximity Domain field is valid.
Bit [2]: Reservation hint—if set to 1, it is recommended
that the operating system avoid placing allocations in
this region if it cannot relocate (e.g. OS core memory
management structures, OS core executable). Any
allocations placed here should be able to be relocated
(e.g. disk cache) if the memory is needed for another
purpose.
Refer to notes below this table for additional
information.
Bits [15:3] : Reserved
Reserved 2 10
Processor Proximity 4 12 Integer that represents the processor proximity

Domain domain if the memory controller that is directly
attached to it is responsible for satisfying the memory
access for this address range. This number shall
match the corresponding entry in the SRAT table’s
Processor Local APIC/SAPIC Affinity Structure or
Processor Local x2APIC Affinity Structure if this
memory range is closely connected.
If this memory range is produced by a non-processor
node, then the Flags shall indicate the Processor
Proximity Domain field is not valid.
Memory Proximity 4 16 Integer that represents the memory proximity domain
Domain to which this memory belongs.
Reserved 4 20
System Physical 8 24 Start Address of the System Physical Address Range

Address Range Base
System Physical 8 32 Range Length of the region in bytes
Address Range Length
Note: The Proximity Domain of System Physical Address ranges defined in the HMAT, NFIT and
SRAT tables shall match each other.
The firmware constructing Memory Subsystem Address Range Structure shall set Reservation hint
bit when permanent OS use of the memory would have detrimental effects on platform performance.

For instance, a platform might contain a device which requires access to High-Bandwidth Memory
in order to reach peak performance. Such a platform would set Reservation hint bit on the High-
Bandwidth Memory range to indicate to the OS that it shall ensure the memory remains available to
applications using the device.
Implementations should set the Reservation hint on an address range whenever general purpose
allocations should be directed to another resource. In other words, use the hint when it would be
detrimental to platform behavior if the OS did not reserve the entirety of the given address range for
an application specific usage. If the reservation hint is set, on runtime updates, unless memory is
removed, it is expected not be reset.
5.2.27.4 System Locality Latency and Bandwidth Information Structure

This optional structure provides a matrix that describes the normalized memory read/write latency,
read/write bandwidth between Initiator Proximity Domains (Processor or I/O) and Target Proximity
Domains (Memory).
The Initiator to Target Proximity Domain matrix elements are normalized based on Base Unit value.
The Base Unit value is considered to be 10. All elements are scaled to be relative to Base Unit. For
example, if the latency from Initiator Proximity Domain List[i] to Target Proximity Domain List[j]
is 2.4 x Base Unit, a value of 24 is stored in table Entry[i][j].
If one locality is unreachable from another, a value of 0xFFFF is stored in that table entry. The
matrix values of 1-9 are reserved. The matrix value of 0 represents that the corresponding latency or
bandwidth information is not provided.
Note: The lowest latency number represents best performance and the highest bandwidth number
represents best performance. The latency and bandwidth numbers represented in this structure
correspond to rated latency and bandwidth for the platform.
Table 5-142 System Locality Latency and Bandwidth Information Structure

Type 2 0 1 – System Locality Latency and Bandwidth
Information Structure
Reserved 2 2
Flags 1 8 Bits [4:0] Memory Hierarchy:
• 0 – Memory
If the memory side cache is not present, this
structure represents the memory performance. If
memory side cache is present, this structure
represents aggregated performance of memory
and all memory side caches for each domain
• 1 - Last level memory of memory side cached
memory (far memory)
• 2 – 1st level memory side cache
• 3 – 2nd level memory side cache
• 4 – 3rd level memory side cache
Other bits:
• Bits[7:5] Reserved


Data Type 1 9 Type of data represented by this structure instance.
If Memory Hierarchy = 0
• 0 – Access Latency (if read and write latencies
are same)
• 1 – Read Latency
• 2 – Write Latency
• 3 – Access Bandwidth (if read and write
bandwidth are same)
• 4 – Read Bandwidth
• 5 – Write Bandwidth
If Memory Hierarchy = 1, 2, 3, or 4
• 0 – Access Hit Latency (if read hit and write hit
latencies are same)
• 1 – Read Hit Latency
• 2 – Write Hit Latency
• 3 – Access Hit Bandwidth (if read hit and write hit
latency are same)
• 4 – Read Hit Bandwidth
• 5 – Write Hit Bandwidth
Other values reserved

Reserved 2 10
Number of Initiator 4 12 Indicates total number of Proximity Domains that
Proximity Domains can initiate memory access requests to other
(s) proximity domains.
This is typically the processor or I/O proximity
domains.
Number of Target 4 16 Indicates total number of Proximity Domains that
Proximity Domains can act as target. This is typically the Memory
(t) Proximity Domains.
Reserved 4 20
Entry Base Unit 8 24 Matrix Entry Values (latency or bandwidth) base
unit used for normalizing the matrix entry values.
Base unit for latency in nanoseconds.
Base unit for bandwidth in megabytes per second
(MB/s).
Note: Due to the minimum matrix value entry value
being 10, the Base Unit corresponds to a value of
10.
Initiator Proximity 4 32
Domain List[0]
Initiator Proximity 4
Domain List[1]
…
Initiator Proximity 4
Domain List[s-1]


Target Proximity 4 32 + 4 x s
Domain List[0]
Target Proximity 4
Domain List[1]
…
Target Proximity 4
Domain List[t-1]
The following list of entries provides latency/bandwidth values. Total Number Entry shall be equal to Number
of Initiator Proximity Domains * Number of Target Proximity Domains
Entry[0][0] 2 32 + 4 x s + 4 Matrix entry (Initiator Proximity Domain List[0],
xt Target Proximity Domain List[0])
Entry[0][1] 2 Matrix entry (Initiator Proximity Domain List[0],
Target Proximity Domain List[1])
……
Entry[0][Number of 2 Matrix entry (Initiator Proximity Domain List[0],
Target Proximity Target Proximity Domain List[t-1])
Domains -1]
Entry[1][ 0] 2 Matrix entry (Initiator Proximity Domain List[1],
Entry[1][1] 2 Matrix entry (Initiator Proximity Domain List[1],
……
Entry[1][ Number of 2 Matrix entry (Initiator Proximity Domain List[1],
Target Proximity Target Proximity Domain List[t-1])
Domains -1]
……
Entry[Number of 2 Matrix entry (Initiator Proximity Domain List[s-1],
Initiator Proximity Target Proximity Domain List[t-1])
Domains - 1][
Number of Target
Proximity Domains -
1]
Implementation Note: The Flag field in this table allows read latency, write latency, read bandwidth
and write bandwidth as well as Memory Hierarchy levels. Hence this structure could be repeated up
to 4 x number of Memory Hierarchy levels if memory attributes expressed for each memory level.
If both SLIT table and the HMAT table with the memory latency information are present, the OSPM
should attempt to use the data in the HMAT rather than the data in the SLIT.
5.2.27.5 Memory Side Cache Information Structure

System memory hierarchy could be constructed to have a large size of low performance far memory
and smaller size of high performance near memory. Table 5-143 describes memory side cache
information for a given memory domain. The software could use this information to effectively
place the data in memory to maximize the performance of the system memory that use the memory
side cache.

Table 5-143 Memory Side Cache Information Structure

Type 2 0 2 – Memory Side Cache Information Structure
Reserved 2 2
Memory Proximity 4 8 Integer that represents the memory proximity domain to

Domain which the memory belongs. This number shall match the
corresponding entry in the SRAT table’s Memory Affinity
Structure
Reserved 4 12
Memory Side Cache 8 16 Size of memory side cache in bytes for the above
Size memory proximity domain.
Cache Attributes 4 24 Bits [3:0] – Total Cache Levels for this Memory Proximity
Domain
• 0 – None
• 1 – One level cache
• 2 – Two level cache
• 3 – Three level cache
Bits [7:4] : Cache Level described in this structure

• 0 – None
• 1 – One level cache
• 2 – Two level cache
• 3 – Three level cache
Bits [11:8] - Cache Associativity

• 0 – None
• 1 – Direct Mapped
• 2 – Complex Cache Indexing (implementation
specific)
Bits [15:12] - Write Policy

• 0 – None
• 1 – Write Back (WB)
• 2 – Write Through (WT)
Bits [31:16] - Cache Line size in bytes

Number of bytes accessed from next cache level on
cache miss.
Reserved 2 28
Number of SMBIOS 2 30 Number of SMBIOS handles that contributes to the

handles (n) memory side cache physical devices.
SMBIOS Handles 2xn 32 Refers to corresponding SMBIOS Type-17 Handles
Structure that contains Physical Memory Component
related information

Implementation Note: A proximity domain should contain only one set of memory attributes. If
memory attributes differ, represent them in different proximity domains. If the Memory Side Cache
Information Structure is present, the System Locality Latency and Bandwidth Information Structure
shall contain latency and bandwidth information for each memory side cache level.
5.2.28 Platform Debug Trigger Table (PDTT)

This section describes the format of the Platform Debug Trigger Table (PDTT) description table,
which is an optional table that describes one or more PCC subspace identifiers that can be used to
trigger/notify the platform specific debug facilities to capture non-architectural system state. This is
intended as a standard mechanism for the OSPM to notify the platform of a fatal crash (e.g. kernel
panic or bug check).
This table is intended for platforms that provide debug hardware facilities that can capture system
info beyond the normal OS crash dump. This trigger could be used to capture platform specific state
information (e.g. firmware state, on-chip hardware facilities, auxiliary controllers, etc.). This type of
debug feature could be leveraged on mobile, client, and enterprise platforms.
Certain platforms may have multiple debug subsystems that must be triggered individually. This
table accommodates such systems by allowing multiple triggers to be listed.
After triggering debug facilities, the CPU must continue to operate as expected so that the kernel
may continue with crash processing/handling (e.g. possibly attempting to attach a debugger or
proceed with a full crash dump prior to rebooting the system).
On some platforms, the debug trigger may put some hardware components/peripherals into a frozen
non-operational state, and so the debug trigger is not recommended to be used during normal run-
time operation.
Other platforms may allow the debug trigger for capture system state to debug run-time behavioral
issues (e.g. system performance and power issues), specified by the "Runtime" flag field in Table
AAA.
When multiple triggers exist, OSPM must execute the triggers in the order listed in the table. OSPM
may need to wait for PCC completion before executing next trigger based on the “Wait for
Completion” flag field in Table AAA.
Note: The mechanism by which this system debug state information is retrieved by the user is
platform and vendor specific. This will most likely will require special tools and privileges in order
to access and parse the platform debug information captured by this trigger.

Table 5-144 PDTT Structure

Length Offset
Signature 4 0 ‘PDTT’
Length 4 4 Length in bytes of the entire Platform Debug Trigger Table
Revision 1 8 0
OEM ID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 The table ID is the manufacturer model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision for supplied OEM Table ID.
Trigger Count 1 36 Number of PDTT Platform Communication Channel
Identifiers
Trigger Identifier 4 40 Offset to the “PDTT Platform Communication Channel
Array Offset Identifiers[]” Array
PDTT Platform --- Trigger Array of PDTT Platform Communication Channel Identifiers
Communication Identifier to notify various platform debug facilities. This identifier
Channel Identifiers Array selects the PCC subspace index that must be listed in the
[] Offset PCCT. It also describes per trigger flags.
Each Identifier is 2 bytes. Must provide a minimum of one
identifier
Described in Table 5-145 below.
Table 5-145 PDTT Platform Communication Channel Identifier Structure

Length Offset
PDTT PCC Sub 8 0 PCC sub channel ID
Channel Identifier Note: this must be an index listed in the PCCT
Run-time 1 8 0: Trigger must only be invoked in fatal crash scenarios. This
debug trigger may put some hardware components/peripherals
into a frozen non-operational state
1: Trigger may be invoked at run-time as well as in fatal crash
scenarios
Wait for Completion 1 9 0: OSPM may initiate next trigger immediately
1: OSPM must wait for PCC complete prior to initiating the next
trigger in the list

5.2.28.1 PDTT PCC Sub Channel

The PDTT PCC Sub Channel Identifier value provided by the platform in this field should be
programmed to the Type field of PCC Communications Subspace Structure. The PDTT references
its PCC Subspace in a given platform by this identifier, as shown in Table 5-145.
5.2.28.1.1 Using PCC registers

a PCC execute platform debug trigger command. See Table 5-146. All other command values are
reserved.
Table 5-146 PCC Commands Codes used by Platform Debug Trigger Table
Command Description
0x00 Execute Platform Debug Trigger (doorbell only – no command/response)
0x01 Execute Platform Debug Trigger (with vendor specific command in
communication space)
Table 5-147 PDTT Platform Communication Channel

Length Offset
Signature 4 0 The PCC signature. The signature of a subspace is
computed by a bitwise-or of the value 0x50434300 with the
subspace ID. For example, subspace 3 has signature
0x50434303.
Command 2 4 PCC command field, see Section 14 and Table YYY
Status 2 6 PCC status field, see Section 14
Communication Space
Vendor Specific variable 8 Optional vendor specific command/response area written by
OSPM – must be zero if not supported
5.2.28.2 Example: OS invoking multiple debug triggers

To illustrate how these debug triggers are intended to be used by the OS, consider this example of a
system with 4 independent debug triggers as shown in Table 5-31. These triggers are described to
the OS via the PDTT example in Table 5-148.
Note: This example assumes no vendor specific communication is required, so only PCC command
0x0 is used.
When the OS encounters a fatal crash, prior to collecting a crash dump and rebooting the system, the
OS may choose to invoke the debug triggers in the order listed in the PDTT. The addresses of the
doorbell register and the PCC general communication space (if needed) are retrieved from the
PCCT, depending on the PCC subspace type (see Table 14-354, Table 14-355, or Table 14-356).

Figure 5-31 Example: Platform with 4 debug triggers
Table 5-148 Example: Platform with 4 debug triggers

Field Value Notes
Signature ‘PDTT
’
… … …
Trigger 4 Describing the 4 triggers illustrated in Figure XXX above
Count
Reserved 0
Trigger 44
Identifier
Array Offset
PDTT PCC 0x000 [Bits 0:7] - 4 (channel subspace ID 4)
Identifiers [0] 4 [Bit 8] - 0 (Trigger may only be invoked in fatal crash scenarios)
[Bit 9] - 0 (OSPM may initiate next trigger immediately)
PDTT PCC 0x020 [Bits 0:7] – 1 (channel ID subspace 1)
[Bit 9] - 1 (OSPM must wait for PCC complete prior to initiating the next trigger in
the list)

PDTT PCC 0x000 [Bits 0:7] - 2 (channel ID subspace 2)

[Bit 9] - 0 (OSPM may initiate next trigger immediately)
PDTT PCC 0x020 [Bits 0:7] - 3 (channel ID subspace 3)
[Bit 9] - 1 (OSPM must wait for PCC complete prior to initiating the next trigger in
the list)
Walking through the list of triggers in the PDTT, the OS may execute the following steps:
1. For Trigger 0, retrieves doorbell register address from PCCT per PCC subspace ID 4 and writes
to it with appropriate write/preserve mask. Since OS does not need to wait for completion, OS
does not need to send a PCC command and should ignore the PCC subspace base address
2. For Trigger 1, retrieves doorbell register address and PCC subspace address from PCCT per
PCC subspace ID 1. Since OS must wait for completion, OS must write PCC command (0x0)
and write to the doorbell register per section 14 and poll for the completion bit.
3. For Trigger 2, , retrieves doorbell register address from PCCT per PCC subspace ID 2 and writes
to it with appropriate write/preserve mask. Since OS does not need to wait for completion, OS
does not need to send a PCC command and should ignore the PCC subspace base address
4. For Trigger 3, retrieves doorbell register address and PCC subspace address from PCCT per
PCC subspace ID 3. Since OS must wait for completion, OS must write PCC command (0x0)
and write to the doorbell register per section 14 and poll for the completion bit.
Note: When wait for completion is necessary, the OS must poll bit zero (completion bit) of the status
field of that PCC channel (see Table 14-356 and Table 14-358).
5.2.29 Processor Properties Topology Table (PPTT)

This optional table is used to describe the topological structure of processors controlled by the
OSPM, and their shared resources, such as caches. The table can also describe additional
information such as which nodes in the processor topology constitute a physical package. The
structure of PPTT is described in Table 5-149.
Table 5-149 Processor Properties Topology Table

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘PPTT’ Processor Properties Topology Table
Length 4 4 Length of entire PPTT table in bytes

Revision 1 8 1
Checksum 1 9 The entire table must sum to zero.
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.
OEM Table ID 8 16 OEM revision of table for supplied OEM Table ID
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of the PPTT for the supplied OEM Table ID.


Length Offset
Body
Processor topology - 36 List of processor topology structures
structure[N]
Processor topology structures are described in the following sections.
5.2.29.1 Processor hierarchy node structure (Type 0)

The processor hierarchy node structure is described in Table 5-150. This structure can be used to
describe a single processor or a group. One instance of this structure must be present for every
individual processor presented through the MADT interrupt controller structures. In addition, an
individual entry must be present for every instance of a group of processors that share common a
common resource described in the PPTT. Resources are described in other PPTT structures such as
Type 1 cache structures. Each processor hierarchy node structure points to a list of common
resources. To describe topological relationships, each processor hierarchy node structure can point
to a parent processor hierarchy node structure. This allows representing tree like topology structures.
Multiple trees may be described, covering for example multiple packages. For the root of a tree, the
parent pointer should be 0.
Table 5-150 Processor Hierarchy Node Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 0 – processor structure
Length 1 1 Length of the local processor structure in bytes

Flags 4 4 See Table 5-151
Parent 4 8 Reference to parent processor hierarchy node structure. The
reference is encoded as the difference between the start of
the PPTT table and the start of the parent processor structure
entry. A value of zero must be used where a node has no
parent.

ACPI Processor ID 4 12 If the processor structure represents an actual processor, this

field must match the value of ACPI processor ID field in the
processor’s entry in the MADT.
If the processor structure represents a group of associated
processors, the structure might match a processor container
in the name space. In that case this entry will match the value
of the _UID method of the associated processor container.
Where there is a match it must be represented. The flags
field, described in Table 5-151 includes a bit to describe
whether the ACPI processor ID is valid.
Number of private 4 16 Number of resource structure references in Private
resources Resources (below)
Private resources[N] N*4 20 Each resource is a reference to another PPTT structure. The
structure referred to must not be a processor hierarchy node.
Each resource structure pointed to represents resources that
are private the processor hierarchy node. For example, for
cache resources, the cache type structure represents caches
that are private to the instance of processor topology
represented by this processor hierarchy node structure.
The references are encoded as the difference between the
start of the PPTT table and the start of the resource structure
entry.
Processor Structure Flags are described in Table 5-151.
Table 5-151 Processor Structure Flags

Length Offset
Physical package 1 0 Set to 1 if this node of the processor topology represents the
boundary of a physical package, whether socketed or surface
mounted.
Set to 0 if this instance of the processor topology does not
represent the boundary of a physical package.
ACPI Processor ID valid 1 1 For non-leaf entries in the processor topology, the ACPI
Processor ID entry can relate to a Processor container in the
namespace. The processor container will have a matching ID
value returned through the _UID method. As not every
processor hierarchy node structure in PPTT may have a
matching processor container, this flag indicates whether the
ACPI processor ID points to valid entry. Where a valid entry is
possible the ACPI Processor ID and _UID method are
mandatory.
Note: processor hierarchy node structures do not provide means to distinguish whether a structure
represents a HW thread in an SMT system or a core. Mechanisms provided by the relevant processor
architecture should be used to discover this distinction.

Note: processors may be marked as disabled in the MADT. In this case, the corresponding processor
hierarchy node structures in PPTT should be considered as disabled. Additionally, all processor
hierarchy node structures representing a group of processors with all child processors disabled should be
considered as being disabled. All resources attached to disabled processor hierarchy node structures in
PPTT should also be considered disabled.
5.2.29.2 Cache Type Structure - Type 1

The cache type structure is described in Table 5-152. The cache type structure can be used to
represent a set of caches that are private to a particular processor hierarchy node structure, that is, to
a particular node in the processor topology tree. The set of caches is described as a NULL, or zero,
terminated linked list.
Cache type structures are optional, and can be used to complement or replace cache discovery
mechanisms provided by the processor architecture. For example, some processor architectures
describe individual cache properties, but do not provide ways of discovering which processors share
a particular cache. When cache structures are provided, all processor caches must be described in a
cache type structure.
The list must include all caches that are private to a processor hierarchy node. For example, if a node
represents a CPU that has a private L1 and private L2 cache, the list would contain both caches (L1-
>L2->0). If on the other hand the L2 cache was shared, the list would just include the L1 (L1->0),
and a parent processor topology node, to all processors that share the L2, would contain the cache
type structure that represents the shared L2.
An entry in the list indicates primarily that a cache exists at this node in the hierarchy. Where
possible, cache properties should be discovered using processor architectural mechanisms, but the
cache type structure may also provide the properties of the cache. A flag is provided to indicate
whether properties provided in the table are valid, in which case the table content should be used in
preference to processor architected discovery.
Table 5-152 Cache Type Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 1 – Cache type structure
Length 1 1 24
Flags 4 4 See Table 5-153
Next Level of Cache 4 8 Reference to next level of cache that is private to the
processor topology instance. The reference is encoded as the
difference between the start of the PPTT table and the start of
the cache type structure entry. This value will be zero if this
entry represents the last cache level appropriate to the the
processor hierarchy node structures using this entry.
Size 4 12 Size of the cache in bytes.
Number of sets 4 16 Number of sets in the cache
Associativity 1 20 Integer number of ways.

Attributes 1 21 Bits 1:0: Allocation type

0x0 - Read allocate
0x1 - Write allocate
0x2 or 0x03 indicate Read and Write allocate
Bits:3:2: Cache type:
0x0 Data
0x1 Instruction
0x2 or 0x3 Indicate a unified cache
Bits 4: Write policy:
0x0 Write back
0x1 Write through
Bits:7:5 Reserved must be zero.
Line size 2 22 Line size in bytes
The cache type structure flags are described in Table 5-153.
Table 5-153 Cache Structure Flags

Length Offset
Size property valid 1 0 Set to 1 if the size properties described is valid. A value of 0
indicates that, where possible, processor architecture specific
discovery mechanisms should be used to ascertain the value
of this property.
Number of sets valid 1 1 Set to 1 if the number of sets property described is valid. A
value of 0 indicates that, where possible, processor
architecture specific discovery mechanisms should be used
to ascertain the value of this property.
Associativity valid 1 2 Set to 1 if the associativity property described is valid. A value
of 0 indicates that, where possible, processor architecture
specific discovery mechanisms should be used to ascertain
the value of this property.
Allocation type valid 1 3 Set to 1 if the allocation type attribute described is valid. A
value of 0 indicates that, where possible, processor
architecture specific discovery mechanisms should be used
to ascertain the value of this attribute.
Cache type valid 1 4 Set to 1 if the cache type attribute described is valid. A value
the value of this attribute.
Write policy valid 1 5 Set to 1 if the write policy attribute described is valid. A value
the value of this attribute.
Line size valid 1 6 Set to 1 if the line size property described is valid. A value of 0
indicates that, where possible, processor architecture specific
discovery mechanisms should be used to ascertain the value
of this property.

5.2.29.3 ID structure – Type 2

The ID type structure is described in Table 5-154. The ID structure can be used to provide an ID (or
vendor specific part number) for a particular processor hierarchy node structure. The ID structure is
optional, and may be used by software to determine special features and/or errata workarounds for
that processor hierarchy node. This ID structure can also be used to identify all underlying hierarchy
nodes and components, which may include identifying proprietary hardware components that are not
explicitly described in this table.
This ID structure would typically be used to describe an ID of a physical package node, but may be
optionally used at any node level.
Example: In the case where this ID structure is used to uniquely describe a physical package node, it
could represent a single system-on-chip (SoC) on a single die and all nodes and components within
that node (e.g. processors, caches, system buses and DMA engines, interrupt controllers, on-chip
peripherals, etc.). The silicon vendor of this SoC has a known erratum with a particular hardware
component in that SoC that could impact behavior and/or correctness. An operating system vendor
may query this ID structure to first determine the silicon vendor, then later acquire the remaining ID
fields to determine part number, matching it against the part with a known erratum. The operating
system may then remedy errata by either disabling relevant features or applying an appropriate
software work around.
Table 5-154 ID Type Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 2 – ID structure
Length 1 1 26
VENDOR_ID 4 8 This identifies the node vendor using the vendor ACPI ID as
described in the ACPI ID registry is available at http://
www.uefi.org/acpi_id_list
LEVEL_1_ID 8 12 Vendor specific value to identify first level unique node ID (e.g.
chip family ID)
LEVEL_2_ID 8 16 Vendor specific value to identify second level unique node ID
(e.g. chip ID)
MAJOR_REV 2 20 Vendor specific value to identify major revision of the node
MINOR_REV 2 22 Vendor specific value to identify minor revision of the node
SPIN_REV 2 24 Vendor specific value to identify spin revision of the node
5.3 ACPI Namespace

For all Definition Blocks, the system maintains a single hierarchical namespace that it uses to refer
to objects. All Definition Blocks load into the same namespace. Although this allows one Definition
Block to reference objects and data from another (thus enabling interaction), it also means that
OEMs must take care to avoid any naming collisions2. Only an unload operation of a Definition

Block can remove names from the namespace, so a name collision in an attempt to load a Definition
Block is considered fatal. The contents of the namespace changes only on a load or unload operation.
The namespace is hierarchical in nature, with each name allowing a collection of names “below” it.
The following naming conventions apply to all names:
• All names are a fixed 32 bits.
• The first byte of a name is inclusive of: ‘A’–‘Z’, ‘_’, (0x41–0x5A, 0x5F).
• The remaining three bytes of a name are inclusive of: ‘A’–‘Z’, ‘0’–‘9’, ‘_’, (0x41–0x5A, 0x30–
0x39, 0x5F).
• By convention, when an ASL compiler pads a name shorter than 4 characters, it is done so with
trailing underscores (‘_’). See the language definition for AML NameSeg in the ACPI Source
Language (ASL) Reference chapter.
• Names beginning with ‘_’ are reserved by this specification. Definition Blocks can only use
names beginning with ‘_’ as defined by this specification.
• A name proceeded with ‘\’ causes the name to refer to the root of the namespace (‘\’ is not part
of the 32-bit fixed-length name).
• A name proceeded with ‘^’ causes the name to refer to the parent of the current namespace (‘^’
is not part of the 32-bit fixed-length name).
Except for names preceded with a ‘\’, the current namespace determines where in the namespace
hierarchy a name being created goes and where a name being referenced is found. A name is located
by finding the matching name in the current namespace, and then in the parent namespace. If the
parent namespace does not contain the name, the search continues recursively upwards until either
the name is found or the namespace does not have a parent (the root of the namespace). This
indicates that the name is not found3.
An attempt to access names in the parent of the root will result in the name not being found.
There are two types of namespace paths: an absolute namespace path (that is, one that starts with a
‘\’ prefix), and a relative namespace path (that is, one that is relative to the current namespace). The
namespace search rules discussed above, only apply to single NameSeg paths, which is a relative
namespace path. For those relative name paths that contain multiple NameSegs or Parent Prefixes,
‘^’, the search rules do not apply. If the search rules do not apply to a relative namespace path, the
namespace object is looked up relative to the current namespace. For example:
ABCD //search rules apply
ÂBCD //search rules do not apply
XYZ.ABCD //search rules do not apply
\XYZ.ABCD //search rules do not apply
2. For the most part, since the name space is hierarchical, typically the bulk of a dynamic definition file will
load into a different part of the hierarchy. The root of the name space and certain locations where interaction is being
designed are the areas in which extra care must be taken.
3. Unless the operation being performed is explicitly prepared for failure in name resolution, this is considered
an error and may cause the system to stop working.

All name references use a 32-bit fixed-length name or use a Name Extension prefix to concatenate
multiple 32-bit fixed-length name components together. This is useful for referring to the name of an
object, such as a control method, that is not in the scope of the current namespace.
The figure below shows a sample of the ACPI namespace after a Differentiated Definition Block has
been loaded.
Root
\_PR – Processor Tree
P CPU0 – Processor 0 object
R \PID0 – Power resource for IDE0
_STA – Method to return status of power resource
_ON – Method to turn on power resource
_OFF – Method to turn off power resource
\_SB – System bus tree
d PCI0 – PCI bus
_HID – Device ID
_CRS – Current resources (PCI bus number)
d IDE0 – IDE0 device Key

_ADR – PCI device #, function # Package
_PR0 – Power resource requirements for D0 P Processor Object

Power Resource
\_GPE – General purpose events (GP_STS) R Object
_L01 – Method to handle level GP_STS.1 d Bus/Device Object
_E02 – Method to handle edge GP_STS.2 Data Object
_L03 – Method to handle level GP_STS.3 Control Method (AML code)
Figure 5-32 Example ACPI NameSpace
Care must be taken when accessing namespace objects using a relative single segment name because
of the namespace search rules. An attempt to access a relative object recurses toward the root until
the object is found or the root is encountered. This can cause unintentional results. For example,
using the namespace described in Figure 5.5, attempting to access a _CRS named object from within
the \_SB_.PCI0.IDE0 will have different results depending on if an absolute or relative path name is
used. If an absolute pathname is specified (\_SB_.PCI0.IDE0._CRS) an error will result since the
object does not exist. Access using a single segment name (_CRS) will actually access the
\_SB_.PCI0._CRS object. Notice that the access will occur successfully with no errors.

5.3.1 Predefined Root Namespaces

The following namespaces are defined under the namespace root.
Table 5-155 Namespaces Defined Under the Namespace Root

Name Description
\_GPE General events in GPE register block.
\_PR ACPI 1.0 Processor Namespace. ACPI 1.0 requires all Processor objects to be defined under
this namespace. ACPI 2.0 and later allow Processor object definitions under the \_SB
namespace. Platforms may maintain the \_PR namespace for compatibility with ACPI 1.0
operating systems, but it is otherwise deprecated. see the compatibility note in
Section 5.2.12.12. An ACPI-compatible namespace may define Processor objects in either the
\_SB or \_PR scope but not both.
For more information about defining Processor objects, see Section 8, “Processor
Configuration and Control.”
\_SB All Device/Bus Objects are defined under this namespace.
\_SI System indicator objects are defined under this namespace. For more information about
defining system indicators, see Section 9.2, \_SI System Indicators.”
\_TZ ACPI 1.0 Thermal Zone namespace. ACPI 1.0 requires all Thermal Zone objects to be defined
under this namespace. Thermal Zone object definitions may now be defined under the \_SB
namespace. ACPI-compatible systems may maintain the \_TZ namespace for compatibility
with ACPI 1.0 operating systems. An ACPI-compatible namespace may define Thermal Zone
objects in either the \_SB or \_TZ scope but not both.
For more information about defining Thermal Zone objects, see Section 11, “Thermal
Management.”
5.3.2 Objects
All objects, except locals, have a global scope. Local data objects have a per-invocation scope and
lifetime and are used to process the current invocation from beginning to end.
The contents of objects vary greatly. Nevertheless, most objects refer to data variables of any
supported data type, a control method, or system software-provided functions.
Objects may contain a revision field. Successive ACPI specifications define object revisions so that
they are backwards compatible with OSPM implementations that support previous specifications /
object revisions. New object fields are added at the end of previous object definitions. OSPM
interprets objects according to the revision number it supports including all earlier revisions. As
such, OSPM expects that an object’s length can be greater than or equal to the length of the known
object revision. When evaluating objects with revision numbers greater than that known by OSPM,
OSPM ignores internal object fields values that are beyond the defined object field range for the
known revision.
5.4 Definition Block Encoding

This section specifies the encoding used in a Definition Block to define names (load time only),
objects, and packages.

5.4.1 AML Encoding

The Definition Block is encoded as a stream from beginning to end. The lead byte in the stream
comes from the AML encoding tables shown in Section 19, “ACPI Source Language (ASL)
Reference,” and signifies how to interpret some number of following bytes, where each following
byte can in turn signify how to interpret some number of following bytes. For a full specification of
the AML encoding, see Section 19, “ACPI Source Language (ASL) Reference.”
Within the stream there are two levels of data being defined. One is the packaging and object
declarations (load time), and the other is an object reference (package contents/run-time).
All encodings are such that the lead byte of an encoding signifies the type of declaration or reference
being made. The type either has an implicit or explicit length in the stream. All explicit length
declarations take the form shown below, where PkgLength is the length of the inclusive length of the
data for the operation.
LeadByte PkgLength data... LeadByte ...
PkgLength
Figure 5-33 AML Encoding
Encodings of implicit length objects either have fixed length encodings or allow for nested
encodings that, at some point, either result in an explicit or implicit fixed length.
The PkgLength is encoded as a series of 1 to 4 bytes in the stream with the most significant two bits
of byte zero, indicating how many following bytes are in the PkgLength encoding. The next two bits
are only used in one-byte encodings, which allows for one-byte encodings on a length up to 0x3F.
Longer encodings, which do not use these two bits, have a maximum length of the following: two-
byte encodings of 0x0FFF, three-byte encodings of 0x0FFFFF, and four-byte length encodings of
0x0FFFFFFFF.
It is fatal for a package length to not fall on a logical boundary. For example, if a package is
contained in another package, then by definition its length must be contained within the outer
package, and similarly for a datum of implicit length.
5.4.2 Definition Block Loading

At some point, the system software decides to “load” a Definition Block. Loading is accomplished
when the system makes a pass over the data and populates the ACPI namespace and initializes
objects accordingly. The namespace for which population occurs is either from the current
namespace location, as defined by all nested packages or from the root if the name is preceded with
‘\’.
The first object present in a Definition Block must be a named control method. This is the Definition
Block’s initialization control.
Packages are objects that contain an ordered reference to one or more objects. A package can also be
considered a vertex of an array, and any object contained within a package can be another package.
This permits multidimensional arrays of fixed or dynamic depths and vertices.

Unnamed objects are used to populate the contents of named objects. Unnamed objects cannot be
created in the “root.” Unnamed objects can be used as arguments in control methods.
Control method execution may generate errors when creating objects. This can occur if a Method
that creates named objects blocks and is reentered while blocked. This will happen because all
named objects have an absolute path. This is true even if the object name specified is relative. For
example, the following ASL code segments are functionally identical.
(1)
Method (DEAD,) {
Scope (\_SB_.FOO) {
Name (BAR,) // Run time definition
}
}
(2)
Scope (\_SB_) {
Name (\_SB_. FOO.BAR,) // Load time definition
}
Notice that in the above example the execution of the DEAD method will always fail because the
object \_SB_.FOO.BAR is created at load time.
The term of "Definition Block level" is used to refer to the AML byte streams that are not contained
in any control method. Such AML byte streams can appear in the "root" scope or in the scopes
created/opened by the "Device, PowerResource, Processor, Scope and ThermalZone" operators.
Please refer to "Section 19.6, ASL Operator Reference"for detailed descriptions.
Not only the named objects, but all term objects (mathematical, logical, and conditional expressions,
etc., see "Section 20.2.5, Term Object Encoding") are allowed at the Definition Block level.
Allowing such executable AML opcodes at the Definition Block level allows BIOS writers to define
dynamic object lists according to the system settings. For example:
DefinitionBlock ("DSDT.aml", "DSDT", 2, "OEM", "FOOBOOK", 0x1000)
{
...
If (LEqual (CFG1 (), 1))
{
...
Scope (_SB.PCI0.XHC.RHUB)
{
...
{
…
Device (HS11)
{
…
{
…
Device (CAM0)
{
…
}
…
}
…
}
…

}
...
}
...
}
...
}
The interpretation of the definition block during the definition block loading is similar to the
interpretation of the control method during the control method execution.
5.5 Control Methods and the ACPI Source Language (ASL)

OEMs and platform firmware vendors write definition blocks using the ACPI Source Language
(ASL) and use a translator to produce the byte stream encoding described in Section 5.4, “Definition
Block Encoding”. For example, the ASL statements that produce the example byte stream shown in
that earlier section are shown in the following ASL example. For a full specification of the ASL
statements, see Section 19, “ACPI Source Language (ASL) Reference.”
// ASL Example
DefinitionBlock (
"forbook.aml", // Output Filename
"DSDT", // Signature
0x02, // DSDT Compliance Revision
"OEM", // OEMID
"forbook", // TABLE ID
0x1000 // OEM Revision
)
{ // start of definition block
OperationRegion(\GIO, SystemIO, 0x125, 0x1)
Field(\GIO, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {
CT01, 1,
}
Scope(\_SB) // start of scope

Device(PCI0) { // start of device
PowerResource(FET0, 0, 0) { // start of pwr
Method (_ON) {
Store (Ones, CT01) // assert power
Sleep (30) // wait 30ms
}
Method (_OFF) {
Store (Zero, CT01) // assert reset#
}
Method (_STA) {
Return (CT01)
}
} // end of power
} // end of device
} // end of scope
} // end of definition block
5.5.1 ASL Statements

ASL is principally a declarative language. ASL statements declare objects. Each object has three
parts, two of which can be null:

Object := ObjectType FixedList VariableList
FixedList refers to a list of known length that supplies data that all instances of a given ObjectType
must have. It is written as (a, b, c,), where the number of arguments depends on the specific
ObjectType, and some elements can be nested objects, that is (a, b, (q, r, s, t), d). Arguments to a
FixedList can have default values, in which case they can be skipped. Some ObjectTypes can have a
null FixedList.
VariableList refers to a list, not of predetermined length, of child objects that help define the parent.
It is written as {x, y, z, aa, bb, cc}, where any argument can be a nested object. ObjectType
determines what terms are legal elements of the VariableList. Some ObjectTypes can have a null
variable list.
For a detailed specification of the ASL language, see Section 19, “ACPI Source Language (ASL)
Reference.” For a detailed specification of the ACPI Control Method Machine Language (AML),
upon which the output of the ASL translator is based, see Section 20, “ACPI Machine Language
(AML) Specification.”
5.5.2 Control Method Execution

OSPM evaluates control method objects as necessary to either interrogate or adjust the system-level
hardware state. This is called an invocation.
A control method can use other internal, or well defined, control methods to accomplish the task at
hand, which can include defined control methods provided by the operating software. Control
Methods can reference any objects anywhere in the Namespace. Interpretation of a Control Method
is not preemptive, but it can block. When a control method does block, OSPM can initiate or
continue the execution of a different control method. A control method can only assume that access
to global objects is exclusive for any period the control method does not block.
Global objects are those NameSpace objects created at table load time.
5.5.2.1 Arguments
Up to seven arguments can be passed to a control method. Each argument is an object that in turn
could be a “package” style object that refers to other objects. Access to the argument objects is
provided via the ASL ArgTerm (ArgX) language elements. The number of arguments passed to any
control method is fixed and is defined when the control method package is created.
Method arguments can take one of the following forms:
• An ACPI name or namepath that refers to a named object. This includes the LocalX and ArgX
names. In this case, the object associated with the name is passed as the argument.
• An ACPI name or namepath that refers to another control method. In this case, the method is
invoked and the return value of the method is passed as the argument. A fatal error occurs if no
object is returned from the method. If the object is not used after the method invocation it is
automatically deleted.
• A valid ASL expression. In the case, the expression is evaluated and the object that results from
this evaluation is passed as the argument. If this object is not used after the method invocation it
is automatically deleted.

5.5.2.2 Method Calling Convention

The calling convention for control methods can best be described as call-by-reference-constant. In
this convention, objects passed as arguments are passed by “reference”, meaning that they are not
copied to new objects as they are passed to the called control method (A calling convention that
copies objects or object wrappers during a call is known as call-by-value or call-by-copy).
This call-by-reference-constant convention allows internal objects to be shared across each method
invocation, therefore reducing the number of object copies that must be performed as well as the
number of buffers that must be copied. This calling convention is appropriate to the low-level nature
of the ACPI subsystem within the kernel of the host operating system where non-paged dynamic
memory is typically at a premium. The ASL programmer must be aware of the calling convention
and the related side effects.
However, unlike a pure call-by-reference convention, the ability of the called control method to
modify arguments is extremely limited. This reduces aliasing issues such as when a called method
unexpectedly modifies a object or variable that has been passed as an argument by the caller. In
effect, the arguments that are passed to control methods are passed as constants that cannot be
modified except under specific controlled circumstances.
Generally, the objects passed to a control method via the ArgX terms cannot be directly written or
modified by the called method. In other words, when an ArgX term is used as a target operand in an
ASL statement, the existing ArgX object is not modified. Instead, the new object replaces the
existing object and the ArgX term effectively becomes a LocalX term.
The only exception to the read-only argument rule is if an ArgX term contains an Object Reference
created via the RefOf ASL operator. In this case, the use of the ArgX term as a target operand will
cause any existing object stored at the ACPI name referred to by the RefOf operation to be
overwritten.
In some limited cases, a new, writable object may be created that will allow a control method to
change the value of an ArgX object. These cases are limited to Buffer and Package objects where the
“value” of the object is represented indirectly. For Buffers, a writable Index or Field can be created
that refers to the original buffer data and will allow the called method to read or modify the data. For
Packages, a writable Index can be created to allow the called method to modify the contents of
individual elements of the Package.
5.5.2.3 Local Variables and Locally Created Data Objects

Control methods can access up to eight local data objects. Access to the local data objects have
shorthand encodings. On initial control method execution, the local data objects are NULL. Access
to local objects is via the ASL LocalTerm language elements.
Upon control method execution completion, one object can be returned that can be used as the result
of the execution of the method. The “caller” must either use the result or save it to a different object
if it wants to preserve it. See the description of the Return ASL operator for additional details
NameSpace objects created within the scope of a method are dynamic. They exist only for the
duration of the method execution. They are created when specified by the code and are destroyed on
exit. A method may create dynamic objects outside of the current scope in the NameSpace using the
scope operator or using full path names. These objects will still be destroyed on method exit. Objects
created at load time outside of the scope of the method are static. For example:

Scope (\XYZ) {
Name (BAR, 5) // Creates \XYZ.BAR
Method (FOO, 1) {
Store (BAR, CREG) // same effect as Store (\XYZ.BAR, CREG)
Name (BAR, 7) // Creates \XYZ.FOO.BAR
Store (BAR, DREG) // same effect as Store (\XYZ.FOO.BAR, DREG
Name (\XYZ.FOOB, 3) // Creates \XYZ.FOOB
} // end method
} // end scope
The object \XYZ.BAR is a static object created when the table that contains the above ASL is
loaded. The object \XYZ.FOO.BAR is a dynamic object that is created when the Name (BAR, 7)
statement in the FOO method is executed. The object \XYZ.FOOB is a dynamic object created by
the \XYZ.FOO method when the Name (\XYZ.FOOB, 3) statement is executed. Notice that the
\XYZ.FOOB object is destroyed after the \XYZ.FOO method exits.
5.5.2.4 Access to Operation Regions
5.5.2.4.1 Operation Regions

Control Methods read and write data to locations in address spaces (for example, System memory
and System I/O) by using the Field operator (see Section 19.6.46 Field (Declare Field Objects)”) to
declare a data element within an entity known as an “Operation Region” and then performing
accesses using the data element name. An Operation Region is a specific region of operation within
an address space that is declared as a subset of the entire address space using a starting address
(offset) and a length (see Section 19.6.99 “OperationRegion (Declare Operation Region)”). Control
methods must have exclusive access to any address accessed via fields declared in Operation
Regions. Control methods may not directly access any other hardware registers, including the ACPI-
defined register blocks. Some of the ACPI registers, in the defined ACPI registers blocks, are
maintained on behalf of control method execution. For example, the GPEx_BLK is not directly
accessed by a control method but is used to provide an extensible interrupt handling model for
control method invocation.
Note: Accessing an OpRegion may block, even if the OpRegion is not protected by a mutex. For
example, because of the slow nature of the embedded controller, an embedded controller
OpRegion field access may block.
Table 5-156 defines Operation Region spaces.
Table 5-156 Operation Region Address Space Identifiers

Value Name (RegionSpace Keyword)
0 SystemMemory
1 SystemIO
2 PCI_Config
3 EmbeddedControl Section 12
4 SMBus Section 13
5 SystemCMOS Section 5.5.2.4.2
6 PciBarTarget Section 5.5.2.4.3
7 IPMI Section 5.5.2.4.4

Value Name (RegionSpace Keyword)

8 GeneralPurposeIO Section 5.5.2.4.5
9 GenericSerialBus Section 5.5.2.4.6
0x0A-0x7F Reserved
0x80 to 0xFF OEM defined
5.5.2.4.2 CMOS Protocols

This section describes how CMOS battery-backed non-volatile memory can be accessed from ASL.
Most computers contain an RTC/CMOS device that can be represented as a linear array of bytes of
non-volatile memory. There is a standard mechanism for accessing the first 64 bytes of non-volatile
RAM in devices that are compatible with the Motorola RTC/CMOS device used in the original IBM
PC/AT. Existing RTC/CMOS devices typically contain more than 64 bytes of non-volatile RAM,
and no standard mechanism exists for access to this additional storage area. To provide access to all
of the non-volatile memory in these devices from AML, PnP IDs exist for each type of extension.
These are PNP0B00, PNP0B01, and PNP0B02. The specific devices that these PnP IDs support are
described in Section 9.15, “PC/AT RTC/CMOS Device”, along with field definition ASL example
code. The drivers corresponding to these device handle operation region accesses to the
SystemCMOS operation region for their respective device types.
All bytes of CMOS that are related to the current time, day, date, month, year and century are read-
only.
5.5.2.4.3 PCI Device BAR Target Protocols

This section describes how PCI devices’ control registers can be accessed from ASL. PCI devices
each have an address space associated with them called the Configuration Space. At offset 0x10
through offset 0x27, there are as many as six Base Address Registers, (BARs). These BARs contain
the base address of a series of control registers (in I/O or Memory space) for the PCI device. Since a
Plug and Play OS may change the values of these BARs at any time, ASL cannot read and write
from these deterministically using I/O or Memory operation regions. Furthermore, a Plug and Play
OS will automatically assign ownership of the I/O and Memory regions associated with these BARs
to a device driver associated with the PCI device. An ACPI OS (which must also be a Plug and Play
operating system) will not allow ASL to read and write regions that are owned by native device
drivers.
If a platform uses a PCI BAR Target operation region, an ACPI OS will not load a native device
driver for the associated PCI function. For example, if any of the BARs in a PCI function are
associated with a PCI BAR Target operation region, then the OS will assume that the PCI function is
to be entirely under the control of the ACPI system firmware. No driver will be loaded. Thus, a PCI
function can be used as a platform controller for some task (hot-plug PCI, and so on) that the ACPI
system firmware performs.
5.5.2.4.3.1 Declaring a PCI BAR Target Operation Region

PCI BARs contain the base address of an I/O or Memory region that a PCI device’s control registers
lie within. Each BAR implements a protocol for determining whether those control registers are
within I/O or Memory space and how much address space the PCI device decodes. (See the PCI
Specification for more details.)

PCI BAR Target operation regions are declared by providing the offset of the BAR within the PCI
device’s PCI configuration space. The BAR determines whether the actual access to the device
occurs through an I/O or Memory cycle, not by the declaration of the operation region. The length of
the region is similarly implied.
In the term OperationRegion(PBAR, PciBarTarget, 0x10, 0x4), the offset is the offset of the
BAR within the configuration space of the device. This would be an example of an operation region
that uses the first BAR in the device.
5.5.2.4.3.2 PCI Header Types and PCI BAR Target Operation Regions
PCI BAR Target operation regions may only be declared in the scope of PCI devices that have a PCI
Header Type of 0. PCI devices with other header types are bridges. The control of PCI bridges is
beyond the scope of ASL.
5.5.2.4.4 Declaring IPMI Operation Regions

This section describes the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) address space and the
use of this address space to communicate with the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC)
hardware from AML.
Similar to SMBus, IPMI operation regions are command based, where each offset within an IPMI
address space represent an IPMI command and response pair. Given this uniqueness, IPMI operation
regions include restrictions on their field definitions and require the use of an IPMI-specific data
buffer for all transactions. The IPMI interface presented in this section is intended for use with any
hardware implementation compatible with the IPMI specification, regardless of the system interface
type.
Support of the IPMI generic address space by ACPI-compatible operating systems is optional, and is
contingent on the existence of an ACPI IPMI device, i.e. a device with the “IPI0001” plug and play
ID. If present, OSPM should load the necessary driver software based on the system interface type as
specified by the _IFT (IPMI Interface Type) control method under the device, and register handlers
for accesses into the IPMI operation region space.
For more information, refer to the IPMI specification.
Each IPMI operation region definition identifies a single IPMI network function. Operation regions
are defined only for those IPMI network functions that need to be accessed from AML. As with
other regions, IPMI operation regions are only accessible via the Field term (see Section 5.5.2.4.4.1,
“Declaring IPMI Fields”).
This interface models each IPMI network function as having a 256-byte linear address range. Each
byte offset within this range corresponds to a single command value (for example, byte offset 0xC1
equates to command value 0xC1), with a maximum of 256 command values. By doing this, IPMI
address spaces appear linear and can be processed in a manner similar to the other address space
types.
The syntax for the OperationRegion term (from Section 19.6.99, “OperationRegion (Declare
Operation Region]”) is described below.
OperationRegion (
RegionName, // NameString
RegionSpace, // RegionSpaceKeyword
Offset, // TermArg=>Integer

Length // TermArg=>Integer
)
Where:
• RegionName specifies a name for this IPMI network function (for example, “POWR”).
• RegionSpace must be set to IPMI (operation region type value 0x07).
• Offset is a word-sized value specifying the network function and initial command value offset
for the target device. The network function address is stored in the high byte and the command
value offset is stored in the low byte. For example, the value 0x3000 would be used for a device
with the network function of 0x06, and an initial command value offset of zero (0).
• Length is set to the 0x100 (256), representing the maximum number of possible command
values, for regions with an initial command value offset of zero (0). The difference of these two
values is used for regions with non-zero offsets. For example, a region with an Offset value of
0x3010 would have a corresponding Length of 0xF0 (0x100 minus 0x10).
For example, a Baseboard Management Controller will support power metering capabilities at the
network function 0x30, and IPMI commands to query the BMC device information at the network
function 0x06.
The following ASL code shows the use of the OperationRegion term to describe these IPMI
functions:
Device (IPMI)
{
Name(_HID, "IPI0001") // IPMI device
Name(_IFT, 0x1) // KCS system interface type
OperationRegion(DEVC, IPMI, 0x0600, 0x100) // Device info network function
OperationRegion(POWR, IPMI, 0x3000, 0x100) // Power network function
:
}
Notice that these operation regions in this example are defined within the immediate context of the
‘owning’ IPMI device. This ensures the correct operation region handler will be used, based on the
value returned by the _IFT object. Each definition corresponds to a separate network function, and
happens to use an initial command value offset of zero (0).
5.5.2.4.4.1 Declaring IPMI Fields

As with other regions, IPMI operation regions are only accessible via the Field term. Each field
element is assigned a unique command value and represents a virtual command for the targeted
network function.
The syntax for the Field term (from Section 19.6.40, “Event (Declare Event Synchronization
Object]”) is described below.
Field(
RegionName, // NameString=>OperationRegion
AccessType, // AccessTypeKeyword - BufferAcc
LockRule, // LockRuleKeyword
UpdateRule // UpdateRuleKeyword – ignored
) {FieldUnitList}
Where:
• RegionName specifies the operation region name previously defined for the network function.

• AccessType must be set to BufferAcc. This indicates that access to field elements will be done
using a region-specific data buffer. For this access type, the field handler is not aware of the data
buffer’s contents which may be of any size. When a field of this type is used as the source
argument in an operation it simply evaluates to a buffer. When used as the destination, however,
the buffer is passed bi-directionally to allow data to be returned from write operations. The
modified buffer then becomes the response message of that command. This is slightly different
than the normal case in which the execution result is the same as the value written to the
destination. Note that the source is never changed, since it only represents a virtual register for a
particular IPMI command.
• LockRule indicates if access to this operation region requires acquisition of the Global Lock for
synchronization. This field should be set to Lock on system with firmware that may access the
BMC via IPMI, and NoLock otherwise.
• UpdateRule is not applicable to IPMI operation regions since each virtual register is accessed in
its entirety. This field is ignored for all IPMI field definitions.
IPMI operation regions require that all field elements be declared at command value granularity.
This means that each virtual register cannot be broken down to its individual bits within the field
definition.
Access to sub-portions of virtual registers can be done only outside of the field definition. This
limitation is imposed both to simplify the IPMI interface and to maintain consistency with the
physical model defined by the IPMI specification.
Since the system interface used for IPMI communication is determined by the _IFT object under the
IPMI device, there is no need for using of the AccessAs term within the field definition. In fact its
usage will be ignored by the operation handler.
For example, the register at command value 0xC1 for the power meter network function might
represent the command to set a BMC enforced power limit, while the register at command value
0xC2 for the same network function might represent the current configured power limit. At the same
time, the register at command value 0xC8 might represent the latest power meter measurement.
The following ASL code shows the use of the OperationRegion, Field, and Offset terms to represent
these virtual registers:
OperationRegion(POWR, IPMI, 0x3000, 0x100) // Power network function
Field(POWR, BufferAcc, NoLock, Preserve)
{
Offset(0xC1), // Skip to command value 0xC1
SPWL, 8, // Set power limit [command value 0xC1]
GPWL, 8, // Get power limit [command value 0xC2]
Offset(0xC8), // Skip to command value 0xC8
GPMM, 8 // Get power meter measurement [command value 0xC8]
}
Notice that command values are equivalent to the field element’s byte offset (for example,
SPWL=0xC1, GPWL=0xC2, GPMM=0xC8).
5.5.2.4.4.2 Declaring and Using IPMI Request and Response Buffer

Since each virtual register in the IPMI operation region represents an individual IPMI command, and
the operation relies on use of bi-directional buffer, a common buffer structure is required to
represent the request and response messages. The use of a data buffer for IPMI transactions allows
AML to receive status and data length values.

The IPMI data buffer is defined as a fixed-length 66-byte buffer that, if represented using a ‘C’-
styled declaration, would be modeled as follows:
typedef struct
{
BYTE Status; // Byte 0 of the data buffer
BYTE Length; // Byte 1 of the data buffer
BYTE[64]Data; // Bytes 2 through 65 of the data buffer
}
Where:
• Status (byte 0) indicates the status code of a given IPMI command. See Section 5.5.2.4.4.3,
“IPMI Status Code,” for more information.
• Length (byte 1) specifies the number of bytes of valid data that exists in the data buffer. Valid
Length values are 0 through 64. Before the operation is carried out, this value represents the
length of the request data buffer. Afterwards, this value represents the length of the result
response data buffer.
• Data (bytes 65-2) represents a 64-byte buffer, and is the location where actual data is stored.
Before the operation is carried out, this represents the actual request message payload.
Afterwards, this represents the response message payload as returned by the IPMI command.
For example, the following ASL shows the use of the IPMI data buffer to carry out a command for a
power function. This code is based on the example ASL presented in Section 5.5.2.4.4.1, “Declaring
IPMI Fields,” which lists the operation region and field definitions for relevant IPMI power
metering commands.
/* Create the IPMI data buffer */
Name(BUFF, Buffer(66){}) // Create IPMI data buffer as BUFF

CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x00, STAT) // STAT = Status (Byte)
CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x01, LENG) // LENG = Length (Byte)
CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x02, MODE) // MODE = Mode (Byte)
CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x03, RESV) // RESV = Reserved (Byte)
Store(0x2, LENG) // Request message is 2 bytes long

Store(0x1, MODE) // Set Mode to 1
Store(Store(BUFF, GPMM), BUFF) // Write the request into the GPMM command,
// then read the results
CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x02, CMPC) // CMPC = Completion code (Byte)

CreateWordField(BUFF, 0x03, APOW) // APOW = Average power measurement (Word)
If(LAnd(LEqual(STAT, 0x0), LEqual(CMPC, 0x0))) // Successful?

{
Return(APOW) // Return the average power measurement
}
Else
{
Return(Ones) // Return invalid
}
Notice the use of the CreateField primitives to access the data buffer’s sub-elements (Status,
Length, and Data), where Data (bytes 65-2) is ‘typecast’ into different fields (including the result
completion code).

The example above demonstrates the use of the Store() operator and the bi-directional data buffer to
invoke the actual IPMI command represented by the virtual register. The inner Store() writes the
request message data buffer to the IPMI operation region handler, and invokes the command. The
outer Store() takes the result of that command and writes it back into the data buffer, this time
representing the response message.
5.5.2.4.4.3 IPMI Status Code

Every IPMI command results in a status code returned as the first byte of the response message,
contained in the bi-directional data buffer. This status code can indicate success, various errors, and
possibly timeout from the IPMI operation handler. This is necessary because it is possible for certain
IPMI commands to take up to 5 seconds to carry out, and since an AML Store() operation is
synchronous by nature, it is essential to make sure the IPMI operation returns in a timely fashion so
as not to block the AML interpreter in the OSPM.
Note: This status code is different than the IPMI completion code, which is returned as the first byte of
the response message in the data buffer payload. The completion code is described in the
complete IPMI specification.
Table 5-157 IPMI Status Codes

Status Code Name Description
00h IPMI OK Indicates the command has been successfully completed.
07h IPMI Unknown Indicates failure because of an unknown IPMI error.
Failure
10h IPMI Command Indicates the operation timed out.
Operation Timeout
5.5.2.4.5 Declaring GeneralPurposeIO Operation Regions

For GeneralPurposeIO Operation Regions, the syntax for the OperationRegion term (from section
Section 19.6.99, “OperationRegion (Declare Operation Region]”) is described below.
OperationRegion (
RegionName, // NameString
RegionSpace, // RegionSpaceKeyword
Offset, // TermArg=>Integer
Length // TermArg=>Integer
)
Where:
• RegionName specifies a name for this GeneralPurposeIO region (for example, “GPI1”).
• RegionSpace must be set to GeneralPurposeIO (operation region type value 0x08).
• Offset is ignored for the GeneralPurposeIO RegionSpace.
• Length is the maximum number of GPIO IO pins to be included in the Operation Region,
rounded up to the next byte.
GeneralPurposeIO OpRegions must be declared within the scope of the GPIO controller device
being accessed.

5.5.2.4.5.1 Declaring GeneralPurposeIO Fields

As with other regions, GeneralPurposeIO operation regions are only accessible via the Field term.
Each field element represents a subset of the length bits declared in the OpRegion declaration.
The pins within the OpRegion that are accessed via a given field name are defined by a Connection
descriptor. The total number of defined field bits following a connection descriptor must equal the
number of pins listed in the descriptor.
The syntax for the Field term (from Section 19.6.46) is described below.
Field(
RegionName, // NameString=>OperationRegion
AccessType, // AccessTypeKeyword
LockRule, // LockRuleKeyword
UpdateRule // UpdateRuleKeyword – ignored
) {FieldUnitList}
Where:
• RegionName specifies the operation region name previously declared.
• AccessType must be set to ByteAcc.
• LockRule indicates if access to this operation region requires acquisition of the Global Lock
for synchronization. Note that, on HW-reduced ACPI platforms, this field must be set to
NoLock.
• UpdateRule is not applicable to GeneralPurposeIO operation regions since Preserve is
always required. This field is ignored for all GeneralPurposeIO field definitions.
The following ASL code shows the use of the OperationRegion, Field, and Offset terms as they
apply to GeneralPurposeIO space.
Device(DEVA) //An Arbitrary Device Scope

{
...//Other required stuff for this device
Name (GMOD, ResourceTemplate () //An existing GPIO Connection (to be used later)
{
//2 Outputs that define the Power mode of the device
GpioIo (Exclusive, PullDown, , , , "\\_SB.GPI2") {10, 12}
})
} //End DEVA
Device (GPI2) //The OpRegion declaration, and the _REG method, must be in the controller’s
namespace scope
{
...//Other required stuff for the GPIO controller
OperationRegion(GPO2, GeneralPurposeIO, 0, 1) // Note: length of 1 means region is (or
// less than) 1 byte (8 pins) long
Method(_REG,2) {} // Track availability of GeneralPurposeIO space
} //End GPI2
Device (DEVB) //Access some GPIO Pins from this device scope to change the device's power mode
{
...//Other required stuff for this device
Name(_DEP, Package() {"\\_SB.GPI2"}) //OpRegion Dependency hint for OSPM
Field(\_SB.GPI2.GPO2, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve)
{
Connection (GMOD), // Re-Use an existing connection (defined elsewhere)
MODE, 2, // Power Mode
Connection (GpioIo(Exclusive, PullUp, , , , "\\_SB.GPI2") {7}),

STAT, 1, // e.g. Status signal from the device

Connection (GpioIo (Exclusive, PullUp, , , , "\\_SB.GPI2") {9}),
RSET, 1 // e.g. Reset signal to the device
}
Method(_PS3)
{
If (1) // Make sure GeneralPurposeIO OpRegion is available
{
Store(0x03, MODE) //Set both MODE bits. Power Mode 3
}
}
} //End DEVB
5.5.2.4.6 Declaring GenericSerialBus Operation Regions

For GenericSerialBus Operation Regions, the syntax for the OperationRegion term (from
Section 19.6.99, “OperationRegion (Declare Operation Region]”) is described below.
OperationRegion (
RegionName, // NameString
RegionSpace, // RegionSpaceKeyword
Offset, // TermArg=>Integer
Length // TermArg=>Integer
)
Where:
• RegionName specifies a name for this region (for example, TOP1).
• RegionSpace must be set to GenericSerialBus (operation region type value 0x09).
• Offset specifies the initial command value offset for the target device. For example, the value
0x00 refers to a command value offset of zero (0). Raw protocols ignore this value.
values.
Note: The Operation Region must be declared within the scope of the Serial Bus controller device.
The following ASL code shows the use of the OperationRegion, Field, and Offset terms as they
apply to SPB space.
<…>
Scope(\_SB.I2C){
OperationRegion(TOP1, GenericSerialBus, 0x00, 0x100) // GenericSerialBus device at command
// offset 0x00
Name (SDB0, ResourceTemplate() {

I2CSerialBusV2(0x4a,,100000,,”\_SB.I2C”,,,,,RawDataBuffer(){1,2,3,4,5,6})
})
Field(TOP1, BufferAcc, NoLock, Preserve)

{
Connection(SDB0) // Use the Resource Descriptor defined above
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribWord) // Use the GenericSerialBus Read/Write Word protocol
FLD0, 8, // Virtual register at command value 0.
FLD1, 8 // Virtual register at command value 1.
}

{
Connection(I2CSerialBusV2(0x5a,,100000,,”\_SB.I2C”,,,,,RawDataBuffer(){1,6}))

AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribBytes (16))

}
// Create the GenericSerialBus data buffer

Name(BUFF, Buffer(34){}) // Create GenericSerialBus data buffer as BUFF
CreateWordField(BUFF, 0x02, DATA) // DATA = Data (Word)
}
<…>
The Operation Region in this example is defined within the scope of the target controller device,
I2C.
GenericSerialBus regions are only accessible via the Field term (see Section 19.6.46 “Field (Declare
Field Objects)) GenericSerialBus protocols are assigned to field elements using the AccessAs term
(see Section 19.3.4 “ASL Macros”) within the field definition.
Table 5-158 Accsessor Type Values

Accessor Type Value Description
AttribQuick 0x02 Read/Write Quick Protocol
AttribSendReceive 0x04 Send/Receive Byte Protocol
AttribByte 0x06 Read/Write Byte Protocol
AttribWord 0x08 Read/Write Word Protocol
AttribBlock 0x0A Read/Write Block Protocol
AttribBytes 0x0B Read/Write N-Bytes Protocol
AttribProcessCall 0x0C Process Call Protocol
AttribBlockProcessCall 0x0D Write Block-Read Block
Process Call Protocol
AttribRawBytes 0x0E Raw Read/Write N-Bytes
Protocol
AttribRawProcessBytes 0x0F Raw Process Call Protocol
5.5.2.4.6.1 Declaring GenericSerialBus Fields

As with other regions, GenericSerialBus operation regions are only accessible via the Field term.
Each field element is assigned a unique command value and represents a virtual register on the
targeted GenericSerialBus device.
The syntax for the Field term (see Section 19.6.46 “Field (Declare Field Objects)) is described
below.
Field(
AccessType, // AccessTypeKeyword
LockRule, // LockRuleKeyword – ignored for Hardware-reduced ACPI platforms
) {FieldUnitList}
Where:
• RegionName specifies the operation region name previously defined for the device.

modified buffer then becomes the execution result of that operation. This is slightly different
destination. Note that the source is never changed, since it could be a read only object (see
Section 5.5.2.4.6.2, “Declaring an GenericSerialBus Data Buffer” and Section 19.2.5, “Opcode
Terms”).
GenericSerialBus, and NoLock otherwise. On Hardware-reduced ACPI platforms, there is not a
global lock so this parameter is ignored.
• UpdateRule is not applicable to GenericSerialBus operation regions since each virtual register is
accessed in its entirety. This field is ignored for all GenericSerialBus field definitions.
GenericSerialBus operation regions require that all field elements be declared at command value
granularity. This means that each virtual register cannot be broken down to its individual bits within
the field definition.
limitation is imposed to simplify the GenericSerialBus interface.
GenericSerialBus protocols are assigned to field elements using the AccessAs term within the field
definition. The syntax for this term (from Section 19.2.3, “ASL Root and SecondaryTerms”) is
described below.
AccessAs(
AccessType, //AccessTypeKeyword
AccessAttribute //Nothing | ByteConst | AccessAttribKeyword
)
Where:
• AccessType must be set to BufferAcc.
• AccessAttribute indicates the GenericSerialBus protocol to assign to command values that
follow this term. SeeSection 5.5.2.4.6.3, “Using the GenericSerialBus Protocols,” for a listing of
the GenericSerialBus protocols.
An AccessAs term must appear in a field definition to set the initial GenericSerialBus protocol for
the field elements that follow. A maximum of one GenericSerialBus protocol may be defined for
each field element. Devices supporting multiple protocols for a single command value can be
modeled by specifying multiple field elements with the same offset (command value), where each
field element is preceded by an AccessAs term specifying an alternate protocol.
For GenericSerialBus operation regions, connection attributes must be defined for each set of field
elements. GenericSerialBus resources are assigned to field elements using the Connection term
within the field definition. The syntax for this term (from Section 19.6.15 “Connection (Declare
Field Connection Attributes)”) is described below.

Connection (ConnectionResourceObj)
Where:
• ConnectionResourceObj points to a Serial Bus Resource Connection Descriptor (see
Section 6.4.3.8.2, “Serial Bus Connection Resource Descriptors” for valid types), or a named
object that specifies a buffer field containing the connection resource information.
Each Field definition references the initial command offset specified in the operation region
definition. The offset is iterated for each subsequent field element defined in that respective Field. If
a new connection is described in the same Field definition, the offset will not be returned to its initial
value and a new Field must be defined to inherit the initial command value offset from the operation
region definition. The following example illustrates this point.
<…>
OperationRegion(TOP1, GenericSerialBus, 0x00, 0x100) //Initial offset is 0

{
Connection(I2CSerialBusV2(0x5a,,100000,, "\_SB.I2C",,,,,RawDataBuffer(){1,6}))
Offset(0x0),
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribBytes (4)),
TFK1, 8, //TFK1 at command value offset 0
TFK2, 8 //TFK2 at command value offset 1
Connection(I2CSerialBusV2(0x5c,,100000,, "\_SB.I2C",,,,,RawDataBuffer(){3,1}))
Offset(0x0),
TS1, 8 //TS1 at command value offset 2
}

{
Connection(I2CSerialBusV2(0x5b,,100000,, "\_SB.I2C",,,,,RawDataBuffer(){2,9}))
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribByte),
TM1, 8 //TM1 at command value offset 0
}
<…>
5.5.2.4.6.2 Declaring and Using a GenericSerialBus Data Buffer

The use of a data buffer for GenericSerialBus transactions allows AML to receive status and data
length values, as well as making it possible to implement the Process Call protocol. The BufferAcc
access type is used to indicate to the field handler that a region-specific data buffer will be used.
For GenericSerialBus operation regions, this data buffer is defined as an arbitrary length buffer that,
if represented using a ‘C’-styled declaration, would be modeled as follows:

typedef struct
{
BYTEStatus; // Byte 0 of the data buffer
BYTELength; // Byte 1 of the data buffer
BYTE[x-1]Data; // Bytes 2-x of the arbitrary length data buffer,
} // where x is the last index of the overall buffer
Where:
• Status (byte 0) indicates the status code of a given GenericSerialBus transaction.
• Length (byte 1) specifies the number of bytes of valid data that exists in the data buffer. Use of
this field is only defined for the Read/Write Block protocol. For other protocols—where the data
length is implied by the protocol—this field is reserved.
• Data (bytes 2-x) represents an arbitrary length buffer, and is the location where actual data is
stored.
For example, the following ASL shows the use of the GenericSerialBus data buffer for performing
transactions to a Smart Battery device.
/* Create the GenericSerialBus data buffer */
CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x01, LEN) // LEN = Length (Byte)
CreateWordField(BUFF, 0x02, DATW) // DATW = Data (Word – Bytes 2 & 3)
CreateField(BUFF, 0x10, 256, DBUF) // DBUF = Data (Block – Bytes 2-33)
/* Read the battery temperature */

Store(BTMP, BUFF) // Invoke Read Word transaction
If(LEqual(STAT, 0x00)) // Successful?
{
// DATW = Battery temperature in 1/10th degrees Kelvin
}
/* Read the battery manufacturer name */

Store(MFGN, BUFF) // Invoke Read Blocktransaction
{
// LEN = Length of the manufacturer name
// DBUF = Manufacturer name (as a counted string)
}
Length, and Data), where Data (bytes 2-33) is ‘typecast’ as both word (DATW) and block (DBUF)
data.
The example above demonstrates the use of the Store() operator to invoke a Read Block transaction
to obtain the name of the battery manufacturer. Evaluation of the source operand (MFGN) results in
a 34-byte buffer that gets copied by Store() to the destination buffer (BUFF).
Capturing the results of a write operation, for example to check the status code, requires an
additional Store() operator, as shown below.

Store(Store(BUFF, MFGN), BUFF) // Invoke Write Block transaction

If(LEqual(STAT, 0x00)) {…} // Transaction successful?
Note that the outer Store() copies the results of the Write Block transaction back into BUFF. This is
the nature of BufferAcc’s bi-directionality. It should be noted that storing (or parsing) the result of a
GenericSerialBus Write transaction is not required although useful for ascertaining the outcome of a
transaction.
GenericSerialBus Process Call protocols require similar semantics due to the fact that only
destination operands are passed bi-directionally. These transactions require the use of the double-
Store() semantics to properly capture the return results.
5.5.2.4.6.3 Using the GenericSerialBus Protocols

This section provides information and examples on how each of the GenericSerialBus protocols can
be used to access GenericSerialBus devices from AML.
5.5.2.4.6.3.1 Read/Write Quick (AttribQuick)
The GenericSerialBus Read/Write Quick protocol (AttribQuick) is typically used to control simple
devices using a device-specific binary command (for example, ON and OFF). Command values are
not used by this protocol and thus only a single element (at offset 0) can be specified in the field
definition. This protocol transfers no data.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write Quick protocol should
be accessed:
OperationRegion(TOP1, GenericSerialBus, 0x00, 0x100) // GenericSerialBus device at command value
offset 0
{
Connection(I2CSerialBusV2(0x5a,,100000,,"\_SB.I2C",,,,,RawDataBuffer(){1,6}))
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribQuick) // Use the GenericSerialBus Read/Write Quick protocol
}
/* Create the GenericSerialBus data buffer */

/* Signal device (e.g. OFF) */

Store(FLD0, BUFF) // Invoke Read Quick transaction
If(LEqual(STAT, 0x00)) {…} // Successful?
/* Signal device (e.g. ON) */

Store(BUFF, FLD0) // Invoke Write Quick transaction
In this example, a single field element (FLD0) at offset 0 is defined to represent the protocol’s read/
write bit. Access to FLD0 will cause a GenericSerialBus transaction to occur to the device. Reading
the field results in a Read Quick, and writing to the field results in a Write Quick. In either case data
is not transferred—access to the register is simply used as a mechanism to invoke the transaction.

5.5.2.4.6.3.2 Send/Receive Byte (AttribSendReceive)

The GenericSerialBus Send/Receive Byte protocol (AttribSendReceive) transfers a single byte of
data. Like Read/Write Quick, command values are not used by this protocol and thus only a single
element (at offset 0) can be specified in the field definition.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Send/Receive Byte protocol should
be accessed:

offset 0
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribSendReceive) // Use the GenericSerialBus Send/Receive Byte protocol
}

CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x02, DATA) // DATA = Data (Byte)
// Receive a byte of data from the device
Store(FLD0, BUFF) // Invoke a Receive Byte transaction
{
// DATA = Received byte…
}
// Send the byte ‘0x16’ to the device

Store(0x16, DATA) // Save 0x16 into the data buffer
Store(BUFF, FLD0) // Invoke a Send Byte transaction
In this example, a single field element (FLD0) at offset 0 is defined to represent the protocol’s data
byte. Access to FLD0 will cause a GenericSerialBus transaction to occur to the device. Reading the
field results in a Receive Byte, and writing to the field results in a Send Byte.
5.5.2.4.6.3.3 Read/Write Byte (AttribByte)
The GenericSerialBus Read/Write Byte protocol (AttribByte) also transfers a single byte of data.
But unlike Send/Receive Byte, this protocol uses a command value to reference up to 256 byte-sized
virtual registers.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write Byte protocol should be
accessed:


offset
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribByte) // Use the GenericSerialBus Read/Write Byte protocol
}

Name(BUFF, Buffer(3){})
// Create GenericSerialBus data buffer as BUFF
// Read a byte of data from the device using command value 1

Store(FLD1, BUFF) // Invoke a Read Byte transaction
{
// DATA = Byte read from FLD1…
}
// Write the byte ‘0x16’ to the device using command value 2

Store(BUFF, FLD2) // Invoke a Write Byte transaction
In this example, three field elements (FLD0, FLD1, and FLD2) are defined to represent the virtual
registers for command values 0, 1, and 2. Access to any of the field elements will cause a
GenericSerialBus transaction to occur to the device. Reading FLD1 results in a Read Byte with a
command value of 1, and writing to FLD2 results in a Write Byte with command value 2.
5.5.2.4.6.3.4 Read/Write Word (AttribWord)
The GenericSerialBus Read/Write Word protocol (AttribWord) transfers 2 bytes of data. This
protocol also uses a command value to reference up to 256 word-sized virtual device registers.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write Word protocol should
be accessed:
offset 0
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribWord)// Use the GenericSerialBus Read/Write Word protocol
}

// Read two bytes of data from the device using command value 1
Store(FLD1, BUFF) // Invoke a Read Word transaction
{

// DATA = Word read from FLD1…

}
// Write the word ‘0x5416’ to the device using command value 2
Store(BUFF, FLD2) // Invoke a Write Word transaction
GenericSerialBus transaction to occur to the device. Reading FLD1 results in a Read Word with a
command value of 1, and writing to FLD2 results in a Write Word with command value 2.
Notice that although accessing each field element transmits a word (16 bits) of data, the fields are
listed as 8 bits each. The actual data size is determined by the protocol. Every field element is
declared with a length of 8 bits so that command values and byte offsets are equivalent.
5.5.2.4.6.3.5 Read/Write Block (AttribBlock)
The GenericSerialBus Read/Write Block protocol (AttribBlock) transfers variable-sized data. This
protocol uses a command value to reference up to 256 block-sized virtual registers.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write Block protocol should
be accessed:
OperationRegion(TOP1, GenericSerialBus, 0x00, 0x100)
{
Offset(0x0),
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribBlock),
TFK1, 8,
TFK2, 8
}

Name(BUFF, Buffer(34){}) // Create SerialBus buf as BUFF
CreateBytefield(BUFF, 0x01, LEN) // LEN = Length (Byte)
CreateWordField(BUFF, 0x03, DATW) // DATW = Data (Word - Bytes 2 & 3, or 16 bits)
CreateField(BUFF, 16, 256, DBUF) // DBUF = Data (Bytes 2-33)
CreateField(BUFF, 16, 32, DATD) // DATD = Data (DWord)
// Read block of data from the device using command value 0

Store(TFK1, BUFF)
If(LNotEqual(STAT, 0x00)) {
Return(0)
}
Store(TFK2, BUFF)
Return(0)
}
<…>
In this example, two field elements (TFK1, and TFK2) are defined to represent the virtual registers
for command values 0 and 1. Access to any of the field elements will cause a GenericSerialBus
transaction to occur to the device.
Writing blocks of data requires similar semantics, such as in the following example.

Store(16, LEN) // In bits, so 4 bytes

Store(Store(BUFF, TFK1), BUFF) // Invoke Write Block transaction
If(LEqual(STAT, 0x00)) {…} // Transaction successful?
This accessor is not viable for some SPBs because the bus may not support the appropriate
functionality. In cases that variable length buffers are desired but the bus does not support block
accessors, refer to the SerialBytes protocol.
5.5.2.4.6.3.6 Word Process Call (AttribProcessCall)
The GenericSerialBus Process Call protocol (AttribProcessCall) transfers 2 bytes of data bi-
directionally (performs a Write Word followed by a Read Word as an atomic transaction). This
protocol uses a command value to reference up to 256 word-sized virtual registers.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Process Call protocol should be
accessed:
OperationRegion(TOP1, GenericSerialBus, 0x00, 0x100) // GenericSerialBus device at slave address
0x42
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribProcessCall) // Use the GenericSerialBus Process Call protocol
}

// Process Call with input value ‘0x5416’ to the device using command value 1
Store(Store(BUFF, FLD1), BUFF) // Invoke a Process Call transaction
{
// DATA = Word returned from FLD1…
}
GenericSerialBus transaction to occur to the device. Reading or writing FLD1 results in a Process
Call with a command value of 1. Notice that unlike other protocols, Process Call involves both a
write and read operation in a single atomic transaction. This means that the Data element of the
GenericSerialBus data buffer is set with an input value before the transaction is invoked, and holds
the output value following the successful completion of the transaction.
5.5.2.4.6.3.7 Block Process Call (AttribBlockProcessCall)
The GenericSerialBus Block Write-Read Block Process Call protocol (AttribBlockProcessCall)
transfers a block of data bi-directionally (performs a Write Block followed by a Read Block as an
atomic transaction). This protocol uses a command value to reference up to 256 block-sized virtual
registers.
accessed:


0x42
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribBlockProcessCall) // Use the Block Process Call protocol
FLD0, 8, // Virtual register representing a command value of 0
FLD1, 8 // Virtual register representing a command value of 1
}
// Create the GenericSerialBus data buffer as BUFF

Name(BUFF, Buffer(35)()) // Create GenericSerialBus data buffer as BUFF
CreateField(BUFF, 0x10, 256, DATA) // Data (Block)
// Process Call with input value "ACPI" to the device using command value 1
Store("ACPI", DATA) // Fill in outgoing data

Store(8, LEN) // Length of the valid data
Store(Store(BUFF, FLD1), BUFF) // Execute the PC
if (LEqual(STAT, 0x00)) // Test the status
{
// BUFF now contains information returned from PC
// LEN now equals size of data returned
}
5.5.2.4.6.3.8 Read/Write N Bytes (AttribBytes)

The GenericSerialBus Read/Write N Bytes protocol (AttribBytes) transfers variable-sized data. The
actual number of bytes to read or write is specified as part of the AccessAs attribute.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write N Bytes protocol
should be accessed:
{
Offset(0x0),
TFK1, 8, //TFK1 at command value 0
TFK2, 8, //TFK2 at command value 1
Connection(I2CSerialBus(0x5b,,100000,,"\_SB.I2C",,,,RawDataBuffer(){2,9}))
// same connection attribute, but different vendor data passed to driver
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribByte)
TM1, 8 //TM1 at command value 2
}

CreateBytefield(BUFF, 0x01, LEN) // LEN = Length (Byte)

Store(TFK1, BUFF)
Return(0)

// Write block of data to the device using command value 1

Store(Store(BUFF,TFK2), BUFF)
Return(0)
}
In this example, two field elements (TFK1, and TFK2) are defined to represent the virtual registers
for command values 0 and 1. Access to any of the field elements will cause a GenericSerialBus
transaction to occur to the device of the length specified in the AccessAttributes.
5.5.2.4.6.3.9 Raw Read/Write N Bytes (AttribRawBytes)
The GenericSerialBus Raw Read/Write N Bytes protocol (AttribRawBytes) transfers variable-sized
data. The actual number of bytes to read or write is specified as part of the AccessAs attribute. The
initial command value specified in the operation region definition is ignored by Raw accesses.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write N Bytes protocol
should be accessed:
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribRawBytes (4))
TFK1, 8
}

Store(0x0B,DATW) //Store appropriate reference data for driver to interpret
//Read from TFK1

Store(TFK1, BUFF)
Return(0)
}
//Write to TFK1
Store(Store(BUFF,TFK1), BUFF)
Return(0)
}
Access to any field elements will cause a GenericSerialBus transaction to occur to the device of the
length specified in the AccessAttributes.
Raw accesses assume that the writer has knowledge of the bus that the access is made over and the
device that is being accessed. The protocol may only ensure that the buffer is transmitted to the
appropriate driver, but the driver must be able to interpret the buffer to communicate to a register.

5.5.2.4.6.3.10 Raw Block Process Call (AttribRawProcessBytes)

The GenericSerialBus Raw Write-Read Block Process Call protocol (AttribRawProcessBytes)
transfers a block of data bi-directionally (performs a Write Block followed by a Read Block as an
atomic transaction). The initial command value specified in the operation region definition is
ignored by Raw accesses.
accessed:
0x42
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribRawProcessBytes) // Use the Raw Bytes Process Call protocol
FLD0, 8
}
// Create the GenericSerialBus data buffer as BUFF

Name(BUFF, Buffer(34)()) // Create GenericSerialBus data buffer as BUFF
CreateWordField(BUFF,0x02, DATW) // Data (Bytes 2 and 3)
Store(0x0B,DATW) //Store appropriate reference data for driver to interpret
// Process Call with input value "ACPI" to the device

Store(8, LEN) // Length of the valid data
{
// LEN now equals size of data returned
}
Raw accesses assume that the writer has knowledge of the bus that the access is made over and the
device that is being accessed. The protocol may only ensure that the buffer is transmitted to the
appropriate driver, but the driver must be able to interpret the buffer to communicate to a register.
5.6 ACPI Event Programming Model

The ACPI event programming model is based on the SCI interrupt and General-Purpose Event
(GPE) register. ACPI provides an extensible method to raise and handle the SCI interrupt, as
described in this section.
Hardware-reduced ACPI platforms (Section 4.1) use GPIO Interrupt Connections to signal ACPI
Events, described in Section 5.6.5, or Interrupt-signaled ACPI Events, described in Section 5.6.9.
Note that any ACPI platform may utilize GPIO-signaled and/or Interrupts-signaled ACPI events (i.e.
they are not limited to Hardware-reduced ACPI platforms).

5.6.1 ACPI Event Programming Model Components

The components of the ACPI event programming model are the following:
• OSPM
• FADT
• PM1a_STS, PM1b_STS and PM1a_EN, PM1b_EN fixed register blocks
• GPE0_BLK and GPE1_BLK register blocks
• GPE register blocks defined in GPE block devices
• SCI interrupt
• ACPI AML code general-purpose event model
• ACPI device-specific model events
• ACPI Embedded Controller event model
The role of each component in the ACPI event programming model is described in the following
table.
Table 5-159 ACPI Event Programming Model Components

Component Description
OSPM Receives all SCI interrupts raised (receives all SCI events). Either handles the
event or masks the event off and later invokes an OEM-provided control method to
handle the event. Events handled directly by OSPM are fixed ACPI events;
interrupts handled by control methods are general-purpose events.
FADT Specifies the base address for the following fixed register blocks on an ACPI-
compatible platform: PM1x_STS and PM1x_EN fixed registers and the GPEx_STS
and GPEx_EN fixed registers.
PM1x_STS and PM1x_STS bits raise fixed ACPI events. While a PM1x_STS bit is set, if the
PM1x_EN fixed matching PM1x_EN bit is set, the ACPI SCI event is raised.
registers
GPEx_STS and GPEx_STS bits that raise general-purpose events. For every event bit
GPEx_EN fixed implemented in GPEx_STS, there must be a comparable bit in GPEx_EN. Up to
registers 256 GPEx_STS bits and matching GPEx_EN bits can be implemented. While a
GPEx_STS bit is set, if the matching GPEx_EN bit is set, then the general-purpose
SCI event is raised.
SCI interrupt A level-sensitive, shareable interrupt mapped to a declared interrupt vector. The
SCI interrupt vector can be shared with other low-priority interrupts that have a low
frequency of occurrence.
ACPI AML code A model that allows OEM AML code to use GPEx_STS events. This includes using
general-purpose event GPEx_STS events as “wake” sources as well as other general service events
model defined by the OEM (“button pressed,” “thermal event,” “device present/not present
changed,” and so on).
ACPI device-specific Devices in the ACPI namespace that have ACPI-specific device IDs can provide
model events additional event model functionality. In particular, the ACPI embedded controller
device provides a generic event model.
ACPI Embedded A model that allows OEM AML code to use the response from the Embedded
Controller event model Controller Query command to provide general-service event defined by the OEM.

5.6.2 Types of ACPI Events

At the ACPI hardware level, two types of events can be signaled by an SCI interrupt:
• Fixed ACPI events
• General-purpose events
In turn, the general-purpose events can be used to provide further levels of events to the system.
And, as in the case of the embedded controller, a well-defined second-level event dispatching is
defined to make a third type of typical ACPI event. For the flexibility common in today’s designs,
two first-level general-purpose event blocks are defined, and the embedded controller construct
allows a large number of embedded controller second-level event-dispatching tables to be supported.
Then if needed, the OEM can also build additional levels of event dispatching by using AML code
on a general-purpose event to sub-dispatch in an OEM defined manner.
5.6.3 Fixed Event Handling

When OSPM receives a fixed ACPI event, it directly reads and handles the event registers itself. The
following table lists the fixed ACPI events. For a detailed specification of each event, see Section 4,
“ACPI Hardware Specification.”
Table 5-160 Fixed ACPI Events

Event Comment
Power For more information, see the description of the TMR_STS and TMR_EN bits of the PM1x
management fixed register block in Section 4.8.3.1, “PM1 Event Grouping,” as well as the TMR_VAL
timer carry bit register in the PM_TMR_BLK in Section 4.8.3.3, “Power Management Timer.”
set.
Power button A power button can be supplied in two ways. One way is to simply use the fixed status bit,
signal and the other uses the declaration of an ACPI power device and AML code to determine
the event. For more information about the alternate-device based power button, see
Section 4.8.2.2.1.2, Control Method Power Button.”
Notice that during the S0 state, both the power and sleep buttons merely notify OSPM
that they were pressed.
If the system does not have a sleep button, it is recommended that OSPM use the power
button to initiate sleep operations as requested by the user.
Sleep button A sleep button can be supplied in one of two ways. One way is to simply use the fixed
signal status button. The other way requires the declaration of an ACPI sleep button device and
AML code to determine the event.
RTC alarm ACPI-defines an RTC wake alarm function with a minimum of one-month granularity. The
ACPI status bit for the device is optional. If the ACPI status bit is not present, the RTC
status can be used to determine when an alarm has occurred. For more information, see
the description of the RTC_STS and RTC_EN bits of the PM1x fixed register block in
Section 4.8.3.1, “PM1 Event Grouping.”
Wake status The wake status bit is used to determine when the sleeping state has been completed.
For more information, see the description of the WAK_STS and WAK_EN bits of the
PM1x fixed register block in Section 4.8.3.1, “PM1 Event Grouping.”

System bus The bus-master status bit provides feedback from the hardware as to when a bus master
master request cycle has occurred. This is necessary for supporting the processor C3 power savings
state. For more information, see the description of the BM_STS bit of the PM1x fixed
register block in Section 4.8.3.1, “PM1 Event Grouping.”
Global release This status is raised as a result of the Global Lock protocol, and is handled by OSPM as
status part of Global Lock synchronization. For more information, see the description of the
GBL_STS bit of the PM1x fixed register block in Section 4.8.3.1, “PM1 Event Grouping.”
For more information on Global Lock, see Section 5.2.10.1, “Global Lock.”
5.6.4 General-Purpose Event Handling

When OSPM receives a general-purpose event, it either passes control to an ACPI-aware driver, or
uses an OEM-supplied control method to handle the event. An OEM can implement up to 128
general-purpose event inputs in hardware per GPE block, each as either a level or edge event. It is
also possible to implement a single 256-pin block as long as it’s the only block defined in the
system.
An example of a general-purpose event is specified in Section 4, “ACPI Hardware Specification,”
where EC_STS and EC_EN bits are defined to enable OSPM to communicate with an ACPI-aware
embedded controller device driver. The EC_STS bit is set when either an interface in the embedded
controller space has generated an interrupt or the embedded controller interface needs servicing.
Notice that if a platform uses an embedded controller in the ACPI environment, then the embedded
controller’s SCI output must be directly and exclusively tied to a single GPE input bit.
Hardware can cascade other general-purpose events from a bit in the GPEx_BLK through status and
enable bits in Operational Regions (I/O space, memory space, PCI configuration space, or embedded
controller space). For more information, see the specification of the General-Purpose Event Blocks
(GPEx_BLK) in Section 4.8.4.1, “General-Purpose Event Register Blocks.”
OSPM manages the bits in the GPEx blocks directly, although the source to those events is not
directly known and is connected into the system by control methods. When OSPM receives a
general-purpose event (the event is from either a GPEx_BLK STS bit, a GPIO pin, or an Interrupt),
OSPM does the following:
1. Disables the interrupt source
• (GPEx_BLK EN bit).
• GPIO interrupt for GPIO-signaled events
• Interrupt for Interrupt-signaled events
2. If an edge event, clears the status bit.
3. Performs one of the following:
• Dispatches to an ACPI-aware device driver.
• Queues the matching control method for execution.
• Manages a wake event using device _PRW objects.
4. If a level event, clears the status bit.
5. Enables the interrupt source.
For OSPM to manage the bits in the GPEx_BLK blocks directly:
• Enable bits must be read/write.

• Status bits must be latching.

• Status bits must be read/clear, and cleared by writing a “1” to the status bit.
5.6.4.1 _Exx, _Lxx, and _Qxx Methods for GPE Processing

The OEM AML code can perform OEM-specific functions custom to each event the particular
platform might generate by executing a control method that matches the event. For GPE events,
OSPM will execute the control method of the name \_GPE._TXX where XX is the hex value format
of the event that needs to be handled and T indicates the event handling type (T must be either ‘E’ for
an edge event or ‘L’ for a level event). The event values for status bits in GPE0_BLK start at zero
(_T00) and end at the (GPE0_BLK_LEN / 2) - 1. The event values for status bits in GPE1_BLK start
at GPE1_BASE and end at GPE1_BASE + (GPE1_BLK_LEN / 2) - 1. GPE0_BLK_LEN,
GPE1_BASE, and GPE1_BLK_LEN are all defined in the FADT.
The _Qxx methods are used for the Embedded Controller and SMBus (below.)
5.6.4.1.1 Queuing the Matching Control Method for Execution

When a general-purpose event is raised, OSPM uses a naming convention to determine which
control method to queue for execution and how the GPE EOI is to be handled. The GPEx_STS bits
in the GPEx_BLK are indexed with a number from 0 through FF. The name of the control method to
queue for an event raised from an enable status bit is always of the form \_GPE._Txx where xx is the
event value and T indicates the event EOI protocol to use (either ‘E’ for edge triggered, or ‘L’ for
level triggered). The event values for status bits in GPE0_BLK start at zero (_T00), end at the
(GPE0_BLK_LEN / 2) - 1, and correspond to each status bit index within GPE0_BLK. The event
values for status bits in GPE1_BLK are offset by GPE_BASE and therefore start at GPE1_BASE
and end at GPE1_BASE + (GPE1_BLK_LEN / 2) - 1.
For example, suppose an OEM supplies a wake event for a communications port and uses bit 4 of the
GPE0_STS bits to raise the wake event status. In an OEM-provided Definition Block, there must be
a Method declaration that uses the name \_GPE._L04 or \GPE._E04 to handle the event. An example
of a control method declaration using such a name is the following:
Method (\_GPE._L04) { // GPE 4 level wake handler
Notify (\_SB.PCIO.COM0, 2)
}
The control method performs whatever action is appropriate for the event it handles. For example, if
the event means that a device has appeared in a slot, the control method might acknowledge the
event to some other hardware register and signal a change notify request of the appropriate device
object. Or, the cause of the general-purpose event can result from more then one source, in which
case the control method for that event determines the source and takes the appropriate action.
When a general-purpose event is raised from the GPE bit tied to an embedded controller, the
embedded controller driver uses another naming convention defined by ACPI for the embedded
controller driver to determine which control method to queue for execution. The queries that the
embedded controller driver exchanges with the embedded controller are numbered from 0 through
FF, yielding event codes 01 through FF. (A query response of 0 from the embedded controller is
reserved for “no outstanding events.”) The name of the control method to queue is always of the
form _Qxx where xx is the number of the query acknowledged by the embedded controller. An
example declaration for a control method that handles an embedded controller query is the
following:

Method(_Q34) { // embedded controller event for thermal

Notify (\_SB.TZ0.THM1, 0x80)
}
When an SMBus alarm is handled by the SMBus driver, the SMBus driver uses a similar naming
convention defined by ACPI for the driver to determine the control method to queue for execution.
When an alarm is received by the SMBus host controller, it generally receives the SMBus address of
the device issuing the alarm and one word of data. On implementations that use SMBALERT# for
notifications, only the device address will be received. The name of the control method to queue is
always of the form _Qxx where xx is the SMBus address of the device that issued the alarm. The
SMBus address is 7 bits long corresponding to hex values 0 through 7F, although some addresses are
reserved and will not be used. The control method will always be queued with one argument that
contains the word of data received with the alarm. An exception is the case of an SMBus using
SMBALERT# for notifications, in this case the argument will be 0. An example declaration for a
control method that handles a SMBus alarm follows:
Method(_Q18, 1) { // Thermal sensor device at address 0011 000
// Arg0 contains notification value (if any)

// Arg0 = 0 if device supports only SMBALERT#
Notify (\_SB.TZ0.THM1, 0x80)

}
5.6.4.1.2 Dispatching to an ACPI-Aware Device Driver

Certain device support, such as an embedded controller, requires a dedicated GPE to service the
device. Such GPEs are dispatched to native OS code to be handled and not to the corresponding
GPE-specific control method.
In the case of the embedded controller, an OS-native, ACPI-aware driver is given the GPE event for
its device. This driver services the embedded controller device and determines when events are to be
reported by the embedded controller by using the Query command. When an embedded controller
event occurs, the ACPI-aware driver dispatches the requests to other ACPI-aware drivers that have
registered to handle the embedded controller queries or queues control methods to handle each
event. If there is no device driver to handle specific queries, OEM AML code can perform OEM-
specific functions that are customized to each event on the particular platform by including specific
control methods in the namespace to handle these events. For an embedded controller event, OSPM
will queue the control method of the name _QXX, where XX is the hex format of the query code.
Notice that each embedded controller device can have query event control methods.
Similarly, for an SMBus driver, if no driver registers for SMBus alarms, the SMBus driver will
queue control methods to handle these. Methods must be placed under the SMBus device with the
name _QXX where XX is the hex format of the SMBus address of the device sending the alarm.
5.6.4.2 GPE Wake Events

An important use of the general-purpose events is to implement device wake events. The
components of the ACPI event programming model interact in the following way:
• When a device asserts its wake signal, the general-purpose status event bit used to track that
device is set.

• While the corresponding general-purpose enable bit is enabled, the SCI interrupt is asserted.
• If the system is sleeping, this will cause the hardware, if possible, to transition the system into
the S0 state.
• Once the system is running, OSPM will dispatch the corresponding GPE handler.
• The handler needs to determine which device object has signaled wake and performs a wake
Notify
• command on the corresponding device object(s) that have asserted wake.
• In turn OSPM will notify OSPM native driver(s) for each device that will wake its device to
service it.
Events that wake may not be intermixed with non-wake (runtime) events on the same GPE input.
The only exception to this rule is made for the special devices below. Only the following devices are
allowed to utilize a single GPE for both wake and runtime events:
1. Button Devices
• PNP0C0C — Power Button Device
• PNP0C0D — Lid Device
• PNP0C0E — Sleep Button Device
2. PCI Bus Wakeup Event Reporting (PME)
• PNP0A03 — PCI Host Bridge
All wake events that are not exclusively tied to a GPE input (for example, one input is shared for
multiple wake events) must have individual enable and status bits in order to properly handle the
semantics used by the system.
5.6.4.2.1 Managing a Wake Event Using Device _PRW Objects

A device’s _PRW object provides the zero-based bit index into the general-purpose status register
block to indicate which general-purpose status bit from either GPE0_BLK or GPE1_BLK is used as
the specific device’s wake mask. Although the hardware must maintain individual device wake
enable bits, the system can have multiple devices using the same general-purpose event bit by using
OEM-specific hardware to provide second-level status and enable bits. In this case, the OEM AML
code is responsible for the second-level enable and status bits.
OSPM enables or disables the device wake function by enabling or disabling its corresponding GPE
and by executing its _PSW control method (which is used to take care of the second-level enables).
When the GPE is asserted, OSPM still executes the corresponding GPE control method that
determines which device wakes are asserted and notifies the corresponding device objects. The
native OS driver is then notified that its device has asserted wake, for which the driver powers on its
device to service it.
If the system is in a sleeping state when the enabled GPE bit is asserted the hardware will transition
the system into the S0 state, if possible.
5.6.4.2.2 Determining the System Wake Source Using _Wxx Control Methods
After a transition to the S0 state, OSPM may evaluate the _SWS object in the \_GPE scope to
determine the index of the GPE that was the source of the transition event. When a single GPE is
shared among multiple devices, the platform provides a _Wxx control method, where xx is GPE

index as described in Section 5.6.4.2.2, that allows the source device of the transition to be
determined. If implemented, the _Wxx control method must exist in the \_GPE scope or in the scope
of a GPE block device.
If _Wxx is implemented, either hardware or firmware must detect and save the source device as
described in Section 7.4.3, “_SWS (System Wake Source)”. During invocation, the _Wxx control
method determines the source device and issues a Notify(<device>,0x2) on the device that caused
the system to transition to the S0 state. If the device uses a bus-specific method of arming for
wakeup, then the Notify must be issued on the parent of the device that has a _PRW method. The
_Wxx method must issue a Notify(<device>,0x2) only to devices that contain a _PRW method
within their device scope. OSPM’s evaluation of the _SWS and _Wxx objects is indeterminate. As
such, the platform must not rely on _SWS or _Wxx evaluation to clear any hardware state, including
GPEx_STS bits, or to perform any wakeup-related actions.
If the GPE index returned by the _SWS object is only referenced by a single _PRW object in the
system, it is implied that the device containing that _PRW is the wake source. In this case, it is not
necessary for the platform to provide a _Wxx method.
5.6.5 GPIO-signaled ACPI Events

On Hardware-reduced ACPI platforms, ACPI events can be signaled when a GPIO Interrupt is
received by OSPM, and that GPIO Interrupt Connection is listed in a GPIO controller device’s _AEI
object. OSPM claims all such GPIO interrupts, and maps them to the appropriate event method
required by the ACPI event model.
5.6.5.1 Declaring GPIO Controller Devices

A GPIO controller is modeled as a device in the namespace, with _HID or _ADR and _CRS objects,
at a minimum. Optionally, the GPIO controller device scope may include GeneralPurposeIO
OpRegion declarations ( Section 5.5.2.4.5) and GPIO interrupt-to-ACPI Event mappings
(Section 5.6.5.2). Note that for GPIO-signaled ACPI events, the corresponding event method (e.g.
_Exx, _Lxx, or _EVT) must also appear in the target GPIO controller’s scope. For GPIO event
numbers larger than 255 (0xFF), the _EVT method is used.
Each pin on a GPIO Controller has a configuration (e.g. level-sensitive interrupt, de-bounced input,
high-drive output, etc.), which is described to OSPM in the GPIO Interrupt or GPIO IO Connection
resources claimed by peripheral devices or used in operation region accesses.
5.6.5.2 _AEI Object for GPIO-signaled Events

The _AEI object designates those GPIO interrupts that shall be handled by OSPM as ACPI events
(See Section 5.6.5). This object appears within the scope of the GPIO controller device whose pins
are to be used as GPIO-signaled events.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A resource template Buffer containing only GPIO Interrupt Connection descriptors.

Example:
Device (\_SB.GPI2)
{
Name(_HID, “XYZ0003”)
Name(_UID, 2) //Third instance of this controller on the platform
Name(_CRS, ResourceTemplate ()
{
//Register Interface
MEMORY32FIXED(ReadWrite, 0x30000000, 0x200, )
//Interrupt line (GSIV 21)
Interrupt(ResourceConsumer, Level, ActiveHigh, Exclusive) {21}
})
Name(_AEI, ResourceTemplate ()
{
//Thermal Zone Event
GpioInt(Edge, ActiveHigh, Exclusive, PullDown, , " \\_SB.GPI2") {14}
//Power Button
GpioInt(Edge, ActiveLow, ExclusiveAndWake, PullUp, , " \\_SB.GPI2") {36}
})
}
5.6.5.3 The Event (_EVT) Method for Handling GPIO-signaled Events

GPIO Interrupt Connection Descriptors assign GPIO pins a controller-relative, 0-based pin number.
GPIO Pin numbers can be as large as 65, 535. GPIO Interrupt Connections that are assigned by the
platform to signal ACPI events are listed in the _AEI object under the GPIO controller. Since the
GPIO interrupt connection descriptor also provides the mode of the interrupt associated with an
event, it gives OSPM all the information it needs to invoke a handler method for the event. No
naming convention is required to encode the mode and pin number of the event. Instead, a handler
for a GPIO-signaled event simply needs to have a well-known name and take the pin number of the
event as a parameter. A single instance of the method handles all ACPI events for a given GPIO
controller device.
For GPIO-signaled events, the Event (_EVT) method is used.
_EVT is defined as follows:
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 - EventNumber. An Integer indicating the event number (Controller-relative zero-based GPIO
pin number) of the current event. Must be in the range 0x0000 - 0xffff.
Return Value:
None
Description
The _EVT method handles a GPIO-signaled event. It must appear within the scope of the GPIO
controller device whose pins are used to signal the event.
OSPM handles GPIO-signaled events as follows:
• The GPIO interrupt is handled by OSPM because it is listed in the _AEI object under a GPIO
controller.

• When the event fires, OSPM handles the interrupt according to its mode and invokes the _EVT
method, passing it the pin number of the event.
• From this point on, handling is exactly like that for GPEs. The _EVT method does a Notify() on
the appropriate device, and OS-specific mechanisms are used to notify the driver of the event.
Note: For event numbers less than 255, _Exx and _Lxx methods may be used instead. In this case, they
take precedence and _EVT will not be invoked.
Example:
Scope (\_SB.GPI2)
{
Method (_EVT,1) { // Handle all ACPI Events signaled by GPIO Controller GPI2
Switch (Arg0)
{
Case (300) {
…
Notify (\_SB.DEVX, 0x80)
}
Case (1801) {
…
Notify (\_SB.DEVY, 0x80)
}
Case (14…) {
…
Notify (\_SB.DEVZ, 0x80)
}
…
}
} //End of Method
} //End of Scope
5.6.6 Device Object Notifications

During normal operation, the platform needs to notify OSPM of various device-related events. These
notifications are accomplished using the Notify operator, which indicates a target device, thermal
zone, or processor object and a notification value that signifies the purpose of the notification.
Notification values from 0 through 0x7F are common across all device object types. Notification
values of 0xC0 and above are reserved for definition by hardware vendors for hardware specific
notifications. Notification values from 0x80 to 0xBF are device-specific and defined by each such
device. For more information on the Notify operator, see Section 19.6.94, “Notify.”

Table 5-161 Device Object Notification Values

Value Description
0 Bus Check. This notification is performed on a device object to indicate to OSPM that it needs to
perform a Plug and Play re-enumeration operation on the device tree starting from the point where it has
been notified. OSPM will typically perform a full enumeration automatically at boot time, but after system
initialization it is the responsibility of the ACPI AML code to notify OSPM whenever a re-enumeration
operation is required. The more accurately and closer to the actual change in the device tree the
notification can be done, the more efficient the operating system’s response will be; however, it can also
be an issue when a device change cannot be confirmed. For example, if the hardware cannot recognize
a device change for a particular location during a system sleeping state, it issues a Bus Check
notification on wake to inform OSPM that it needs to check the configuration for a device change.
1 Device Check. Used to notify OSPM that the device either appeared or disappeared. If the device has
appeared, OSPM will re-enumerate from the parent. If the device has disappeared, OSPM will invalidate
the state of the device. OSPM may optimize out re-enumeration. If _DCK is present, then
Notify(object,1) is assumed to indicate an undock request. If the device is a bridge, OSPM may re-
enumerate the bridge and the child bus.
2 Device Wake. Used to notify OSPM that the device has signaled its wake event, and that OSPM needs
to notify OSPM native device driver for the device. This is only used for devices that support _PRW.
3 Eject Request. Used to notify OSPM that the device should be ejected, and that OSPM needs to
perform the Plug and Play ejection operation. OSPM will run the _EJx method.
4 Device Check Light. Used to notify OSPM that the device either appeared or disappeared. If the device
has appeared, OSPM will re-enumerate from the device itself, not the parent. If the device has
disappeared, OSPM will invalidate the state of the device.
5 Frequency Mismatch. Used to notify OSPM that a device inserted into a slot cannot be attached to the
bus because the device cannot be operated at the current frequency of the bus. For example, this would
be used if a user tried to hot-plug a 33 MHz PCI device into a slot that was on a bus running at greater
than 33 MHz.
6 Bus Mode Mismatch. Used to notify OSPM that a device has been inserted into a slot or bay that
cannot support the device in its current mode of operation. For example, this would be used if a user
tried to hot-plug a PCI device into a slot that was on a bus running in PCI-X mode.
7 Power Fault. Used to notify OSPM that a device cannot be moved out of the D3 state because of a
power fault.
8 Capabilities Check. This notification is performed on a device object to indicate to OSPM that it needs
to re-evaluate the _OSC control method associated with the device.
9 Device _PLD Check. Used to notify OSPM to reevaluate the _PLD object, as the Device’s connection
point has changed.
0xA Reserved.
0xB System Locality Information Update. Dynamic reconfiguration of the system may cause existing
relative distance information to change. The platform sends the System Locality Information Update
notification to a point on a device tree to indicate to OSPM that it needs to invoke the _SLI objects
associated with the System Localities on the device tree starting from the point notified.
0x0C Reserved.
0x0D System Resource Affinity Update. Dynamic migration of devices may cause existing system resource
affinity to change. The platform software issues the System Resource Affinity Update notification to a
point on a device tree to indicate to OSPM that it needs to invoke the _PXM object of the notified device
to update the resource affinity.
0x0E Heterogeneous Memory Attributes Update. Dynamic reconfiguration of the system may cause
existing latency, bandwidth or memory side caching attribute to change. The platform software issues
the Heterogeneous Memory Attributes Update notification to a point on a device tree to indicate to
OSPM that it needs to invoke the _HMA objects associated with the Heterogeneous Memory Attributes
on the device tree starting from the point notified.
0x0F-0x7F Reserved.

Below are the notification values defined for specific ACPI devices. For more information
concerning the object-specific notification, see the section on the corresponding device/object.
Table 5-162 System Bus Notification Values
Hex value Description
0x80 Reserved.
0x81 Graceful Shutdown Request. Used to notify OSPM that a graceful shutdown of the operating
system has been requested. Once the operating system has finished its graceful shutdown
procedure it should initiate a transition to the G2 "soft off" state. The Notify operator must
target the System Bus: (\_SB). See Section 6.3.5 for a description of shutdown processing.
Table 5-163 Control Method Battery Device Notification Values

0x80 Battery Status Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the Control Method Battery device
status has changed.
0x81 Battery Information Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the Control Method Battery device
information has changed. This only occurs when a battery is replaced.
0x82 Battery Maintenance Data Status Flags Check. Used to notify OSPM that the Control
Method Battery device battery maintenance data status flags should be checked.
0x83-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-164 Power Source Object Notification Values

0x80 Power Source Status Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the power source status has
changed.
0x81 Power Source Information Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the power source
information has changed.
0x82-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-165 Thermal Zone Object Notification Values

0x80 Thermal Zone Status Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the thermal zone temperature
has changed.
0x81 Thermal Zone Trip points Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the thermal zone trip points
have changed.

0x82 Device Lists Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the thermal zone device lists (_ALx,
_PSL, _TZD) have changed.
0x83 Thermal / Active Cooling Relationship Table Changed. Used to notify OSPM that values
in the either the thermal relationship table or the active cooling relationship table have
changed.
0x84-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-166 Control Method Power Button Notification Values

0x80 S0 Power Button Pressed. Used to notify OSPM that the power button has been pressed
while the system is in the S0 state. Notice that when the button is pressed while the system is
in the S1-S4 state, a Device Wake notification must be issued instead.
0x81-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-167 Control Method Sleep Button Notification Values

0x80 S0 Sleep Button Pressed. Used to notify OSPM that the sleep button has been pressed
while the system is in the S0 state. Notice that when the button is pressed while the system is
in the S1-S4 state, a Device Wake notification must be issued instead.
0x81-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-168 Control Method Lid Notification Values

0x80 Lid Status Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the control method lid device status has
changed.
0x81-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-169 NVDIMM Root Device Notification Values

Hex Value Description
0x80 NFIT Update Notification. Used to notify OSPM that it needs to re-evaluate the
_FIT method under the NVDIMM root device (see Section 9.20.2).
0x81 Unconsumed Uncorrectable Memory Error Detected. Used to pro-actively notify
OSPM of uncorrectable memory errors detected (for example a memory scrubbing
engine that continuously scans the NVDIMMs memory). This is an optional
notification. Only locations that were mapped in to SPA by the platform will generate
a notification.
0x82-0xBF Reserved

Table 5-170 NVDIMM Device Notification Values

0x80 Reserved
0x81 NFIT Health Event Notification. Used to notify OSPM of health event(s) for the
NVDIMM device (see Section 9.20.3). On receiving the NFIT Health Event
Notification, the OSPM is required to determine new health event by re-enumerating
the health of the corresponding NVDIMM device. This could be accomplished by
evaluating a _DSM method under the NVDIMM device.
0x82-0xBF Reserved
Table 5-171 Processor Device Notification Values

0x80 Performance Present Capabilities Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the number of
supported processor performance states has changed. This notification causes OSPM to re-
evaluate the _PPC object. See Section 8 “Processor Configuration and Control,” for more
information.
0x81 C States Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the number or type of supported processor C
States has changed. This notification causes OSPM to re-evaluate the _CST object. See
Section 8, “Processor Configuration and Control,” for more information.
0x82 Throttling Present Capabilities Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the number of
supported processor throttling states has changed. This notification causes OSPM to re-
evaluate the _TPC object. See Section 8, “Processor Configuration and Control,” for more
information.
0x83 Guaranteed Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the value of the CPPC Guaranteed
Register has changed.
0x84 Minimum Excursion. Used to notify OSPM that an excursion to CPPC Minimum has
occurred.
0x85 Highest Performance Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the value of the CPPC Highest
Performance Register has changed.
0x86-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-172 User Presence Device Notification Values

0x80 User Presence Changed. Used to notify OSPM that a meaningful change in user presence
has occurred, causing OSPM to re-evaluate the _UPD object.
0x81-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-173 Ambient Light Sensor Device Notification Values

0x80 ALS Illuminance Changed. Used to notify OSPM that a meaningful change in ambient light
illuminance has occurred, causing OSPM to re-evaluate the _ALI object.


0x81 ALS Color Temperature Changed. Used to notify OSPM that a meaningful change in
ambient light color temperature or chromaticity has occurred, causing OSPM to re-evaluate
the _ALT and/or _ALC objects.
0x82 ALS Response Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the set of points used to convey the
ambient light response has changed, causing OSPM to re-evaluate the _ALR object.
0x83-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-174 Power Meter Object Notification Values

0x80 Power Meter Capabilities Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the power meter information
has changed.
0x81 Power Meter Trip Points Crossed. Used to notify OSPM that one of the power meter trip
points has been crossed.
0x82 Power Meter Hardware Limit Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the hardware limit has
been changed by the platform.
0x83 Power Meter Hardware Limit Enforced. Used to notify OSPM that the hardware limit has
been enforced by the platform.
0x84 Power Meter Averaging Interval Changed. Used to notify OSPM that the power averaging
interval has changed.
0x85-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-175 Processor Aggregator Device Notification Values

0x80 Processor Utilisation Request. Used to notify OSPM that OSPM evaluates the _PUR
object which indicates to OSPM the number of logical processors to be idled.
0x81-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-176 Error Device Notification Values

0x80 Notification For Generic Error Sources. Used to notify OSPM to respond to this notification
by checking the error status block of all generic error sources to identify the source reporting
the error.
0x81-0xBF Reserved.
Table 5-177 Fan Device Notification Values

0x80 Low Fan Speed. Used to notify OSPM of a low (errant) fan speed. Causes OSPM to re-
evaluate the _FSL object.
0x81-0xBF Reserved.

Table 5-178 Memory Device Notification Values

0x80 Memory Bandwidth Low Threshold crossed. Used to notify OSPM that bandwidth of
memory described by the memory device has been reduced by the platform to less than the
low memory bandwidth threshold.
0x81 Memory Bandwidth High Threshold crossed. Used to notify OSPM that bandwidth of
memory described by the memory device has been increased by the platform to greater than
or equal to the high memory bandwidth threshold.
0x82-0xBF Reserved.
5.6.7 Device Class-Specific Objects

Most device objects are controlled through generic objects and control methods and they have
generic device IDs. These generic objects, control methods, and device IDs are specified in
Section 6, through Section 11 . Section 5.6.8, “Predefined ACPI Names for Objects, Methods, and
Resources,” lists all the generic objects and control methods defined in this specification.
However, certain integrated devices require support for some device-specific ACPI controls. This
section lists these devices, along with the device-specific ACPI controls that can be provided.
Some of these controls are for ACPI-aware devices and as such have Plug and Play IDs that
represent these devices. The table below lists the Plug and Play IDs defined by the ACPI
specification.
Note: Plug and Play IDs that are not defined by the ACPI specification are defined and described in the
“Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Legacy PNP
Guidelines".
Table 5-179 ACPI Device IDs

Plug and Description
Play ID
PNP0C08 ACPI. Not declared in ACPI as a device. This ID is used by OSPM for the hardware
resources consumed by the ACPI fixed register spaces, and the operation regions used by
AML code. It represents the core ACPI hardware itself.
PNP0A05 Generic Container Device. A device whose settings are totally controlled by its ACPI
resource information, and otherwise needs no device or bus-specific driver support. This was
originally known as Generic ISA Bus Device. This ID should only be used for containers that
do not produce resources for consumption by child devices. Any system resources claimed
by a PNP0A05 device’s _CRS object must be consumed by the container itself.
PNP0A06 Generic Container Device. This device behaves exactly the same as the PNP0A05 device.
This was originally known as Extended I/O Bus. This ID should only be used for containers
that do not produce resources for consumption by child devices. Any system resources
claimed by a PNP0A06 device’s _CRS object must be consumed by the container itself.
PNP0C09 Embedded Controller Device. A host embedded controller controlled through an ACPI-
aware driver.
PNP0C0A Control Method Battery. A device that solely implements the ACPI Control Method Battery
functions. A device that has some other primary function would use its normal device ID. This
ID is used when the devices primary function is that of a battery.


Play ID
PNP0C0B Fan. A device that causes cooling when “on” (D0 device state).
PNP0C0C Power Button Device. A device controlled through an ACPI-aware driver that provides
power button functionality. This device is only needed if the power button is not supported
using the fixed register space.
PNP0C0D Lid Device. A device controlled through an ACPI-aware driver that provides lid status
functionality. This device is only needed if the lid state is not supported using the fixed
register space.
PNP0C0E Sleep Button Device. A device controlled through an ACPI-aware driver that provides power
button functionality. This device is optional.
PNP0C0F PCI Interrupt Link Device. A device that allocates an interrupt connected to a PCI interrupt
pin. See Section 6., “Device Configuration,” for more details.
PNP0C80 Memory Device. This device is a memory subsystem.
ACPI0001 SMBus 1.0 Host Controller. An SMBus host controller (SMB-HC) compatible with the
embedded controller-based SMB-HC interface (as specified in Section 12.9 “SMBus Host
Controller Interface via Embedded Controller”) and implementing the SMBus 1.0
Specification.
ACPI0002 Smart Battery Subsystem. The Smart battery Subsystem specified in Section 10, “Power
Source Devices.”
ACPI0003 Power Source Device. The Power Source device specified in Section 10, “Power Source
Devices.” This can represent either an AC Adapter (on mobile platforms) or a fixed Power
Supply.
ACPI0004 Module Device. This device is a container object that acts as a bus node in a namespace. A
Module Device without any of the _CRS, _PRS and _SRS methods behaves the same way
as the Generic Container Devices (PNP0A05 or PNP0A06). If the Module Device contains a
_CRS method, only these resources described in the _CRS are available for consumption by
its child devices. Also, the Module Device can support _PRS and _SRS methods if _CRS is
supported.
ACPI0005 SMBus 2.0 Host Controller. An SMBus host controller (SMB-HC compatible with the
embedded controller-based SMB-HC interface (as specified in Section 12.9, “SMBus Host
Controller Interface via Embedded Controller”) and implementing the SMBus 2.0
Specification.
ACPI0006 GPE Block Device. This device allows a system designer to describe GPE blocks beyond
the two that are described in the FADT.
ACPI0007 Processor Device. This device provides an alternative to declaring processors using the
Processor ASL statement. See Section 8.4, “Declaring Processors”, for more details.
ACPI0008 Ambient Light Sensor Device. This device is an ambient light sensor. See Section 9.3,
“Ambient Light Sensor Device”.
ACPI0009 I/OxAPIC Device. This device is an I/O unit that complies with both the APIC and SAPIC
interrupt models.
ACPI000A I/O APIC Device. This device is an I/O unit that complies with the APIC interrupt model.
ACPI000B I/O SAPIC Device. This device is an I/O unit that complies with the SAPIC interrupt model.
ACPI000C Processor Aggregator Device. This device provides a control point for all processors in the
platform. See Section 8.5, “Processor Aggregator Device”.


Play ID
ACPI000D Power Meter Device. This device is a power meter. See Section 10.4. “Power Meters”.
ACPI000E Time and Alarm Device. This device is a control method-based real-time clock and wake
alarm. See Section 9.18. “Time and Alarm Device”.
ACPI000F User Presence Detection Device. This device senses user presence (proximity). See
Section 9.16, "User Presence Detection Device")
ACPI0010 Processor container device. Used to declare hierarchical processor topologies (See
Section 8.5 “Processor Hierarchy”, and Section 8.4.3.1, “Processor Container Device”.)
ACPI0011 Generic Buttons Device. This device reports button events corresponding to Human Interface
Device (HID) control descriptors. (See Section 9.19, "Generic Button Device")
ACPI0012 NVDIMM Root Device. This device contains the NVDIMM devices. See Section 9.20
“NVDIMM Devices” and Section 5.2.25 for “NVDIMM Firmware Interface Table”
ACPI0013 Generic Event Device. This device maps Interrupt-signaled events. See Section 5.6.9.
ACPI0014 Wireless Power Calibration Device. This device uses user presence and notification.
5.6.8 Predefined ACPI Names for Objects, Methods, and Resources

The following table summarizes the predefined names for the ACPI namespace objects, control
methods, and resource descriptor fields defined in this specification. Provided for each name is a
short description and a reference to the section number and page number of the actual definition of
the name. ACPI names that are predefined by other specifications are also listed along with their
corresponding specification reference.
Note: All names that begin with an underscore are reserved for ACPI use only
Table 5-180 Predefined ACPI Names

Name Description Heading
_ACx Active Cooling – returns the active cooling policy threshold Section 11.4.1 page 678
values.
_ADR Address – (1) returns the address of a device on its parent Section 6.1.1 page 322
bus.  Section B.5.1 page 1085
(2) returns a unique ID for the display output device. Section 19.2.8 page 863
(3) resource descriptor field.
_AEI Designates those GPIO interrupts that shall be handled by Section 5.6.5.2 page 287
OSPM as ACPI events
_ALC Ambient Light Chromaticity – returns the ambient light color Section 9.3.4 page 558
chromaticity.
_ALI Ambient Light Illuminance – returns the ambient light Section 9.3.2 page 557
brightness.
_ALN Alignment – base alignment, resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_ALP Ambient Light Polling – returns the ambient light sensor Section 9.3.6 page 563
polling frequency.
_ALR Ambient Light Response – returns the ambient light Section 9.3.5 page 558
brightness to display brightness mappings.


_ALT Ambient Light Temperature – returns the ambient light color Section 9.3.3 page 557
temperature.
_ALx Active List – returns a list of active cooling device objects. Section 11.4.2 page 679
_ART Active cooling Relationship Table – returns thermal Section 11.4.3 page 679
relationship information between platform devices and fan
devices.
_ASI Address Space Id – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 987
_ASZ Access Size – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_ATT Type-Specific Attribute – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_BAS Base Address – range base address, resource descriptor Section 19.2.8 page 863
field.
_BBN Bios Bus Number – returns the PCI bus number returned by Section 6.5.5 page 434
the platform firmware.
_BCL Brightness Control Levels – returns a list of supported Section B.5.2 page 1085
brightness control levels.
_BCM Brightness Control Method – sets the brightness level of the Section B.5.3 page 1086
display device.
_BCT Battery Charge Time – returns time remaining to complete Section 10.2.2.10 page 648
charging battery.
_BDN Bios Dock Name – returns the Dock ID returned by the Section 6.5.3 page 431
platform firmware.
_BIF Battery Information – returns a Control Method Battery Section 10.2.2.1 page 638
information block.
_BIX Battery Information Extended – returns a Control Method Section 10.2.2.2 page 640
Battery extended information block.
_BLT Battery Level Threshold – set battery level threshold Section 19.6.115 page 555
preferences.
_BM Bus Master – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_BMA Battery Measurement Averaging Interval – Sets battery Section 10.2.2.4 page 644
measurement averaging interval.
_BMC Battery Maintenance Control – Sets battery maintenance and Section 10.2.2.12 page 650
control features.
_BMD Battery Maintenance Data – returns battery maintenance, Section 10.2.2.11 page 648
control, and state data.
_BMS Battery Measurement Sampling Time – Sets the battery Section 10.2.2.5 page 644
measurement sampling time.
_BQC Brightness Query Current – returns the current display Section B.5.4 page 1086
brightness level.
_BST Battery Status – returns a Control Method Battery status Section 10.2.2.6 page 645
block.
_BTH Battery Throttle Limit - specifies the thermal throttle limit of Section 10.2.2.7 page 646
battery for the firmware when engaging charging.
_BTM Battery Time – returns the battery runtime. Section 10.2.2.9 page 648


_BTP Battery Trip Point – sets a Control Method Battery trip point. Section 10.2.2.8 page 647
_CBA Configuration Base Address – sets the CBA for a PCI Express
host bridge. See the PCI Firmware Specification, Revision 3.0
at “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi)
under the heading "PCI Sig".
_CCA Cache Coherency Attribute -- specifies whether a device and Section 6.2.17 page 368
its descendants support hardware managed cache coherency.
_CDM Clock Domain – returns a logical processor’s clock domain Section 6.2.1 page 337
identifier.
_CID Compatible ID – returns a device’s Plug and Play Compatible Section 6.1.2 page 323
ID list.
_CLS Class Code – supplies OSPM with the PCI-defined class, Section 6.1.3 page 324
subclass and programming interface for a device. Optional.
_CPC Continuous Performance Control – declares an interface that Section 8.4.7.1 page 528
allows OSPM to transition the processor into a performance
state based on a continuous range of allowable values.
_CRS Current Resource Settings – returns the current resource Section 6.2.2 page 338
settings for a device.
_CRT Critical Temperature – returns the shutdown critical Section 11.4.4 page 682
temperature.
_CSD C State Dependencies – returns a list of C-state Section 8.4.2.2 page 484
dependencies.
_CST C States – returns a list of supported C-states. Section 8.4.2.1 page 481
_CWS Clear Wake Status – Clears the wake status of a Time and Section 9.18.6 page 600
Alarm Control Method Device.
_DBT Debounce Timeout -Debounce timeout setting for a GPIO Section 19.6.55 page 934
input connection, resource descriptor field
_DCK Dock – sets docking isolation. Presence indicates device is a Section 6.5.2 page 431
docking station.
_DCS Display Current Status – returns status of the display output Section B.5.6 page 1087
device.
_DDC Display Data Current – returns the EDID for the display output Section B.5.5 page 1087
device.
_DDN Dos Device Name – returns a device logical name. Section 6.1.4 page 325
_DEC Decode – device decoding type, resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_DEP Operation Region Dependencies -- evaluates to a package Section 6.5.8 page 436
and designates device objects that OSPM should assign a
higher priority in start ordering due to future operation region
accesses.
_DGS Display Graphics State – returns the current state of the output Section B.5.7 page 1088
device.
_DIS Disable – disables a device. Section 6.2.3 page 338
_DLM Device Lock Mutex- Designates a mutex as a Device Lock Section 5.7.5 page 316


_DMA Direct Memory Access – returns a device’s current resources Section 6.2.4 page 339
for DMA transactions.
_DOD Display Output Devices – enumerate all devices attached to Section B.3.2 page 1079
the display adapter.
_DOS Disable Output Switching – sets the display output switching Section B.3.1 page 1078
mode.
_DPL Device Selection Polarity - The polarity of the Device Selection Section 19.6 page 871
signal on a SPISerialBus connection, resource descriptor field
_DRS Drive Strength – Drive strength setting for a GPIO output Section 19.6.56 page 935
connection, resource descriptor field
_DSD Device Specific Data– returns device-specific information. Section 6.2.5 page 340
_DSM Device Specific Method – executes device-specific functions. Section 9.1.1 page 551
_DSS Device Set State – sets the display device state. Section B.5.8 page 1088
_DSW Device Sleep Wake – sets the sleep and wake transition Section 7.3.1 page 447
states for a device.
_DTI Device Temperature Indication – conveys native device Section 11.4.6 page 682
temperature to the platform.
_Exx Edge GPE – method executed as a result of a general- Section 5.6.4.1 page 284
purpose event.
_EC Embedded Controller – returns EC offset and query Section 12.12 page 728
information.
_EDL Eject Device List – returns a list of devices that are dependent Section 6.3.1 page 372
on a device (docking).
_EJD Ejection Dependent Device – returns the name of dependent Section 6.3.2 page 373
(parent) device (docking).
_EJx Eject – begin or cancel a device ejection request (docking). Section 6.3.3 page 374
_END Endian-ness – Endian orientation of a UART SerialBus Section 19.6 page 871
_EVT Event Method - Event method for GPIO-signaled events Section 5.6.5.3 page 288
numbered larger than 255.
_FDE Floppy Disk Enumerate – returns floppy disk configuration Section 9.10.1 page 572
information.
_FDI Floppy Drive Information – returns a floppy drive information Section 9.10.2 page 573
block.
_FDM Floppy Drive Mode – sets a floppy drive speed. Section 9.10.3 page 574
_FIF Fan Information – returns fan device information. Section 11.3.1.1 page 674
_FIT Firmware Interface Table - returns a list of NFIT Structures. Section 6.5.9 page 436
_FIX Fixed Register Resource Provider – returns a list of devices Section 6.2.5 page 340
that implement FADT register blocks.
_FLC Flow Control – Flow Control mechanism for a UART SerialBus Section 19.6 page 896
_FPS Fan Performance States – returns a list of supported fan Section 11.3.1.2 page 675
performance states.


_FSL Fan Set Level – Control method that sets the fan device’s Section 11.3.1.3 page 676
speed level (performance state).
_FST Fan Status – returns current status information for a fan Section 11.3.1.4 page 676
device.
_GAI Get Averaging Interval – returns the power meter averaging Section 10.4.5 page 657
interval.
_GCP Get Capabilities – Returns the capabilities of a Time and Section 9.18.2 page 597
Alarm Control Method Device
_GHL Get Hardware Limit – returns the hardware limit enforced by Section 10.4.7 page 658
the power meter.
_GL Global Lock – OS-defined Global Lock mutex object. Section 5.7.1 page 312
_GLK Global Lock – returns a device’s Global Lock requirement for Section 6.5.7 page 435
device access.
_GPD Get Post Data – returns the value of the VGA device that will Section B.3.4 page 1082
be posted at boot.
_GPE General Purpose Events – (1) predefined Scope (\_GPE.) Section 5.3.1 page 254
(2) Returns the SCI interrupt associated with the Embedded Section 12.11 page 726
Controller.
_GRA Granularity – address space granularity, resource descriptor Section 19.2.8 page 863
field.
_GRT Get Real Time – Returns the current time from a Time and Section 9.18.3 page 598
Alarm Control Method Device.
_GSB Global System Interrupt Base – returns the GSB for a I/O Section 6.2.7 page 344
APIC device.
_GTF Get Task File – returns a list of ATA commands to restore a Section 9.9.1.1 page 566
drive to default state.
_GTM Get Timing Mode – returns a list of IDE controller timing Section 9.9.2.1.1 page 569
information.
_GWS Get Wake Status – Gets the wake status of a Time and Alarm Section 9.18.5 page 600
Control Method Device.
_HE High-Edge – interrupt triggering, resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_HID Hardware ID – returns a device’s Plug and Play Hardware ID. Section 6.1.5 page 325
_HMA Heterogeneous Memory Attributes - returns a list of HMAT Section 6.2.18 page 370
structures.
_HOT Hot Temperature – returns the critical temperature for sleep Section 11.4.7 page 683
(entry to S4).
_HPP Hot Plug Parameters – returns a list of hot-plug information for Section 6.2.8 page 347
a PCI device.
_HPX Hot Plug Parameter Extensions – returns a list of hot-plug Section 6.2.9 page 347
information for a PCI device. Supersedes _HPP.
_HRV Hardware Revision– supplies OSPM with the device’s Section 6.1.6 page 325
hardware revision. Optional


_IFT IPMI Interface Type. See the Intelligent Platform Management Section 19.6 page 896
Interface Specification at “Links to ACPI-Related Documents”
(http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Server Platform
Management Interface Table".
_INI Initialize – performs device specific initialization. Section 6.5.1 page 430
_INT Interrupts – interrupt mask bits, resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_IOR IO Restriction – IO restriction setting for a GPIO IO Section 19.6.56 page 935
_IRC Inrush Current – presence indicates that a device has a Section 7.3.15 page 454
significant inrush current draw.
_Lxx Level GPE – Control method executed as a result of a Section 5.6.4.1 page 284
general-purpose event.
_LCK Lock – locks or unlocks a device (docking). Section 6.3.4 page 375
_LEN Length – range length, resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_LID Lid – returns the open/closed status of the lid on a mobile Section 9.5.1 page 564
system.
_LIN Lines in Use - Handshake lines in use in a UART SerialBus Section 19.6 page 896
_LL Low Level – interrupt polarity, resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_LPI Low Power Idle States – returns the list of low power idle Section 8.4.4.3 page 496
states supported by a processor or processor container.
_LSI Label Storage Information – Returns information about the Section 6.5.10.1 page 437
Label Storage Area associated with the NVDIMM object,
including its size.
_LSR Label Storage Read – Returns label data from the Label Section 6.5.10.2 page 439
Storage Area of the NVDIMM object.
_LSW Label Storage Write – Writes label data in to the Label Storage Section 6.5.10.3 page 440
Area of the NVDIMM object.
_MAF Maximum Address Fixed – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_MAT Multiple Apic Table Entry – returns a list of Interrupt Controller Section 6.2.10 page 352
Structures.
_MAX Maximum Base Address – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_MBM Memory Bandwidth Monitoring Data – returns bandwidth Section 9.13.2.1 page 579
monitoring data for a memory device.
_MEM Memory Attributes – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_MIF Minimum Address Fixed – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_MIN Minimum Base Address – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_MLS Multiple Language String – returns a device description in Section 6.1.7 page 326
multiple languages.
_MOD Mode –Resource descriptor field Section 19.6, page 896
Section 19.6.55 page 934
_MSG Message – sets the system message waiting status indicator. Section 9.2.2 page 555


_MSM Memory Set Monitoring – sets bandwidth monitoring Section 9.13.2.2 page 580
parameters for a memory device.
_MTL Minimum Throttle Limit – returns the minimum throttle limit of a Section 11.4.8 page 683
specific thermal
_MTP Memory Type – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_NTT Notification Temperature Threshold – returns a threshold for Section 11.4.9 page 683
device temperature change that requires platform notification.
_OFF Off – sets a power resource to the off state. Section 7.2.2 page 444
_ON On – sets a power resource to the on state. Section 7.2.3 page 445
_OS Operating System – returns a string that identifies the Section 5.7.3 page 315
operating system.
_OSC Operating System Capabilities – inform AML of host features Section 6.2.11 page 352
and capabilities.
_OSI Operating System Interfaces – returns supported interfaces, Section 5.7.2 page 312
behaviors, and features.
_OST Ospm Status Indication – inform AML of event processing Section 6.3.5 page 375
status.
_PAI Power Averaging Interval – sets the averaging interval for a Section 10.4.4 page 657
power meter.
_PAR Parity – Parity for a UART SerialBus connection, resource Section 19.6 page 896
descriptor field
_PCL Power Consumer List – returns a list of devices powered by a Section 10.3.2 page 652
power source.
_PCT Performance Control – returns processor performance control Section 8.4.6.1 page 521
and status registers.
_PDC Processor Driver Capabilities – inform AML of processor driver Section 8.4.1 page 479
capabilities.
_PDL P-state Depth Limit – returns the lowest available performance Section 8.4.6.6 page 527
P-state.
_PHA Clock Phase – Clock phase for a SPISerialBus connection, Section 19.6 page 896
resource descriptor field
_PIC PIC – inform AML of the interrupt model in use. Section 5.8.1 page 318
_PIF Power Source Information – returns a Power Source Section 10.3.3 page 652
information block.
_PIN Pin List – List of GPIO pins described, resource descriptor Section 19.6.55 page 934
field.
_PLD Physical Location of Device – returns a device’s physical Section 6.1.8 page 327
location information.
_PMC Power Meter Capabilities – returns a list of Power Meter Section 10.4.1 page 654
capabilities info.
_PMD Power Metered Devices – returns a list of devices that are Section 10.4.8 page 659
measured by the power meter device.


_PMM Power Meter Measurement – returns the current value of the Section 10.4.3 page 657
Power Meter.
_POL Polarity – Resource descriptor field Section 19.6, page 896p
Section 19.6.55 age 934
_PPC Performance Present Capabilites – returns a list of the Section 8.4.6.3 page 523
performance states currently supported by the platform.
_PPE Polling for Platform Error – returns the polling interval to Section 8.4.8 page 547
retrieve Corrected Platform Error information.
_PPI Pin Configuration – Pin configuration for a GPIO connection, Section 19.6.55 page 934
resource descriptor field
_PR Processor – predefined scope for processor objects. Section 5.3.1 page 254
_PR0 Power Resources for D0 – returns a list of dependent power Section 7.3.8 page 450
resources to enter state D0 (fully on).
resources to enter state D1.
resources to enter state D2.
_PR3 Power Resources for D3hot – returns a list of dependent Section 7.3.11 page 451
power resources to enter state D3hot.
_PRE Power Resources for Enumeration - Returns a list of Section 7.3.12 page 452
dependent power resources to enumerate devices on a bus.
_PRL Power Source Redundancy List – returns a list of power Section 10.3.4 page 653
source devices in the same redundancy grouping.
_PRR Power Resource for Reset – executes a reset on the Section 7.3.26 page 459
associated device or devices.
_PRS Possible Resource Settings – returns a list of a device’s Section 6.2.12 page 362
possible resource settings.
_PRT Pci Routing Table – returns a list of PCI interrupt mappings. Section 6.2.13 page 362
_PRW Power Resources for Wake – returns a list of dependent Section 7.3.12 page 452
power resources for waking.
_PS0 Power State 0 – sets a device’s power state to D0 (device fully Section 7.3.2 page 448
on).
_PS1 Power State 1 – sets a device’s power state to D1. Section 7.3.3 page 448
_PS2 Power State 2 – sets a device’s power state to D2. Section 7.3.4 page 448
_PS3 Power State 3 – sets a device’s power state to D3 (device off). Section 7.3.5 page 449
_PSC Power State Current – returns a device’s current power state. Section 7.3.6 page 449
_PSD Power State Dependencies – returns processor P-State Section 8.4.6.5 page 525
dependencies.
_PSE Power State for Enumeration Section 7.3.14 page 454
_PSL Passive List – returns a list of passive cooling device objects. Section 11.4.10 page 684
_PSR Power Source – returns the power source device currently in Section 10.3.1 page 652
use.


_PSS Performance Supported States – returns a list of supported Section 8.4.6.2 page 521
processor performance states.
_PSV Passive – returns the passive trip point temperature. Section 11.4.11 page 684
_PSW Power State Wake – sets a device’s wake function. Section 7.3.14 page 454
_PTC Processor Throttling Control – returns throttling control and Section 8.4.5.1 page 513
status registers.
_PTP Power Trip Points – sets trip points for the Power Meter Section 10.4.2 page 656
device.
_PTS Prepare To Sleep – inform the platform of an impending sleep Section 7.4.1 page 460
transition.
_PUR Processor Utilization Request – returns the number of Section 8.5.1.1 page 547
processors that the platform would like to idle.
_PXM Proximity – returns a device’s proximity domain identifier. Section 6.2.14 page 364
_Qxx Query – Embedded Controller query and SMBus Alarm control Section 5.6.4.1 page 284
method.
_RBO Register Bit Offset – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_RBW Register Bit Width – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_RDI Resource Dependencies for Idle - returns the list of power Section 8.5 page 547
resource dependencies for system level low power idle states.
_REG Region – inform AML code of an operation region availability Section 6.5.4 page 432
change.
_REV Revision – returns the revision of the ACPI specification that is Section 5.7.4 page 316
implemented.
_RMV Remove – returns a device’s removal ability status (docking). Section 6.3.6 page 381
_RNG Range – memory range type, resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_ROM Read-Only Memory – returns a copy of the ROM data for a Section B.3.3 page 1082
display device.
_RST Device Reset – executes a reset on the associated device or Section 7.3.25 page 459
devices.
_RT Resource Type – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_RTV Relative Temperature Values – returns temperature value Section 11.4.12 page 684
information.
_RW Read-Write Status – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_RXL Receive Buffer Size - Size of the receive buffer in a UART Section 19.6 page 896
Serialbus connection, resource descriptor field.
_S0 S0 System State – returns values to enter the system into the Section 7.4.2 page 461
S0 state.
S1 state.
S2 state.
S3 state.


S4 state.
S5 state.
_S1D S1 Device State – returns the highest D-state supported by a Section 7.3.16 page 455
device when in the S1 state.
_S0W S0 Device Wake State – returns the lowest D-state that the Section 7.3.20 page 457
device can wake itself from S0.
_S1W S1 Device Wake State – returns the lowest D-state for this Section 7.3.21 page 458
device that can wake the system from S1.
_SB System Bus – scope for device and bus objects. Section 5.3.1 page 254
_SBS Smart Battery Subsystem – returns the subsystem Section 10.1.3 page 634
configuration.
_SCP Set Cooling Policy – sets the cooling policy (active or passive). Section 11.4.13 page 685
_SDD Set Device Data – sets data for a SATA device. Section 9.9.3.3.1 page 572
_SEG Segment – returns a device’s PCI Segment Group number. Section 6.5.6 page 434
_SHL Set Hardware Limit – sets the hardware limit enforced by the Section 10.4.6 page 658
Power Meter.
_SHR Sharable – interrupt share status, resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_SI System Indicators – predefined scope. Section 5.3.1 page 254
_SIZ Size – DMA transfer size, resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_SLI System Locality Information – returns a list of NUMA system Section 6.2.15 page 365
localities.
_SLV Slave Mode – Slave mode setting for a SerialBus connection, Section 19.6 page 896
resource descriptor field.
_SPD Set Post Device – sets which video device will be posted at Section B.3.5 page 1083
boot.
_SPE Connection Speed – Connection speed for a SerialBus Section 19.6 page 896
_SRS Set Resource Settings – sets a device’s resource allocation. Section 6.2.16 page 368


_SRT Set Real Time – Sets the current time to a Time and Alarm Section 9.18.4 page 598
Control Method Device.
_SRV IPMI Spec Revision. See the Intelligent Platform
Management Interface Specification at “Links to ACPI-Related
Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Server
Platform Management Interface Table".
_SST System Status – sets the system status indicator. Section 9.2.1 page 554
_STA Status – (1) returns the current status of a device. Section 6.3.7 page 381
(2) Returns the current on or off state of a Power Resource. Section 7.2.4 page 445
_STB Stop Bits - Number of stop bits used in a UART SerialBus Section 19.6 page 896
_STM Set Timing Mode – sets an IDE controller transfer timings. Section 9.9.2.1.2 page 570
_STP Set Expired Timer Wake Policy – sets expired timer policies of Section 9.18.7 page 600
the wake alarm device.
_STR String – returns a device’s description string. Section 6.1.10 page 335
_STV Set Timer Value – set timer values of the wake alarm device. Section 9.18.8 page 601
_SUB Supplies OSPM with the device's Subsystem ID. Optional. Section 6.1.9 page 334
_SUN Slot User Number – returns the slot unique ID number. Section 6.1.11 page 335
_SWS System Wake Source – returns the source event that caused Section 7.4.3 page 466
the system to wake.
_T_x Temporary – reserved for use by ASL compilers. Section 19.3.1.1 page 871
_TC1 Thermal Constant 1 – returns TC1 for the passive cooling Section 11.4.15 page 688
formula.
_TC2 Thermal Constant 2 – returns TC2 for the passive cooling Section 11.4.16 page 688
formula.
_TDL T-State Depth Limit – returns the _TSS entry number of the Section 8.4.5.5 page 520
lowest power throttling state.
_TFP Thermal Fast Sampling Period - returns the thermal sampling Section 11.4.17 page 689
period for passive cooling.
_TIP Expired Timer Wake Policy – returns timer policies of the wake Section 9.18.9 page 601
alarm device.
_TIV Timer Values – returns remaining time of the wake alarm Section 9.18.10 page 602
device.
_TMP Temperature – returns a thermal zone’s current temperature. Section 11.4.18 page 689
_TPC Throttling Present Capabilities – returns the current number of Section 8.4.5.3 page 515
supported throttling states.
_TPT Trip Point Temperature – inform AML that a devices’ Section 11.4.19 page 689
embedded temperature sensor has crossed a temperature trip
point.
_TRA Translation – address translation offset, resource descriptor Section 19.2.8 page 863
field.
_TRS Translation Sparse – sparse/dense flag, resource descriptor Section 19.2.8 page 863
field.


_TRT Thermal Relationship Table – returns thermal relationships Section 11.4.20 page 690
between platform devices.
_TSD Throttling State Dependencies – returns a list of T-state Section 8.4.5.4 page 516
dependencies.
_TSF Type-Specific Flags – resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_TSN Thermal Sensor Device - returns a reference to the thermal Section 11.4.21 page 691
sensor reporting a zone temperature
_TSP Thermal Sampling Period – returns the thermal sampling Section 11.4.22 page 691
period for passive cooling.
_TSS Throttling Supported States – returns supported throttling state Section 8.4.5.2 page 514
information.
_TST Temperature Sensor Threshold – returns the minimum Section 11.4.23 page 691
separation for a device’s temperature trip points.
_TTP Translation Type – translation/static flag, resource descriptor Section 19.2.8 page 863
field.
_TTS Transition To State – inform AML of an S-state transition. Section 7.4.4 page 467
_TXL Transmit Buffer Size – Size of the transmit buffer in a UART Section 19.6 page 896
Serialbus connection, resource descriptor field
_TYP Type – DMA channel type (speed), resource descriptor field. Section 19.2.8 page 863
_TZ Thermal Zone – predefined scope: ACPI 1.0. Section 5.3.1 page 254
_TZD Thermal Zone Devices – returns a list of device names Section 11.4.24 page 692
associated with a Thermal Zone.
_TZM Thermal Zone Member – returns a reference to the thermal Section 11.4.25 page 692
zone of which a device is a member.
_TZP Thermal Zone Polling – returns a Thermal zone’s polling Section 11.4.26 page 692
frequency.
_UID Unique ID – return a device’s unique persistent ID. Section 6.1.12 page 336
_UPC USB Port Capabilities – returns a list of USB port capabilities. Section 9.14 page 582
_UPD User Presence Detect – returns user detection information. Section 9.16.1 page 592
_UPP User Presence Polling – returns the recommended user Section 9.16.2 page 592
presence polling interval.
_VEN Vendor-defined Data – Vendor-defined data for a GPIO or Section 19.6.55 page 934
SerialBus connection, resource descriptor field
_VPO Video Post Options – returns the implemented video post Section B.3.6 page 1084
options.
_WAK Wake – inform AML that the system has just awakened. Section 7.4.5 page 467
_WPC Wireless Power Calibration - returns the notifier to wireless Section 10.5.1 page 660
power controller
_WPP Wireless Power Polling - returns the recommended polling Section 10.5.3 page 660
frequency
_Wxx Wake Event – method executed as a result of a wake event. Section 5.6.4.2.2 page 286

5.6.9 Interrupt-signaled ACPI events

ACPI 6.1introduces support for generating ACPI events when an interrupt is received by the OSPM,
and that interrupt is listed in the Generic Event Device (GED) _CRS object. OSPM claims all such
interrupts, and maps them to the appropriate event method required by the ACPI event model.
5.6.9.1 Declaring Generic Event Device

The Generic Event Device (GED) is modelled as a device in the namespace with a _HID defined to
be ACPI0013. The GED must also provide one _CRS and _EVT object for claiming interrupts and
mapping them to ACPI events, as described in the following sections. The platform declare its
support for the GED, and query whether an OS supports it, via the _OSC method, see
Section 6.2.11.2.
5.6.9.2 _CRS Object for Interrupt-signaled Events

The _CRS object designates those interrupts that shall be handled by OSPM as ACPI events. This
object appears within the scope of the GED whose interrupts sources are to be used as Interrupt-
signaled events.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A resource template Buffer containing only Interrupt Resource descriptors.
Note: For event numbers less than 255, _Exx and _Lxx methods may be used instead. In this case, they
take precedence and _EVT will not be invoked.
Example:
Device (\_SB.GED1)
{
Name(HID,”ACPI0013”)
{
Interrupt(ResourceConsumer, Level, ActiveHigh, Shared) {42}
Interrupt(ResourceConsumer, Level, ActiveHigh, ExclusiveAndWake) {43}
})
…
} //End of Scope
5.6.9.3 The Event (_EVT) Method for Handling Interrupt-signaled Events

Interrupts that are assigned by the platform to signal ACPI events are listed in the _CRS object under
the GED device. Since the interrupt descriptor also provides the mode of the interrupt associated
with an event, it gives OSPM all the information it needs to invoke a handler method for the event. A
single instance of the method handles all ACPI events for a given GED.
Note: Please refer to Section 5.6.4 for the OSPM requirements of handling an event (steps 1 – 5).
For Interrupt-signaled events, the Event (_EVT) method is used.

_EVT is defined as follows:

Arguments: (1)
Arg0 - EventNumber. An Integer indicating the event number (GSIV number) of the current
event. Must be in the range 0x00000000 - 0xffffffff.
Return Value:
None
Description
The _EVT method handles an Interrupt-signaled event. It must appear within the scope of the GED
whose interrupts are used to signal the event.
OSPM handles Interrupt-signaled events as follows:
• The interrupt is handled by OSPM because it is listed in the _CRS object under a GED.
• When the event fires, OSPM handles the interrupt according to its mode and invokes the _EVT
method, passing it the interrupt number of the event. In the case of level interrupts, the ASL
within the _EVT method must be responsible for clearing the interrupt at the device.
• From this point on, handling is exactly like that for GPEs. The _EVT method may optionally
call Notify() on the appropriate device, and OS-specific mechanisms are used to notify the driver
of the event.
Example:
Device (\_SB.GED1)
{
Name(HID,”ACPI0013”)
{
Interrupt(ResourceConsumer, Edge, ActiveHigh, Shared) {42}
Interrupt(ResourceConsumer, Level, ActiveHigh, ExclusiveAndWake) {43}
}
Method (_EVT,1) { // Handle all ACPI Events signaled by the Generic Event Device(GED1)
Switch (Arg0) // Arg0 = GSIV of the interrupt
{
Case (41) { // interrupt 41
Store(One, ISTS) // clear interrupt status register at device X
// which is mapped via an operation region
Notify (\_SB.DEVX, 0x0) // insertion request
}
Notify (\_SB.DEVX, 0x3) // ejection request
}
Store(One, ISTS) // clear interrupt status register at device X
// which is mapped via an operation region
Notify (\_SB.DEVX, 0x2) // wake event
}
}
} //End of Method
} //End of GED1 Scope
Device (\_SB.DEVX)
{

…
Name(_PRW,Package()
{
Package(2){ // EventInfo
\_SB.GED1, // device reference
0x2 // event (zero-based CRS index) = 2 (maps to interrupt 43)
},
0x03, // Can wake up from S3 state
PWRA // PWRA must be ON for DEVX to wake system
})
…
} //End of DEVX Scope
5.6.9.4 GED Wake Events

An important use of the interrupt-signaled events is to implement device wake events. Interrupt-
based Wake Events are described in Section 4.1.1.2. Note that the interrupt associated with that
wake event must be wake-capable per the Extended Interrupt resource descriptor listed under the
_CRS object.
Consider the ASL example in the previous section, note that the interrupts that map to the wake
event for DEVX are wake-capable. The components of the Interrupt-signaled ACPI event
programming model interact in the following way:
• When a device asserts its wake signal and the interrupt has been enabled by the GED driver, the
interrupt is asserted.
• If the system is sleeping, this will cause the hardware, if possible, to transition the system into
the S0 state.
• Once the system is running, OSPM will dispatch the GED interrupt service routine.
• The GED needs to determine which interrupt has been asserted and may perform a Notify
command on the corresponding device object(s) that have asserted wake.
• In turn OSPM will notify OSPM native driver(s) for each device that will wake its device to
service it.
Wake events must be exclusively tied to a GED interrupt (for example, one interrupt cannot be
shared by multiple wake events) in order to properly handle the semantics used by the system
Note that any ACPI platform may utilize GPIO-signaled and/or Interrupts-signaled ACPI events (i.e.
they are not limited to Hardware-reduced ACPI platforms).
5.6.10 Managing a Wake Event Using Device _PRW Objects

A device’s _PRW object provides the zero-based bit index into the general-purpose status register
block to indicate which general-purpose status bit from either GPE0_BLK or GPE1_BLK is used as
the specific device’s wake mask. Although the hardware must maintain individual device wake
enable bits, the system can have multiple devices using the same general-purpose event bit by using
OEM-specific hardware to provide second-level status and enable bits. In this case, the OEM AML
code is responsible for the second-level enable and status bits.
A device’s _PRW object provides the zero-based index into the _AEI object of a GPIO controller
device or zero-based index into the _CRS object of a Generic Event Device (GED).

OSPM enables or disables the device wake function by enabling or disabling its corresponding event
and by executing its _PSW control method (which is used to take care of the second-level enables).
When the event is asserted, OSPM still executes the corresponding event control method that
determines which device wakes are asserted and notifies the corresponding device objects. The
native OS driver is then notified that its device has asserted wake, for which the driver powers on its
device to service it.
If the system is in a sleeping state when the enabled event is asserted the hardware will transition the
system into the S0 state, if possible.
5.7 Predefined Objects

The AML interpreter of an ACPI compatible operating system supports the evaluation of a number
of predefined objects. The objects are considered “built in” to the AML interpreter on the target
operating system.
A list of predefined object names are shown in the following table.
Table 5-181 Predefined Object Names

Name Description
\_GL Global Lock mutex
\_OS Name of the operating system
\_OSI Operating System Interface support
\_REV Revision of the ACPI specification that is implemented
5.7.1 \_GL (Global Lock Mutex)

This predefined object is a Mutex object that behaves like a Mutex as defined in Section 19.6.88,
“Mutex (Declare Synchronization/Mutex Object),” with the added behavior that acquiring this
Mutex also acquires the shared environment Global Lock defined in Section 5.2.10.1, “Global
Lock.” This allows Control Methods to explicitly synchronize with the Global Lock if necessary.
5.7.2 _OSI (Operating System Interfaces)

This method is used by the system firmware to query OSPM about interfaces and features that are
supported by the host operating system. The usage and implementation model for this method is as
follows:
• The _OSI method is implemented within the operating system.
• OSI is called by the firmware AML code, usually during initialization (such as via _INI
method). Thus, _OSI is actually an “up-call” from the firmware AML to the OS – exactly the
opposite of other control methods.
• An _OSI invocation by the firmware is a request to the operating system: "Do you support this
interface/feature?"
• The host responds to this _OSI request with a simple yes or no (Ones/Zero, TRUE/FALSE,
Supported/NotSupported).

The _OSI method requires one argument and returns an integer. The argument is a string that
contains an optional ACPI-defined OsVendorString followed by a required FeatureGroupString. The
feature group string can be either ACPI-defined or OS vendor defined.
_OSI cannot and should not be used by the firmware in an attempt to identify the host operating
system; rather, this method is intended to be used to identify specific features and interfaces that are
supported by the OS. The example below illustrates this:
_OSI (“Windows 2009”)
In the _OSI invocation above, “Windows” is the OsVendorString, and “2009” is the vendor-defined
FeatureGroupString. A return value of TRUE (Ones) from this call does NOT indicate that the
executing operating system is Windows. It simply indicates that the actual OS conforms to
“Windows 2009” features and interfaces, and is thus compatible with Windows 2009. ACPI
implementations other than Windows often reply TRUE to all Windows _OSI requests.
The OsVendorString should always be accompanied by a FeatureGroupString. However, the
OsVendorString itself is optional and can be omitted if the feature group string applies to all
operating systems. The ACPI-defined feature group strings may be used in this standalone manner.
For example:
_OSI ("3.0 Thermal Model")
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – A String containing the optional OS vendor prefix (as defined in Table 5-182) and/or the
required Feature Group string (as ACPI-defined in Table 5-183 , or a vendor-defined custom feature/
interface string). The optional OS vendor string is not needed in the case of the ACPI-defined feature
group strings.
Return Value:
An Integer containing a Boolean that indicates whether the requested feature is supported:
0x0 (Zero) – The interface, behavior, or feature is not supported
Ones (-1) – The interface, behavior, or feature is supported. Note: The value of Ones is
0xFFFFFFFF in 32-bit mode (DSDT revision 1) or 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF in 64-bit mode (DSDT
revision 2 and greater).
Table 5-182 Predefined Operating System Vendor String Prefixes

Operating System Vendor String Prefix Description
“FreeBSD” <FeatureGroupString> Free BSD OS features/interfaces
“HP-UX” <FeatureGroupString> HP Unix Operating Environment OS features/interfaces
“Linux” <FeatureGroupString> GNU/Linux Operating system OS features/interfaces
“OpenVMS” HP OpenVMS Operating Environment OS features/

<FeatureGroupString> interfaces
“Windows” <FeatureGroupString> Microsoft Windows OS features/interfaces

Table 5-183 Standard ACPI-Defined Feature Group Strings

Feature Group String Description
“Module Device” OSPM supports the declaration of module device (ACPI0004) in the
namespace and will enumerate objects under the module device scope.
“Processor Device” OSPM supports the declaration of processors in the namespace using the
ACPI0007 processor device HID.
“3.0 Thermal Model” OSPM supports the extensions to the ACPI thermal model in Revision 3.0.
“Extended Address Space OSPM supports the Extended Address Space Descriptor
Descriptor”
“3.0 _SCP Extensions” OSPM evaluates _SCP with the additional acoustic limit and power limit
arguments defined in ACPI 3.0.
“Processor Aggregator OSPM supports the declaration of the processor aggregator device in the
Device” namespace using the ACPI000C processor aggregator device HID.
OSPM may indicate support for multiple OS interface / behavior strings if the operating system
supports the behaviors. For example, a newer version of an operating system may indicate support
for strings from all or some of the prior versions of that operating system.
_OSI provides the platform with the ability to support new operating system versions and their
associated features when they become available. OSPM can choose to expose new functionality
based on the _OSI argument string. That is, OSPM can use the strings passed into _OSI to ensure
compatibility between older platforms and newer operating systems by maintaining known
compatible behavior for a platform. As such, it is recommended that _OSI be evaluated by the
\_SB.INI control method so that platform compatible behavior or features are available early in
operating system initialization.
Since feature group functionality may be dependent on OSPM implementation, it may be required
that OS vendor-defined strings be checked before feature group strings.
Platform developers should consult OS vendor specific information for OS vendor defined strings
representing a set of OS interfaces and behaviors. ACPI defined strings representing an operating
system and an ACPI feature group are listed in the following tables.
_OSI Examples
Use of standard ACPI-defined feature group strings:
Scope (_SB)
{
Name (PAD1, 0)
Name (MDEV, 0)
Method (_INI)
{
If (CondRefOf (\_OSI) // Ensure _OSI exists in the OS
{
If (\_OSI (“Processor Aggregator Device”)
{
Store (1, PAD1)
}
If (\_OSI (“Module Device”)
{

// Expose PCI Root Bridge under Module Device –

// OS support Module Device
Store (0, MDEV1)
Loadtable (“OEM1”, “OEMID”, “Table1”)
}
Else
{
// Expose PCI Root Bridge under \_SB –
// OS does not support Module Device
Store (1, MDEV1)
Loadtable (“OEM2”, “OEMID”, “Table2”)
}
}
}
}
Use of OS vendor-defined feature group strings:

//
// In this example, “Windows” is the OsVendorString, and the year strings
// (2009, 2012, and 2105) are the vendor-defined FeatureGroupStrings
//
Scope (_SB)
{
Name (OSYS, 0x7D0) // Type of OS indicating supported features
Method (_INI)
{
If (CondRefOf (\_OSI) // Ensure _OSI exists in the OS
{
If (\_OSI (“Windows 2009”)
{
Store (0x7D1, OSYS)
}
{
Store (0x7D1, OSYS)
}
{
Store (0x7D1, OSYS)
}
}
}
5.7.3 }\_OS (OS Name Object)

This predefined object evaluates to a string that identifies the operating system. In robust OSPM
implementations, \_OS evaluates differently for each OS release. This may allow AML code to
accommodate differences in OSPM implementations. This value does not change with different
revisions of the AML interpreter.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
A String containing the operating system name.
5.7.4 \_REV (Revision Data Object)

This predefined object evaluates to an Integer (DWORD) representing the revision of the ACPI
Specification implemented by the specified \_OS.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer representing the revision of the currently executing ACPI implementation.
1. Only ACPI 1 is supported, only 32-bit integers.
2. ACPI 2 or greater is supported. Both 32-bit and 64-bit integers are supported.
Actual integer width depends on the revision of the DSDT (revision < 2 means 32-bit. >= 2
means 64-bit).
Other values - Reserved
5.7.5 _DLM (DeviceLock Mutex)

This object appears in a device scope when AML access to the device must be synchronized with the
OS environment. It is used in conjunction with a standard Mutex object. With _DLM, the standard
Mutex provides synchronization within the AML environment as usual, but also synchronizes with
the OS environment.
_DLM evaluates to a package of packages, each containing a reference to a Mutex and an optional
resource template protected by the Mutex, If only the Mutex name is specified, then the sharing rules
(i.e. which resources are protected by the lock) are defined by a predefined contract between the
AML and the OS device driver. If the resource template is specified, then only those resources
within the resource template are protected.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing sub-packages of Mutex References and resource templates.
The resource template in each subpackage is optional.
Return Value Information
Package {
DeviceLockInfo [0] // Package
. . .
DeviceLockInfo [n] // Package
}
Each variable-length DeviceLockInfo sub-Package contains either one element or 2 elements, as
described below:

Package {
DeviceLockMutex // Reference to a Mutex object
Resources // Buffer or Reference (Resource Template)
}
Table 5-184 DeviceLockInfo Package Values

Element Object Type Description
DeviceLockMutex Reference A reference to the mutex that is to be shared between the AML
code and the host operating system.
Resources Buffer (or Optional. Contains a Resource Template that describes the
reference to a resources that are to be protected by the Device Lock Mutex.
Buffer)

Example:
Device (DEV1)
{
Mutex (MTX1, 0)
Name (RES1, ResourceTemplate ()
{
I2cSerialBusV2 (0x0400, DeviceInitiated, 0x00001000,
AddressingMode10Bit, "\\_SB.DEV1",
0, ResourceConsumer, I2C1)
})
Name (_DLM, Package (1)

{
Package (2)
{
MTX1,
RES1
}
})
}
Device (DEV2)
{
Mutex (MTX2, 0)
Mutex (MTX3, 0)
Name (_DLM, Package (2)
{
Package (2)
{
\DEV2.MTX2,
ResourceTemplate ()
{
I2cSerialBusV2 (0x0400, DeviceInitiated, 0x00001000,
AddressingMode10Bit, "\\_SB.DEV2",
0, ResourceConsumer, I2C2)
}
},
Package (1) // Optional resource not needed
{
\DEV2.MTX3
}
})
}
5.8 System Configuration Objects
5.8.1 _PIC Method

The \_PIC optional method is used to report to the platform runtime firmware the current interrupt
model used by the OS. This control method returns nothing. The argument passed into the method
signifies the interrupt model OSPM has chosen, PIC mode, APIC mode, or SAPIC mode. Notice that
calling this method is optional for OSPM. If the platform CPU architecture supports PIC mode and
the method is never called, the platform runtime firmware must assume PIC mode. It is important
that the platform runtime firmware save the value passed in by OSPM for later use during wake
operations.

Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing a code for the current interrupt model:
0– PIC mode
1– APIC mode
2– SAPIC mode
Other values –Reserved
Return Value:
None


ACPI Specification Device Configuration
6 Device Configuration
This section specifies the objects OSPM uses to configure devices. There are three types of
configuration objects:
Device identification objects associate platform devices with Plug and Play IDs.
• Device configuration objects declare and configure hardware resources and characteristics for
devices enumerated via ACPI.
• Device insertion and removal objects provide mechanisms for handling dynamic insertion and
removal of devices.
This section also defines the ACPI device–resource descriptor formats. Device–resource descriptors
are used as parameters by some of the device configuration objects.
6.1 Device Identification Objects

Device identification objects associate each platform device with a Plug and Play device ID for each
device. All the device identification objects are listed in the table below:
Table 6-185 Device Identification Objects

Object Description
_ADR Object that evaluates to a device’s address on its parent bus.
_CID Object that evaluates to a device’s Plug and Play-compatible ID list.
_CLS Object that evaluates to a package of coded device-class information.
_DDN Object that associates a logical software name (for example, COM1) with a device.
_HID Object that evaluates to a device’s Plug and Play hardware ID.
_HRV Object that evaluates to an integer hardware revision number.
_MLS Object that provides a human readable description of a device in multiple languages.
_PLD Object that provides physical location description information.
_PRD Object that evaluates to a package of device property subpackages.
_SUB Object that evaluates to a device's Plug and Play subsystem ID.
_SUN Object that evaluates to the slot-unique ID number for a slot.
_STR Object that contains a Unicode identifier for a device. Can also be used for thermal zones.
_UID Object that specifies a device’s unique persistent ID, or a control method that generates it.
For any device that is on a non-enumerable type of bus (for example, an ISA bus), OSPM
enumerates the devices' identifier(s) and the ACPI system firmware must supply an _HID object
(plus one or more optional objects such as _CID, _CLS, _HRV, _SUB) for each device to enable
OSPM to do that. For devices on an enumerable type of bus, such as a PCI bus, the ACPI system
must identify which device on the enumerable bus is identified by a particular address; the ACPI
system firmware must supply an _ADR object for each device to enable this. A device object must
contain either an _HID object or an _ADR object, but should not contain both.

Device Configuration ACPI Specification
If any of these objects are implemented as control methods, these methods may depend on operation
regions. Since the control methods may be evaluated before an operation region provider becomes
available, the control method must be structured to execute in the absence of the operation region
provider. (_REG methods notify the platform runtime firmware of the presence of operation region
providers.) When a control method cannot determine the current state of the hardware due to a lack
of operation region provider, it is recommended that the control method should return the condition
that was true at the time that control passed from the platform boot firmware to the OS. (The control
method should return a default, boot value).
6.1.1 _ADR (Address)

This object is used to supply OSPM with the address of a device on its parent bus. An _ADR object
must be used when specifying the address of any device on a bus that has a standard enumeration
algorithm (see Section 3.7, “Configuration and Plug and Play”, for the situations when these devices
do appear in the ACPI namespace).
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the address of the device
An _ADR object can be used to provide capabilities to the specified address even if a device is not
present. This allows the system to provide capabilities to a slot on the parent bus.
OSPM infers the parent bus and segment from the location of the _ADR object’s device package in
the ACPI namespace. For more information about the positioning of device packages in the ACPI
namespace, see Section 19.6.30, “Device (Declare Bus/Device Package)”
_ADR object information must be static and can be defined for the following bus types listed in
Table 6-186.
Table 6-186 ADR Object Address Encodings

BUS Address Encoding
EISA EISA slot number 0–F
Floppy Bus Drive select values used for programming the floppy controller to access the specified
INT13 unit number. The _ADR Objects should be sorted based on drive select encoding
from 0-3.
IDE Controller 0–Primary Channel, 1–Secondary Channel
IDE Channel 0–Master drive, 1–Slave drive
Intel® High
Definition Audio High word – SDI (Serial Data In) ID of the codec that contains the function group.
Low word – Node ID of the function group.
PCI High word–Device #, Low word–Function #. (for example, device 3, function 2 is
0x00030002). To refer to all the functions on a device #, use a function number of FFFF).
PCMCIA Socket #; 0–First Socket
PC CARD Socket #; 0–First Socket

BUS Address Encoding

Serial ATA SATA Port: High word—Root port #, Low word—port number off of a SATA port
multiplier, or 0xFFFF if no port multiplier attached. (For example, root port 2 would be
0x0002FFFF. If instead a port multiplier had been attached to root port 2, the ports
connected to the multiplier would be encoded 0x00020000, 0x00020001, etc.) The value
0xFFFFFFFF is reserved.
SMBus Lowest Slave Address
USB Root HUB Only one child of the host controller. It must have an _ADR of 0. No other children or
values of _ADR are allowed.
USB Ports Port number (1-n)
SDIO Bus High word - Slot number (0-First Slot)
Low word - Function number (see SD specification for definitions.)
NVDIMM NFIT Device handle as defined by Section 5.2.25.3 (Memory Device to System Physical
Address Range Mapping Structure)
6.1.2 _CID (Compatible ID)

This optional object is used to supply OSPM with a device’s Plug and Play-Compatible Device ID.
Use _CID objects when a device has no other defined hardware standard method to report its
compatible IDs.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer or String containing a single CID or a Package containing a list of CIDs
A _CID object evaluates to either:

• A single Compatible Device ID
• A package of Compatible Device IDs for the device — in the order of preference, highest
preference first.
Each Compatible Device ID must be either:
• A valid HID value (a 32-bit compressed EISA type ID or a string such as “ACPI0004”).
• A string that uses a bus-specific nomenclature. For example, _CID can be used to specify the
PCI ID. The format of a PCI ID string is one of the following:
“PCI\CC_ccss”
“PCI\CC_ccsspp”
“PCI\VEN_vvvv&DEV_dddd&SUBSYS_ssssssss&REV_rr”
“PCI\VEN_vvvv&DEV_dddd&SUBSYS_ssssssss”
“PCI\VEN_vvvv&DEV_dddd&REV_rr”
“PCI\VEN_vvvv&DEV_dddd”
Where:
cc – hexadecimal representation of the Class Code byte
ss – hexadecimal representation of the Subclass Code byte

pp – hexadecimal representation of the Programming Interface byte

vvvv – hexadecimal representation of the Vendor ID
dddd – hexadecimal representation of the Device ID
ssssssss – hexadecimal representation of the Subsystem ID
rr – hexadecimal representation of the Revision byte
A compatible ID retrieved from a _CID object is only meaningful if it is a non-NULL value.
Example ASL:
Device (XYZ) {
Name (_HID, EISAID ("PNP0303")) // PC Keyboard Controller
Name (_CID, EISAID ("PNP030B"))
}
6.1.3 _CLS (Class Code)

This object is used to supply OSPM with the PCI-defined base-class, sub-class and programming
interface for a device. This object is optional. However, it may be useful for loading generic drivers
on hardware that is compatible with PCI -defined device classes, but that is not implemented on the
PCI bus (and is therefore enumerated by ACPI.)
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing the PCI -defined class information as a list of Integers:
Package(3) {<Base-Class code>, <Sub-class code>, <Programming Interface code>}
A list of available class codes and programming interface codes is provided by the PCI SIG. See
"PCI Code and ID Assignment Specification", available from "Links to ACPI-Related Documents"
(http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "PCI Code and ID Assignment Specification
Example ASL:
Device(SATA) //AHCI- compatible SATA controller
{
Name(_HID, "…")
Name(_CLS, Package (3)
{
0x01, // Base Class (01h == Mass Storage)
0x06, // Sub-Class (06h == SATA)
0x01, // Programming Interface (01h == AHCI)
})
Name(_CRS, ResourceTemplate()
{
… // AHCI-defined system resources
})
}

6.1.4 _DDN (DOS Device Name)

This object is used to associate a logical name (for example, COM1) with a device. This name can be
used by applications to connect to the device.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A String containing the DOS device name
6.1.5 _HID (Hardware ID)

This object is used to supply OSPM with the device’s PNP ID or ACPI ID.1
When describing a platform, use of any _HID objects is optional. However, a _HID object must be
used to describe any device that will be enumerated by OSPM. OSPM only enumerates a device
when no bus enumerator can detect the device ID. For example, devices on an ISA bus are
enumerated by OSPM. Use the _ADR object to describe devices enumerated by bus enumerators
other than OSPM.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer or String containing the HID
A _HID object evaluates to either a numeric 32-bit compressed EISA type ID or a string. If a
string, the format must be an alphanumeric PNP or ACPI ID with no asterisk or other leading
characters.
A valid PNP ID must be of the form "AAA####" where A is an uppercase letter and # is a hex
digit. A valid ACPI ID must be of the form "NNNN####" where N is an uppercase letter or a
digit ('0'-'9') and # is a hex digit. This specification reserves the string "ACPI" for use only
with devices defined herein. It further reserves all strings representing 4 HEX digits for
exclusive use with PCI-assigned Vendor IDs.
Example ASL:
Name (_HID, EISAID ("PNP0C0C")) // Control-Method Power Button
Name (_HID, EISAID ("INT0800")) // Firmware Hub
Name (_HID, "ACPI0003") // AC adapter device
Name (_HID, "MSFT0003") // Vendor-defined device
Name (_HID, "80860003") // PCI-assigned device identifier
6.1.6 _HRV (Hardware Revision)

This object is used to supply OSPM with the device’s hardware revision. The use of _HRV is
optional.
1. PNP ID and ACPI ID Registry is at http://www.uefi.org/PNP_ACPI_Registry.

Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer (DWORD) containing the hardware revision number
Example ASL:
Name (_HRV, 0x0003)// Revision number 3 of this hardware device
6.1.7 _MLS (Multiple Language String)

The _MLS object provides OSPM a human readable description of a device in multiple languages.
This information may be provided to the end user when the OSPM is unable to get any other
information about this device. Although this functionality is also provided by the _STR object,
_MLS expands that functionality and provides vendors with the capability to provide multiple
strings in multiple languages. The _MLS object evaluates to a package of packages. Each sub-
package consists of a Language identifier and corresponding unicode string for a given locale.
Specifying a language identifier allows OSPM to easily determine if support for displaying the
Unicode string is available. OSPM can use this information to determine whether or not to display
the device string, or which string is appropriate for a user’s preferred locale.
It is assumed that OSPM will always support the primary English locale to accommodate English
embedded in a non-English string, such as a brand name.
If OSPM doesn’t support the specific sub-language ID it may choose to use the primary language ID
for displaying device text.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of language descriptor Packages as described below.

Package {
LanguageDescriptor[0] // Package
LanguageDescriptor[n] // Package
}
Each Language Descriptor sub-Package contains the elements described below:
Package {
LanguageId // String
UnicodeDescription // Buffer
}
LanguageId is a string identifying the language. This string follows the format specified in the
Internet RFC 3066 document (Tags for the Identification of Languages). In addition to supporting
the existing strings in RFC 3066, Table 6-187 lists aliases that are also supported.

Table 6-187 Additional Language ID Alias Strings

RFC String Supported Alias String
zh-Hans zh-chs
zh-Hant zh-cht
UnicodeDescription is a Buffer containing a Unicode (UTF-16) string. This string contains the
language-specific description of the device corresponding to the LanguageID. The Unicode() ASL
macro can be used to create this Buffer.
Example:
Device (XYZ) {
Name (_ADR, 0x00020001)
Name ( _MLS, Package(){(2){“en”, Unicode("ACME super DVD controller")}})
}
6.1.8 _PLD (Physical Location of Device)

This optional object is a method that conveys to OSPM a general description of the physical location
of a device’s external connection point. The _PLD may be child object for any ACPI Namespace
object the system wants to describe. This information can be used by system software to describe to
the user which specific connector or device input mechanism may be used for a given task or may
need user intervention for correct operation. The _PLD should only be evaluated when its parent
device is present as indicated by the device’s presence mechanism (i.e. _STA or other)
An externally exposed device connection point can reside on any surface of a system’s housing. The
respective surfaces of a system’s housing are identified by the “Panel” field (described below). The
_PLD method returns data to describe the location of where the device’s connection point resides
and a Shape (described below) that may be rendered at that position. One physical device may have
several connection points. A _PLD describes the offset and rotation of a single device connection
point from an “origin” that resides in the lower left hand corner of its Panel.
All Panel references (Top, Bottom, Right, Left, etc.) are interpreted as though the user is facing the
front of the system. For handheld mobile devices, the front panel is the one holding the display
screen, and its origin is in the lower-left corner when the display is viewed in the Portrait orientation.
For example, the Right Panel is the right side of the system as viewed from the front.
All “origin” references for a Panel are interpreted as its lower left corner when the user is facing the
respective Panel. The Top Panel shall be viewed with the system is viewed resting on its Front Panel,
and the Bottom Panel shall be viewed with the system resting on its Back Panel. All other Panels
shall be viewed with the system resting on its Bottom Panel. Refer to Figure 6-34 for more
information.
Figure 6-34 System Panel and Panel Origin Positions

Top
Top Panel
Origin
Back
Panel
Origin
Left
Panel Front
Origin Panel Right
Panel
Origin
Origin Bottom
Bottom Panel
Origin
The data bits also assume that if the system is capable of opening up like a laptop that the device
may exist on the base of the laptop system or on the lid. In the case of the latter, the “Lid” bit
(described below) should be set indicating the device connection point is on the lid. If the device is
on the lid, the description describes the device’s connection point location when the system is
opened with the lid up. If the device connection point is not on the lid, then the description describes
the device’s connection point location when the system with the lid closed.
Figure 6-35 Laptop Panel and Panel Origin Positions
Front
Panel (base)
Lid Top Panel
Origin
Lid
Front Panel
Origin
(base)
Front Panel
Origin
To render a view of a system Panel, all _PLDs that define the same Panel and Lid values are
collected. The _PLDs are then sorted by the value of their Order field and the view of the panel is
rendered by drawing the shapes of each connection point (in their correct Shape, Color, Horizontal
Offset, Vertical Offset, Width, Height, and Orientation) starting with all Order = 0 _PLDs first.
Refer to Figure 6-37 for an example.
The location of a device connection point may change as a result of the system connecting or
disconnecting to a docking station or a port replicator. As such, Notify event of type 0x09 will cause
OSPM to re-evaluate the _PLD object residing under the particular device notified. If a platform is
unable to detect the change of connecting or disconnecting to a docking station or port replicator, a
_PLD object should not be used to describe the device connection points that will change location
after such an event.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of Buffers

This method returns a package containing a single or multiple buffer entries. At least one buffer
entry must be returned using the bit definitions below.
Buffer 0 Return Value

Name Definition DWORD Bit Offset Bit Length
(DWORD) Offset (bits)
(Buffer)
Revision The current Revision is 0x2 0 0 0 7
Ignore Color If this bit is set, the Color field is ignored, 0 7 7 1

as the color is unknown.
Color 24-bit RGB value for the color of the 0 8 8 24

device connection point.
Bits [15:8]=red value
Bits [23:16]=green value
Bits [31:24]=blue value
Width Width of the widest point of the device 1 0 32 16

connection point, in millimeters
Height Height of the tallest point of the device 1 16 48 16

connection point, in millimeters
User Visible Set if the device connection point can be 2 0 64 1

seen by the user without disassembly.
Dock Set if the device connection point resides 2 65 1

in a docking station or port replicator.
Lid Set if this device connection point resides 2 66 1
on the lid of laptop system.
Panel Describes which panel surface of the 2 67 3
system’s housing the device connection
point resides on.
0 – Top
1 – Bottom
2 – Left
3 – Right
4 – Front
5 – Back
6 – Unknown (Vertical Position and
Horizontal Position will be ignored)


(Buffer)
Vertical 0 – Upper 2 70 2
Position on 1 – Center
the panel 2 – Lower
where the
device
connection
point resides.
Horizontal 2 72 2
Position on
the panel
where the
device
connection
point resides.
Shape Describes the shape of the device 2 74 4

connection point. The Width and Height
fields may be used to distort a shape, e.g.
A Round shape will look like an Oval
shape if the Width and Height are not
equal. And a Vertical Rectangle or
Horizontal Rectangle may look like a
square if Width and Height are equal.
Refer to Figure 6-36.
0 – Round
1 – Oval
2 – Square
3 – Vertical Rectangle
4 – Horizontal Rectangle
5 – Vertical Trapezoid
6 – Horizontal Trapezoid
7 – Unknown – Shape rendered as a
Rectangle with dotted lines
8 – Chamfered
15:9 – Reserved
Group if Set, indicates vertical grouping, 2 78 1
Orientation otherwise horizontal is assumed.
Group Token Unique numerical value identifying a 2 79 1

group.


(Buffer)
Group Identifies this device connection point’s 2 87 8
Position position in the group (i.e. 1st nd
,2 )
Bay Set if describing a device in a bay or if 2 95 1
device connection point is a bay.
Ejectable Set if the device is ejectable. Indicates 2 96 1
ejectability in the absence of _EJx objects.
OSPM OSPM Ejection required: Set if OSPM 2 97 1
Ejection needs to be involved with ejection
required process. User-operated physical
hardware ejection is not possible.
Cabinet For single cabinet system, this field is 2 98 8
Number always 0.
Card Cage For single card cage system, this field is 2 106 8
Number always 0.
reference if Set, this _PLD defines a “reference” 2 114 1

shape that is used to help orient the user
with respect to the other shapes when
rendering _PLDs.
Rotation Rotates the Shape clockwise in 45 degree 2 115 4
steps around its origin where:
0 – 0°
1 – 45°
2 – 90°
3 – 135°
4 – 180°
5 – 225°
6 – 270°
7 – 315°
Order Identifies the drawing order of the 2 119 5
connection point described by a _PLD.
Order = 0 connection points are drawn
before Order = 1 connection points. Order
= 1 before Order = 2, and so on. Order =
31 connection points are drawn last.
Order should always start at 0 and be
consecutively assigned.
Reserved Reserved, must contain a value of 0. 2 124 4
Vertical Offset of Shape Origin from Panel Origin 2 128 16

Offset (in mm). A value of 0xFFFFFFFF
indicates that this field is not supplied.


(Buffer)
Horizontal Offset of Shape Origin from Panel Origin 2 144 16
Offset (in mm). A value of 0xFFFFFFFF
indicates that this field is not supplied.
Note: All additional buffer entries returned may contain OEM-specific data, but must begin in a {GUID,
data} pair. These additional data may provide complimentary physical location information specific
to certain systems or class of machines.
Shape = Round/Oval Shape = Square/

Vertical Rectangle/ Shape = Trapezoid
Horizontal Rectangle/
Unknown
Height
Height
Height
Width
Width Width
Origin: Lower, Left Origin: Lower, Left Origin: Lower, Left
Shape = Chamfered
Rotation = 0 for all
The Origin of a shape is always in displayed reference
the in lower left corner. Height shapes
Width
Origin: Lower, Left
Figure 6-36 Default Shape Definitions
Buffers 1 – N Return Value (Optional):

Buffer 1 Bit [127:0] – GUID 1
Buffer 2 Bit [127:0] – Data 1
Buffer 3 Bit [127:0] – GUID 2
Buffer 4 Bit [127:0] – Data 2
……
Figure 6-37 provides an example of a rendering of the external device connection points that may be
conveyed to the user by _PLD information. Note that three _PLDs (System Back Panel, Power
Supply, and Motherboard (MB) Connector Area) that are associated with the System Bus tree (_SB)
object. Their Reference flag is set indicating that are used to provide the user with visual queues for
identifying the relative locations of the other device connection points.
The connection points (C1 through C16) are defined by _PLD objects found in the System bus tree.
The following connection points all have their Panel and Lid fields set to Back and 0, respectively.
And the Reference flag of the System Back Panel, Power Supply, and MB Connector Area
connection points are set to 1. in this example are used to render Figure 6-37:

Table 6-188 PLD Back Panel Example Settings
Name
Ignore Color
Width
Height
VOff
HOff
Shape
Notation
Goup Position
Rota-tion
Back Yes 0 0 0 2032 4318 0 0 V Rect 1 0
Panel
MB Yes 0 0 0 445 1556 1588 127 V Rect 2 0
Conn
area
Power Yes 0 0 0 1524 889 3302 127 H Rect 2 0
Supply
USB No 0 0 0 125 52 2223 159 H Rect C1 3 90
Port 1
USB No 0 0 0 125 52 2223 254 H Rect C2 3 90
Port 2
USB No 0 0 0 125 52 2223 350 H Rect C3 3 90
Port 3
USB No 0 0 0 125 52 2223 445 H Rect C4 3 90
Port 4
USB No 0 0 0 125 52 2007 159 H Rect C5 3 90
Port 5
USB No 0 0 0 125 52 2007 254 H Rect C6 3 90
Port 6
Ethern No 0 0 0 157 171 2007 350 V Rect C7 3 90
et
Audio No FF FF FF 127 127 1945 151 Round C8 3 90
1
Audio No 15 24 12 127 127 1945 286 Round C9 3 90
2 1 7 7
Audio No 0 0 0 127 127 1945 427 Round C10 3 90
3
SPDIF No 0 0 0 112 126 1756 176 V Trap C11 3 90
Audio No 0 FF 0 127 127 1765 288 Round C12 3 90
4
Audio No 0 0 FF 127 127 1765 429 Round C13 3 90
5
SATA No 0 0 0 239 88 3091 159 H Rect C14 3 90
1394 No 0 0 0 112 159 2890 254 H Trap C15 3 0
Coax No 0 0 0 159 159 2842 143 Round C16 3 90
PCI 1 No 0 0 0 1016 127 127 127 H Rect 1 3 0

Name
Ignore Color
Width
Height
VOff
HOff
Shape
Notation
Goup Position
Rota-tion
PCI 2 No 0 0 0 1016 127 334 127 H Rect 2 3 0
PCI 3 No 0 0 0 1016 127 540 127 H Rect 3 3 0
PCI 4 No 0 0 0 1016 127 747 127 H Rect 4 3 0
PCI 5 No 0 0 0 1016 127 953 127 H Rect 5 3 0
PCI 6 No 0 0 0 1016 127 1159 127 H Rect 6 3 0
PCI 7 No 0 0 0 1016 127 1366 127 H Rect 7 3 0
Note that the origin is in the lower left hand corner of the Back Panel, where positive Horizontal and
Vertical Offset values are to the right and up, respectively.
Figure 6-37 PLD Back Panel Rendering
Power Supply
C
Motherboard
14 C15
connector area
C16
C1 C2 C3 C4
C5 C6 C7
Vertical PCI Backpanels

C8 C9 C10
Offset
C11 C12 C13
7
6 System
5 Backpanel
4
3
2
1
0
Origin 0 Horizontal Offset
6.1.9 _SUB
This object is used to supply OSPM with the device's Subsystem ID. The use of _SUB is optional.

Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A String containing the SUB
A _SUB object evaluates to a string and the format must be a valid PNP or ACPI ID with no asterisk
or other leading characters.
See the definition of _HID (Section 6.1.5) for the definition of PNP and ACPI ID strings.
Example ASL:
Name (_SUB, "MSFT3000")// Vendor-defined subsystem
6.1.10 _STR (String)

The _STR object evaluates to a Unicode string that describes the device or thermal zone. It may be
used by an OS to provide information to an end user. This information is particularly valuable when
no other information is available.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a Unicode string that describes the device
Example ASL:
Device (XYZ) {
Name (_ADR, 0x00020001)
Name (_STR, Unicode ("ACME super DVD controller"))
}
Then, when all else fails, an OS can use the info included in the _STR object to describe the
hardware to the user.
6.1.11 _SUN (Slot User Number)

_SUN is an object that evaluates to the slot-unique ID number for a slot. _SUN is used by OSPM UI
to identify slots for the user. For example, this can be used for battery slots, PCI slots, PCMCIA
slots, or swappable bay slots to inform the user of what devices are in each slot. _SUN evaluates to
an integer that is the number to be used in the user interface.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the slot’s unique ID
The _SUN value is required to be unique among the slots of the same type. It is also recommended
that this number match the slot number printed on the physical slot whenever possible.

6.1.12 _UID (Unique ID)

This object provides OSPM with a logical device ID that does not change across reboots. This object
is optional, but is required when the device has no other way to report a persistent unique device ID.
The _UID must be unique across all devices with either a common _HID or _CID. This is because a
device needs to be uniquely identified to the OSPM, which may match on either a _HID or a _CID to
identify the device. The uniqueness match must be true regardless of whether the OSPM uses the
_HID or the _CID. OSPM typically uses the unique device ID to ensure that the device-specific
information, such as network protocol binding information, is remembered for the device even if its
relative location changes. For most integrated devices, this object contains a unique identifier.
A _UID object evaluates to either a numeric value or a string.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer or String containing the Unique ID
6.2 Device Configuration Objects

This section describes objects that provide OSPM with device specific information and allow OSPM
to configure device operation and resource utilization.
OSPM uses device configuration objects to configure hardware resources for devices enumerated
via ACPI. Device configuration objects provide information about current and possible resource
requirements, the relationship between shared resources, and methods for configuring hardware
resources.
Note: these objects must only be provided for devices that cannot be configured by any other hardware
standard such as PCI, PCMCIA, and so on.
When OSPM enumerates a device, it calls _PRS to determine the resource requirements of the
device. It may also call _CRS to find the current resource settings for the device. Using this
information, the Plug and Play system determines what resources the device should consume and
sets those resources by calling the device’s _SRS control method.
In ACPI, devices can consume resources (for example, legacy keyboards), provide resources (for
example, a proprietary PCI bridge), or do both. Unless otherwise specified, resources for a device
are assumed to be taken from the nearest matching resource above the device in the device
hierarchy.
Some resources, however, may be shared amongst several devices. To describe this, devices that
share a resource (resource consumers) must use the extended resource descriptors (0x7-0xA)
described in Section 6.4.3, “Large Resource Data Type.” These descriptors point to a single device
object (resource producer) that claims the shared resource in its _PRS. This allows OSPM to clearly
understand the resource dependencies in the system and move all related devices together if it needs
to change resources. Furthermore, it allows OSPM to allocate resources only to resource producers
when devices that consume that resource appear.
The device configuration objects are listed in Table 6-189

Table 6-189 Device Configuration Objects

Object Description
_CCA Cache Coherency Attribute -- specifies whether a device and its descendants support hardware
managed cache coherency.
_CDM Object that specifies a clock domain for a processor.
_CRS Object that specifies a device’s current resource settings, or a control method that generates
such an object.
_DIS Control method that disables a device.
_DMA Object that specifies a device’s current resources for DMA transactions.
_DSD Object that evaluates to device specific information
_FIX Object used to provide correlation between the fixed-hardware register blocks defined in the
FADT and the devices that implement these fixed-hardware registers.
_GSB Object that provides the Global System Interrupt Base for a hot-plugged I/O APIC device.
_HMA Object that provides updated HMAT structures.
_HPP Object that specifies the cache-line size, latency timer, SERR enable, and PERR enable values
to be used when configuring a PCI device inserted into a hot-plug slot or initial configuration of a
PCI device at system boot.
_HPX Object that provides device parameters when configuring a PCI device inserted into a hot-plug
slot or initial configuration of a PCI device at system boot. Supersedes _HPP.
_MAT Object that evaluates to a buffer of Interrupt Controller Structures.
_OSC An object OSPM evaluates to convey specific software support / capabilities to the platform
allowing the platform to configure itself appropriately.
_PRS An object that specifies a device’s possible resource settings, or a control method that generates
such an object.
_PRT Object that specifies the PCI interrupt routing table.
_PXM Object that specifies a proximity domain for a device.
_SLI Object that provides updated distance information for a system locality.
_SRS Control method that sets a device’s settings.
6.2.1 _CDM (Clock Domain)

This optional object conveys the processor clock domain to which a processor belongs. A processor
clock domain is a unique identifier representing the hardware clock source providing the input clock
for a given set of processors. This clock source drives software accessible internal counters, such as
the Time Stamp Counter, in each processor. Processor counters in the same clock domain are driven
by the same hardware clock source. In multi-processor platforms that utilize multiple clock domains,
such counters may exhibit drift when compared against processor counters on different clock
domains.
The _CDM object evaluates to an integer that identifies the device as belonging to a specific clock
domain. OSPM assumes that two devices in the same clock domain are connected to the same
hardware clock.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
An Integer (DWORD) containing a clock domain identifier.
In the case the platform does not convey any clock domain information to OSPM via the SRAT or
the _CDM object, OSPM assumes all logical processors to be on a common clock domain. If the
platform defines _CDM object under a logical processor then it must define _CDM objects under all
logical processors whose clock domain information is not provided via the SRAT.
6.2.2 _CRS (Current Resource Settings)

This required object evaluates to a byte stream that describes the system resources currently
allocated to a device. Additionally, a bus device must supply the resources that it decodes and can
assign to its children devices. If a device is disabled, then _CRS returns a valid resource template for
the device, but the actual resource assignments in the return byte stream are ignored. If the device is
disabled when _CRS is called, it must remain disabled.
The format of the data contained in a _CRS object follows the formats defined in Section 6.4
“Resource Data Types for ACPI,” a compatible extension of the formats specified in the PNPBIOS
specification.2 The resource data is provided as a series of data structures, with each of the resource
data structures having a unique tag or identifier. The resource descriptor data structures specify the
standard PC system resources, such as memory address ranges, I/O ports, interrupts, and DMA
channels.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a resource descriptor byte stream
6.2.3 _DIS (Disable)

This control method disables a device. When the device is disabled, it must not be decoding any
hardware resources. Prior to running this control method, OSPM will have already put the device in
the D3 state.
When a device is disabled via the _DIS, the _STA control method for this device must return with
the Disabled bit set.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
None
2. Plug and Play BIOS Specification Version 1.0A, May 5, 1994, Compaq Computer Corp., Intel Corp., Phoe-
nix Technologies Ltd.

6.2.4 _DMA (Direct Memory Access)

This optional object returns a byte stream in the same format as a _CRS object. _DMA is only
defined under devices that represent buses. It specifies the ranges the bus controller (bridge) decodes
on the child-side of its interface. (This is analogous to the _CRS object, which describes the
resources that the bus controller decodes on the parent-side of its interface.) Any ranges described in
the resources of a _DMA object can be used by child devices for DMA or bus master transactions.
The _DMA object is only valid if a _CRS object is also defined. OSPM must re-evaluate the _DMA
object after an _SRS object has been executed because the _DMA ranges resources may change
depending on how the bridge has been configured.
If the _DMA object is not present for a bus device, the OS assumes that any address placed on a bus
by a child device will be decoded either by a device on the bus or by the bus itself, (in other words,
all address ranges can be used for DMA).
For example, if a platform implements a PCI bus that cannot access all of physical memory, it has a
_DMA object under that PCI bus that describes the ranges of physical memory that can be accessed
by devices on that bus.
A _DMA object is not meant to describe any “map register” hardware that is set up for each DMA
transaction. It is meant only to describe the DMA properties of a bus that cannot be changed without
reevaluating the _SRS method.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a resource descriptor byte stream
_DMA Example ASL:
Device(BUS0)
{
//
// The _DMA method returns a resource template describing the
// addresses that are decoded on the child side of this
// bridge. The contained resource descriptors thus indicate
// the address ranges that bus masters living below this
// bridge can use to send accesses through the bridge toward a
// destination elsewhere in the system (e.g. main memory).
//
// In our case, any bus master addresses need to fall between
// 0 and 0x80000000 and will have 0x200000000 added as they
// cross the bridge. Furthermore, any child-side accesses
// falling into the range claimed in our _CRS will be
// interpreted as a peer-to-peer traffic and will not be
// forwarded upstream by the bridge.
//
// Our upstream address decoder will only claim one range from
// 0x20000000 to 0x5fffffff in the _CRS. Therefore _DMA
// should return two QWORDMemory descriptors, one describing
// the range below and one describing the range above this
// "peer-to-peer" address range.
//
Method(_DMA, ResourceTemplate()

{
QWORDMemory(
ResourceConsumer,
PosDecode, // _DEC
MinFixed, // _MIF
MaxFixed, // _MAF
Prefetchable, // _MEM
ReadWrite, // _RW
0, // _GRA
0, // _MIN
0x1fffffff, // _MAX
0x200000000, // _TRA
0x20000000, // _LEN
,
,
,
)
QWORDMemory(
ResourceConsumer,
PosDecode, // _DEC
MinFixed, // _MIF
MaxFixed, // _MAF
Prefetchable, // _MEM
ReadWrite, // _RW
0, // _GRA
0x60000000, // _MIN
0x7fffffff, // _MAX
0x200000000, // _TRA
0x20000000, // _LEN
,
,
,
)
})
}
6.2.5 _DSD (Device Specific Data)

This optional object is used to provide device drivers (via OSPM) with additional device properties
and information. _DSD returns a variable-length package containing a list of Device Data Descriptor
structures each consisting of a UUID (see Section 5.2.4) and a package (Data Structure). The UUID
is all that is needed to define the Data Structure. The UUID itself may place a restriction based on
_HID or the optional _CID, _CLS, _HRV, _SUB objects, or _HID and one of those optional objects.
However, it also may not place such a restriction.
New UUIDs may be created by OEMs and IHVs or other interface or device governing bodies (e.g.
the PCI SIG or the UEFI Forum), as long as the UUID is different from other published UUIDs.
The list of well-known UUIDs allocated for _DSD and the definition of data formats associated with
them is available in an auxiliary document hosted on the UEFI Forum: http://www.uefi.org/acpi.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of Device Data Descriptor structures as described
below.


Package ()
{
Device Data Descriptor 0
...
Device Data Descriptor n
}
Each Device Data Descriptor structure consists of two elements, as follows:
UUID // Buffer (16 bytes)

Data Structure // Package (depending on UUID)
UUID uniquely determines the format of Data Structure.

Data Structure is a set of device specific data items the format of which is uniquely determined by
the UUID and the meaning of which is uniquely determined by the UUID possibly in combination
with a PNP or ACPI device ID.
Multiple Device Data Descriptor structures with the same UUID are not permitted.
_DSD must return the same data each time it is evaluated. Firmware should not expect it to be
evaluated every time (in case it is implemented as a method).
Examples:
Note: The UUID used in the following examples is assumed to define the data format for Data Structure
as a list of packages of length 2 (Properties) whose first element (Key) must be a String and the
second element is a Value associated with that key. The set of valid Keys and the format and
interpretation of the Values associated with them is then dependent on the PNP or ACPI device ID
of the device.
Device (MDEV) {
Name (_HID, “PNP####”)
Name (_DSD, Package () {

ToUUID("daffd814-6eba-4d8c-8a91-bc9bbf4aa301"),
Package () {
Package (2) {...},// Property 1
...
Package (2) {...}// Property n
}
})
}
//
// PWM controller with two pins that can be driven and a device using
// those pins with the periods of 5000000 and 4500000 nanoseconds,
// respectively.
//
Device (\_SB.PCI0.PWM) {

Package () {
Package (2) {"#pwm-cells", 2}

}
})
}
Device (\_SB.PCI0.BL) {
Name (_HID, “ACPI####”)

Package () {
Package (2) {
"pwms",
Package () {
\_SB.PCI0.PWM, 0, 5000000,
\_SB.PCI0.PWM, 1, 4500000
}
}
})
}
//
// SPI controller using a fixed frequency clock represented by the CLKO
// device object.
//
Device (\_SB_.PCI0) {
Device (CLK0) {

Package () {
Package (2) {"#clock-cells", 0},
Package (2) {"clock-frequency", 120000000}
}
})
}
Device (SPI0) {

Package () {
Package (2) {"clocks", Package () {1, ^CLK0}}
}
})
...
}
}
6.2.6 _FIX (Fixed Register Resource Provider)

This optional object is used to provide a correlation between the fixed-hardware register blocks
defined in the FADT and the devices in the ACPI namespace that implement these fixed-hardware

registers. This object evaluates to a package of Plug and Play-compatible IDs (32-bit compressed
EISA type IDs) that correlate to the fixed-hardware register blocks defined in the FADT. The device
under which _FIX appears plays a role in the implementation of the fixed-hardware (for example,
implements the hardware or decodes the hardware’s address). _FIX conveys to OSPM whether a
given device can be disabled, powered off, or should be treated specially by conveying its role in the
implementation of the ACPI fixed-hardware register interfaces. This object takes no arguments.
The _CRS object describes a device’s resources. That _CRS object may contain a superset of the
resources in the FADT, as the device may actually decode resources beyond what the FADT
requires. Furthermore, in a machine that performs translation of resources within I/O bridges, the
processor-relative resources in the FADT may not be the same as the bus-relative resources in the
_CRS.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of Integers, each containing a PNP ID
Each of fields in the FADT has its own corresponding Plug and Play ID, as shown below:
PNP0C20 - SMI_CMD
PNP0C21 - PM1a_EVT_BLK / X_ PM1a_EVT_BLK
PNP0C22 - PM1b_EVT_BLK / X_PM1b_EVT_BLK
PNP0C23 - PM1a_CNT_BLK / X_PM1a_CNT_BLK
PNP0C24 - PM1b_CNT_BLK / X_ PM1b_CNT_BLK
PNP0C25 - PM2_CNT_BLK / X_ PM2_CNT_BLK
PNP0C26 - PM_TMR_BLK / X_ PM_TMR_BLK
PNP0C27 - GPE0_BLK / X_GPE0_BLK
PNP0C28 - GPE1_BLK / X_ GPE1_BLK
PNP0B00 – FIXED_RTC
Example ASL for _FIX usage:

Scope(\_SB) {
Device(PCI0) { // Root PCI Bus
Name(_HID, EISAID("PNP0A03")) // Need _HID for root device
Method (_CRS,0){ // Need current resources for root device
// Return current resources for root bridge 0
}
Name(_PRT, Package(){ // Need PCI IRQ routing for PCI bridge
// Package with PCI IRQ routing table information
})
Name(_FIX, Package(1) {
EISAID("PNP0C25")} // PM2 control ID
)
Device (PX40) { // ISA

Name(_ADR,0x00070000)
EISAID("PNP0C20")} // SMI command port
)
Device (NS17) { // NS17 (Nat. Semi 317, an ACPI part)
Name(_HID, EISAID("PNP0C02"))
EISAID("PNP0C22"), // PM1b event ID

EISAID("PNP0C24"), // PM1b control ID

EISAID("PNP0C28")} // GPE1 ID
}
} // end PX40
Device (PX43) { // PM Control

Name(_ADR,0x00070003)
EISAID("PNP0C21"), // PM1a event ID
EISAID("PNP0C23"), // PM1a control ID
EISAID("PNP0C26"), // PM Timer ID
EISAID("PNP0C27")} // GPE0 ID
)
} // end PX43
} // end PCI0
} // end scope SB
6.2.7 _GSB (Global System Interrupt Base)

_GSB is an optional object that evaluates to an integer that corresponds to the Global System
Interrupt Base for the corresponding I/O APIC device. The I/O APIC device may either be bus
enumerated (e.g. as a PCI device) or enumerated in the namespace as described in Section 9.17,”I/O
APIC Device”. Any I/O APIC device that either supports hot-plug or is not described in the MADT
must contain a _GSB object.
If the I/O APIC device also contains a _MAT object, OSPM evaluates the _GSB object first before
evaluating the _MAT object. By providing the Global System Interrupt Base of the I/O APIC, this
object enables OSPM to process only the _MAT entries that correspond to the I/O APIC device. See
Section 6.2.10, “_MAT (Multiple APIC Table Entry)”. Since _MAT is allowed to potentially return
all the MADT entries for the entire platform, _GSB is needed in the I/O APIC device scope to enable
OSPM to identify the entries that correspond to that device.
If an I/O APIC device is activated by a device-specific driver, the physical address used to access the
I/O APIC will be exposed by the driver and cannot be determined from the _MAT object. In this
case, OSPM cannot use the _MAT object to determine the Global System Interrupt Base
corresponding to the I/O APIC device and hence requires the _GSB object.
The Global System Interrupt Base is a 64-bit value representing the corresponding I/OAPIC device
as defined in Section 5.2.13, “Global System Interrupts”.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the interrupt base
Example ASL for _GSB usage for a non-PCI based I/O APIC Device:
Scope(\_SB) {
…
Device(APIC) { // I/O APIC Device
Name(_HID, “ACPI0009”) // ACPI ID for I/O APIC
{ …}) // only one resource pointing to I/O APIC register base
Method(_GSB){
Return (0x10) // Global System Interrupt Base for I/O APIC starts at 16

}
} // end APIC
} // end scope SB
Example ASL for _GSB usage for a PCI-based I/O APIC Device:
Scope(\_SB) {
Device(PCI0) // Host bridge
Device(PCI1) { // I/O APIC PCI Device
Name(_ADR,0x00070000)
Method(_GSB){
Return (0x18) // Global System Interrupt Base for I/O APIC starts at 24
}
} // end PCI1
} // end PCI0
} // end scope SB
6.2.8 _HPP (Hot Plug Parameters)

This optional object evaluates to a package containing the cache-line size, latency timer, SERR
enable, and PERR enable values to be used when configuring a PCI device inserted into a hot-plug
slot or for performing configuration of a PCI devices not configured by the platform boot firmware
at system boot. The object is placed under a PCI bus where this behavior is desired, such as a bus
with hot-plug slots. _HPP provided settings apply to all child buses, until another _HPP object is
encountered.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing the Integer hot-plug parameters
Example:
Method (_HPP, 0) {
Return (Package(4){
0x08, // CacheLineSize in DWORDS
0x40, // LatencyTimer in PCI clocks
0x01, // Enable SERR (Boolean)
0x00 // Enable PERR (Boolean)
})
}
Table 6-190 HPP Package Contents

Field Object Type Definition
Cache-line size Integer Cache-line size reported in number of DWORDs.
Latency timer Integer Latency timer value reported in number of PCI clock cycles.
Enable SERR Integer When set to 1, indicates that action must be performed to enable SERR
in the command register.
Enable PERR Integer When set to 1, indicates that action must be performed to enable PERR

6.2.8.1 Example: Using _HPP

Scope(\_SB) {
Name(_HID, EISAID("PNP0A03")) // _HID for root device
Method (_CRS,0){ // Need current resources for root dev
// Return current resources for root bridge 0
}
})
Device (P2P1) { // First PCI-to-PCI bridge (No Hot Plug slots)

Name(_ADR,0x000C0000) // Device#Ch, Func#0 on bus PCI0
})
} // end P2P1
Device (P2P2) { // Second PCI-to-PCI bridge (Bus contains Hot plug slots)
Name(_ADR,0x000E0000) // Device#Eh, Func#0 on bus PCI0
})
Name(_HPP, Package(){0x08,0x40, 0x01, 0x00})
// Device definitions for Slot 1- HOT PLUG SLOT

Device (S1F0) { // Slot 1, Func#0 on bus P2P2
Name(_ADR,0x00020000)
Method(_EJ0, 1) { // Remove all power to device}
}
Name(_ADR,0x00020001)
}
Name(_ADR,0x000200 02)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00020003)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00020004)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00020005)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00020006)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00020007)

// Device definitions for Slot 2- HOT PLUG SLOT

Name(_ADR,0x00030000)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00030001)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00030002)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00030003)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00030004)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00030005)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00030006)
}
Name(_ADR,0x00030007)
}
} // end P2P2
} // end PCI0
} // end Scope (\_SB)
OSPM will configure a PCI device on a card hot-plugged into slot 1 or slot 2, with a cache line size
of 32 (Notice this field is in DWORDs), latency timer of 64, enable SERR, but leave PERR alone.
6.2.9 _HPX (Hot Plug Parameter Extensions)

This optional object provides platform-specific information to the OSPM PCI driver component
responsible for configuring hot-add PCI, PCI-X, or PCI Express devices. The information conveyed
applies to the entire hierarchy downward from the scope containing the _HPX object. If another
_HPX object is encountered downstream, the settings conveyed by the lower-level object apply to
that scope downward.
OSPM uses the information returned by _HPX to determine how to configure PCI devices that are
hot-plugged into the system, and to configure devices not configured by the platform firmware
during initial system boot. The _HPX object is placed within the scope of a PCI-compatible bus (see
the second Note below for restrictions) where this behavior is desired, such as a bus with hot-plug
slots. It returns a single package that contains one or more sub-packages, each containing a single
Setting Record. Each such Setting Record contains a Setting Type (INTEGER), a Revision number
(INTEGER) and type/revision specific contents.

The format of data returned by the _HPX object is extensible. The Setting Type and Revision
number determine the format of the Setting Record. OSPM ignores Setting Records of types that it
does not understand. A Setting Record with higher Revision number supersedes that with lower
revision number, however, the _HPX method can return both together, OSPM shall use the one with
highest revision number that it understands.
_HPX may return multiple types or Record Settings (each setting in a single sub-package.) OSPM is
responsible for detecting the type of hot plugged device and for applying the appropriate settings.
OSPM is also responsible for detecting the device / port type of the PCI Express device and applying
the appropriate settings provided. For example, the Secondary Uncorrectable Error Severity and
Secondary Uncorrectable Error Mask settings of Type 2 record are only applicable to PCI Express to
PCI-X/PCI Bridge whose device / port type is 1000b. Similarly, AER settings are only applicable to
hot plug PCI Express devices that support the optional AER capability.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of Packages, each containing a single PCI or PCI-X
Record Setting as described below
The _HPX object supersedes the _HPP object. If the _HPP and _HPX objects exist within a device’s
scope, OSPM will only evaluate the _HPX object.
Note: OSPM may override the settings provided by the _HPX object’s Type2 record (PCI Express
Settings) when OSPM has assumed native control of the corresponding feature. For example, if
OSPM has assumed ownership of AER (via _OSC), OSPM may override AER related settings
returned by _HPX.
Note: The _HPX object may exist under PCI compatible buses including host bridges except when the
host bridge spawns a PCI Express hierarchy. For PCI Express hierarchies, the _HPX object may
only exist under a root port or a switch downstream port.
Note: Since error status registers do not drive error signaling, OSPM is not required to clear error status
registers as part of _HPX handling.
6.2.9.1 PCI Setting Record (Type 0)

The PCI setting record contains the setting type 0, the current revision 1 and the type/revision
specific content: cache-line size, latency timer, SERR enable, and PERR enable values.
Table 6-191 PCI Setting Record Content

Header:
Type Integer 0x00: Type 0 (PCI) setting record.
Revision Integer 0x01: Revision 1, defining the set of fields below.
Cache-line size Integer Cache-line size reported in number of DWORDs.
Latency timer Integer Latency timer value reported in number of PCI clock cycles.
Enable SERR Integer When set to 1, indicates that action must be performed to enable SERR

Enable PERR Integer When set to 1, indicates that action must be performed to enable PERR
If the hot plug device includes bridge(s) in the hierarchy, the above settings apply to the primary side
(command register) of the hot plugged bridge(s). The settings for the secondary side of the bridge(s)
(Bridge Control Register) are assumed to be provided by the bridge driver.
The Type 0 record is applicable to hot plugged PCI, PCI-X and PCI Express devices. OSPM will
ignore settings provided in the Type0 record that are not applicable (for example, Cache-line size
and Latency Timer are not applicable to PCI Express).
6.2.9.2 PCI-X Setting Record (Type 1)

The PCI-X setting record contains the setting type 1, the current revision 1 and the type/revision
specific content: the maximum memory read byte count setting, the average maximum outstanding
split transactions setting and the total maximum outstanding split transactions to be used when
configuring PCI-X command registers for PCI-X buses and/or devices.
Table 6-192 PCI-X Setting Record Content

Header:
Type Integer 0x01: Type 1 (PCI-X) setting record.
Maximum Integer Maximum memory read byte count reported:
memory read byte Value 0: Maximum byte count 512
count Value 1: Maximum byte count 1024
Value 2: Maximum byte count 2048
Value 3: Maximum byte count 4096
Average Integer The following values are defined:
maximum Value 0: Maximum outstanding split transaction 1
outstanding split Value 1: Maximum outstanding split transaction 2
transactions Value 2: Maximum outstanding split transaction 3
Value 3: Maximum outstanding split transaction 4
Total maximum Integer See the definition for the average maximum outstanding split
outstanding split transactions.
transactions
For simplicity, OSPM could use the Average Maximum Outstanding Split Transactions value as the
Maximum Outstanding Split Transactions register value in the PCI-X command register for each
PCI-X device. Another alternative is to use a more sophisticated policy and the Total Maximum
Outstanding Split Transactions Value to gain even more performance. In this case, the OS would
examined each PCI-X device that is directly attached to the host bridge, determine the number of
outstanding split transactions supported by each device, and configure each device accordingly. The

goal is to ensure that the aggregate number of concurrent outstanding split transactions does not
exceed the Total Maximum Outstanding Split Transactions Value: an integer denoting the number of
concurrent outstanding split transactions the host bridge can support (the minimum value is 1).
This object does not address providing additional information that would be used to configure
registers in bridge devices, whether architecturally-defined or specification-defined registers or
device specific registers. It is expected that a driver for a bridge would be the proper implementation
mechanism to address both of those issues. However, such a bridge driver should have access to the
data returned by the _HPX object for use in optimizing its decisions on how to configure the bridge.
Configuration of a bridge is dependent on both system specific information such as that provided by
the _HPX object, as well as bridge specific information.
6.2.9.3 PCI Express Setting Record (Type 2)

The PCI Express setting record contains the setting type 2, the current revision 1 and the type/
revision specific content (the control registers as listed in the table below) to be used when
configuring registers in the Advanced Error Reporting Extended Capability Structure or PCI Express
Capability Structure for the PCI Express devices.
The Type 2 Setting Record allows a PCI Express-aware OS that supports native hot plug to
configure the specified registers of the hot plugged PCI Express device. A PCI Express-aware OS
that has assumed ownership of native hot plug (via _OSC) but does not support or does not have
ownership of the AER register set must use the data values returned by the _HPX object‘s Type 2
record to program the AER registers of a hot-added PCI Express device. However, since the Type 2
record also includes register bits that have functions other than AER, OSPM must ignore values
contained within this setting record that are not applicable.
To support PCIe RsvdP semantics for reserved bits, two values for each register are provided: an
“AND mask” and an “OR mask”. Each bit understood by firmware to be RsvdP shall be set to 1 in
the “AND mask” and 0 in the “OR mask”. Each bit that firmware intends to be configured as 0 shall
be set to 0 in both the “AND mask” and the “OR mask”. Each bit that firmware intends to be
configured a 1 shall be set to 1 in both the “AND mask” and the “OR mask”.
When configuring a given register, OSPM uses the following algorithm:
1. Read the register’s current value, which contains the register’s default value.
2. Perform a bit-wise AND operation with the “AND mask” from the table below.
3. Perform a bit-wise OR operation with the “OR mask” from the table below.
4. Override the computed settings for any bits if deemed necessary. For example, if OSPM is aware of an
architected meaning for a bit that firmware considers to be RsvdP, OSPM may choose to override the
computed setting for that bit. Note that firmware sets the “AND value” to 1 and the “OR value” to 0 for
each bit that it considers to be RsvdP.
5. Write the end result value back to the register.
Note that the size of each field in the following table matches the size of the corresponding PCI
Express register.
Table 6-193 PCI Express Setting Record Content

Header:
Type Integer 0x02: Type 2 (PCI Express) setting record.


Uncorrectable Error Mask Register Integer Bits [31:0] contain the “AND mask” to be used in the
AND Mask OSPM algorithm described above.
Uncorrectable Error Mask Register Integer Bits [31:0] contain the “OR mask” to be used in the
OR Mask OSPM algorithm described above.
Uncorrectable Error Severity Integer Bits [31:0] contain the “AND mask” to be used in the
Register AND Mask OSPM algorithm described above.
Uncorrectable Error Severity Integer Bits [31:0] contain the “OR mask” to be used in the
Register OR Mask OSPM algorithm described above.
Correctable Error Mask Register Integer Bits [31:0] contain the “AND mask” to be used in the
AND Mask OSPM algorithm described above.
Correctable Error Mask Register OR Integer Bits [31:0] contain the “OR mask” to be used in the
Mask OSPM algorithm described above.
Advanced Error Capabilities and Integer Bits [31:0] contain the “AND mask” to be used in the
Control Register AND Mask OSPM algorithm described above.
Advanced Error Capabilities and Integer Bits [31:0] contain the “OR mask” to be used in the
Control Register OR Mask OSPM algorithm described above.
Device Control Register AND Mask Integer Bits [15 :0] contain the “AND mask” to be used in the
OSPM algorithm described above.
Device Control Register OR Mask Integer Bits [15:0] contain the “OR mask” to be used in the
Link Control Register AND Mask Integer Bits [15 :0] contain the “AND mask” to be used in the
Link Control Register OR Mask Integer Bits [15 :0] contain the “OR mask” to be used in the
Secondary Uncorrectable Error Integer Bits [31 :0] contain the “AND mask” to be used in the
Severity Register AND Mask OSPM algorithm described above
Secondary Uncorrectable Error Integer Bits [31 :0] contain the “OR mask” to be used in the
Severity Register OR Mask OSPM algorithm described above
Secondary Uncorrectable Error Mask Integer Bits [31 :0] contain the “AND mask” to be used in the
Register AND Mask OSPM algorithm described above
Secondary Uncorrectable Error Mask Integer Bits [31 :0] contain the “OR mask” to be used in the
Register OR Mask OSPM algorithm described above
6.2.9.4 _HPX Example

Method (_HPX, 0) {
Return (Package(2){
Package(6){ // PCI Setting Record
0x00, // Type 0
0x01, // Revision 1
0x08, // CacheLineSize in DWORDS
0x40, // LatencyTimer in PCI clocks
0x01, // Enable SERR (Boolean)
0x00 // Enable PERR (Boolean)
},
Package(5){ // PCI-X Setting Record
0x01, // Type 1

0x01, // Revision 1
0x03, // Maximum Memory Read Byte Count
0x04, // Average Maximum Outstanding Split Transactions
0x07 // Total Maximum Outstanding Split Transactions
}
})
}
6.2.10 _MAT (Multiple APIC Table Entry)

This optional object evaluates to a buffer returning data in the format of a series of Multiple APIC
Description Table (MADT) APIC Structure entries. This object can appear under an I/O APIC or
processor object definition as processors may contain Local APICs. Specific types of MADT entries
are meaningful to (in other words, is processed by) OSPM when returned via the evaluation of this
object as described in Table 5-46. Other entry types returned by the evaluation of _MAT are ignored
by OSPM.
When _MAT appears under a Processor object, OSPM uses the ACPI processor ID in the entries
returned from the object’s evaluation to identify the entries corresponding to either the ACPI
processor ID of the Processor object or the value returned by the _UID object under a Processor
device.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a list of Interrupt Controller Structures
Example ASL for _MAT usage:
Scope(\_SB) {
Device (P64A) { // P64A ACPI
Name (_ADR,0)
OperationRegion (OPRM, SystemMemory,
Offset in system memory of Interrupt Controller Structures,
Length in bytes)
Field (OPRM, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {
MATD, Length in bits
}
Method(_MAT, 0){
Return (MATD)
}
...
} // end P64A
...
} // end PCI0
...
} // end scope SB
6.2.11 _OSC (Operating System Capabilities)

This optional object is a control method that is used by OSPM to communicate to the platform the
feature support or capabilities provided by a device’s driver. This object is a child object of a device
and may also exist in the \_SB scope, where it can be used to convey platform wide OSPM

capabilities. When supported, _OSC is invoked by OSPM immediately after placing the device in
the D0 power state. Device specific objects are evaluated after _OSC invocation. This allows the
values returned from other objects to be predicated on the OSPM feature support / capability
information conveyed by _OSC. OSPM may evaluate _OSC multiple times to indicate changes in
OSPM capability to the device but this may be precluded by specific device requirements. As such,
_OSC usage descriptions in Section 9, “ACPI-Defined Devices and Device Specific Objects”, or
other governing specifications describe superseding device specific _OSC capabilities and / or
preclusions.
_OSC enables the platform to configure its ACPI namespace representation and object evaluations
to match the capabilities of OSPM. This enables legacy operating system support for platforms with
new features that make use of new namespace objects that if exposed would not be evaluated when
running a legacy OS. _OSC provides the capability to transition the platform to native operating
system support of new features and capabilities when available through dynamic namespace
reconfiguration. _OSC also allows devices with Compatible IDs to provide superset functionality
when controlled by their native (For example, _HID matched) driver as appropriate objects can be
exposed accordingly as a result of OSPM’s evaluation of _OSC.
Arguments: (4)
Arg0 – A Buffer containing a UUID
Arg1 – An Integer containing a Revision ID of the buffer format
Arg2 – An Integer containing a count of entries in Arg3
Arg3 – A Buffer containing a list of DWORD capabilities
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a list of capabilities
Argument Information
Arg0: UUID – used by the platform in conjunction with Revision ID to ascertain the format of the
Capabilities buffer.
Arg1: Revision ID – The revision of the Capabilities Buffer format. The revision level is specific to
the UUID.
Arg2: Count – Number of DWORDs in the Capabilities Buffer in Arg3
Arg3: Capabilities Buffer – Buffer containing the number of DWORDs indicated by Count. The first
DWORD of this buffer contains standard bit definitions as described below. Subsequent DWORDs
contain UUID-specific bits that convey to the platform the capabilities and features supported by
OSPM. Successive revisions of the Capabilities Buffer must be backwards compatible with earlier
revisions. Bit ordering cannot be changed.
Capabilities Buffers are device-specific and as such are described under specific device definitions.
See Section 9, “ACPI Devices and Device Specific Objects” for any _OSC definitions for ACPI
devices. The format of the Capabilities Buffer and behavior rules may also be specified by OEMs
and IHVs for custom devices and other interface or device governing bodies for example, the PCI
SIG.
The first DWORD in the capabilities buffer is used to return errors defined by _OSC. This DWORD
must always be present and may not be redefined/reused by unique interfaces utilizing _OSC.

• Bit [0]- Query Support Flag. If set, the _OSC invocation is a query by OSPM to determine or
negotiate with the platform the combination of capabilities for which OSPM may take control.
In this case, OSPM sets bits in the subsequent DWORDs to specify the capabilities for which
OSPM intends to take control. If clear, OSPM is attempting to take control of the capabilities
corresponding to the bits set in subsequent DWORDs. OSPM may only take control of
capabilities as indicated by the platform by the result of the query.
• Bit [1] – Always clear (0).
• All others – reserved.

Capabilities Buffer (Buffer) – The platform acknowledges the Capabilities Buffer by returning a
buffer of DWORDs of the same length. Set bits indicate acknowledgment that OSPM may take
control of the capability and cleared bits indicate that the platform either does not support the
capability or that OSPM may not assume control.
The first DWORD in the capabilities buffer is used to return errors defined by _OSC. This DWORD
must always be present and may not be redefined/reused by unique interfaces utilizing _OSC.
• Bit [0] – Reserved (not used)
• Bit [1] – _OSC failure. Platform Firmware was unable to process the request or query.
Capabilities bits may have been masked.
• Bit [2] – Unrecognized UUID. This bit is set to indicate that the platform firmware does not
recognize the UUID passed in via Arg0. Capabilities bits are preserved.
• Bit [3] – Unrecognized Revision. This bit is set to indicate that the platform firmware does not
recognize the Revision ID passed in via Arg1. Capabilities bits beyond those comprehended by
the firmware will be masked.
• Bit [4] – Capabilities Masked. This bit is set to indicate that capabilities bits set by driver
software have been cleared by platform firmware.
• All others – reserved.
Note: OSPM must not use the results of _OSC evaluation to choose a compatible device driver. OSPM
must use _HID, _CID, or native enumerable bus device identification mechanisms to select an
appropriate driver for a device.
The platform may issue a Notify(device, 0x08) to inform OSPM to re-evaluate _OSC when the
availability of feature control changes. Platforms must not rely, however, on OSPM to evaluate
_OSC after issuing a Notify for proper operation as OSPM cannot guarantee the presence of a target
entity to receive and process the Notify for the device. For example, a device driver for the device
may not be loaded at the time the Notify is signaled. Further, the issuance and processing rules for
notification of changes in the Capabilities Buffer is device specific. As such, the allowable behavior
is governed by device specifications either in Section 9, “ ACPI-Specific Device Objects”, for
ACPI-define devices, or other OEM, IHV, or device governing body’s’ device specifications.
It is permitted for _OSC to return all bits in the Capabilities Buffer cleared. An example of this is
when significant time is required to disable platform-based feature support. The platform may then

later issue a Notify to tell OSPM to re-evaluate _OSC to take over native control. This behavior is
also device specific but may also rely on specific OS capability.
In general, platforms should support both OSPM taking and relinquishing control of specific feature
support via multiple invocations of _OSC but the required behavior may vary on a per device basis.
Since platform context is lost when the platform enters the S4 sleeping state, OSPM must re-
evaluate _OSC upon wake from S4 to restore the previous platform state. This requirement will vary
depending on the device specific _OSC functionality.
6.2.11.1 Rules for Evaluating _OSC

This section defines when and how the OS must evaluate _OSC, as well as restrictions on firmware
implementation.
6.2.11.1.1 Query Flag

If the Query Support Flag (Capabilities DWORD 1, bit 0 ) is set by the OS when evaluating _OSC,
no hardware settings are permitted to be changed by firmware in the context of the _OSC call. It is
strongly recommended that the OS evaluate _OSC with the Query Support Flag set until _OSC
returns the Capabilities Masked bit clear, to negotiate the set of features to be granted to the OS for
native support; a platform may require a specific combination of features to be supported natively by
an OS before granting native control of a given feature.
6.2.11.1.2 Evaluation Conditions

The OS must evaluate _OSC under the following conditions:
During initialization of any driver that provides native support for features described in the section
above. These features may be supported by one or many drivers, but should only be evaluated by the
main bus driver for that hierarchy. Secondary drivers must coordinate with the bus driver to install
support for these features. Drivers may not relinquish control of features previously obtained (i.e.,
bits set in Capabilities DWORD3 after the negotiation process must be set on all subsequent
negotiation attempts.)
When a Notify(<device>, 8) is delivered to the PCI Host Bridge device.
Upon resume from S4. Platform firmware will handle context restoration when resuming from S1-
S3.
6.2.11.1.3 Sequence of _OSC calls

The following rules govern sequences of calls to _OSC that are issued to the same host bridge and
occur within the same boot.
• The OS is permitted to evaluate _OSC an arbitrary number of times.
• If the OS declares support of a feature in the Status Field in one call to _OSC, then it must
preserve the set state of that bit (declaring support for that feature) in all subsequent calls.
• If the OS is granted control of a feature in the Control Field in one call to _OSC, then it must
preserve the set state of that bit (requesting that feature) in all subsequent calls.
• Firmware may not reject control of any feature it has previously granted control to.
• There is no mechanism for the OS to relinquish control of a feature previously requested and
granted.

6.2.11.2 Platform-Wide OSPM Capabilities

OSPM evaluates \_SB._OSC to convey platform-wide OSPM capabilities to the platform. Argument
definitions are as follows:
Arguments: (4)
Arg0 – UUID (Buffer): 0811B06E-4A27-44F9-8D60-3CBBC22E7B48
Arg1 – Revision ID (Integer): 1
Arg2 – Count of Entries in Arg3 (Integer): 2
Arg3 – DWORD capabilities (Buffer): First DWORD: as described in Section 6.2.11, Second
DWORD: See Table 6-194
Table 6-194 Platform-Wide _OSC Capabilities DWORD 2

Bits Field Name Definition
0 Processor Aggregator This bit is set if OSPM supports the Processor Aggregator device as
Device Support described in Section 8.5, “Processor Aggregator Device.”
1 _PPC _OST Processing This bit is set if OSPM will evaluate the _OST object defined under a
Support processor as a result of _PPC change notification (Notify 0x80).
2 _PR3 Support This bit is set if OSPM supports reading _PR3and using power
resources to switch power. Note this handshake translates to an
operating model that the platform and OSPM supports both the power
model containing both D3hot and D3.
3 Insertion / Ejection _OST This bit is set if OSPM will evaluate the _OST object defined under a
Processing Support device when processing insertion and ejection source event codes.
4 APEI Support This bit is set if OSPM supports the ACPI Platform Error Interfaces.
See Section 18, “ACPI Platform Error Interfaces.”
5 CPPC Support This bit is set if OSPM supports controlling processor performance via
the interfaces described in the _CPC object.
6 CPPC 2 Support This bit is set if OSPM supports revision 2 of the _CPC object.
7 Platform Coordinated Low This bit is set if OSPM supports platform coordinated low power idle
Power Idle Support states.*(see note, below).
8 OS Initiated Low Power This bit is set if OSPM supports OS initiated low power idle states.
Idle Support *(see note, below).
9 Fast Thermal Sampling This bit is set if OSPM supports _TFP.
support
10 Greater Than 16 p-state This bit is set if OSPM supports greater than 16 p-states. If clear, no
support more than 16 p-states are supported.
11 Generic Event Device This bit is set if OSPM supports parsing of the generic event device.
support


12 Diverse CPPC Highest This bit is set if OSPM can process processor device notifications for
Optimization Support changes in CPPC Highest Performance. It also indicates support for
optimizing for performance domains with diverse Highest Performance
capabilities.
Potential OS optimizations for diverse CPPC highest performance
include but are not limited to placement of work on specific logical
processors yielding a performance or power benefit.
Note: These optimizations are independent of the platform’s existing
ability to expose diverse Highest Performance to OSPM as well as
OSPM support for the MADT GICC’s Processor Power Efficiency
Class.
13 Interrupt ResourceSource This bit is set if OSPM supports the usage of the ResourceSource in
support the extended interrupt descriptor. As part of the handshake provided
through _OSC, the platform will indicate to the OS whether or not it
supports usage of ResourceSource. If not set, the OS may choose to
ignore the ResourceSource parameter in the extended interrupt
descriptor.
14 Flexible Address Space This bit is set if OSPM supports any CPPC register being located in
for CPPC Registers PCC, SystemMemory, SystemIO, or Functional Fixed Hardware
address spaces. If not set, per-register restrictions described in ACPI
Specification 6.1 apply.
15 GHES_ASSIST Support This bit is set if OSPM supports the GHES_ASSIS Flag in HEST Error
Structures. See Section 18, “ACPI Platform Error Interfaces”
16 Multi PCC channel The OSPM sets this bit when it supports multiple PCC channels for the
support for CPPC CPPC protocol.
31:17 Reserved (must be 0)
Note: * As part of the handshake provided through _OSC the OS will pass in flags to indicate whether it
supports Platform Coordinated Low Power Idle or OS Initiated Low Power Idle or both (see “Idle
State Coordination”, Section 8.4.4.2), through flags 7 and 8. The platform will indicate which of the
modes it supports in its response by clearing flags that are not supported. If both are supported,
the default is platform coordinated and OSPM can switch the platform to OS Initiated via a
processor architecture specific mechanism. By setting either flag 7 or 8 or both, the OSPM is
asserting it supports any objects associated with Low Power Idle states (see LPI in
Section 8.4.4.3, RDI in Section 8.5, and passive power resources in Section 7.2.5), and supports
processor containers (see Section 8.4.3.1).

buffer of DWORDs of the same length. Set bits indicate acknowledgment and cleared bits indicate
that the platform does not support the capability.
6.2.11.3 OSC Implementation Example for PCI Host Bridge Devices

The following section is an excerpt from the PCI Firmware Specification Revision 3.0 and is
reproduced with the permission of the PCI SIG.

Note: The PCI SIG owns the definition of _OSC behavior and parameter bit definitions for PCI devices.
In the event of a discrepancy between the following example and the PCI Firmware Specification,
the latter has precedence.
The _OSC interface defined in this section applies only to “Host Bridge” ACPI devices that
originate PCI, PCI-X or PCI Express hierarchies. These ACPI devices must have a _HID of (or
_CID including) either EISAID(“PNP0A03”) or EISAID(“PNP0A08”). For a host bridge device that
originates a PCI Express hierarchy, the _OSC interface defined in this section is required. For a host
bridge device that originates a PCI/PCI-X bus hierarchy, inclusion of an _OSC object is optional.
• The _OSC interface for a PCI/PCI-X/PCI Express hierarchy is identified by the following
UUID:
33DB4D5B-1FF7-401C-9657-7441C03DD766
A revision ID of 1 encompasses fields defined in this section of this revision of this specification,
comprised of 3 DWORDs, including the first DWORD described by the generic ACPI definition of
_OSC.
The first DWORD in the _OSC Capabilities Buffer contain bits are generic to _OSC and include
status and error information.
The second DWORD in the _OSC capabilities buffer is the Support Field. Bits defined in the
Support Field provide information regarding OS supported features. Contents in the Support Field
are passed one-way; the OS will disregard any changes to this field when returned. See Table 6-192
for descriptions of capabilities bits in this field passed as a parameter into the _OSC control method.
The third DWORD in the _OSC Capabilities Buffer is the Control Field. Bits defined in the Control
Field are used to submit request by the OS for control/handling of the associated feature, typically
(but not excluded to) those features that utilize native interrupts or events handled by an OS-level
driver. See Table 6-194 for descriptions of capabilities bits in this field passed as a parameter into
the _OSC control method. If any bits in the Control Field are returned cleared (masked to zero) by
the _OSC control method, the respective feature is designated unsupported by the platform and must
not be enabled by the OS. Some of these features may be controlled by platform firmware prior to
OS boot or during runtime for a legacy OS, while others may be disabled/inoperative until native OS
support is available. See Table 6-195 for descriptions of capabilities bits in this returned field.
If the _OSC control method is absent from the scope of a host bridge device, then the OS must not
enable or attempt to use any features defined in this section for the hierarchy originated by the host
bridge. Doing so could contend with platform firmware operations, or produce undesired results. It
is recommended that a machine with multiple host bridge devices should report the same capabilities
for all host bridges, and also negotiate control of the features described in the Control Field in the
same way for all host bridges.
Table 6-195 Interpretation of _OSC Support Field

Support Field Interpretation
bit offset
0 Extended PCI Config operation regions supported
The OS sets this bit to 1 if it supports ASL accesses through PCI Config operation regions
to extended configuration space (offsets greater than 0xFF). Otherwise, the OS sets this bit
to 0.

1 Active State Power Management supported

The OS sets this bit to 1 if it natively supports configuration of Active State Power
Management registers in PCI Express devices. Otherwise, the OS sets this bit to 0.
2 Clock Power Management Capability supported
The OS sets this bit to 1 if it supports the Clock Power Management Capability, and will
enable this feature during a native hot plug insertion event if supported by the newly added
device. Otherwise, the OS sets this bit to 0.
Note: The Clock Power Management Capability is defined in an errata to the PCI Express
Base Specification, 1.0.
3 PCI Segment Groups supported
The OS sets this bit to 1 if it supports PCI Segment Groups as defined by the _SEG object,
and access to the configuration space of devices in PCI Segment Groups as described by
this specification. Otherwise, the OS sets this bit to 0.
4 MSI supported
The OS sets this bit to 1 if it supports configuration of devices to generate message-
signaled interrupts, either through the MSI Capability or the MSI-X Capability. Otherwise,
the OS sets this bit to 0.
5-31 Reserved
Table 6-196 Interpretation of _OSC Control Field, Passed in via Arg3

Control Field Interpretation
bit offset
0 PCI Express Native Hot Plug control
The OS sets this bit to 1 to request control over PCI Express native hot plug. If the OS
successfully receives control of this feature, it must track and update the status of hot plug
slots and handle hot plug events as described in the PCI Express Base Specification.
1 SHPC Native Hot Plug control
The OS sets this bit to 1 to request control over PCI/PCI-X Standard Hot-Plug Controller
(SHPC) hot plug. If the OS successfully receives control of this feature, it must track and
update the status of hot plug slots and handle hot plug events as described in the SHPC
Specification.
2 PCI Express Native Power Management Events control
The OS sets this bit to 1 to request control over PCI Express native power management
event interrupts (PMEs). If the OS successfully receives control of this feature, it must
handle power management events as described in the PCI Express Base Specification.
3 PCI Express Advanced Error Reporting (AER) control
The OS sets this bit to 1 to request control over PCI Express AER. If the OS successfully
receives control of this feature, it must handle error reporting through the AER Capability as
described in the PCI Express Base Specification.


bit offset
4 PCI Express Capability Structure control
The OS sets this bit to 1 to request control over the PCI Express Capability Structures
(standard and extended) defined in the PCI Express Base Specification version 1.1. These
capability structures are the PCI Express Capability, the virtual channel extended
capability, the power budgeting extended capability, the advanced error reporting extended
capability, and the serial number extended capability. If the OS successfully receives
control of this feature, it is responsible for configuring the registers in all PCI Express
Capabilities in a manner that complies with the PCI Express Base Specification.
Additionally, the OS is responsible for saving and restoring all PCI Express Capability
register settings across power transitions when register context may have been lost.
5-31 Reserved
Table 6-197 Interpretation of _OSC Control Field, Returned Value

bit offset
0 PCI Express Native Hot Plug control
The firmware sets this bit to 1 to grant control over PCI Express native hot plug interrupts. If
firmware allows the OS control of this feature, then in the context of the _OSC method it
must ensure that all hot plug events are routed to device interrupts as described in the PCI
Express Base Specification. Additionally, after control is transferred to the OS, firmware
must not update the state of hot plug slots, including the state of the indicators and power
controller. If control of this feature was requested and denied or was not requested,
firmware returns this bit set to 0.
1 SHPC Native Hot Plug control
The firmware sets this bit to 1 to grant control over control over PCI/PCI-X Standard Hot-
Plug Controller (SHPC)hot plug. If firmware allows the OS control of this feature, then in the
context of the _OSC method it must ensure that all hot plug events are routed to device
interrupts as described in the SHPC Specification. Additionally, after control is transferred
to the OS, firmware must not update the state of hot plug slots, including the state of the
indicators and power controller. If control of this feature was requested and denied or was
not requested, firmware returns this bit set to 0.
2 PCI Express Native Power Management Events control
The firmware sets this bit to 1 to grant control over control over PCI Express native power
management event interrupts (PMEs). If firmware allows the OS control of this feature, then
in the context of the _OSC method it must ensure that all PMEs are routed to root port
interrupts as described in the PCI Express Base Specification. Additionally, after control is
transferred to the OS, firmware must not update the PME Status field in the Root Status
register or the PME Interrupt Enable field in the Root Control register. If control of this
feature was requested and denied or was not requested, firmware returns this bit set to 0.
3 PCI Express Advanced Error Reporting control
The firmware sets this bit to 1 to grant control over PCI Express Advanced Error Reporting.
If firmware allows the OS control of this feature, then in the context of the _OSC method it
must ensure that error messages are routed to device interrupts as described in the PCI
Express Base Specification. Additionally, after control is transferred to the OS, firmware
must not modify the Advanced Error Reporting Capability. If control of this feature was
requested and denied or was not requested, firmware returns this bit set to 0.


bit offset
4 PCI Express Capability Structure control
The firmware sets this bit to 1 to grant control over the PCI Express Capability. If the
firmware does not grant control of this feature, firmware must handle configuration of the
PCI Express Capability Structure.
If firmware grants the OS control of this feature, any firmware configuration of the PCI
Express Capability may be overwritten by an OS configuration, depending on OS policy.
5-31 Reserved
6.2.11.4 ASL Example

A sample _OSC implementation for a mobile system incorporating a PCI Express hierarchy is
shown below:
Device(PCI0) // Root PCI bus
{
Name(_HID,EISAID("PNP0A08")) // PCI Express Root Bridge
Name(_CID,EISAID("PNP0A03")) // Compatible PCI Root Bridge
Name(SUPP,0) // PCI _OSC Support Field value
Name(CTRL,0) // PCI _OSC Control Field value
Method(_OSC,4)
{ // Check for proper UUID
If(LEqual(Arg0,ToUUID("33DB4D5B-1FF7-401C-9657-7441C03DD766")))
{
// Create DWord-adressable fields from the Capabilities Buffer
CreateDWordField(Arg3,0,CDW1)
// Save Capabilities DWord2 & 3

Store(CDW2,SUPP)
Store(CDW3,CTRL)
// Only allow native hot plug control if OS supports:

// * ASPM
// * Clock PM
// * MSI/MSI-X
If(LNotEqual(And(SUPP, 0x16), 0x16))
{
And(CTRL,0x1E,CTRL) // Mask bit 0 (and undefined bits)
}
// Always allow native PME, AER (no dependencies)
// Never allow SHPC (no SHPC controller in this system)

And(CTRL,0x1D,CTRL)
If(LNot(And(CDW1,1))) // Query flag clear?

{ // Disable GPEs for features granted native control.
If(And(CTRL,0x01)) // Hot plug control granted?
{
Store(0,HPCE) // clear the hot plug SCI enable bit
Store(1,HPCS) // clear the hot plug SCI status bit
}
If(And(CTRL,0x04)) // PME control granted?
{

Store(0,PMCE) // clear the PME SCI enable bit

Store(1,PMCS) // clear the PME SCI status bit
}
If(And(CTRL,0x10)) // OS restoring PCIe cap structure?
{ // Set status to not restore PCIe cap structure
// upon resume from S3
Store(1,S3CR)
}
}
If(LNotEqual(Arg1,One))
{ // Unknown revision
Or(CDW1,0x08,CDW1)
}
If(LNotEqual(CDW3,CTRL))
{ // Capabilities bits were masked
Or(CDW1,0x10,CDW1)
}
// Update DWORD3 in the buffer
Store(CTRL,CDW3)
Return(Arg3)
} Else {
Or(CDW1,4,CDW1) // Unrecognized UUID
Return(Arg3)
}
} // End _OSC
} // End PCI0
6.2.12 _PRS (Possible Resource Settings)

This optional object evaluates to a byte stream that describes the possible resource settings for the
device. When describing a platform, specify a _PRS for all the configurable devices. Static (non-
configurable) devices do not specify a _PRS object. The information in this package is used by
OSPM to select a conflict-free resource allocation without user intervention. This method must not
reference any operation regions that have not been declared available by a _REG method.
The format of the data in a _PRS object follows the same format as the _CRS object (for more
information, see the _CRS object definition in Section 6.2.2, “_CRS (Current Resource Settings)”).
If the device is disabled when _PRS is called, it must remain disabled.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a Resource Descriptor byte stream
6.2.13 _PRT (PCI Routing Table)

PCI interrupts are inherently non-hierarchical. PCI interrupt pins are wired to interrupt inputs of the
interrupt controllers. The _PRT object provides a mapping from PCI interrupt pins to the interrupt
inputs of the interrupt controllers. The _PRT object is required under all PCI root bridges. _PRT
evaluates to a package that contains a list of packages, each of which describes the mapping of a PCI
interrupt pin.

Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing variable-length list of PCI interrupt mapping packages, as described below
Note: The PCI function number in the Address field of the _PRT packages must be 0xFFFF, indicating
“any” function number or “all functions”.
The _PRT mapping packages have the fields listed in Table 6-198.
Table 6-198 Mapping Fields

Field Type Description
Address DWORD The address of the device (uses the same format as _ADR).
Pin Byte The PCI pin number of the device (0–INTA, 1–INTB, 2–INTC, 3–INTD).
Source NamePath Name of the device that allocates the interrupt to which the above pin is connected.
Or The name can be a fully qualified path, a relative path, or a simple name segment
Byte that utilizes the namespace search rules. Note: This field is a NamePath and not a
String literal, meaning that it should not be surrounded by quotes. If this field is the
integer constant Zero (or a Byte value of 0), then the interrupt is allocated from the
global interrupt pool.
Source DWORD Index that indicates which resource descriptor in the resource template of the
Index device pointed to in the Source field this interrupt is allocated from. If the Source
field is the Byte value zero, then this field is the global system interrupt number to
which the pin is connected.
There are two ways that _PRT can be used. Typically, the interrupt input that a given PCI interrupt is
on is configurable. For example, a given PCI interrupt might be configured for either IRQ 10 or 11
on an 8259 interrupt controller. In this model, each interrupt is represented in the ACPI namespace
as a PCI Interrupt Link Device.
These objects have _PRS, _CRS, _SRS, and _DIS control methods to allocate the interrupt. Then,
OSPM handles the interrupts not as interrupt inputs on the interrupt controller, but as PCI interrupt
pins. The driver looks up the device’s pins in the _PRT to determine which device objects allocate
the interrupts. To move the PCI interrupt to a different interrupt input on the interrupt controller,
OSPM uses _PRS, _CRS, _SRS, and _DIS control methods for the PCI Interrupt Link Device.
In the second model, the PCI interrupts are hardwired to specific interrupt inputs on the interrupt
controller and are not configurable. In this case, the Source field in _PRT does not reference a
device, but instead contains the value zero, and the Source Index field contains the global system
interrupt to which the PCI interrupt is hardwired.
6.2.13.1 Example: Using _PRT to Describe PCI IRQ Routing

The following example describes two PCI slots and a PCI video chip. Notice that the interrupts on
the two PCI slots are wired differently (barber-poled).
Scope(\_SB) {
Device(LNKA){
Name(_HID, EISAID("PNP0C0F")) // PCI interrupt link

Name(_UID, 1)
Name(_PRS, ResourceTemplate(){
Interrupt(ResourceProducer,…) {10,11} // IRQs 10,11
})
Method(_DIS) {…}
Method(_CRS) {…}
Method(_SRS, 1) {…}
}
Device(LNKB){
Name(_UID, 2)
})
Method(_DIS) {…}
Method(_CRS) {…}
}
Device(LNKC){
Name(_UID, 3)
})
Method(_DIS) {…}
Method(_CRS) {…}
}
Device(LNKD){
Name(_UID, 4)
})
Method(_DIS) {…}
Method(_CRS) {…}
}
Device(PCI0){
…
Name(_PRT, Package{
Package{0x0004FFFF, 0, \_SB_.LNKA, 0}, // Slot 1, INTA // A fully
Package{0x0004FFFF, 1, \_SB_.LNKB, 0}, // Slot 1, INTB // qualified
Package{0x0004FFFF, 2, \_SB_.LNKC, 0}, // Slot 1, INTC // pathname
Package{0x0004FFFF, 3, \_SB_.LNKD, 0}, // Slot 1, INTD // can be used,
Package{0x0005FFFF, 0, LNKB, 0}, // Slot 2, INTA // or a simple
Package{0x0005FFFF, 1, LNKC, 0}, // Slot 2, INTB // name segment
Package{0x0005FFFF, 2, LNKD, 0}, // Slot 2, INTC // utilizing the
Package{0x0005FFFF, 3, LNKA, 0}, // Slot 2, INTD // search rules
Package{0x0006FFFF, 0, LNKC, 0} // Video, INTA
})
}
}
6.2.14 _PXM (Proximity)

This optional object is used to describe proximity domains within a machine. _PXM evaluates to an
integer that identifies the device as belonging to a specific proximity domain. OSPM assumes that
two devices in the same proximity domain are tightly coupled. OSPM could choose to optimize its

behavior based on this. For example, in a system with four processors and six memory devices, there
might be two separate proximity domains (0 and 1), each with two processors and three memory
devices. In this case, the OS may decide to run some software threads on the processors in proximity
domain 0 and others on the processors in proximity domain 1. Furthermore, for performance
reasons, it could choose to allocate memory for those threads from the memory devices inside the
proximity domain common to the processor and the memory device rather than from a memory
device outside of the processor’s proximity domain. _PXM can be used to identify any device
belonging to a proximity domain. Children of a device belong to the same proximity domain as their
parent unless they contain an overriding _PXM. Proximity domains do not imply any ejection
relationships.
An OS makes no assumptions about the proximity or nearness of different proximity domains. The
difference between two integers representing separate proximity domains does not imply distance
between the proximity domains (in other words, proximity domain 1 is not assumed to be closer to
proximity domain 0 than proximity domain 6).
If the Local APIC ID / Local SAPIC ID / Local x2APIC ID or the GICC ACPI Processor UID of a
dynamically added processor is not present in the System Resource Affinity Table (SRAT), a _PXM
object must exist for the processor’s device or one of its ancestors in the ACPI Namespace.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer (DWORD) containing a proximity domain identifier.
6.2.15 _SLI (System Locality Information)

The System Locality Information Table (SLIT) table defined in Section 5.2.17, “System Locality
Distance Information Table (SLIT)” provides relative distance information between all System
Localities for use during OS initialization.
The value of each Entry[i,j] in the SLIT table, where i represents a row of a matrix and j represents a
column of a matrix, indicates the relative distances from System Locality / Proximity Domain i to
every other System Locality j in the system (including itself).
The i,j row and column values correlate to the value returned by the _PXM object in the ACPI
namespace. See Section 6.2.14, “_PXM (Proximity)” for more information.
Dynamic runtime reconfiguration of the system may cause the distance between System Localities
to change.
_SLI is an optional object that enables the platform to provide the OS with updated relative System
Locality distance information at runtime. _SLI provide OSPM with an update of the relative distance
from System Locality i to all other System Localities in the system.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a system locality information table

If System Locality i ≥ N, where N is the number of System Localities, the _SLI method returns a
buffer that contains these relative distances:
[(i, 0), (i, 1), …, (i, i-1), (i, i), (0, i), (1, i), …(i-1, i), (i, i)]
If System Locality i < N, the _SLI method returns a buffer that contains these relative distances:
[(i, 0), (i, 1), …, (i, i), …,(i, N-1), (0, i), (1, i),…(i, i), …, (N-1, i)]
Note: (i, i) is always a value of 10.
Node 0 Node 1 Node 2 Node n
Interconnect
Figure 6-38 System Locality information Table
Figure 6-38diagrams a 4-node system where the nodes are numbered 0 through 3 (Node n = Node 3)
and the granularity is at the node level for the NUMA distance information. In this example we
assign System Localities / Proximity Domain numbers equal to the node numbers (0-3). The NUMA
relative distances between proximity domains as implemented in this system are described in the
matrix represented in Table 6-199. Proximity Domains are represented by the numbers in the top
row and left column. Distances are represented by the values in cells internal in the table from the
domains.
Table 6-199 Example Relative Distances Between Proximity Domains

Proximity Domain 0 1 2 3
0 10 15 20 18
1 15 10 16 24
2 20 16 10 12
3 18 24 12 10
An example of these distances between proximity domains encoded in a System Locality

Information Table for consumption by OSPM at boot time is described in Table 6-200.
Table 6-200 Example System Locality Information Table

Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘SLIT’.
Length 4 4 60


Length Offset
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the System Locality Information Table, the table ID is
the manufacturer model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of System Locality Information Table for
supplied OEM Table ID.
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID of utility that created the table. For the DSDT,
RSDT, SSDT, and PSDT tables, this is the ID for the ASL
Compiler.
Creator Revision 4 32 Revision of utility that created the table. For the DSDT,
RSDT, SSDT, and PSDT tables, this is the revision for the
ASL Compiler.
Number of System 8 36 4
Localities
Entry[0][0] 1 44 10
Entry[0][1] 1 45 15
Entry[0][2] 1 46 20
Entry[0][3] 1 47 18
Entry[1][0] 1 48 15
Entry[1][1] 1 49 10
Entry[1][2] 1 50 16
Entry[1][3] 1 51 24
Entry[2][0] 1 52 20
Entry[2][1] 1 53 16
Entry[2][2] 1 54 10
Entry[2][3] 1 55 12
Entry[3][0] 1 56 18
Entry[3][1] 1 57 24
Entry[3][2] 1 58 12
Entry[3][3] 1 59 10
If a new node, “Node 4”, is added, then Table 6-201 represents the updated system’s NUMA relative
distances of proximity domains.
Table 6-201 Example Relative Distances Between Proximity Domains - 5 Node

Proximity Domain 0 1 2 3 4
0 10 15 20 18 17
1 15 10 16 24 21
2 20 16 10 12 14

Proximity Domain 0 1 2 3 4
3 18 24 12 10 23
4 17 21 14 23 10
The new node’s _SLI object would evaluate to a buffer containing [17,21,14,23,10,17,21,14,23,10].
Note: Some systems support interleave memory across the nodes. The SLIT representation of these
systems is implementation specific.
6.2.16 _SRS (Set Resource Settings)

This optional control method takes one byte stream argument that specifies a new resource
allocation for a device. The resource descriptors in the byte stream argument must be specified
exactly as listed in the _CRS byte stream – meaning that the identical resource descriptors must
appear in the identical order, resulting in a buffer of exactly the same length. Optimizations such as
changing an IRQ descriptor to an IRQNoFlags descriptor (or vice-versa) must not be performed.
Similarly, changing StartDependentFn to StartDependentFnNoPri is not allowed. A _CRS object
can be used as a template to ensure that the descriptors are in the correct format. For more
information, see the _CRS object definition.
The settings must take effect before the _SRS control method returns.
This method must not reference any operation regions that have not been declared available by a
_REG method.
If the device is disabled, _SRS enables the device at the specified resources. _SRS is not used to
disable a device; use the _DIS control method instead.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – A Buffer containing a Resource Descriptor byte stream
Return Value:
None
6.2.17 _CCA (Cache Coherency Attribute)

The _CCA object returns whether or not a bus-master device supports hardware managed cache
coherency. Expected values are 0 to indicate it is not supported, and 1 to indicate that it is supported.
All other values are reserved.
On platforms for which existing default cache-coherency behavior of the OS is not adequate, _CCA
enables the OS to adapt to the differences. If used, _CCA must be included under all bus-master-
capable devices defined as children of \_SB, to ensure that the operating system knows when it can
rely on hardware managed cache coherency. The value of _CCA is inherited by all descendants of
these devices, so it need not be repeated for their children devices and will be ignored by OSPM if it
is provided there. This includes slave devices on a shared DMA controller; thus these DMA
controllers must also be defined in the namespace under the System Bus and include a _CCA object.
If a device indicates it does not have hardware cache coherency support, then OSPM must use a
software cache flushing algorithm to ensure stale or invalid data is not accessed from the caches.

__CCA objects are only relevant for devices that can access CPU-visible memory, such as devices
that are DMA capable. On ARM based systems, the _CCA object must be supplied all such devices.
On Intel platforms, if the _CCA object is not supplied, the OSPM will assume the devices are
hardware cache coherent.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer indicating the device's support for hardware cache coherency
0- The device does not have hardware managed cache coherency
1- The device has hardware managed cache coherency
Other Values - Reserved
Note: There are restrictions related to when this object is evaluated which have implications for
implementing this object as a control method. The _CCA method must only access Operation
Regions that have been indicated to be available as defined by the _REG method. The _REG method
is described in Section 6.5.4, "_REG (Region)."
6.2.17.1 _CCA Example ASL:

Scope (\_SB) {
…
Device (XHCI) {
…
Name (_CCA, ZERO) // Cache-incoherent bus-master, child of \_SB
…
}
…
Device (PCI0) { // Root PCI Bus
…
Name (_CCA, ONE) // Cache-coherent bus-master, child of \_SB
…
Device (PRT0) {
… // Bus-master-capable, not a child of \_SB
… // Will inherit coherency from PCI0, no _CCA required
Device (NIC0) {
… // Bus-master-capable, not a child of \_SB
… // Will inherit coherency from PRT0, no _CCA required
}
}
}
…
Device (SDHC) {
…
Name (_CCA, ONE) // Cache-coherent bus-master-capable, child of \_SB
…
}
…
Device (GPIO) {
… // Not bus-master-capable
… // _CCA not valid
}
…
Device (DMAC) {
… // DMA controller; _CCA must be specified
Name (_CCA, ONE) // Cache coherent bus-master, child of \_SB

…
}
…
Device (SPI1) {
…
Name (_CRS, ResourceTemplate()
{
FixedDMA(…)// Sharing the DMA, thus inherits coherency from it
…
…
})
… // _CCA not valid
}
}
6.2.18 _HMA(Heterogeneous Memory Attributes)

The Heterogeneous Memory Attributes Table (HMAT) defined in Section 5.2.27 provides
Heterogeneous Memory Attributes. Dynamic runtime reconfiguration of the system may cause
proximities domains or memory attributes to change. If the “Reservation Hint” is set, new HMAT
update shall not reset the “Reservation Hint” unless the memory range is removed.
_HMA is an optional object that enables the platform to provide the OS with updated Heterogeneous
Memory Attributes information at runtime. _HMA provides OSPM with the latest HMAT in entirety
overriding existing HMAT.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing entire HMAT.
Example ASL for _HMA usage:
Scope (\_SB) {
Device (Dev1) {
…
}
Device (Dev2) {
…
}
Method (_HMA, 0) {
Return (HMAD)
}
} // end of \_SB scope
6.3 Device Insertion, Removal, and Status Objects

The objects defined in this section provide mechanisms for handling dynamic insertion and removal
of devices and for determining device and notification processing status.
Device insertion and removal objects are also used for docking and undocking mobile platforms to
and from a peripheral expansion dock. These objects give information about whether or not devices
are present, which devices are physically in the same device (independent of which bus the devices
live on), and methods for controlling ejection or interlock mechanisms.

The system is more stable when removable devices have a software-controlled, VCR-style ejection
mechanism instead of a “surprise-style” ejection mechanism. In this system, the eject button for a
device does not immediately remove the device, but simply signals the operating system. OSPM
then shuts down the device, closes open files, unloads the driver, and sends a command to the
hardware to eject the device.
1. If the device is physically inserted while the system is in the working state (in other words, hot
insertion), the hardware generates a general-purpose event.
2. The control method servicing the event uses the Notify(device,0) command to inform OSPM of
the bus that the new device is on or the device object for the new device. If the Notify command
points to the device object for the new device, the control method must have changed the
device’s status returned by _STA to indicate that the device is now present. The performance of
this process can be optimized by having the object of the Notify as close as possible, in the
namespace hierarchy, to where the new device resides. The Notify command can also be used
from the _WAK control method (for more information about _WAK, see Section 7.4.5 “\_WAK
(System Wake)”) to indicate device changes that may have occurred while the system was
sleeping. For more information about the Notify command, see Section 5.6.3 “Device Object
Notification.”
3. OSPM uses the identification and configuration objects to identify, configure, and load a device
driver for the new device and any devices found below the device in the hierarchy.
4. If the device has a _LCK control method, OSPM may later run this control method to lock the
device.
The new device referred to in step 2 need not be a single device, but could be a whole tree of devices.
For example, it could point to the PCI-PCI bridge docking connector. OSPM will then load and
configure all devices it found below that bridge. The control method can also point to several
different devices in the hierarchy if the new devices do not all live under the same bus. (in other
words, more than one bus goes through the connector).
For removing devices, ACPI supports both hot removal (system is in the S0 state), and warm
removal (system is in a sleep state: S1-S4). This is done using the _EJx control methods. Devices
that can be ejected include an _EJx control method for each sleeping state the device supports (a
maximum of 2 _EJx objects can be listed). For example, hot removal devices would supply an _EJ0;
warm removal devices would use one of _EJ1-EJ4. These control methods are used to signal the
hardware when an eject is to occur.
The sequence of events for dynamically removing a device goes as follows:
1. The eject button is pressed and generates a general-purpose event. (If the system was in a
sleeping state, it should wake the system).
2. The control method for the event uses the Notify(device, 3) command to inform OSPM which
specific device the user has requested to eject. Notify does not need to be called for every device
that may be ejected, but for the top-level device. Any child devices in the hierarchy or any
ejection-dependent devices on this device (as described by _EJD, below) are automatically
removed.
3. The OS shuts down and unloads devices that will be removed.
4. If the device has a _LCK control method, OSPM runs this control method to unlock the device.
5. The OS looks to see what _EJx control methods are present for the device. If the removal event
will cause the system to switch to battery power (in other words, an undock) and the battery is
low, dead, or not present, OSPM uses the lowest supported sleep state _EJx listed; otherwise it

uses the highest state _EJx. Having made this decision, OSPM runs the appropriate _EJx control
method to prepare the hardware for eject.
6. Warm removal requires that the system be put in a sleep state. If the removal will be a warm
removal, OSPM puts the system in the appropriate Sx state. If the removal will be a hot removal,
OSPM skips to step 8, below.
7. For warm removal, the system is put in a sleep state. Hardware then uses any motors, and so on,
to eject the device. Immediately after ejection, the hardware transitions the system to S0. If the
system was sleeping when the eject notification came in, the OS returns the system to a sleeping
state consistent with the user’s wake settings.
8. OSPM calls _STA to determine if the eject successfully occurred. (In this case, control methods
do not need to use the Notify(device,3) command to tell OSPM of the change in _STA) If there
were any mechanical failures, _STA returns 3: device present and not functioning, and OSPM
informs the user of the problem.
Note: This mechanism is the same for removing a single device and for removing several devices, as in
an undock.
ACPI does not disallow surprise-style removal of devices; however, this type of removal is not
recommended because system and data integrity cannot be guaranteed when a surprise-style removal
occurs. Because the OS is not informed, its device drivers cannot save data buffers and it cannot stop
accesses to the device before the device is removed. To handle surprise-style removal, a general-
purpose event must be raised. Its associated control method must use the Notify command to
indicate which bus the device was removed from.
The device insertion and removal objects are listed in Table 6-202.
Table 6-202 Device Insertion, Removal, and Status Objects

Object Description
_EDL Object that evaluates to a package of namespace references of device objects that depend on
the device containing _EDL.
_EJD Object that evaluates to the name of a device object on which a device depends. Whenever the
named device is ejected, the dependent device must receive an ejection notification.
_EJx Control method that ejects a device.
_LCK Control method that locks or unlocks a device.
_OST Control method invoked by OSPM to convey processing status to the platform.
_RMV Object that indicates that the given device is removable.
_STA Control method that returns a device’s status.
6.3.1 _EDL (Eject Device List)

This object evaluates to a package of namespace references containing the names of device objects
that depend on the device under which the _EDL object is declared. This is primarily used to support
docking stations. Before the device under which the _EDL object is declared may be ejected, OSPM
prepares the devices listed in the _EDL object for physical removal.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of namespace references
Before OSPM ejects a device via the device’s _EJx methods, all dependent devices listed in the
package returned by _EDL are prepared for removal. Notice that _EJx methods under the dependent
devices are not executed.
When describing a platform that includes a docking station, an _EDL object is declared under the
docking station device. For example, if a mobile system can attach to two different types of docking
stations, _EDL is declared under both docking station devices and evaluates to the packaged list of
devices that must be ejected when the system is ejected from the docking station.
An ACPI-compliant OS evaluates the _EDL method just prior to ejecting the device.
6.3.2 _EJD (Ejection Dependent Device)

This object is used to specify the name of a device on which the device, under which this object is
declared, is dependent. This object is primarily used to support docking stations. Before the device
indicated by _EJD is ejected, OSPM will prepare the dependent device (in other words, the device
under which this object is declared) for removal.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A String containing the device name
_EJD is evaluated once when the ACPI table loads. The EJx methods of the device indicated by
_EJD will be used to eject all the dependent devices. A device’s dependents will be ejected when the
device itself is ejected.
Note: OSPM will not execute a dependent device’s _EJx methods when the device indicated by _EJD is
ejected.
When describing a platform that includes a docking station, usually more than one _EJD object will
be needed. For example, if a dock attaches both a PCI device and an ACPI-configured device to a
mobile system, then both the PCI device description package and the ACPI-configured device
description package must include an _EJD object that evaluates to the name of the docking station
(the name specified in an _ADR or _HID object in the docking station’s description package). Thus,
when the docking connector signals an eject request, OSPM first attempts to disable and unload the
drivers for both the PCI and ACPI configured devices.
Note: An ACPI 1.0 OS evaluates the _EJD methods only once during the table load process. This
greatly restricts a table designer’s freedom to describe dynamic dependencies such as those
created in scenarios with multiple docking stations. This restriction is illustrated in the example
below; the _EJD information supplied via and ACPI 1.0-compatible namespace omits the IDE2
device from DOCK2’s list of ejection dependencies. Starting in ACPI 2.0, OSPM is presented with
a more in-depth view of the ejection dependencies in a system by use of the _EDL methods.
Example
An example use of _EJD and _EDL is as follows:
Scope(\_SB.PCI0) {

Device(DOCK1) { // Pass through dock – DOCK1

Name(_ADR, …)
Method(_EJ0, 0) {…}
Method(_DCK, 1) {…}
Name(_BDN, …)
Method(_STA, 0) {0xF}
Name(_EDL, Package( ) { // DOCK1 has two dependent devices – IDE2 and CB2
\_SB.PCI0.IDE2,
\_SB.PCI0.CB2})
}
Device(DOCK2) { // Pass through dock – DOCK2
Name(_ADR, …)
Method(_EJ0, 0) {…}
Method(_DCK, 1) {…}
Name(_BDN, …)
Method(_STA, 0) {0x0}
Name(_EDL, Package( ) { // DOCK2 has one dependent device – IDE2
\_SB.PCI0.IDE2})
}
Device(IDE1) { // IDE Drive1 not dependent on the dock

Name(_ADR, …)
}
Device(IDE2) { // IDE Drive2

Name(_ADR, …)
Name(_EJD,”\\_SB.PCI0.DOCK1”) // Dependent on DOCK1
}
Device(CB2) { // CardBus Controller

Name(_ADR, …)
Name(_EJD,”\\_SB.PCI0.DOCK1”) // Dependent on DOCK1
}
} // end \_SB.PCIO
6.3.3 _EJx (Eject)

These control methods are optional and are supplied for devices that support a software-controlled
VCR-style ejection mechanism or that require an action be performed such as isolation of power/
data lines before the device can be removed from the system. To support warm (system is in a sleep
state) and hot (system is in S0) removal, an _EJx control method is listed for each sleep state from
which the device supports removal, where x is the sleeping state supported. For example, _EJ0
indicates the device supports hot removal; _EJ1–EJ4 indicate the device supports warm removal.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing a device ejection control
0 – Cancel a mark for ejection request (EJ0 will never be called with this value)
1 – Hot eject or mark for ejection
Return Value:
None
For hot removal, the device must be immediately ejected when OSPM calls the _EJ0 control
method. The _EJ0 control method does not return until ejection is complete. After calling _EJ0,
OSPM verifies the device no longer exists to determine if the eject succeeded. For _HID devices,

OSPM evaluates the _STA method. For _ADR devices, OSPM checks with the bus driver for that
device.
For warm removal, the _EJ1–_EJ4 control methods do not cause the device to be immediately
ejected. Instead, they set proprietary registers to prepare the hardware to eject when the system goes
into the given sleep state. The hardware ejects the device only after OSPM has put the system in a
sleep state by writing to the SLP_EN register. After the system resumes, OSPM calls _STA to
determine if the eject succeeded.
A device object may have multiple _EJx control methods. First, it lists an EJx control method for the
preferred sleeping state to eject the device. Optionally, the device may list an EJ4 control method to
be used when the system has no power (for example, no battery) after the eject. For example, a hot-
docking notebook might list _EJ0 and _EJ4.
6.3.4 _LCK (Lock)

This control method is optional and is required only for a device that supports a software-controlled
locking mechanism. When the OS invokes this control method, the associated device is to be locked
or unlocked based upon the value of the argument that is passed. On a lock request, the control
method must not complete until the device is completely locked.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing a device lock control
0 – Unlock the device
1 – Lock the device
Return Value:
None
When describing a platform, devices use either a _LCK control method or an _EJx control method
for a device.
6.3.5 _OST (OSPM Status Indication)

This object is an optional control method that is invoked by OSPM to indicate processing status to
the platform. During device ejection, device hot add, or other event processing, OSPM may need to
perform specific handshaking with the platform. OSPM may also need to indicate to the platform its
inability to complete a requested operation; for example, when a user presses an ejection button for a
device that is currently in use or is otherwise currently incapable of being ejected. In this case, the
processing of the ACPI Eject Request notification by OSPM fails. OSPM may indicate this failure
to the platform through the invocation of the _OST control method. As a result of the status
notification indicating ejection failure, the platform may take certain action including reissuing the
notification or perhaps turning on an appropriate indicator light to signal the failure to the user.

Arguments: (3)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the source event
Arg1 – An Integer containing the status code
Arg2 – A Buffer containing status information
Return Value:
None
Argument Information:
Arg0 – source_event: DWordConst
If the value of source_event is <= 0xFF, this argument is the ACPI notification value whose
processing generated the status indication. This is the value that was passed into the Notify operator.
If the value of source_event is 0x100 or greater then the OSPM status indication is a result of an
OSPM action as indicated in Table 6-203. For example, a value of 0x103 will be passed into _OST
for this argument upon the failure of a user interface invoked device ejection.
If OSPM is unable to identify the originating notification value, OSPM invokes _OST with a value
that contains all bits set (ones) for this parameter.
Arg1 – Status Code: DWordConst. OSPM indicates a notification value specific status. See Table 6-
204, Table 6-205, and Table 6-207 for status code descriptions.
Arg2 – A buffer containing detailed OSPM-specific information about the status indication. This
argument may be null.
Table 6-203 OST Source Event Codes

Source Event Code Description
0-0xFF Reserved for Notification Values
0x100 Operation System Shutdown Processing
0x101-0x102 Reserved
0x103 Ejection Processing
0x104-0x1FF Reserved
0x200 Insertion Processing
0x201-0xFFFFFFFF Reserved
Table 6-204 General Processing Status Codes

Status Code Description
0 Success
1 Non-specific failure
2 Unrecognized Notify Code
3-0x7F Reserved
0x80-0xFFFFFFFF Notification value specific status codes

Table 6-205 Operating System Shutdown Processing (Source Events : 0x100) Status Codes
0x80 OS Shutdown Request denied
0x81 OS Shutdown in progress
0x82 OS Shutdown completed
0x83 OS Graceful Shutdown not supported
6.3.5.1 Processing Sequence for Graceful Shutdown Request:

Following receipt of the Graceful Shutdown Request (see Table 5-162, value 0x81) the OS will be
responsible for responding with one of the following status codes:
• 0x80 (OS Shutdown Request denied) –This value will be sent if the OS is not capable of
performing a graceful shutdown.
• 0x81 (OS Shutdown in progress) – The OS has initiated the graceful shutdown procedure.
• 0x83 (OS Graceful Shutdown not supported) – The OS does not support the Graceful Shutdown
Request.
If the OS does initiate a graceful shutdown it should continue to generate the “OS Shutdown in
progress” message (_OST source event 0x100 status code 0x81) every 10 seconds. This functions as
a heartbeat so that the service which requested the graceful shutdown knows that the request is
currently being processed. The platform should assume that the OS shutdown is not proceeding if it
does not receive the “OS Shutdown in progress” message for 60 seconds.
When the graceful shutdown procedure has completed the OSPM will send the “OS Shutdown
completed” message and then transition the platform to the G2 “soft-off” power state.
Table 6-206 Ejection Request / Ejection Processing (Source Events: 0x03 and 0x103) Status
Codes
0x80 Device ejection not supported by OSPM
0x81 Device in use by application
0x82 Device Busy
0x83 Ejection dependency is busy or not supported for ejection by OSPM
0x84 Ejection is in progress (pending)

Table 6-207 Insertion Processing (Source Event: 0x200) Status Codes

0x80 Device insertion in progress (pending)
0x81 Device driver load failure
0x82 Device insertion not supported by OSPM
0x83-0x8F Reserved
0x90-0x9F Insertion failure – Resources Unavailable as described by the following bit encodings:
Bit [3] Bus or Segment Numbers
Bit [2] Interrupts
Bit [1] I/O
Bit [0] Memory
0xA0-0xFFFFFFFF Reserved
It is possible for the platform to issue multiple notifications to OSPM and for OSPM to process the
notifications asynchronously. As such, OSPM may invoke _OST for notifications independent of the
order the notification are conveyed by the platform or by software to OSPM.
The figure below provides and example event flow of device ejection on a platform employing the
_OST object.

User interacts with User Presses

OSPM to request Hardware Eject
device ejection Button
Platform generates GPE/SCI
Platform blinks OSPM evaluation of GPE

OSPM evaluates
Ejection Progress Status method generates
_OST(0x103,84,””)
Light Notify(device,3(eject))
OSPM Processes
Ejection Request
Application connections to device closed .
Platform turns off

OSPM evaluates
Ejection Progress
OS Ejection _OST(0x103,81,””)
No Light and turns on Done
Successful ? or
Ejection Failure
_OST(0x03,81,””)
Light
Yes
Evaluate _EJx
OSPM places
Platform ejection Platform wakeup
x = 0 in _EJx? No system into sleep
occurs occurs
state
Yes
Platform turns off

Ejection Progress Done
Light
Figure 6-39 Device Ejection Flow Example Using _OST

Note: To maintain compatibility with OSPM implementations of previous revisions of the ACPI
specification, the platform must not rely on OSPM’s evaluation of the _OST object for proper
platform operation.
Example ASL for _OST usage:

External (\_SB.PCI4, DeviceObj)
Scope(\_SB.PCI4) {
OperationRegion(LED1, SystemIO, 0x10C0, 0x20)
Field(LED1, AnyAcc, NoLock, Preserve)
{ // LED controls
S0LE, 1, // Slot 0 Ejection Progress LED
S0LF, 1, // Slot 0 Ejection Failure LED
S3LF, 1 // Slot 3 Ejection Failure LED
}
Device(SLT3) { // hot plug device

Name(_ADR, 0x000C0003)
Method(_OST, 3, Serialized) { // OS calls _OST with notify code 3 or 0x103
// and status codes 0x80-0x83
// to indicate a hot remove request failure.
// Status code 0x84 indicates an ejection
// request pending.
If(LEqual(Arg0,Ones)) // Unspecified event

{
// Perform generic event processing here
}
Switch(And(Arg0,0xFF)) // Mask to retain low byte

{
Case(0x03) // Ejection request
{
Switch(Arg1)
{
Case(Package(){0x80, 0x81, 0x82, 0x83})
{ // Ejection Failure for some reason
Store(Zero, ^^S3LE) // Turn off Ejection Progress LED
Store(One, ^^S3LF) // Turn on Ejection Failure LED
}
Case(0x84) // Eject request pending
{
Store(One, ^^S3LE) // Turn on Ejection Request LED
Store(Zero, ^^S3LF) // Turn off Ejection Failure LED
}
}
}
}
} // end _OST
Method(_EJ0, 1) // Successful ejection sequence

{
Store(Zero, ^^S3LE) // Turn off Ejection Progress LED
}
} // end SLT3

} // end scope \_SB.PCI4
Scope (\_GPE)
{
Method(_E13)
{
Store(One, \_SB.PCI4.S3LE) // Turn on ejection request LED
Notify(\_SB.PCI4.SLT3, 3) // Ejection request driven from GPE13
}
}
6.3.6 _RMV (Remove)

The optional _RMV object indicates to OSPM whether the device can be removed while the system
is in the working state and does not require any ACPI system firmware actions to be performed for
the device to be safely removed from the system (in other words, any device that only supports
surprise-style removal). Any such removable device that does not have _LCK or _EJx control
methods must have an _RMV object. This allows OSPM to indicate to the user that the device can be
removed and to provide a way for shutting down the device before removing it. OSPM will
transition the device into D3 before telling the user it is safe to remove the device.
This method is reevaluated after a device-check notification.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the device removal status
0 – The device cannot be removed
1 – The device can be removed
Note: Operating Systems implementing ACPI 1.0 interpret the presence of this object to mean that the
device is removable.
6.3.7 _STA (Status)

This object returns the current status of a device, which can be one of the following: enabled,
disabled, or removed.
OSPM evaluates the _STA object before it evaluates a device _INI method. The return values of the
Present and Functioning bits determines whether _INI should be evaluated and whether children of
the device should be enumerated and initialized. See Section 6.5.1, “_INI (Init)”.
If a device object describes a device that is not on an enumerable bus and the device object does not
have an _STA object, then OSPM assumes that the device is present, enabled, shown in the UI, and
functioning.
This method must not reference any operation regions that have not been declared available by a
_REG method.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
An Integer containing a device status bitmap:
Bit [0] – Set if the device is present.
Bit [1] – Set if the device is enabled and decoding its resources.
Bit [2] – Set if the device should be shown in the UI.
Bit [3] – Set if the device is functioning properly (cleared if device failed its diagnostics).
Bit [4] – Set if the battery is present.
Bits [31:5] – Reserved (must be cleared).

If bit [0] is cleared, then bit 1 must also be cleared (in other words, a device that is not present cannot
be enabled).
A device can only decode its hardware resources if both bits 0 and 1 are set. If the device is not
present (bit [0] cleared) or not enabled (bit [1] cleared), then the device must not decode its
resources.
If a device is present in the machine, but should not be displayed in OSPM user interface, bit 2 is
cleared. For example, a notebook could have joystick hardware (thus it is present and decoding its
resources), but the connector for plugging in the joystick requires a port replicator. If the port
replicator is not plugged in, the joystick should not appear in the UI, so bit [2] is cleared.
_STA may return bit 0 clear (not present) with bit [3] set (device is functional). This case is used to
indicate a valid device for which no device driver should be loaded (for example, a bridge device.)
Children of this device may be present and valid. OSPM should continue enumeration below a
device whose _STA returns this bit combination.
Bit [4] of _STA applies only to the Control Method Battery Device (PNP0C0A). For all other
devices, OSPM must ignore this bit.
If a device object (including the processor object) does not have an _STA object, then OSPM
assumes that all of the above bits are set (i.e., the device is present, enabled, shown in the UI, and
functioning).
6.4 Resource Data Types for ACPI

The _CRS, _PRS, and _SRS control methods use packages of resource descriptors to describe the
resource requirements of devices.
6.4.1 ASL Macros for Resource Descriptors

ASL includes some macros for creating resource descriptors. The ASL syntax for these macros is
defined in Section 19.6, “ASL Operator Reference”, along with the other ASL operators.
6.4.2 Small Resource Data Type

A small resource data type may be 2 to 8 bytes in size and adheres to the following format:

Table 6-208 Small Resource Data Type Tag Bit Definitions

Offset Field
Byte 0 Tag Bit [7] Tag Bits [6:3] Tag Bits [2:0]
Type–0 (Small item) Small item name Length–n bytes
Bytes 1 to n Data bytes (Length 0 – 7)
The following small information items are currently defined for Plug and Play devices:
Table 6-209 Small Resource Items

Small Item Name Value
Reserved 0x00-0x03
IRQ Format Descriptor 0x04
DMA Format Descriptor 0x05
Start Dependent Functions Descriptor 0x06
End Dependent Functions Descriptor 0x07
I/O Port Descriptor 0x08
Fixed Location I/O Port Descriptor 0x09
Fixed DMA Descriptor 0x0A
Reserved 0x0B–0x0D
Vendor Defined Descriptor 0x0E
End Tag Descriptor 0x0F
6.4.2.1 IRQ Descriptor

Type 0, Small Item Name 0x4, Length = 2 or 3
The IRQ data structure indicates that the device uses an interrupt level and supplies a mask with bits
set indicating the levels implemented in this device. For standard PC-AT implementation there are
15 possible interrupts so a two-byte field is used. This structure is repeated for each separate
interrupt required.
Table 6-210 IRQ Descriptor Definition

Offset Field Name
Byte 0 Value = 0x22 or 0x23 (0010001nB) – Type = 0, Small item name = 0x4, Length = 2 or 3
Byte 1 IRQ mask bits[7:0], _INT
Bit [0] represents IRQ0, bit[1] is IRQ1, and so on.
Byte 2 IRQ mask bits[15:8], _INT
Bit [0] represents IRQ8, bit[1] is IRQ9, and so on.

Offset Field Name

Byte 3 IRQ Information. Each bit, when set, indicates this device is capable of driving a certain type of
interrupt. (Optional—if not included then assume edge sensitive, high true interrupts.) These bits
can be used both for reporting and setting IRQ resources.
Note: This descriptor is meant for describing interrupts that are connected to PIC-compatible
interrupt controllers, which can only be programmed for Active-High-Edge-Triggered or Active-
Low-Level-Triggered interrupts. Any other combination is invalid. The Extended Interrupt
Descriptor can be used to describe other combinations.
Bit [7:6] Reserved (must be 0)
Bit [5] Wake Capability, _WKC
0x0 = Not Wake Capable: This interrupt is not capable of waking the system.
0x1 = Wake Capable: This interrupt is capable of waking the system from a
low-power idle state or a system sleep state.
Bit [4] Interrupt Sharing, _SHR
0x0 = Exclusive: This interrupt is not shared with other devices.
0x1 = Shared: This interrupt is shared with other devices.
Bit [3] Interrupt Polarity, _LL
0 Active-High – This interrupt is sampled when the signal is high, or true
1 Active-Low – This interrupt is sampled when the signal is low, or false.
Bit [2:1] Ignored
Bit [0] Interrupt Mode, _HE
0 Level-Triggered – Interrupt is triggered in response to signal in a low state.
1 Edge-Triggered – Interrupt is triggered in response to a change in signal state from
low to high.
Note: Low true, level sensitive interrupts may be electrically shared, but the process of how this might
work is beyond the scope of this specification.
Note: If byte 3 is not included, High true, edge sensitive, non-shareable is assumed.
See Section 19.6.66, “IRQ (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro),” and Section 19.6.67,
“IRQNoFlags (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro),” for a description of the ASL macros that
create an IRQ descriptor.
6.4.2.2 DMA Descriptor

Type 0, Small Item Name 0x5, Length = 2
The DMA data structure indicates that the device uses a DMA channel and supplies a mask with bits
set indicating the channels actually implemented in this device. This structure is repeated for each
separate channel required.
Table 6-211 DMA Descriptor Definition

Offset Field Name
Byte 0 Value = 0x2A (00101010B) – Type = 0, Small item name = 0x5, Length = 2
Byte 1 DMA channel mask bits [7:0] (channels 0 – 7), _DMA
Bit [0] is channel 0, etc.

Offset Field Name

Byte 2 Bit [7] Reserved (must be 0)
Bits [6:5] DMA channel speed supported, _TYP
00 Indicates compatibility mode
01 Indicates Type A DMA as described in the EISA
10 Indicates Type B DMA
11 Indicates Type F
Bits [4:3] Ignored
Bit [2] Logical device bus master status, _BM
0 Logical device is not a bus master
1 Logical device is a bus master
Bits [1:0] DMA transfer type preference, _SIZ
00 8-bit only 
01 8- and 16-bit
10 16-bit only
11 Reserved
See Section 19.6.32, “DMA (DMA Resource Descriptor Macro),” for a description of the ASL
macro that creates a DMA descriptor.
6.4.2.3 Start Dependent Functions Descriptor

Type 0, Small Item Name 0x6, Length = 0 or 1
Each logical device requires a set of resources. This set of resources may have interdependencies
that need to be expressed to allow arbitration software to make resource allocation decisions about
the logical device. Dependent functions are used to express these interdependencies. The data
structure definitions for dependent functions are shown here. For a detailed description of the use of
dependent functions refer to the next section.
Table 6-212 Start Dependent Functions Descriptor Definition

Offset Field Name
Byte 0 Value = 0x30 or 0x31 (0011000nB) – Type = 0, small item name = 0x6, Length = 0 or 1
Start Dependent Function fields may be of length 0 or 1 bytes. The extra byte is optionally used to
denote the compatibility or performance/robustness priority for the resource group following the
Start DF tag. The compatibility priority is a ranking of configurations for compatibility with legacy
operating systems. This is the same as the priority used in the PNPBIOS interface. For example, for
compatibility reasons, the preferred configuration for COM1 is IRQ4, I/O 3F8-3FF. The
performance/robustness performance is a ranking of configurations for performance and robustness
reasons. For example, a device may have a high-performance, bus mastering configuration that may
not be supported by legacy operating systems. The bus-mastering configuration would have the
highest performance/robustness priority while its polled I/O mode might have the highest
compatibility priority.
If the Priority byte is not included, this indicates the dependent function priority is ‘acceptable’. This
byte is defined as:

Table 6-213 Start Dependent Function Priority Byte Definition

Bits Definition
1:0 Compatibility priority. Acceptable values are:
0 Good configuration: Highest Priority and preferred configuration
1 Acceptable configuration: Lower Priority but acceptable configuration
2 Sub-optimal configuration: Functional configuration but not optimal
3 Reserved
3:2 Performance/robustness. Acceptable values are:
0 Good configuration: Highest Priority and preferred configuration
1 Acceptable configuration: Lower Priority but acceptable configuration
2 Sub-optimal configuration: Functional configuration but not optimal
3 Reserved
Notice that if multiple Dependent Functions have the same priority, they are further prioritized by
the order in which they appear in the resource data structure. The Dependent Function that appears
earliest (nearest the beginning) in the structure has the highest priority, and so on.
See Section 19.6.129, “StartDependentFn (Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor Macro),”
for a description of the ASL macro that creates a Start Dependent Function descriptor.
6.4.2.4 End Dependent Functions Descriptor

Only one End Dependent Function item is allowed per logical device. This enforces the fact that
Dependent Functions cannot be nested.
Table 6-214 End Dependent Functions Descriptor Definition

Offset Field Name
Byte 0 Value = 0x38 (00111000B) – Type = 0, Small item name = 0x7, Length =0
See Section 19.6.39, “EndDependentFn (End Dependent Function Resource Descriptor Macro,” for
a description of the ASL macro that creates an End Dependent Functions descriptor.
6.4.2.5 I/O Port Descriptor

There are two types of descriptors for I/O ranges. The first descriptor is a full function descriptor for
programmable devices. The second descriptor is a minimal descriptor for old ISA cards with fixed I/
O requirements that use a 10-bit ISA address decode. The first type descriptor can also be used to
describe fixed I/O requirements for ISA cards that require a 16-bit address decode. This is
accomplished by setting the range minimum base address and range maximum base address to the
same fixed I/O value.

Table 6-215 I/O Port Descriptor Definition

Offset Field Name Definition
Byte 0 I/O Port Descriptor Value = 0x47 (01000111B) –
Type = 0, Small item name = 0x8, Length = 7
Byte 1 Information Bits [7:1] Reserved and must be 0
Bit [0] (_DEC)
1 The logical device decodes 16-bit addresses
0 The logical device only decodes address bits[9:0]
Byte 2 Range minimum base Address bits [7:0] of the minimum base I/O address that the card may
address, _MIN bits[7:0] be configured for.
Byte 3 Range minimum base Address bits [15:8] of the minimum base I/O address that the card
address, _MIN bits[15:8] may be configured for.
Byte 4 Range maximum base Address bits [7:0] of the maximum base I/O address that the card may
address, _MAX bits[7:0] be configured for.
Byte 5 Range maximum base Address bits [15:8] of the maximum base I/O address that the card
address, _MAX bits[15:8] may be configured for.
Byte 6 Base alignment, _ALN Alignment for minimum base address, increment in 1-byte blocks.
Byte 7 Range length, _LEN The number of contiguous I/O ports requested.
See Section 19.6.65, “IO (IO Resource Descriptor Macro,” for a description of the ASL macro that
creates an I/O Port descriptor.
6.4.2.6 Fixed Location I/O Port Descriptor

This descriptor is used to describe 10-bit I/O locations.
Table 6-216 Fixed-Location I/O Port Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 Fixed Location I/O Port Value = 0x4B (01001011B) – 
Descriptor Type = 0, Small item name = 0x9, Length = 3
Byte 1 Range base address, Address bits [7:0] of the base I/O address that the card may be
_BAS bits[7:0] configured for. This descriptor assumes a 10-bit ISA address decode.
Byte 2 Range base address, Address bits [9:8] of the base I/O address that the card may be
_BAS bits[9:8] configured for. This descriptor assumes a 10-bit ISA address decode.
Byte 3 Range length, _LEN The number of contiguous I/O ports requested.
See Section 19.6.50, “FixedIO (Fixed I/O Resource Descriptor Macro,” for a description of the ASL
macro that creates a Fixed I/O Port descriptor.

6.4.2.7 Fixed DMA Descriptor

Type 0, Small Item Name 0xA, Length = 5
The Fixed DMA descriptor provides a means for platforms to statically assign DMA request lines
and channels to devices connected to a shared DMA controller. This descriptor differs from the
DMA descriptor in that it supports many more DMA request lines and DMA controller channels, as
well as a flexible mapping between the two. The width of the bus used for transfers to the device is
also provided. This structure is repeated for each separate request line/channel pair required, and can
only be used in the _CRS object. (Dynamic arbitration of Fixed DMA resource is not supported.)
Table 6-217 Fixed DMA Resource Descriptor

Offset Field Name
Byte 0 Value = 0x55 (01010101B) – Type = 0, Small item name = 0xA, Length = 0x5
Byte 1 DMA Request Line bits [7:0] _DMA[7:0]. A platform-relative number uniquely identifying the
request line assigned. Request line-to-Controller mapping is done in a controller-specific OS
driver.
Byte 2 DMA Request Line bits [15:8] _DMA[15:8]
Byte 3 DMA Channel bits[7:0] _TYP[7:0]. A controller-relative number uniquely identifying the
controller’s logical channel assigned. Channel numbers can be shared by multiple request lines.
Byte 4 DMA Channel bits[15:8] _TYP[15:8]
Byte 5 DMA Transfer Width. _SIZ. Bus width that the device connected to this request line supports.
0x00 8-bit
0x01 16-bit
0x02 32-bit
0x03 64-bit
0x04 128-bit
0x05 256-bit
0x06-0xFF Reserved
6.4.2.8 Vendor-Defined Descriptor

Type 0, Small Item Name 0xE, Length = 1 to 7
The vendor defined resource data type is for vendor use.
Table 6-218 Vendor-Defined Resource Descriptor Definition

Offset Field Name
Byte 0 Value = 0x71 – 0x77 (01110nnnB) – Type = 0, small item name = 0xE, Length = 1–7
Byte 1 to 7 Vendor defined
See VendorShort (page 1006) for a description of the ASL macro that creates a short vendor-defined
resource descriptor.

6.4.2.9 End Tag

Type 0, Small Item Name 0xF, Length = 1
The End tag identifies an end of resource data.
Note: If the checksum field is zero, the resource data is treated as if the checksum operation
succeeded. Configuration proceeds normally.
Table 6-219 End Tag Definition

Offset Field Name
Byte 0 Value = 0x79 (01111001B) – Type = 0, Small item name = 0xF, Length = 1
Byte 1 Checksum covering all resource data after the serial identifier. This checksum is generated
such that adding it to the sum of all the data bytes will produce a zero sum.
The End Tag is automatically generated by the ASL compiler at the end of the ResourceTemplate
statement.
6.4.3 Large Resource Data Type

To allow for larger amounts of data to be included in the configuration data structure the large
format is shown below. This includes a 16-bit length field allowing up to 64 KB of data.
Table 6-220 Large Resource Data Type Tag Bit Definitions

Offset Field Name
Byte 0 Value = 1xxxxxxxB – Type = 1 (Large item), Large item name = xxxxxxxB
Byte 1 Length of data items bits[7:0]
Byte 2 Length of data items bits[15:8]
Bytes 3 to Actual data items
(Length + 2)
The following large information items are currently defined:
Table 6-221 Large Resource Items

Large Item Name Value
Reserved 0x00
24-Bit Memory Range Descriptor 0x01
Generic Register Descriptor 0x02
Reserved 0x03
Vendor-Defined Descriptor 0x04
32-Bit Memory Range Descriptor 0x05
32-Bit Fixed Memory Range Descriptor 0x06
Address Space Resource Descriptors 0x07
Word Address Space Descriptor 0x08

Large Item Name Value

Extended Interrupt Descriptor 0x09
QWord Address Space Descriptor 0x0A
Extended Address Space Descriptor 0x0B
GPIO Connection Descriptor 0x0C
Pin Function Descriptor 0x0D
GenericSerialBus Connection Descriptors 0x0E
Pin Configuration Descriptor 0x0F
Pin Group Descriptor 0x10
Pin Group Function Descriptor 0x11
Pin Group Configuration Descriptor 0x12
Reserved 0x13 – 0x7F
6.4.3.1 24-Bit Memory Range Descriptor

Type 1, Large Item Value 0x1
The 24-bit memory range descriptor describes a device’s memory range resources within a 24-bit
address space
Table 6-222 24-bit Memory Range Descriptor Definition.

Offset Field Name, ASL Field Definition
Name
Byte 0 24-bit Memory Range Value = 0x81 (10000001B) – Type = 1, Large item name = 0x01
Descriptor
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Value = 0x09 (9)
Byte 2 Length, bits[15:8] Value = 0x00
Byte 3 Information This field provides extra information about this memory.
Bit [7:1] Ignored
Bit [0] Write status, _RW
1 writeable (read/write)
0 non-writeable (read-only)
Byte 4 Range minimum base Address bits [15:8] of the minimum base memory address for
address, _MIN, bits[7:0] which the card may be configured.
Byte 5 Range minimum base Address bits [23:16] of the minimum base memory address for
address, _MIN, bits[15:8] which the card may be configured
Byte 6 Range maximum base Address bits [15:8] of the maximum base memory address for
address, _MAX, bits[7:0] which the card may be configured.
Byte 7 Range maximum base Address bits [23:16] of the maximum base memory address for
address, _MAX, bits[15:8] which the card may be configured
Byte 8 Base alignment, _ALN, This field contains the lower eight bits of the base alignment. The
bits[7:0] base alignment provides the increment for the minimum base
address. (0x0000 = 64 KB)

Offset Field Name, ASL Field Definition

Name
Byte 9 Base alignment, _ALN, This field contains the upper eight bits of the base alignment. The
bits[15:8] base alignment provides the increment for the minimum base
address. (0x0000 = 64 KB)
Byte 10 Range length, _LEN, This field contains the lower eight bits of the memory range length.
bits[7:0] The range length provides the length of the memory range in 256
byte blocks.
Byte 11 Range length, _LEN, This field contains the upper eight bits of the memory range length.
bits[15:8] The range length field provides the length of the memory range in
256 byte blocks.
Note: Address bits [7:0] of memory base addresses are assumed to be 0.

Note: A Memory range descriptor can be used to describe a fixed memory address by setting the range
minimum base address and the range maximum base address to the same value.
Note: 24-bit Memory Range descriptors are used for legacy devices.
Note: Mixing of 24-bit and 32-bit memory descriptors on the same device is not allowed.
See Section 19.6.81, “Memory24 (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro),” for a description of the
ASL macro that creates a 24-bit Memory descriptor.
6.4.3.2 Vendor-Defined Descriptor

The vendor defined resource data type is for vendor use.
Table 6-223 Large Vendor-Defined Resource Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 Vendor Defined Descriptor Value = 0x84 (10000100B) – Type = 1, Large item name
= 0x04
Byte 1 Length, bits [7:0] Lower eight bits of data length (UUID and vendor data)
Byte 2 Length, bits [15:8] Upper eight bits of data length (UUID and vendor data)
Byte 3 UUID specific descriptor sub type UUID specific descriptor sub type value
Byte 4-19 UUID UUID Value
Byte 20- Vendor Defined Data Vendor defined data bytes
(Length+20)
This specification (ACPI) defines the UUID specific descriptor subtype field and the UUID field to
address potential collision of the use of this descriptor. It is strongly recommended that all newly
defined vendor descriptors use these fields prior to Vendor Defined Data.
See VendorLong (page 1006) for a description of the ASL macro that creates a long vendor-defined

6.4.3.3 32-Bit Memory Range Descriptor

This memory range descriptor describes a device’s memory resources within a 32-bit address space.
Table 6-224 32-Bit Memory Range Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 32-bit Memory Range Descriptor Value = 0x85 (10000101B) – Type = 1, Large item name =
0x05
Byte 1 Length, bits [7:0] Value = 0x11 (17)
Byte 2 Length, bits [15:8] Value = 0x00
Bit [7:1] Ignored
0 non-writeable (read-only)
Byte 4 Range minimum base address, Address bits [7:0] of the minimum base memory address for
_MIN, bits [7:0] which the card may be configured.
Byte 8 Range maximum base address, Address bits [7:0] of the maximum base memory address for
_MAX, bits [7:0] which the card may be configured.
Byte 9 Range maximum base address, Address bits [15:8] of the maximum base memory address for
_MAX, bits [15:8] which the card may be configured.
Byte Range maximum base address, Address bits [23:16] of the maximum base memory address
10 _MAX, bits [23:16] for which the card may be configured.
Byte Range maximum base address, Address bits [31:24] of the maximum base memory address
11 _MAX, bits [31:24] for which the card may be configured.
Byte Base alignment, _ALN bits [7:0] This field contains bits [7:0] of the base alignment. The base
12 alignment provides the increment for the minimum base
address.
Byte Base alignment, _ALN bits [15:8] This field contains bits [15:8] of the base alignment. The base
13 alignment provides the increment for the minimum base
address.
Byte Base alignment, _ALN bits This field contains bits [23:16] of the base alignment. The
14 [23:16] base alignment provides the increment for the minimum base
address.
Byte Base alignment, _ALN bits This field contains bits [31:24] of the base alignment. The
15 [31:24] base alignment provides the increment for the minimum base
address.


Byte Range length, _LEN bits [7:0] This field contains bits [7:0] of the memory range length. The
16 range length provides the length of the memory range in 1-
byte blocks.
Byte Range length, _LEN bits [15:8] This field contains bits [15:8] of the memory range length. The
17 range length provides the length of the memory range in 1-
byte blocks.
Byte Range length, _LEN bits [23:16] This field contains Bits [23:16] of the memory range length.
18 The range length provides the length of the memory range in
1-byte blocks.
Byte Range length, _LEN bits [31:24] This field contains Bits [31:24] of the memory range length.
19 The range length provides the length of the memory range in
1-byte blocks.
See Section 19.6.82, “Memory32 (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro),” for a description of the
ASL macro that creates a 32-bit Memory descriptor.
6.4.3.4 32-Bit Fixed Memory Range Descriptor

This memory range descriptor describes a device’s memory resources within a 32-bit address space.
Table 6-225 32-bit Fixed-Location Memory Range Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 32-bit Fixed Memory Value = 0x86 (10000110B) – Type = 1, Large item name = 0x06
Range Descriptor
Byte 1 Length, bits [7:0] Value = 0x09 (9)
Byte 2 Length, bits [15:8] Value = 0x00
Bit [7:1] Ignored
0 non-writeable (read-only))
Byte 4 Range base address, Address bits [7:0] of the base memory address for which the card may
_BAS bits [7:0] be configured.
Byte 5 Range base address, Address bits [15:8] of the base memory address for which the card may
_BAS bits [15:8] be configured.
Byte 6 Range base address, Address bits [23:16] of the base memory address for which the card
_BAS bits [23:16] may be configured.
Byte 7 Range base address, Address bits [31:24] of the base memory address for which the card
_BAS bits [31:24] may be configured.
Byte 8 Range length, _LEN bits This field contains bits [7:0] of the memory range length. The range
[7:0] length provides the length of the memory range in 1-byte blocks.


Byte 9 Range length, _LEN This field contains bits [15:8] of the memory range length. The range
bits[15:8] length provides the length of the memory range in 1-byte blocks.
Byte Range length, _LEN bits This field contains bits [23:16] of the memory range length. The range
10 [23:16] length provides the length of the memory range in 1-byte blocks.
Byte Range length, _LEN bits This field contains bits [31:24] of the memory range length. The range
11 [31:24] length provides the length of the memory range in 1-byte blocks.
See Section 19.6.83, “Memory32Fixed (Memory Resource Descriptor),” for a description of the
ASL macro that creates a 32-bit Fixed Memory descriptor.
6.4.3.5 Address Space Resource Descriptors

The QWORD, DWORD, WORD, and Extended Address Space Descriptors are general-purpose
structures for describing a variety of types of resources. These resources also include support for
advanced server architectures (such as multiple root buses), and resource types found on some RISC
processors. These descriptors can describe various kinds of resources. The following table defines
the valid combination of each field and how they should be interpreted.
Table 6-226 Valid combination of Address Space Descriptors fields

_LEN _MIF _MAF Definition
0 0 0 Variable size, variable location resource descriptor for _PRS.
0 0 1 If _MIF is set, _MIN must be a multiple of (_GRA+1). If _MAF is set, _MAX must be
(a multiple of (_GRA+1))-1.
0 1 0
OS can pick the resource range that satisfies following conditions:
If _MIF is not set, start address is a multiple of (_GRA+1) and greater or equal to
_MIN. Otherwise, start address is _MIN.
If _MAF is not set, end address is (a multiple of (_GRA+1))-1 and less or equal to
_MAX. Otherwise, end address is _MAX.
0 1 1 (Invalid combination)
>0 0 0 Fixed size, variable location resource descriptor for _PRS.
_LEN must be a multiple of (_GRA+1).
OS can pick the resource range that satisfies following conditions:
Start address is a multiple of (_GRA+1) and greater or equal to _MIN.
End address is (start address+_LEN-1) and less or equal to _MAX.
>0 0 1 (Invalid combination)
>0 1 0 (Invalid combination)
>0 1 1 Fixed size, fixed location resource descriptor.
_GRA must be 0 and _LEN must be (_MAX - _MIN +1).

6.4.3.5.1 QWord Address Space Descriptor

Type 1, Large Item Value 0xA
The QWORD address space descriptor is used to report resource usage in a 64-bit address space
(like memory and I/O).
Table 6-227 QWORD Address Space Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 QWORD Address Space Value = 0x8A (10001010B) – Type = 1, Large item name = 0x0A
Descriptor
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x2B (43)
Byte 2 Length, bits[15:8] Variable length, minimum value = 0x00
Byte 3 Resource Type Indicates which type of resource this descriptor describes. Defined
values are:
0 Memory range
1 I/O range
2 Bus number range
3–191 Reserved
192-255 Hardware Vendor Defined
Byte 4 General Flags Flags that are common to all resource types:
Bits [7:4] Reserved (must be 0)
Bit [3] Max Address Fixed, _MAF:
1 The specified maximum address is fixed
0 The specified maximum address is not fixed
and can be changed
Bit [2] Min Address Fixed,_MIF:
1 The specified minimum address is fixed
0 The specified minimum address is not fixed
and can be changed
Bit [1] Decode Type, _DEC:
1 This bridge subtractively decodes this address
(top level bridges only)
0 This bridge positively decodes this address
Bit [0] Ignored
Byte 5 Type Specific Flags Flags that are specific to each resource type. The meaning of the
flags in this field depends on the value of the Resource Type field
(see above).
Byte 6 Address space A set bit in this mask means that this bit is decoded. All bits less
granularity, _GRA bits[7:0] significant than the most significant set bit must be set. That is, the
value of the full Address Space Granularity field (all 64 bits) must
be a number (2n-1).
Byte 7 Address space
granularity, _GRA
bits[15:8]
granularity, _GRA
bits[23:16]


granularity, _GRA
bits[31:24]
granularity, _GRA
bits[39:32]
granularity, _GRA
bits[47:40]
granularity, _GRA
bits[55:48]
granularity, _GRA
bits[63:56]
Byte 14 Address range minimum, For bridges that translate addresses, this is the address space on
_MIN bits[7:0] the secondary side of the bridge.
Byte 15 Address range minimum,
_MIN bits[15:8]
_MIN bits[23:16]
_MIN bits[31:24]
_MIN bits[39:32]
_MIN bits[47:40]
_MIN bits[55:48]
_MIN bits[63:56]
Byte 22 Address range maximum, For bridges that translate addresses, this is the address space on
_MAX bits[7:0] the secondary side of the bridge.
Byte 23 Address range maximum,
_MAX bits[15:8]
_MAX bits[23:16]
_MAX bits[31:24]
_MAX bits[39:32] the secondary side of the bridge.
_MAX bits[47:40]


_MAX bits[55:48]
_MAX bits[63:56]
Byte 30 Address Translation For bridges that translate addresses across the bridge, this is the
offset, _TRA bits[7:0] offset that must be added to the address on the secondary side to
obtain the address on the primary side. Non-bridge devices must
list 0 for all Address Translation offset bits.
Byte 31 Address Translation

offset, _TRA bits[15:8]
Byte 38 Address length, _LEN
bits[7:0]
Byte 39 Address length, _LEN,
bits[15:8]
bits[23:16]
bits[31:24]
bits[39:32]
bits[47:40]
bits[55:48]
bits[63:56]
Byte 46 Resource Source Index Reserved. If platform specifies that “Interrupt ResourceSource
support” in the Platform-Wide OSC (bit 13 in Table 6-175), this field
must be zero.


String Resource Source (Optional) If present, the device that uses this descriptor consumes
its resources from the resources produced by the named device
object. If not present, the device consumes its resources out of a
global pool.
See QWordIO (page 981), QWordMemory (page 983) and ASL_QWordAddressSpace for a
description of the ASL macros that creates a QWORD Address Space descriptor.
6.4.3.5.2 DWord Address Space Descriptor

The DWORD address space descriptor is used to report resource usage in a 32-bit address space
(like memory and I/O).
Table 6-228 DWORD Address Space Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 DWORD Address Space Value = 0x87 (10000111B) – Type = 1, Large item name = 0x07
Descriptor
Byte 1 Length, bits [7:0] Variable: Value = 23 (minimum)
Byte 2 Length, bits [15:8] Variable: Value = 0 (minimum)
Byte 3 Resource Type Indicates which type of resource this descriptor describes. Defined
values are:
0 Memory range
1 I/O range
3–191 Reserved
and can be changed
and can be changed
Bit [0] Ignored
(see above).


Byte 6 Address space A set bit in this mask means that this bit is decoded. All bits less
granularity, _GRA significant than the most significant set bit must be set. (in other
bits[7:0] words, the value of the full Address Space Granularity field (all 32
bits) must be a number (2n-1).
granularity, _GRA
bits[15:8]
granularity, _GRA bits
[23:16]
granularity, _GRA bits
[31:24]
_MIN bits [7:0] the secondary side of the bridge.
_MIN bits [15:8]
_MIN bits [23:16]
_MIN bits [31:24]
_MAX bits [7:0] the secondary side of the bridge.
_MAX bits [15:8]
_MAX bits [23:16]
_MAX bits [31:24]
Byte 18 Address Translation For bridges that translate addresses across the bridge, this is the
offset, _TRA bits [7:0] offset that must be added to the address on the secondary side to
obtain the address on the primary side. Non-bridge devices must list
0 for all Address Translation offset bits.
offset, _TRA bits [15:8]
Byte 22 Address Length, _LEN,
bits [7:0]
bits [15:8]


bits [23:16]
bits [31:24]
Byte 26 Resource Source Index (Optional) Only present if Resource Source (below) is present. This
field gives an index to the specific resource descriptor that this
device consumes from in the current resource template for the
device object pointed to in Resource Source.
String Resource Source (Optional) If present, the device that uses this descriptor consumes
its resources from the resources produced by the named device
object. If not present, the device consumes its resources out of a
global pool.
If not present, the device consumes this resource from its
hierarchical parent.
See DWordIO (page 913), DWordMemory (page 915) and ASL_DWordAddressSpace for a
description of the ASL macro that creates a DWORD Address Space descriptor
6.4.3.5.3 Word Address Space Descriptor

The WORD address space descriptor is used to report resource usage in a 16-bit address space (like
memory and I/O).
Note: This descriptor is exactly the same as the DWORD descriptor specified in Table 6-214; the only
difference is that the address fields are 16 bits wide rather than 32 bits wide.
Table 6-229 WORD Address Space Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 WORD Address Space Value = 0x88 (10001000B) – Type = 1, Large item name = 0x08
Descriptor
Byte 1 Length, bits [7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x0D (13)
Byte 2 Length, bits [15:8] Variable length, minimum value = 0x00
Byte 3 Resource Type Indicates which type of resource this descriptor describes.
Defined values are:
0 Memory range
1 I/O range
3–191 Reserved


Byte 4 General Flags
Flags that are common to all resource types:
and can be changed
and can be changed
Bit [0] Ignored
(see above).
Byte 6 Address space granularity, A set bit in this mask means that this bit is decoded. All bits less
_GRA bits[7:0] significant than the most significant set bit must be set. (In other
words, the value of the full Address Space Granularity field (all 16
bits) must be a number (2n-1).
Byte 7 Address space granularity,
_GRA bits[15:8]
_MIN, bits [7:0] the secondary side of the bridge.

_MIN, bits [15:8]
_MAX, bits [7:0] the secondary side of the bridge.
_MAX, bits [15:8]
Byte 12 Address Translation offset, For bridges that translate addresses across the bridge, this is the
_TRA, bits [7:0] offset that must be added to the address on the secondary side to
obtain the address on the primary side. Non-bridge devices must
list 0 for all Address Translation offset bits.
Byte 13 Address Translation offset,
_TRA, bits [15:8]
Byte 14 Address Length, _LEN, bits
[7:0]
Byte 15 Address Length, _LEN, bits
[15:8]


Byte 16 Resource Source Index (Optional) Only present if Resource Source (below) is present.
This field gives an index to the specific resource descriptor that
this device consumes from in the current resource template for
the device object pointed to in Resource Source.
String Resource Source (Optional) If present, the device that uses this descriptor
consumes its resources from the resources produced by the
named device object. If not present, the device consumes its
resources out of a global pool. If not present, the device
consumes this resource from its hierarchical parent.
See WordIO (page 1009), WordBusNumber (page 1008) and ASL_WordAddressSpace for a
description of the ASL macros that create a Word address descriptor.
6.4.3.5.4 Extended Address Space Descriptor

Type 1, Large Item Value 0xB
The Extended Address Space descriptor is used to report resource usage in the address space (like
memory and I/O).
Table 6-230 Extended Address Space Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 Extended Address Space Value = 0x8B (10001011B) – Type = 1, Large item name = 0x0B
Descriptor
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Value = 0x35 (53)
Byte 3 Resource Type Indicates which type of resource this descriptor describes.
Defined values are:
0 Memory range
1 I/O range
3–191 Reserved


and can be changed
and can be changed
Bit [0] Consumer/Producer:
1–This device consumes this resource
0–This device produces and consumes this resource
(see above). For the Memory Resource Type, the definition is
defined in Section 6.4.3.5.5. For other Resource Types, refer to
the existing definitions for the Address Space Descriptors.
Byte 6 Revision ID Indicates the revision of the Extended Address Space descriptor.
For ACPI 3.0, this value is 1.
Byte 7 Reserved 0
Byte 8 Address space granularity, A set bit in this mask means that this bit is decoded. All bits less
_GRA bits[7:0] significant than the most significant set bit must be set. That is,
the value of the full Address Space Granularity field (all 64 bits)
must be a number (2n-1).
_GRA bits[15:8]
_GRA bits[23:16]
_GRA bits[31:24]
_GRA bits[39:32]
_GRA bits[47:40]
_GRA bits[55:48]
_GRA bits[63:56]
Byte 16 Address range minimum, For bridges that translate addresses, this is the address space
_MIN bits[7:0] on the secondary side of the bridge.


_MIN bits[15:8]
_MIN bits[23:16]
_MIN bits[31:24]
_MIN bits[39:32]
_MIN bits[47:40]
_MIN bits[55:48]
_MIN bits[63:56]
Byte 24 Address range maximum, For bridges that translate addresses, this is the address space
_MAX bits[7:0] on the secondary side of the bridge.
_MAX bits[15:8]
_MAX bits[23:16]
_MAX bits[31:24]
Byte 28 Address range maximum, For bridges that translate addresses, this is the address space
_MAX bits[39:32] on the secondary side of the bridge.
_MAX bits[47:40]
_MAX bits[55:48]
_MAX bits[63:56]
Byte 32 Address Translation offset, For bridges that translate addresses across the bridge, this is the
_TRA bits[7:0] offset that must be added to the address on the secondary side
to obtain the address on the primary side. Non-bridge devices
must list 0 for all Address Translation offset bits.
_TRA bits[15:8]
_TRA bits[23:16]
_TRA bits[31:24]
_TRA bits[39:32]
_TRA bits[47:40]


_TRA bits[55:48]
_TRA bits[63:56]
bits[7:0]
Byte 41 Address length, _LEN,
bits[15:8]
bits[23:16]
bits[31:24]
bits[39:32]
bits[47:40]
bits[55:48]
bits[63:56]
Byte 48 Type Specific Attribute, Attributes that are specific to each resource type. The meaning of
_ATT bits[7:0] the attributes in this field depends on the value of the Resource
Type field (see above). For the Memory Resource Type, the
definition is defined Section 6.4.3.5.4.1. For other Resource
Types, this field is reserved to 0.
Byte 49 Type Specific Attribute,
_ATT bits[15:8]
_ATT bits[23:16]
_ATT bits[31:24]
_ATT bits[39:32]
_ATT bits[47:40]
_ATT bits[55:48]
_ATT bits[63:56]
See Section 19.6.43, “ExtendedSpace (Extended Address Space Resource Descriptor Macro),” for a
description of the ASL macro that creates an Extended Address Space descriptor.

6.4.3.5.4.1 Type Specific Attributes

The meaning of the Type Specific Attributes field of the Extended Address Space Descriptor
depends on the value of the Resource Type field in the descriptor. When Resource Type = 0
(memory resource), the Type Specific Attributes field values are defined per Memory Attribute
Definitions in the UEFI Specification under section titled GetMemoryMap().
6.4.3.5.5 Resource Type Specific Flags

The meaning of the flags in the Type Specific Flags field of the Address Space Descriptors depends
on the value of the Resource Type field in the descriptor. The flags for each resource type are
defined in the following tables:
Table 6-231 Memory Resource Flag (Resource Type = 0) Definitions

Bits Meaning
Bit [5] Memory to I/O Translation, _TTP
1 TypeTranslation: This resource, which is memory on the secondary side of the bridge, is
I/O on the primary side of the bridge.
0 TypeStatic: This resource, which is memory on the secondary side of the bridge, is also
memory on the primary side of the bridge.
Bits [4:3] Memory attributes, _MTP.
These bits are only defined if this memory resource describes system RAM. For a definition of
the labels described here, see Section 15, “System Address Map Interfaces.”
0 AddressRangeMemory
1 AddressRangeReserved
2 AddressRangeACPI
3 AddressRangeNVS
Bits [2:1] Memory attributes, _MEM
0 The memory is non-cacheable.
1 The memory is cacheable.
2 The memory is cacheable and supports write combining.
3 The memory is cacheable and prefetchable.
(Notice: OSPM ignores this field in the Extended address space descriptor. Instead it uses the
Type Specific Attributes field to determine memory attributes)
1 This memory range is read-write.
0 This memory range is read-only.
Table 6-232 I/O Resource Flag (Resource Type = 1) Definitions

Bits Meaning

Bits Meaning
Bit [5] Sparse Translation, _TRS. This bit is only meaningful if Bit [4] is set.
1 SparseTranslation: The primary-side memory address of any specific I/O port within the
secondary-side range can be found using the following function.

address = (((port & 0xFFFc) << 10) || (port & 0xFFF)) + _TRA

In the address used to access the I/O port, bits[11:2] must be identical
to bits[21:12], this gives four bytes of I/O ports on each 4 KB page.
0 DenseTranslation: The primary-side memory address of any specific I/O port within the
secondary-side range can be found using the following function.

address = port + _TRA
Bit [4] I/O to Memory Translation, _TTP
1 TypeTranslation: This resource, which is I/O on the secondary side of the bridge, is
memory on the primary side of the bridge.
0 TypeStatic: This resource, which is I/O on the secondary side of the bridge, is also I/O
on the primary side of the bridge.
Bit [1:0] _RNG
3 Memory window covers the entire range
2 ISARangesOnly. This flag is for bridges on systems with multiple bridges. Setting this bit
means the memory window specified in this descriptor is limited to the ISA I/O addresses
that fall within the specified window. The ISA I/O ranges are: n000-n0FF, n400-n4FF,
n800-n8FF, nC00-nCFF. This bit can only be set for bridges entirely configured through
ACPI namespace.
1 NonISARangesOnly. This flag is for bridges on systems with multiple bridges. Setting this
bit means the memory window specified in this descriptor is limited to the non-ISA I/O
addresses that fall within the specified window. The non-ISA I/O ranges are: n100-n3FF,
n500-n7FF, n900-nBFF, nD00-nFFF. This bit can only be set for bridges entirely
configured through ACPI namespace.
0 Reserved
Table 6-233 Bus Number Range Resource Flag (Resource Type = 2) Definitions
Bits Meaning
6.4.3.6 Extended Interrupt Descriptor

The Extended Interrupt Descriptor is necessary to describe interrupt settings and possibilities for
systems that support interrupts above 15.
To specify multiple interrupt numbers, this descriptor allows vendors to list an array of possible
interrupt numbers, any one of which can be used.

Table 6-234 Extended Interrupt Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 Extended Interrupt Value = 0x89 (10001001B) – Type = 1, Large item name = 0x09
Descriptor
Byte 3 Interrupt Vector Interrupt Vector Information.
Flags Bit [7:5] Reserved (must be 0)
0x0 = Not Wake Capable: This interrupt is not capable of waking the
system.
0x1 = Wake Capable: This interrupt is capable of waking the
system from a low-power idle state or a system sleep state.
0x0 = Exclusive: This interrupt is not shared with other devices.
0x1 = Shared: This interrupt is shared with other devices.
Bit [2] Interrupt Polarity, _LL
0 Active-High: This interrupt is sampled when the signal is high,
or true.
1 Active-Low: This interrupt is sampled when the signal is low, or
false.
Bit [1] Interrupt Mode, _HE
0 Level-Triggered: Interrupt is triggered in response to the signal
being in either a high or low state.
1 Edge-Triggered: This interrupt is triggered in response to a
change in signal state, either high to low or low to high.
1 This device consumes this resource
0 This device produces this resource
Byte 4 Interrupt table Indicates the number of interrupt numbers that follow. When this descriptor
length is returned from _CRS, or when OSPM passes this descriptor to _SRS, this
field must be set to 1.
Byte Interrupt Number, Interrupt number
4n+5 _INT bits [7:0]
Byte Interrupt Number,
4n+6 _INT bits [15:8]
4n+7 _INT bits [23:16]
4n+8 _INT bits [31:24]
… … Additional interrupt numbers
Byte x Resource Source (Optional) Only present if Resource Source (below) is present. This field
Index gives an index to the specific resource descriptor that this device consumes
from in the current resource template for the device object pointed to in
Resource Source.


String Resource Source (Optional) If present, the device that uses this descriptor consumes its
resources from the resources produces by the named device object. If not
present, the device consumes its resources out of a global pool.
Note: Low true, level sensitive interrupts may be electrically shared, the process of how this might work
is beyond the scope of this specification.
If the OS is running using the 8259 interrupt model, only interrupt number values of 0-15 will be
used, and interrupt numbers greater than 15 will be ignored.
See Interrupt (page 944) for a description of the ASL macro that creates an Extended Interrupt
descriptor.
6.4.3.7 Generic Register Descriptor

The generic register descriptor describes the location of a fixed width register within any of the
ACPI-defined address spaces.
Table 6-235 Generic Register Descriptor Definition

Offset Field Name, ASL Field Name Definition
Byte 0 Generic Register Descriptor Value = 0x82 (10000010B) 
Type = 1, Large item name = 0x02
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Value = 0x0C (12)
Byte 3 Address Space ID, The address space where the data structure or
_ASI register exists. Defined values are:
0x00 System Memory
0x01 System I/O
0x02 PCI Configuration Space
0x03 Embedded Controller
0x04 SMBus
0x0A PCC
0x7F Functional Fixed Hardware
Byte 4 Register Bit Width, Indicates the register width in bits.
_RBW
Byte 5 Register Bit Offset, Indicates the offset to the start of the register in bits
_RBO from the Register Address.
Byte 6 Access Size, _ASZ Specifies access size.
0 - Undefined (legacy reasons)
1 - Byte access
2 - Word access
3 - Dword access
4 - QWord access
Byte 7 Register Address, _ADR bits[7:0] Register Address
Byte 8 Register Address, _ADR bits[15:8]

Offset Field Name, ASL Field Name Definition

See Register (page 987) for a description of the ASL macro that creates a Generic Register resource
descriptor.
6.4.3.8 Connection Descriptors

General-purpose I/O (GPIO) and Simple Peripheral Bus (SPB) controllers are hardware resources
provided in silicon solutions to enable flexible configuration of a broad range of system designs.
These controllers can provide input, output, interrupt and serial communication connections to
arbitrary devices in a system. The function to which one of these connections is put depends on the
specific device involved and the needs of the platform design. In order to support mobile platform
architectures, ACPI abstracts these connections as resources.
6.4.3.8.1 GPIO Connection Descriptor

Type 1, Large Item Name 0xC
The GPIO Connection Descriptor describes connections between GPIO controllers and peripheral
devices. Two types of GPIO connections can be described: IO connections and Interrupt
connections, distinguished by the GPIO Connection Type value in the descriptor. GPIO controllers
and the devices that connect to them may be located anywhere in the namespace, but the connection
must be described in the peripheral device's resource objects (PRS, _CRS, etc.).
Table 6-236 GPIO Connection Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 GPIO Value = 0x8C, (10001100B) – Type = 1, Large item name =
Connection 0x0C
Descriptor
Byte 1 Length, Variable length, minimum value = 0x16 + L (22 + length of the
bits[7:0] Resource Source Name string)
Byte 2 Length, Variable length, minimum value = 0x00
bits[15:8]
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision for the GPIO interrupt descriptor. This
value must be 1.
Byte 4 GPIO Indicates the type of the descriptor:
Connection 0x00 = Interrupt Connection
Type 0x01 = IO Connection
0x02 - 0xFF Reserved


Byte 5 General Flags, Flags.
bits [7:0] Bit [7:1] Reserved (must be 0)
0x0 = This device produces and consumes this resource
0x1 = This device consumes this resource
Byte 6 General Flags, Bit [15:8] Reserved (must be 0).
bits [15:8]


Byte 7 Interrupt and IO For Interrupt Connections:
Flags, bits [7:0] Bit [7:5] Reserved (must be 0)
0x0 = Not Wake Capable: This interrupt is not
capable of waking the system.
0x1 = Wake Capable: This interrupt is capable of
waking the system from a low-power idle state
or a system sleep state.
0x0 = Exclusive: This interrupt is not shared with
other devices.
0x1 = Shared: This interrupt is shared with other
devices.
Bit [2:1] Interrupt Polarity, _POL
0x0 = Active-High: This interrupt is sampled when the signal
is high, or true.
0x1 = Active-Low: This interrupt is sampled when the signal
is low, or false.
0x2 = Active-Both: This interrupt is sampled on both rising
and falling edges. Interrupt mode must be set to
Edge-triggered.
0x3 – Reserved (do not use)
Bit [0] Interrupt Mode, _MOD
0x0 = Level-Triggered: Interrupt is triggered in response to
the signal being in either a high or low state.
0x1 = Edge-Triggered: This interrupt is triggered in response
to a change in signal state, either high to low or
low to high.
For IO Connections:
Bit [3] IO Sharing, _SHR
0x0 = Exclusive: This IO connection is used exclusively by
one device.
0x1 = Shared: This IO connection is shared by two or more
devices.
Bit [2] Reserved (must be 0)
Bit [1:0] IO Restriction _IOR
0x0 = This pin or pins can be used for either Input or Output.
0x1 = This pin or pins can only be used for Input, and the
pin configuration must be preserved while not in use.
0x2 = This pin or pins can only be used for Output, and the
pin configuration must be preserved while not in use.
0x3 = This pin or pins can be used for either input or output,
but the configuration must be preserved until
explicitly changed.
Byte 8 Interrupt and IO Bit [15:8] Reserved (must be 0)
Flags, bits
[15:8]


Byte 9 Pin _PPI
Configuration 0x00 = Default Configuration (no configuration is applied)
0x01 = Pull-up
0x02 = Pull-down
0x03 = No Pull
0x04 – 0x7F ; Reserved (do not use)
0x80 – 0xFF ; Vendor-defined values
Byte 10 Output Drive The output-drive capability, in hundredths of milliamperes, to
Strength, bits be applied when configuring the pin for output (high byte).
[7:0] _DRS[7:0]
Byte 11 Output Drive The output-drive capability, in hundredths of milliamperes, to
Strength, bits be applied when configuring the pin for output (high byte).
[15:8] _DRS[15:8]
Byte 12 Debounce The debounce timeout, in hundredths of milliseconds, to be
timeout, bits applied when configuring the pin for interrupt (low byte).
[7:0] _DBT[7:0]
Byte 13 Debounce The debounce timeout, in hundredths of milliseconds, to be
timeout, bits applied when configuring the pin for interrupt (high byte).
[15:8] _DBT [15:8]
Byte 14 Pin Table Offset to the start of the pin table (low byte). The offset is
Offset[7:0] relative to the start of this descriptor.
NOTE: The number of pins in the table can be calculated from
PinCount = (Resource Source Name Offset – Pin Table
Offset) / 2
Byte 15 Pin Table Offset to the start of the pin table (high byte). The offset is
Offset[15:8] relative to the start of this descriptor.
Byte 16 Resource Reserved for future use. This field must be 0.
Source Index
Byte 17 Resource Offset to the start of the resource source name (low byte). The
Source Name offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.
Offset[7:0] NOTE: The length of the ResourceSource name string can be
calculated from Length L = Vendor Data Offset – Resource
Source Name Offset. The length includes the string’s
terminating NULL character (if present)
Byte 18 Resource Offset to the start of the resource source name (high byte).
Source Name The offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.
Offset[15:8]
Byte 19 Vendor Data (low byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined Data (the
Offset[7:0] last byte of the ResourceSource + 1). This value must always
be valid to allow for length calculations. In the case where
there is no Vendor Data, this offset still must refer to the last
byte of the ResourceSource + 1.
The offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.


Byte 20 Vendor Data (high byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined Data .(the
Offset[15:8] last byte of the ResourceSource + 1). This value must always
be valid to allow for length calculations. In the case where
there is no Vendor Data, this offset still must refer to the last
byte of the ResourceSource + 1.
The offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.
Byte 21 Vendor Data Length of Vendor-defined Data (low-byte).
Length [7:0]
Byte 22 Vendor Data Length of Vendor-defined Data (high-byte).
Length [15:8]
Byte Pin Number, GPIO controller-relative pin number (low byte). _PIN[7:0]. Pin
PinTableOffset[15:0] + bits [7:0] numbers are zero-based.
2n (n is the index into the Pin number 0xFFFF = No Pin. OSPM will ignore this pin
pin table) number.
Byte Pin Number, GPIO controller-relative pin number (high byte). _PIN[15:8].
PinTableOffset[15:0] + bits [15:8] Pin numbers are zero-based.
2n + 1 (n is the index into Pin number 0xFFFF = No Pin. OSPM will ignore this pin
the pin table) number.
Byte Resource Name of the GPIO controller device to which this descriptor
ResourceSourceNameO Source (length applies. The name can be a fully-qualified name, a relative
ffset[15:0] = L) name or a name segment that utilizes the namespace search
rules.
Byte Vendor-defined (Optional)
VendorDataOffset[15:0] Data Data specific to the GPIO controller device supplied by a
vendor. This data is provided to the device driver for this GPIO
Controller. _VEN.
6.4.3.8.2 GenericSerialBus Connection Descriptors

Type 1, Large Item Value 0x0E
All Serial Bus Resource descriptors utilize the following format. For specific bus types, the type-
specific fields are used.
Table 6-237 GenericSerialBus Connection Descriptors

Byte 0 Serial Bus Type Value = 0x8E (10001110B) – Type = 1, Large item name
= 0x0E
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x09 + L(9 +
ResourceSource string length)”
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision of the Serial Bus Connection

Descriptor. This value is 2.
Byte 4 Resource Source Index Reserved (must be 0)


Byte 5 Serial Bus Type Serial Bus Type 
Indicates which type of serial bus connection this

descriptor describes. Defined values are:
0
1
Reserved
I2C
2 SPI
3 UART
4-191 Reserved

Byte 6 General Flags [7:0] Flags that are common to all serial bus connection types.
Bits [7:3]
Reserved. Must be 0.
Bit [1]
Consumer/Producer:
0x1: This device consumes this resource
0x0: This device produces and consumes this
resource
Bit [2]
Connection Sharing, _SHR
0x0: Exclusive: This Serial Bus connection is used
exclusively by one device.
0x1: Shared: This Serial Bus connection is shared by
two or more devices.
Bit [0]
Slave Mode.
0x0: The communication over this connection is
initiated by the controller.
initiated by the device.
Byte 7 Type Specific Flags, bits[7:0] Flags specific to the indicated Serial Bus Type (see
above).
Byte 8 Type Specific Flags, Flags specific to the indicated Serial Bus Type (see
bits[15:8] above).
Byte 9 Type Specific Revision ID Revision ID for the data describing the serial bus
connection specified by Serial Bus Type (see above).
Byte 10 Type Data Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum size depends on the indicated
Serial Bus Type (see above).
Byte 11 Type Data Length, bits [15:8] Variable length, minimum size depends on the indicated
Serial Bus Type (see above).


Byte 12 Type Specific Data (Optional) Data specific to the serial bus connection type
indicated in Serial Bus Type (see above).
… … Additional data specific to the serial bus connection type.
String Resource Source Name of the serial bus controller device to which this
connection descriptor applies. The name can be a fully
qualified path, a relative path, or a simple name segment
that utilizes the namespace search rules.
6.4.3.8.2.1 I2C Serial Bus Connection Resource Descriptor
Table 6-238 I2C Serial Bus Connection Descriptor

Byte 0 I2C Bus Connection Value = 0x8E (10001110B) – Type = 1, Large item name
Descriptor = 0x0E
Byte 1 Length, bits [7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0xF + L (15 +
ResourceSource string length)
Byte 2 Length, bits [15:8] Variable, length minimum value = 0x00
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision for the I2C Resource Descriptor.
This value is 1.
Byte 5 Serial Bus Type Serial Bus Type value must be 1 for I2C
Bits [7:2]
Bit [1]
Consumer/Producer:
resource
Bit [0]
Slave Mode. _SLV
initiated by the controller.
initiated by the device.
Byte 7 Type Specific Flags, bits[7:0] Bits[7:1]
Bit [0]
10-bit addressing mode. _MOD
0x1: The connection uses 10-bit addressing
0x0: The connection uses 7-bit addressing.


Byte 8 Type Specific Flags, Reserved. Must be 0.
bits[15:8]
Byte 9 Type Specific Revision ID Indicates the revision of the I2C-specific Serial Bus
Connection Descriptor Data. This value is 1.
Byte 10 Type Data Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x6 (6).
Byte 11 Type Data Length, bits [15:8] Variable length, minimum size = 0x0 (0)
Byte 12 Connection Speed, bits [7:0] Connection speed bits [7:0] of the maximum speed in
hertz supported by this connection. _SPE[7:0]
Byte 13 Connection Speed, bits [15:8] Connection speed bits [15:8] of the maximum speed in
hertz supported by this connection. _SPE[15:8]
Byte 14 Connection Speed, bits Connection speed bits [23:16] of the maximum speed in
[23:16] hertz supported by this connection. _SPE[23:16]
Byte 15 Connection Speed, bits Connection speed bits [31:24] of the maximum speed in
[31:24] hertz supported by this connection. _SP[31:24]
Byte 16 Slave Address, bits [7:0] Lower eight bits of the I2C bus address for this
connection. _ADR[7:0]
Bit [7]
In 7-bit addressing mode this is reserved and must be 0.
In 10-bit addressing mode this is bit 7 of the address.
Bits [6:0]
The lowest 7 bits of the address. In 7-bit addressing
mode this represents the complete address.
Byte 17 Slave Address, bits[15:8] Upper eight bits of the I2C bus address for this
connection. The upper eight bits are to support 10-bit
addressing and should be set to 0 if 7-bit addressing is
being used. _ADR[15:8]
Bits [15:10]
Bits [9:8]
In 7-bit addressing mode these are reserved and must be
0. In 10-bit addressing mode these are the highest two
bits of the address.
Byte 18 Vendor-defined Data (Optional) Data specific to the controller device supplied
by a vendor. The number of bytes in this field is Type
Data Length – 6.
… … (Optional) Additional vendor supplied data.
String Resource Source (Length = Name of the serial bus controller device to which this
L) connection descriptor applies. The name can be a fully
qualified path, a relative path, or a simple name segment
that utilizes the namespace search rules

6.4.3.8.2.2 SPI Serial Bus Connection Resource Descriptor
Table 6-239 SPI Serial Bus Connection Descriptor

Byte 0 SPI Bus Connection Value = 0x8E (10001111B) – Type = 1, Large item name =
Descriptor 0x0E
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x12 + L (18 + Resource
Source string length)
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision of the Serial Bus Connection Descriptor.
This value is 1.
Byte 5 Serial Bus Type Serial Bus Type value must be 2 for SPI
Byte 6 General Flags[7:0] Flags that are common to all serial bus connection types.
Bits [7:2]
Bit [1]
Consumer/Producer:
0x0: This device produces and consumes this resource
Bit [0]
Slave Mode. _SLV
0x0: The communication over this connection is initiated by
the controller.
the device.
Byte 7 Type Specific Flags, Bits [7:2]
bits[7:0] Reserved (must be 0)
Bit [1]: Device Polarity. _DPL
1 – The device selection line is active high
0 – The device selection line is active low
Bit [0]: Wire Mode. _MOD
1 – The connection is over 3 wires
0 – The connection is over 4 wires
bits[15:8]
Byte 9 Type Specific Revision ID Indicates the revision of the SPI-specific Serial Bus
Connection Descriptor Data. This value must be 1.
Byte 10 Type Data Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x9 (9).
Byte 11 Type Data Length, bits Variable length, minimum size = 0x0 (0)
[15:8]
Byte 12 Connection Speed, bits Connection speed bits [7:0] of the maximum speed in hertz
[7:0] supported by this connection. _SPE[7:0]


Byte 16 Data Bit Length The size in bits of the smallest transfer unit. _LEN
Byte 17 Phase The phase (CPHA) of the clock pulse on which to capture data
(the other being used to transmit). _PHA
0 – First phase
1 – Second phase
Byte 18 Polarity The polarity of the clock (CPOL). This value indicates if the
clock is low or high during the first phase (see Phase above).
_POL
0 –Start Low
1 –Start High
Byte 19 Device Selection, bits [7:0] Lower eight bits of the device selection value. This value is
specific to the device and may refer to a chip-select line, GPIO
line or other line selection mechanism. _ADR[7:0]
Byte 20 Device Selection, bits Upper eight bits of the device selection value. This value is
[15:8] specific to the device and may refer to a chip-select line, GPIO
line or other line selection mechanism. _ADR[15:8]
Byte 21 Vendor Defined Data (Optional) Data specific to the controller device supplied by a
vendor. The number of bytes in this field is Type Data Length
– 9.
String Resource Source (Length Name of the serial bus controller device to which this
= L) connection descriptor applies. The name can be a fully
qualified path, a relative path, or a simple name segment that
utilizes the namespace search rules.
6.4.3.8.2.3 UART Serial Bus Connection Resource Descriptor
Table 6-240 UART Serial Bus Connection Descriptor

Byte 0 Serial Bus Connection Value = 0x8E (10001110B) – Type = 1, Large item name =
Descriptor 0x0E
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x13 + L (17 + Resource
Source string length)
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision of the Serial Bus Connection Descriptor.
This value is 1.


Byte 5 Serial Bus Type Serial Bus Type value must be 3 for UART
Bits [17:2]
Bit [1]
Consumer/Producer:
resource
Bit [0]
Slave Mode. _SLV
the controller.
the device.
Byte 7 Type Specific Flags, Bit [7] – Endian-ness. _END
bits[7:0] Little Endian = 0
Big Endian = 1
Bit [6:4] – Data bits. Number of bits per byte. _LEN
000B – 5 bits
001B – 6 bits
010B – 7 bits
011B – 8 bits
100B – 9 bits
Bits [3:2] – Stop Bits. Number of stop bits per character. _STB
00B (0) – none
01B (1) – 1
10B (2) – 1.5
11B (3) – 2
Bits [1:0] – Flow control. Indicates type of flow control for the
connection. _FLC
00B (0) – None
01B (1) – Hardware flow control
10B (2) – XON/XOFF
bits[15:8]
Byte 9 Type Specific Revision ID Indicates the revision of the UART-specific Serial Bus
Connection Descriptor Data. This value must be 1.
Byte 10 Type Data Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x0A (10).
Byte 11 Type Data Length, bits Variable length, minimum size = 0x0 (0)
[15:8]
Byte 12 Default Baud rate, bits[7:0] Default baud rate of connection, in bits-per-second.
_SPE[7:0]
Bits [7:0]


Byte 13 Default Baud rate, Default baud rate of connection, in bits-per-second.
bits[15:8] _SPE[15:8]
Bits [15:8]
bits[23:16] _SPE[23:16]
Bits [23:16]
bits[31:24] _SPE[31:24]
Bits [31:24].
Byte 16 Rx FIFO, bits[7:0] Maximum receive buffer, in bytes, supported by this
connection. _RXL[7:0]
Bits [7:0]
Byte 17 Rx FIFO, bits[15:8] Maximum receive buffer, in bytes, supported by this
connection. _RXL[15:8]
Bits [15:8]
Byte 18 Tx FIFO, bits[7:0] Maximum receive buffer, in bytes, supported by this
connection. _TXL[7;0]
Bits [7:0]
Byte 19 Tx FIFO, bits[15:8] Maximum receive buffer, in bytes, supported by this
connection. _TXL[15:8]
Bits [15:8]
Byte 20 Parity Parity. _PAR
None = 0x00
Even = 0x01
Odd = 0x02
Mark = 0x03
Space = 0x04
Byte 21 Serial Lines Enabled Serial lines enabled (Enabled = 1, Disabled = 0). _LIN
Bit [7] – Request to Send (RTS)
Bit [6] – Clear to Send (CTS)
Bit [5] – Data Terminal Ready (DTR)
Bit [4] – Data Set Ready (DSR)
Bit [3] – Ring Indicator (RI)
Bit [2] – Data Carrier Detect (DTD)
Bit [1] – Reserved. Must be 0.
Bit [0] – Reserved. Must be 0
Byte 22 Vendor Defined Data (Optional) Data specific to the controller device supplied by a
vendor. The number of bytes in this field is Type Data Length
– 10.
String Resource Source (Length Name of the serial bus controller device to which this
= L) connection descriptor applies. The name can be a fully
qualified path, a relative path, or a simple name segment that

6.4.3.9 Pin Function Descriptor
Table 6-241 Pin Function Description Definition
Byte Offset Field Name Description

Byte 0 Resource Identifier Value = 0x8D, (10001101B) – Type = 1, Large item
name = 0x0D
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x0F + L (15 +
length of the
Resource Source Name string)
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision for the Pin Function
Descriptor. This value is 1
Byte 4 Flags [7:0] Bit [7:1] - Reserved. Must be 0.
Bit [0] - IO Sharing, _SHR
0x0 = Exclusive: This function is used exclusively by
one device.
0x1 = Shared: This function is shared by two or
more devices.
Byte 5 Flags [15:8] Reserved. Must be 0.
Byte 6 Pin pull configuration Can be one of PullDefault, PullUp, PullDown,
PullNone or a vendor-supplied value in the range
128-255.
Byte 7 Function number (low The function number in which the pin is configured.
byte) This number is provider-specific.
Byte 8 Function number (high The function number in which the pin is configured.
byte) This number is provider-specific.
Byte 9 Pin table offset (low Offset to the start of the pin table (low byte). The
byte) offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.
Byte 10 Pin table offset (high Offset to the start of the pin table (high byte). The
Byte 11 Resource source index Reserved for future use. This field must be 0.
Byte 12 Resource source name Offset to the start of the resource source name (low
index (low byte) byte). The offset is relative to the start of this
descriptor.
Byte 13 Resource source name Offset to the start of the resource source name (high
index (high byte) byte). The offset is relative to the start of this
descriptor.
Byte 14 Vendor data offset (low (low byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined
byte) Data (the last byte of the ResourceSource + 1). This
value must always be valid to allow for length
calculations. In the case where there is no Vendor
Data, this offset still must refer to the last byte of the
ResourceSource + 1. The offset is relative to the
start of this descriptor.


Byte 15 Vendor data offset (high byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined
(high byte) Data (the last byte of the ResourceSource + 1). This
Byte 16 Vendor data length Length of Vendor-defined Data (low-byte).
(low byte)
Byte 17 Vendor data length Length of Vendor-defined Data (high-byte).
(high byte)
Byte PinTableOffset[15:0] + 2n (n is the Pin Number, Provider-relative pin number (high byte).
index into the pin table)Byte bits [15:8] _PIN[15:8]. Pin numbers are zero-based.
PinTableOffset[15:0] + 2n + 1 (n is the
index into the pin table)
Byte PinTableOffset[15:0] + 2n + 1 (n is Resource Source Name of the function config provider to which this
the index into the pin table) (length = L) descriptor applies. The name can be a fully-qualified
Byte ResourceSourceNameOffset[15:0] name, a relative name or a name segment that
utilizes the namespace search
Byte VendorDataOffset[15:0] Vendor-defined Data (Optional)
Data specific to the GPIO controller device supplied
by a vendor. This data is provided to the device
driver for this GPIO Controller. _VEN.
6.4.3.10 Pin Configuration Descriptor
Table 6-242 Pin Configuration Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 Resource Identifier Value = 0x8F, (10001111B) – Type = 1, Large item
name = 0x0F
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x13 + L (19 +
length of the
Resource Source Name string)
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision for the Function Configuration
Bit [1] - Consumer/Producer
resource
one device.
more devices.
Byte6 Pin Configuration Type, The pin configuration type (see Table 19-423).
_TYP


Byte 7 Pin Configuration The pin configuration value associated with the pin
Value, _VAL, bits [7:0] configuration type (see Table 19-423).
Value, _VAL, bits configuration type (see Table 19-423).
[15:8]
[23:16]
[31:24]
Byte 11 Pin Table Offset to the start of the pin table (low byte). The
Offset[7:0] offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.
Byte 12 Pin Table Offset to the start of the pin table (high byte). The
Offset[15:8] offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.
Source Index
Byte 14 Resource Offset to the start of the resource source name (low
Source Name byte). The offset is relative to the start of this
Offset[7:0] descriptor.
Byte 15 Resource Offset to the start of the resource source name (high
Byte 16 Vendor Data (low byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined
Offset[7:0] Data (the last byte of the ResourceSource + 1). This
Byte 17 Vendor Data (high byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined
Length [7:0]
Length [15:8]
Byte PinTableOffset[15:0] + 2n (n is the Pin Number, _PIN, Provider-relative pin number (low byte). Pin
index into the pin table) bits [7:0] numbers are zero-based.
Byte PinTableOffset[15:0] + 2n + 1 (n is Pin Number, _PIN, Provider-relative pin number (high byte). Pin
the index into the pin table) bits [15:8] numbers are zero-based.
Byte ResourceSourceNameOffset[15:0] Resource Source Name of the pin controller to which this descriptor
(length = L) applies. The name can be a fully-qualified name, a
relative name or a name segment that utilizes the
namespace search


Byte VendorDataOffset[15:0] Vendor-defined Data, (Optional)
_VEN Data specific to the pin controller device supplied by
a vendor. This data is provided to the device driver
for this pin controller.
6.4.3.11 Pin Group Descriptor
Table 6-243 Pin Group Descriptor Definition

Byte 0 Resource Identifier Value = 0x90, (10010000B) – Type = 1, Large item
name = 0x10
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x0B + L (11 +
length of the Resource Label)
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision for the Pin Group Descriptor.
This value is 1.
Byte 4 Flags [7:0] [7:1] Reserved. Must be 0.

resource
Byte 6 Pin table offset (low Offset to the start of the pin table (low byte). The
Byte 7 Pin table offset (high Offset to the start of the pin table (high byte). The
Byte 8 Resource label offset Offset to the start of the resource label (low byte).
(low byte) The offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.
The length of the resource label string can be
calculated from length L = Vendor data offset –
Resource label offset. The length includes the
string’s terminating
‘\0’ character.
Byte 9 Resource label offset Offset to the start of the resource label (high byte).
(high byte) The offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.
byte) Data (the last byte of the Resource label offset (high
byte) + 1). This value must always be valid to allow
for length calculations. In the case where there is no
Vendor Data, this offset still must refer to the last
byte of the Resource label offset (high byte) + 1. The
offset is relative to the start of this descriptor.
Byte11 Vendor data offset (high byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined
(high byte) Data (the last byte of the Pin table offset (high byte)
+ 1). This value must always be valid to allow for
length calculations. In the case where there is no
Vendor Data, this offset still must refer to the last
byte of the Pin table offset (high byte) + 1. The offset
is relative to the start of this descriptor.


(low byte)
(high byte)
Byte PinTableOffset[15:0] + 2n (n is the Pin Number, _PIN, Provider-relative pin number (low byte). Pin
index into the pin table) bits [7:0] numbers are zero-based.
Byte PinTableOffset[15:0] + 2n + 1 (n is Pin Number, _PIN, Provider-relative pin number (high byte). Pin
the index into the pin table) bits [15:8] numbers are zero-based.
Byte ResourceLabelOffset[15:0] Resource Label (length Label for the resource (string). Can be any non-
= L) empty string and is used by resource consumers to
refer to this resource by name. Always terminated by
‘\0’.
_VEN Data specific to the GPIO controller device supplied
driver for this GPIO Controller.
6.4.3.12 Pin Group Function Descriptor
Table 6-244 Pin Group Function Descriptor Definition

name = 0x11
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x0E + L1 + L2
(14 + length of the
Resource Source Name string + length of the
Resource Source Label string)
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision for the Pin Function

resource

0x0 = Exclusive: This function is used exclusively
by one device.
more devices.
Byte 6 Function number, The function number in which the pin is configured.
_FUN, (low byte) This number is provider-specific.
Byte 7 Function number, The function number in which the pin is configured.
_FUN, (high byte) This number is provider-specific.
Byte 8 Resource source index Reserved for future use. This field must be 0.


Byte 9 Resource source name Offset to the start of the resource source name (low
index (low byte) byte). The offset is relative to the start of this
descriptor.
Byte 10 Resource source name Offset to the start of the resource source name (high
index (high byte) byte). The offset is relative to the start of this
descriptor.
Byte 11 Resource source label Offset to the start of the Resource source label (low
offset (low byte) byte). The offset is relative to the start of this
descriptor.
The length of the resource source label string can be
calculated from length L2 = Vendor data offset –
Resource source label offset. The length includes
the string’s terminating ‘\0’ character.
Byte 12 Resource source label Offset to the start of the resource source label (high
offset (high byte) byte). The offset is relative to the start of this
descriptor.
byte) Data (the last byte of the ResourceSource + 1). This
Byte 14 Vendor data offset (high byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined
(high byte) Data (the last byte of the ResourceSource + 1). This
(low byte)
(high byte)
Byte ResourceSourceNameOffset[15:0] Resource Source Name of the function config provider to which this
(length = L1) descriptor applies. The name can be a fully-qualified
name, a relative name or a name segment that
utilizes the namespace search
Byte ResourceSourceLabelOffset[15:0] Resource Source Label This name refers to the PinGroup resource in the
(length = L2) current resource template buffer of the GPIO
controller. The PinGroup resource is matched by
comparing its ResourceLabel string to this field.
Always terminated by ‘\0’.
_VEN Data specific to the GPIO controller device supplied
driver for this GPIO Controller.

6.4.3.13 Pin Group Configuration Descriptor
Table 6-245 Pin Group Configuration Descriptor Description

name = 0x12
Byte 1 Length, bits[7:0] Variable length, minimum value = 0x11 + L1 + L2
(17 + length of the
Resource Source Name string + length of the
Resource Source Label string)
Byte 3 Revision ID Indicates the revision for the Function Configuration

resource

one device.
more devices.
Byte6 Pin Configuration Type, The pin configuration type (see Table 19-424).
_TYP
[23:16]
[31:24]
Source Index
Byte 12 Resource Offset to the start of the resource source name (low
Byte 13 Resource Offset to the start of the resource source name (high
Byte 14 Resource source label Offset to the start of the resource source label (low
offset (low byte) byte). The offset is relative to the start of this
descriptor.
The length of the resource source label string can be
calculated from length L2 = Vendor data offset –
Resource source label offset. The length includes
the string’s terminating ‘\0’ character.


Byte 15 Resource source label Offset to the start of the resource source label (high
offset (high byte) byte). The offset is relative to the start of this
descriptor.
Byte 16 Vendor Data (low byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined
Byte 17 Vendor Data (high byte) Offset to the start of the Vendor-defined
Length [7:0]
Length [15:8]
Byte ResourceSourceNameOffset[15:0] Resource Source Name of the pin controller to which this descriptor
(length = L1) applies. The name can be a fully-qualified name, a
relative name or a name segment that utilizes the
namespace search
Byte ResourceSourceLabelOffset[15:0] Resource Source Label This name refers to the PinGroup resource in
(length = L2) current resource template buffer of the GPIO
controller. The PinGroup resource is matched by
comparing its ResourceLabel string to this field.
Always terminated by ‘\0’.
_VEN Data specific to the pin controller device supplied by
a vendor. This data is provided to the device driver
for this pin controller.

6.5 Other Objects and Control Methods

Table 6-246 Other Objects and Methods
Object Description
_BBN PCI bus number set up by the platform boot firmware.
_BDN Correlates a docking station between ACPI and legacy interfaces.
_DCK Indicates that the device is a docking station.
_DEP Indicates device objects that OSPM should assign a higher priority in start ordering due to
future operation region accesses.
_FIT Object that evaluates to a buffer of NFIT Structures.
_GLK Indicates the Global Lock must be acquired when accessing a device.
_INI Device initialization method that is run shortly after ACPI has been enabled.
_LSI Label Storage Information – Returns information about the Label Storage Area associated
with the NVDIMM object, including its size.
_LSR Label Storage Read – Returns label data from the Label Storage Area of the NVDIMM
object.
_LSW Label Storage Write – Writes label data in to the Label Storage Area of the NVDIMM object.
_REG Notifies AML code of a change in the availability of an operation region.
_SEG Indicates a bus segment location.
6.5.1 _INI (Init)

_INI is a device initialization object that performs device specific initialization. This control method
is located under a device object and is run only when OSPM loads a description table. There are
restrictions related to when this method is called and governing writing code for this method. The
_INI method must only access Operation Regions that have been indicated to available as defined by
the _REG method. The _REG method is described in Section 6.5.4, “_REG (Region).” This control
method is run before _ADR, _CID, _HID, _SUN, and _UID are run.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
None
Before evaluating the _INI object, OSPM evaluates the _STA object for the device. If the _STA
object does not exist for the device, the device is assumed to be both present and functional. If the
_STA method indicates that the device is present, OSPM will evaluate the _INI for the device (if the
_INI method exists) and will examine each of the children of the device for _INI methods. If the
_STA method indicates that the device is not present and is not functional, OSPM will not run the
_INI and will not examine the children of the device for _INI methods. If the _STA object
evaluation indicates that the device is not present but is functional, OSPM will not evaluate the _INI
object, but will examine each of the children of the device for _INI objects (see the description of
_STA for the explanation of this special case.) If the device becomes present after the table has

already been loaded, OSPM will not evaluate the _INI method, nor examine the children for _INI
methods.
The OSPM performed _INI object actions based upon the _STA Present and Functional bits are
summarized in the table below.
Table 6-247 OSPM _INI Object Actions

_STA Present Bit _STA Functional Bit Actions
0 0 Do not run _INI, do not examine device children
0 1 Do not run _INI, examine device children
1 0 Run _INI, examine device children
1 1 Run _INI, examine device children
The _INI control method is generally used to switch devices out of a legacy operating mode. For
example, platform boot firmware often configures CardBus controllers in a legacy mode to support
legacy operating systems. Before enumerating the device with an ACPI operating system, the
CardBus controllers must be initialized to CardBus mode. For such systems, the vendor can include
an _INI control method under the CardBus controller to switch the device into CardBus mode.
In addition to device initialization, OSPM unconditionally evaluates an _INI object under the \_SB
namespace, if present, at the beginning of namespace initialization.
6.5.2 _DCK (Dock)

This control method is located in the device object that represents the docking station (that is, the
device object with all the _EJx control methods for the docking station). The presence of _DCK
indicates to the OS that the device is really a docking station.
_DCK also controls the isolation logic on the docking connector. This allows an OS to prepare for
docking before the bus is activated and devices appear on the bus.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing a docking action code
0 – Undock (isolate from connector)
1 – Dock (remove isolation from connector)
Return Value:
An Integer containing the docking status code
1 – Successful
0 – Failed
Note: When _DCK is called with 0, OSPM will ignore the return value. The _STA object that follows the
_EJx control method will notify whether or not the portable has been ejected.
6.5.3 _BDN (BIOS Dock Name)

_BDN is used to correlate a docking station reported via ACPI and the same docking station reported
via legacy interfaces. It is primarily used for upgrading over non-ACPI environments.

Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer that contains the EISA Dock ID
_BDN must appear under a device object that represents the dock, that is, the device object with
_Ejx methods. This object must return a DWORD that is the EISA-packed DockID returned by the
Plug and Play BIOS Function 5 (Get Docking Station Identifier) for a dock.
Note: If the machine does not support PNPBIOS, this object is not required.
6.5.4 _REG (Region)

The OS runs _REG control methods to inform AML code of a change in the availability of an
operation region. When an operation region handler is unavailable, AML cannot access data fields in
that region. (Operation region writes will be ignored and reads will return indeterminate data.)
Arguments: (2)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the Operation Region address space ID (See Section 5.5.2.4 and
Table 5-156.)
Arg1 – An Integer containing the handler connection code
0 – disconnect the handler
1 – connect the handler
Return Value:
None
Except for the cases shown below, control methods must assume all operation regions are
inaccessible until the _REG(RegionSpace, 1) method is executed. Once _REG has been executed for
a particular operation region, indicating that the operation region handler is ready, a control method
can access fields in the operation region. Conversely, control methods must not access fields in
operation regions when _REG method execution has not indicated that the operation region handler
is ready.
For example, until the Embedded Controller driver is ready, the control methods cannot access the
Embedded Controller. Once OSPM has run _REG(EmbeddedControl, 1), the control methods can
then access operation regions in Embedded Controller address space. Furthermore, if OSPM
executes _REG(EmbeddedControl, 0), control methods must stop accessing operation regions in the
Embedded Controller address space.
The exceptions for this rule are:
1. OSPM must guarantee that the following operation regions must always be accessible:
• PCI_Config operation regions on a PCI root bus containing a _BBN object.
• SystemIO operation regions.
• SystemMemory operation regions when accessing memory returned by the System Address
Map reporting interfaces.

2. OSPM must make Embedded Controller operation regions, accessed via the Embedded
Controllers described in ECDT, available before executing any control method. These operation
regions may become inaccessible after OSPM runs _REG(EmbeddedControl, 0).
Place _REG in the same scope as operation region declarations. The OS will run the _REG in a
given scope when the operation regions declared in that scope are available for use.
Example:
Scope(\_SB.PCI0) {
OperationRegion(OPR1, PCI_Config, ...)
Method(_REG, 2) {...} // OSPM executes this when PCIO operation region handler
// status changes
Device(PCI1) {
Method(2) {...}
Device(ETH0) {
OperationRegion(OPR2, PCI_Config, ...)
Method(_REG,2) {...}
}
}
Device(ISA0) {
OperationRegion(OPR3, SystemIO, ...)
Method(_REG, 2) {...} // OSPM executes this when ISAO operation region handler
// status changes
Device(EC0) {
OperationRegion(OPR4, EmbeddedControl, ...)
Method(_REG, 2) {...} // OSPM executes this when EC operation region
// handler status changes
}
}
}
When the PCI0 operation region handler is ready, OSPM will run the _REG method declared in
PCI0 scope to indicate that PCI Config space operation region access is available within the PCI0
scope (in other words, OPR1 access is allowed). When the ISA0 operation handler is ready, OSPM
will run the _REG method in the ISA0 scope to indicate that the I/O space operation region access is
available within that scope (in other words, OPR3 access is allowed). Finally, when the Embedded
Controller operation region handler is ready, OSPM will run the _REG method in the EC0 scope to
indicate that EC space operation region access is available within the EC0 scope (in other words,
OPR4 access is allowed). It should be noted that PCI Config Space Operation Regions are ready as
soon the host controller or bridge controller has been programmed with a bus number. PCI1’s _REG
method would not be run until the PCI-PCI bridge has been properly configured. At the same time,
the OS will also run ETH0’s _REG method since its PCI Config Space would be also available. The
OS will again run ETH0’s _REG method when the ETH0 device is started. Also, when the host
controller or bridge controller is turned off or disabled, PCI Config Space Operation Regions for
child devices are no longer available. As such, ETH0’s _REG method will be run when it is turned
off and will again be run when PCI1 is turned off.
Note: The OS only runs _REG methods that appear in the same scope as operation region declarations
that use the operation region type that has just been made available. For example, _REG in the
EC device would not be run when the PCI bus driver is loaded since the operation regions

declared under EC do not use any of the operation region types made available by the PCI driver
(namely, config space, I/O, and memory).
6.5.5 _BBN (Base Bus Number)

For multi-root PCI platforms, the _BBN object evaluates to the PCI bus number that the platform
boot firmware assigns. This is needed to access a PCI_Config operation region for the specific bus.
The _BBN object is located under a PCI host bridge and must be unique for every host bridge within
a segment since it is the PCI bus number.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer that contains the PCI bus number. The lower 8 bits of _BBN returned integer is the PCI
Base Bus number. Other bits are reserved.
6.5.6 _SEG (Segment)

The optional _SEG object is located under a PCI host bridge and evaluates to an integer that
describes the PCI Segment Group (see PCI Firmware Specification v3.0). If _SEG does not exist,
OSPM assumes that all PCI bus segments are in PCI Segment Group 0.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
PCI Segment Group is purely a software concept managed by system firmware and used by OSPM.
It is a logical collection of PCI buses (or bus segments). There is no tie to any physical entities. It is
a way to logically group the PCI bus segments and PCI Express Hierarchies. _SEG is a level higher
than _BBN.
PCI Segment Group supports more than 256 buses in a system by allowing the reuse of the PCI bus
numbers. Within each PCI Segment Group, the bus numbers for the PCI buses must be unique. PCI
buses in different PCI Segment Group are permitted to have the same bus number.
A PCI Segment Group contains one or more PCI host bridges.
The lower 16 bits of _SEG returned integer is the PCI Segment Group number. Other bits are
reserved.
6.5.6.1 Example
Device(ND0) { // this is a node 0
Name(_HID, “ACPI0004”)
// Returns the "Current Resources"

Name(_CRS,
ResourceTemplate() {
…
}
)
Device(PCI0) {
Name(_HID, EISAID(“PNP0A03”))

Name(_ADR, 0x00000000)
Name(_SEG, 0) // The buses below the host bridge belong to PCI segment 0
…
Name(_BBN, 0)
…
}
Device(PCI1) {
…
…
Name(_BBN, 16)
…
}
…
}
Device(ND1) { // this is a node 1
// Returns the "Current Resources"

Name(_CRS,
…
}
)
Device(PCI0) {
Name(_HID, EISAID(“PNP0A03”))
Name(_ADR, 0x00000000)
…
Name(_BBN, 0)
…
}
Device(PCI1) {
…
…
Name(_BBN, 16)
…
}
}
6.5.7 _GLK (Global Lock)

This optional named object is located within the scope of a device object. This object returns a value
that indicates to any entity that accesses this device (in other words, OSPM or any device driver)
whether the Global Lock must be acquired when accessing the device. OS-based device accesses
must be performed while in acquisition of the Global Lock when potentially contentious accesses to
device resources are performed by non-OS code, such as System Management Mode (SMM)-based
code in Intel architecture-based systems.
Note: Default behavior: if _GLK is not present within the scope of a given device, then the Global Lock is
not required for that device.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
An Integer that contains the Global Lock requirement code
0 – The Global Lock is not required for this device
1 – The Global lock is required for this device
An example of device resource contention is a device driver for an SMBus-based device contending
with SMM-based code for access to the Embedded Controller, SMB-HC, and SMBus target device.
In this case, the device driver must acquire and release the Global Lock when accessing the device to
avoid resource contention with SMM-based code that accesses any of the listed resources.
6.5.8 _DEP (Operation Region Dependencies)

_DEP evaluates to a package and designates device objects that OSPM should assign a higher
priority in start ordering due to future operation region accesses.
To increase the likelihood that an SPB operation region handler is available when needed, OSPM
needs to know in advance which methods will access it -- _DEP provides OSPM with this
information. While the _DEP keyword may be used to determine start ordering, only the _REG
method (Section 6.5.4) callbacks can be relied upon to determine whether a region is accessible at a
given point in time.
Arguments:
None.
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing object references.
6.5.8.1 Example
Device(\_SB.TC3) {
…
OperationRegion(OPRG,
GenericSerialBus,
0x00,
0x100)
…
}
Device(\_SB.TP1) {
…
Name (_DEP, Package() {\_SB.TC3})
…
}
6.5.9 _FIT (Firmware Interface Table)

This method evaluates to a buffer returning data in the format of a series of NFIT Structures (See
Section 5.2.25). This method may appear under the NVDIMM root device (see Section 9.20.2). The
_FIT method, when present, is always evaluated by OSPM.
_FIT returns all the entries in the NFIT.
The NFIT Update Notification notification value for the NVDIMM root device (see Table 5-169)
notifies OSPM that it needs to re-evaluate the _FIT method.

Note: NFIT is an ACPI table enumerated at OS boot. In case of hot plug of NVDIMMs, the
corresponding NFIT structures will not be present in NFIT. _FIT method is also used to provide
these structures dynamically during hot plug.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a list of NFIT Structures
Example ASL for _FIT usage:
Scope (\_SB) {
Device (NVDR) {
OperationRegion (OPRN, SystemMemory,
Offset in system memory of NFIT Structures,
Length in bytes)
Field (OPRN, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {
FITD, Length in bits
}
Method (_FIT, 0) {
Return (FITD)
}
…
} // end NVDR
…
} // end scope \_SB
6.5.10 NVDIMM Label Methods

The following table outlines the NVDIMM Label methods that are attached to the NVDIMM object.
Table 6-248 NVDIMM Label Methods

Object Description
_LSI Label Storage Information – Returns information about the Label Storage
Area associated with the NVDIMM object, including its size.
_LSR Label Storage Read – Returns label data from the Label Storage Area of the
NVDIMM object.
_LSW Label Storage Write – Writes label data in to the Label Storage Area of the
NVDIMM object.
6.5.10.1 _LSI (Label Storage Information)

This optional object returns information about the Label Storage Area for the requested device.
Arguments:
None.

Return Value:
A Package containing the Label Storage Area information as described below
Return Value Information:
_LSI returns a package in the format below
Package {
Status // Integer (DWORD)
SizeOfLabelStorageArea // Integer (DWORD)
MaxTransferLength // Integer (DWORD)
}

Table 6-249 _LSI Return Package Values
Field Format Description

Status Integer Indicates the status of the _LSI request.
(DWORD) 0x00000000 – Success – Returned package is
valid
0x00000001 – Failure – The rest of the returned
package is not valid
SizeOfLabelStorageArea Integer Size of the Label Storage Area in bytes
(DWORD)
MaxTransferLength Integer Maximum amount of data in bytes supported
(DWORD) by a single call to the _LSR and _LSW methods.
This is the minimum of the platform supported
transfer size and the transfer size supported by
the NVDIMM.
0x00000000 - the NVDIMM does not support
label storage.
A non-zero value – the NVDIMM supports label
storage.
6.5.10.2 _LSR (Label Storage Read)

This optional object returns label data from the Label Storage Area starting at the specified offset.
Arguments:
Arg0 – Offset (Integer(DWORD) the byte offset in the Label Storage Area to start reading from
Arg1 – TransferLength (Integer(DWORD) the number of bytes to transfer from the Label Storage
Area. A TransferLength of 0 reads no data.
Return Value:
A Package containing label data from the Label Storage Area as described below
_LSR returns a package in the format below
Package {
Status // Integer (DWORD)
LabelData // Buffer
}

Table 6-250 _LSR Return Package Values

Status Integer Indicates the status of the _LSR request.
(DWORD) 0x00000000 – Success
0x00000001 – Failure
0x00000002 – Invalid Input Parameters
-Offset > SizeOfLabelStorageArea reported with _LSI
-Offset + TransferLength > SizeOfLabelStorageArea
reported with _LSI
-TransferLength > MaxTransferLength reported with _LSI
0x00000003 – Label Storage Area is locked and cannot be
accessed
0x00000004 – HW failure prevented data from being read
Note: Any other non-zero values reflect a failure
LabelData Buffer Contains the returned label storage data. The size of the
output is equal to TransferLength if Status is Success;
otherwise, the contents of the output buffer shall be 0. The
format of the Label Storage Area data is defined in UEFI.
6.5.10.3 _LSW (Label Storage Write)

This optional object writes label data to the Label Storage Area starting at the specified offset.
Arguments:
• Arg0 – Offset (Integer(DWORD) the byte offset in the Label Storage Area to which the Label
Data is to be written to the target NVDIMM
• Arg1 – TransferLength (Integer(DWORD) the number of bytes to transfer to the Label Storage
Area. A TransferLength of 0 writes no data.
• Arg2 – LabelData (Buffer) the label data to write in to the Label Storage Area. The size of the
LabelData is as indicated by TransferLength field above. The format of the Label Storage Area
data is defined in UEFI.
Return Value:
An Integer (DWORD) containing the status of the _LSW as follows:
0x00000000 – Success
0x00000001 – Failure
0x00000002 – Invalid Input Parameters
Offset > SizeOfLabelStorageArea reported with _LSI
Offset + TransferLength > SizeOfLabelStorageArea reported with _LSI
TransferLength > MaxTransferLength reported with _LSI
0x00000003 – Label Storage Area is locked and cannot be accessed
0x00000004 – HW failure prevented data from being written
Note: Any other non-zero values reflect a failure.

ACPI Specification Power and Performance Management
7 Power and Performance Management
This section specifies the objects that support the device power management and system power
management models described in Section 3. OSPM uses these objects to manage the platform by
achieving a desirable balance between performance and energy conservation goals.
The system state indicator objects are also specified in this section.
7.1 Power Resource Objects and the Power Management

Models
A Power Resource object refers to a software-controllable power plane, clock plane, or other
resource upon which an ACPI power-managed device might rely. The unique way that these power
resources are distributed to the devices across a given system sets the constraints within which
OSPM must optimize the use of power, by individual devices as well as by the system as a whole.
ACPI defines objects that reference power resources (or device states that, in turn, reference power
resources) to enable OSPM to discover the constraints and capabilities of a given system. As power
is managed during system operation, power savings are obtained by turning power resources off and
on at the appropriate times. The following table describes how objects from this section provide the
information and control required by OSPM to implement and coordinate the power management
models.
Table 7-251 Power Resource Object Provisions for Information and Control
Power System entity Platform Object Comments
management performing it information providing
function to be required information
performed
Choose a Device Power List of states _PRx, D3cold support is indicated by
supported device Policy Owner (D0 through PSx explicitly providing _PR3. D3hot
state to save D3hot, and is assumed to be supported in
power while D3cold) all cases.
device is idle supported by
the device
Choose a Device Power List of states _PRx, _PRx maps device states to
supported device Policy Owner (D0 through Power Power Resources, Power
state to enable a D3hot, and Resource Resource definition maps Power
targeted system D3cold) Declaration, Resources to system states.
sleep or Low- supported by _SxD _SxD provides the system state-
power Idle state the device in to-device state mapping
the targeted explicitly in case power
system sleep resources do not produce the
state information.*(See Note, below.)

Power and Performance Management ACPI Specification
Power System entity Platform Object Comments

management performing it information providing
function to be required information
performed
Choose a device Device Power List of _PRW, Addition of the requirement for
state that Policy Owner supported _SxW additional power resources
supports Wake states, filtered listed in _PRW cause wake-
by ability to incapable states to be removed
cause a wake from the list of supported states
event (above)
SxW defines the mapping of
wake capable device states to
system states
Arm a device for OSPM Control _PRW, _PRW specifies the GPE bit to
wake mechanisms for Wake-capable enable for wake. On HW-
enabling wake device interrupt, reduced platforms, the wake-
at the platform _DSW capable attribute of a device
level interrupt indicates which
interrupt to enable for wake
_DSW is optional, depending on
the needs of the platform wake
hardware
Enter a selected OSPM Control _ON, _OFF, _ON and _OFF control the
device state mechanisms for _PSx power resources
power PSx controls other platform
resources hardware relevant to state
changes but not exposed to
OSPM as power
resources.*(See Note, below.)
Choose a System Power List of _Sx S0 and S5 are assumed to be
targeted system Policy Owner supported supported in all cases
sleep state system Sleep
states (S1-S4)
Enter a selected OSPM Control _PTS, _TTS If _S5 exists, ACPI uses the
system state mechanisms for and _WAK SLP_TYP/SLP_EN bit fields in
system states the PM1 Control Register (or the
SLEEP_CONTROL/
SLEEP_STATUS registers
specified in the FADT)
If _S5 is not specified,
alternative methods are used to
turn-off the system.

Note: *Support for Low-power Idle states requires the use of power resources to describe the device
state and wake dependencies. See _RDI, Section 8.5, and _LPI, Section 8.4.4.3I.
7.2 Declaring a Power Resource Object

An ASL PowerResource statement is used to declare a PowerResource object. A Power Resource
object refers to a software-controllable power plane, clock plane, or other resource upon which an
integrated ACPI power-managed device might rely. Power resource objects can appear wherever is
convenient in the namespace.
The syntax of a PowerResource statement is:
PowerResource (resourcename, systemlevel, resourceorder) {TermList}
where the systemlevel parameter is a number and the resourceorder parameter is a numeric constant
(a WORD). For a formal definition of the PowerResource statement syntax, see Section 19, “ACPI
Source Language Reference.”
Systemlevel is the deepest system sleep level OSPM must maintain to keep this power resource on (0
equates to S0, 1 equates to S1, and so on).
Each power-managed ACPI device lists the resources it requires for its supported power states.
OSPM multiplexes this information from all devices and then enables and disables the required
Power Resources accordingly. The resourceorder field in the Power Resource object is a value per
Power Resource that provides the system with the order in which Power Resources must be enabled
or disabled. Each unique resourceorder value represents a level, and any number of power resources
may have the same level. Power Resource levels are enabled from low values to high values and are
disabled from high values to low values. The operating software enables or disables all Power
Resources in any one resourceorder level at a time before moving on to the next ordered level.
Putting Power Resources in different order levels provides power sequencing and serialization
where required. Note that no ordering is guaranteed within each level (i.e. between Power Resources
with the same resourceorder value).
A Power Resource can have named objects under its Namespace location. For a description of the
ACPI-defined named objects for a Power Resource, see Section 7.3, “Device Power Management
Objects.”
The power management object list is encoded as TermList, so that rather than describing a static
power management object list, it is possible to describe a dynamic power management object list
according to the system settings. See "Section 5.4.2, Definition Block Loading."
The following block of ASL sample code shows a use of PowerResource.

PowerResource(PIDE, 0, 0) {
Method(_STA) {
Return (Xor (GIO.IDEI, One, Zero)) // inverse of isolation
}
Method(_ON) {
Store (One, GIO.IDEP) // assert power
Store (One, GIO.IDER) // de-assert reset#
Stall (10) // wait 10us
Store (Zero, GIO.IDEI) // de-assert isolation
}
Method(_OFF) {
Store (One, GIO.IDEI) // assert isolation
Store (Zero, GIO.IDER) // assert reset#
Store (Zero, GIO.IDEP) // de-assert power
}
}
7.2.1 Defined Methods for a Power Resource

Table 7-252 below lists the control methods that may be defined under a power resource. _ON,
_OFF and _STA are required to allow basic control of each power resource. _RST is required in
cases where reset of devices is managed through a shared power resource. As OSPM changes the
state of device objects in the system, the power resources that are needed will also change, causing
OSPM to turn power resources on and off. To determine the initial power resource settings the _STA
method can be used. _RST is required in cases where reset of devices is controlled through a shared
Power Resource. See Section 7.3.25.
Table 7-252 Power Resource Methods

Object Description
_OFF Set the resource off.
_ON Set the resource on.
_RST Object that executes a platform level reset of all devices that list this resource in their _PRR
object. (See Section 7.3.25 for a description of this object.)
_STA Object that evaluates to the current on or off state of the Power Resource. 0–OFF, 1–ON
7.2.2 _OFF
This power resource control method puts the power resource into the OFF state. The control method
must not complete until the power resource is off, including any required sequencing delays
between, or after, operations on the power resource. OSPM is required to turn on or off only one
resource at a time. The AML code can use Stall or Sleep within the method to cause the proper
sequencing delays. OSPM is not required to run the _STA method to confirm that the resource has
been successfully turned off, and may run the _OFF method repeatedly, even if the resource is
already off.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
None
7.2.3 _ON
This power resource control method puts the power resource into the ON state. The control method
must not complete until the power resource is on, including any required sequencing delays between,
or after, operations on the power resource. OSPM is required to turn on or off only one resource at a
time. The AML code can use Stall or Sleep within the method to cause the proper sequencing delays.
OSPM is not required to run the _STA method to confirm that the resource has been successfully
turned on, and may run the _ON method repeatedly, even if the resource is already on.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
None
7.2.4 _STA (Status)

Returns the current ON or OFF status for the power resource.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the current power status of the device
0 – The power resource is currently off
1 – The power resource is currently on
7.2.5 Passive Power Resources

In some platforms, certain power resources may be shared between devices and processors,
requiring both to be in specific idle states before they can be turned off. Direct OSPM control of
such resources is not possible while the OS is running because the processors depend on the
resources being enabled whilst they are running. It is only when processors go idle that it may be
possible to turn off these shared resources. For a given resource of this type this is only possible if, in
addition to the processors being idle, any other devices that depend on the resource are in a state that
allows powering it down. In these cases, the platform can manage the power resource as part of
entry/exit from a Low Power Idle (LPI) state and OSPM can guide the decision on whether or not to
turn off the resources with its LPI state request. In those cases the power resource _ON/_OFF/_STA
methods are completely redundant.
Passive power resources, which are just like traditional power resources except they do not include
_ON, _OFF, or _STA, are introduced to support this case. Omission of these methods reduces
overhead by avoiding redundant evaluations and saves the platform from having to supply (working)
methods which it does not need. Since OSPM cannot manage passive power resources directly via
_ON/_OFF, passive power resources must be listed as a dependency of at least one LPI state where

the platform will manipulate them. The dependencies between LPI states and power resources are
described in the _RDI object. See RDI Section 8.4.4.4 for additional details.
7.3 Device Power Management Objects

For a device that is power-managed using ACPI, a Definition Block contains one or more of the
objects found in the table below. Power management of a device is done using Power Resource
control.
Power Resources are resources that could be shared amongst multiple devices. The operating
software will automatically handle control of these devices by determining which particular Power
Resources need to be in the ON state at any given time. This determination is made by considering
the state of all devices connected to a Power Resource. At all times, OSPM ensures that any Power
Resources no longer referenced by any device in the system is in the OFF state.
For systems that do not control device power states through power resource management (i.e. _PSx
controls power transitions), but whose devices support multiple D-states, more information is
required by the OS to determine the S-state to D-state mapping for the device. The ACPI firmware
can give this information to OSPM by way of the _SxD methods. These methods tell OSPM for S-
state “x”, the shallowest D-state supported by the device is “y.” OSPM is allowed to pick a deeper
D-state for a given S-state, but OSPM is not allowed to go shallower than the given D-state.
Additional rules that apply to device power management objects are:
• A device cannot be in a deeper D-state than its parent device.
• If there exists an ACPI Object to set a device to D0 (either through _PSx or _PRx objects), then
the corresponding object to set the device into a deeper Dx must also be declared, and vice versa.
• If any ACPI Object that controls power (_PSx or _PRx, where x =0, 1, 2, or 3) exists, then
methods to set the device into D0 and D3 device states (at least) must be present.
• If a mixture of _PSx and _PRx methods is declared for the device, then the device states
supported through _PSx methods must be identical to the device states supported through _PRx
methods.
When controlling power to devices which must wake the system during a system sleeping state:
• The device must declare its ability to wake the system by declaring either the _PRW or _PSW
object.
• After OSPM has called _PTS, it must call the device’s _PSW to enable wake.
• OSPM must transition a device into a D-state which is deeper than or equal to that specified by
the device’s _SxD object (if present) to enable entry into Sx, but shallower than or equal to that
specified by the device’s _SxW object so that it can still wake the system.
• OSPM may transition the system to the specified sleep state.
Table 7-253 Device Power Management Child Objects

Object Description
_DSW Control method that enables or disables the device’s wake function for device-only wake.
_PS0 Control method that puts the device in the D0 device state (device fully on).
_PS1 Control method that puts the device in the D1 device state.

Object Description
_PS2 Control method that puts the device in the D2 device state.
_PS3 Control method that puts the device in the D3 device state (device off).
_PSC Object that evaluates to the device’s current power state.
_PR0 Object that evaluates to the device’s power requirements in the D0 device state (device fully on).
_PR1 Object that evaluates to the device’s power requirements in the D1 device state. The only
devices that supply this level are those that can achieve the defined D1 device state according to
the related device class.
_PR2 Object that evaluates to the device’s power requirements in the D2 device state. The only
devices that supply this level are those that can achieve the defined D2 device state according to
the related device class.
_PR3 Object that evaluates to the device’s power requirements in the D3hot device state.
_PRW Object that evaluates to the device’s power requirements in order to wake the system from a
system sleeping state.
_PSW Control method that enables or disables the device’s wake function.
_IRC Object that signifies the device has a significant inrush current draw.
_S1D Shallowest D-state supported by the device in the S1 state
_S0W Deepest D-state supported by the device in the S0 state which can wake the device
_S1W Deepest D-state supported by the device in the S1 state which can wake the system.
_RST Control method that executes a function level reset of the device.
_PRR Object that evaluates to the device's platform level reset requirements.
7.3.1 _DSW (Device Sleep Wake)

In addition to _PRW, this control method can be used to enable or disable the device’s ability to
wake a sleeping system. This control method can only access Operation Regions that are either
always available while in a system working state or that are available when the Power Resources
referenced by the _PRW object are all ON. For example, do not put a power plane control for a bus
controller within configuration space located behind the bus. The method should enable the device
only for the last system state/device state combination passed in by OSPM. OSPM will only pass in
combinations allowed by the _SxD and _SxW objects.
The arguments provided to _DSW indicate the eventual Device State the device will be transitioned
to and the eventual system state that the system will be transitioned to. The target system state is
allowed to be the system working state (S0). The _DSW method will be run before the device is
placed in the designated state and also before the system is placed in the designated system state.

Compatibility Note: The _PSW method is deprecated in ACPI 3.0. The _DSW method should be
used instead. OSPM will only use the _PSW method if OSPM does not support _DSW or if the
_DSW method is not present.
Arguments: (3)
Arg0 – An Integer that contains the device wake capability control
0 – Disable the device’s wake capabilities
1 – Enable the device’s wake capabilities
Arg1 – An Integer that contains the target system state (0-4)
Arg2 – An Integer that contains the target device state
0 – The device will remain in state D0
1 – The device will be placed in either state D0 or D1
2 – The device will be placed in either state D0, D1, or D2
3 – The device will be placed in either state D0, D1, D2, or D3
Return Value:
None
7.3.2 _PS0 (Power State 0)

This Control Method is used to put the specific device into its D0 state. This Control Method can
only access Operation Regions that are either always available while in a system working state or
that are available when the Power Resources references by the _PR0 object are all ON.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
None

This control method is used to put the specific device into its D1 state. This control method can only
access Operation Regions that are either always available while in the system working state (S0) or
that are available when the Power Resources referenced by the _PR0 object are all ON.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
None

that are available when the Power Resources referenced by the _PR0 and _PR1 objects are all ON.

Arguments:
None
Return Value:
None

that are available when the Power Resources referenced by the _PR0, _PR1 and PR2 objects are all
ON.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
None
7.3.6 _PSC (Power State Current)

This control method evaluates to the current device state. This control method is not required if the
device state can be inferred by the Power Resource settings. This would be the case when the device
does not require a _PS0, _PS1, _PS2, or _PS3 control method.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer that contains a code for the current device state
The device state codes are shown in Table 7-254.
Table 7-254 PSC Device State Codes

Return Value Device State
0 D0
1 D1
2 D2
3 D3
7.3.7 _PSE (Power State for Enumeration)

This control method is used to put a device into a powered mode appropriate for enumeration by its
parent bus. This control method can only access Operation Regions that are either always available
while in a system working state or that are available when the Power Resources referenced by the
_PRE object are all ON.

Arguments: (1)
Arg1 – An Integer indicating whether Enumeration power has been turned ON or will be turned
OFF.
0 – OFF
1 – ON
Return Value:
None
7.3.8 _PR0 (Power Resources for D0)

This object evaluates to a list of power resources that are dependent on this device. For OSPM to put
the device in the D0 device state, the following must occur:
1. All Power Resources referenced by elements 1 through N must be in the ON state.
2. All Power Resources no longer referenced by any device in the system must be in the OFF state.
3. If present, the _PS0 control method is executed to set the device into the D0 device state.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of References to power resources
This object returns a package as defined below:
Table 7-255 Power Resource Requirements Package

Element Object Description
1 object reference Reference to required Power Resource #0
N object reference Reference to required Power Resource #N
_PR0 must return the same data each time it is evaluated. All power resources referenced must exist
in the namespace.

This object evaluates to a list of power resources upon which this device is dependent when it is in
the D1 state. For OSPM to transition the device from the D0 state into the D1 state, the following
must occur, in order:
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
This object evaluates to a package as defined in Table 7-255.
in the namespace.

the D2 state. For OSPM to transition the device into the D2 state, the following must occur, in order:
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
in the namespace.
7.3.11 _PR3 (Power Resources for D3hot)

the D3hot state. For OSPM to transition the device into the D3hot state, the following must occur, in
order:
1. If present, the _PS3 control method is executed to set the device into the D3hot device state.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
in the namespace.
Interaction between _PR3 and entry to D3/D3hot (only applicable if platform and OSPM have
performed the necessary handshake via _OSC):
• Platform/drivers must assume that the device will have power completely removed when the
device is place into “D3” via _PS3

• It is up to OSPM to determine whether to use D3 or D3hot. If there is a _PR3 for the device, it is
up to OSPM to decide whether to keep those power resources on or off after executing _PS3.
The decision may be based on other factors (e.g., being armed for wake).
7.3.12 _PRE (Power Resources for Enumeration)

This object appears under a device and evaluates to a list of power resources that are required for
enumeration of the device by its parent bus. For the bus driver to enumerate any devices while they
are in the D3Cold device state, OSPM must ensure that the following occur:
2. If present, the _PSE control method is executed to perform any actions on the device to make it
accessible for enumeration.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of References to power resources.
_PRE must return the same data each time it is evaluated. All power resources referenced must exist
in the namespace.
7.3.13 _PRW (Power Resources for Wake)

This object evaluates to a list of power resources upon which this device depends for wake. It also
contains additional information needed for wake, including wake events and sleep or soft-off state
information. _PRW is only required for devices that have the ability to wake the system from a
system sleeping state.
Four types of general purpose events are supported:
• GPEs that are defined by a GPE block described within the FADT.
• GPEs that are defined by a GPE Block Device.
• GPIO-signaled events that are defined by _AEI object of the GPIO controller device
• Interrupt-signaled events that are defined by _CRS object of the Generic Event Device (GED)
The four types of events are differentiated by the type of the EventInfo object in the returned
package. For FADT-based GPEs, EventInfo is an Integer containing a bit index. For Block Device-
based GPEs, EventInfo is a Package containing a Reference to the parent block device and an
Integer containing a bit index. For GPIO-signaled events, EventInfo is a Package containing a
Reference to the GPIO controller device and an Integer containing the index of the event in the
_AEI object (starting from zero). For Interrupt-signaled events, EventInfo is a Package containing a
Reference to the GED and an Integer containing the index of the event in the _CRS object (starting
from zero).
For HW-Reduced ACPI platforms that do not support wake on GPIO-signaled or Interrupt-signaled
events, the EventInfo structure is an Integer with value of zero, and is ignored by OSPM. Therefore,
_PRW is only required on such platforms if power resources for wakeup must be managed by OSPM
(e.g. the _PRW provides a list of Power Resources). Instead, for a device to wake the system, its

interrupt must be wake-capable and enabled by the driver. See Section 3.11.1.1"Interrupt-based
Wake Events".
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing wake information and a list of References to power resources

Package {
EventInfo // Integer or Package
DeepestSleepState // Integer
PowerResource [0] // Reference
. . .
PowerResource [n] // Reference
}
If EventInfo is a Package, it contains event block device information as described below:

Package {
DeviceName // Reference
Index // Integer
}
EventInfo may be either an Integer or a Package, depending on the event type:

• If it is an Integer, then it contains the bit index of the wake event within the FADT-based GPE
enable register.
• If it is a Package, then the package contains event info for an event within either a GPE block
device, GPIO controller device, or a GED. It contains a Reference to the device and an Integer.
If EventInfo references a GPE block device, the integer contains the bit index of the wake GPE
within the Block Device-based GPE enable register. If the EventInfo references a GPIO
controller device, the integer contains the zero-based index of the event within the _AEI object.
If the EventInfo references a GED, the integer contains the zero-based index of the event within
the _CRS object.
DeepestSleepState is an Integer that contains the deepest power system sleeping state that can be
entered while still providing wake functionality.
PowerResource 0-n are References to required power resource objects.
Additional Information
For OSPM to have the defined wake capability properly enabled for the device, the following must
occur:
1. All Power Resources referenced by elements 2 through N are put into the ON state.
a If present, the _DSW control method is executed to set the device-specific registers to
enable the wake functionality of the device.
b The D-state being entered must be deeper than or equal to that specified in the _SxD state
but shallower than or equal to that specified in the _SxW state.
Then, if the system enters a sleeping state OSPM must ensure:

1. Interrupts are disabled.

2. The sleeping state being entered must be less than or equal to the power state declared in
element 1 of the _PRW object.
3. The proper general-purpose register bits are enabled.
The system sleeping state specified must be a state that the system supports (in other words, a
corresponding \_Sx object must exist in the namespace).
_PRW must return the same data each time it is evaluated. All power resources referenced must exist
in the namespace.
7.3.14 _PSW (Power State Wake)

In addition to the _PRW control method, this control method can be used to enable or disable the
device’s ability to wake a sleeping system. This control method can only access Operation Regions
that are either always available while in a system working state or that are available when the Power
Resources references by the _PRW object are all ON. For example, do not put a power plane control
for a bus controller within configuration space located behind the bus.
Note: Regarding compatability--The _PSW method is deprecated in ACPI 3.0. OSPM must use _DSW if
it is present. Otherwise, it may use _PSW.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing a wake capability control
0 – Disable the device’s wake capabilities
1 – Enable the device’s wake capabilities
Return Value:
None
7.3.15 _IRC (In Rush Current)

Indicates that this device can cause a significant in-rush current when transitioning to state D0.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
None
The presence of this object signifies that transitioning the device to its D0 state causes a system-
significant in-rush current load. In general, such operations need to be serialized such that multiple
operations are not attempted concurrently. Within ACPI, this type of serialization can be
accomplished with the ResourceOrder parameter of the device’s Power Resources; however, this
does not serialize ACPI-controlled devices with non-ACPI controlled devices. _IRC is used to
signify this fact outside of OSPM to OSPM such that OSPM can serialize all devices in the system
that have in-rush current serialization requirements.
OSPM can only transition one device containing an _IRC object within its device scope to the D0
state at a time.

It is important to note that OSPM does not evaluate the _IRC object. It has no defined input
arguments nor does it return any value. OSPM derives meaning simply from the existence of the
_IRC object.
7.3.16 _S1D (S1 Device State)

This object evaluates to an integer that conveys to OSPM the shallowest D-state supported by this
device in the S1 system sleeping state. _S1D must return the same integer each time it is evaluated.
This value overrides an S-state to D-state mapping OSPM may ascertain from the device’s power
resource declarations. See Table 7-254 for valid return values.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the shallowest D-state supported in state S1
If the device can wake the system from the S1 system sleeping state (see _PRW) then the device
must support wake in the D-state returned by this object. However, OSPM cannot assume wake from
the S1 system sleeping state is supported in any deeper D-state unless specified by a corresponding
_S1W object. The table below provides a mapping from Desired Actions to Resultant D-state
entered based on the values returned from the _S1D, _PRW, and _S1W objects if they exist . (D/C
means Don’t Care – evaluation is irrelevant, and N/A means Non Applicable – object does not
exist).
Table 7-256 S1 Action / Result Table

Desired Action _S1D _PRW _S1W Resultant D-state
Enter S1 D/C D/C D/C OSPM decides
Enter S1, No Wake 2 D/C D/C Enter D2 or D3
Enter S1, Wake 2 1 N/A Enter D2
Enter S1, Wake 2 1 3 Enter D2 or D3
Enter S1, Wake N/A 1 2 Enter D0,D1 or D2

Arguments:
None
Return Value:

exist).

Enter S2 D/C D/C D/C OSPM decides
Enter S2, Wake N/A 2 2 Enter D0,D1 or D2

Arguments:
None
Return Value:
exist).

Enter S3 N/A D/C N/A OSPM decides
Enter S3, Wake N/A 3 2 Enter D0, D1 or D2


Arguments:
None
Return Value:
exist).

Enter S4 N/A D/C N/A OSPM decides
Enter S4, Wake N/A 4 2 Enter D0, D1 or D2
7.3.20 _S0W (S0 Device Wake State)

This object evaluates to an integer that conveys to OSPM the deepest D-state supported by this
device in the S0 system sleeping state where the device can wake itself.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the deepest D-state that supports wake in state S0. If OSPM has not indicated
that it supports _PR3 through the OSPM Platform-Wide Capabilities (see Section 6.2.11.2), then the
value "3" corresponds to D3. If it has indicated _PR3 support, the value "3" represents D3hot and
the value "4" represents D3cold.
_S0W must return the same integer each time it is evaluated. This value allows OSPM to choose the
deepest power D-state and still achieve wake functionality. If object evaluates to zero, then the
device cannot wake itself from any deeper D state.


device in the S1 system sleeping state that can wake the system.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
_S1W must return the same integer each time it is evaluated. This value allows OSPM to choose a
deeper S-state to D-state mapping than specified by _S1D. This value must always be greater than or
equal to _S1D, if _S1D is present.

Arguments:
None
Return Value:

Arguments:
None
Return Value:


Arguments:
None
Return Value:
7.3.25 _RST (Device Reset)

This object executes a reset on the associated device or devices. If included in a device context, the
reset must not affect any other ACPI-described devices; if included in a power resource for reset
(_PRR, Section 7.3.26) the reset must affect all ACPI-described devices that reference it.
When this object is described in a device context, it executes a function level reset that only affects
the device it is associated with; neither parent nor children should be affected by the execution of
this reset. Executing this must only result in this device resetting without the device appearing as if it
has been removed from the bus altogether, to prevent OSPM re-enumeration of devices on hot-
pluggable buses (e.g. USB).
If a device reset is supported by the platform, but cannot meet the function level and bus
requirement, the device should instead implement a _PRR (Section 7.3.26).
Devices can define both a _RST and a _PRR if supported by the hardware.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
None
7.3.26 _PRR (Power Resource for Reset)

This object evaluates to a single reference to a power resource. The power resource that this
references must implement a _RST method (Section 7.3.25).

Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A single element Package containing a Reference to the power reset resource.
7.4 OEM-Supplied System-Level Control Methods

An OEM-supplied Definition Block provides some number of controls appropriate for system-level
management. These are used by OSPM to integrate to the OEM-provided features. The following
table lists the defined OEM system controls that can be provided.
Table 7-260 BIOS-Supplied Control Methods for System-Level Functions

Object Description
\_PTS Control method used to notify the platform of impending sleep transition.
\_S0 Package that defines system \_S0 state mode.
\_TTS Control method used to prepare to sleep and run once awakened
\_WAK Control method run once awakened.
Note: Compatibility issue: The _BFS (Back From Sleep) and _GTS (Going To Sleep) methods are
deprecated in ACPI 5.0A.
7.4.1 \_PTS (Prepare To Sleep)

The _PTS control method is executed by the OS during the sleep transition process for S1, S2, S3,
S4, and for orderly S5 shutdown. The sleeping state value (For example, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 for the S5
soft-off state) is passed to the _PTS control method. This method is called after OSPM has notified
native device drivers of the sleep state transition and before the OSPM has had a chance to fully
prepare the system for a sleep state transition. Thus, this control method can be executed a relatively
long time before actually entering the desired sleeping state. If OSPM aborts the sleep state
transition, OSPM should run the _WAK method to indicate this condition to the platform.
Arguments (1):
Arg0 – An Integer containing the value of the sleeping state (1 for S1, 2 for S2, etc.)
Return Value:
None

The _PTS control method cannot modify the current configuration or power state of any device in
the system. For example, _PTS would simply store the sleep type in the embedded controller in
sequencing the system into a sleep state when the SLP_EN bit is set.
The platform must not make any assumptions about the state of the machine when _PTS is called.
For example, operation region accesses that require devices to be configured and enabled may not
succeed, as these devices may be in a non-decoding state due to plug and play or power management
operations.
7.4.2 System \_Sx states

All system states supported by the system must provide a package containing the DWORD value of
the following format in the static Definition Block. The system states, known as S0–S5, are
referenced in the namespace as \_S0–\_S5 and for clarity the short Sx names are used unless
specifically referring to the named \_Sx object. For each Sx state, there is a defined system behavior.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing an Integer containing register values for sleeping
Table 7-261 System State Package

Byte Byte 
Length Offset Description
1 0 Value for PM1a_CNT.SLP_TYP register to enter this system state. On HW-reduced
platforms, this is the HW-reduced Sleep Type value for
SLEEP_CONTROL_REG.SLP_TYP.
1 1 Value for PM1b_CNT.SLP_TYP register to enter this system state. To enter any
given state, OSPM must write the PM1a_CNT.SLP_TYP register before the
PM1b_CNT.SLP_TYP register. On HW-reduced platforms, this value is ignored.
2 2 Reserved
States S1–S4 represent some system sleeping state. The S0 state is the system working state.
Transition into the S0 state from some other system state (such as sleeping) is automatic, and, by
virtue that instructions are being executed, OSPM assumes the system to be in the S0 state.
Transition into any system sleeping state is only accomplished by the operating software directing
the hardware to enter the appropriate state, and the operating software can only do this within the
requirements defined in the Power Resource and Bus/Device Package objects.
All run-time system state transitions (for example, to and from the S0 state), except S4 and S5, are
done similarly such that the code sequence to do this is the following:

/*
* Intel Architecture SetSleepingState example
*/
ULONG
SetSystemSleeping (
IN ULONG NewState
)
{
PROCESSOR_CONTEXT Context;
ULONG PowerSeqeunce;
BOOLEAN FlushCaches;
USHORT SlpTyp;
// Required environment: Executing on the system boot

// processor. All other processors stopped. Interrupts
// disabled. All Power Resources (and devices) are in
// corresponding device state to support NewState.
// Get h/w attributes for this system state

FlushCaches = SleepType[NewState].FlushCache;
SlpTyp = SleepType[NewState].SlpTyp & SLP_TYP_MASK;
_asm {
lea eax, OsResumeContext
push eax ; Build real mode handler the resume
push offset sp50 ; context, with eip = sp50
call SaveProcessorState
mov eax, ResumeVector ; set firmware’s resume vector

mov [eax], offset OsRealModeResumeCode
mov edx, PM1a_STS ; Make sure wake status is clear

mov ax, WAK_STS ; (cleared by asserting the bit
out dx, ax ; in the status register)
mov edx, PM1b_STS ;

out dx, ax ;
and eax, not SLP_TYP_MASK

or eax, SlpTyp ; set SLP_TYP
or ax, SLP_EN ; set SLP_EN
cmp FlushCaches, 0
jz short sp10 ; If needed, ensure no dirty data in

call FlushProcessorCaches ; the caches while sleeping
sp10: mov edx, PM1a_SLP_TYP ; get address for PM1a_SLP_TYP

out dx, ax ; start h/w sequencing
mov edx, PM1b_SLP_TYP ; get address for PM1b_SLP_TYP
out dx, ax ; start h/w sequencing
mov edx, PM1a_STS ; get address for PM1x_STS

mov ecx, PM1b_STS
sp20: in ax, dx ; wait for WAK status

xchg edx, ecx
test ax, WAK_STS
jz short sp20
sp50:
}
// Done..
*ResumeVector = NULL;
return 0;
}
On HW-reduced ACPI platforms all run-time system state transitions (for example, to and from the
S0 state) are done similarly, but include the following instead of PM1*_BLK register bit
manipulation:
After ensuring that any desired wake-capable interrupts are enabled, OSPM writes the HW-
reduced Sleep Type value to the Sleep Control Register and spins waiting for the WAK_STS bit
of the Sleep Status Register to be set, indicating a platform transition to the Working state.
7.4.2.1 System \_S0 State (Working)

While the system is in the S0 state, it is in the system working state. The behavior of this state is
defined as:
• The processors are either running, or in a C-state, or in an LPI state. The processor-complex
context is maintained and instructions are executed as defined by any of these processor states.
• Dynamic RAM context is maintained and is read/write by the processors.
• Devices states are individually managed by the operating software and can be in any device state
(D0, D1, D2, D3hot, or D3).
• Power Resources are in a state compatible with the current device states.
Transition into the S0 state from some system sleeping state is automatic, and by virtue that
instructions are being executed OSPM, assumes the system to be in the S0 state.
7.4.2.2 System \_S1 State (Sleeping with Processor Context Maintained)

While the system is in the S1 sleeping state, its behavior is the following:
• The processors are not executing instructions. The processor-complex context is maintained.
• Dynamic RAM context is maintained.
• Power Resources are in a state compatible with the system S1 state. All Power Resources that
supply a System-Level reference of S0 are in the OFF state.

• Devices states are compatible with the current Power Resource states. Only devices that solely
reference Power Resources that are in the ON state for a given device state can be in that device
state. In all other cases, the device is in the D3 (off) state1.
• Devices that are enabled to wake the system and that can do so from their current device state
can initiate a hardware event that transitions the system state to S0. This transition causes the
processor to continue execution where it left off.
To transition into the S1 state, the OSPM must flush all processor caches.
7.4.2.3 System \_S2 State

The S2 sleeping state is logically deeper than the S1 state and is assumed to conserve more power.
The behavior of this state is defined as:
• The processors are not executing instructions. The processor-complex context is not maintained.
supply a System-Level reference of S0 or S1 are in the OFF state.
state. In all other cases, the device is in the D3 (off) state.
processor to begin execution at its boot location. The platform runtime firmware performs
initialization of core functions as needed to exit an S2 state and passes control to the firmware
resume vector. See Section 16.3.2 for more details on platform firmware initialization.
Because the processor context can be lost while in the S2 state, the transition to the S2 state requires
that the operating software flush all dirty cache to dynamic RAM (DRAM).

The S3 state is logically deeper than the S2 state and is assumed to conserve more power. The
behavior of this state is defined as follows:
supply a System-Level reference of S0, S1, or S2 are in the OFF state.
state. In all other cases, the device is in the D3 (off) state.
1. Or it is at least assumed to be in the D3 state by its device driver. For example, if the device doesn’t explic-
itly describe how it can stay in some non-off state while the system is in a sleeping state, the operating software must
assume that the device can lose its power and state.

processor to begin execution at its boot location. The platform runtime firmware performs
initialization of core functions as necessary to exit an S3 state and passes control to the firmware
resume vector. See Section 16.3.2 for more details on platform firmware initialization.
From the software viewpoint, this state is functionally the same as the S2 state. The operational
difference can be that some Power Resources that could be left ON to be in the S2 state might not be
available to the S3 state. As such, additional devices may need to be in a deeper state for S3 than S2.
Similarly, some device wake events can function in S2 but not S3.
Because the processor context can be lost while in the S3 state, the transition to the S3 state requires
that the operating software flush all dirty cache to DRAM.

While the system is in this state, it is in the system S4 sleeping state. The state is logically deeper
than the S3 state and is assumed to conserve more power. The behavior of this state is defined as
follows:
• DRAM context is not maintained.
supply a System-Level reference of S0, S1, S2, or S3 are in the OFF state.
• Devices states are compatible with the current Power Resource states. In other words, all devices
are in the D3 state when the system state is S4.
• Devices that are enabled to wake the system and that can do so from their device state in S4 can
initiate a hardware event that transitions the system state to S0. This transition causes the
processor to begin execution at its boot location.
After OSPM has executed the _PTS control method and has put the entire system state into main
memory, there are two ways that OSPM may handle the next phase of the S4 state transition; saving
and restoring main memory. The first way is to use the operating system's drivers to access the disks
and file system structures to save a copy of memory to disk and then initiate the hardware S4
sequence by setting the SLP_EN register bit. When the system wakes, the firmware performs a
normal boot process and transfers control to the OS via the firmware_waking_vector loader. The OS
then restores the system's memory and resumes execution.
The alternate method for entering the S4 state is to utilize the platform runtime firmware via the
S4BIOS transition. The platform runtime firmware uses firmware to save a copy of memory to disk
and then initiates the hardware S4 sequence. When the system wakes, the firmware restores memory
from disk and wakes OSPM by transferring control to the FACS waking vector.
The S4BIOS transition is optional, but any system that supports this mechanism must support
entering the S4 state via the direct OS mechanism. Thus the preferred mechanism for S4 support is
the direct OS mechanism as it provides broader platform support. The alternate S4BIOS transition
provides a way to achieve S4 support on operating systems that do not have support for the direct
method.

7.4.2.6 System \_S5 State (Soft Off)

The S5 state is similar to the S4 state except that OSPM does not save any context. The system is in
the soft off state and requires a complete boot when awakened (platform boot firmware and OS).
Software uses a different state value to distinguish between this state and the S4 state to allow for
initial boot operations within the platform boot firmware to distinguish whether or not the boot is
going to wake from a saved memory image. OSPM does not disable wake events before setting the
SLP_EN bit when entering the S5 system state. This provides support for remote management
initiatives by enabling Remote Start capability. An ACPI-compliant OS must provide an end user
accessible mechanism for disabling all wake devices, with the exception of the system power button,
from a single point in the user interface.
7.4.3 _SWS (System Wake Source)

This object provides a means for OSPM to definitively determine the source of an event that caused
the system to enter the S0 state. General-purpose event and fixed-feature hardware registers
containing wake event sources information are insufficient for this purpose as the source event
information may not be available after transitions to the S0 state from all other system states (S1-
S5).
To determine the source event that caused the system to transition to the S0 state, OSPM will
evaluate the _SWS object, when it exists, under the \_GPE scope (for all fixed-feature general-
purpose events from the GPE Blocks), under the \_SB scope (for fixed-feature hardware events), and
within the scope of a GPE Block device (for GPE events from this device). _SWS objects may exist
in any or all of these locations as necessary for the platform to determine the source event that
caused the system to transition to the S0 state.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the Source Event as described below
The value of the Source Event is dependent on the location of the _SWS object:
1. If _SWS is evaluated under the \_GPE scope, Source Event is the index of the GPE that caused
the system to transition to S0.
2. If _SWS is evaluated within the scope of a GPE block device, Source Event is the index of the
GPE that caused the system to transition to S0. In this case, the index is relative to the GPE
block device and is not unique system-wide.
3. If _SWS is evaluated under the \_SB scope, Source Event is the the index in the PM1 status
register that caused the system to transition to S0.
In all cases above, if the cause of the S0 transition cannot be determined, _SWS returns Ones (-1).
To enable OSPM to determine the source of the S0 state transition via the _SWS object,the hardware
or firmware should detect and save the event that caused the transition so that it can be returned
during _SWS object evaluation. The single wake source for the system may be latched in hardware
during the transition so that no false wake events can be returned by _SWS. An implementation that
does not use hardware to latch a single wake source for the system and instead uses firmware to save
the wake source must do so as quickly as possible after the wakeup event occurs, so that _SWS does
not return values that correspond to events that occurred after the sleep-to-wake transition. Such an

implementation must also take care to ensure that events that occur subsequent to the wakeup source
being saved do not overwrite the original wakeup source.
The source event data returned by _SWS must be determined for each transition into the S0 state.
The value returned by _SWS must also be persistent during the system’s residency in the S0 state as
OSPM may evaluate _SWS multiple times. In this case, the platform must return the same source
event information for each invocation.
After evaluating an _SWS object within the \_GPE scope or within the scope of a GPE block device,
OSPM will invoke the _Wxx control method corresponding to the GPE index returned by _SWS if it
exists. This allows the platform to further determine source event if the GPE is shared among
multiple devices. See Section 5.6.4.2.2 for details.
7.4.4 \_TTS (Transition To State)

The _TTS control method is executed by the OSPM at the beginning of the sleep transition process
for S1, S2, S3, S4, and orderly S5 shutdown. OSPM will invoke _TTS before it has notified any
native mode device drivers of the sleep state transition. The sleeping state value (For example,
1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 for the S5 soft-off state) is passed to the _TTS control method.
The _TTS control method is also executed by the OSPM at the end of any sleep transition process
when the system transitions to S0 from S1, S2, S3, or S4. OSPM will invoke _TTS after it has
notified any native mode device drivers of the end of the sleep state transition. The working state
value (0) is passed to the _TTS control method.
Arguments: (1)
Return Value:
None
If OSPM aborts the sleep transition process, OSPM will still run _TTS for an S0 transition to
indicate the OSPM has returned to the S0 state. The platform must assume that if OSPM invokes the
_TTS control method for an S1, S2, S3, or S4 transition, that OSPM will invoke _TTS control
method for an S0 transition before returning to the S0 state.
The platform must not make any assumptions about the state of the machine when _TTS is called.
For example, operation region accesses that require devices to be configured and enabled may not
succeed, as these devices may be in a non-decoding state due to plug and play or power management
operations.
7.4.5 \_WAK (System Wake)

After the system wakes from a sleeping state, it will invoke the \_WAK method and pass the
sleeping state value that has ended. This operation occurs asynchronously with other driver
notifications in the system and is not the first action to be taken when the system wakes. The AML
code for this control method issues device, thermal, and other notifications to ensure that OSPM
checks the state of devices, thermal zones, and so on, that could not be maintained during the system
sleeping state. For example, if the system cannot determine whether a device was inserted or
removed from a bus while in the S2 state, the _WAK method would issue a devicecheck type of
notification for that bus when issued with the sleeping state value of 2 (for more information about

types of notifications, see Section 5.6.6, “Device Object Notifications”). Notice that a device check
notification from the \_SB node will cause OSPM to re-enumerate the entire tree2.
Hardware is not obligated to track the state needed to supply the resulting status; however, this
method must return status concerning the last sleep operation initiated by OSPM. The return values
can be used to provide additional information to OSPM or user.
Arguments: (1)
Return Value:
A Package containing two Integers containing status and the power supply S-state

_WAK returns a package with the following format:
Element 0 – An Integer containing a bitfield that represents conditions that occurred during sleep.
0x00000000 – Wake was signaled and was successful
0x00000001 – Wake was signaled but failed due to lack of power
0x00000002 – Wake was signaled but failed due to thermal condition
Other values – Reserved
Element 1 – An Integer containing the power supply S-state.
If non-zero, this is the effective S-state the power supply that was actually entered.
This value is used to detect when the targeted S-state was not entered because of too
much current being drawn from the power supply. For example, this might occur
when some active device’s current consumption pushes the system’s power
requirements over the low power supply mark, thus preventing the deeper system
sleeping state from being entered as desired.
7.5 OSPM usage of _PTS, _TTS, and _WAK

OSPM will invoke _PTS, _TTS,and _WAK in the following order:
1. OSPM decides (through a policy scheme) to place the system into a sleeping state
2. _TTS(Sx) is run, where Sx is the desired sleep state to enter
3. OSPM notifies all native device drivers of the sleep state transition
4. _PTS is run
5. OSPM readies system for the sleep state transition
6. OSPM writes the sleep vector and the system enters the specified Sx sleep state
7. System Wakes up
8. OSPM readies system for the return from the sleep state transition
2. Only buses that support hardware-defined enumeration methods are done automatically at run-time. This
would include ACPI-enumerated devices.

9. _WAK is run
10. OSPM notifies all native device drivers of the return from the sleep state transition
11. _TTS(0) is run to indicate the return to the S0 state
Working State Working State
_TTS() _TTS()
__PTS() __WAK()
Sleeping State Sleeping State
Figure 7-40 Working / Sleeping State object evaluation flow


ACPI Specification Processor Configuration and Control
8 Processor Configuration and Control
This section describes the configuration and control of the processor’s power and performance
states. The major controls over the processors are:
• Processor power states: C0, C1, C2, C3, … Cn
• Processor clock throttling
• Processor performance states: P0, P1, … Pn
These controls are used in combination by OSPM to achieve the desired balance of the following
sometimes conflicting goals:
• Performance
• Power consumption and battery life
• Thermal requirements
• Noise-level requirements
Because the goals interact with each other, the operating software needs to implement a policy as to
when and where tradeoffs between the goals are to be made1. For example, the operating software
would determine when the audible noise of the fan is undesirable and would trade off that
requirement for lower thermal requirements, which can lead to lower processing performance. Each
processor configuration and control interface is discussed in the following sections along with how
controls interacts with the various goals.
8.1 Processor Power States

ACPI defines the power state of system processors while in the G0 working state2 as being either
active (executing) or sleeping (not executing). Processor power states include are designated C0, C1,
C2, C3, …Cn. The C0 power state is an active power state where the CPU executes instructions. The
C1 through Cn power states are processor sleeping states where the processor consumes less power
and dissipates less heat than leaving the processor in the C0 state. While in a sleeping state, the
processor does not execute any instructions. Each processor sleeping state has a latency associated
with entering and exiting that corresponds to the power savings. In general, the longer the entry/exit
latency, the greater the power savings when in the state. To conserve power, OSPM places the
processor into one of its supported sleeping states when idle. While in the C0 state, ACPI allows the
performance of the processor to be altered through a defined “throttling” process and through
transitions into multiple performance states (P-states). A diagram of processor power states is
provided
1. A thermal warning leaves room for operating system tradeoffs to occur (to start the fan or to reduce perfor-
mance), but a critical thermal alert does not occur.
2. Notice that these CPU states map into the G0 working state. The state of the CPU is undefined in the G3
sleeping state, the Cx states only apply to the G0 state.

Processor Configuration and Control ACPI Specification
below.
THT_EN=1
and
DTY=value
Performance
State Px C0 Throttling
THT_EN=0
Interrupt or
HLT BM Access
P_LVL2 Interrupt
Interrupt P_LVL3,
ARB_DIS=1
C1 C2 C3
G0
Working
Figure 8-41 Processor Power States
ACPI defines logic on a per-CPU basis that OSPM uses to transition between the different processor
power states. This logic is optional, and is described through the FADT table and processor objects
(contained in the hierarchical namespace). The fields and flags within the FADT table describe the
symmetrical features of the hardware, and the processor object contains the location for the
particular CPU’s clock logic (described by the P_BLK register block and _CST objects).
The P_LVL2 and P_LVL3 registers provide optional support for placing the system processors into
the C2 or C3 states. The P_LVL2 register is used to sequence the selected processor into the C2
state, and the P_LVL3 register is used to sequence the selected processor into the C3 state.
Additional support for the C3 state is provided through the bus master status and arbiter disable bits
(BM_STS in the PM1_STS register and ARB_DIS in the PM2_CNT register). System software
reads the P_LVL2 or P_LVL3 registers to enter the C2 or C3 power state. The Hardware must put
the processor into the proper clock state precisely on the read operation to the appropriate P_LVLx
register. The platform may alternatively define interfaces allowing OSPM to enter C-states using the
_CST object, which is defined in Section 8.4.2.1, “_CST (C States)”.
Processor power state support is symmetric when presented via the FADT and P_BLK interfaces;
OSPM assumes all processors in a system support the same power states. If processors have non-
symmetric power state support, then the platform runtime firmware will choose and use the lowest
common power states supported by all the processors in the system through the FADT table. For

example, if the CPU0 processor supports all power states up to and including the C3 state, but the
CPU1 processor only supports the C1 power state, then OSPM will only place idle processors into
the C1 power state (CPU0 will never be put into the C2 or C3 power states). Notice that the C1
power state must be supported. The C2 and C3 power states are optional (see the PROC_C1 flag in
the FADT table description in Section 5.2.6, “System Description Table Header”).
The following sections describe processor power states in detail.
8.1.1 Processor Power State C0

While the processor is in the C0 power state, it executes instructions. While in the C0 power state,
OSPM can generate a policy to run the processor at less than maximum performance. The clock
throttling mechanism provides OSPM with the functionality to perform this task in addition to
thermal control. The mechanism allows OSPM to program a value into a register that reduces the
processor’s performance to a percentage of maximum performance.
duty value
clock off time
clock on time
duty width
P_CNT duty value
duty offset duty width
Figure 8-42 Throttling Example
The FADT contains the duty offset and duty width values. The duty offset value determines the
offset within the P_CNT register of the duty value. The duty width value determines the number of
bits used by the duty value (which determines the granularity of the throttling logic). The
performance of the processor by the clock logic can be expressed with the following equation:
d u ty se ttin g
% P e r fo rm a n c e  * 100%
2 d u ty w id th
Figure 8-43 Equation 1 Duty Cycle Equation
Nominal performance is defined as “close as possible, but not below the indicated performance
level.” OSPM will use the duty offset and duty width to determine how to access the duty setting
field. OSPM will then program the duty setting based on the thermal condition and desired power of

the processor object. OSPM calculates the nominal performance of the processor using the equation
expressed in Equation 1. Notice that a dutysetting of zero is reserved.For example, the clock logic
could use the stop grant cycle to emulate a divided processor clock frequency on an IA processor
(through the use of the STPCLK# signal). This signal internally stops the processor’s clock when
asserted LOW. To implement logic that provides eight levels of clock control, the STPCLK# pin
could be asserted as follows (to emulate the different frequency settings):
Duty Width (3-bits)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
dutysetting
0 - Reserved Value
1
STPCLK# Signal
2
3
CPU Clock Stopped
4 CPU Clock Running
5
6
7
Figure 8-44 Example Control for the STPCLK#
To start the throttling logic OSPM sets the desired duty setting and then sets the THT_EN bit HIGH.
To change the duty setting, OSPM will first reset the THT_EN bit LOW, then write another value to
the duty setting field while preserving the other unused fields of this register, and then set the
THT_EN bit HIGH again.
The example logic model is shown below:
P_LVL3 P_LVL2 BM_RLD ARB_DIS BM_STS

Read Read PM1x_CNT.1 PM2_CNT PM1x_STS.4
System
Clock Logic
Arbiter
-- duty width
THT_EN THTL_DTY
P_CNT.4 P_CNT.x
Figure 8-45 ACPI Clock Logic (One per Processor)
Implementation of the ACPI processor power state controls minimally requires the support a single
CPU sleeping state (C1). All of the CPU power states occur in the G0/S0 system state; they have no
meaning when the system transitions into the sleeping state(S1-S4). ACPI defines the attributes
(semantics) of the different CPU states (defines four of them). It is up to the platform
implementation to map an appropriate low-power CPU state to the defined ACPI CPU state.
ACPI clock control is supported through the optional processor register block (P_BLK). ACPI
requires that there be a unique processor register block for each CPU in the system. Additionally,

ACPI requires that the clock logic for multiprocessor systems be symmetrical when using the
P_BLK and FADT interfaces; if the P0 processor supports the C1, C2, and C3 states, but P1 only
supports the C1 state, then OSPM will limit all processors to enter the C1 state when idle.
The following sections define the different ACPI CPU sleeping states.

All processors must support this power state. This state is supported through a native instruction of
the processor (HLT for IA 32-bit processors), and assumes no hardware support is needed from the
chipset. The hardware latency of this state must be low enough that OSPM does not consider the
latency aspect of the state when deciding whether to use it. Aside from putting the processor in a
power state, this state has no other software-visible effects. In the C1 power state, the processor is
able to maintain the context of the system caches.
The hardware can exit this state for any reason, but must always exit this state when an interrupt is to
be presented to the processor.

This processor power state is optionally supported by the system. If present, the state offers
improved power savings over the C1 state and is entered by using the P_LVL2 command register for
the local processor or an alternative mechanism as indicated by the _CST object. The worst-case
hardware latency for this state is declared in the FADT and OSPM can use this information to
determine when the C1 state should be used instead of the C2 state. Aside from putting the processor
in a power state, this state has no other software-visible effects. OSPM assumes the C2 power state
has lower power and higher exit latency than the C1 power state.
The C2 power state is an optional ACPI clock state that needs chipset hardware support. This clock
logic consists of an interface that can be manipulated to cause the processor complex to precisely
transition into a C2 power state. In a C2 power state, the processor is assumed capable of keeping its
caches coherent; for example, bus master and multiprocessor activity can take place without
corrupting cache context.
The C2 state puts the processor into a low-power state optimized around multiprocessor and bus
master systems. OSPM will cause an idle processor complex to enter a C2 state if there are bus
masters or Multiple processor activity (which will prevent OSPM from placing the processor
complex into the C3 state). The processor complex is able to snoop bus master or multiprocessor
CPU accesses to memory while in the C2 state.
The hardware can exit this state for any reason, but must always exit this state whenever an interrupt
is to be presented to the processor.

This processor power state is optionally supported by the system. If present, the state offers
improved power savings over the C1 and C2 state and is entered by using the P_LVL3 command
register for the local processor or an alternative mechanism as indicated by the _CST object. The
worst-case hardware latency for this state is declared in the FADT, and OSPM can use this
information to determine when the C1 or C2 state should be used instead of the C3 state. While in

the C3 state, the processor’s caches maintain state but the processor is not required to snoop bus
master or multiprocessor CPU accesses to memory.
The hardware can exit this state for any reason, but must always exit this state when an interrupt is to
be presented to the processor or when BM_RLD is set and a bus master is attempting to gain access
to memory.
OSPM is responsible for ensuring that the caches maintain coherency. In a uniprocessor
environment, this can be done by using the PM2_CNT.ARB_DIS bus master arbitration disable
register to ensure bus master cycles do not occur while in the C3 state. In a multiprocessor
environment, the processors’ caches can be flushed and invalidated such that no dynamic
information remains in the caches before entering the C3 state.
There are two mechanisms for supporting the C3 power state:
• Having OSPM flush and invalidate the caches prior to entering the C3 state.
• Providing hardware mechanisms to prevent masters from writing to memory (uniprocessor-only
support).
In the first case, OSPM will flush the system caches prior to entering the C3 state. As there is
normally much latency associated with flushing processor caches, OSPM is likely to only support
this in multiprocessor platforms for idle processors. Flushing of the cache is accomplished through
one of the defined ACPI mechanisms (described below in Section 8.2, “Flushing Caches”).
In uniprocessor-only platforms that provide the needed hardware functionality (defined in this
section), OSPM will attempt to place the platform into a mode that will prevent system bus masters
from writing into memory while the processor is in the C3 state. This is accomplished by disabling
bus masters prior to entering a C3 power state. Upon a bus master requesting an access, the CPU will
awaken from the C3 state and re-enable bus master accesses.
OSPM uses the BM_STS bit to determine the power state to enter when considering a transition to or
from the C2/C3 power state. The BM_STS is an optional bit that indicates when bus masters are
active. OSPM uses this bit to determine the policy between the C2 and C3 power states: a lot of bus
master activity demotes the CPU power state to the C2 (or C1 if C2 is not supported), no bus master
activity promotes the CPU power state to the C3 power state. OSPM keeps a running history of the
BM_STS bit to determine CPU power state policy.
The last hardware feature used in the C3 power state is the BM_RLD bit. This bit determines if the
Cx power state is exited as a result of bus master requests. If set, then the Cx power state is exited
upon a request from a bus master. If reset, the power state is not exited upon bus master requests. In
the C3 state, bus master requests need to transition the CPU back to the C0 state (as the system is
capable of maintaining cache coherency), but such a transition is not needed for the C2 state. OSPM
can optionally set this bit when using a C3 power state, and clear it when using a C1 or C2 power
state.
8.1.5 Additional Processor Power States

ACPI introduced optional processor power states beyond C3 starting in ACPI 2.0. These power
states, C4… Cn, are conveyed to OSPM through the _CST object defined in Section 8.4.2.1, “_CST
(C-States).” These additional power states are characterized by equivalent operational semantics to
the C1 through C3 power states, as defined in the previous sections, but with different entry/exit
latencies and power savings. See Section 8.4.2.1, “_CST (C-States),” for more information.

8.2 Flushing Caches

To support the C3 power state without using the ARB_DIS feature, the hardware must provide
functionality to flush and invalidate the processors’ caches (for an IA processor, this would be the
WBINVD instruction). To support the S1, S2 or S3 sleeping states, the hardware must provide
functionality to flush the platform caches. Flushing of caches is supported by one of the following
mechanisms:
• Processor instruction to write back and invalidate system caches (WBINVD instruction for IA
processors).
• Processor instruction to write back but not invalidate system caches (WBINVD instruction for
IA processors and some chipsets with partial support; that is, they don’t invalidate the caches).
The ACPI specification expects all platforms to support the local CPU instruction for flushing
system caches (with support in both the CPU and chipset), and provides some limited “best effort”
support for systems that don’t currently meet this capability. The method used by the platform is
indicated through the appropriate FADT fields and flags indicated in this section.
ACPI specifies parameters in the FADT that describe the system’s cache capabilities. If the platform
properly supports the processor’s write back and invalidate instruction (WBINVD for IA
processors), then this support is indicated to OSPM by setting the WBINVD flag in the FADT.

If the platform supports neither of the first two flushing options, then OSPM can attempt to manually
flush the cache if it meets the following criteria:
• A cache-enabled sequential read of contiguous physical memory of not more than 2 MB will
flush the platform caches.
• There are two additional FADT fields needed to support manual flushing of the caches:
• FLUSH_SIZE, typically twice the size of the largest cache in the system.
• FLUSH_STRIDE, typically the smallest cache line size in the system.
8.3 Power, Performance, and Throttling State Dependencies

Cost and complexity trade-off considerations have driven into the platform control dependencies
between logical processors when entering power, performance, and throttling states. These
dependencies exist in various forms in multi-processor, multi-threaded processor, and multi-core
processor-based platforms. These dependencies may also be hierarchical. For example, a multi-
processor system consisting of processors containing multiple cores containing multiple threads may
have various dependencies as a result of the hardware implementation.
Unless OSPM is aware of the dependency between the logical processors, it might lead to scenarios
where one logical processor is implicitly transitioned to a power, performance, or throttling state
when it is unwarranted, leading to incorrect / non-optimal system behavior. Given knowledge of the
dependencies, OSPM can coordinate the transitions between logical processors, choosing to initiate
the transition when doing so does not lead to incorrect or non-optimal system behavior. This OSPM
coordination is referred to as Software (SW) Coordination. Alternately, it might be possible for the
underlying hardware to coordinate the state transition requests on multiple logical processors,
causing the processors to transition to the target state when the transition is guaranteed to not lead to
incorrect or non-optimal system behavior. This scenario is referred to as Hardware (HW)
coordination. When hardware coordinates transitions, OSPM continues to initiate state transitions as
it would if there were no dependencies. However, in this case it is required that hardware provide
OSPM with a means to determine actual state residency so that correct / optimal control policy can
be realized.
Platforms containing logical processors with cross-processor dependencies in the power,
performance, or throttling state control areas use ACPI defined interfaces to group logical processors
into what is referred to as a dependency domain. The Coordination Type characteristic for a domain
specifies whether OSPM or underlying hardware is responsible for the coordination. When OSPM
coordinates, the platform may require that OSPM transition ALL (0xFC) or ANY ONE (0xFD) of
the processors belonging to the domain into a particular target state. OSPM may choose at its
discretion to perform coordination even though the underlying hardware supports hardware
coordination. In this case, OSPM must transition all logical processors in the dependency domain to
the particular target state.
There are no dependencies implied between a processor’s C-states, P-states or T-states. Hence, for
example it is possible to use the same dependency domain number for specifying dependencies
between P-states among one set of processors and C-states among another set of processors without
any dependencies being implied between the P-State transitions on a processor in the first set and C-
state transitions on a processor in the second set.

8.4 Declaring Processors

Each processor in the system must be declared in the ACPI namespace in the \_SB scope.
Declaration of processors in the \_PR scope was only required for platforms desiring compatibility
with ACPI 1.0-based OSPM implementations. It is deprecated for all other uses. Processors are
declared via the ASL Device statement. Declarations via the ASL Processor statement are
deprecated. A Device definition for a processor is declared using the ACPI0007 hardware identifier
(HID). Processor configuration information is provided exclusively by objects in the processor
device's object list.
When the platform uses the APIC interrupt model, UID object values under a processor device are
used to associate processor devices with entries in the MADT.
Processor-specific objects may be declared within the processor device's scope. These objects serve
multiple purposes including processor performance state control. Other ACPI-defined device-related
objects are also allowed under the processor device's scope (for example, the unique identifier object
_UID mentioned above).
With device-like characteristics attributed to processors, it is implied that a processor device driver
will be loaded by OSPM to, at a minimum, process device notifications. OSPM will enumerate
processors in the system using the ACPI Namespace, processor-specific native identification
instructions, and the _HID method.
For more information on the declaration of the processor device object, see Section 19.6.30, "Device
(Declare Device Package)." Processor-specific child objects are described in the following sections.
ACPI 6.0 introduces the notion of processor containers. Processor containers are declared using the
Processor Container Device. A processor container can be used to describe a collection of
associated processors that share common resources, such as shared caches, and which have power
states that affect the processors in the collection. For more information see Section 8.4.3.1
"Processor Container Device”.
8.4.1 _PDC (Processor Driver Capabilities)

This optional object is a method that is used by OSPM to communicate to the platform the level of
processor power management support provided by OSPM. This object is a child object of the
processor. OSPM evaluates _PDC prior to evaluating any other processor power management
objects returning configuration information.
The _PDC object provides OSPM a mechanism to convey to the platform the capabilities supported
by OSPM for processor power management. This allows the platform to modify the ACPI
namespace objects returning configuration information for processor power management based on
the level of support provided by OSPM. Using this method provides a mechanism for OEMs to
provide support for new technologies on legacy OSes, while also allowing OSPM to leverage new
technologies on platforms capable of supporting them. This method is evaluated once during
processor device initialization, and will not be re-evaluated during resume from a sleep state
transition. The platform must preserve state information across S1-S3 sleep state transitions.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – A variable-length Buffer containing a list of capabilities as described below

Return Value:
None
The buffer argument contains a list of DWORDs in the following format:
RevisionId – Revision of the buffer format
Count – The number of capability values in the capabilities array
Capabilities[Count] – Capabilities array
Each DWORD entry in the capabilities array is a bitfield that defines capabilities and features
supported by OSPM for processor configuration and power management as specified by the CPU
manufacturer.
The use of _PDC is deprecated in ACPI 3.0 in favor of _OSC. For backwards compatibility, _PDC
may be implemented using _OSC as follows:
Method(_PDC,1)
{
CreateDWordField (Arg0, 0, REVS)
CreateDWordField (Arg0, 4, SIZE)
//
// Local0 = Number of bytes for Arg0
//
Store (SizeOf (Arg0), Local0)
//
// Local1 = Number of Capabilities bytes in Arg0
//
Store (Subtract (Local0, 8), Local1)
//
// TEMP = Temporary field holding Capability DWORDs
//
CreateField (Arg0, 64, Multiply (Local1, 8), TEMP)
//
// Create the Status (STS0) buffer with the first DWORD = 0
// This is required to return errors defined by _OSC.
//
Name (STS0, Buffer () {0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00})
//
// Concatenate the _PDC capabilities bytes to the STS0 Buffer
// and store them in a local variable for calling OSC
//
Concatenate (STS0, TEMP, Local2)

//
// Note: The UUID passed into _OSC is CPU vendor specific. Consult CPU
// vendor documentation for UUID and Capabilities Buffer bit definitions
//
_OSC (ToUUID("4077A616-290C-47BE-9EBD-D87058713953"), REVS, SIZE, Local2)
}
Section 6.2.11, “_OSC (Operating System Capabilities)”, describes the _OSC object, which can be
used to convey processor related OSPM capabilities to the platform. Consult CPU vendor specific
documentation for the UUID and Capabilities Buffer bit definitions used by _OSC for a specific
processor.
8.4.2 Processor Power State Control

ACPI defines multiple processor power state (C state) control interfaces. These are:
1. The Processor Register Block’s (P_BLK’s) P_LVL2 and P_LVL3 registers coupled with FADT
P_LVLx_LAT values and
2. The _CST object in the processor’s object list.
3. The _LPI objects for processors and processor containers.
P_BLK based C state controls are described in Section 4, “ACPI Hardware Specification” and
Section 8.1, “Processor Power States”. _CST based C state controls expand the functionality of the
P_BLK based controls allowing the number and type of C states to be dynamic and accommodate
CPU architecture specific C state entry and exit mechanisms as indicated by registers defined using
the Functional Fixed Hardware address space.
_CST is an optional object that provides:
• The Processor Register Block's (P_BLK's) P_LVL2 and P_LVL3 registers coupled with FADT
P_LVLx_LAT values.
• The _CST object in the processor's object list.
ACPI 6.0 introduces _LPI, the low power idle state object. _LPI provides more detailed power state
information and can describe idle states at multiple levels of hierarchy in conjunction with Processor
Containers. See Section 8.4.4.3 for details.
8.4.2.1 _CST (C States)

_CST is an optional object that provides an alternative method to declare the supported processor
power states (C States). Values provided by the _CST object override P_LVLx values in P_BLK and
P_LVLx_LAT values in the FADT. The _CST object allows the number of processor power states
to be expanded beyond C1, C2, and C3 to an arbitrary number of power states. The entry semantics
for these expanded states, (in other words), the considerations for entering these states, are conveyed
to OSPM by the C-state Type field and correspond to the entry semantics for C1, C2, and C3 as
described in Section 8.1.2 through Section 8.1.4. _CST defines ascending C-states characterized by
lower power and higher entry/exit latency.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of C-state information Packages as described below

_CST returns a variable-length Package that contains the following elements:
Count An Integer that contains the number of CState sub-packages that follow
CStates[] A list of Count CState sub-packages
Package {
Count // Integer
CStates[0] // Package
….
CStates[Count-1] // Package
}
Each fixed-length Cstate sub-Package contains the elements described below:

Package {
Register // Buffer (Resource Descriptor)
Type // Integer (BYTE)
Latency // Integer (WORD)
Power // Integer (DWORD)
}
Table 8-262 Cstate Package Values

Register Buffer Contains a Resource Descriptor with a single Register() descriptor that
describes the register that OSPM must read to place the processor in the
corresponding C state.
Type Integer The C State type (1=C1, 2=C2, 3=C3). This field conveys the semantics to be
(BYTE) used by OSPM when entering/exiting the C state. Zero is not a valid value.
Latency Integer The worst-case latency to enter and exit the C State (in microseconds). There
(WORD) are no latency restrictions.
Power Integer The average power consumption of the processor when in the corresponding
(DWORD) C State (in milliwatts).
The platform must expose a _CST object for either all or none of its processors. If the _CST object
exists, OSPM uses the C state information specified in the _CST object in lieu of P_LVL2 and
P_LVL3 registers defined in P_BLK and the P_LVLx_LAT values defined in the FADT. Also
notice that if the _CST object exists and the _PTC object does not exist, OSPM will use the
Processor Control Register defined in P_BLK and the C_State_Register registers in the _CST
object.
The platform may change the number or type of C States available for OSPM use dynamically by
issuing a Notify event on the processor object with a notification value of 0x81. This will cause
OSPM to re-evaluate any _CST object residing under the processor object notified. For example, the

platform might notify OSPM that the number of supported C States has changed as a result of an
asynchronous AC insertion / removal event.
The platform must specify unique C_State_Register addresses for all entries within a given _CST
object.
_CST eliminates the ACPI 1.0 restriction that all processors must have C State parity. With _CST,
each processor can have its own characteristics independent of other processors. For example,
processor 0 can support C1, C2 and C3, while processor 1 supports only C1.
The fields in the processor structure remain for backward compatibility.
Example
Processor (
\_SB.CPU0, // Processor Name
1, // ACPI Processor number
0x120, // PBlk system IO address
6 ) // PBlkLen
{
Name(_CST, Package()
{
4, // There are four C-states defined here with three semantics
// The third and fourth C-states defined have the same C3 entry semantics
Package(){ResourceTemplate(){Register(FFixedHW, 0, 0, 0)}, 1, 20, 1000},
Package(){ResourceTemplate(){Register(SystemIO, 8, 0, 0x161)}, 2, 40, 750},
Package(){ResourceTemplate(){Register(SystemIO, 8, 0, 0x163)}, 3, 100, 250}
})
}
Notice in the example above that OSPM should anticipate the possibility of a _CST object providing
more than one entry with the same C_State_Type value. In this case OSPM must decide which
C_State_Register it will use to enter that C state.
Example
This is an example usage of the _CST object using the typical values as defined in ACPI 1.0.
Processor (
0x120, // PBLK system IO address
6 ) // PBLK Len
{
{
2, // There are two C-states defined here – C2 and C3
})
}
The platform will issue a Notify(\_SB.CPU0, 0x81) to inform OSPM to re-evaluate this object when
the number of available processor power states changes.

8.4.2.2 _CSD (C-State Dependency)

This optional object provides C-state control cross logical processor dependency information to
OSPM. The _CSD object evaluates to a packaged list of information that correlates with the C-state
information returned by the _CST object. Each packaged list entry identifies the C-state for which
the dependency is being specified (as an index into the _CST object list), a dependency domain
number for that C-state, the coordination type for that C-state and the number of logical processors
belonging to the domain for the particular C-state. It is possible that a particular C-state may belong
to multiple domains. That is, it is possible to have multiple entries in the _CSD list with the same
CStateIndex value.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of C-state dependency Packages as described below.

Package {
CStateDependency[0] // Package
….
CStateDependency[n] // Package
}
Each CstateDependency sub-Package contains the elements described below:

Package {
NumEntries // Integer
Revision // Integer (BYTE)
Domain // Integer (DWORD)
CoordType // Integer (DWORD)
NumProcessors // Integer (DWORD)
Index // Integer (DWORD)
}
Table 8-263 CStateDependency Package Values

NumEntries Integer The number of entries in the CStateDependency package including this field.
Current value is 6.
Revision Integer The revision number of the CStateDependency package format. Current
(BYTE) value is 0.
Domain Integer The dependency domain number to which this C state entry belongs.
(DWORD)
CoordType Integer The type of coordination that exists (hardware) or is required (software) as a
(DWORD) result of the underlying hardware dependency. Could be either 0xFC
(SW_ALL), 0xFD (SW_ANY) or 0xFE (HW_ALL) indicating whether OSPM is
responsible for coordinating the C-state transitions among processors with
dependencies (and needs to initiate the transition on all or any processor in
the domain) or whether the hardware will perform this coordination.

Num Integer The number of processors belonging to the domain for the particular C-state.
Processors (DWORD) OSPM will not start performing power state transitions to a particular C-state
until this number of processors belonging to the same domain for the
particular C-state have been detected and started.
Index Integer Indicates the index of the C-State entry in the _CST object for which the
(DWORD) dependency applies.
Given that the number or type of available C States may change dynamically, ACPI supports Notify
events on the processor object, with Notify events of type 0x81 causing OSPM to re-evaluate any
_CST objects residing under the particular processor object notified. On receipt of Notify events of
type 0x81, OSPM should re-evaluate any present _CSD objects also.
Example
This is an example usage of the _CSD structure in a Processor structure in the namespace. The
example represents a two processor configuration. The C1-type state can be independently entered
on each processor. For the C2-type state, there exists dependence between the two processors, such
that one processor transitioning to the C2-type state, causes the other processor to transition to the
C2-type state. A similar dependence exists for the C3-type state. OSPM will be required to
coordinate the C2 and C3 transitions between the two processors. Also OSPM can initiate a
transition on either processor to cause both to transition to the common target C-state.

Processor (
6 ) // PBlkLen
{
Name (_CST, Package()
{
3, // There are three C-states defined here with three semantics
})
Name(_CSD, Package()
{
Package(){6, 0, 0, 0xFD, 2, 1} , // 6 entries,Revision 0,Domain 0,OSPM Coordinate
// Initiate on Any Proc,2 Procs, Index 1 (C2-type)
Package(){6, 0, 0, 0xFD, 2, 2} // 6 entries,Revision 0 Domain 0,OSPM Coordinate
// Initiate on Any Proc,2 Procs, Index 2 (C3-type)
})
}
Processor (
, // PBlk system IO address
) // PBlkLen
{
{
3, // There are three C-states defined here with three semantics
})
Name(_CSD, Package()
{
Package(){6, 0, 0, 0xFD, 2, 1}, // 6 entries,Revision 0,Domain 0,OSPM Coordinate
// Initiate on any Proc,2 Procs, Index 1 (C2-type)
Package(){6, 0, 0, 0xFD, 2, 2} // 6 entries,Revision 0,Domain 0,OSPM Coordinate
// Initiate on any Proc,2 Procs,Index 2 (C3-type)
})
}
When the platform issues a Notify(\_SB.CPU0, 0x81) to inform OSPM to re-evaluate _CST when
the number of available processor power states changes, OSPM should also evaluate _CSD.
8.4.3 Processor Hierarchy

It is very typical for computing platforms to have a multitude of processors that share common
resources, such as caches, and which have common power states that affect groups of processors.
These are arranged in a hierarchical manner. For example, a system may contain a set of NUMA
nodes, each with a number of sockets, which may contain multiple groups of processors, each of
which may contain individual processor cores, each of which may contain multiple hardware
threads. Different architectures use different terminology to denominate logically associated
processors, but terms such as package, cluster, module, and socket are typical examples. ACPI uses
the term processor container to describe a group of associated processors. Processors are said to

belong to a container if they are associated in some way, such as a shared cache or a low power
mode which affects them all.
Parent for cluster 0 and Root
cluster 1
System
Cluster Cluster Higher Level

0 1
Lower Level
Cluster 0's children
Core0 Core1 Core2 Core3
Leaves
Figure 8-46 Processor Hierarchy
Figure 8-46 depicts an example system, which comprises a system level processor container, which
in turn contains two cluster processor containers, each of which contains two processors. The overall
collection is called the processor hierarchy and standard tree terminology is used to refer to different
parts of it. For example, an individual processor or container is called a node, the nodes which reside
within a processor container are called children of that parent, etc. This example is symmetric but
that is not a requirement. For example, a system may contain a different number of processors in
different containers or an asymmetric hierarchy where one side of the topology tree is deeper than
another. Also note that while this example includes a single top level processor container
encompassing all processors, this is not a requirement. It is legal for a system to be described using a
collection of trees.
The processor hierarchy can be used to describe a number of different characteristics of system
topology. The main example is shared power states, see the Low Power Idle states in Section 8.4.4
for details.
8.4.3.1 Processor Container Device

This optional device is a container object that acts much like a bus node in a namespace. It may
contain child objects that are either processor devices or other processor containers. This allows
representing hierarchical processor topologies. Each processor container or processor in the

hierarchy is herein referred to as a node. The processor container device is declared using the
hardware identifier (_HID) ACPI0010.
To aid support of operating systems which do not parse processor containers, a container can carry a
Compatible ID (_CID) of PNP0A05, which represents a generic container device (see Section 5.6.7)
A processor container declaration must supply a _UID method returning an ID that is unique in the
processor container hierarchy. A processor container must contain either other processor containers
or other processor devices declared within its scope. In addition, a processor container may also
contain the following methods in its scope:
Table 8-264 Processor Container Device Objects

Object Description
_LPI Declares local power states for the hierarchy node represented by the processor container
_RDI Declares power resource dependencies that affect system level power states
_STA Determines the status of a processor container. See Section 5.6.7
_LPI may be present under a processor device, and is described in Section 8.4.4.3 _RDI can only be
present under a singular top level processor container object, and is described below.
ACPI allows the definition of more than one root level processor container. In other words, it is
possible to define multiple top level containers. For example, in a NUMA system if there are no idle
states or other objects that need to be encapsulated at the system level, multiple NUMA-node level
processor containers may be defined at the top level of the hierarchy.
Processor Container Device objects are only valid for implementations conforming to ACPI 6.0 or
higher. A platform can ascertain whether an operating system supports parsing of processor
container objects via the _OSC method (see Section 6.2.11.2).
8.4.4 Lower Power Idle States

ACPI 6.0 introduces Lower Power Idle states (LPI). This extends the specification to allow
expression of idle states that, like C-states, are selected by the OSPM when a processor goes idle, but
which may affect more than one processor, and may affect other system components. LPI extensions
in the specification leverage the processor container device, and in this way can express which parts
of the system are affected by a given LPI state.
LPI states are defined via the following objects:
• _LPI objects define the states themselves, and may be declared inside a processor or a processor
container device
• _RDI allows expressing constraints on LPI usage borne out of device usage
8.4.4.1 Hierarchical Idle States

Processor containers (Section 8.4.3.1) can be used in conjunction with _LPI (Section 8.4.4.3) to
describe idle states in a hierarchical manner. Within the processor hierarchy, each node has low
power states that are specific to that node. ACPI refers to states that are specific to a node in the
hierarchy as Local Power States. For example in the system depicted in Figure 8-47, the local power
states of CPU0 are clock gate, retention and power down.

When the OS running on a given processor detects there is no more work to schedule on that
processor, it needs to select an idle state. The state may affect more than just that processor. A
processor going idle could be the last one in the system, or in a processor container, and therefore
may select a power state what affects multiple processors. In order to select such a state, the OS
needs to choose a local power state for each affected level in the processor hierarchy.
Cluster 0's children
Level ID: 3
System _LPI:
1: Power Down
LevelID: 2 LevelID: 2
_LPI: Cluster _LPI: Shallower states
1: Clock Gate Cluster1 1: Clock Gate
Cluster0's local states 2: Retention 0 2: Retention
3: Power Down 3: Power Down Deeper states
Core0 Core1 Core2 Core3
LevelID: 1 LevelID: 1 LevelID: 1 LevelID: 1

_LPI: _LPI: _LPI: _LPI:
1: Clock Gate 1: Clock Gate 1: Clock Gate 1: Clock Gate
2: Retention 2: Retention 2: Retention 2: Retention
Core0's local states 3: Power Down 3: Power Down 3: Power Down 3: Power Down
Figure 8-47 Power states for processor hierarchy
Consider a situation where Core 0 is the last active core depicted in the example system, Figure 8-
47. It may put the system into the lowest possible idle state. To do so, the OS chooses local state 3
(Power Down) for Core0, local state 3 (Power Down) for Cluster0, and local state 1 (Power Down)
for the system. However, most HW architectures only support a single power state request from the
OS to the platform. That is, it is not possible to make a separate local power state request per
hierarchy node to the platform. Therefore, the OS must combine the per level local power states into
a single Composite power state. The platform then acts on the Composite power state request.
A platform can only support a limited set of Composite power states, and not every combination of
Local Power states across levels is valid. The valid power states in our example system are depicted
in the following table:
Table 8-265 Valid Local State Combinations in Figure 2 example system

System Level Processor Cluster level Processor Processor
Container Container
Running Running Clock Gated
Running Running Retention
Running Running Power Down
Running Clock Gated Clock Gated

System Level Processor Cluster level Processor Processor

Container Container
Running Clock Gated Retention
Running Clock Gated Power Down
Running Retention Retention
Running Retention Power Down
Running Power Down Power Down
Power Down Power Down Power Down
8.4.4.2 Idle State Coordination

With hierarchical idle states, multiple processors affect the idle state for any non-leaf hierarchy
node. Taking our example system in Figure 8-47, for cluster 0 to enter a low power state, both Core
0 and Core 1 must be idle. In addition, the power state selection done for Core 0 and Core 1 as they
go idle has bearing on the state that can be used for Cluster 0. This requires coordination of idle state
requests between the two processors. ACPI supports two different coordination schemes (detailed in
subsections following):
• Platform coordinated
• OS initiated.
The OS and the platform can handshake on support for OS Initiated Idle or Platform Coordinated
Idle using the _OSC method as described in Section 6.2.11.2. Note that an Architecture specific
command may be required to enter OS Initiated mode, in which case please refer to architecture
specific documentation. (For PSCI documentation see http://uefi.org/acpi under the heading “PCSI
Specification”; for ARM FFH documentation, see http://uefi.org/acpi under the heading “ARM FFH
Specification”.)
8.4.4.2.1 Platform Coordinated

With the Platform Coordinated scheme, the platform is responsible for coordination of idle states
across processors. OSPM makes a request for all levels of hierarchy from each processor meaning
that each processor makes a vote by requesting a local power state for itself, its parent, its parent’s
parent, etc. (In some cases, the vote for a particular hierarchy level may be implicit – see the
autopromotion discussion below for more details). When choosing idle states at higher levels, the
OSPM on a processor may opt to keep a higher level node in a running state – this is still a vote for
that node which the platform must respect. The vote expressed by the OSPM sets out the constraints
on the local power state that the platform may choose for processor, and any parent nodes affected
by the vote. In particular the vote expresses that the platform must not enter:
1. A deeper (lower power) local state than the requested one.
2. A local power state with a higher wake up latency than the requested one.
3. A local power state with power resource dependencies that the requested state does not have.
The platform looks across the votes for each hierarchy node from all underlying cores and chooses
the deepest local state which satisfies all of the constraints associated with all of the votes. Normally,
this just means taking the shallowest state that one of the cores voted for, since shallower states have
lower wakeup latencies, lower minimum residencies, and fewer power resource dependencies.
However, this may not always be the true, as state depth and latencies do not always increase

together. For the sake of efficiency, the platform should generally not enter a power state with a
higher minimum residency than the requested one. However, this is not a strict functional
requirement. The platform may resolve to a state with higher minimum residency if it believes that is
the most efficient choice based on the specific states and circumstances.
Using the above example in Figure 8-47, a simple flow would look like this:
• Core0 goes idle – OS requests Core0 Power Down, Cluster0 Retention
• Platform receives Core0 requests – place Core0 in the Power Down state
• Core1 goes idle – OS requests Core1 Power Down, Cluster0 Power Down
• Platform receives Core1 request – puts Core1 in the Power Down state, and takes shallowest
vote for Cluster0, thus placing it into the Retention state
If the OSPM wanted to request power states beyond the cluster level, then Core0 and Core1 would
both vote for an idle state at System level too, and the platform would resolve the final state selection
across their votes and votes from any other processors under the System hierarchy via the method
described above.
As mentioned above, certain platforms support a mechanism called autopromotion where the votes
for higher level states may be implicit rather than explicit. In this scheme, the platform provides
OSPM with commands to request idle states at a lower level of the processor hierarchy which
automatically imply a specific idle state request at the respective higher level of the hierarchy. There
is no command to explicitly request entry into the higher level state, only the implicit request based
on the lower level state.
For example, if the platform illustrated in Figure 8-47 uses autopromotion for the Cluster0 Clock
Gated state, neither Core0 nor Core1 can explicitly request it. However, a core level Clock Gate
request from either Core0 or Core1 would imply a Cluster0 Clock Gate request. Therefore, if both
cores request core clock gating (or deeper), Cluster0 will be clock gated automatically by the
platform. Additional details on how autopromotion is supported by ACPI can be found in
Section 8.4.4.3.4.
8.4.4.2.2 OS Initiated
In the OS Initiated coordination scheme, OSPM only requests an idle state for a particular hierarchy
node when the last underlying processor goes to sleep. Obviously a processor always selects an idle
state for itself, but idle states for higher level hierarchy nodes like clusters are only selected when the
last processor in the cluster goes idle. The platform only considers the most recent request for a
particular node when deciding on its idle state.
The main motivations for OS Initiated coordination are:
1. Avoid overhead of OSPM evaluating selection for higher level idle states which will not be used
since other processors are still awake
2. Allow OSPM to make higher level idle state selections based on the latest information by taking
only the most recent request for a particular node and ignoring requests from processors which
went to sleep in the past (and may have been based on information which is now stale)

Using the above example in a simple flow would look like this:
Step OS View of power Platform view of
states power states
0: Cores 0 and 1 are both awake and running code Core0: Running Core0: Running
Core1: Running Core1: Running
Cluster0: Running Cluster0: Running
1 OS on Core0 requests Core0 PowerDown Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
2 Platform observes request and places Core0 into Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
power down Core1: Running Core1: Running
3 OS on Core1 requests Core1 PowerDown and Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
Cluster0 PowerDown Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
Cluster0: PowerDown Cluster0: Running
4 Platform observes requests for Core1 and Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
Cluster0 and processes them Core1: PowerDown Core1: PowerDown
Cluster0: PowerDown Cluster0: PowerDown
Note that Core1 is making a cluster decision which affects both Core0 and Core1 so OSPM should
consider expected sleep duration, wake up latency requirements, device dependencies, etc. for both
cores and not just Core1 when requesting the cluster state.
The platform is still responsible for ensuring functional correctness. For example, if Core0 wakes
back up, the cluster state requested by Core1 in the above example should be exited or the entry into
the state should be aborted. OSPM has no responsibility to guarantee that the last core down is also
the first core up, or that a core does not wake up just as another is requesting a higher level sleep
state.
8.4.4.2.2.1 OS Initiated Request Semantics

With OS Initiated coordination, the ordering of requests from different cores is critically important
since the platform acts upon the latest one. If the platform does not process requests in the order the
OS intended then it may put the platform into the wrong state. Consider this scenario in our example
system in Figure 8-47:
Step OS View of power states Platform view of
power states
0: Core0 in PowerDown, and Core1 is running Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
1 Core1 goes idle – the OSPM requests Core1 Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
PowerDown and Cluster0 Retention Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
Cluster0: Retention Cluster0: Running
2 Core0 receives an interrupt and wakes up into Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
platform Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running

Step OS View of power states Platform view of

power states
3 Core0 moves into OSPM and starts Core0: Running Core0: Running
processing interrupt Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
4 Core0 goes idle and OSPM request Core0 Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
Power Down, Cluster0 Power Down Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
Cluster0: PowerDown Cluster0: Running
5 Core0’s idle request “passes” Core1’s request. Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
Platform puts Core0 to Power Down but Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
ignores cluster request since Core1 is still Cluster0: PowerDown Cluster0: Running
running
6 Core1’s request is observed by the platform. Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
Platform puts Core1 to Power Down and Core1: PowerDown Core1: PowerDown
Cluster0 to retention. Cluster0: PowerDown!! Cluster0:
(See Note) Retention!! (See
Note)
Note: Bold text here indicates mismatched states.

The key issue here is the race condition between the requests from the two cores; there is no
guarantee that they reach the platform in the same order the OS made them. It is not expected to be
common, but Core0’s request could “pass” Core1’s for a variety of potential reasons – lower
frequency, different cache behavior, handling of some non-OS visible event, etc. This sequence of
events results in the platform incorrectly acting on the stale Cluster0 request from Core1 rather than
the latest request from Core0. The net result is that Cluster0 is left in the wrong state until the next
wakeup.
To address such race conditions and ensure that the platform and OS have a consistent view of the
request ordering, OS Initiated idle state request semantics are enhanced to include a hierarchical
dependency check. When the platform receives a request, it is responsible for checking whether the
requesting core is really the last core down in the requested domain and rejecting the request if not.
Note that even if OSPM and the platform are behaving correctly, they may not always agree on the
state of the system due to various races. For example, the platform may see a core waking up before
OSPM, and therefore see that core as running, whilst the OSPM still sees it as sleeping. The platform
can start treating a particular core as being in a low power state, for the sake of the dependency
check, once it has seen the core’s request (so that it can be correctly ordered versus other OS
requests). The platform must start treating a core as running before returning control to the OS after
it wakes up from an idle state.
With this dependency check, the above example would change as follows:
states power states
0-4: Same as above Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
Cluster0: Cluster0: Running
PowerDown


states power states
5 Core0’s idle request “passes” Core1’s request. Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
Platform rejects Core0’s request since it includes Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
Cluster0 but Core1 is still awake. Cluster0: Cluster0: Running
PowerDown
6 Core1’s request is observed by the platform. Platform Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
rejects Core1’s request since it includes Cluster0 Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
but Core0 is still awake. Cluster0: Cluster0: Running
PowerDown
7 OS resumes on Core0 Core0: Running Core0: Running
Once control is returned to the OS, it can handle as it sees fit – likely just re-evaluating the idle state
on both cores. When requests are received out of order, some overhead is introduced by rejecting the
command and forcing the OS to re-evaluate, but this is expected to be rare. Requests sent by the OS
should be seen by the platform in the same order the vast majority of the time, and in this case, the
idle command will proceed as normal.
It is possible that the OS may choose to keep a particular hierarchy node running even if all CPUs
underneath it are asleep. This gives rise to another potential corner case – see below.
states power states
1 Core1 goes idle – the OSPM OS requests Core1 Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
PowerDown and Cluster0 Retention Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
2 Core0 receives an interrupt and wakes up into platform Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
3 Core0 moves into OSPM and starts processing Core0: Running Core0: Running
interrupt Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
4 Core0 goes idle and OSPM request Core0 Power Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
Down and requests Cluster0 to stay running Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
5 Core0’s idle request “passes” Core1’s request. Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
Platform puts Core0 to PowerDown. Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
Even though the OS made a request for the cluster Cluster0: Running Cluster0: Running
to run, Platform does not know to reject Core0’s
request since it doesn’t include a Cluster idle state


states power states
6 Core1’s request is observed by the platform. Platform Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
puts Core1 to Power Down and Cluster0 to retention. Core1: PowerDown Core1: PowerDown
Cluster0: Running!! Cluster0:
(See Note, below) Retention!!(See
Note, below)
Note: Bold text here indicates mismatched states.

The fundamental issue is that the platform cannot infer what hierarchy level a request is for, based
on what levels are being placed into a low power mode. To mitigate this, each idle state command
must include a hierarchy parameter specifying the highest level hierarchy node for which the OS is
making a request in addition to the normal idle state identifier. Even if the OS does not want some
higher level hierarchy node to enter an idle state, it should indicate if the core is the last core down
for that node. This allows the platform to understand the OS’s view of the state of the hierarchy and
ensure ordering of requests even if the OS requests a particular node to stay running.
This enhancement is illustrated in this example:
states power states
1 Core1 goes idle – the OSPM OS requests Core1 Core0: PowerDown Core0: PowerDown
PowerDown and Cluster0 Retention and identifies Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
itself as last down in Cluster0 Cluster0: Retention Cluster0: Running
2 Core0 receives an interrupt and wakes up into platform Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
3 Core0 moves into OSPM and starts processing Core0: Running Core0: Running
interrupt Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
4 Core0 goes idle and OSPM request Core0 Power Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
Down and requests Cluster0 to stay running and Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
identifies itself as last down in Cluster0 Cluster0: Running Cluster0: Running
5 Core0’s idle request “passes” Core1’s request. Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
Platform rejects Core0’s request since it is a request Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
for Cluster0 but Core1 is still awake. Cluster0: Cluster0: Running
PowerDown
6 Core1’s request is observed by the platform. Platform Core0: PowerDown Core0: Running
rejects Core1’s request since it is a request for Core1: PowerDown Core1: Running
Cluster0 but Core0 is still awake. Cluster0: Cluster0: Running
PowerDown


states power states
As before, once control is returned to the OS, it can handle as it sees fit – likely just re-requesting the
idle state on both cores.
8.4.4.3 _LPI (Low Power Idle States)

_LPI is an optional object that provides a method to describe Low Power Idle states that defines the
local power states for each node in a hierarchical processor topology. The OSPM uses the _LPI
object to select a local power state for each level of processor hierarchy in the system. These local
state selections are then used to produce a composite power state request that is presented to the
platform by the OSPM.
This object may be used inside a Processor Container or a processor declaration. _LPI takes the
following format:
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing the local power states for the parent Processor or Processor
Container device as described in the table following below. _LPI evaluation returns the below
format:
Package {
Revision, // Integer (WORD)
LevelID, // Integer (QWORD)
Count, // Integer (WORD)
LPI[1], // Package
…
LPI[N] // Package
}

Revision Integer The revision number of the _LPI object. Current revision is 0.
(WORD)
LevelID Integer A platform defined number that identifies the level of hierarchy of the processor
(QWORD) node to which the LPI states apply. This is used in composition of IDs for OS
Initiated states described in Section 8.4.4.3.4. In a platform that only supports
platform coordinated mode, this field must be 0.
Count Integer The count of following LPI packages.
(WORD)
LPI[1] Package A Package containing the definition of LPI state 1.
LPI[N] Package A Package containing the definition of LPI state N.

Each LPI sub-Package contains the elements described below:

Package() {
Min Residency, // Integer (DWORD)
Worst case wakeup latency, // Integer (DWORD)
Flags, // Integer (DWORD)
Arch. Context Lost Flags, // Integer (DWORD)
Residency Counter Frequency, // Integer (DWORD)
Enabled Parent State, // Integer (DWORD)
Entry Method, // Buffer (ResourceDescriptor) or
// Integer (QWORD)
Residency Counter Register // Buffer (ResourceDescriptor)
Usage Counter Register // Buffer (ResourceDescriptor)
State Name // String (ASCIIZ)
}
Table 8-266 Extended LPI fields

Min Residency Integer (DWORD) Minimum Residency – time in microseconds after which a state
becomes more energy efficient than any shallower state. See
Section 8.4.4.3.3.
Worst case Integer (DWORD) Worst case time in microseconds from a wake interrupt being
wakeup latency asserted to the return to a running state of the owning hierarchy
node (processor or processor container). See Section 8.4.4.3.3.
Flags Integer Valid flags are described in Table 8-267
(DWORD)
Arch. Context Integer Architecture specific context loss flags. These flags may be
Lost Flags (DWORD) used by a processor architecture to indicate processor context
that may be lost by the power state and must be handled by
OSPM. See Section 8.4.4.3.5 “Architecture Specific Context
Loss Flags” for more detail.
Residency Integer Residency counter frequency in cycles-per-second (Hz). Value
Counter (DWORD) 0 indicates that counter runs at an architectural-specific
Frequency frequency.
Valid only if a Residency Counter Register is defined.
Enabled Parent Integer Every shallower power state in the parent is also enabled. 0
State (DWORD) implies that no local idle states may be entered at the parent
node.
Entry Method Buffer or Integer This may contain a resource descriptor or an integer
(QWORD) A Resource Descriptor with a single Register() descriptor may
be used to describe the register that must be read in order to
enter the power state.
Alternatively, an integer may be provided in which case the
integer would be used in composing the final Register Value
that must be used to enter this state. This composition process
is described below in Section 8.4.4.3.4 “Entry Method and
Composition”


Residency Buffer Optional residency counter register which provides the amount
Counter Register of time the owning hierarchy node has been in this local power
state. The time is provided in a frequency denoted by the
Residency counter frequency field (see above). The register is
optional. If the platform does not support it, then the following
NULL register descriptor should be used:
ResourceTemplate() {Register {(SystemMemory, 0, 0, 0, 0)}}
Usage Counter Buffer Optional register that provides the number of times the owning
Register hierarchy node has been in this local power state. If the platform
does not support this register, then the following NULL register
descriptor should be used:
State Name String (ASCIIZ) String containing a human-readable identifier of this LPI state.
This element is optional and an empty string (a null character)
should be used if this is not supported.
Table 8-267 Flags for LPI states

Element Bits Description
Enabled 0 1 if the power state is enabled for use
0 if the power state is disabled
It is not required that all processors or processor containers include _LPI objects. However, if a
processor container includes an _LPI object, then all children processors or processor containers
must have _LPI objects.
The following sections describe the more complex properties of LPI in more detail, as well as rules
governing wakeup for LPI states.
8.4.4.3.1 Disabling a State

When a local state is disabled by clearing the Enabled bit in the Flags field, any deeper states for that
node are not renumbered. This allows other properties which rely on indexing into the state list for
that node (Enabled Parent State for example) to not change.
Disabled states should not be requested by the OS and values returned by Residency/Usage Counter
Registers are undefined.
8.4.4.3.2 Enabled Parent State

As mentioned above, LPI represent local states, which must be combined into a composite state.
However not every combination is possible. Consider the example system described in Figure 8-47.
In this system it would not be possible to simultaneously select clock gating as local state for Core0
and power down as local state for Cluster0. As Core0 is physically in Cluster0, power gating the
cluster would imply power gating the core. The correct combinations of local states for this example
system are described in Table 8-265. LPI states support enumeration of the correct combinations
through the Enabled Parent State (EPS) property.

LPI States are 1-indexed. Much like C and S states, LPI0 is considered to be a running state. For a
given LPI, the EPS is a 1 based index into the processor containers’ _LPI states. The index points at
the deepest local power state of the parent processor that the given LPI state enables. Every
shallower power state in the parent is also enabled. Taking the system described in Figure 8-47, the
states and EPS value for the states is described in Table 8-268.
Table 8-268 Enabled Parent State values for example system

System Level Processor Enabled Parent State
Container LPI States
0 Running N/A
1 Power Down 0
Cluster Level Processor Container LPI States
0 Running N/A
1 Clock Gating 0 – System must be running if cluster is clock gated
2 Retention 0 – System must be running if cluster is in retention
3 Power Down 1 – System may be in power down if cluster is in power down
Core Level Processor Container LPI States
0 Running N/A
1 Clock Gating 1 – Cluster may be clock gated or running of core is clock
gated
2 Retention 2 – Cluster may running, or clock gated, or in retention if core is
in retention
3 Power Down 3 – All states at cluster level are supported if the core is
powered down
8.4.4.3.3 Power, Minimum Residency, and Worst Case Wakeup Latency

Power is not included in _LPI since relative power of different states (along with minimum
residency to comprehend transition energy), and not absolute power, drive OSPM idle state
decisions. To correctly convey relative power, local states in _LPI must be declared in power
consumption order. That is, the local states for a particular hierarchy node must be listed from
highest power (shallowest) to lowest power (deepest).
The worst case wakeup latency (WCWL) for a particular local state is the longest time from when a
wake interrupt is asserted, to when the hierarchy node can return to execution. Generally, the
WCWL will be the idle state’s exit latency plus some portion of its entry latency. How much of the
entry flow is included depends on where (and if) the platform supports checking for pending wake
events and aborting the idle state entry. For any given power state there will be a “point of no return”
after which the entry into the power state cannot be reversed. This is illustrated in Figure 8-48
below. The WCWL must include the time period from the point of no return to the time at which a
wake up interrupt can be handled.

Figure 8-48 Worst case wake latency
Note that other worst case paths could end up determining the WCWL, but what is described above
is expected to be the most common. For example, there could be another period between the OS
making the idle request and the point of no return where the platform does not check for wake up
events, and which is longer than the time taken to enter and exit the power state. In that case that
period would become the worst case wakeup latency.
Figure 8-49 Energy of states A,B and C versus sleep duration
Minimum residency (MR) is the time after which a state becomes more energy efficient than any
shallower state. This parameter answers the fundamental question: how long does the hierarchy node

need to stay in the idle state to overcome the energy cost of transitioning in/out, and make choosing
that state a net win relative to shallower alternatives? Note that this also includes comparing against
not entering an idle state and keeping the node running. This is illustrated in Figure 8-49 which
shows the energy associated with three different state choices as a function of the sleep duration.
Note that State A’s MR relative to keeping the node running is not pictured.
Generally minimum residency and worst case wakeup latency will be larger for deeper states,
however this may not always be the case. Taking a different example to the above, consider two
system level states, StateY and StateZ, with similar entry overhead but where StateZ saves more
power than StateY. An abstract state list might look like:
StateX: MR = 100 us
StateY: MR = 1000 us
StateZ: MR = 800 us, power resource A must be OFF
From an energy perspective, StateZ is always preferred, but in this example, StateZ is only available
when certain device dependencies are met. This makes StateY attractive when the dependencies
cannot be met. Despite being the deeper (lower power) state, StateZ has a lower MR than StateY
since the entry overheads are similar and StateZ’s lower power more quickly amortizes the transition
cost. Although the crossover, which sets MR, should generally be versus the next shallowest state,
MR is defined relative to any shallower (higher power) state to deal with cases like this. In this case,
StateZ’s MR is set by the crossover with StateX since StateZ (if allowed based on device
dependencies) is always preferred to StateY. To achieve the lowest energy, OSPM must select the
deepest (lowest power) state for which all entry constraints are satisfied and should not assume that
deeper states are not viable just because a shallower state’s WCWL/MR threshold was not met.
Since WCWL may be used by OSPM to restrict idle state selection and guarantee response times to
critical interrupts, it should be set conservatively (erring on the high side) so that OSPM is not
surprised with worse than specified interrupt response time. On the other hand, MR helps OSPM
make efficient decisions. If MR is inaccurate in a certain scenario and OSPM chooses a state which
is deeper or shallower than optimal for a particular idle period, there may be some wasted energy but
the system will not be functionally broken. This is not to say that MR doesn’t matter –energy
efficiency is important – just that the platform may choose to optimize MR based on the typical case
rather than the worst case.
8.4.4.3.3.1 Minimum Residency and Worst Case Wakeup Latency Combination Across Hierarchy
Levels
The WCWL in _LPI is for a particular local state. When evaluating composite state choices versus
system latency tolerance as part of idle state selection, OSPM will add wakeup latencies across
hierarchy levels. For example, if a system has core powerdown with WCWL = 50 us and cluster
powerdown with WCWL = 20 us then the core powerdown + cluster powerdown composite state
latency is calculated as 70 us.
MRs defined in _LPI apply to a particular hierarchy node. The implicit assumption is that each
hierarchy node represents an independent power manageable domain and can be considered
separately. For example, assume that a cluster retention state is legal if the underlying cores are in
core powerdown or core retention. The MR for cluster retention is based on the energy cost of taking
shared logic outside of the cores in and out of retention versus the steady state power savings
achieved in that shared logic while in that state. The key is that the specific state chosen at the core
level does not fundamentally affect the cluster level decision since it is tied to properties of shared

logic outside the core. The energy cost of entering/exiting the cluster state and the power savings it
provides are independent of whether the core is in retention or powerdown. Based on this, MRs are
considered independent per level in ACPI. That is, when comparing MR for different states to
expected sleep duration for a particular node, OSPM uses the MRs defined in that node’s _LPI as is
with no adjustment based on states at lower levels of hierarchy (though of course the state must be
legal based on the lower level state’s Enabled Parent State property).
8.4.4.3.3.2 Known Limitations with Minimum Residency and Worst Case Wakeup Latency
Note that the WCWL and MR parameters are not perfect. For example, they do not scale with
frequency, voltage, temperature, and various other factors which may affect them. Nor are the rules
for how they combine across levels perfect. For example, cluster level MRs may move slightly based
on core state choice since the entry latency of the core state will delay entry into the cluster state,
derating the expected sleep duration. The cluster level MR can be adjusted to comprehend this, but if
multiple core level states with different entry latencies enable the same cluster state, then its MR
cannot perfectly comprehend them all. With that said, this set of parameters and combination
scheme is believed to strike a good balance between simplicity/usability and accuracy.
8.4.4.3.4 Entry Method and Composition

The OSPM combines Local LPI states to create an overall composite power state. Each LPI state
provides an entry method field. These fields, for the selected local power states, are combined to
create the entry method register that must be read in order to enter a given composite power state.
To derive the appropriate register address from the local states’ entry methods, the following
approach is used:
1. Local states for Processors always declare a register based entry method. This provides a base
register.
2. Higher levels may use an integer or a register. If an Integer is used, then its value must be added
to the base register obtained in step 1. If a register is used, then this becomes the new base
register, overriding any previous value. Note that in this case, the selected LPI must imply
specific local LPI selections for all lower level nodes.
3. In OS Initiated mode it is also necessary for the OSPM to tell the platform on which hierarchy
level the calling processor is the last to go idle. This is done by adding the Level ID property of
the hierarchy node’s LPI to the base register.
The basic composition algorithm for entry state is shown in the pseudo-code below for a platform
coordinated system:

Reg = SelectedLocalState(CurrentProcessor).EntryMethod
WCWL = SelectedLocalState(CurrentProcessor).WCWL
MR = SelectedLocalState(CurrentProcessor).MR
for level = Parent(CurrentProcessor) to system

LocalState = SelectedLocalState(level)
If LocalState == Run
break
EM = LocalState.EntryMethod
WCWL = WCWL+ LocalState.WCWL
MR = LocalState.MR
If IsInteger(EM)
Reg.Addr = Reg.Addr+ZeroExtend(EM)
Else
// Entry method here overrides any previous method
Reg = EM
CompositeState.EntryMethod = Reg
CompositeState.WCWL=WCWL
CompositeState.MR=MR
In OS Initiated mode it is also necessary for the OSPM to tell the platform on which hierarchy level the
calling processor is the last to go idle and request a power state. To do this, the algorithm above is modified
as follows:
Reg = SelectedLocalState(CurrentProcessor).EntryMethod
WCWL = SelectedLocalState(CurrentProcessor).WCWL
MR = SelectedLocalState(CurrentProcessor).MR
RegDecided = False
// Retrieve Level Index from Processor’s _LPI object
LastLevel = GetLevelIDOfLevel(CurrentProcessor)
for level = Parent(CurrentProcessor) to system

LocalState = SelectedLocalState(level)
If LocalState == Run
break
WCWL = WCWL+ LocalState.WCWL
If IsInteger(EM)
Reg.Addr = Reg.Addr+ZeroExtend(EM)
Else
// Entry method is register
Reg = EM
If IsProcessorLastInLevel(CurrentProcessor,level)
// If calling processor is last one to go idle in
// current level, retrieve Level Index from
// the container’s _LPI object
LastLevel = GetLevelIDOfLevel(level)
Reg.Addr = Reg.Addr+LastLevel
CompositeState.EntryMethod = Reg
CompositeState.WCWL=WCWL
CompositeState.MR=MR

In a platform coordinated system, it is possible for an LPI belonging to a hierarchy node above the
processor level to use an integer value of zero as its entry method. Since entry method composition
is done by addition, this results in the entry command for that state being the same as for a composite
state which only includes its children. An entry value of 0 essentially identifies a state as
“autopromotable.” This means that the OS does not explicitly request entry into this state, but that
the platform can automatically enter it when all children have entered states which allow the parent
state based on their EPS properties. OSPM should follow normal composition procedure for other
parameters (worst case wakeup latency, minimum residency, etc.) when including composite states
involving autopromotable local states.
This is described in the following example:
Device (SYSM) { // System level states
Name (_HID, "ACPI0010")
Name (_UID, 0)
Name (_LPI,
Package() {
0, // Version
0, // Level ID
1, // Count
Package () { // Power gating state for system

900, // Min residency (uS)
400, // Wake latency (uS)
0, // Enabled Parent State
... // (skipped fields). . .
ResourceTemplate () {
// Register Entry method
Register(FFH,0x20,0x00,0x00000000DECEA5ED,0x3)
},
}
)
Device (CLU0) { // Package0 state

Name (_UID, 1)
Name (_LPI,
Package() {
0, // Version
0, // Level ID
2, // Count
Package () { // Retention state for Cluster
0, // System must be running
0, // Integer Entry method
},
Package () { // Power Gating state for Cluster
1, // System may power down
0x1020000, // Integer Entry method
}
}
)

Name(PLPI,
Package() {
0, // Version
0, // Level ID
2, // Count
Package () { // Retention state for CPU
1, // Parent node can be
// in retention or running
Register(FFH,
0x20,0x00,
0x000000000000DEAF,0x3),
}
},
Package () { // Power Gating state for CPU
2, // Parent node can be in any state
Register(FFH,
0x20,0x00,
0x0000000000000DEAD,0x3),
}
}
}
)
Device (CPU0) { // Core0

Method (_LPI, 0, NotSerialized)
{
return(PLPI)
}
}
Device (CPU1) { // Core1

Method (_LPI, 0, NotSerialized)
{
return(PLPI)
}
}
} // end of NOD0
Device (CLU1) { // Package1 state

Name (_UID, 2)
....
}

} // End of SYM
In the example above, the OSPM on CPU0 and CPU1 would be able to select the following
composite states:
Table 8-269 Entry method example

Core LPI Cluster LPI System LPI Composite State Entry Method
Retention Run Run Core Retention

Register: 0xDEAF Register: 0xDEAF
Power Down Run Run Core Power Down

Register 0xDEAD Register: 0xDEAD
Retention Retention Run Core Retain|Cluster Retention
Register: 0xDEAF Integer: 0x0 Register 0xDEAF+0x0 = 0xDEAF
Power Down Retention Run Core Power Down|Cluster Retention
Register: 0xDEAD Integer: 0x0 Register 0xDEAD+0x1020000 = 0xDEAD
Power Down Power Down Run Core Power Down|Cluster Power Down
Register: 0xDEAD Integer: Register 0xDEAD+0x1020000 =
0x1020000 0x102DEAD
Power Down Power Down Power Down System Power Down
Register: 0xDEAD Integer: Register : Register 0xDECEA5ED
0x1020000 0xDECEA5ED
As can be seen in the example, the cluster level retention state defines the integer value of 0 as its
entry method. By virtue of composition, this means that the entry methods for the composite states
Core Power Down and Core Power Down|Cluster Retention are the same (FFH register 0xDEAD).
Similarly the composite states for Core Retention and Core Retention|Cluster Retention are the same
(FFH register 0xDEAF). Consequently, if both CPU0 and CPU1 are in either Power Down or Power
Retention, then the platform may enter cluster CLU0 into Retention.
The example also shows how a register based entry method at a high level overrides entry method
definitions of lower levels. As pointed above this is only possible if the selected LPI implies specific
LPIs at all lower levels. In this example the System Power Down LPI, entered through FFH register
0xDECEA5ED, implies Power Down LPIs at core and cluster level since based on EPS, no other
core/cluster local states could enable System Power Down.
8.4.4.3.5 Architecture Specific Context Loss Flags

For Intel based systems the value of this flags register is 0.
For ARM based systems please refer to links to ACPI-Related Documents (http://uefi.org/acpi)
under the heading "ARM FFH Specification”.
8.4.4.3.6 Residency and Entry Counter Registers

LPI state descriptions may optionally provide Residency and Usage Count registers to allow the
OSPM to gather statistics about the platform usage of a given local state. Both registers provide

running counts of their respective statistics. To measure a statistic over some time window, OSPM
should sample at the beginning and end and calculate the delta. Whether the counters restart from 0
on various flavors of reset/S-state exit is implementation defined so OSPM should resynchronize its
baseline on any reset or Sx exit.
The registers are optional, and if the feature is not present the platform must use a NULL register of
the following form:
The Usage Count register counts how many times the local state has been used. Whether it counts
entries or exits is implementation defined.
The Residency register counts how long the hierarchy node has been in the given LPI state, at a rate
given by LPI’s Residency Counter Frequency field. A frequency of 0 indicates that the counter runs
at an architecture-specific frequency. Whether the Residency counter runs continuously while in a
local state or updates only on exit is implementation defined. If OSPM wants to guarantee that the
reading for a particular state is current, it should read from that processor itself (or one of the
underlying child processors in the case of a higher level idle state).
8.4.4.3.7 Wake from LPI States

With _LPI, the platform can describe deep S0-idle states which may turn off fundamental resources
like bus clocks, interrupt controllers, etc. so special care must be taken to ensure that the platform
can be woken from these states. This section describes handling for device initiated wakes. There
are other wake sources such as timers, which are described elsewhere.
For device wakes, the requirement is that OSPM must not enter any LPI state that would prevent a
device enabled for wake from waking the system. This means not entering any LPI state for which
any Power Resource listed in _RDI (see the _RDI section Section 8.4.4.4) is required to be ON. Note
that on a platform coordinated system, the OSPM may choose to enter an _LPI state even if there are
resources listed in its companion RDI that are still on. However, if the OSPM has already enabled a
device for wake, and ensured the power resources needed for wake are on, the platform will demote
the LPI state to one where said resources remain on.
The wake device uses the standard _PRx and _PRW methods to describe power resources it requires
to be ON based on its D-state and wake enabled status. This further implies that any device enabled
for wake which depends on a resource which may be turned off as part of an LPI state must describe
that dependency via _PRx/_PRW => _RDI => _LPI.
This is illustrated in the following example:

PowerResource(PWRA,0,0) {…}
PowerResource(PWRB,0,0) {…}
PowerResource(PWRC,0,0) {…}
PowerResource(PWRD,0,0) {…}
PowerResource(PWRE,0,1) {…}
Device (FOO) {
_S0W(4) //Device in D3Cold can wake system from S0-idle
Name(_PR0,Package(){PWRA, PWRB, PWRC})
Name(_PR2,Package(){PWRA, PWRB})
Name(_PR3,Package(){PWRA})
Name(_PRE,Package(){PWRD})
Name(_PRW,Package(){0, 0, PWRD} // PWRD must be ON for FOO to wake system
}
Device (BAR) {
_S0W(3) // Device in D3Hot can wake system from S0-idle
Name(_PR0,Package(){PWRA, PWRB})
Name(_PR3,Package(){PWRC})
Name(_PRW,Package(){PWRC}) // PWRC must be ON for BAR to wake system
Device (BAH) {
_S0W(0) // This device can only wake the system from
// S0-idle if it is in D0
Name(_PR0,Package(){PWRA, PWRB, PWRC})
}
Device (SYM) {
Name(_RDI,
Package() {
0, // Version
Package(){} // Local State 1 is Shallow;
// Devices FOO, BAR and BAH can wake
// the system if enabled for wake
Package(){PWRA, PWRB} // RDI for Local State 2. State is deeper
// Device BAH cannot wake the system if this
// state is used, as it needs PWRA and PWRB
// to be able to wake the system
Package(){PWRA, PWRB, PWRC} // RDI for Local State 3.
// Devices BAH and BAR cannot wake
// the system, BAH needs PWRA, PWRB
// and PWRC, and BAR needs PWRC
// for all devices
Package(){PWRA, PWRB, PWRC, PWRD} // None of the devices listed
// above could wake the system
})
…
The example above declares a set of power resources (PWRA/B/C/D). Additionally, it has four
system level local states that have the following dependencies:
• LPI 1: Has no power resources dependencies
• LPI 2: Requires PWRA and PWRB to be off
• LPI 3: Requires PWRA, PWRB and PWRC to be off
• LPI 4: Requires all of the power resources in the example to be off

Device BAH can only wake the system if it is in the D0 state. To be in D0 it requires PWRA, PWRB
and PWRC to be on. Therefore device BAH could only wake the system from LPI 1. If this device is
enabled for wake, then the platform must not enter LPI 2 or deeper.
Device BAR can wake the system in whilst it is in any device state other than D3Cold. However, to
do so, it requires PWRC to be on. Therefore it can only wake the system from LPI 1 or LPI 2. If this
device is enabled for wake, then the platform must not enter LPI 3 or deeper.
Device FOO can wake the system whilst it is in any device state. However to do so, it requires
PWRD to be on. Therefore it can only wake the system from LPI 1 or LPI 2 or LPI 3. If this device
is enabled for wake, then the platform must not enter LPI 4.
8.4.4.3.8 Default Idle State

The shallowest idle state for each leaf node in the hierarchy is the “default” idle state for that
processor and is assumed to always be enterable. The worst case wakeup latency and minimum
residency for this state must be low enough that OSPM need not consider them when deciding
whether to use it. Aside from putting the processor in a power state, this state has no other software-
visible effects. For example, it does not lose any context that OSPM must save/restore or have any
device dependencies.
8.4.4.4 _RDI (Resource Dependencies for Idle)

Some platforms may have power resources that are shared between devices and processors.
Abstractly, these resources are managed in two stages. First, the OS does normal power resource
reference counting to detect when all device dependencies have been satisfied and the resource may
be power managed from the device perspective. Then, when the processors also go idle, the OS
requests entry into specific LPI states and the platform physically power manages the resources as
part of the transition. The dependency between the power resources and the LPI state is described in
_RDI.
_RDI objects may only be present at the root processor container that describes the processor
hierarchy of the system. _RDI is not supported in a system that has more than one root node. _RDI is
valid only in a singular top level container which encompasses all processors in the system.
The OSPM will ignore _RDI objects that are present at any node other than the root node. This
simplification avoids complicated races between processors in one part of the hierarchy choosing
idle states with resource dependencies while another processor is changing device states/power
resources.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing the resource dependencies with the following format:

Package {
Revision, // Integer (WORD)
RDI[1], // Package
…
RDI[N] // Package
}

Revision Integer The revision number of the _RDI object. Current revision is 0.
(WORD)
RDI[1] Package A variable length Package containing the power resource dependencies of
system level power state 1.
RDI[N] Package A variable length Package containing the power resource dependencies of
system level power state N.
Each RDI[x] sub-Package contains a variable number of References to power resources:
Package {
Resource[0], // Object Reference to a Power Resource Object
…
Resource[M] // Object Reference to a Power Resource Object
}
The Package contains as many RDI packages as there are system level power states in the root
processor container node’s _LPI object. The indexing of LPI power states in this _LPI object
matches the indexing of the RDI packages in the _RDI object. Thus the nth LPI state at the system
level has resource dependencies listed in the nth RDI. Each RDI package returns a list of the power
resource objects (passive or standard power resources) that must be in an OFF state to allow the
platform to enter the LPI state. If a system level LPI does not have any resource dependencies, the
corresponding RDI should be an empty Package.
Both traditional and passive power resources can be listed as dependencies in _RDI. For traditional
power resources, OSPM should ensure that the resource is OFF before requesting a dependent LPI
state. For passive power resources, there are no _ON/_OFF/_STA methods so the only requirement
is to check that the reference count is 0 before requesting a dependent LPI state.
OSPM requirements for ordering between device/power resource transitions and power resource
dependent LPI states differ based on the coordination scheme.
In a platform coordinated system the platform must guarantee correctness and demote the requested
power state to one that will satisfy the resource and processor dependencies. OSPM may use the
dependency info in _RDI as it sees fit, and may select a dependent LPI state even if resources remain
ON.
In an OS initiated system, OSPM must guarantee that all power resources are off (or reference
counts are 0, for passive power resources) before requesting a dependent LPI state.

8.4.4.4.1 Example
The following ASL describes a system that uses _RDI to describe the dependencies between three
power resources and system level power states:
PowerResource(PWRA,0,0) { // power rail local to DEVA
Method(_ON) {…} // active power resource (_OFF turns rail off)
Method(_OFF) {…}
Method(_STA) {…}
}
PowerResource(PWRB,0,0) { // power rail shared between DEVB and the processor

Method(_ON) {…} // active power resource (_OFF drives platform vote)
Method(_OFF) {…}
Method(_STA) {…}
}
PowerResource(PWRC,0,0) {} // clock rail shared between DEVC and the processor

// passive power resource
Device (DEVA) {
Name(_PR0,Package(){PWRA})
}
Device (DEVB) {
Name(_PR0,Package(){PWRB})
}
Device (DEVC) {
Name(_PR0,Package(){PWRC})
}
Device (SYM) {
Name(_RDI,
Package() {
0, // Revision
Package(){} // Local State 1 has no power resource
// dependencies
Package(){PWRA} // Local State 2 cannot be entered if DEVA
// is in D0 due to PWRA
Package(){PWRA, PWRB, PWRC} // Local State 3 cannot be
entered if
// DEVA is in D0 (due to PWRA), DEVB is in
// D0 (due to PWRB) or DEVC is in D0 (due to
// PWRC)
})
…
OSPM will turn the traditional power resource (PWRA) ON or OFF by waiting for the reference
count to reach 0 (meaning DEVA has left D0) and running the _OFF method. Similarly, PWRB is
turned ON or OFF based on the state of DEVB. Note that because the CPUs require the shared
power rail to be ON while they are running, PWRB’s _ON and _OFF drive a vote rather than the
physical HW controls for the power rail. In this case, _STA reflects the status of the vote rather than
the physical state of PWRB.
OSPM guarantees ordering between PWRA/PWRB’s _ON and _OFF transitions and DEVA/
DEVB’s D-state transitions. That is, PWRA can only be turned OFF after DEVA has left D0, and
must be turned ON before transitioning DEVA to D0. However, the OS requirements for ordering

between power resource transitions and power resource dependent LPI states differ based on the
coordination scheme.
In a platform coordinated system, OSPM may or may not track the power state of PWRA before
selecting local state 2 or 3. The platform must independently guarantee that PWRA is OFF before
entering local state 2 or 3, and must demote to a shallower state if OSPM selects local state 2 or 3
when PWRA is still on. Note that because OSPM is required to correctly sequence power resource
transitions with device power transitions, the platform does not need to check the state of DEVA; it
can rely on the state of PWRA to infer that DEVA is in an appropriate D-state.
Similarly, OSPM may or may not track the state of PWRB and PWRC before selecting local state 3,
and the platform must independently guarantee that PWRB is off before entering either state.
Because PWRC is a passive power resource, the platform does not know when the reference count
on the power resource reaches 0 and instead must track DEVC’s state itself. Unless the platform has
other mechanisms to track the state of DEVC, PWRC should be defined as a traditional power
resource so that the platform can use its _ON and _OFF methods to guarantee correctness of
operation.
In an OS initiated system, OSPM is required to guarantee that PWRA is OFF before selecting either
local state 2 or 3. OSPM may meet this guarantee by waiting until it believes a processor is the last
man down in the system, before checking the state of PWRA, and only selecting local state 2 or 3 in
this case. If the processor was the last man down, then the request to enter local state 2 or 3 is legal
and the platform can honor it. If another processor woke up in the meantime and turned PWRA on,
then this becomes a race between processors which is addressed in the OS Initiated Request
Semantics section (Section 8.4.4.2.2.1). Similarly, OSPM must guarantee PWRB is off and PWRC’s
reference count is 0 before selecting local state 3.
In an OS initiated system, because OSPM guarantees that power resources are in their correct states
before selecting system power states, the platform should use passive power resources unless there is
additional runtime power savings to turning a power resource OFF. On a platform that only supports
OS Initiated transitions, PWRB should be defined as a passive power resource because it is shared
with processors and can only be turned off when the system power state is entered.
8.4.4.5 Compatibility
In order to support older operating systems which do not support the new idle management
infrastructure, the _OSC method can be used to detect whether the OSPM supports parsing
processor containers and objects associated with LPIs and (_LPI, _RDI). This is described in
Section 6.2.11.1.
A platform may choose to expose both _CST and _LPI for backward compatibility with operating
systems which do not support _LPI. In this case, if OSPM supports _LPI, then it should be used in
preference to _CST. At run time only one idle state methodology should be used across the entire
processor hierarchy - _LPI or _CST, but not a mixture of both.
8.4.5 Processor Throttling Controls

ACPI defines two processor throttling (T state) control interfaces. These are:
• The Processor Register Block’s (P_BLK’s) P_CNT register.
• The combined _PTC, _TSS, and _TPC objects in the processor’s object list.

P_BLK based throttling state controls are described in Section 4, “ACPI Hardware Specification”
and Section 8.1.1, “Processor Power State C0”. Combined _PTC, _TSS, and _TPC based throttling
state controls expand the functionality of the P_BLK based control allowing the number of T states
to be dynamic and accommodate CPU architecture specific T state control mechanisms as indicated
by registers defined using the Functional Fixed Hardware address space. While platform definition
of the _PTC, _TSS, and _TPC objects is optional, all three objects must exist under a processor for
OSPM to successfully perform processor throttling via these controls.
8.4.5.1 _PTC (Processor Throttling Control)

_PTC is an optional object that defines a processor throttling control interface alternative to the I/O
address spaced-based P_BLK throttling control register (P_CNT) described in Section 4, “ACPI
Hardware Specification”. The processor throttling control register mechanism remains as defined in
Section 8.1.1, “Processor Power State C0.”
OSPM performs processor throttling control by writing the Control field value for the target
throttling state (T-state), retrieved from the Throttling Supported States object (_TSS), to the
Throttling Control Register (THROTTLE_CTRL) defined by the _PTC object. OSPM may select
any processor throttling state indicated as available by the value returned by the _TPC control
method.
Success or failure of the processor throttling state transition is determined by reading the Throttling
Status Register (THROTTLE_STATUS) to determine the processor’s current throttling state. If the
transition was successful, the value read from THROTTLE_STATUS will match the “Status” field
in the _TSS entry that corresponds to the targeted processor throttling state.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package as described below

Package
{
ControlRegister // Buffer (Resource Descriptor)
StatusRegister // Buffer (Resource Descriptor)
}
Table 8-270 PTC Package Values

Control Buffer Contains a Resource Descriptor with a single Register() descriptor that
Register describes the throttling control register.
Status Buffer Contains a Resource Descriptor with a single Register() descriptor that
Register describes the throttling status register.
The platform must expose a _PTC object for either all or none of its processors. Notice that if the
_PTC object exists, the specified register is used instead of the P_CNT register specified in the
Processor term. Also notice that if the _PTC object exists and the _CST object does not exist, OSPM

will use the processor control register from the _PTC object and the P_LVLx registers from the
P_BLK.
Example
This is an example usage of the _PTC object in a Processor object list:
Processor (
6 ) // PBlkLen
{ // Object List
Name(_PTC, Package () // Processor Throttling Control object

{
ResourceTemplate(){Register(FFixedHW, 0, 0, 0)}, // Throttling_CTRL
ResourceTemplate(){Register(FFixedHW, 0, 0, 0)} // Throttling_STATUS
}) // End of _PTC object
} // End of Object List
Example
This is an example usage of the _PTC object using the values defined in ACPI 1.0. This is an
illustrative example to demonstrate the mechanism with well-known values.
Processor (
0x120, // PBLK system IO address
6 ) // PBLK Len
{ // Object List
Name(_PTC, Package () // Processor Throttling Control object –

// 32 bit wide IO space-based register at the <P_BLK> address
{
ResourceTemplate(){Register(SystemIO, 32, 0, 0x120)}, // Throttling_CTRL
ResourceTemplate(){Register(SystemIO, 32, 0, 0x120)} // Throttling_STATUS
} // End of Object List
8.4.5.2 _TSS (Throttling Supported States)

This optional object indicates to OSPM the number of supported processor throttling states that a
platform supports. This object evaluates to a packaged list of information about available throttling
states including percentage of maximum internal CPU core frequency, maximum power dissipation,
control register values needed to transition between throttling states, and status register values that
allow OSPM to verify throttling state transition status after any OS-initiated transition change
request. The list is sorted in descending order by power dissipation. As a result, the zeroth entry
describes the highest performance throttling state (no throttling applied) and the ‘nth’ entry describes
the lowest performance throttling state (maximum throttling applied).
When providing the _TSS, the platform must supply a _TSS entry whose Percent field value is 100.
This provides a means for OSPM to disable throttling and achieve maximum performance.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of Tstate sub-packages as described below

Package {
TState [0] // Package – Throttling state 0
….
TState [n] // Package – Throttling state n
}
Each Tstate sub-Package contains the elements described below:

Package {
Percent // Integer (DWORD)
Latency // Integer (DWORD)
Control // Integer (DWORD)
Status // Integer (DWORD)
}
Table 8-271 TState Package Values

Percent Integer Indicates the percent of the core CPU operating frequency that will be available
(DWORD) when this throttling state is invoked. The range for this field is 1-100. This
percentage applies independent of the processor’s performance state (P-state).
That is, this throttling state will invoke the percentage of maximum frequency
indicated by this field as applied to the CoreFrequency field of the _PSS entry
corresponding to the P-state for which the processor is currently resident.
Power Integer Indicates the throttling state’s maximum power dissipation (in milliWatts). OSPM
(DWORD) ignores this field on platforms the support P-states, which provide power
dissipation information via the _PSS object.
Latency Integer Indicates the worst-case latency in microseconds that the CPU is unavailable
(DWORD) during a transition from any throttling state to this throttling state.
Control Integer Indicates the value to be written to the Processor Control Register
(DWORD) (THROTTLE_CTRL) in order to initiate a transition to this throttling state.
Status Integer Indicates the value that OSPM will compare to a value read from the Throttle
(DWORD) Status Register (THROTTLE_STATUS) to ensure that the transition to the
throttling state was successful. OSPM may always place the CPU in the lowest
power throttling state, but additional states are only available when indicated by
the _TPC control method. A value of zero indicates the transition to the
Throttling state is asynchronous, and as such no status value comparison is
required.
8.4.5.3 _TPC (Throttling Present Capabilities)

This optional object is a method that dynamically indicates to OSPM the number of throttling states
currently supported by the platform. This method returns a number that indicates the _TSS entry
number of the highest power throttling state that OSPM can use at a given time. OSPM may choose

the corresponding state entry in the _TSS as indicated by the value returned by the _TPC method or
any lower power (higher numbered) state entry in the _TSS.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the number of states supported:
0 – states 0 ... nth state available (all states available)
1 – state 1 ... nth state available
2 – state 2 ... nth state available
…
n – state n available only
In order to support dynamic changes of _TPC object, Notify events on the processor object of type
0x82 will cause OSPM to reevaluate any _TPC object in the processor’s object list. This allows
AML code to notify OSPM when the number of supported throttling states may have changed as a
result of an asynchronous event. OSPM ignores _TPC Notify events on platforms that support P-
states unless the platform has limited OSPM’s use of P-states to the lowest power P-state. OSPM
may choose to disregard any platform conveyed T-state limits when the platform enables OSPM
usage of other than the lowest power P-state.
8.4.5.4 _TSD (T-State Dependency)

This optional object provides T-state control cross logical processor dependency information to
OSPM. The _TSD object evaluates to a packaged list containing a single entry that expresses the T-
state control dependency among a set of logical processors.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing a single entry consisting of a T-state dependency Package as described
below.


Package {
TStateDependency[0] // Package
}
The TStateDependency sub-Package contains the elements described below:
Package {
}
Table 8-272 TStateDependency Package Values

NumEntries Integer The number of entries in the TStateDependency package including this field.
Current value is 5.
Revision Integer The revision number of the TStateDependency package format. Current
(BYTE) value is 0.
Domain Integer The dependency domain number to which this T state entry belongs.
(DWORD)
responsible for coordinating the T-state transitions among processors with
Num Integer The number of processors belonging to the domain for this logical
Processors (DWORD) processor’s T-states. OSPM will not start performing power state transitions
to a particular T-state until this number of processors belonging to the same
domain have been detected and started.
Example
This is an example usage of the _TSD structure in a Processor structure in the namespace. The
example represents a two processor configuration with three T-states per processor. For all T-states,
there exists dependence between the two processors, such that one processor transitioning to a
particular T-state, causes the other processor to transition to the same T-state. OSPM will be
required to coordinate the T-state transitions between the two processors and can initiate a transition
on either processor to cause both to transition to the common target T-state.

Processor (
6) // PBlkLen
{ //Object List

// 32 bit wide IO space-based register at the <P_BLK> address
{
Name (_TSS, Package()

{
Package() {
0x64, // Frequency Percentage (100%, Throttling OFF state)
0x0, // Power
0x0, // Transition Latency
0x7, // Control THT_EN:0 THTL_DTY:111
0x0, // Status
}
Package() {
0x58, // Frequency Percentage (87.5%)
0x0, // Power
0xF, // Control THT_EN:1 THTL_DTY:111
0x0, // Status
}
Package() {
0x4B, // Frequency Percentage (75%)
0x0, // Power
0xE, // Control THT_EN:1 THTL_DTY:110
0x0, // Status
}
})
Name (_TSD, Package()

{
Package(){5, 0, 0, 0xFD, 2} // 5 entries, Revision 0, Domain 0,
// OSPM Coordinate, 2 Procs
}) // End of _TSD object
Method (_TPC, 0) // Throttling Present Capabilities method

{
If (\_SB.AC)
{
Return(0) // All Throttle States are available for use.
}
Else
{
Return(2) // Throttle States 0 an 1 won’t be used.
}
} // End of _TPC method
} // End of processor object list
Processor (


) // PBlkLen
{ //Object List

// 32 bit wide IO space-based register at the
// <P_BLK> address
{
Name (_TSS, Package()

{
Package() {
0x64, // Frequency Percentage (100%, Throttling OFF state)
0x0, // Power
0x7, // Control THT_EN:0 THTL_DTY:111
0x0, // Status
}
Package() {
0x58, // Frequency Percentage (87.5%)
0x0, // Power
0xF, // Control THT_EN:1 THTL_DTY:111
0x0, // Status
}`
Package() {
0x4B, // Frequency Percentage (75%)
0x0, // Power
0xE, // Control THT_EN:1 THTL_DTY:110
0x0, // Status
}
})
Name (_TSD, Package()

{
Package(){5, 0, 0, 0xFD, 2} // 5 entries, Revision 0, Domain 0,
// OSPM Coordinate, 2 Procs
}) // End of _TSD object
Method (_TPC, 0) // Throttling Present Capabilities method

{
If (\_SB.AC)
{
Return(0) // All Throttle States are available for use.
}
Else
{
Return(2) // Throttle States 0 an 1 won’t be used.
}
} // End of _TPC method

8.4.5.5 _TDL (T-state Depth Limit)

This optional object evaluates to the _TSS entry number of the lowest power throttling state that
OSPM may use. _TDL enables the platform to limit the amount of performance reduction that
OSPM may invoke using processor throttling controls in an attempt to alleviate an adverse thermal
condition. OSPM may choose the corresponding state entry in the _TSS as indicated by the value
returned by the _TDL object or a higher performance (lower numbered) state entry in the _TSS
down to and including the _TSS entry number returned by the _TPC object or the first entry in the
table (if _TPC is not implemented). The value returned by the _TDL object must be greater than or
equal to the value returned by the _TPC object or the corresponding value to the last entry in the
_TSS if _TPC is not implemented. In the event of a conflict between the values returned by the
evaluation of the _TDL and _TPC objects, OSPM gives precedence to the _TPC object, limiting
power consumption.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the Throttling Depth Limit _TSS entry number:
0 – throttling disabled.
1 – state 1 is the lowest power T-state available.
2 – state 2 is the lowest power T-state available.
…
n – state n is the lowest power T-state available.
In order for the platform to dynamically indicate the limit of performance reduction that is available
for OSPM use, Notify events on the processor object of type 0x82 will cause OSPM to reevaluate
any _TDL object in the processor’s object list. This allows AML code to notify OSPM when the
number of supported throttling states may have changed as a result of an asynchronous event. OSPM
ignores _TDL Notify events on platforms that support P-states unless the platform has limited
OSPM’s use of P-states to the lowest power P-state. OSPM may choose to disregard any platform
conveyed T-state depth limits when the platform enables OSPM usage of other than the lowest
power P-state.
8.4.6 Processor Performance Control

Processor performance control is implemented through three optional objects whose presence
indicates to OSPM that the platform and CPU are capable of supporting multiple performance states.
The platform must supply all three objects if processor performance control is implemented. The
platform must expose processor performance control objects for either all or none of its processors.
The processor performance control objects define the supported processor performance states, allow
the processor to be placed in a specific performance state, and report the number of performance
states currently available on the system.
In a multiprocessing environment, all CPUs must support the same number of performance states
and each processor performance state must have identical performance and power-consumption
parameters. Performance objects must be present under each processor object in the system for
OSPM to utilize this feature.

Processor performance control objects include the ‘_PCT’ package, ‘_PSS’ package, and the ‘_PPC’
method as detailed below.
8.4.6.1 _PCT (Performance Control)

This optional object declares an interface that allows OSPM to transition the processor into a
performance state. OSPM performs processor performance transitions by writing the performance
state–specific control value to a Performance Control Register (PERF_CTRL).
OSPM may select a processor performance state as indicated by the performance state value
returned by the _PPC method, or any lower power (higher numbered) state. The control value to
write is contained in the corresponding _PSS entry’s “Control” field.
Success or failure of the processor performance transition is determined by reading a Performance
Status Register (PERF_STATUS) to determine the processor’s current performance state. If the
transition was successful, the value read from PERF_STATUS will match the “Status” field in the
_PSS entry that corresponds to the desired processor performance state.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:

Package
{
ControlRegister // Buffer (Resource Descriptor)
StatusRegister // Buffer (Resource Descriptor)
}
Table 8-273 PCT Package Values

Control Buffer Contains a Resource Descriptor with a single Register() descriptor that
Register describes the performance control register.
Status Buffer Contains a Resource Descriptor with a single Register() descriptor that
Register describes the performance status register.
Example
Name (_PCT, Package()
{
ResourceTemplate(){Perf_Ctrl_Register}, //Generic Register Descriptor
ResourceTemplate(){Perf_Status_Register} //Generic Register Descriptor
}) // End of _PCT
8.4.6.2 _PSS (Performance Supported States)

This optional object indicates to OSPM the number of supported processor performance states that
any given system can support. This object evaluates to a packaged list of information about available

performance states including internal CPU core frequency, typical power dissipation, control
register values needed to transition between performance states, and status register values that allow
OSPM to verify performance transition status after any OS-initiated transition change request. The
list is sorted in descending order by typical power dissipation. As a result, the zeroth entry describes
the highest performance state and the ‘nth’ entry describes the lowest performance state.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of Pstate sub-packages as described below

Package {
PState [0] // Package – Performance state 0
….
PState [n] // Package – Performance state n
}
Each Pstate sub-Package contains the elements described below:

Package {
CoreFrequency // Integer (DWORD)
Latency // Integer (DWORD)
BusMasterLatency // Integer (DWORD)
Control // Integer (DWORD)
Status // Integer (DWORD)
}
Table 8-274 PState Package Values

Core Integer Indicates the core CPU operating frequency (in MHz).
Frequency (DWORD)
Power Integer Indicates the performance state’s maximum power dissipation (in milliwatts).
(DWORD)
Latency Integer Indicates the worst-case latency in microseconds that the CPU is unavailable
(DWORD) during a transition from any performance state to this performance state.
Bus Master Integer Indicates the worst-case latency in microseconds that Bus Masters are
Latency (DWORD) prevented from accessing memory during a transition from any performance
state to this performance state.
Control Integer Indicates the value to be written to the Performance Control Register
(DWORD) (PERF_CTRL) in order to initiate a transition to the performance state.
Status Integer Indicates the value that OSPM will compare to a value read from the
(DWORD) Performance Status Register (PERF_STATUS) to ensure that the transition to
the performance state was successful. OSPM may always place the CPU in
the lowest power state, but additional states are only available when indicated
by the _PPC method.

8.4.6.3 _PPC (Performance Present Capabilities)

This optional object is a method that dynamically indicates to OSPM the number of performance
states currently supported by the platform. This method returns a number that indicates the _PSS
entry number of the highest performance state that OSPM can use at a given time. OSPM may
choose the corresponding state entry in the _PSS as indicated by the value returned by the _PPC
method or any lower power (higher numbered) state entry in the _PSS.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the range of states supported
0 – States 0 through nth state are available (all states available)
1 – States 1 through nth state are available
2 – States 2 through nth state are available
…
n – State n is available only
In order to support dynamic changes of _PPC object, Notify events on the processor object are
allowed. Notify events of type 0x80 will cause OSPM to reevaluate any _PPC objects residing under
the particular processor object notified. This allows AML code to notify OSPM when the number of
supported states may have changed as a result of an asynchronous event (AC insertion/removal,
docked, undocked, and so on).
8.4.6.3.1 OSPM _OST Evaluation

When processing of the _PPC object evaluation completes, OSPM evaluates the _OST object, if
present under the Processor device, to convey _PPC evaluation status to the platform. _OST
arguments specific to _PPC evaluation are described below.
Arguments: (2)
Arg0 – Source Event (Integer) : 0x80
Arg1 – Status Code (Integer) : see below
Return Value:
None
Arg1 – Status Code
0: Success – OSPM is now using the performance states specified
1: Failure – OSPM has not changed the number of performance states in use.
8.4.6.4 Processor Performance Control Example
Example
This is an example of processor performance control objects in a processor object list.

In this example, a uniprocessor platform that has processor performance capabilities with support for
three performance states as follows:
1. 500 MHz (8.2W) supported at any time
2. 600 MHz (14.9W) supported only when AC powered
3. 650 MHz (21.5W) supported only when docked
It takes no more than 500 microseconds to transition from one performance state to any other
performance state.
During a performance transition, bus masters are unable to access memory for a maximum of 300
microseconds.
The PERF_CTRL and PERF_STATUS registers are implemented as Functional Fixed Hardware.
The following ASL objects are implemented within the system:
\_SB.DOCK: Evaluates to 1 if system is docked, zero otherwise.
\_SB.AC: Evaluates to 1 if AC is connected, zero otherwise.
Processor (
6 ) // PBlkLen
{
Name(_PCT, Package () // Performance Control object
{
ResourceTemplate(){Register(FFixedHW, 0, 0, 0)}, // PERF_CTRL
ResourceTemplate(){Register(FFixedHW, 0, 0, 0)} // PERF_STATUS
}) // End of _PCT object
Name (_PSS, Package()

{
Package(){650, 21500, 500, 300, 0x00, 0x08}, // Performance State zero (P0)
Package(){600, 14900, 500, 300, 0x01, 0x05}, // Performance State one (P1)
Package(){500, 8200, 500, 300, 0x02, 0x06} // Performance State two (P2)
}) // End of _PSS object
Method (_PPC, 0) // Performance Present Capabilities method

{
If (\_SB.DOCK)
{
Return(0) // All _PSS states available (650, 600, 500).
}
If (\_SB.AC)
{
Return(1) // States 1 and 2 available (600, 500).
}
Else
{
Return(2) // State 2 available (500)
}
} // End of _PPC method
The platform will issue a Notify(\_SB.CPU0, 0x80) to inform OSPM to re-evaluate this object when
the number of available processor performance states changes.

8.4.6.5 _PSD (P-State Dependency)

This optional object provides performance control, P-state or CPPC, logical processor dependency
information to OSPM. The _PSD object evaluates to a packaged list containing a single entry that
expresses the performance control dependency among a set of logical processors.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package with a single entry consisting of a P-state dependency Package as described below.

Package {
PStateDependency[0] // Package
}
The PStateDependency sub-Package contains the elements described below:

Package {
}
Table 8-275 PStateDependency Package Values

NumEntries Integer The number of entries in the PStateDependency package including this field.
Current value is 5.
Revision Integer The revision number of the PStateDependency package format. Current
(BYTE) value is 0.
Domain Integer The dependency domain number to which this P state entry belongs.
(DWORD)
responsible for coordinating the P-state transitions among processors with
Num Integer The number of processors belonging to the domain for this logical
Processors (DWORD) processor’s P-states. OSPM will not start performing power state transitions
to a particular P-state until this number of processors belonging to the same
domain have been detected and started.

Example
This is an example usage of the _PSD structure in a Processor structure in the namespace. The
example represents a two processor configuration with three performance states per processor. For
all performance states, there exists dependence between the two processors, such that one processor
transitioning to a particular performance state, causes the other processor to transition to the same
performance state. OSPM will be required to coordinate the P-state transitions between the two
processors and can initiate a transition on either processor to cause both to transition to the common
target P-state.
Processor (
6 ) // PBlkLen
{
{

{

{
Name (_PSD, Package()

{
Package(){5, 0, 0, 0xFD, 2} // 5 entries, Revision 0), Domain 0, OSPM
// Coordinate, Initiate on any Proc, 2 Procs
}) // End of _PSD object
Processor (
) // PBlkLen
{
{


{

{
Name (_PSD, Package()

{
Package(){5, 0, 0, 0xFD, 2} // 5 entries, Revision 0, Domain 0, OSPM
// Coordinate, Initiate on any Proc, 2 Procs
}) // End of _PSD object
8.4.6.6 _PDL (P-state Depth Limit)

This optional object evaluates to the _PSS entry number of the lowest performance P-state that
OSPM may use when performing passive thermal control. OSPM may choose the corresponding
state entry in the _PSS as indicated by the value returned by the _PDL object or a higher
performance (lower numbered) state entry in the _PSS down to and including the _PSS entry
number returned by the _PPC object or the first entry in the table (if _PPC is not implemented). The
value returned by the _PDL object must be greater than or equal to the value returned by the _PPC
object or the corresponding value to the last entry in the _PSS if _PPC is not implemented. In the
event of a conflict between the values returned by the evaluation of the _PDL and _PPC objects,
OSPM gives precedence to the _PPC object, limiting power consumption.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the P-state Depth Limit _PSS entry number:
0 – P0 is the only P-state available for OSPM use
1 – state 1 is the lowest power P-state available
2 – state 2 is the lowest power P-state available
…
n – state n is the lowest power P-state available
In order for the platform to dynamically indicate a change in the P-state depth limit, Notify events on
the processor object of type 0x80 will cause OSPM to reevaluate any _PDL object in the processor’s
object list. This allows AML code to notify OSPM when the number of supported performance
states may have changed as a result of an asynchronous event.\
8.4.7 Collaborative Processor Performance Control

Collaborative processor performance control defines an abstracted and flexible mechanism for
OSPM to collaborate with an entity in the platform to manage the performance of a logical
processor. In this scheme, the platform entity is responsible for creating and maintaining a
performance definition that backs a continuous, abstract, unit-less performance scale. During

runtime, OSPM requests desired performance on this abstract scale and the platform entity is
responsible for translating the OSPM performance requests into actual hardware performance states.
The platform may also support the ability to autonomously select a performance level appropriate to
the current workload. In this case, OSPM conveys information to the platform that guides the
platform's performance level selection.
Prior processor performance controls (P-states and T-states) have described their effect on processor
performance in terms of processor frequency. While processor frequency is a rough approximation
of the speed at which the processor completes work, workload performance isn’t guaranteed to scale
with frequency. Therefore, rather than prescribe a specific metric for processor performance,
Collaborative Processor Performance Control leaves the definition of the exact performance metric
to the platform. The platform may choose to use a single metric such as processor frequency, or it
may choose to blend multiple hardware metrics to create a synthetic measure of performance. In this
way the platform is free to deliver the OSPM requested performance level without necessarily
delivering a specific processor frequency. OSPM must make no assumption about the exact meaning
of the performance values presented by the platform, or how they may correlate to specific hardware
metrics like processor frequency.
Platforms must use the same performance scale for all processors in the system. On platforms with
heterogeneous processors, the performance characteristics of all processors may not be identical. In
this case, the platform must synthesize a performance scale that adjusts for differences in processors,
such that any two processors running the same workload at the same performance level will
complete in approximately the same time. The platform should expose different capabilities for
different classes of processors, so as to accurately reflect the performance characteristics of each
processor.
The control mechanisms are abstracted by the _CPC object method, which describes how to control
and monitor processor performance in a generic manner. The register methods may be implemented
in the Platform Communications Channel (PCC) interface (see Section 14). This provides sufficient
flexibility that the entity OSPM communicates with may be the processor itself, the platform chipset,
or a separate entity (e.g., a BMC).
In order to provide backward compatibility with existing tools that report processor performance as
frequencies, the _CPC object can optionally provide processor frequency range values for use by
the OS. If these frequency values are provided, the restrictions on _CPC information usage still
remain: the OSPM must make no assumption about the exact meaning of the performance values
presented by the platform, and all functional decisions and interaction with the platform still happen
using the abstract performance scale. The frequency values are only contained in the _CPC object
to allow the OS to present performance data in a simple frequency range, when frequency is not
discoverable from the platform via another mechanism.
8.4.7.1 _CPC (Continuous Performance Control)

This optional object declares an interface that allows OSPM to transition the processor into a
performance state based on a continuous range of allowable values. OSPM writes the desired
performance value to the Desired Performance Register, and the platform maps the desired
performance to an internal performance state.. If supported by the platform, OSPM may
alternatively enable autonomous performance level selection while specifying minimum and
maximum performance requirements.
Optional _CPC package fields that are not supported by the platform should be encoded as follows:

• Integer fields: Integer 0

• Register fields: the following NULL register descriptor should be used:

Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing the performance control information
The performance control package contains the elements described below:
Package
{
NumEntries, // Integer
Revision, // Integer
HighestPerformance, // Integer
or Buffer (Resource Descriptor)
NominalPerformance, // Integer
LowestNonlinearPerformance, // Integer
LowestPerformance, // Integer
GuaranteedPerformanceRegister, // Buffer
(Resource Descriptor)
DesiredPerformanceRegister, // Buffer
MinimumPerformanceRegister, // Buffer
MaximumPerformanceRegister, // Buffer
PerformanceReductionToleranceRegister, // Buffer
TimeWindowRegister, // Buffer
CounterWraparoundTime, // Integer
ReferencePerformanceCounterRegister, // Buffer
DeliveredPerformanceCounterRegister, // Buffer
PerformanceLimitedRegister, // Buffer

CPPCEnableRegister // Buffer
AutonomousSelectionEnable, // Integer
AutonomousActivityWindowRegister, // Buffer
EnergyPerformancePreferenceRegister, // Buffer
ReferencePerformance // Integer
LowestFrequency, // Integer or Buffer
NominalFrequency // Integer or Buffer
}
Table 8-276 Continuous Performance Control Package Values

Type
NumEntries Integer The number of entries in the _CPC package, including this one.
Current value is 23.
Revision Integer The revision number of the _CPC package format. Current value is 3.
(BYTE)
Highest Performance Integer Indicates the highest level of performance the processor is
(DWORD) theoretically capable of achieving, given ideal operating conditions. If
or Buffer this element is an Integer, OSPM reads the integer value directly. If
this element is a Buffer, it must contain a Resource Descriptor with a
single Register() to read the value from.
Nominal Performance Integer Indicates the highest sustained performance level of the processor. If
(DWORD) this element is an Integer, OSPM reads the integer value directly. If
or Buffer this element is a Buffer, it must contain a Resource Descriptor with a
Lowest Nonlinear Integer Indicates the lowest performance level of the processor with non-
Performance (DWORD) linear power savings. If this element is an Integer, OSPM reads the
or Buffer integer value directly. If this element is a Buffer, it must contain a
Resource Descriptor with a single Register() to read the value from.
Lowest Performance Integer Indicates the lowest performance level of the processor. If this
(DWORD) element is an Integer, OSPM reads the integer value directly. If this
or Buffer element is a Buffer, it must contain a Resource Descriptor with a
Guaranteed Buffer Optional. If supported, contains a resource descriptor with a single
Performance Register Register() descriptor that describes the register to read the current
guaranteed performance from. See the section “Performance Limiting”
for more details.


Type
Desired Performance Buffer Contains a resource descriptor with a single Register() descriptor that
Register describes the register to write the desired performance level. This
register is optional when OSPM indicates support for CPPC2 in the
platform-wide _OSC capabilities and the Autonomous Selection
Enable register is Integer 1
Minimum Buffer Optional. If supported, contains a resource descriptor with a single
Performance Register Register() descriptor that describes the register to write the minimum
allowable performance level to. The value 0 is equivalent to Lowest
Performance (no limit).
Maximum Buffer Optional. If supported, contains a resource descriptor with a single
Performance Register Register() descriptor that describes the register to write the maximum
allowable performance level to. All 1s is equivalent to Highest
Performance (no limit).
Performance Buffer Optional. If supported, contains a resource descriptor with a single
Reduction Tolerance Register() descriptor that describes the register to write the
Register performance reduction tolerance.
Time Window Register Buffer Optional. If supported, contains a resource descriptor with a single
Register() descriptor that describes the register to write the nominal
length of time (in ms) between successive reads of the platform’s
delivered performance register. See the section “Time Window
Register” for more details.
Counter Wraparound Integer Optional. If supported, indicates the minimum time to counter
Time (DWORD) wraparound, in seconds. If this element is an Integer, OSPM reads the
or Buffer integer value directly. If this element is a Buffer (and supported), it
must contain a Resource Descriptor with a single Register() to read
the value from.
Reference Buffer Contains a resource descriptor with a single Register() descriptor that
Performance Counter describes the register to read a counter that accumulates at a rate
Register proportional the reference performance of the processor.
Delivered Buffer Contains a resource descriptor with a single Register() descriptor that
Performance Counter describes the register to read a counter that accumulates at a rate
Register proportional to the delivered performance of the processor.
Performance Limited Buffer Contains a resource descriptor with a single Register() descriptor that
Register describes the register to read to determine if performance was limited.
A nonzero value indicates performance was limited. This register is
sticky, and will remain set until reset or OSPM clears it by writing 0.
See the section “Performance Limiting” for more details.
CPPC EnableRegister Buffer Optional. If supported, contains a resource descriptor with a single
Register() descriptor that describes a register to which OSPM writes a
One to enable CPPC on this processor. Before this register is set, the
processor will be controlled by legacy mechanisms (ACPI P-states,
firmware, etc.).


Type
Autonomous Selection Integer Optional. If supported, contains a resource descriptor with a single
Enable (DWORD) Register() descriptor that describes a register to which OSPM writes a
or Buffer One to enable autonomous performance level selection. Platforms
that exclusively support Autonomous Selection must populate this
field as an Integer with a value of 1.
AutonomousActivityWi Buffer Optional. If supported, contains a resource descriptor with a single
ndowRegister Register() descriptor that describes a register to which OSPM writes a
time value that indicates a moving utilization sensitivity window for the
autonomous selection policy.
EnergyPerformancePr Buffer Optional. If supported, contains a resource descriptor with a single
eferenceRegister Register() descriptor that describes a register to which OSPM writes a
value to control the Energy vs. Performance preference of the
platform's energy efficiency and performance optimization policies
when Autonomous Selection is enabled
Reference Integer Optional. If supported, indicates the performance level at which the
Performance (DWORD) Reference Performance Counter accumulates. If not supported, The
or Buffer Reference Performance Counter accumulates at the Nominal
performance level. If this element is an Integer, OSPM reads the
integer value directly. If this element is a Buffer (and supported), it
the value from
Lowest Frequency Integer Optional. If supported, indicates the lowest frequency for this
(DWORD) processor in MHz. It should correspond roughly to the Lowest
or Buffer Performance value, but is not guaranteed to have any precise
correlation. This value should only be used for the purpose of
reporting processor performance in absolute frequency rather than on
an abstract scale, and not for functional decisions or platform
communication. If this element is an Integer, OSPM reads the integer
value directly. If this element is a Buffer (and supported), it must
contain a Resource Descriptor with a single Register() to read the
value from.
Nominal Frequency Integer Optional. If supported, indicates the nominal frequency for this
(DWORD) processor in MHz. It should correspond roughly to the Nominal
or Buffer Performance value, but is not guaranteed to have any precise
correlation. This value should only be used for the purpose of
reporting processor performance in absolute frequency rather than on
an abstract scale, and not for functional decisions or platform
communication. If this element is an Integer, OSPM reads the
integer value directly. If this element is a Buffer (and supported), it
the value from.
The _CPC object provides OSPM with platform-specific performance capabilities / thresholds and
control registers that OSPM uses to control the platform’s processor performance settings. These are
described in the following sections. While the platform may specify register sizes within an
allowable range, the size of the capabilities / thresholds registers must be compatible with the size of

the control registers. If the platform supports CPPC, the _CPC object must exist under all processor
objects. That is, OSPM is not expected to support mixed mode (CPPC & legacy PSS, _PCT, _PPC)
operation.
Starting with ACPI Specification 6.2, all _CPC registers can be in PCC, System Memory, System
IO, or Functional Fixed Hardware address spaces. OSPM support for this more flexible register
space scheme is indicated by the “Flexible Address Space for CPPC Registers” _OSC bit.
8.4.7.1.1 Performance Capabilities / Thresholds

Performance-based controls operate on a continuous range of processor performance levels, not
discrete processor states. As a result, platform capabilities and OSPM requests are specified in terms
of performance thresholds. Figure 8-50 outlines the static performance thresholds of the platform
and the dynamic guaranteed performance threshold.
Highest Performance
Nominal Performance
Guaranteed Performance
Allowed Range
Lowest Nonlinear Performance
Lowest Performance
Figure 8-50 Platform performance thresholds
Note: Not all performance levels need be unique. A platform's nominal performance level may also be its
highest performance level, for example.
8.4.7.1.1.1 Highest performance

Register or DWORD
Attribute: Read
Size: 8-32 bits
Highest performance is the absolute maximum performance an individual processor may reach,
assuming ideal conditions. This performance level may not be sustainable for long durations, and
may only be achievable if other platform components are in a specific state; for example, it may
require other processors be in an idle state.

Notify events of type 0x85 to the processor device object cause OSPM to re-evaluate the Highest
Performance Register, but only when it is encoded as a buffer. Note: OSPM will not re-evaluate the
_CPC object as a result of the notification.
8.4.7.1.1.2 Nominal Performance

Register or DWORD
Attribute: Read
Size: 8-32 bits
Nominal Performance is the maximum sustained performance level of the processor, assuming
ideal operating conditions. In absence of an external constraint (power, thermal, etc.) this is the
performance level the platform is expected to be able to maintain continuously. All processors are
expected to be able to sustain their nominal performance state simultaneously.
8.4.7.1.1.3 Reference Performance

Optional
Register or DWORD
Attribute: Read
Size: 8-32 bits
If supported by the platform, Reference Performance is the rate at which the Reference
Performance Counter increments. If not implemented (or zero), the Reference Performance Counter
increments at a rate corresponding to the Nominal Performance level.
8.4.7.1.1.4 Lowest Nonlinear Performance

Register or DWORD
Attribute: Read
Size: 8-32 bits
Lowest Nonlinear Performance is the lowest performance level at which nonlinear power savings
are achieved, for example, due to the combined effects of voltage and frequency scaling. Above this
threshold, lower performance levels should be generally more energy efficient than higher
performance levels. In traditional terms, this represents the P-state range of performance levels.
This register effectively conveys the most efficient performance level to OSPM.
8.4.7.1.1.5 Lowest Performance

Register or DWORD
Attribute: Read
Size: 8-32 bits
Lowest Performance is the absolute lowest performance level of the platform. Selecting a
performance level lower than the lowest nonlinear performance level may actually cause an
efficiency penalty, but should reduce the instantaneous power consumption of the processor. In
traditional terms, this represents the T-state range of performance levels.

8.4.7.1.1.6 Guaranteed Performance Register

Optional
Attribute: Read
Size: 8-32 bits
Guaranteed Performance Register conveys to OSPM a Guaranteed Performance level, which is
the current maximum sustained performance level of a processor, taking into account all known
external constraints (power budgeting, thermal constraints, AC vs DC power source, etc.). All
processors are expected to be able to sustain their guaranteed performance levels simultaneously.
The guaranteed performance level is required to fall in the range [Lowest Performance, Nominal
performance], inclusive.
If this register is not implemented, and Autonomous Selection is not enabled, OSPM assumes
guaranteed performance is always equal to nominal performance.
Notify events of type 0x83 to the processor device object will cause OSPM to re-evaluate the
Guaranteed Performance Register. Changes to guaranteed performance should not be more frequent
than once per second. If the platform is not able to guarantee a given performance level for a
sustained period of time (greater than one second), it should guarantee a lower performance level
and opportunistically enter the higher performance level as requested by OSPM and allowed by
current operating conditions.
8.4.7.1.1.7 Lowest Frequency and Nominal Frequency

Optional
Register or DWORD
Attribute:Read
Size: 32 bits
If supported by the platform, Lowest Frequency and Nominal Frequency values convey are the
lowest and nominal CPU frequencies of the platform, respectively, in megahertz (MHz). They
should correspond roughly to Lowest Performance and Nominal Performance on the CPPC abstract
performance scale but precise correlation is not guaranteed. See Section 8.4.7.1.1.5 and
Section 8.4.7.1.1.2 for definitions of lowest and nominal performance.
These values should not be used for functional decision making or platform communication which
are based on the CPPC abstract performance scale. They are only intended to enable CPPC
platforms to be backwards compatible with OSs that report performance as CPU frequencies. The
OS should use Lowest Frequency/Performance and Nominal Frequency/Performance as anchor
points to create a linear mapping of CPPC abstract performance to CPU frequency, interpolating
between Lowest and Nominal, and extrapolating from Nominal to Highest. Note that this mapping
is not guaranteed to be accurate since CPPC abstract performance is not required to be based purely
on CPU frequency, but it is better than no data if the OS must report performance as CPU frequency.
Platforms should provide these values when they must work with OSs which need to report CPU
frequency, and there is no alternate mechanism to discover this information.

8.4.7.1.2 Performance Controls

Under CPPC, OSPM has several performance settings it may use in conjunction to control/influence the
performance of the platform. These control inputs are outlined in Figure 8-51.
Maximum Performance
Desired Performance Performance
Allowed Range
Performance Reduction Tolerance
Minimum Performance
Figure 8-51 OSPM performance controls
OSPM may select any performance value within the continuous range of values supported by the
platform. Internally, the platform may implement a small number of discrete performance states and
may not be capable of operating at the exact performance level desired by OSPM. If a platform-
internal state does not exist that matches OSPM’s desired performance level, the platform should
round desired performance as follows:
• If OSPM has selected a desired performance level greater than or equal to guaranteed
performance, the platform may round up or down. The result of rounding must not be less than
guaranteed performance.
• If OSPM has selected a desired performance level less than guaranteed performance and a
maximum performance level not less than guaranteed performance, the platform must round up.
If OSPM has selected both desired performance level and maximum performance level less than
guaranteed performance, the platform must round up if rounding up does not violate the maximum
performance level. Otherwise, round down. OSPM must tolerate the platform rounding down if it
chooses to set the maximum performance level less than guaranteed performance.This approach
favors performance, except in the case where performance has been limited due to a platform or
OSPM constraint.
When Autonomous Selection is enabled, OSPM limits the processor's performance selection by
writing appropriate constraining values to the Minimum and Maximum Performance registers.
Setting Minimum and Maximum to the same value effectively disables Autonomous selection.

Note: When processors are within the same dependency domain, Maximum performance may only be
actually limited when allowed by hardware coordination.
8.4.7.1.2.1 Maximum Performance Register

Optional
Size: 8-32 bits
Maximum Performance Register conveys the maximum performance level at which the platform
may run. Maximum performance may be set to any performance value in the range [Lowest
Performance, Highest Performance], inclusive.
The value written to the Maximum Performance Register conveys a request to limit maximum
performance for the purpose of energy efficiency or thermal control and the platform limits its
performance accordingly as possible. However, the platform may exceed the requested limit in the
event it is necessitated by internal package optimization. For Example, hardware coordination
among multiple logical processors with interdependencies.
OSPM's use of this register to limit performance for the purpose of thermal control must
comprehend multiple logical processors with interdependencies. i.e. the same value must be written
to all processors within a domain to achieve the desired result.
The platform must implement either both the Minimum Performance and Maximum Performance
registers or neither register. If neither register is implemented and Autonomous Selection is disabled,
the platform must always deliver the desired performance.
8.4.7.1.2.2 Minimum Performance Register

Optional
Size: 8-32 bits
The Minimum Performance Register allows OSPM to convey the minimum performance level at
which the platform may run. Minimum performance may be set to any performance value in the
range [Lowest Performance, Highest Performance], inclusive but must be set to a value that is less
than or equal to that specified by the Maximum Performance Register.
In the presence of a physical constraint, for example a thermal excursion, the platform may not be
able to successfully maintain minimum performance in accordance with that set via the Minimum
Performance Register. In this case, the platform issues a Notify event of type 0x84 to the processor
device object and sets the Minimum_Excursion bit within the Performance Limited Register.
The platform must implement either both the Minimum Performance and Maximum Performance
registers or neither register. If neither register is implemented and Autonomous Selection is disabled,
the platform must always deliver the desired performance.
8.4.7.1.2.3 Desired Performance Register

Optional (depending on Autonomous Selection support)
Size: 8-32 bits
When Autonomous Selection is disabled, the Desired Performance Register is required and
conveys the performance level OSPM is requesting from the platform. Desired performance may be
set to any performance value in the range [Minimum Performance, Maximum Performance],

inclusive. Desired performance may take one of two meanings, depending on whether the desired
performance is above or below the guaranteed performance level.
• Below the guaranteed performance level, desired performance expresses the average
performance level the platform must provide subject to the Performance Reduction Tolerance.
• Above the guaranteed performance level, the platform must provide the guaranteed performance
level. The platform should attempt to provide up to the desired performance level, if current
operating conditions allow for it, but it is not required to do so
When Autonomous Selection is enabled, it is not necessary for OSPM to assess processor workload
performance demand and convey a corresponding performance delivery request to the platform via
the Desired Register. If the Desired Performance Register exists, OSPM may provide an explicit
performance requirement hint to the platform by writing a non-zero value. In this case, the delivered
performance is not bounded by the Performance Reduction Tolerance Register, however, OSPM can
influence the delivered performance by writing appropriate values to the Energy Performance
Preference Register. Writing a zero value to the Desired Performance Register or the non-existence
of the Desired Performance Register causes the platform to autonomously select a performance level
appropriate to the current workload.
Note: The Desired Performance Register is optional only when OPSM indicates support for CPPC2 in
the platform-wide _OSC capabilities and the Autonomous Selection Enable field is encoded as an
Integer with a value of 1.
8.4.7.1.2.4 Performance Reduction Tolerance Register
Optional
Size: 8-32 bits
The Performance Reduction Tolerance Register is used by OSPM to convey the deviation below
the Desired Performance that is tolerable. It is expressed by OSPM as an absolute value on the
performance scale. Performance Tolerance must be less than or equal to the Desired Performance. If
the platform supports the Time Window Register, the Performance Reduction Tolerance conveys the
minimal performance value that may be delivered on average over the Time Window. If this register
is not implemented, the platform must assume Performance Reduction Tolerance = Desired
Performance.
When Autonomous Selection is enabled, values written to the Performance Reduction Tolerance
Register are ignored.
8.4.7.1.2.5 Time Window Register
Optional
Size: 8-32 bits
Units: milliseconds
When Autonomous Selection is not enabled, OSPM may write a value to the Time Window
Register to indicate a time window over which the platform must provide the desired performance
level (subject to the Performance Reduction Tolerance). OSPM sets the time window when electing
a new desired performance The time window represents the minimum time duration for OSPM’s
evaluation of the platform’s delivered performance (see Section 8.4.7.1.3.1 “Performance Counters”

for details on how OSPM computes delivered performance). If OSPM evaluates delivered
performance over an interval smaller than the specified time window, it has no expectations of the
performance delivered by the platform. For any evaluation interval equal to or greater than the time
window, the platform must deliver the OSPM desired performance within the specified tolerance
bound.
If OSPM specifies a time window of zero or if the platform does not support the time window
register, the platform must deliver performance within the bounds of Performance Reduction
Tolerance irrespective of the duration of the evaluation interval.
When Autonomous Selection is enabled, values written to the Time Window Register are ignored.
Reads of the Time Window register indicate minimum length of time (in ms) between successive
reads of the platform's performance counters. If the Time Window register is not supported then
there is no minimum time requirement between successive reads of the platform's performance
counters.
8.4.7.1.3 Performance Feedback

The platform provides performance feedback via set of performance counters, and a performance
limited indicator.
8.4.7.1.3.1 Performance Counters

To determine the actual performance level delivered over time, OSPM may read a set of
performance counters from the Reference Performance Counter Register and the Delivered
Performance Counter Register.
OSPM calculates the delivered performance over a given time period by taking a beginning and
ending snapshot of both the reference and delivered performance counters, and calculating:

∆delivered performance counter
delivered performance = reference performance X
∆reference performance counter
The delivered performance should always fall in the range [Lowest Performance, Highest
Performance], inclusive. OSPM may use the delivered performance counters as a feedback
mechanism to refine the desired performance state it selects.
When Autonomous Selection is not enabled, there are constraints that govern how and when the
performance delivered by the platform may deviate from the OSPM Desired Performance.
Corresponding to OSPM setting a Desired Performance: at any time after that, the following
constraints on delivered performance apply
• Delivered performance can be higher than the OSPM requested desired performance if the
platform is able to deliver the higher performance at same or lower energy than if it were
delivering the desired performance.
• Delivered performance may be higher or lower than the OSPM desired performance if the
platform has discrete performance states and needed to round down performance to the nearest
supported performance level in accordance to the algorithm prescribed in the OSPM controls
section.

• Delivered performance may be lower than the OSPM desired performance if the platform’s
efficiency optimizations caused the delievered performance to be less than desired performance.
However, the delivered performance should never be lower than the OSPM specified.
• Performance Reduction Tolerance. The Performance Reduction Tolerance provides a bound to
the platform on how aggressive it can be when optimizing performance delivery. The platform
should not perform any optimization that would cause delivered performance to be lower than
the OSPM specified Performance Reduction Tolerance.
8.4.7.1.3.1.1 Reference Performance Counter Register
Attribute: Read
Size: 32 or 64 bits
The Reference Performance Counter Register counts at a fixed rate any time the processor is active.
It is not affected by changes to Desired Performance, processor throttling, etc. If Reference
Performance is supported, the Reference Performance Counter accumulates at a rate corresponding
to the Reference Performance level. Otherwise, the Reference Performance Counter accumulates at
the Nominal performance level.
8.4.7.1.3.1.2 Delivered Performance Counter Register
Attribute: Read
Size: 32 or 64 bits
The Delivered Performance Counter Register increments any time the processor is active, at a rate
proportional to the current performance level, taking into account changes to Desired Performance.
When the processor is operating at its reference performance level, the delivered performance
counter must increment at the same rate as the reference performance counter.
8.4.7.1.3.1.3 Counter Wraparound Time
Optional
Register or DWORD
Attribute: Read
Size: 32 or 64 bits
Units: seconds
Counter Wraparound Time provides a means for the platform to specify a rollover time for the
Reference/Delivered performance counters. If greater than this time period elapses between OSPM
querying the feedback counters, the counters may wrap without OSPM being able to detect that they
have done so.
If not implemented (or zero), the performance counters are assumed to never wrap during the
lifetime of the platform.
8.4.7.1.3.2 Performance Limited Register
Size: >=2 bit(s)
In the event that the platform must constrain the delivered performance to less than the minimum
performance or the desired performance (or, less than the guaranteed performance, if desired

performance is greater than guaranteed performance) due to an unpredictable event, the platform
must set the performance limited indicator to a non-zero value. This indicates to OSPM that an
unpredictable event has limited processor performance, and the delivered performance may be less
than desired / minimum performance.
Table 8-277 Performance Limited Register Status Bits

0 Desired_Excursion Set when Delivered Performance has been constrained to less than
Desired Performance (or, less than the guaranteed performance, if desired
performance is greater than guaranteed performance). This bit is not
utilized when Autonomous Selection is enabled.
1 Minimum_Excursion Set when Delivered Performance has been constrained to less than
Minimum Performance
2-n Reserved Reserved
Bits within the Performance Limited Register are sticky, and will remain non-zero until OSPM
clears the bit. The platform should only issue a Notify when Minimum Excursion transitions from 0
to 1 to avoid repeated events when there is sustained or recurring limiting but OSPM has not cleared
the previous indication.
Note: All accesses to the Performance Limited Register must be made using interlocked operations, by
both accessing entities.
The performance limited register should only be used to report short term, unpredictable events (e.g.,
PROCHOT being asserted). If the platform is capable of identifying longer term, predictable events
that limit processor performance, it should use the guaranteed performance register to notify OSPM
of this limitation. Changes to guaranteed performance should not be more frequent than once per
second. If the platform is not able to guarantee a given performance level for a sustained period of
time (greater than one second), it should guarantee a lower performance level and opportunistically
enter the higher performance level as requested by OSPM and allowed by current operating
conditions.
8.4.7.1.4 CPPC Enable Register
Optional
Size: >=1 bit(s)
If supported by the platform, OSPM writes a one to this register to enable CPPC on this processor.
If not implemented, OSPM assumes the platform always has CPPC enabled.

8.4.7.1.5 Autonomous Selection Enable Register
Optional
Register or DWORD
Size: >=1 bit(s)
If supported by the platform, OSPM writes a one to this register to enable Autonomous Performance
Level Selection on this processor. CPPC must be enabled via the CPPC Enable Register to enable
Autonomous Performance Level Selection. Platforms that exclusively support Autonomous
Selection must populate this field as an Integer with a value of 1.
When Autonomous Selection is enabled, the platform is responsible for selecting performance
states. OSPM is not required to assess processor workload performance demand and convey a
corresponding performance delivery request to the platform via the Desired Performance Register.
8.4.7.1.6 Autonomous Activity Window Register
Optional
Size: 10 bit(s)
Units: Bits 06:00 - Significand, Bits 09:07 -
Exponent, Base_Time_Unit = 1E-6 seconds (1 microsecond)
If supported by the platform, OSPM may write a time value (10^3-bit exp * 7-bit mantissa in 1µsec
units: 1us to 1270 sec) to this field to indicate a moving utilization sensitivity window to the
platform's autonomous selection policy. Combined with the Energy Performance Preference
Register value, the Activity Window influences the rate of performance increase / decrease of the
platform's autonomous selection policy. OSPM writes a zero value to this register to enable the
platform to determine an appropriate Activity Window depending on the workload.
Writes to this register only have meaning when Autonomous Selection is enabled.
8.4.7.1.7 Energy Performance Preference Register
Optional
Size: 4-8 bit(s
If supported by the platform, OSPM may write a range of values from 0 (performance preference) to
0xFF (energy efficiency preference) that influences the rate of performance increase /decrease and
the result of the hardware's energy efficiency and performance optimization policies.This provides a
means for OSPM to limit the energy efficiency impact of the platform's performance-related
optimizations / control policy and the performance impact of the platform's energy efficiency-related
optimizations / control policy.
Writes to this register only have meaning when Autonomous Selection is enabled.

8.4.7.1.8 OSPM Control Policy

8.4.7.1.8.1 In-Band Thermal Control
A processor using performance controls may be listed in a thermal zone’s _PSL list. If it is and the
thermal zone engages passive cooling as a result of passing the _PSV threshold, OSPM will apply
the ∆P[%] to modify the value in the desired performance register. Any time that passive cooling is
engaged, OSPM must also set the maximum performance register equal to the desired performance
register, to enforce the platform does not exceed the desired performance opportunistically.
Note: In System-on-Chip-based platforms where the SoC is comprised of multiple device components in
addition to the processor, OSPM’s use of the Desired and Maximum registers for thermal control
may not produce an optimal result because of SoC device interaction. The use of proprietary
package level thermal controls (if they exist) may produce more optimal results.
8.4.7.1.9 Using PCC Registers

If the PCC register space is used, all PCC registers, for all processors in the same performance
domain (as defined by _PSD), must be defined to be in the same subspace. If _PSD is not used, the
restriction applies to all registers within a given _CPC object. OSPM will write registers by filling in
the register value and issuing a PCC write command (see Table 8-278). It may read static registers,
counters, and the performance limited register by issuing a read command (see Table 8-278). To
amortize the cost of PCC transactions, OSPM should read or write all PCC registers via a single read
or write command when possible.
Table 8-278 PCC Commands Codes used by Collaborative Processor Performance Control
Command Description
0x00 Read registers. Executed to request the platform update all registers for all enabled
processors with their current value.
0x01 Write registers. Executed to notify the platform one or more read/write registers for an
enabled processor has been updated.
8.4.7.1.10 Relationship to other ACPI-defined Objects and Notifications

If _CPC is present, its use supersedes the use of the following existing ACPI objects:
• The P_BLK P_CNT register
• _PTC
• _TSS
• _TPC
• _TSD
• _TDL
• _PCT
• _PSS
• _PPC
• _PDL

• Notify 0x80 on the processor device

• Notify 0x82 on the processor device
The _PSD object may be used to specify domain dependencies between processors. On a system
with heterogeneous processors, all processors within a single domain must have the same
performance capabilities.
8.4.7.1.11 _CPC Implementation Example

This example shows a two processor implementation of the _CPC interface via the PCC interface, in
PCC subspace 2. This implementation uses registers to describe the processor’s capabilities, and
does not support the Minimum Performance, Maximum Performance, or Time Window registers.

Processor (\_SB.CPU0, 1, 0, 0)
{
Name(_CPC, Package()
{
21, // NumEntries
2, // Revision
ResourceTemplate(){Register(PCC, 32, 0, 0x120, 2)},
// Highest Performance
// Nominal Performance
// Lowest Nonlinear Performance
ResourceTemplate(){Register(PCC, 32, 0, 0x12C, 2)},
// Lowest Performance
// Guaranteed Performance Register
// Desired Performance Register
ResourceTemplate(){Register(SystemMemory, 0, 0, 0, 0)},
// Minimum Performance Register
// Maximum Performance Register
// Performance Reduction Tolerance Register
// Time Window Register
ResourceTemplate(){Register(PCC, 8, 0, 0x11B, 2)},
// Counter Wraparound Time
// Reference Performance Counter Register
// Delivered Performance Counter Register
ResourceTemplate(){Register(PCC, 8, 0, 0x11A, 2)},
// Performance Limited Register
// CPPC Enable Register
// Autonomous Selection Enable
// Autonomous Activity Window Register
// Energy Performance Preference Register
ResourceTemplate(){Register(SystemMemory, 0, 0, 0, 0)}
// Reference Performance
})
}

Processor (\_SB.CPU1, 2, 0, 0)
{
Name(_CPC, Package()
{
21, // NumEntries
2, // Revision
// Highest Performance
// Nominal Performance
// Lowest Nonlinear Performance
ResourceTemplate(){Register(PCC, 32, 0, 0x22C, 2)},
// Lowest Performance
// Guaranteed Performance Register
// Desired Performance Register
// Minimum Performance Register
// Maximum Performance Register
// Performance Reduction Tolerance Register
// Time Window Register
ResourceTemplate(){Register(PCC, 8, 0, 0x21B, 2)},
// Counter Wraparound Time
// Reference Performance Counter Register
// Delivered Performance Counter Register
ResourceTemplate(){Register(PCC, 8, 0, 0x21A, 2)},
// Performance Limited Register
// CPPC Enable Register
// Autonomous Selection Enable
// Autonomous Activity Window Register
// Energy Performance Preference Register
ResourceTemplate(){Register(SystemMemory, 0, 0, 0, 0)}
// Reference Performance
})

8.4.8 _PPE (Polling for Platform Errors)

This optional object, when present, is evaluated by OSPM to determine if the processor should be
polled to retrieve corrected platform error information. This object augments /overrides information
provided in the CPEP , if supplied. See Section 5.2.18 “Corrected Platform Error Polling Table
(CPEP)”.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the recommended polling interval in milliseconds.
0– OSPM should not poll this processor.
Other values – OSPM should poll this processor at <= the specified interval.
OSPM evaluates the _PPE object during processor object initialization and Bus Check notification
processing.
8.5 Processor Aggregator Device

The following section describes the definition and operation of the optional Processor Aggregator
device. The Processor Aggregator Device provides a control point that enables the platform to
perform specific processor configuration and control that applies to all processors in the platform.
The Plug and Play ID of the Processor Aggregator Device is ACPI000C.
Table 8-279 Processor Aggregator Device Objects

Object Description
_PUR Requests a number of logical processors to be placed in an idle state
8.5.1 Logical Processor Idling

In order to reduce the platform’s power consumption, the platform may direct OSPM to remove a
logical processor from the operating system scheduler’s list of processors where non-processor
affinitized work is dispatched. This capability is known as Logical Processor Idling and provides a
means to reduce platform power consumption without undergoing processor ejection / insertion
processing overhead. Interrupts directed to a logical processor and processor affinitized workloads
will impede the effectiveness of logical processor idling in reducing power consumption as OSPM is
not expected to re-target this work when a logical processor is idled.
8.5.1.1 PUR (Processor Utilization Request)

The _PUR object is an optional object that may be declared under the Processor Aggregator Device
and provides a means for the platform to indicate to OSPM the number of logical processors to be
idled. OSPM evaluates the _PUR object as a result of the processing of a Notify event on the
Processor Aggregator device object of type 0x80.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
A Package as described below.

Package
{
RevisionID // Integer: Current value is 1
NumProcessors // Integer
}
The NumProcessors package element conveys the number of logical processors that the platform
wants OSPM to idle. This number is an absolute value. OSPM increments or decrements the number
of logical processors placed in the idle state to equal the NumProcessors value as possible. A
NumProcessors value of zero causes OSPM to place all logical processor in the active state as
possible.
OSPM uses internal logical processor to physical core and package topology knowledge to idle
logical processors successively in an order that maximizes power reduction benefit from idling
requests. For example, all SMT threads constituting logical processors on a single processing core
should be idled to allow the core to enter a low power state before idling SMT threads constituting
logical processors on another core.
8.5.2 OSPM _OST Evaluation

When processing of the _PUR object evaluation completes, OSPM evaluates the _OST object, if
present under the Processor Aggregator device, to convey _PUR evaluation status to the platform.
_OST arguments specific to _PUR evaluation are described below.
Arguments: (3)
Arg0 – Source Event (Integer) : 0x80
Arg1 – Status Code (Integer) : see below
Arg2 – Idled Procs (Buffer) : see below
Return Value:
None
Arg1 – Status Code
0: success – OSPM idled the number of logical processors indicated by the value of Arg2
1: no action was performed
Arg2 – A 4-byte buffer that represents a DWORD that is the number of logical processors that are
now idled)
The platform may request a number of logical processors to be idled that exceeds the available
number of logical processors that can be idled from an OSPM context for the following reasons:

• The requested number is larger than the number of logical processors currently defined.
• Not all the defined logical processors were onlined by the OS (for example. for licensing
reasons)
Logical processors critical to OS function (for example, the BSP) cannot be idled.


ACPI Specification ACPI-Defined Devices and Device-Specific Objects
9 ACPI-Defined Devices and Device-Specific

Objects
This section describes ACPI defined devices and device-specific objects. The system status indicator
objects, declared under the \_SI scope in the ACPI Namespace, are also specified in this section.
9.1 Device Object Name Collision

Devices containing both _HID and _CID may have device specific control methods pertaining to
both the device ID in the _HID and the device ID in the _CID. These device specific control
methods are defined by the device owner (a standard body or a vendor or a group of vendor
partners). Since these object names are not controlled by a central authority, there is a likelihood that
the names of objects will conflict between two defining parties. The _DSM object described in the
next section solves this conflict.
9.1.1 _DSM (Device Specific Method)

This optional object is a control method that enables devices to provide device specific control
functions that are consumed by the device driver.
Arguments: (4)
Arg0 – A Buffer containing a UUID
Arg1 – An Integer containing the Revision ID
Arg2 – An Integer containing the Function Index
Arg3 – A Package that contains function-specific arguments
Return Value:
If Function Index = 0, a Buffer containing a function index bitfield. Otherwise, the return value and
type depends on the UUID and revision ID (see below).
Arg0: UUID – A Buffer containing the UUID (see Section 5.2.4) (16 Bytes)
Arg1: Revision ID – the function’s revision. This revision is specific to the UUID.
Arg2: Function Index – Represents a specific function whose meaning is specific to the UUID
and Revision ID. Function indices should start with 1. Function number zero is a query function (see
the special return code defined below).
Arg3: Function Arguments – a package containing the parameters for the function specified by
the UUID, Revision ID and Function Index.
Successive revisions of Function Arguments must be backward compatible with earlier revisions.
New UUIDs may also be created by OEMs and IHVs for custom devices and other interface or
device governing bodies (e.g. the PCI SIG), as long as the UUID is different from other published

ACPI-Defined Devices and Device-Specific Objects ACPI Specification
UUIDs. Only the issuer of a UUID can authorize a new Function Index, Revision ID or Function
Argument for that UUID.

If Function Index is zero, the return is a buffer containing one bit for each function index, starting
with zero. Bit 0 indicates whether there is support for any functions other than function 0 for the
specified UUID and Revision ID. If set to zero, no functions are supported (other than function zero)
for the specified UUID and Revision ID. If set to one, at least one additional function is supported.
For all other bits in the buffer, a bit is set to zero to indicate if that function index is not supported for
the specific UUID and Revision ID. (For example, bit 1 set to 0 indicates that function index 1 is not
supported for the specific UUID and Revision ID.)
If the bit representing a particular function index would lie outside of the buffer, it should be
assumed to be 0 (that is, not supported).
If Function Index is non-zero, the return is any data object. The type and meaning of the returned
data object depends on the UUID, Revision ID, Function Index, and Function Arguments.
Note: For backward compatibility _DSM requires that each Revision ID support all of the functions
defined by all previous Revision IDs for the same UUID.
Implementation Note
Since the purpose of the _DSM method is to avoid the namespace collision, the implementation of
this method shall not use any other method or data object which is not defined in this specification
unless its driver and usage is completely under the control of the platform vendor.

Example:
// _DSM – Device Specific Method
//
// Arg0: UUID Unique function identifier
// Arg1: Integer Revision Level
// Arg2: Integer Function Index (0 = Return Supported Functions)
// Arg3: Package Parameters
Function(_DSM,{IntObj,BuffObj},{BuffObj, IntObj, IntObj, PkgObj})
{
//
// Switch based on which unique function identifier was passed in
//
switch(Arg0)
{
//
// First function identifier
//
case(ToUUID(“893f00a6-660c-494e-bcfd-3043f4fb67c0”))
{
switch(Arg2)
{
//
// Function 0: Return supported functions, based on revision
//
case(0)
{
switch(Arg1)
{
// revision 0: functions 1-4 are supported
case(0) {return (Buffer() {0x1F})}
// revision 1: functions 1-5 are supported
case(1) {return (Buffer() {0x3F})}
}
// revision 2+: functions 1-7 are supported
return (Buffer() {0xFF})
}
//
// Function 1:
//
case(1)
{
… function 1 code …
Return(Zero)
}
//
// Function 2:
//
case(2)
{
Return(Buffer(){0x00})
}
case(3) { … function 3 code …}
case(4) { … function 4 code …}
case(5) { if (LLess(Arg1,1) BreakPoint; … function 5 code … }
case(6) { if (LLess(Arg1,2) BreakPoint; … function 6 code … )
case(7) { if (LLess(Arg1,3) BreakPoint; … function 7 code … )
default {BreakPoint }
}

}
//
// Second function identifier
//
case(ToUUID(“107ededd-d381-4fd7-8da9-08e9a6c79644”))
{
//
// Function 0: Return supported functions (there is only one revision)
//
if (LEqual(Arg2,Zero))
return (Buffer() {0x3}) // only one function supported
//
// Function 1
//
if (LEqual(Arg2,One))
{
Return(Unicode(“text”))
}
//
// Function 2+: Runtime Error
//
else
BreakPoint;
}
}
//
// If not one of the UUIDs we recognize, then return a buffer
// with bit 0 set to 0 indicating no functions supported.
//
return(Buffer(){0})
}
9.2 \_SI System Indicators

ACPI provides an interface for a variety of simple and icon-style indicators on a system. All
indicator controls are in the \_SI portion of the namespace. The following table lists all defined
system indicators. (Notice that there are also per-device indicators specified for battery devices).
Table 9-280 System Indicator Control Methods

Object Description
_SST System status indicator
_MSG Messages waiting indicator
_BLT Battery Level Threshold
9.2.1 _SST (System Status)

This optional object is a control method that OSPM invokes to set the system status indicator as
desired.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the system status indicator identifier
0 – No system state indication. Indicator off

1 – Working
2 – Waking
3 – Sleeping. Used to indicate system state S1, S2, or S3
4 – Sleeping with context saved to non-volatile storage
Return Value:
None
9.2.2 _MSG (Message)

This control method sets the system’s message-waiting status indicator.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the number of waiting messages
Return Value:
None
9.2.3 _BLT (Battery Level Threshold)

This optional control method is used by OSPM to indicate to the platform the user’s preference for
various battery level thresholds. This method allows platform battery indicators to be synchronized
with OSPM provided battery notification levels. Note that if _BLT is implemented on a multi-
battery system, it is required that the power unit for all batteries must be the same. See Section 10.2
for more details on battery levels.
Arguments: (3)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the preferred threshold for the battery warning level
Arg1 – An Integer containing the preferred threshold for the battery low level
Arg2 – An Integer containing the preferred threshold for the battery wake level
Return Value:
None
Additional Information
The battery warning level in the range 0x00000001 – 0x7FFFFFFF (in units of mWh or mAh,
depending on the Power Units value) is the user’s preference for battery warning. If the level
specified is less than the design capacity of warning, it may be ignored by the platform so that the
platform can ensure a successful wake on low battery.
The battery low level in the range 0x00000001 – 0x7FFFFFFF (in units of mWh or mAh, depending
on the Power Units value) is the user’s preference for battery low. If this level is less than the design
capacity of low, it may be ignored by the platform.
The battery wake level in the range 0x00000001 – 0x7FFFFFFF (in units of mWh or mAh,
depending on the Power Units value) is the user’s preference for battery wake. If this level is less
than the platform’s current wake on low battery level, it may be ignored by the platform. If the

platform does not support a configurable wake on low battery level, this may be ignored by the
platform.
9.3 Ambient Light Sensor Device

The following section illustrates the operation and definition of the control method-based Ambient
Light Sensor (ALS) device.
The ambient light sensor device can optionally support power management objects (e.g. _PS0,
_PS3) to allow the OS to manage the device’s power consumption.
The Plug and Play ID of an ACPI control method ambient light sensor device is ACPI0008.
Table 9-281 Control Method Ambient Light Sensor Device

Object Description
_ALI The current ambient light illuminance reading in lux (lumen per square meter). [Required]
_ALC The current ambient light color chromaticity reading, specified using x and y coordinates per the
CIE Yxy color model. [Optional]
_ALT The current ambient light color temperature reading in degrees Kelvin. [Optional]
_ALR Returns a set of ambient light illuminance to display brightness mappings that can be used by an
OS to calibrate its ambient light policy. [Required]
_ALP Ambient light sensor polling frequency in tenths of seconds. [Optional]
9.3.1 Overview
This definition provides a standard interface by which the OS may query properties of the ambient
light environment the system is currently operating in, as well as the ability to detect meaningful
changes in these values when the environment changes. Two ambient light properties are currently
supported by this interface: illuminance and color.
Ambient light illuminance readings are obtained via the _ALI method. Illuminance readings indicate
the amount of light incident upon (falling on) a specified surface area. Values are specified in lux
(lumen per square meter) and give an indication of how “bright” the environment is. For example, an
overcast day is roughly 1000 lux, a typical office environment 300-400 lux, and a dimly-lit
conference room around 10 lux.
A possible use of ambient light illuminance data by the OS is to automatically adjust the brightness
(or luminance) of the display device – e.g. increase display luminance in brightly-lit environments
and decrease display luminance in dimly-lit environments. Note that Luminance is a measure of
light radiated (reflected, transmitted, or emitted) by a surface, and is typically measured in nits. The
_ALR method provides a set of ambient light illuminance to display luminance mappings that can be
used by an OS to calibrate its policy for a given platform configuration.
Ambient light color readings are obtained via the _ALT and/or _ALC methods. Two methods are
defined to allow varying types/complexities of ambient light sensor hardware to be used. _ALT
returns color temperature readings in degrees Kelvin. Color temperature values correlate a light
source to a standard black body radiator and give an indication of the type of light source present in
a given environment (e.g. daylight, fluorescent, incandescent). ALC returns color chromaticity
readings per the CIE Yxy color model. Chromaticity x and y coordinates provide a more

straightforward indication of ambient light color characteristics. Note that the CIE Yxy color model
is defined by the International Commission on Illumination (abbreviated as CIE from its French title
Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage) and is based on human perception instead of absolute
color.
A possible use of ambient light color data by the OS is to automatically adjust the color of displayed
images depending on the environment the images are being viewed in. This may be especially
important for reflective/transflective displays where the type of ambient light may have a large
impact on the colors perceived by the user.
9.3.2 _ALI (Ambient Light Illuminance)

This control method returns the current ambient light illuminance reading in lux (lumen per square
meter). Expected values range from ~1 lux for a dark room, ~300 lux for a typical office
environment, and 10,000+ lux for daytime outdoor environments – although readings may vary
depending on the location of the sensor to the light source. Special values are reserved to indicate out
of range conditions (see below).
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the ambient light brightness in lux (lumens per square meter)
0– The current reading is below the supported range or sensitivity of
the sensor
Ones (-1) – The current reading is above the supported range or sensitivity of
the sensor
Other values – The current ambient light brightness in lux (lumens per square
meter)
9.3.3 _ALT (Ambient Light Temperature)

This optional control method returns the current ambient light color temperature reading in degrees
Kelvin (°K). Lower color temperatures imply warmer light (emphasis on yellow and red); higher
color temperatures imply a colder light (emphasis on blue). This value can be used to gauge various
properties of the lighting environment – for example, the type of light source. Expected values range
from ~1500°K for candlelight, ~3000°K for a 200-Watt incandescent bulb, and ~5500°K for full
sunlight on a summer day – although readings may vary depending on the location of the sensor to
the light source. Special values are reserved to indicate out of range conditions (see below).
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the ambient light temperature in degrees Kelvin
the sensor

the sensor
Other values –The current ambient light temperature in degrees Kelvin
9.3.4 _ALC (Ambient Light Color Chromaticity)

This optional control method returns the current ambient light color chromaticity readings per the
CIE Yxy color model. The x and y (chromaticity) coordinates are specified using a fixed 10-4
notation due to the lack of floating point values in ACPI. Valid values are within the range 0
(0x0000) through 1 (0x2710). A single 32-bit integer value is used, where the x coordinate is stored
in the high word and the y coordinate in the low word. For example, the value 0x0C370CDA would
be used to specify the white point for the CIE Standard Illuminant D65 (a standard representation of
average daylight) with x = 0.3127 and y = 0.3290. Special values are reserved to indicate out of
range conditions (see below).
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the ambient light temperature in degrees Kelvin
the sensor
the sensor
Other values – The current ambient light color chromaticity x and y coordinate
values, per the CIE Yxy color model
9.3.5 _ALR (Ambient Light Response)

This object evaluates to a package of ambient light illuminance to display luminance mappings that
can be used by an OS to calibrate its ambient light policy for a given sensor configuration. The OS
can use this information to extrapolate an ALS response curve - noting that these values may be
treated differently depending on the OS implementation but should be used in some form to calibrate
ALS policy.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of luminance mapping Packages. Each mapping
package consists of two Integers.
The return data is specified as a package of packages, where each tuple (inner package) consists of
the pair of Integer values of the form:
{<display luminance adjustment>, <ambient light illuminance>}

Package elements should be listed in monotonically increasing order based upon the ambient light
illuminance value (the Y-coordinate on the graph) to simplify parsing by the OS.
Ambient light illuminance values are specified in lux (lumens per square meter). Display luminance
(or brightness) adjustment values are specified using relative percentages in order simplify the
means by which these adjustments are applied in lieu of changes to the user’s display brightness
preference. A value of 100 is used to indicate no (0%) display brightness adjustment given the lack
of signed data types in ACPI. Values less than 100 indicate a negative adjustment (dimming); values
greater than 100 indicate a positive adjustment (brightening). For example, a display brightness
adjustment value of 75 would be interpreted as a -25% adjustment, and a value of 110 as a +10%
adjustment.
Min Baseline Max

A mb ie n t L ig h t I llu mi n an c e ( Lu x )
(150,1000)
1200
Brightly-Lit
350 Café
(100,300)
Typical
90 (85,80) Office
20
(73,10)
Dimly-Lit
5 Conference
Room
(70,0)
0
-30% -20% -10% 0% +10% ... +50%
D is p la y L u min a n c e ( B r ig h t n e s s) A d ju s t me n t
Figure 9-52 A five-point ALS Response Curve
Figure 9-52 illustrates the use of five points to approximate an example response curve, where the
dotted line represents an approximation of the desired response (solid curve). Extrapolation of the
values between these points is OS-specific – although for the purposes of this example we’ll assume
a piecewise linear approximation. The ALS response curve (_ALR) would be specified as follows:

Name(_ALR, Package() {
Package{70, 0}, // Min ( -30% adjust at 0 lux)
Package{73, 10}, // ( -27% adjust at 10 lux)
Package{85, 80}, // ( -15% adjust at 80 lux)
Package{100,300}, // Baseline ( 0% adjust at 300 lux)
Package{150,1000} // Max ( +50% adjust at 1000 lux)
})
Within this data set exist three points of particular interest: baseline, min, and max. The baseline
value represents an ambient light illuminance value (in lux) for the environment where this system is
most likely to be used. When the system is operating in this ambient environment the ALS policy
will apply no (0%) adjustment to the default display brightness setting. For example, given a system
with a 300 lux baseline, operating in a typical office ambient environment (~300 lux), configured
with a default display brightness setting of 50% (e.g. 60 nits), the ALS policy would apply no
backlight adjustment, resulting in an absolute display brightness setting of 60 nits.
Min and max are used to indicate cutoff points in order to prevent an over-zealous response by the
ALS policy and to influence the policy’s mode of operation. For example, the min and max points
from the figure above would be specified as (70,0) and (150,1000) respectively – where min
indicates a maximum negative adjustment of 30% and max represents a maximum positive
adjustment of 50%. Using a large display brightness adjustment for max allows an ALS response
that approaches a fully-bright display (100% absolute) in very bright ambient environments
regardless of the user’s display brightness preference. Using a small value for max (e.g. 0% @ 300
lux) would influence the ALS policy to limit the use of this technology solely as a power-saving
feature (never brighten the display). Conversely, setting min to a 0% adjustment instructs ALS
policy to brighten but never dim.
A minimum of two data points are required in the return package, interpreted as min and max. Note
that the baseline value does not have to be explicitly stated; it can be derived from the response
curve. Addition elements can be provided to fine-tune the response between these points. Figure 9-
53 illustrates the use of two data points to achieve a response similar to (but simpler than) that
described in Figure 9-52 .

Min Baseline Max

(150,1000)
1200
Brightly-Lit
350 Café
Typical
90 Office
(70,30)
20
Dimly-Lit
5 Conference
Room
(70,0)
0
-30% -20% -10% 0% +10% ... +50%
D is p la y L u min a n c e (B r ig h t n e s s ) A d ju s t me n t
Figure 9-53 A two-point ALS Response Curve
This example lacks an explicit baseline and includes a min with an ambient light value above 0 lux.
The baseline can easily be extrapolated by ALS Policy (e.g. 0% adjustment at ~400 lux). All
ambient light brightness settings below min (20 lux) would be treated in a similar fashion by ALS
policy (e.g. -30% adjustment). This two-point response curve would be modeled as:
Package{70, 30}, // Min ( -30% adjust at 30 lux)
Package{150,1000} // Max ( +50% adjust at 1000 lux)
})
This model can be used to convey a wide range of ambient light to display brightness responses. For
example, a transflective display – a technology where illumination of the display can be achieved by
reflecting available ambient light, but also augmented in dimly-lit environments with a backlight –
could be modeled as illustrated in Figure 9-54.

Min,
Baseline Max
1200 (0,1000)
Brightly-Lit
350 Café
Typical
90 Office
(200,30)
20
Dimly-Lit
Conference
Room
5
(70,0) (180,0)
0
0% +40% +80% +100%
D is p la y L u min a n c e (B r ig h t n e s s ) A d ju s t me n t
Figure 9-54 Example Response Curve for a Transflective Display
This three-point approximation would result in an ALS response that allows the backlight to increase
as the ambient lighting decreases. In this example, no backlight adjustment is needed in bright
environments (1000+ lux), maximum backlight may be needed in dim environments (~30 lux), but a
lower backlight setting may be used in a very-dark room (~0 lux) – resulting in an elbow around 30
lux. This response would be modeled in _ALR as follows:
Package{180, 0} ( +80% adjust at 0 lux)
Package{200, 30}, // Max (+100% adjust at 30 lux)
Package{0, 1000}, // Min ( 0% adjust at 1,000 lux)
})
Note the ordering of package elements: monotonically increasing from the lowest ambient light
value (0 lux) to the highest ambient light value (1000 lux).
The transflective display example also highlights the need for non-zero values for the user’s display
brightness preference – which we’ll refer to as the reference display brightness value. This
requirement is derived from the model’s use of relative adjustments. For example, applying any
adjustment to a 0% reference display brightness value always results in a 0% absolute display
brightness setting. Likewise, using a very small reference display brightness (e.g. 5%) results in a
muted response (e.g. +30% of 5% = 6.5% absolute). The solution is to apply a reasonably large
value (e.g. 50%) as the reference display brightness setting – even in the case where no backlight is
applied. This allows relative adjustments to be applied in a meaningful fashion while conveying to
the user that the display is still usable (via reflected light) under typical ambient conditions.

The OS derives the user’s display brightness preference (this reference value) either from the
Brightness Control Levels (_BCL) object or another OS-specific mechanism. See Section 9.3.8,
“Relationship to Backlight Control Methods”, for more information.
9.3.6 _ALP (Ambient Light Polling)

This optional object evaluates to a recommended polling frequency (in tenths of seconds) for this
ambient light sensor. A value of zero – or the absence of this object when other ALS objects are
defined – indicates that OSPM does not need to poll the sensor in order to detect meaningful changes
in ambient light (the hardware is capable of generating asynchronous notifications).
The use of polling is allowed but strongly discouraged by this specification. OEMs should design
systems that asynchronously notify OSPM whenever a meaningful change in the ambient light
occurs—relieving the OS of the overhead associated with polling.
This value is specified as tenths of seconds. For example, a value of 10 would be used to indicate a 1
second polling frequency. As this is a recommended value, OSPM will consider other factors when
determining the actual polling frequency to use.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the recommended polling frequency in tenths of seconds
0– Polling by the host OS is not required
Other – The recommended polling frequency in tenths of seconds
9.3.7 Ambient Light Sensor Events

To communicate meaningful changes in ALS illuminance to OSPM, AML code should issue a
Notify(als_device, 0x80) whenever the lux reading changes more than 10% (from the last
reading that resulted in a notification). OSPM receives this notification and evaluates the _ALI
control method to determine the current ambient light status. The OS then adjusts the display
brightness based upon its ALS policy (derived from _ALR).
The definition of what constitutes a meaningful change is left to the system integrator, but should be
at a level of granularity that provides an appropriate response without overly taxing the system with
unnecessary interrupts. For example, an ALS configuration may be tuned to generate events for all
changes in ambient light illuminance that result in a minimum ±5% display brightness response (as
defined by _ALR).
To communicate meaningful changes in ALS color temperature to OSPM, AML code should issue a
Notify(als_device, 0x81) whenever the lux reading changes more than 10% (from the last
reading that resulted in a notification). OSPM receives this notification and evaluates the _ALT and
_ALC control method to determine the current ambient light color temperature.
To communicate meaningful changes in ALS response to OSPM, AML code should issue a
Notify(als_device, 0x82) whenever the set of points used to convey ambient light
response has changed. OSPM receives this notification and evaluates the _ALR object to determine
the current response points.

9.3.8 Relationship to Backlight Control Methods

The Brightness Control Levels (_BCL) method – described in section 0 – can be used to indicate
user-selectable display brightness levels. The information provided by this method indicates the
available display brightness settings, the recommended default brightness settings for AC and DC
operation, and the absolute maximum and minimum brightness settings. These values indirectly
influence the operation of the OSPM’s ALS policy.
Display brightness adjustments produced by ALS policy are relative to the current user backlight
setting, and the resulting absolute value must be mapped (rounded) to one of the levels specified in
_BCL. This introduces the requirement for fine-grain display brightness control in order to achieve a
responsive ALS system – which typically materializes as a need for additional entries in the _BCL
list in order to provide reasonable resolution to the OS (e.g. 3-10% granularity). Note that user
brightness controls (e.g. hotkeys) are not required to make use of all levels specified in _BCL.
9.4 Battery Device

A battery device is required to either have an ACPI Smart Battery Table or a Control Method Battery
interface. In the case of an ACPI Smart Battery Table, the Definition Block needs to include a Bus/
Device Package for the SMBus host controller. This will install an OS specific driver for the SMBus,
which in turn will locate the Smart Battery System Manager or Smart Battery Selector and Smart
Battery Charger SMBus devices.
The Control Method Battery interface is defined in Section 10.2, “Control Method Batteries.”
9.5 Control Method Lid Device

Platforms containing lids convey lid status (open / closed) to OSPM using a Control Method Lid
Device.
To implement a control method lid device, AML code should issue a Notify(lid_device,
0x80) for the device whenever the lid status has changed. The _LID control method for the lid
device must be implemented to report the current state of the lid as either opened or closed.
The lid device can support _PRW and _PSW methods to select the wake functions for the lid when
the lid transitions from closed to opened.
The Plug and Play ID of an ACPI control method lid device is PNP0C0D.
Table 9-282 Control Method Lid Device

Object Description
_LID Returns the current status of the lid.
9.5.1 _LID
Evaluates to the current status of the lid.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
An Integer containing the current lid status
0– The lid is closed
Non-zero – The lid is open
9.6 Control Method Power and Sleep Button Devices

The system’s power or sleep button can either be implemented using the fixed register space as
defined in Section 4.8.2.2, “Buttons,” or implemented in AML code as a control method power
button device. In either case, the power button override function or similar unconditional system
power or reset functionality is still implemented in external hardware.
To implement a control method power-button or sleep-button device, implement AML code that
delivers two types of notifications concerning the device. The first is Notify(Object, 0x80) to signal
that the button was pressed while the system was in the S0 state to indicate that the user wants the
machine to transition from S0 to some sleeping state. The other notification is Notify(Object, 0x2) to
signal that the button was pressed while the system was in an S1 to S4 state and to cause the system
to wake. When the button is used to wake the system, the wake notification (Notify(Object, 0x2))
must occur after OSPM actually wakes, and a button-pressed notification (Notify(Object, 0x80))
must not occur.
The Wake Notification indicates that the system is awake because the user pressed the button and
therefore a complete system resume should occur (for example, turn on the display immediately, and
so on).
9.7 Embedded Controller Device

Operation of the embedded controller host controller register interface requires that the embedded
controller driver has ACPI-specific knowledge. Specifically, the driver needs to provide an
“operational region” of its embedded controller address space, and needs to use an ACPI event to
service the host controller interface. For more information about an ACPI-compatible embedded
controller device, see Section 12, “ACPI Embedded Controller Interface Specification.”
The embedded controller device object provides the _HID of an ACPI-integrated embedded
controller device of PNP0C09 and the host controller register locations using the device standard
methods. In addition, the embedded controller must be declared as a named device object that
includes a set of control methods. For more information, see Section 12.11, “Defining an Embedded
Controller Device in ACPI Namespace”).
9.8 Generic Container Device

A generic container device is a bridge that does not require a special OS driver because the bridge
does not provide or require any features not described within the normal ACPI device functions. The
resources the bridge requires are specified via normal ACPI resource mechanisms. Device
enumeration for child devices is supported via ACPI namespace device enumeration and OS drivers
require no other features of the bus. Such a bridge device is identified with the Plug and Play ID of
PNP0A05 or PNP0A06.

A generic bus bridge device is typically used for integrated bridges that have no other means of
controlling them and that have a set of well-known devices behind them. For example, a portable
computer can have a “generic bus bridge” known as an EIO bus that bridges to some number of
Super-I/O devices. The bridged resources are likely to be positively decoded as either a function of
the bridge or the integrated devices. In this example, a generic bus bridge device would be used to
declare the bridge then child devices would be declared below the bridge; representing the integrated
Super-I/O devices.
9.9 ATA Controller Devices

There are two types of ATA Controllers: IDE controllers (also known as ATA controllers) and Serial
ATA (SATA) controllers. IDE controllers are those using the traditional IDE programming
interface, and may support Parallel ATA (P-ATA) or SATA connections. SATA controllers may be
designed to operate in emulation mode only, native mode only, or they may be designed to support
both native and non-native SATA modes. Regardless of the mode supported, SATA controllers are
designed to work solely with drives supporting the Serial ATA physical interface. As described
below, SATA controllers are treated similarly but not identically to traditional IDE controllers.
Platforms that contain controllers that support native and non-native SATA modes must take steps to
ensure the proper objects are placed in the namespace for the mode in which they are operating.
Table 9-283 ATA Specific Objects

Object Description Controller
Type
_GTF Optional object that returns the ATA task file needed to re-initialize the drive to Both
boot up defaults.
_GTM Optional object that returns the IDE controller timing information. IDE-only
_STM Optional control method that sets the IDE controller’s transfer timing settings. IDE-only
_SDD Optional control method that informs the platform of the type of device SATA-only
attached to a port.
9.9.1 Objects for Both ATA and SATA Controllers

9.9.1.1 _GTF (Get Task File)
This optional object returns a buffer containing the ATA commands used to restore the drive to boot
up defaults (that is, the state of the drive after POST). The returned buffer is an array with each
element in the array consisting of seven 8-bit register values (56 bits) corresponding to ATA task
registers 1F1 thru 1F7. Each entry in the array defines a command to the drive.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a byte stream of ATA commands for the drive
This object may appear under SATA port device objects or under IDE channel objects.

ATA task file array definition:

• Seven register values for command 1
— Reg values: (1F1, 1F2, 1F3, 1F4, 1F5, 1F6, 1F7)
• Etc.
After powering up the drive, OSPM will send these commands to the drive, in the order specified.
On SATA HBAs, OSPM evaluates _SDD before evaluating _GTF. The IDE driver may modify
some of the feature commands or append its own to better tune the drive for OSPM features before
sending the commands to the drive.
This Control Method is listed under each drive device object. OSPM must evaluate the _STM object
or the _SDD object before evaluating the _GTF object.
Example of the return from _GTF:
Method(_GTF, 0x0, NotSerialized)
{
Return(GTF0)
}
Name(GTF0, Buffer(0x1c)
{
0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xa0, 0xef, 0x03, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0xa0, 0xef, 0x00, 0x10, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0xa0, 0xc6, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0xa0, 0x91
}
9.9.2 IDE Controller Device

Most device drivers can save and restore the registers of their device. For IDE controllers and drives,
this is not true because there are several drive settings for which ATA does not provide mechanisms
to read. Further, there is no industry standard for setting timing information for IDE controllers.
Because of this, ACPI interface mechanisms are necessary to provide the operating system
information about the current settings for the drive and channel, and for setting the timing for the
channel.
OSPM and the IDE driver will follow these steps when powering off the IDE subsystem:
1. The IDE driver will call the _GTM control method to get the current transfer timing settings for
the IDE channel. This includes information about DMA and PIO modes.
2. The IDE driver will call the standard OS services to power down the drives and channel.
3. As a result, OSPM will execute the appropriate _PS3 methods and turn off unneeded power
resources.
To power on the IDE subsystem, OSPM and the IDE driver will follow these steps:
1. The IDE driver will call the standard OS services to turn on the drives and channel.
2. As a result, OSPM will execute the appropriate _PS0 methods and turn on required power
resources.

3. The IDE driver will call the _STM control method passing in transfer timing settings for the
channel, as well as the ATA drive ID block for each drive on the channel. The _STM control
method will configure the IDE channel based on this information.
4. For each drive on the IDE channel, the IDE driver will run the _GTF to determine the ATA
commands required to reinitialize each drive to boot up defaults.
5. The IDE driver will finish initializing the drives by sending these ATA commands to the drives,
possibly modifying or adding commands to suit the features supported by the operating system.
The following shows the namespace for these objects:
\_SB // System bus
PCI0 // PCI bus
IDE1 // First IDE channel
_ADR // Indicates address of the channel on the PCI bus
_GTM // Control method to get current IDE channel settings
_STM // Control method to set current IDE channel settings
_PR0 // Power resources needed for D0 power state
DRV1 // Drive 0
_ADR // Indicates address of master IDE device
_GTF // Control method to get task file
DRV2 // Drive 1
_ _ADR // Indicates address of slave IDE device
_ _GTF // Control method to get task file
IDE2 // Second IDE channel
_ADR // Indicates address of the channel on the PCI bus
_GTM // Control method to get current IDE channel settings
_STM // Control method to set current IDE channel settings
_PR0 // Power resources needed for D0 power state
DRV1 // Drive 0
_ADR // Indicates address of master IDE device
DRV2 // Drive 1
_ADR // Indicates address of slave IDE device
The sequential order of operations is as follows:
Powering down:
• Call _GTM.
• Power down drive (calls _PS3 method and turns off power planes).
Powering up:
• Power up drive (calls _PS0 method if present and turns on power planes).
• Call _STM passing info from _GTM (possibly modified), with ID data from
• each drive.
• Initialize the channel.
• May modify the results of _GTF.
• For each drive:
— Call _GTF.
— Execute task file (possibly modified).

9.9.2.1 IDE Controller-specific Objects
9.9.2.1.1 _GTM (Get Timing Mode)

This Control Method exists under each channel device object and returns the current settings for the
IDE channel.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing the current IDE channel timing information block as described in Table 9-284
below.
_GTM returns a buffer with the following format
Buffer (){
PIO Speed 0 //DWORD
DMA Speed 0 //DWORD
PIO Speed 1 //DWORD
DMA Speed 1 //DWORD
Flags //DWORD
}
Table 9-284 GTM Method Result Codes

PIO Speed 0 DWORD The PIO bus-cycle timing for drive 0 in nanoseconds. 0xFFFFFFFF
indicates that this mode is not supported by the channel. If the chipset
cannot set timing parameters independently for each drive, this field
represents the timing for both drives.
DMA Speed 0 DWORD The DMA bus-cycle for drive 0 timing in nanoseconds. If bit 0 of the Flags
register is set, this DMA timing is for UltraDMA mode, otherwise the timing is
for multi-word DMA mode. 0xFFFFFFFF indicates that this mode is not
supported by the channel. If the chipset cannot set timing parameters
independently for each drive, this field represents the timing for both drives.
PIO Speed 1 DWORD The PIO bus-cycle timing for drive 1 in nanoseconds. 0xFFFFFFFF
indicates that this mode is not supported by the channel. If the chipset
cannot set timing parameters independently for each drive, this field must be
0xFFFFFFFF.
DMA Speed 1 DWORD The DMA bus-cycle timing for drive 1 in nanoseconds. If bit 0 of the Flags
register is set, this DMA timing is for UltraDMA mode, otherwise the timing is
for multi-word DMA mode. 0xFFFFFFFF indicates that this mode is not
supported by the channel. If the chipset cannot set timing parameters
independently for each drive, this field must be 0xFFFFFFFF.


Flags DWORD Mode flags
Bit [0]: 1 indicates using UltraDMA on drive 0
Bit [1]: 1 indicates IOChannelReady is used on drive 0
Bit [2]: 1 indicates using UltraDMA on drive 1
Bit [3]: 1 indicates IOChannelReady is used on drive 1
Bit [4]: 1 indicates chipset can set timing independently for each drive
Bits [31:5]: reserved (must be 0)
9.9.2.1.2 _STM (Set Timing Mode)

This Control Method sets the IDE channel’s transfer timings to the setting requested. The AML code
is required to convert and set the nanoseconds timing to the appropriate transfer mode settings for
the IDE controller. _STM may also make adjustments so that _GTF control methods return the
correct commands for the current channel settings.
This control method takes three arguments: Channel timing information (as described in Table 9-6),
and the ATA drive ID block for each drive on the channel. The channel timing information is not
guaranteed to be the same values as returned by _GTM; the OS may tune these values as needed.
Arguments: (3)
Arg0 – A Buffer containing a channel timing information block (described in Table 9-6)
Arg1 – A Buffer containing the ATA drive ID block for channel 0
Arg2 – A Buffer containing the ATA drive ID block for channel 1
Return Value:
None
The ATA drive ID block is the raw data returned by the Identify Drive ATA command, which has
the command code “0ECh.” The _STM control method is responsible for correcting for drives that
misreport their timing information.
9.9.3 Serial ATA (SATA) Controller Device

9.9.3.1 Definitions
HBA Host Bus Adapter
Native SATA aware Refers to system software (platform firmware, option ROM,
operating system, etc) that comprehends a particular SATA HBA
implementation and understands its programming interface and
power management behavior.
Non-native SATA aware Refers to system software (platform firmware, option ROM,
operating system, etc) that does not comprehend a particular
SATA HBA implementation and does not understand its
programming interface or power management behavior.
Typically, non-native SATA aware software will use a SATA
HBA’s emulation interface (e.g. task file registers) to control the
HBA and access its devices.

Emulation mode Optional mode supported by a SATA HBA. Allows non-native

SATA aware software to access SATA devices via traditional
task file registers.
Native mode Optional mode supported by a SATA HBA. Allows native SATA
aware software to access SATA devices via registers that are
specific to the HBA.
Hybrid Device Refers to a SATA HBA that implements both an emulation and a
native programming interface.
9.9.3.2 Overview
A SATA HBA differs from an IDE controller in a number of ways. First, it can save its complete
device context. Second, it replaces IDE channels, which may support up to 2 attached devices, with
ports, which support only a single attached device, unless a port multiplier is present. See the SATA
spec at “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "SATA
Specification"for more information. Finally, SATA does not require timing information from the
platform, allowing a simplification in how SATA controllers are represented in ACPI. (_GTM and
_STM are replaced by the simpler _SDD method.)
All ports, even those attached off a port multiplier, are represented as children directly under the
SATA controller device. This is practical because the SATA specification does not allow a port
multiplier to be attached to a port multiplier. Each port’s _ADR indicates to which root port they are
connected, as well as the port multiplier location, if applicable. (See Table 6-186 for _ADR format.)
Since this specification only covers the configuration of motherboard devices, it is also the case that
the control methods defined in this section cannot be used to send taskfiles to devices attached via
either an add-in SATA HBA, or attached via a motherboard SATA HBA, if used with a port
multiplier that is not also on the motherboard.
The following shows an example SATA namespace:
\_SB - System bus
PCI0 - PCI bus
SATA - SATA Controller device
ADR - Indicates address of the controller on the PCI bus
PR0 - Power resources needed for D0 power state
PRT0 - Port 0 device
_ADR - Indicates physical port and port multiplier topology
_SDD - Identify information for drive attached to this port
_GTF - Control method to get task file
PRTn - Port n device
_ADR - Indicates physical port and port multiplier topology
_SDD - Identify information for drive attached to this port
_GTF - Control method to get task file
9.9.3.3 SATA controller-specific control methods

In order to ensure proper interaction between OSPM, the firmware, and devices attached to the
SATA controller, it is a requirement that OSPM execute the _SDD and _GTF control methods when
certain events occur. OSPM’s response to events must be as follows:

COMRESET, Initial OS load, device insertion, HBA D3 to D0 transition,

asynchronous loss of signal:
1. OSPM sends IDENTIFY DEVICE or IDENTIFY PACKET DEVICE command to the attached
device.
2. OS executes _SDD. _SDD control method requires 1 argument that consists of the data block
received from an attached device as a result of a host issued IDENTIFY DEVICE or IDENTIFY
PACKET DEVICE command.
3. After the _SDD method completes, the OS executes the _GTF method. Using the task file
information provided by _GTF, the OS then sends the _GTF taskfiles to the attached device.
Device removal and HBA D0 to D3 transition:

1. No OSPM action required.
9.9.3.3.1 _SDD (Set Device Data)

This optional object is a control method that conveys to the platform the type of device connected to
the port. The _SDD object may exist under a SATA port device object. The platform typically uses
the information conveyed by the _SDD object to construct the values returned by the _GTF object.
OSPM conveys to the platform the ATA drive ID block, which is the raw data returned by the
Identify (Packet) Device, ATA command (command code “0ech.”). Please see the ATA/ATAPI-6
specification for more details.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – A Buffer containing an ATA drive identify block, contents described by the ATA
specification
Return Value:
None
9.10 Floppy Controller Device Objects
9.10.1 _FDE (Floppy Disk Enumerate)

Enumerating devices attached to a floppy disk controller is a time-consuming function. In order to
speed up the process of floppy enumeration, ACPI defines an optional enumeration object that is
defined directly under the device object for the floppy disk controller. It returns a buffer of five 32-
bit values. The first four values are Boolean values indicating the presence or absence of the four
floppy drives that are potentially attached to the controller. A non-zero value indicates that the
floppy device is present. The fifth value returned indicates the presence or absence of a tape
controller. Definitions of the tape presence value can be found in Table 9-285.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Buffer containing a floppy drive information block, as decribed below

Buffer (){
Floppy 0 // Boolean DWORD
Tape // DWORD – See table below
}
Table 9-285 Tape Presence

Value Description
0 Device presence is unknown or unavailable
1 Device is present
2 Device is never present
>2 Reserved
9.10.2 _FDI (Floppy Disk Information)

This object returns information about a floppy disk drive. This information is the same as that
returned by the INT 13 Function 08H on IA-PCs.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing the floppy disk information as a list of Integers
Package {
Drive Number // Integer (BYTE)
Device Type // Integer (BYTE)
Maximum Cylinder Number // Integer (WORD)
Maximum Sector Number // Integer (WORD)
Maximum Head Number // Integer (WORD)
disk_specify_1 // Integer (BYTE)
disk_specify_2 // Integer (BYTE)
disk_motor_wait // Integer (BYTE)
disk_sector_siz // Integer (BYTE)
disk_eot // Integer (BYTE)
disk_rw_gap // Integer (BYTE)
disk_dtl // Integer (BYTE)
disk_formt_gap // Integer (BYTE)
disk_fill // Integer (BYTE)
disk_head_sttl // Integer (BYTE)
disk_motor_strt // Integer (BYTE)
}
Table 9-286 ACPI Floppy Drive Information

Package Element Element Object Type Actual Valid Data Width
00 – Drive Number Integer BYTE
01 – Device Type Integer BYTE
02 – Maximum Cylinder Number Integer WORD

Package Element Element Object Type Actual Valid Data Width

03 – Maximum Sector Number Integer WORD
04 – Maximum Head Number Integer WORD
05 – Disk_specify_1 Integer BYTE
06 – Disk_specify_2 Integer BYTE
07 – Disk_motor_wait Integer BYTE
08 – Disk_sector_siz Integer BYTE
09 – Disk_eot Integer BYTE
10 – Disk_rw_gap Integer BYTE
11 – Disk_dtl Integer BYTE
12 – Disk_formt_gap Integer BYTE
13 – Disk_fill Integer BYTE
14 – Disk_head_sttl Integer BYTE
15 – Disk_motor_strt Integer BYTE
9.10.3 _FDM (Floppy Disk Drive Mode)

This control method switches the mode (300 RPM or 360 RPM) of all floppy disk drives attached to
this controller. If this control method is implemented, the platform must reset the mode of all drives
to 300RPM mode after a Dx to D0 transition of the controller.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the new drive mode
0 – Set the mode of all drives to 300 RPM mode
1 – Set the mode of all drives to 360 RPM mode
Return Value:
None
9.11 GPE Block Device

The GPE Block device is an optional device that allows a system designer to describe GPE blocks
beyond the two that are described in the FADT. Control methods associated with the GPE pins of
GPE block devices exist as children of the GPE Block device, not within the \_GPE namespace.
Because GPE block devices are meant as an extension to the GPE blocks defined in the FADT, and
that portion of the FADT is to be ignored in hardware-reduced ACPI, GPE block devices are not
supported in hardware-reduced ACPI.
A GPE Block device consumes I/O or memory address space, as specified by its _PRS or _CRS
child objects. The interrupt vector used by the GPE block does not need to be the same as the
SCI_INT field. The interrupt used by the GPE block device is specified in the _CRS and _PRS
methods associated with the GPE block. The _CRS of a GPE Block device may only specify a single
register address range, either I/O or memory. This range contains two registers: the GPE status and
enable registers. Each register’s length is defined as half of the length of the _CRS-defined register
address range.

A GPE Block device must have a _HID or a _CID of “ACPI0006.”
Note: A system designer must describe the GPE block necessary to bootstrap the system in the FADT
as a GPE0/GPE1 block. GPE Block devices cannot be used to implement these GPE inputs.
A GPE Block Device must contain the _Lxx, _Exx, _Wxx, _CRS, _PRS, and _SRS methods
required to use and program that block.
To represent the GPE block associated with the FADT, the system designer shouldinclude in the
namespace a Device object with the ACPI0006 _HID that contains no _CRS, _PRS, _SRS, _Lxx,
_Exx, or _Wxx methods. OSPM assumes that the first such ACPI0006 device is the GPE Block
Device that is associated with the FADT GPEs. (See the example below).
// ASL example of a standard GPE block device
Device(\_SB.PCI0.GPE1) {
Name(_HID, ”ACPI0006”)
Name(_UID, 2)
Name(_CRS, Buffer () {
IO(Decode16, FC00, FC03, 4, 4,)
IRQ( Level, ActiveHigh, Shared,) { 5 }
})
Method(_L02) { … }
Method(_E07) { … }
Method(_W04) { … }
}
// ASL example of a GPE block device that refers to the FADT GPEs.
// Cannot contain any _Lxx, _Exx, _Wxx, _CRS, _PRS, or. _SRS methods.
Device(\_SB.PCI0.GPE0) {
Name(_HID,”ACPI0006”)
Name(_UID,1)
}
Notice that it is legal to replace the I/O descriptors with Memory descriptors if the register is
memory mapped.
If the system must run any GPEs to bootstrap the system (for example, when Embedded Controller
events are required), the associated block of GPEs must be described in the FADT. This register
block is not relocatable and will always be available for the life of the operating system boot.
A GPE block associated with the ACPI0006 _HID can be stopped, ejected, reprogrammed, and so
on. The system can also have multiple such GPE blocks.
9.11.1 Matching Control Methods for Events in a GPE Block Device

When a GPE Device raises an interrupt, OSPM executes a corresponding control method (as
described in Section 5.6.4.1.1, “Queuing the Matching Control Method for Execution”). These
control methods (of the form _Lxx, _Exx, and _Wxx) for GPE Devices are not within the \_GPE
namespace. They are children of the GPE Block device.
For example:

Device(GPE5) {
Method(_L02) { … }
Method(_E07) { … }
Method(_W04) { … }
}
9.12 Module Device

This optional device is a container object that acts as a bus node in a namespace. It may contain child
objects that are devices or buses. The module device is declared using the ACPI0004 hardware
identifier (HID).
If the module device contains a _CRS object, the “bus” described by this object is assumed to have
these resources available for consumption by its child devices. If a _CRS object is present, any
resources not produced in the module device’s _CRS object may not be allocated to child devices.
Providing a _CRS object is undesirable in some module devices. For example, consider a module
device used to describe an add-in board containing multiple host bridges without any shared
resource decoding logic. In this case the resource ranges available to the host bridges are not
controlled by any entity residing on the add-in board, implying that a _CRS object in the associated
module device would not describe any real feature of the underlying hardware. A module device
must contain a _CRS object if the device contains any PCI host bridge devices.
To account for cases like this, the system designer may optionally omit the module device’s _CRS
object. If no _CRS object is present, OSPM will assume that the module device is a simple container
object that does not produce the resources consumed by its child devices. In this case, OSPM will
assign resources to the child devices as if they were direct children of the module device's parent
object.
For an example with a module device _CRS object present, consider a Module Device containing
three child memory devices. If the _CRS object for the Module Device contains memory from 2 GB
through 6 GB, then the child memory devices may only be assigned addresses within this range.

Example:
Device (\_SB.NOD0) {
Name (_HID, "ACPI0004") // Module device
Name (_UID, 0)
Name (_PRS, ResourceTemplate() {
WordIO (
ResourceProducer,
MinFixed, // _MIF
MaxFixed,,, // _MAF
0x0000, // _GRA
0x0000, // _MIN
0x7FFF, // _MAX
0x0, // _TRA
0x8000) // _LEN
DWordMemory (
ResourceProducer,, // For Main Memory + PCI
MinNotFixed, // _MIF
MaxNotFixed, // _MAF
Cacheable, // _MEM
ReadWrite, // _RW
0x0FFFFFFF, // _GRA
0x40000000, // _MIN
0x7FFFFFFF, // _MAX
0x0, // _TRA
0x00000000) // _LEN
})
Method (_SRS, 1) { ... }
Method (_CRS, 0) { ... }
Device (MEM0) { // Main Memory (256MB module)

Name (_HID, EISAID("PNP0C80"))
Name (_UID, 0)
Method (_STA, 0) { // If memory not present --> Return(0x00)
// Else if memory is disabled --> Return(0x0D)
// Else --> Return(0x0F)
}
Name (_PRS, ResourceTemplate () {
DWordMemory (,,,,
Cacheable, // _MEM
ReadWrite, // _RW
0x0FFFFFFF, // _GRA
0x40000000, // _MIN
0x7FFFFFFF, // _MAX
0x0, // _TRA
0x10000000) // _LEN
})
Method (_CRS, 0) { ... }
Method (_SRS, 1) { ... }
Method (_DIS, 0) { ... }
}
Device (MEM1) { // Main Memory (512MB module)
Name (_UID, 1)
Method (_STA, 0) { // If memory not present --> Return(0x00)
// Else if memory is disabled --> Return(0x0D)
// Else --> Return(0x0F)
}
DWordMemory (,,,,

Cacheable, // _MEM
ReadWrite, // _RW
0x1FFFFFFF, // _GRA
0x40000000, // _MIN
0x7FFFFFFF, // _MAX
0x0, // _TRA
0x20000000) // _LEN
})
Method (_CRS, 0) { ... }
Method (_SRS, 1) { ... }
Method (_DIS, 0) { ... }
}
Device (PCI0) { // PCI Root Bridge
Name (_HID, EISAID("PNP0A03"))
Name (_UID, 0)
Name (_BBN, 0x00)
WordBusNumber (
ResourceProducer,
MinFixed, // _MIF
MaxFixed,, // _MAF
0x00, // _GRA
0x00, // _MIN
0x7F, // _MAX
0x0, // _TRA
0x80) // _LEN
WordIO (
ResourceProducer,
MinFixed, // _MIF
MaxFixed,,, // _MAF
0x0000, // _GRA
0x0000, // _MIN
0x0CF7, // _MAX
0x0, // _TRA
0x0CF8) // _LEN
WordIO (
ResourceProducer,
MinFixed, // _MIF
MaxFixed,,, // _MAF
0x0000, // _GRA
0x0D00, // _MIN
0x7FFF, // _MAX
0x0, // _TRA
0x7300) // _LEN
DWordMemory (
ResourceProducer,,
MinNotFixed, // _MIF
MaxNotFixed, // _MAF
NonCacheable, // _MEM
ReadWrite, // _RW
0x0FFFFFFF, // _GRA
0x40000000, // _MIN
0x7FFFFFFF, // _MAX
0x0, // _TRA
0x00000000) // _LEN
})
Method (_CRS, 0) { ... }
Method (_SRS, 1) { ... }
}
}

9.13 Memory Devices

Memory devices allow a platform to convey dynamic properties of memory to OSPM and are
required when a platform supports the addition or removal of memory while the system is active or
when the platform supports memory bandwidth monitoring and reporting (see Section 9.13.2,
Memory Bandwidth Monitoring and Reporting). Memory devices may describe exactly the same
physical memory that the System Address Map interfaces describe (see chapter 15, System Address
Map Interfaces). They do not describe how that memory is, or has been, used. If a region of physical
memory is marked in the System Address Map interface as AddressRangeReserved or
AddressRangeNVS and it is also described in a memory device, then it is the responsibility of the
OS to guarantee that the memory device is never disabled.
It is not necessary to describe all memory in the system with memory devices if there is some
memory in the system that is static in nature. If, for instance, the memory that is used for the first 16
MB of system RAM cannot be ejected, inserted, or disabled, that memory may only be represented
by the System Address Map interfaces. But if memory can be ejected, inserted, or disabled, or if the
platform supports memory bandwidth monitoring and reporting, the memory must be represented by
a memory device.
9.13.1 Address Decoding

Memory devices must provide a _CRS object that describes the physical address space that the
memory decodes. If the memory can decode alternative ranges in physical address space, the devices
may also provide _PRS, _SRS and _DIS objects. Other device objects may also apply if the device
can be ejected.
9.13.2 Memory Bandwidth Monitoring and Reporting

During platform operation, an adverse condition external to the platform may arise whose remedy
requires a reduction in the platform’s available memory bandwidth. For example, a server
management controller’s detection of an adverse thermal condition or the need to reduce the total
power consumption of platforms in the data center to stay within acceptable limits. Providing OSPM
with knowledge of a platform induced reduction of memory bandwidth enables OSPM to provide
more robust handling of the condition. The following sections describe objects OSPM uses to
configure platform-based memory bandwidth monitoring and to ascertain available memory
bandwidth when the platform performs memory bandwidth throttling.
9.13.2.1 _MBM (Memory Bandwidth Monitoring Data)

The optional _MBM object provides memory bandwidth monitoring information for the memory
device.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing memory device status information as described in Table 9-287 below


_MBM evaluation returns a package of the following format:
Package (){
WindowSize, // Integer DWORD
SamplingInterval, // Integer DWORD
MaximumBandwidth, // Integer DWORD
AverageBandwidth, // Integer DWORD
LowBandwidth, // Integer DWORD
LowNotficationThreshold, // Integer DWORD
HighNotificationThreshold // Integer DWORD
}
Table 9-287 MBM Package Details

Revision Integer Current revision is: 0
Window Size Integer This field indicates the size of the averaging window (in seconds) that
(DWORD) the platform uses to report average bandwidth.
Sampling Interval Integer This field indicates the sampling interval (in seconds) that the platform
(DWORD) uses to record bandwidth during the averaging window.
Maximum Integer This field indicates the maximum memory bandwidth (in megabytes
Bandwidth (DWORD) per second) for the memory described by this memory device.
Average Bandwidth Integer This field indicates the moving average memory bandwidth (in
(DWORD) percent) for the averaging window.
Low Bandwidth Integer This field indicates the lowest memory bandwidth (in percent)
(DWORD) recorded for the averaging window.
Low Notification Integer The platform to issues a Notify (0x80) on the memory device when the
Threshold (DWORD) moving average memory bandwidth value (in percent) falls below the
value indicated by this field.
High Notification Integer The platform to issues a Notify (0x81) on the memory device when the
Threshold (DWORD) moving average memory bandwidth value (in percent) increases to or
exceeds the value indicated by this field.
9.13.2.2 _MSM (Memory Set Monitoring)

This optional object sets the memory bandwidth monitoring parameters described in Table 9-287.
Arguments: (4)
Arg0 – WindowSize (Integer(DWORD)): indicates the window size in seconds.
Arg1 – SamplingInterval (Integer(DWORD)): indicates the sampling interval in seconds.
Arg2 – LowNotificationThreshold (Integer(DWORD)): indicates the low notification threshold in
percent. Must be <= HighNotificationThreshold.
Arg3 – HighNotificationThreshold (Integer(DWORD)): indicates the high notification threshold in
percent. Must be >= LowNotificationThreshold.
Return Value:
An Integer (DWORD) containing a bit encoded result code as follows:

0x00000000 – Succeeded to set all memory bandwidth monitoring parameters.

Non-Zero – At least one memory bandwith monitoring parameter value could not be set as
follows:
Table 9-288 MSM Result Encoding

Bits Definition
0 If clear indicates WindowSize was set successfully. If set, indicates invalid WindowSize
argument.
1 If clear indicates SamplingInterval was set successfully. If set, indicates invalid
SamplingInterval argument.
2 If clear indicates LowNotificationThreshold was set successfully. If set, indicates invalid
LowNotificationThreshold argument.
3 If clear indicates HighNotificationThreshold was set successfully. If set, indicates invalid
HighNotificationThreshold argument.
9.13.3 _OSC Definition for Memory Device

OSPM evaluates _OSC under the Memory Device to convey OSPM capabilities to the platform.
Argument definitions are as follows:
Arguments: (4)
Arg0 – UUID (Buffer): 03B19910-F473-11DD-87AF-0800200C9A66
Arg1 – Revision ID (Integer): 1
Arg2 – Count of Entries in Arg3 (Integer): 2
Arg3 – DWORD capabilities (Buffer):
•First DWORD: as described in Section 6.2.10
•Second DWORD: See Table 6-228.
Return Value:
A Buffer containing platform capabilities
Table 9-289 Memory Device _OSC Capabilities DWORD number 2

0 Memory This bit is set if OSPM supports the processing of memory bandwidth change
Bandwidth notifications. If the platform supports the ability to issue a notification when
Change Memory Bandwidth changes, it may only do so after _OSC has been evaluated
Notifications with this bit set. _OSC evaluation with this bit clear will cause the platform to
cease issuing notifications if previously enabled.


buffer of DWORDs of the same length. Set bits indicate acknowledgement and cleared bits
indicate that the platform does not support the capability.
9.13.4 Example: Memory Device

Scope (\_SB){
Device (MEM0) {
Name (_CRS, ResourceTemplate () {
QWordMemory
ResourceConsumer,
,
MinFixed,
MaxFixed,
Cacheable,
ReadWrite,
0xFFFFFFF,
0x10000000,
0x30000000,
0,
,,)
}
}
}
9.14 _UPC (USB Port Capabilities)

This optional object is a method that allows the platform to communicate to the operating system,
certain USB port capabilities that are not provided for through current USB host bus adaptor
specifications (e.g. UHCI, OHCI and EHCI). If implemented by the platform, this object will be
present for each USB port (child) on a given USB host bus adaptor; operating system software can
examine these characteristics at boot time in order to gain knowledge about the system’s USB
topology, available USB ports, etc. This method is applicable to USB root hub ports as well as ports
that are implemented through integrated USB hubs.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:


Package {
Connectable // Integer (BYTE)
Type // Integer (BYTE)
Reserved0 // Integer
Reserved1 // Integer)
}
Table 9-290 UPC Return Package Values

Connectable Integer If this value is non-zero, then the port is connectable. If this value is zero, then
(BYTE) the port is not connectable.
Type Integer Specifies the host connector type. It is ignored by OSPM if the port is not user
(BYTE) visible:
0x00: Type ‘A’ connector
0x01: Mini-AB connector
0x02: ExpressCard
0x03: USB 3 Standard-A connector
0x04: USB 3 Standard-B connector
0x05: USB 3 Micro-B connector
0x06: USB 3 Micro-AB connector
0x07: USB 3 Power-B connector
0x08: Type C connector - USB2-only
0x09: Type C connector - USB2 and SS with Switch
0x0A: Type C connector - USB2 and SS without Switch
0x0B– 0xFE: Reserved
0xFF: Proprietary connector
Reserved0 Integer This value is reserved for future use and must be zero.
Reserved1 Integer This value is reserved for future use and must be zero.
Additional Notes:
The definition of a 'connectable' port is dependent upon the implementation of the USB port within a
particular platform. For example,
• If a USB port is user visible (as indicated by the _PLD object) and connectable, then an end user
can freely connect and disconnect USB devices to the USB port.
• If a USB port is not user visible and is connectable, then an end user cannot freely connect and
disconnect USB devices to the USB port. A USB device that is directly "hard-wired" to a USB
port is an example of a USB port that is not user visible and is connectable.
• If a USB port is not user visible and is not connectable, then the USB port is physically
implemented by the USB host controller, but is not being used by the platform and therefore
cannot be accessed by an end user.
A USB port cannot be specified as both visible and not connectable.
The pins of a Type-C connector support one USB2 signal pair (D+/D-) and two SuperSpeed signal
pairs (SSTXp1/SSTXn1 and SSRXp2/SSRXn2). The use of two SS signal pairs allows the CC wire

and USB SuperSpeed data bus wires to be used for signaling within the cable track without regard to
the orientation and twist of the cable.
Type C connector - USB2 USB2-only receptacles
These only implement the USB2 signal pair, and do not implement the SS signal
pairs.
Type C connector - USB2 and SS with Switch receptacles
These implement the USB2 signal pair, and a Functional Switch with a physical
Multiplexer that is used to dynamically connect one of the two receptacle SuperSpeed
signal pairs to a single USB Host Controller port as function of the Type-C plug
orientation.
Type C connector - USB2 and SS without Switch receptacles
These implement the USB2 signal pair and a Functional Switch by connecting each
receptacle SuperSpeed signal pair to a separate USB Host Controller port.
Note: Refer to section 4.5.1.1 in the USB Type-C Specification for more information.
Example
The following is an example of a port characteristics object implemented for a USB host controller’s
root hub where:
• Three Ports are implemented; Port 1 is not user visible/not connectable and Ports 2 and 3 are
user visible and connectable.
• Port 2 is located on the back panel
• Port 3 has an integrated 2 port hub. Note that because this port hosts an integrated hub, it is
therefore not sharable with another host controller (e.g. If the integrated hub is a USB2.0 hub,
the port can never be shared with a USB1.1 companion controller).
• The ports available through the embedded hub are located on the front panel and are adjacent to
one another.
USB Host Controller
Root Hub
Port 1 Port 2 Port 3
Integrated Hub
Port 1 Port 2
Figure 9-55 USB ports

//
// Root hub device for this host controller. This controller implements 3 root hub ports.
//
Device( RHUB) {
Name( _ADR, 0x00000000) // Value of 0 is reserved for root HUB
// Root hub, port 1
Device( PRT1) {
// Address object for port 1. This value must be 1
Name( _ADR, 0x00000001)
// USB port capabilities object. This object returns the system
// specific USB port configuration information for port number 1
// Because this port is not connectable it is assumed to be not visible.
// Therefore a _PLD descriptor is not required.
Name( _UPC, Package(){
0x00, // Port is not connectable
0xFF, // Connector type (N/A for non-visible ports)
0x00000000, // Reserved 0 – must be zero
0x00000000}) // Reserved 1 – must be zero
} // Device( PRT1)
//
// Root Hub, Port 2
//
Device( PRT2) {
Name(_ADR, 0x00000002)
0xFF, // Port is connectable
0x00, // Connector type – Type ‘A’
// provide physical port location info

Name( _PLD, Package(1) {
Buffer(0x14) {
0x82,0x00,0x00,0x00, // Revision 2, Ignore color
// Color (ignored), width and height not
0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00, // required as this is a standard USB ‘A’ type
// connector

0x69,0x0c,0x00,0x00, // User visible, Back panel, Vertical

// Center, shape = vert. rectangle
0x03,0x00,0x00,0x00, // ejectable, requires OPSM eject assistance
0xFF,0xFF,0xFF,0xFF})} // Vert. and Horiz. Offsets not supplied
} // Device( PRT2)
//
// Root Hub, Port 3
//
Device( PRT3) {
// This device is the integrated USB hub.
Name(_ADR, 0x00000003)
// Because this port is not connectable it is assumed to be not visible.
// Therefore a _PLD descriptor is not required.
0xFF, // Connector type (N/A for non-visible ports)
0x00000000}) // Reserved 1 - must be zero
//
// Integrated hub, port 1
//
Device( PRT1) {
// Address object for the port. Because the port is implemented on
// integrated hub port #1, this value must be 1
Name( _ADR, 0x00000001)
// USB port characteristics object. This object returns the system
// specific USB port configuration information for integrated hub port
// number 1
// provide physical port location info

Buffer(0x14) {
0x82,0x00,0x00,0x00,, // Revision 2, Ignore color
// connector
0xa1,0x10,0x00,0x00, // User visible, front panel, Vertical

// lower, horz. Left, shape = horz. rectangle
} // Device( PRT1)
//
// Integrated hub, port 2
//
Device( PRT2) {
// Address object for the port. Because the port is implemented on
// integrated hub port #2, this value must be 2
Name( _ADR, 0x00000002)
// USB port characteristics object. This object returns the system
// specific USB port configuration information for integrated hub port
// number 2


Buffer(0x14) {
// connector

// lower, horz. right, shape = horz. rectangle
0xFF,0xFF,0xFF,0xFF}) // Vert. and Horiz. Offsets not supplied
} // Device( PRT2)
} // Device( PRT3)
} // Device( RHUB)
9.14.1 USB 2.0 Host Controllers and _UPC and _PLD

Platforms implementing USB2.0 host controllers that consist of one or more USB1.1 compliant
companion controllers (e.g. UHCI or OHCI) must implement a _UPC and a _PLD object for each
port USB port that can be routed between the EHCI host controller and its associated companion
controller. This is required because a USB Port Capabilities object implemented for a port that is a
child of an EHCI host controller may not be available if the OSPM disables the parent host
controller. For example, if root port 1 on an EHCI host controller is routable to root port 1 on its
companion controller, then the namespace must provide a _UPC and a _PLD object under each host
controller’s associated port 1 child object.

Example
Scope( \_SB) {
…
Device(PCI0) {
…
// Host controller (EHCI)
Device( USB0) {
// PCI device#/Function# for this HC. Encoded as specified in the ACPI
// specification
Name(_ADR, 0xyyyyzzzz)
// Root hub device for this HC #1.
Device(RHUB) {
Name(_ADR, 0x00000000) // must be zero for USB root hub
// Root hub, port 1
Device(PRT1) {
Name(_ADR, 0x00000001)
// USB port configuration object. This object returns the system

// Must match the _UPC declaration for USB1.RHUB.PRT1 as it is this
// host controller’s companion
// provide physical port location info for port 1

// Must match the _UPC declaration for USB1.RHUB.PRT1 as it is this
// host controller’s companion
Buffer(0x14) {
0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00, // required as this is a standard USB ‘A’
// type connector

// lower, horz. Left, shape = horz. Rect.
0x03,0x00,0x00,0x00, // ejectable, needs OPSM eject assistance
} // Device( PRT1)
//
// Define other ports, control methods, etc
…
…
} // Device( RHUB)
} // Device( USB0)
// Companion Host controller (OHCI or UHCI)

Device( USB1) {
// PCI device#/Function# for this HC. Encoded as specified in the ACPI
// specification
Name(_ADR, 0xyyyyzzzz)
// Root hub device for this HC #1.
Device(RHUB) {
Name(_ADR, 0x00000000) // must be zero for USB root hub
// Root hub, port 1

Device(PRT1) {
Name(_ADR, 0x00000001)
// USB port configuration object. This object returns the system
// Must match the _UPC declaration for USB0.RHUB.PRT1 as this host
// controller is a companion to the EHCI host controller
// provide physical port location info for port 1
// Must match the _PLD declaration for USB0.RHUB.PRT1 as this host

// controller is a companion to the EHCI host controller
Buffer( 0x14) {
0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00, // required as this is a standard USB ‘A’
// type connector

// lower, horz. Left, shape = horz. Rect.
} // Device( PRT1)
//
// Define other ports, control methods, etc
…
…
} // Device( RHUB)
} // Device( USB1)
} // Device( PCI0)
} // Scope( _\SB)
9.15 PC/AT RTC/CMOS Devices

Most computers contain an RTC device which also contains battery-backed RAM represented as a
linear array of bytes. There is a standard mechanism for accessing the first 64 bytes of non-volatile
RAM in devices that are compatible with the Motorola RTC/CMOS device that was in the IBM PC/
AT. Newer devices usually contain at least 128 bytes of battery-backed RAM. New PNP IDs were
assigned for these devices.
Certain bytes within the battery-backed RAM have pre-defined values. In particular, the time, date,
month, year, century, alarm time and RTC periodic interrupt are read-only.
9.15.1 PC/AT-compatible RTC/CMOS Devices (PNP0B00)

The standard PC/AT-compatible RTC/CMOS device is denoted by the PnP ID PNP0B00. If an
ACPI platform uses a device that is compatible with this device, it may describe this in its ACPI
namespace. ASL may then read and write this as a linear 64-byte array. If PNP0B00 is used, ASL
and ACPI operating systems may not assume that any extensions to the CMOS exist.

Note: This means that the CENTURY field in the Fixed ACPI Description Table may only contain values
between 0 and 63.
Example:
This is an example of how this device could be described:
Device (RTC0) {
Name(_HID, EISAID("PNP0B00"))
Name (_FIX, Package(1) {

EISAID("PNP0B00") }
)
Name(_CRS, ResourceTemplate() {
IO(Decode16, 0x70, 0x70, 0x1, 0x2)
}
OperationRegion(CMS1, SystemCMOS, 0, 0x40)
Field(CMS1, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {

AccessAs(ByteAcc, 0),
CM00, 8,
,256,
CM01, 8,
CM02, 16,
, 216,
CM03, 8
}
9.15.2Intel PIIX4-compatible RTC/CMOS Devices (PNP0B01)

The Intel PIIX4 contains an RTC/CMOS device that is compatible with the one in the PC/AT. But it
contains 256 bytes of non-volatile RAM. The first 64 bytes are accessed via the same mechanism as
the 64 bytes in the PC/AT. The upper 192 bytes are accessed through an interface that is only used
on Intel chips. (See 82371AB PCI-TO-ISA / IDEXCELERATOR (PIIX4) for details.)
Any platform containing this device or one that is compatible with it may use the PNP ID PNP0B01.
This will allow an ACPI-compatible OS to recognize the RTC/CMOS device as using the
programming interface of the PIIX4. Thus, the array of bytes that ASL can read and write with this
device is 256 bytes long.
Note: This also means that the CENTURY field in the Fixed ACPI Description Table may contain values
between 0 and 255.
Example:
This is an example of how this device could be described:

Device (RTC0) {
Name(_HID, EISAID("PNP0B01"))
Name (_FIX, Package(1) {

EISAID("PNP0B01") }
)
IO(Decode16, 0x70, 0x70, 0x1, 0x2)
IO(Decode16, 0x72, 0x72, 0x1, 0x2)
}
OperationRegion(CMS1, SystemCMOS, 0, 0x100)
Field(CMS1, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {

AccessAs(ByteAcc, 0),
CM00, 8,
,256,
CM01, 8,
CM02, 16,
, 224,
CM03, 8,
, 184,
CENT, 8
}
9.15.3 Dallas Semiconductor-compatible RTC/CMOS Devices

(PNP0B02)
Dallas Semiconductor RTC/CMOS devices are compatible with the one in the PC/AT, but they
contain 256 bytes of non-volatile RAM or more. The first 64 bytes are accessed via the same
mechanism as the 64 bytes in the PC/AT. The upper bytes are accessed through an interface that is
only used on Dallas Semiconductor chips.
Any platform containing this device or one that is compatible with it may use the PNP ID PNP0B02.
This will allow an ACPI-compatible OS to recognize the RTC/CMOS device as using the Dallas
Semiconductor programming interface. Thus, the array of bytes that ASL can read and write with
this device is 256 bytes long.
Description of these devices is similar to the PIIX4 example above, and the CENTURY field of the
FADT may also contain values between 0 and 255.
9.16 User Presence Detection Device

The following section illustrates the operation and definition of the control method-based User
Presence Detection (UPD) device.
The user presence detection device can optionally support power management objects (e.g. _PS0,
_PS3) to allow the OS to manage the device’s power consumption.
The Plug and Play ID of an ACPI control method user presence detection device is ACPI000F.

Table 9-291 User Presence Detection Device

Object Description
_UPD The current user presence detection reading. [Required]
_UPP User presence detection polling frequency in tenths of seconds. [Optional]
9.16.1 _UPD (User Presence Detect)

This control method returns the user presence detection reading, indicating whether or not the user is
currently present from the perspective of this sensor. Three states are currently defined for UPD
sensor readings: absent, present, and unknown, represented by the values 0x00, 0x01, and 0xFF
respectively. The unknown state is used to convey that the sensor is currently unable to determine
user presence due to some environmental or other transient factor. All other values are reserved.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the user presence code:
0x00 –Absent: A user is not currently detected by this sensor.
0x01 –Present: A user is currently detected by this sensor.
0xFF –Unknown: The sensor is currently unable to determine if a user is present or absent.
9.16.2 _UPP (User Presence Polling)

user presence sensor. A value of zero – or the absence of this object when other UPD objects are
defined – indicates that the OS does not need to poll the sensor in order to detect meaningful changes
in user presence (the hardware is capable of generating asynchronous notifications).
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the recommended polling frequency in tenths of seconds. A value of zero
indicates that polling is not required.
systems that asynchronously notify OSPM whenever a meaningful change in user presence occurs—
relieving the OS of the overhead associated with polling.
This value is specified as tenths of seconds. For example, a value of 10 would be used to indicate a 1
second polling frequency. As this is a recommended value, OSPM will consider other factors when
determining the actual polling frequency to use.

9.16.3 User Presence Sensor Events

To communicate changes in user presence to OSPM, AML code should issue a
Notify(upd_device, 0x80) whenever a change in user presence has occurred. The OS
receives this notification and calls the _UPD control method to determine the current user presence
status.
UPD notifications should be generated whenever a transition occurs between one of the user
presence states (absent, present, or unknown) – but at a level of granularity that provides an
appropriate response without overly taxing the system with unnecessary interrupts.
9.17 I/O APIC Device

This optional device describes a discrete I/O APIC device that is not bus enumerated (e.g., as a PCI
device). Describing such a device in the ACPI namespace is only necessary if hot plug of this device
is supported. If hot plug of this device is not supported, an MADT I/O APIC (Section 5.2.12.3,”I/O
APIC Structure”) entry or I/O SAPIC (Section 5.2.12.9, “I/O SAPIC Structure”) entry is sufficient
to describe this device.
An I/O APIC device is an I/O unit that complies with either of the APIC interrupt models supported
by ACPI. These interrupt models are described Section 5.2.12.3,”I/O APIC Structure” and
Section 5.2.12.9,”I/O SAPIC Structure”. If the device is an I/O unit that complies with the APIC
interrupt model, it is declared using the ACPI000A identifier. If this device is an I/O unit that
complies with the SAPIC interrupt model, it is declared using the ACPI000B identifier. If this device
complies with both the APIC and SAPIC interrupt models (I/OxAPIC), it is declared using the
ACPI0009 identifier.
An I/O APIC device declared using any of the above identifiers must contain a _GSB object as
defined inSection 6.2.7, “_GSB (Global System Interrupt Base)” to report its Global System
Interrupt Base. It must also contain a _CRS object that reports the base address of the I/O APIC
device. The _CRS object is required to contain only one resource, a memory resource pointing to the
I/O APIC register base.
Note: Because the _CRS and _GSB methods provide sufficient information, it is not necessary to
provide _MAT under an I/O APIC device.
For an I/O APIC device that is described both in the MADT and in the namespace, the base address
described in the MADT entry must be the same as the base address in the IO APIC device _CRS at
boot time. OSPM must use the information from the MADT until such a time as the _CRS and
_GSB methods in the namespace device can be processed. At this point OSPM must ignore the
MADT entry.
9.18 Time and Alarm Device

The following sections define the operation and definition of the optional control method-based
Time and Alarm device, which provides a hardware independent abstraction and a more robust
alternative to the Real Time Clock (RTC), See Section 9.15, "PC/AT RTC/CMOS Devices".
The time capabilities of the time and alarm device maintain the time of day information across
platform power transitions, and keep track of time even when the platform is turned off. It is

expected that the time on the platform will be consistent when different firmware interfaces are used
to query the platform time. For example, a UEFI call to get the time should return the same time as if
the OSPM used the time and alarm device at the same point in time.
The Time and Alarm device can optionally support power management objects (e.g. _PS0, _PS3) to
allow the OS to manage the device's power consumption.
The Time andAlarm device must support control method _PRW for being enabled to wake up the
system. It might support _DSW or _PSW to provide the functionality to enable or disable the
device's ability to wake a sleep system. On Hardware-reduced ACPI platforms, _PRW is only
required if the device depends on ACPI-defined power resources. _PRW’s GPEInfo structure is
ignored by OSPM. For enabling Wakeup, _DSW and _SxW are used, and the wakeup event is
signaled by the GPIO-signaled ACPI event mechanism (Section 5.6.5).
The Plug and Play ID of the Time and Wake Alarm device is ACPI000E.
Table 9-292 Time and Alarm Device

Object Description
_GCP Get the capabilities of the time and alarm device
_GRT Get the Real time
_SRT Set the Real time
_GWS Get Wake status
_CWS Clear Wake Status
_STP Sets expired timer wake policy for the specified timer.
_STV Sets the value in the specified timer.
_TIP Returns the current expired timer policy setting of the specified timer.
_TIV Returns the remaining time of the specified timer.
9.18.1Overview
The Time and Alarm device provides an alternative to the real time clock (RTC), which is defined as
a fixed feature hardware device. The wake timers allow the system to transition from the S3 (or
optionally S4/S5) state to S0 state after a time period elapses. In comparison with the Real Time
Clock (RTC) Alarm, the Time and Alarm device provides a larger scale of flexibility in the
operation of the wake timers, and allows the implementation of the time source to be abstracted from
the OSPM.
Time and Alarm device provides the OSPM with a firmware abstraction of time and alarm services
that can be applicable to a variety of hardware designs. The methods for setting and getting real time
provide an alternative to the (RTC).
Time and Alarm devices that implement AC/DC wake service contain two programmable timers that
can be configured to wake the system depending on the platform's current power source (AC or DC)
when the timers expire. The two timers, which are referred to as the AC timer and the DC timer, are
independent in that they are individually programmable and applicable without interfering each
other. Each of the timers can be programmed with the number of seconds to elapse from the time the
timer is programmed until a wake is requested. When a timer expires, the Time and Alarm device
decides whether to wake the system based on the current power source. If the current power source

is consistent with the timer type that expired, a wake signal will be asserted. Otherwise, the wake
signal will not be asserted.
Time and Alarm devices that implement the AC only (power independent) wake contain one
programmable timer that can be configured to wake up the system regardless of the platform's power
source when the timer expires. To simplify the programming interface the AC wake will use the AC
timer portion of the AC/DC wake; writes to the DC timer when AC only wake is supported will be
ignored.
To simplify the programming interface for the time and alarm device, timer expiration events will
persist. This means that if the OSPM programs a wake timer that expires before the OSPM
completes the transition into S3 (or S4/S5 if supported) the time and alarm device will wake the
system immediately after the OSPM completes the transition. Figure 9-57 illustrates this behavior.
OSPM Wake device
OSPM programs Wake timer completes immediately
the wake timer expires transition wakes the
into S3 system
S0
S3
Time
Figure 9-56 Persistence of expired timer events
The time and alarm device will provide the OSPM with an interface to query the status of the wake
timers and discover what timers have expired. This interface enables the OSPM to discover the wake
source. The status of wake timers can be reset by setting the wake alarm; the OSPM may clear the
alarm status using the clear wake status method. All expired wake timer must be cleared if the
OSPM requires the platform to stay in S3 (S4/S5), otherwise the expired timers will immediately
wake up the system.
For the AC/DC wake services, and in case the current power source is inconsistent with the timer
type that expires, an expired timer wake policy value, in units of seconds, is defined that enables the
time and alarm device to wake the system when the power source corresponding to the expired timer
becomes active (wake either immediately, after some time period, or never). The expired timer wake
policy is applicable only on devices that support AC/DC wake and only when the timer expires and

the power source is not consistent with the timer type. The expired timer policy is applied in
conjunction with expired timer persistence described earlier.
For example, if a mobile platform programs the AC timer to be 2 hours long and DC timer to be 4
hours long and then transitions from the S0 state to S3 state at 1:00 AM, the AC timer is set to expire
at 3:00 AM and the DC timer is set to expire at 5:00 AM. For the AC Timer, a expired timer wake
policy value is programmed as 60 seconds.
If the platform is unplugged from AC power at 1:40 AM and remains unplugged, the Time and
Alarm Device will not wake up the system at 3:00 AM. If the platform remains on DC power until
5:00 AM when the DC timer expires, a wake signal will then be asserted. The following graph
illustrates the above example.
Go to S3 AC timer expires DC timer expires
2 hours
S0
S3
AC
DC
Time
1:00 AM 1:40 AM 3:00 AM 5:00 AM
4 hours
Figure 9-57 System transitions with WakeAlarm -- Timer
If the AC power is plugged in again at 4:00 AM, then the system will be woken up at 4:01 AM due
to the AC expired timer wake policy value setting. The following graph illustrates this.

Go to S3 AC timer expires DC timer expires
2 hours
S0
S3
AC
DC
4:00 AM
Time
1:00 AM 1:40 AM 3:00 AM 5:00 AM
4 hours
Figure 9-58 System transitions with WakeAlarm -- Policy
The Time and Alarm device can support a range of services, the OSPM evaluates the _GCP object to
get the supported capabilities of the device. If the capabilities indicate that the device supports time
services, the OSPM evaluates the _GRT and _SRT objects to get and set time respectively.
If alarm services are supported by the device, the OSPM evaluates the _STV object to program both
the AC and DC timer values. The values, which are in units of seconds, indicate the elapsed time
before the timer expires. OSPM evaluates the _TIV object to read the current AC and DC timer
values (seconds remaining until expiration).
OSPM evaluates the _STP object to set timer policies for both the AC and DC timers OSPM reads
the current timer policy by evaluating the _TIP object, which return policy settings for both the AC
and DC timer.
The OSPM evaluates the _GWS object to identify expired timers that may have waked the platform.
The OSPM must evaluate the _CWS object to clear any expired timer events that can prevent the
system from performing a sleep transition according the expired timer wake policy, and the expired
timer persistence described above.
The Time and Alarm device, if implemented with wake support, must support waking up the system
from S3. Waking from S4/S5 support is optional.
9.18.2 _GCP (Get Capability)

This object is required and provides the OSPM with a bit mask of the device capabilities. The device
can implement the time function in addition to the wake function. The capabilities bitmask will
indicate to the OSPM what support is implemented. If the platform implements both AC and DC
timers then it is capable of waking up based on the power source.

Arguments: (0)
Return Value:
A 32-bit integer containing a result bitmask as follows:
Bit [0] - 1 = AC wake implemented, 0 = not supported
Bit [1] - 1 = DC wake implemented, 0 = not supported
Bit [2] - 1 = Get/Set real time features implemented, 0 = not supported
Bit [3] - 1 = Real time accuracy in milliseconds, 0 = Real time accuracy in seconds
Bit [4] - 1 = _GWS returns correct values for wakes from S4/S5 caused by timer. 0 = not supported
Bit [5] - 1 = Wake supported from S4 on AC, 0 = Wake not supported from S4 on AC
Bit [6] - 1 = Wake supported from S5 on AC, 0 = Wake not supported from S5 on AC
Bit [7] - 1 = Wake supported from S4 on DC, 0 = Wake not supported from S4 on DC
Bit [8] - 1 = Wake supported from S5 on DC, 0 = Wake not supported from S5 on DC
Bit [9] to Bit [31] are reserved and must be 0.
9.18.3 _GRT (Get Real Time)

This object is required if the capabilities bit 2 is set to 1. The OSPM can use this object to get time.
The return value is a buffer containing the time information as described below.
Arguments: (0)
Return Value:
A buffer containing the time information, in the following format
Buffer(){
WORD Year; // 1900 - 9999
BYTE Month; // 1 - 12
BYTE Day; // 1 - 31
BYTE Hour; // 0 - 23
BYTE Minute; // 0 - 59
BYTE Second: // 0 - 59
BYTE Valid; // 0 - Time is not valid (request failed); 1 - Time is valid
WORD milliseconds, // 1-1000
WORD TimeZone; // -1440 to 1440 or 2047 (unspecified)
BYTE Daylight;
BYTE Pad2[3]; // Reserved, must be zero
}
9.18.4 _SRT (Set Real Time)

This object is required if the capabilities bit 2 is set to 1. The OSPM can use this object to set the
time. The argument is a buffer containing the time information, as defined above.
Arguments: (1)
A buffer containing the time information, in the following format:

Buffer(){
WORD Year; // 1900 - 9999
BYTE Month; // 1 - 12
BYTE Day; // 1 - 31
BYTE Hour; // 0 - 23
BYTE Minute; // 0 - 59
BYTE Second; // 0 - 59
BYTE Pad1;
WORD milliseconds, // 1-1000
WORD TimeZone; // -1440 to 1440 or 2047 (unspecified)
BYTE Daylight;
BYTE Pad2[3]; // Reserved, must be zero
}
Return Value:
An Integer:
0 - success
0xFFFFFFFF- Failed
Note: Time is maintained using a battery backed time device (e.g. a real time clock)
Note: The time will always be local time; the time zone value can be used to determine the offset from
UTC.
Note: Time zone field is the number of minutes that the local time lags behind the UTC time. (i.e. time
zone = UTC - local time). The time zone is in 2's complement format.
Note: Time zone value of 2047, means that time zone value is not specified, and no relation to UTC can
be inferred.
Note: Daylight is a bitmask containing the daylight savings time information for the time, as follows:
Bit [0]: 1 = the time is affected by daylight savings time, 0= time is not affected by daylight
savings. This value does not indicate that the time has been adjusted for daylight savings time.
It indicates only that it should be adjusted when the time enters daylight savings time.
Bit [1]: 1= the time has been adjusted for daylight savings time, 0= the time hasn't been adjusted
for daylight savings.
All other bits must be zero.
When entering daylight saving time, if the time is affected, but hasn't been adjusted (DST = 1), use
the new calculation:
• The date/time should be increased by the appropriate amount.
• The TimeZone should be decreased by the appropriate amount (EX: +480 changes to +420 when
moving from PST to PDT).
• The Daylight value changes to 3.
When exiting daylight saving time, if the time is affected and has been adjusted (DST = 3), use the
new calculation:
• The date/time should be decreased by the appropriate amount.
• The TimeZone should be increased by the appropriate amount.
• The Daylight value changes to 1.

9.18.5 _GWS (Get Wake alarm status)

This object is required and enables the OSPM to read the status of wake alarms. Expired wake timers
will wake the platform even if the transition to a sleep state was completed after the wake timer has
expired. This method enables the OSPM to retrieve the status of wake timers and clear any of them if
needed.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 - Timer Identifier (Integer (DWORD)): indicates the timer to be cleared:
0x00000000 - AC Timer
0x00000001 - DC Timer
Return Value:
An Integer (DWORD) containing current expired timers in bit field
Bit [0]- 1 = timer expired, 0 = timer did not expired
Bit [ 1]- 1= timer caused a platform wake, 0 = timer did not cause a platform wake
Bit [31:2] reserved and should be 0.
9.18.6 _CWS (Clear Wake alarm status)

This object is required and enables the OSPM to clear the status of wake alarms. Expired wake
timers will wake the platform even if the transition to a sleep state was completed after the wake
timer has expired. This method enables the OSPM to clear the status of expired wake timers.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 - Timer Identifier (Integer (DWORD)): indicates the timer to be cleared:
0x00000000 - AC Timer
0x00000001 - DC Timer
Return Value:
An Integer (DWORD) containing current expired timer wake policy:
0x00000000 - Success
0x00000001 - Failure
9.18.7 _STP (Set Expired Timer Wake Policy)

This object is required and sets the expired timer wake policy. The policy is applied when a
corresponding timer expired but the wake signal was not asserted as a result of the power source.
The platform accumulates elapsed time on the power source and asserts the wake signal when the
elapsed timer on the power source exceeds the expired timer wake policy value. Power source
transitions do not reset the expired timer wake policy values. When the Wake Alarm device asserts
the wake, the expired timer wake policy values of both the AC timer and DC timer are reset to
0xFFFFFFFF automatically by hardware.
Arguments: (2)
Arg0 – TimerIdentifier (Integer(DWORD)): indicates the timer to be set:

0x00000000 – AC Timer
0x00000001 – DC Timer
Arg1 – ExpiredTimerWakePolicy (Integer(DWORD)): indicates the expired timer wake policy:
0x00000000 – The timer will wake up the system instantly after the power source changes.
0x00000001 – 0xFFFFFFFE: time between the power source changes and the timer wakes up the
system (in units of second).
0xFFFFFFFF – The timer will never wake up the system after the power source changes.
Return Value:
An Integer containing a result code as follows:
0x00000000 – Succeeded to set the expired timer wake policy.
0x00000001 – Failed to set the timer policy. Actual timer policy unknown.
9.18.8 _STV (Set Timer Value)

This object is required and sets the timer to the specified value. As defined in _TIV, the value
indicates the number of seconds between the time when the timer is programmed and the time when
it expires. When the Wake Alarm device asserts the wake signal, the timer value is automatically
reset to 0xFFFFFFFF (disabled).
Arguments: (2)
Arg0 – TimerIdentifier (Integer (DWORD)): indicates the timer to be set:
0x00000000 – AC Timer
0x00000001 – DC Timer
Arg1 – TimerValue (Integer): indicates the value to be set.
Return Value:
An Integer containing a result code as follows:
0x00000000 – Succeeded to set timer value.
0x00000001 – Failed to set timer value. Actual timer value unknown.
9.18.9 _TIP (Expired Timer Wake Policy)

This object is required and returns the current expired timer wake policy setting of the specified
timer.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – TimerIdentifier (Integer (DWORD)): indicates the timer to be read:
0x00000000 – AC Timer
0x00000001 – DC Timer
Return Value:
An Integer (DWORD) containing current expired timer wake policy:
0x00000000 – The timer will wake up the system instantly after the power source changes

0x00000001 – 0xFFFFFFFE: Time between the power source changes and the timer wakes up the
system ( in units of seconds)
0xFFFFFFFF – The timer will never wake up the system after the power source changes
9.18.10 _TIV (Timer Values)

This object is required and returns the remaining time of the specified timer before it expires.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – TimerIdentifier (Integer(DWORD)): indicates the timer to be read:
0x00000000 – AC Timer
0x00000001 – DC Timer
Return Value:
An Integer containing the current timer value. A value of 0xFFFFFFFF indicates that the timer is
disabled.
9.18.11 ACPI Wakeup Alarm Events

The Wake Alarm, device as a generic hardware, supports control methods _PSW and _PRW to wake
up the system and issues a Notify(<device>, 0x2) on the wakeup alarm device.
9.18.12 Relationship to Real Time Clock Alarm

Though both of the devices support wakeup timers to wake up system from sleeping state, they work
independently. The Real Time Clock Alarm is defined as a fixed feature hardware whereas Time and
Alarm device is defined as a generic hardware and can replace or coexist with the real time clock.
OSPM may choose which device to utilize to provide timed wake capability.
9.18.13 Time and Alarm device as a replacement to the RTC

The Time and Alarm device can be an alternative to the RTC on some platforms where the legacy
RTC hardware is not available, on these platforms the OSPM can use the Time and Alarm device to
obtain time and set wake alarms. For platforms that don't require AC/DC wake service (e.g. a
platform that have one power source only) the AC timer can be used to provide all the functions that
were traditionally provided by the RTC. Using the capabilities object the Time and Alarm device
can provide a scalable range of services to the OSPM.
9.18.14 Relationship to UEFI time source

The Time and Alarm device must be driven from the same time source as UEFI time services. This
ensures that the platform has a consistent value of real time (time of day) and wake alarms. The
OSPM can interact with this value using either ACPI or UEFI.
• OSPM must use only one runtime interface to configure/query the platform alarm(s); undefined
behavior may occur if the two wakeup interfaces are used on the same hardware.

• If OSPM is trying to set an alarm using EFI runtime services, the alarm should be honored
regardless of the power source (i.e. if the platform has an independent timer for each power
source, they should both be configured with that alarm).
9.18.15 Example ASL code

The following ASL code serves as an example of how the Time and Alarm Device could be
implemented. It is beyond the capability and the scope of this specification to provide a complete
hardware implementation example.

Example 1: Define an ACPI Wake Alarm device

Device(\_SB.AWAK){
Name(_HID, "ACPI000E") //device ID
Name(_PRW, Package(){...})//enable or disable to wake up the system
OperationRegion(CMOP, EmbeddedControl, ...)
Field(CMOP, ByteAcc, ...){
…….. //timer status and policies
}
Method(_GCP) {
Return (0x03) //Both AC and DC alarms are implemented; Time capability is NOT supported
}
Method(_STP, 2){
If(LEqual(Arg0, 0) {
Store(Arg1, …) //Set AC timer policy
}
Else {
Store(Arg1, …) //Set DC timer policy
}
Return(0)
}
Method(_TIP, 1){
Store(…, Local0) //Get DC timer policy
}
Else {
Store(…, Local0) //Get AC timer policy
}
Return (Local0)
}
Method(_STV, 2){
Store(Arg1, …) //Set AC timer value
}
Else {
Store(Arg1, …) //Set DC timer value
}
Return(0)
}
Method(_TIV, 1){
Store(…, Local0) //Get DC timer value
}
Else {
Store(…, Local0) //Get AC timer value
}
Return (Local0)
}

Method(_GWS, 1){
Store(…, Local0) //Get DC timer wake status
}
Else {
Store(…, Local0) //Get AC timer wake status
}
Return (Local0)
}
Method(_CWS, 2){
Store(0, …) //Clear AC Wake status
}
Else {
Store(0, …) //Clear DC Wake status
}
Return(0)
}
} // end of ACPI Wake Alarm device object
Scope(\_GPE) { // Root level event handlers
Method(_Lxx){
Store(One, ...)
Notify(\_SB.AWA, 0x2) //notify the OSPM of device wake
}
Example 2: Define an ACPI Real Time device on a HW-Reduced ACPI

platform
Device(\_SB.I2C1) //The controller used to access the RTC hardware
{
Name (_HID, ...)
...// Other objects required for this I2C controller
// Track status of SPB OpRegion availability for this controller
Name(AVBL, 0)
Method(_REG,2)
{
/* 9 is the OpRegion type for SPB. (8 == GPIO, etc) */
If (Lequal(Arg0, 9))
{
Store(Arg1, ÂVBL)
}
}
}
Device(\_SB.TAAD) //The Time and Alarm Device
{
Name (_HID, "ACPI000E")
Scope(\_SB.I2C1) //OpRegion declaration must appear under the controller
{
OperationRegion(TOP1, GenericSerialBus, 254, 0x100)
{
Connection(I2CSerialBusV2(0x4a,,400000,,"\\_SB.I2C1",,,,,)), //Connection to the controller for
the following field accesses
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribWord), //AccessProtocol for the following field(s)
Y, 8,
M, 8,
D, 8,

H, 8,
Mi,8,
S, 8,
P, 8,
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribWord),
Ms, 8,
Tz, 8,
Dl, 8,
P2, 8
}
}
Method (_GCP, 0x0, NotSerialized)
{
Return(0x4) //Implements Real Time interface, but no alarms
}
Method(_GRT, 0x0, NotSerialized)
{
If(LNotEqual(\_SB.TC1.AVBL, 1)) // Verify that SPB OpRegion is available for this access
{
Return(0)
}
Name(BUFF, Buffer(4){}) // Create SerialBus data buffer as BUFF
CreateWordField(BUFF, 0x02, DATA) // DATA = Data (Byte)
Name(BUF2,Buffer(0x10){}) // Create buffer to hold the Real Time structure as BUF2
CreateWordField(BUF2, 0x0,Y) //year
CreateByteField(BUF2,0x2,M) //Month
...
CreateByteField(BUF2,0xc,Dl) //Dl
CreateByteField(BUF2,0xd,P2) //Pad2
Store(\_SB.I2C1.Y, BUFF) //Get each member from the OpRegion and store in the structure
Store(DATA,Y)
Store(\_SB.I2C1.M, BUFF)
Store(DATA,M)
...
Store(\_SB.I2C1.Dl, BUFF)
Store(DATA,Dl)
Store(\_SB.I2C1.P2, BUFF)
Store(DATA,P2)
Return(BUF2) // Success -> return what was last in buffer
}
Method(_SRT,0x1, NotSerialized)
{
Name(BUFF, Buffer(4){}) // Create SerialBus data buffer as BUFF
CreateWordField(BUFF, 0x02, DATA) // DATA = Data (Byte)
// Verify that SPB OpRegion is available for this access
If(LNotEqual(\_SB.I2C1.AVBL, 1))
{
Return(0)
}
CreateWordField(Arg0,0x0,Y) //Create Fields to access each member of the input data
...
CreateByteField(Arg0,0xd,P2)
Store(Store(Y, \_SB.I2C1.Y), BUFF) //Store each input member into the hardware, and
//set the transaction status into BUFF
If(LEqual(STAT, 0x00)) //Transaction was _NOT_successful
{
Return(0xFFFFFFFF)

...
Store(Store(P2, \_SB.I2C1.P2), BUFF)
If(LEqual(STAT, 0x00)) //Transaction was _NOT_successful
{
Return(0xFFFFFFFF)
}
}
Name(_DEP, Package() {"\\_SB.I2C1"}) //Identify the OpRegion dependency for this device
}
9.19 Generic Buttons Device

The Generic Button device is a standard device for reporting button events via hardware interrupts,
and mapping those interrupts to specific usages defined in the Human Interface Device (HID)
specification. In order to express the functionality of a button to the OS, two pieces of information
are required: Usage of the HID Control, and Usage of the HID Collection that the Control belongs
to. A Usage is a combination of a Usage Page and Usage ID. For example, the Volume Up button is
identified as the Volume Up Usage (Usage Page 0x0C, Usage Id 0xE9) in the Consumer Control
Collection (Usage Page 0x0C, Usage Id 0x01).
The Plug and Play ID of the Generic Button device is ACPI0011.
Note: If the Power button is described using this device, it must also support the Power Button Override
feature defined in Section 4.8.2.2.1 Power Button Override.
Table 9-293 Generic Buttons Device Child Objects

Object Description
_CRS Lists the resources consumed by the Generic Button device. Only interrupt resources (GpioInt()
and Interrupt() ) are valid for this device. Each interrupt listed must signal one distinct button
event.
_DSD Provides a list of HID Button Descriptors, as defined by UUID FA6BD625-9CE8-470D-A2C7-
B3CA36C4282E. (See http://www.uefi.org/sites/default/files/resources/_DSD-HID-
buttondescriptor-UUID.pdf). Only HID 2-state button usages are valid for the descriptors
returned for this device.
Note: If there are more HID Button Descriptors returned by _DSD than there are interrupts listed in
_CRS, behavior is OS-specific.
9.19.1 Button Interrupts

Interrupts for the Generic Buttons Device are required to be edge-triggered and not level-triggered
since there is no interface defined for the driver to quiesce the interrupt line once the interrupt is
received. The polarity (ActiveLow/High vs. ActiveBoth) of the interrupt is determined by the Usage
Type of the HID Usage associated with the interrupt, as described in Table 9-294.

Table 9-294 Usage Types and Interrupt Polarity

Usage Type Interrupt Explanation
Polarity
OSC - One Shot ActiveHigh/ An interrupt should be triggered on a button press. This is for a
Control ActiveLow toggle button. On every such event (interrupt), the Operating
System will toggle the internal property of the entity that it controls.
Example: Mute button
MC - Momentary ActiveBoth An interrupt should be triggered on both the button press and
Control release. Example: Left mouse button.
RTC - Re-trigger ActiveBoth An interrupt should be triggered on both the button press and
Control release. While the button is pressed, the Operating System will
repeatedly re-execute the action that it would take when the button
is pressed. Example: A Volume Up button when pressed and held,
will repeatedly increment the Volume.
OOC - On/Off ActiveHigh/ ActiveHigh/ActiveLow polarity should be specified if implemented
Control ActiveLow as a button that goes back to its initial state automatically. E.g. A
OR Push Button or a spring-loaded Slider switch. Only one interrupt
ActiveBoth should be fired for press/release pair.
Example: A spring-loaded Wireless Radio Slider Switch.

ActiveBoth polarity should be specified if implemented as a button
that stays in its state until the user moves it again. E.g. A button that
stays in pressed state, or a Slider switch that sticks to its position.
Example: Wireless Radio Slider Switch.
9.19.2 Button Usages and Collections

The HID Usage tables have an extensive list of Standardized Usages for various kinds of buttons.
Some of the common buttons found on Computing devices and their Usages are listed in Table 9-
295.
For the full list, see “HID Usage Tables”, available from “Links to ACPI-Related Documents”
(http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "HID Usage Tables".
Buttons are grouped under a HID Collection. Several HID Collections are commonly understood by
Operating Systems, e.g., Keyboard Collection, Consumer Controls Collection, Wireless Radio
Controls Collection, etc.
Table 9-295 Common HID Button Usages

Button Usage Page / Usage Usage Interrupt Spec Reference
Type Polarity
Power Generic Desktop Page OSC ActiveBoth1 HID Usage Tables 1.12
(0x01) Section 4
System Power Down
(0x01)
Volume Up Consumer Page (0x0C) RTC ActiveBoth HID Usage Tables 1.12
Volume Increment (0xE9) Section 15

Volume Consumer Page (0x0C) RTC ActiveBoth HID Usage Tables 1.12
Down Volume Decrement Section 15
(0xEA)
Camera Camera Control Page OSC Active High/ Camera Shutter Usage 0x21 is
Shutter (0x90) ActiveLow planned for a future version of the
Camera Shutter (0x21) HID Usage Tables.
Display Consumer Page (0x0C) RTC ActiveBoth Review Request 41
Brightness Display Brightness Display Brightness Controls
Up Increment (0x6F)
Display Consumer Page (0x0C) RTC ActiveBoth Review Request 41
Brightness Display Brightness Display Brightness Controls
Down Decrement (0x6F)
Wireless Generic Desktop Page OOC ActiveHigh/ Review Request 40
Radio (0x01) ActiveLow HID Radio On/Off Usages
Button Wireless Radio Button
(0xC6)
Wireless Generic Desktop Page OOC ActiveBoth Review Request 40
Radio Slider (0x01) HID Radio On/Off Usages
Switch Wireless Radio Slider
Switch (0xC8)
1The System Power Down Usage (Page:01, ID: 81) has Type OSC, although its interrupt must
be ActiveBoth in order to allow drivers to perform functions based on “hold-down” timing. This is
an exception to the Usage Type Rules for Interrupt Polarity (Table 9-294).

9.19.3 Example
Device(BTNS)
{
GpioInt(Edge, ActiveBoth…) {pin} //Vol Down
GpioInt(Edge, ActiveBoth…) {pin} //Vol Up
GpioInt(Edge, ActiveBoth,…) {pin} //Power (MUST BE
//ACTIVEBOTH!)
})
Name(_DSD, Package(2) {
//UUID for HID Button Descriptors:
ToUUID(“FA6BD625-9CE8-470D-A2C7-B3CA36C4282E”),
//Data structure for this UUID:
Package() {
Package(5) {
0, //Declare a Collection
1, //Unique ID for this collection
0, //It is a top-level collection
0x0c,//Usage Page (“Consumer”)
0x01 //Usage (“Consumer Control”)
},
Package(5) {
0, //Declare another Collection
2, //Unique ID for this collection
0, //Also a top-level collection
0x01,// Usage Page (”Generic Desktop”)
0x80 //Usage (“System Control”)
},
Package(5) {
1, //Declare a Control
0, //Interrupt index in _CRS for Vol Down
1, //In the “Consumer Control” collection
0xEA //Usage (“Volume Decrement”)
},
Package(5) {
1, //Declare another Control
2, //Interrupt index for the Power Button
2, //In the “System Control” collection
0x01,//Usage Page (”Generic Desktop”)
0x81 //Usage (“System Power Down”)
},
Package(5) {
1, //Declare another Control
1, //Interrupt index for the Vol Up button
0xE9 //Usage (“Volume Increment”)
},
Package(5) {
1, //Another Control
0xFF,//No Interrupt for this one… e.g. OS-
// specific signaling for Rotation Lock
0x0C,//Usage Page (“Consumer”)
0x245 //Usage (“AC Rotate”)
}
}
})

}// End Device
9.20 NVDIMM Devices
9.20.1 Overview
In order to handle NVDIMMs, the OS must first be able to detect and enumerate the NVDIMMs. To
facilitate the plug and play discovery of NVDIMM and driver loading, ACPI namespace devices are
used.
9.20.2 NVDIMM Root Device

The NVDIMM root device is represented by an ACPI namespace device with a _HID of
"ACPI0012" (see Section 6.1.5 and Table 5-179). If the platform supports NVDIMMs, then
platform firmware shall report one NVDIMM root device in the \SB scope (see Section 5.3.1). This
device allows the OS to trigger enumeration of NVDIMMs through NFIT (see Section 5.2.25) at
boot time and re-enumeration at root level via the _FIT method (see Section 6.5.9) during runtime.
Table 5-169 defines NFIT Update Notification notification values for the NVDIMM root device.
For each NVDIMM present or intended to be supported by platform, platform firmware also exposes
an NVDIMM device (see Section 9.20.3) under the NVDIMM root device.
9.20.3 NVDIMM Device

Each NVDIMM is represented by an ACPI namespace device under the NVDIMM root device (see
Section 9.20.2) with an _ADR (see Section 6.1.1) containing the NFIT Device Handle.
The NFIT Device Handle is constructed as follows:
• Bits [3:0] DIMM number within the memory channel
• Bits [7:4] memory channel number within the memory controller
• Bits [11:8] memory controller ID within the socket
• Bits [15:12] socket ID within the node controller, if any
• Bits [27:16] node controller ID, if any
• Bits [31:28] Reserved
Table 5-170 defines NVDIMM Device Notification Values for an NVDIMM device.
Information about the Label Storage Area on the NVDIMM is provided by the _LSI (see
Section 6.5.10.1) method. The OSPM uses the methods _LSR (see Section 6.5.10.2) and _LSW (see
Section 6.5.10.3) to read and write to the Label Storage Area. The format of the Label Storage Area
data is defined in UEFI.

9.20.4 Example
An example name space is shown below for a platform containing one NVDIMM:
Scope (\_SB){
Device (NVDR) // NVDIMM root device
{
Name (_HID, “ACPI0012”)
Method (_STA) {…}
Method (_FIT) {…}
Method (_DSM, …) {
…
}
Device (NVD) // NVDIMM device

{
Name(_ADR, h) //where h is NFIT Device Handle for this NVDIMM
…
}
}
}
}
9.20.5 Loading NVDIMM drivers

While using ACPI namespace devices allows for OS handling of NVDIMMs in a standard manner,
the format of the address ranges described by this scheme may still vary depending on the vendor (or
even different NVDIMM version of the vendor). For example, the command and status values
supported by a Block Control Window are vendor specific and possibly even vary for a given
vendor.
The NVDIMM Control Region Structure (see Section 5.2.25.6) includes a Vendor ID, Device ID,
and Revision ID. Because an NVDIMM could be a combination device consisting of different
region types (e.g., Persistent Memory and Block), a Region Format Interface Code is also included
to indicate the region type as well as the specific implementation within that type. This allows for
variability across vendors as well as within vendor offerings.
These fields enable loading of drivers for managing the NVDIMM as well as for handling the
address ranges supported by the NVDIMM. The Region Format Interface Code is used to load
generic drivers for the following: management driver, persistent memory driver and block driver. A
vendor specific driver for each of the above can be loaded by matching on Vendor ID, Device ID
and Revision ID (in addition to the Region Format Interface Code).
Region Format Interface Code requirements shall be met by all compliant NVDIMMs. Any Vendor
specific extensions are only allowed to extend on top of the Region Format Interface Code
requirements.
It is assumed that the OSPM is capable of loading the Region Format Interface Code specific driver
or vendor specific drivers based on such discovery. This scheme is as shown in Figure 9-59.

Figure 9-59 Vendor/Device Specific Driver Loading
The Subsystem Vendor ID, Subsystem Device ID and Subsystem Revision ID fields allow selection
of specific solution provider drivers that may span across devices from multiple vendors.
9.20.6 Hot Plug Support

The NVDIMM memory hot plug representation of the ACPI Name Space is described in this
section. The NVDR device is the NVDIMM root device, the NVD1 and NVD2 are NVDIMM
devices, the MEM0 is memory module device corresponding to the NVD1 and NVD2 devices. The
_FIT method under NVDR device returns all NFIT entries including the hot added devices.

Device (NVDR) // Root device

{
Name (_HID, “ACPI0012”)
Method (_STA) {…}
Method (_FIT) {…}
…
}
Device (NVD1) // NVDIMM1
{
Name(_ADR, h1) //where h1 is NFIT Device Handle for this NVDIMM1
…
}
}
Device (NVD2) // NVDIMM2
{
Name(_ADR, h2) //where h2 is NFIT Device Handle for this NVDIMM2
…
}
}
}
Device (MEM0) // Memory module

{
Method (_STA) {…}
Method (_CRS) {…}
}
Scope (\_GPE)
{
Method (_L00) {
Notify (\_SB.NVDR, 0x80) // Notify to NVDIMM root device
Notify (\_SB.MEM0, 1) // Device Check to Memory Module
}
}
Hot Plugged memory is indicated to OS using ACPI Name Space device with PNPID of PNP0C80.
The NFIT entries created by the hot plug NVDIMM are communicated by the ACPI Name Space
device with ACPI0012.
NVDIMM hot add flow:

1. Prior to hot add of the NVDIMM, the corresponding ACPI Name Space devices, NVD1, NVD2
return an address from _ADR object (NFIT Device handle) which does not match any entries
present in NFIT (either the static or from _FIT) indicating that the corresponding NVDIMM is
not present. Further ACPI Name Space Device MEM0 returns _STA status of 0 indicating that
the devices are not present, not enabled and not functioning.
2. On hot add
a Send Notify 0x80 to NVDR to cause NVDIMM bus driver to enumerate all the devices
under the root hierarchy

b NVDIMM bus driver evaluates the _FIT method under the NVDR device and identifies the
changes to the NVDIMM devices present (by identifying new NFIT Device handles that
have been added).
c NVDIMM bus driver now finds matching entries for addresses returned by _ADR objects of
NVD1 and NVD2 and loads the corresponding drivers.
d Send Notify Device Check to MEM0 to cause re-enumeration of device causing the memory
manager to add _CRS range to the memory pool.
3. MEM0 will now report all the memory ranges now created and made visible.
9.20.7 NVDIMM Root Device _DSMs

A device specific method (_DSM) for NVDIMM root devices (see Section 9.20.2) is described in
this section.
9.20.7.1 Input Parameters:

Arg0 – UUID (see Section 5.2.4) (set to 2f10e7a4-9e91-11e4-89d3-123b93f75cba)
Arg1 – Revision ID (set to 1)
Arg2 – Function Index
Table 9-296 NVDIMM Root Device Function Index

Function Index Description
0 Query command implemented (see Section 9.1.1)
1 Query Address Range Scrub (ARS) Capabilities (see Section 9.20.7.4)
2 Start Address Range Scrub (ARS) (see Section 9.20.7.5)
3 Query Address Range Scrub (ARS) Status (see Section 9.20.7.6)
4 Clear Uncorrectable Error (see Section 9.20.7.7)
5 Translate SPA
6 Reserved
7 ARS Error Inject
8 ARS Error Inject Clear
9 ARS Error Inject Status Query
0xA – 0xFFFF Reserved
Arg3 – a package containing parameters for the function specified by the UUID, Revision ID and
Function Index. The layout of the package for each command along with the corresponding output is
illustrated in the following tables. The input and output package are a list of bytes (Buffer).
9.20.7.2 Address Range Scrubbing (ARS) Overview

ARS allows the platform to communicate memory errors to system software. This capability allows
system software to prevent accesses to addresses with uncorrectable errors in memory.
The ARS functions are system scope and are not specific to a single NVDIMM, i.e., they manage all
NVDIMMs present in the system.

The Query ARS Capabilities function indicates if ARS is supported for an address range and to
discover system-wide attributes, such as the maximum amount of data that can be returned from a
Query ARS Status function and whether the platform provides an asynchronous ACPI notification
that a new uncorrectable error has been discovered.
Only one scrub can be in progress system wide at any given time. OSPM should first issue a Query
ARS Status function and ensure no ARS is in progress before issuing a Start ARS function. If a
successful status is returned, the extended status of the Query ARS Status function indicates to
OSPM one of the following:
• An ARS has been completed and ARS results are returned. These results should be processed by
OSPM before issuing another Start ARS function. When a new address range scrub operation is
started, the previous ARS results are lost.
• An ARS is in progress and no ARS results are returned. A Start ARS function fails while an
ARS is in progress. OSPM should periodically issue Query ARS Status functions until the ARS
is no longer in progress.
• There has been no ARS since the platform was booted so there are no ARS results returned. A
new Start ARS function may be issued.
• An ARS stopped prematurely and partial results are returned. If the platform has more data to
return than will fit in the Max Query ARS Status Output Buffer Size (see Section 9.20.7.4),
OSPM may issue Start ARS and Query ARS Status functions in a loop and retrieve all of the
ARS Error Records, modifying the ARS Start SPA Address and length with each iteration.
If a Start ARS function is issued, the OSPM provides the ARS Start SPA Address and ARS Length
for the range to be scrubbed. If the previous ARS stopped prematurely, these fields should be set to
the values from the Restart ARS Start SPA Address and Restart ARS Length from the previous
Query ARS Status output buffer. For any Start ARS function, OSPM may optionally set the Flags
Bit[0] to indicate to the platform that the ARS is a priority and may cause delays in other processing,
such as when booting. The output from a successful Start ARS function provides an estimated time
for the scrub to complete as a hint to the OSPM regarding when to issue a Query ARS Status
function.
As indicated in the Query ARS Capabilities function output, a platform may issue the
asynchronous event notification 0x81 (Unconsumed Uncorrectable Memory Error Detected
Notification) when new uncorrectable errors are detected. Upon receiving the notification, the
OSPM may decide to issue a Start ARS with Flags Bit [1] set to prepare for the retrieval of existing
records and issue the Query ARS Status function to retrieve the records. Alternatively, the OSPM
may decide to ignore event notificiation 0x81. If the event notification is ignored or if the memory
range is accessed before OSPM can process the notification and ARS data, default platform error
handing sequences, such as Machine Check, may occur.
Platforms may support the ability for OSPM to clear an error previously reported from an ARS.
OSPM should only issue the Clear Uncorrectable Error function for a memory address range if
that the address range has been retired from further use or if valid error-free data is written to the
range before those locations are read. If the Clear Uncorrectable Error function is not supported
by the platform or if a Clear Uncorrectable Error function for an address range fails, the OSPM
should continue to prevent accesses to the address ranges.
The ARS related functions use the following convention for the Status and Extended Status fields.

9.20.7.3 Address Range Scrub (ARS) Error Injection Overview

The expected OSPM ARS Error Injection flow is:
1. Inject an error with ARS Error Inject.
2. Optionally and if ARS Unconsumed Uncorrectable Memory Error Detected Notification is
supported by the host, system firmware triggers an ACPI NVDIMM root device notification
0x81 for the OSPM.
3. Use Start ARS with Flags Bit[1] set for OSPM acknowledgment of the notification to system
firmware and use ARS Query Status to query ARS status.
4. Optionally, use ARS Error Inject Status Query to query the error injected ranges.
5. Use ARS Error Inject Clear to clear the ARS error injected ranges. Until the error is cleared,
system firmware will report the error in the ARS Query Status output buffer.
Table 9-297 Status and Extended Status Field Generic Interpretations

Bytes Field Name Description
1-0 Status 0 – Success
1 – Function Not Supported
2 – Invalid Input Parameters
3 – Hardware Error
4 – Retry Suggested; it is up to the OSPM
regarding the number of retries to perform.
5 – Error – Unknown Reason
6 – Function-Specific Error Code
7 - FFFFh Reserved for errors
3-2 Extended Status Function Specific
Note: If Status is nonzero, the Output Buffer for all the functions in this _DSM (see Section 9.1.1) is
limited to only the Status and Extended Status fields.
9.20.7.4 Function Index 1 - Query ARS Capabilities

This function provides ARS capabilities for a given address range. The format of the input and
output for this function is given below.
9.20.7.4.1 Function Input
Table 9-298 Query ARS Capabilities – Input Buffer

ARS Start SPA 8 0 Starting of System Physical Address of ARS
Address
ARS Length 8 8 In bytes

9.20.7.4.2 Function Output
Table 9-299 Query ARS Capabilities – Output Buffer

Status 2 0 Defined in Table 9-297.
All other fields in this structure are Reserved if Status is not set
to 0 (i.e., Success).
Extended Status 2 2 Bit[0] – If set to 1, indicates scrub of Volatile Memory is
supported. Volatile memory is any region that is not marked as
Persistent Memory in UEFI or in an ACPI Address Range Type.
Bit[1] – If set to 1, indicates scrub of Persistent Memory is
supported. Persistent Memory is any region that has one of the
following memory range types:
• UEFI memory type of EfiPersistentMemory
• Any UEFI memory type that has the EFI_MEMORY_NV
memory attribute set
• ACPI Address Range Type of
AddressRangePersistentMemory
Bits[15:2] – Reserved
Max Query ARS 4 4 In bytes.
Status Output Maximum size of buffer (including the Status and Extended
Buffer Size Status fields) returned by the Query ARS Status function. This
can be used to calculate the maximum number of ARS Error
Records that are supported.
This value shall be a constant for the platform, independent of
the input SPA range. As long as a valid input SPA range is
specified, the value returned for this shall always be the same.
Clear 4 8 In bytes.
Uncorrectable This field describes the uncorrectable error clearing unit
Error Range size. This value shall be a power of two.
Length Unit Size The Clear Uncorrectable Error Range Length argument to the
Clear Uncorrectable Errors LSM function shall be an integer
multiple of this unit size.
The Query ARS Status ARS Error Record Format “Length” field
shall be an integer multiple of this unit size.
This value shall be a constant for the platform, independent of
the input SPA range.
Flags 2 12 Bit[0] – Unconsumed Uncorrectable Memory Error Detected
Notification flag. If set to 1, indicates platform supports the ACPI
NVDIMM Root Device Unconsumed Error Notification (0x81) as
described in Table 5-170. If set to 0, the platform doesn’t
support this notification mechanism.
Bit[15-1] - Reserved.
Reserved 2 14
9.20.7.5 Function Index 2 - Start ARS

The Start ARS function triggers an Address Range Scrub for the given range of memory. Address
scrubbing can be done for volatile memory, persistent memory, or both.

Table 9-300 Start ARS – Input Buffer

ARS Start SPA Address 8 0 In bytes
ARS Length 8 8 In bytes
Type 2 16 Bit[0] – If set to 1, Scrub Volatile Memory
Bit[1] – If set to 1, Scrub Persistent Memory
Bits[15:2] Reserved
Note: If the range provided includes both
volatile and persistent sub-ranges, only the
types indicated here will be scrubbed.
Flags 1 18 Bit[0] – If set to 1 specifies that the platform
may cause delays in processing other
operations while performing the ARS (e.g.,
for use during system boot). If set to 0
specifies that the platform shall not cause
delays in processing other operations while
performing the ARS (e.g., for use during run
time).
Bit[1]: If set to 1 the firmware shall return data
from a previous scrub, if any, without starting
a new scrub. If set to 0 firmware shall start a
new ARS.
Reserved 5 19
Table 9-301 Start ARS – Output Buffer

Status 2 0 6 – ARS already in progress
All other values defined in Table 9-297
Extended 2 2 Reserved
Status
Estimated 4 4 In seconds
Time for Estimated time to scrub the given address range.
Scrub
9.20.7.6 Function Index 3 - Query ARS Status

The Query ARS Status command allows software to get the status of ARS.

None

Table 9-302 Query ARS Status – Output Buffer
Field Byte Length Byte Offset Interpretation

Status 2 0 Defined in Table 9-297
Extended 2 2 0 – ARS complete
Status 1 – ARS in progress. Any returned ARS data shall be all
zeros.
2 – No ARS performed for current boot. Any returned
ARS data shall be all zeros.
3 – ARS Stopped Prematurely – This may occur when the
implementation reaches the maximum number of errors
that can be reported.
4 ..0xFFFF– Reserved. Any returned ARS Data shall be
all zeros.
ARS Data Varies 4 See Table 9-303.
The output SPA range return indicates the scope of the ARS scrub for the specified type.
Table 9-303 ARS Data

Field Byte Byte Offset Interpretation
Length
Output (Size) 4 0 Size of Output Buffer in bytes, including this field.
Start SPA 8 4 In bytes
Length 8 12 In bytes
ARS performed range is from Start SPA to Start SPA +
Length
Restart ARS 8 20 Starting SPA to restart the ARS if Status is Success and
Start SPA Extended Status was reported as ARS Stopped
Address Prematurely. The value specified here is used without
modification as the ARS Start SPA Address when calling
Start ARS to continue an ARS that stopped prematurely
before completing the requested ARS Length.
Note: It is not required to continue an ARS that has stopped
prematurely.
Restart ARS 8 28 SPA Length to restart the ARS if Status is Success and
Length Extended Status was reported as ARS Stopped
Prematurely. The value specified here is used without
modification as the ARS Length when calling Start ARS to
continue an ARS that stopped prematurely before
completing the requested ARS Length.
Type 2 36 Bit[0] – Volatile Memory range if set to 1
Bit[1] – Persistent Memory range if set to 1
If both bit[0] and bit[1] are set, both Persistent Memory and
volatile memory are in this range.
Bits[15:2] – Reserved

Field Byte Byte Offset Interpretation

Length
Flags 2 38 Bit[0] – If set to 1, indicates an overflow condition has
occurred. This means that more errors were reported in the
error log than will fit in the maximum total buffer size of Max
Query ARS Status Data Size from the Query ARS
Capabilities. The returned Extended Status should be ARS
Stopped Prematurely when this bit is set to 1.
Bits[15:1] Reserved
Number of 4 40 Number of ARS Error Record structures reported
Error Records
ARS Error Varies 44 Refer to Table 9-304 for the format of the error record.
Records
Table 9-304 ARS Error Record Format

NFIT Handle 4 0 NFIT Handle indicates the specific NVDIMM at Start SPA of
Error Location (offset 8)
Start SPA of 8 8 Start of System Physical Address of the error.
Error
Location
Length 8 16 Length indicates the consecutive bytes from Start SPA of
Error Location that are in error. Due to interleaving, the range
covered by Start SPA of Error Location and Length may
include addresses that are present in other NVDIMMs in an
interleave set.
In case of overflow, the address range indicated by Start
SPA of Error Location and Length will cover the NVDIMM
interleave set that is impacted by the error.
The range covered by Start SPA of Error Location and
Length may exceed the requested scrub range due to
platform limitations.
9.20.7.7 Function Index 4 - Clear Uncorrectable Error

The Clear Uncorrectable Error Function allows system software to clear uncorrectable errors from
the NVDIMM based on System Physical Address (SPA). Uncorrectable errors reported by the
Query ARS Status function can be cleared utilizing this mechanism.
For each uncorrectable error range length covered by the specified SPA range that contains an
uncorrectable error, platform software shall clear the error and may modify the data at those
addresses. For each uncorrectable error range length covered by the specified SPA range that does
not contain an uncorrectable error, platform software shall do nothing.
The Clear Uncorrectable Error SPA Range Base shall be aligned to the Clear Uncorrectable Error
Range Length Unit Size and the Clear Uncorrectable Error Range Length must be an integer

multiple of the Clear Uncorrectable Error Range Length Unit Size. The Clear Uncorrectable Error
request shall result in an Invalid Parameter error status if these rules are not followed.
Attempting to clear an error with a range length that overruns the end of a region shall result in an
Invalid Parameter error status.
Attempting to clear an error with a range length that is greater than the range of uncorrectable errors
is not considered a failure.
Attempting to clear an error from an address that does not currently have an uncorrectable error is
not considered a failure.
Note: The data contained in the locations that are cleared with this command are indeterminate. Care
must be taken when using this command since once the error has been cleared, subsequent
reads of those cleared locations will cause silent data corruption if software is unaware that the
original contents were lost. Software should only utilize this command if it can guarantee that the
locations have been retired from further use or will be written with valid data before the locations
are read.

Clear 8 0 In bytes
Uncorrectable
Error SPA Starting location from which to clear the uncorrectable
Range Base error. This address should be aligned to the Clear
Uncorrectable Error Range Length Unit Size reported in
the Query ARS Capabilities function (see
Section 9.20.7.4).
Clear 8 8 In bytes
Uncorrectable Length of the region to clear the uncorrectable error
Error Range from. This length should be an integer multiple of the
Length Clear Uncorrectable Error Range Length Unit Size
reported in the Query ARS Capabilities function (see
Section 9.20.7.4).
Table 9-305 Clear Uncorrectable Error – Input Buffer


Status 2 0 Defined in Table 9-297
Extended Status 2 2 Reserved
Cleared 8 8 The range of errors actually cleared by the platform,
Uncorrectable starting from the requested Clear Uncorrectable Error
Error Range SPA Range Base. This length shall be an integer
Length multiple of the Clear Uncorrectable Error Range Length
Unit Size reported in the Query ARS Capabilities
function (see Section 9.20.7.4).

Note: This range length may be smaller than the length
requested by the input range length.
Table 9-306 Clear Uncorrectable Error – Output Buffer
9.20.7.8 Function Index 5 - Translate SPA

This command instructs the platform to translate the requested System Physical Address (SPA) in to
one or more NVDIMM devices consisting of an NFIT Device Handle and DIMM Physical Address
(DPA) on that device.
• The SPA address to translate must lie within one of the SPA ranges described in the NFIT
System Physical Address Range table.
• For non-mirrored interleave sets, the SPA address will translate to a single NVDIMM and single
DPA.
• For a HW mirrored interleave set, the Flags Bit[0] - Mirrored SPA Location bit is set and all
NVDIMM Devices the SPA translates to are included in the returned NVDIMM Device List.
Function Input
The following table outlines the expected input payload for this command.
Length Offset
SPA 8 0 System Physical Address to translate. This is a byte aligned
address and all bits are considered valid. No masking or
shifting occurs.
Table 9-307 Translate SPA - Input Payload Format

Function Output
The following tables outline the expected output payload for this command.
Length Offset
Status 2 0 Defined in Table 9-297.
If the SPA does not lie within one of the SPA ranges described
in the NFIT System Physical Address Range table, a status of
2, Invalid Input Parameter, is returned.

All other fields in this structure are Reserved if Status is
not set to 0 (i.e., Success).
Extended 2 2 Extended Status Field (Vendor Defined)
Status
Flags 1 4 Bit[0] – Mirrored SPA Location - If set to 1, indicates the SPA
location maps to one or more NVDIMMs that are mirrored
together and contributing to a single SPA range.
All NVDIMMs currently contributing to the HW Mirror shall be

reported and the Number of NVDIMMs shall report all of the
devices in the Mirrored SPA range.
Reserved 3 5 Must be 0
Translated 8 8 The number of bytes the returned SPA translation applies to.
Length The SPA range defined by the input SPA + output Translated
Length -1 will yield an address translation with a constant
Translated NVDIMM Device List containing a constant set of
NFIT Device Handles.
Number of 4 16 The number of NVDIMM devices being returned in the list of
NVDIMMs Translated NVDIMM Devices.
This is typically 1 for a given SPA location but for Mirrored SPA
Locations, it is possible to have multiple NVDIMMs that provide
the same SPA.
Translated Varies 20 List of one or more Translated NVDIMM Devices
NVDIMM
Device List
Table 9-308 Translate SPA - Output Payload Format

Translated NVDIMM Device:
Length Offset
NFIT Device 4 0 Handle to physical NVDIMM that the SPA maps to. This handle
Handle can be utilized to retrieve other NFIT table data that further
describes the physical device.
Reserved 4 4 Returned as zero
DPA 8 8 DIMM Physical Address that the SPA translates to.
Table 9-309 Translate SPA – Translated NVDIMM Device List Output Payload Format
9.20.7.9 Function Index 7 - ARS Error Inject

ARS Error Inject allows the injection of an error for the memory range in the defined input payload.
Input is a package containing a single buffer, where the buffer is formatted as shown in Table 9-310.
9.20.7.9.1 Input (Arg3)

ARS Error Inject SPA Range 8 0 Starting location from which to inject the
Base error.
ARS Error Inject SPA Range 8 8 In bytes
Length Length of the region to inject the error
from.
If Length makes the range cross
NVDIMM SPA ranges, the system
firmware implementation may report
more than one ARS error record in the
output buffer of the ARS Query Status
_DSM function.
ARS Error Inject Options 1 16 Bit 0: Unconsumed Uncorrectable
Memory Error Detected Notification. Set
to 1 Firmware shall notify the OSPM. Set
to 0 the notification will not occur.
Bits 7-1: Reserved.
Table 9-310 ARS Error Inject – Input Format

9.20.7.9.2 Output
Return Value for this function is a buffer formatted as shown in Table 9-311.
Status 2 0 Bytes[1-0]
0 – Success
1 – Not Supported. The ARS Error Inject method is
not supported by the platform.
2 – Invalid Input Parameters. Platform reports that
the SPA range parameters passed to the ARS Error
Inject method are invalid or if notification is not
supported.
Table 9-311 ARS Error Inject – Output Format
9.20.7.10 Function Index 8 - ARS Error Inject Clear

ARS Error Clear allows the clearing of the injected error state in the persistent memory range in the
defined input payload.
9.20.7.10.1 Input (Arg3)

Input is a package containing a single buffer, where the buffer is formatted as shown in Table 9-312.
ARS Error Inject Clear 8 0
SPA Range Base
ARS Error Inject Clear 8 8 In bytes
SPA Range Length
Table 9-312 ARS Error Inject Clear – Input Format
9.20.7.10.2 Output
0 – Success
1 – Not Supported. The ARS Error Inject Clear
method is not supported by the platform.
2 – Invalid Input Parameters. Platform reports that
the SPA range parameters passed to the ARS Error
Inject method are invalid or the specified range does
not have an injected error.
Table 9-313 ARS Error Inject Clear – Output Format

9.20.7.11 Function Index 9 - ARS Error Inject Status Query

This ARS Error Inject Status Query allows the OSPM to list the currently active injected errors in
the persistent memory ranges presented in the output buffer payload.
9.20.7.11.1 Input (Arg3)

None.
9.20.7.11.2 Output
0 – Success.
1 – Not Supported. The ARS Error Inject
Status Query method is not supported by the
platform.
Injected Error Record 4 4 Number of Error Records in the following array
Count of Error Records.
If no ARS injected error, the Injected Error
Count field is 0.
ARS Error Inject Status Varies 8 Refer to Table 9-315, ARS Error Inject Status
Query Error Records Query – Error Record Format for the format of
the ARS Error Inject Status Query Error
Record.
Table 9-314 ARS Error Inject Status Query – Output Format

The ARS Error Status Query Error Record is defined as:
ARS Error Inject Status Query 8 0 Starting SPA range of an injected
Error Record SPA Range Base error.
ARS Error Inject Status Query 8 8 Length in bytes of the injected error
Error Record SPA Range starting at the SPA range.
Length
Table 9-315 ARS Error Inject Status Query – Error Record Format


ACPI Specification Power Source and Power Meter Devices
10 Power Source and Power Meter Devices
This section specifies the battery, AC adapter, and power source device objects OSPM uses to
manage power resources, as well as the power meter device objects OSPM uses to measure power
consumption.
A battery device is required to either have a Smart Battery subsystem or a Control Method Battery
interface as described in this section. OSPM is required to be able to connect and manage a battery
on either of these interfaces. This section describes these interfaces.
In the case of a compatible ACPI Smart Battery Table, the Definition Block needs to include a Bus/
Device package for the SMB-HC. This will install an OS-specific driver for the SMBus, which in
turn will locate the components of the Smart Battery subsystem. In addition to the battery or
batteries, the Smart Battery subsystem includes a charger and a manager device to handle
subsystems with multiple batteries.
The Smart Battery System Manager is one implementation of a manager device that is capable of
arbitrating among the available power sources (AC power and batteries) for a system. It provides a
superset of the Smart Battery Selector functionality, such as safely responding to power events (AC
versus battery power), inserting and removing batteries and notifying the OS of all such changes.
Additionally, the Smart Battery System Manager is capable of handling configurations including
simultaneous charging and discharging of multiple batteries. Unlike the Smart Battery Selector that
shares responsibility for configuring the battery system with OSPM, the Smart Battery System
Manager alone controls the safe configuration of the battery system and simply issues status changes
to OSPM when the configuration changes. Smart Battery System Manager is the recommended
solution for handling multiple-battery systems.
A Power Meter device is the logical representation of a platform sensor that measures the power
consumption of one or more devices in the system. A basic platform implementation implements
interfaces that query the current power consumption and get the currently configured power
consumption hardware limit, while more advance power meter device implementations provide
interfaces that support OSPM configurable power consumption trip points that trigger SCI events, or
enable configuration of the underlying hardware to enforce a hard limit on the maximum amount of
power that can be consumed.
10.1 Smart Battery Subsystems

The Smart Battery subsystem is defined by the:
• System Management Bus Specification (SMBS)
• Smart Battery Data Specification (SBDS)
• Smart Battery Charger Specification (SBCS)
• Smart Battery System Manager Specification (SBSM)
• Smart Battery Selector Specification (SBSS)
An ACPI-compatible Smart Battery subsystem consists of:
• An SMB-HC (CPU to SMB-HC) interface

Power Source and Power Meter Devices ACPI Specification
• At least one Smart Battery

• A Smart Battery Charger
• Either a Smart Battery System Manager or a Smart Battery Selector if more than one Smart
Battery is supported
In such a subsystem, a standard way of communicating with a Smart Battery and Smart Battery
Charger is through the SMBus physical protocols. The Smart Battery System Manager or Smart
Battery Selector provides event notification (battery insertion/removal, and so on) and charger
SMBus routing capability for any Smart Battery subsystem. A typical Smart Battery subsystem is
illustrated below:

SMBus
SBS
Battery0
0xB
SMBus
SBS
Battery1
0xB
Host SMBus SBS
Interface
Host SMBus System
Controller Manager SMBus
SBS
(0x8) 0xA Battery2
0xB
SMBus
SBS SMBus
SBS
Charger Battery3
0x9 0xB
Figure 10-60 Typical Smart Battery Subsystem (SBS)
SMBus defines a fixed 7-bit slave address per device. This means that all batteries in the system
have the same address (defined to be 0xB). The slave addresses associated with Smart Battery
subsystem components are shown in the following table.
Table 10-316 Example SMBus Device Slave Addresses

SMBus Device Description SMBus Slave Address (A0-A6)
SMBus Host Slave Interface 0x8
Smart Battery Charger/Charger Selector or Charger System Manager 0x9
Smart Battery System Manager or Smart Battery Selector 0xA
Smart Battery 0xB
Each SMBus device has up to 256 registers that are addressed through the SMBus protocol’s
Command value. SMBus devices are addressed by providing the slave address with the desired
register’s Command value. Each SMBus register can have non-linear registers; that is, command
register 1 can have a 32-byte string, while command register 2 can have a byte, and command
register 3 can have a word.
The SMBus host slave interface provides a standard mechanism for the host CPU to generate
SMBus protocol commands that are required to communicate with SMBus devices (in other words,
the Smart Battery components). ACPI defines such an SMB-HC that resides in embedded controller
address space; however, an OS can support any SMB-HC that has a native SMB-HC device driver.
• Event notification for battery insertion and removal
• Event notification for AC power connected or disconnected
• Status of which Smart Battery is communicating with the SMB-HC
• Status of which Smart Battery(s) are powering the system
• Status of which Smart Battery(s) are connected to the charger
• Status of which Smart Batteries are present in the system

• Event notification when the Smart Battery System Manager switches from one power source to
another
• Hardware-switching to an alternate Smart Battery when the Smart Battery supplying power runs
low
• Hardware switching between battery-powered and AC-powered powered operation
•
The Smart Battery System Manager function can reside in a standalone SMBus slave device (Smart
Battery System Manager that responds to the 0xA slave address), may be present within a smart
charger device (Smart Battery Charger that responds to the 0x9 slave address), or may be combined
within the embedded controller (that responds to the 0xA slave address). If both a Smart Battery
Charger and a standalone Smart Battery System Manager are present in the same Smart Battery
subsystem, then the driver assumes that the standalone Smart Battery System Manager is wired to
the batteries.
The Smart Battery charger is an SMBus device that provides a standard programming model to
control the charging of Smart Batteries present in a Smart Battery subsystem. For single battery
systems, the Smart Battery Charger is also responsible for notifying the system of the battery and
AC status.
The Smart Battery provides intelligent chemistry-independent power to the system. The Smart
Battery is capable of informing the Smart Battery charger of its charging requirements (which
provides chemistry independence) and providing battery status and alarm features needed for
platform battery management.
10.1.1 ACPI Smart Battery Status Change Notification Requirements

The Smart Battery System Manager, the Smart Battery Selector, and the Smart Battery Charger each
have an optional mechanism for notifying the system that the battery configuration or AC status has
changed. ACPI requires that this interrupt mechanism be through the SMBus Alarm Notify
mechanism.
For systems using an embedded controller as the SMBus host, a battery system device issues a status
change notification by either mastering the SMBus to send the notification directly to the SMBus
host, or by emulating it in the embedded controller. In either case, the process is the same. After the
notification is received or emulated, the embedded controller asserts an SCI. The source of the SCI is
identified by a GPE that indicates the SCI was caused by the embedded controller. The embedded
controller’s status register alarm bit is set, indicating that the SMBus host received an alarm
message. The Alarm Address Register contains the address of the SMBus device that originated the
alarm and the Alarm Data Registers contain the contents of that device’s status register.
10.1.1.1 Smart Battery Charger

This requires a Smart Battery Charger, on a battery or AC status change, to generate an SMBus
Alarm Notify. The contents of the Smart Battery Charger’s ChargerStatus() command register
(0x13) is placed in the embedded controller’s Alarm Data Registers, the Smart Battery Charger’s

slave address1 (0x09) is placed in the embedded controller’s Alarm Address Register and the EC’s
Status Register’s Alarm bit is set. The embedded controller then asserts an SCI.
10.1.1.2 Smart Battery Charger with optional System Manager or Selector

A Smart Battery Charger that contains the optional System Manager or Selector function (as
indicated by the ChargerSpecInfo() command register, 0x11, bit 4) is required to generate an SMBus
Alarm Notify on a battery or AC status change. The content of the Smart Battery Charger with an
optional System Manager, the BatterySystemState() command register (0x21) (or in the case of an
optional Selector, the SelectorState() (0x01) ), is placed in the EC’s Alarm Data Registers, the Smart
Battery Charger’s slave address (0x09) is placed in the embedded controller’s Alarm Address
Register, and the embedded controller’s Status Register’s Alarm bit is set. The embedded controller
then asserts an SCI.
10.1.1.3 Smart Battery System Manager

The Smart Battery System Manager is required to generate an SMBus Alarm Notify on a battery or
AC status change. The content of the Smart Battery System Manager’s BatterySystemState()
command register (0x01) is placed in the EC’s Alarm Data Registers, the Smart Battery System
Manager’s slave address (0x0A) is placed in the EC’s Alarm Address Register, and the embedded
controller’s Status Register’s Alarm bit is set. The embedded controller then asserts an SCI.
10.1.1.4 Smart Battery Selector

The requirements for the Smart Battery Selector are the same as the requirements for the Smart
Battery System Manager, with the exception that the contents of the SelectorState() command
register (0x01) are used instead of BatterySystemState(). The Smart Battery Selector is a subset of
the Smart Battery System Manager and does not have the added support for simultaneous charge/
discharge of multiple batteries. The System Manager is the preferred implementation.
10.1.2 Smart Battery Objects

The Smart Battery subsystem requires a number of objects to define its interface. These are
summarized below:
Table 10-317 Smart Battery Objects

Object Description
_HID This is the hardware ID named object that contains a string. For Smart Battery subsystems, this
object returns the value of “ACPI0002.” This identifies the Smart Battery subsystem to the Smart
Battery driver.
_SBS This is the Smart Battery named object that contains a DWORD. This named object returns the
configuration of the Smart Battery.
1. Notice that the 1.0 SMBus protocol specification is ambiguous about the definition of the “slave address”
written into the command field of the host controller. In this case, the slave address is actually the combination of the
7-bit slave address and the Write protocol bit. Therefore, bit 0 of the initiating device’s slave address is aligned to bit
1 of the host controller’s slave command register, bit 1 of the slave address is aligned to bit 2 of the controller’s slave
command register, and so on.

10.1.3 _SBS (Smart Battery Subsystem)

The _SBS control method returns the configuration of the Smart Battery subsystem. This named
object returns a DWORD value with a number from 0 to 4. If the number of batteries is greater than
0, then the Smart Battery driver assumes that a Smart Battery System Manager or Smart Battery
Selector is present. If 0, then the Smart Battery driver assumes a single Smart Battery and neither a
Smart Battery System Manager nor Smart Battery Selector is present.
The DWORD returned by _SBS is encoded as follows:
• 0 – Maximum of one Smart Battery and no Smart Battery System Manager or Smart Battery
Selector.
• 1 – Maximum of one Smart Battery and a Smart Battery System Manager or Smart Battery
Selector.
• 2 – Maximum of two Smart Batteries and a Smart Battery System Manager or Smart Battery
Selector.
• 3 – Maximum of three Smart Batteries and a Smart Battery System Manager or Smart Battery
Selector.
• 4 – Maximum of four Smart Batteries and a Smart Battery System Manager or Smart Battery
Selector.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the Smart Battery subsystem configuration:
0 – Maximum 1 Smart Battery, system manager/selector not present
1 – Maximum 1 Smart Battery, system manager/selector present
2 – Maximum 2 Smart Batteries, system manager/selector present
The maximum number of batteries is for the entire system. Therefore, if the platform is capable of
supporting four batteries, but only two are normally present in the system, then this field should
return 4. Notice that a value of 0 indicates a maximum support of one battery and there is no Smart
Battery System Manager or Smart Battery Selector present in the system
As the SMBus is not an enumerable bus, all devices on the bus must be declared in the ACPI name-
space. As the Smart Battery driver understands Smart Battery, Smart Battery Charger, and Smart
Battery System Manager or Smart Battery Selector; only a single device needs to be declared per
Smart Battery subsystem. The driver gets information about the subsystem through the hardware ID
(which defines a Smart Battery subsystem) and the number of Smart Batteries supported on this
subsystem (_SBS named object). The ACPI Smart Battery table indicates the energy levels of the
platform at which the system should warn the user and then enter a sleeping state. The Smart Battery
driver then reflects these as threshold alarms for the Smart Batteries.
A Smart Battery device declaration in the ACPI namespace requires the _GLK object if potentially
contentious accesses to device resources are performed by non-OS code. See Section 6.5.7 “_GLK
(Global Lock),” for details about the _GLK object.

10.1.3.1 Example: Single Smart Battery Subsystem

This section illustrates how to define a Smart Battery subsystem containing a single Smart Battery
and charger. The platform implementation is illustrated below:
Embedded
Controller
Ports: 0x62, 0x66 SBS
Offset: 0x80
Query: 0x30
Battery
0xB
Host
Interface SMBus SMBus
Host
Controller
(0x8) SBS
Charger
0x9
Figure 10-61 Single Smart Battery Subsystem
In this example, the platform is using an SMB-HC that resides within the embedded controller and
meets the ACPI standard for an embedded controller interface and SMB-HC interface. The
embedded controller interface sits at system I/O port addresses 0x62 and 0x66. The SMB-HC is at
base address 0x80 within embedded controller address space (as defined by the ACPI embedded
controller specification) and responds to events on query value 0x30.
In this example the Smart Battery subsystem only supports a single Smart Battery. The ASL code for
describing this interface is shown below:
Device (EC0) {
Name (_CRS,
ResourceTemplate () { // port 0x62 and 0x66
IO (Decode16, 0x62, 0x62, 0, 1),
IO (Decode16, 0x66, 0x66, 0, 1)
}
)
Name (_GPE, 0)
Device (SMB0) {
Name (_HID, "ACPI0001") // Smart Battery Host Controller
Name (_EC, 0x8030) // EC offset (0x80), Query (0x30)
Device (SBS0){ // Smart Battery Subsystem
Name (_HID, "ACPI0002") // Smart Battery Subsystem ID
Name(_SBS, 0x1) // Indicates support for one battery
} // end of SBS0
} // end of SMB0
} // end of EC
10.1.3.2 Multiple Smart Battery Subsystem: Example

This section illustrates how to define a Smart Battery subsystem that contains three Smart Batteries,
a Smart Battery System Manager, and a Smart Battery Charger. The platform implementation is
illustrated below:

Embedded Controller
Ports: 0x100, 0x101 SBS
SMBus
Offset: 0x90
Query: 0x31
Battery0
0xB
Host Virtual SBS
Interface SMBus System
SMBus Manager SMBus
SBS
Host 0xA Battery1
Controller Virtual
0xB
(0x8) SMBus
SBS SMBus
SBS
Charger Battery2
0x9 0xB
Figure 10-62 Smart Battery Subsystem
In this example, the platform is using an SMB-HC that resides within the embedded controller and
meets the ACPI standard for an embedded controller interface and SMB-HC interface. The
embedded controller interface sits at system I/O port addresses 0x100 and 0x101. The SMB-HC
resides at base address 0x90 within embedded controller address space (as defined by the ACPI
embedded controller specification) and responds to events on query value 0x31.
In this example the Smart Battery subsystem supports three Smart Batteries. The Smart Battery
Charger and Smart Battery System Manager reside within the embedded controller, meet the Smart
Battery System Manager and Smart Battery Charger interface specification, and respond to their 7-
bit addresses (0xA and 0x9 respectively). The ASL code for describing this interface is shown
below:
Device (EC1) {

Name (_CRS,
ResourceTemplate () { // port 0x100 and 0x101
IO(Decode16, 0x100, 0x100, 0, 2)
}
)
Name (_GPE, 1)
Device (SMB1) {
Name (_HID, "ACPI0001") // Smart Battery Host Controller
Name (_EC, 0x9031) // EC offset (0x90), Query (0x31)
Device (SBS1){ // Smart Battery Subsystem
Name (_HID, "ACPI0002") // Smart Battery Subsystem ID
Name (_SBS, 0x3) // Indicates support for three batteries
} // end of SBS1
} // end of SMB1
} // end of EC
10.2 Control Method Batteries

The following section illustrates the operation and definition of the Control Method Battery.

10.2.1 Battery Events

The AML code handling an SCI for a battery event notifies the system of which battery’s status may
have changed. The OS uses the _BST control method to determine the current status of the batteries
and what action, if any, should be taken (for more information about the _BST control method, see
Section 10.2.2, “Battery Control Methods”). The typical action is to notify applications monitoring
the battery status to provide the user with an up-to-date display of the system battery state. But in
some cases, the action may involve generating an alert or even forcing a system into a sleeping state.
In any case, any changes in battery status should generate an SCI in a timely manner to keep the
system power state UI consistent with the actual state of the system battery (or batteries).
Unlike most other devices, when a battery is inserted or removed from the system, the device itself
(the battery bay) is still considered to be present in the system. For most systems, the _STA for this
device will always return a value with bits 0-3 set and will toggle bit 4 to indicate the actual presence
of a battery (see Section 6.3.7, “_STA [Status]”). When this insertion or removal occurs, the AML
code handler for this event should issue a Notify(battery_device, 0x81) to indicate that the static
battery information has changed. For systems that have battery slots in a docking station or batteries
that cannot be surprise-removed, it may be beneficial or necessary to indicate that the entire device
has been removed. In this case, the standard methods and notifications described in Section 6.3,
“Device Insertion, Removal, and Status Objects,” should be used.
When the present state of the battery has changed or when the trip point set by the _BTP control
method is reached or crossed, the hardware will assert a general purpose event. The AML code
handler for this event issues a Notify(battery_device, 0x80) on the battery device. This notification
is also sent when the Status Flags returned from _BMD change.
In the case where the remaining battery capacity becomes critically low, the AML code handler
issues a Notify(battery_device, 0x80) and reports the battery critical flag in the _BST object. The OS
performs an emergency shutdown. For a full description of the critical battery state, see
Section 3.9.4, “Low Battery Levels.”
Sometimes the value to be returned from _BST or _BIF will be temporarily unknown. In this case,
the method may return the value 0xFFFFFFFF as a placeholder. When the value becomes known,
the appropriate notification (0x80 for _BST or 0x81 for BIF) should be issued, in like manner to any
other change in the data returned by these methods. This will cause OSPM to re-evaluate the
method—obtaining the correct data value.
When one or more of the status flags returned by the _BMD control method change, AML code
issues a Notify(battery_device, 0x82) on the battery device unless this change occurs during a call to
_BMC and the value of the status flags in _BMD match the value passed in to _BMC. If the value of
the status bits cannot be set to reflect the action requested by the executing _BMC, the AML code
will issue this notification. For example, calling _BMC with bit 0 set to initiate a calibration cycle
while AC power is not available will cause AML to issue a Notify(battery_device, 0x82).
10.2.2 Battery Control Methods

The Control Method Battery is a battery with an AML code interface between the battery and the
host PC. The battery interface is completely accessed by AML code control methods, allowing the
OEM to use any type of battery and any kind of communication interface supported by ACPI.
OSPM requires accurate battery data to perform optimal power management policy and to provide

the end user with a meaningful estimation of remaining battery life. As such, control methods that
return battery information should calculate this information rather than return hard coded data.
A Control Method Battery is described as a device object. Each device object supporting the Control
Method Battery interface contains the following additional control methods. When there are two or
more batteries in the system, each battery will have an independent device object in the namespace.
Table 10-318 Battery Control Methods

Object Description
_BIF Returns static information about a battery (in other words, model number, serial number, design
voltage, and so on).
_BIX Returns extended static information about a battery (in other words, model number, serial number,
design voltage, and so on).
_OSC OSPM Capabilities conveyance for batteries.
_BMA Sets the averaging interval of the battery capacity measurement, in milliseconds.
_BMS Sets the sampling time of the battery capacity measurement, in milliseconds.
_BST Returns the current battery status (in other words, dynamic information about the battery, such as
whether the battery is currently charging or discharging, an estimate of the remaining battery
capacity, and so on).
_BTH Communicates battery thermal throttle limit set by battery thermal zone.
_BTP Sets the Battery Trip point, which generates an SCI when batterycapacity reaches the specified
point.
_PCL List of pointers to the device objects representing devices powered by the battery.
_STA Returns general status of the battery (for a description of the _STA control method, see
Section 6.3.7, “_STA (Status]”).
_BTM Returns battery estimated runtime at the present average rate of drain, or the runtime at a specified
rate.
_BCT Returns battery estimated charging time.
_BMD Returns battery information related to battery recalibration and charging control.
_BMC Control calibration and charging.
A Control Method Battery device declaration in the ACPI namespace requires the _GLK object if
potentially contentious accesses to device resources are performed by non-OS code. See
Section 6.5.7, “_GLK (Global Lock),” for details about the _GLK object.
10.2.2.1 _BIF (Battery Information)

This object returns the static portion of the Control Method Battery information. This information
remains constant until the battery is changed. This object is deprecated in ACPI 4.0. The _BIX
object provides expanded battery information and includes all of the information provide by _BIF.
See Section 10.2.2.2, “Battery Information Extended”).
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
A Package containing the battery information as described below

_BIF returns a package in the format below
Package {
Power Unit // Integer (DWORD)
Design Capacity // Integer (DWORD)
Last Full Charge Capacity // Integer (DWORD)
Battery Technology // Integer (DWORD)
Design Voltage // Integer (DWORD)
Design Capacity of Warning // Integer (DWORD)
Design Capacity of Low // Integer (DWORD)
Battery Capacity Granularity 1 // Integer (DWORD)
Battery Capacity Granularity 2 // Integer (DWORD)
Model Number // String (ASCIIZ)
Serial Number // String (ASCIIZ)
Battery Type // String (ASCIIZ)
OEM Information // String (ASCIIZ)
}
Table 10-319 BIF Return Package Values

Power Unit Integer Indicates the units used by the battery to report its capacity and charge/
(DWORD) discharge rate information to the OS.
0x00000000 – Capacity information is reported in [mWh] and charge/
discharge rate information in [mW].
0x00000001 – Capacity information is reported in [mAh] and charge/
discharge rate information in [mA].
Design Capacity Integer Battery’s design capacity. Design Capacity is the nominal capacity of a
(DWORD) new battery. The Design Capacity value is expressed as power [mWh] or
current [mAh] depending on the Power Unit value.
0x000000000 – 0x7FFFFFFF (in [mWh] or [mAh] )
0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown design capacity
Last Full Charge Integer Predicted battery capacity when fully charged. The Last Full Charge
Capacity (DWORD) Capacity value is expressed as power (mWh) or current (mAh) depending
on the Power Unit value.
0x000000000h – 0x7FFFFFFF (in [mWh] or [mAh] )
0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown last full charge capacity
Battery Integer 0x00000000 – Primary (for example, non-rechargeable)
Technology (DWORD) 0x00000001 – Secondary (for example, rechargeable)
Design Voltage Integer Nominal voltage of a new battery.
(DWORD) 0x000000000 – 0x7FFFFFFF in [mV]
0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown design voltage
Design capacity Integer OEM-designed battery warning capacity. See Section 3.9.4, “Low
of Warning (DWORD) Battery Levels.”
0x000000000 – 0x7FFFFFFF in [mWh] or [mAh]


Design Capacity Integer OEM-designed low battery capacity. See Section 3.9.4, “Low Battery
of Low (DWORD) Levels.”
0x000000000 – 0x7FFFFFFF in [mWh] or [mAh]
Battery Capacity Integer Battery capacity granularity between low and warning in [mAh] or [mWh].
Granularity 1 (DWORD) That is, this is the smallest increment in capacity that the battery is
capable of measuring. See note below for more details
Battery Capacity Integer Battery capacity granularity between warning and Full in [mAh] or [mWh].
capable of measuring. This may be a different value than Battery Capacity
Granularity 1 to accommodate systems where the granularity accuracy
may change depending on the battery level. See note below for more
details.
Model Number String OEM-specific Control Method Battery model number
(ASCIIZ)
Serial Number String OEM-specific Control Method Battery serial number
(ASCIIZ)
Battery Type String The OEM-specific Control Method Battery type
(ASCIIZ)
OEM Information String OEM-specific information for the battery that the UI uses to display the
(ASCIIZ) OEM information about the Battery. If the OEM does not support this
information, this field should contain a NULL string.
Additional Notes:
• A secondary-type battery should report the corresponding capacity (except for Unknown).
• On a multiple-battery system, all batteries in the system should return the same granularity.
• Operating systems prefer these control methods to report data in terms of power (watts).
• On a multiple-battery system, all batteries in the system must use the same power unit.
• The definition of battery capacity granularity has been clarified. For OSPM to determine if
systems support the clarified definition of battery capacity granularity, OSPM may evaluate an
_OSC method at the battery scope to indicate support for this capability, and for the platform to
indicate if it supports these extended capabilities.
10.2.2.2 _BIX (Battery Information Extended)

The _BIX object returns the static portion of the Control Method Battery information. This
information remains constant until the battery is changed. The _BIX object returns all information
available via the _BIF object plus additional battery information. The _BIF object is deprecated in
lieu of _BIX in ACPI 4.0.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing the battery information as described below


_BIX returns a package in the format below
Package {
// ASCIIZ is ASCII character string terminated with a 0x00.
Revision //Integer
Power Unit //Integer (DWORD)
Design Capacity //Integer (DWORD)
Last Full Charge Capacity //Integer (DWORD)
Battery Technology //Integer (DWORD)
Design Voltage //Integer (DWORD)
Design Capacity of Warning //Integer (DWORD)
Design Capacity of Low //Integer (DWORD)
Cycle Count //Integer (DWORD)
Measurement Accuracy //Integer (DWORD)
Max Sampling Time //Integer (DWORD)
Min Sampling Time //Integer (DWORD)
Max Averaging Interval //Integer (DWORD)
Min Averaging Interval //Integer (DWORD)
Battery Capacity Granularity 1 //Integer (DWORD)
Battery Capacity Granularity 2 //Integer (DWORD)
Model Number //String (ASCIIZ)
Serial Number //String (ASCIIZ)
Battery Type //String (ASCIIZ)
OEM Information //String (ASCIIZ)
Battery Swapping Capability //Integer (DWORD)
}
Table 10-320 }BIX Return Package Values

Power Unit Integer Indicates the units used by the battery to report its capacity and charge/
(DWORD) discharge rate information to the OS.
• 0x00000000 – Capacity information is reported in [mWh] and charge/
discharge rate information in [mW].
• 0x00000001 – Capacity information is reported in [mAh] and charge/
discharge rate information in [mA].
Design Capacity Integer Battery’s design capacity. Design Capacity is the nominal capacity of a
(DWORD) new battery. The Design Capacity value is expressed as power [mWh] or
current [mAh] depending on the Power Unit value.
• 0x000000000 – 0x7FFFFFFF (in [mWh] or [mAh] )
• 0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown design capacity
Last Full Charge Integer Predicted battery capacity when fully charged. The Last Full Charge
Capacity (DWORD) Capacity value is expressed as power (mWh) or current (mAh) depending
on the Power Unit value.
• 0x000000000h – 0x7FFFFFFF (in [mWh] or [mAh] )
• 0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown last full charge capacity
Battery Integer • 0x00000000 – Primary (for example, non-rechargeable)
Technology (DWORD) • 0x00000001 – Secondary (for example, rechargeable)
Design Voltage Integer Nominal voltage of a new battery.
(DWORD) • 0x000000000 – 0x7FFFFFFF in [mV]
• 0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown design voltage


Design capacity Integer OEM-designed battery warning capacity. See Section 3.9.4, “Low
of Warning (DWORD) Battery Levels.”
• 0x000000000 – 0x7FFFFFFF in [mWh] or [mAh]
Design Capacity Integer OEM-designed low battery capacity. See Section 3.9.4, “Low Battery
of Low (DWORD) Levels.”
Cycle Count Integer The number of cycles the battery has experienced. A cycle is defined as:
(DWORD) An amount of discharge approximately equal to the value of Design
Capacity.
• 0x000000000 – 0xFFFFFFFE
• 0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown cycle count
Measurement Integer The accuracy of the battery capacity measurement, in thousandth of a
Accuracy (DWORD) percent. (0% - 100.000%) For example, The value 80000 would mean
80% accuracy.
Max Sampling Integer The sampling time is the duration between two consecutive
Time (DWORD) measurements of the battery’s capacities specified in _BST, such as
present rate and remaining capacity. If the OSPM makes two succeeding
readings through _BST beyond the duration, two different results will be
returned.
The Max Sampling Time is the maximum sampling time the battery can
support, in milliseconds.
0xFFFFFFFF is returned if the information is unavailable.
Min Sampling Integer The Min Sampling Time is the minimum sampling time the battery can
Time (DWORD) support, in milliseconds.
0xFFFFFFFF is returned if the information is unavailable.
Max Averaging Integer The Average Interval is the length of time (in milliseconds) within which
Interval (DWORD) the battery averages the capacity measurements specified in _BST, such
as remaining capacity and present rate.
The Sampling time specifies the frequency of measurements, and the
average interval specifies the width of the time window of every
measurement.
This field indicates the maximum Average Interval that the battery
supports.
Min Averaging Integer This field indicates the minimum Average Interval that the battery
Interval (DWORD) supports
Battery Capacity Integer Battery capacity granularity between low and warning in [mAh] or [mWh].
capable of measuring. See note below for more details
Battery Capacity Integer Battery capacity granularity between warning and Full in [mAh] or [mWh].
capable of measuring. This may be a different value than Battery
Capacity Granularity 1 to accommodate systems where the granularity
accuracy may change depending on the battery level. See note below for
more details.
Model Number String OEM-specific Control Method Battery model number
(ASCIIZ)


Serial Number String OEM-specific Control Method Battery serial number
(ASCIIZ)
Battery Type String The OEM-specific Control Method Battery type
(ASCIIZ)
OEM Information String OEM-specific information for the battery that the UI uses to display the
(ASCIIZ) OEM information about the Battery. If the OEM does not support this
information, this field should contain a NULL string.
Battery Integer • 0x00000000 Non swappable battery (for example, sealed internal
Swapping (DWORD) battery not accessible to user)
Capability • 0x00000001 Cold swappable battery, i.e. batteries that require system
to be shut down in order to replace the battery while on DC power (for
example, phone and laptop batteries accessible to user)
• 0x00000010 Hot swappable battery, i.e. batteries that do not require
the system to be shut down in order to replace/remove the battery
while on DC power (for example, accessory batteries, cd tray
batteries, external batteries, dock batteries, keyboard batteries)
Note: A secondary-type battery should report the corresponding capacity (except for Unknown).
Note: On a multiple-battery system, all batteries in the system should return the same granularity.
Note: Operating systems prefer these control methods to report data in terms of power (watts).
Note: On a multiple-battery system, all batteries in the system must use the same power unit.
Note: The definition of battery capacity granularity has been clarified. For OSPM to determine if systems
support the clarified definition of battery capacity granularity, OSPM may evaluate an _OSC
method at the battery scope to indicate support for this capability, and for the platform to indicate if
it supports these extended capabilities.
10.2.2.3 _OSC Definition for Control Method Battery

_OSC for control method battery is uniquely identified by the UUID:
F18FC78B-0F15-4978-B793-53F833A1D35B
The Revision 1 capabilities described under this _OSC are defined in Table 10-321.
Table 10-321 Control Method Battery _OSC Capabilities DWORD2 Bit Definitions
Capabilities Interpretation
DWORD2 bits
0 0 – OS does not support revised battery granularity definition.
1 – OS supports revised battery granularity definition.
1 0 – OS does not support specifying wake on low battery user preference.
1 – OS supports specifying wake on low battery user preference, See Section 9.2.3,
_BLT Battery Level Threshold) for more information.
2-31 Reserved

Bits defined in Capabilities DWORD2 provide information regarding OS supported features.

Contents in DWORD2 are passed one-way; the OS will disregard the corresponding bits of
DWORD2 in the Return Code.
10.2.2.4 _BMA (Battery Measurement Averaging Interval)

This object is used to set the averaging interval of the battery capacity measurement, in milliseconds.
The Battery Measurement Averaging Interval is the length of time within which the battery averages
the capacity measurements specified in _BST, such as remaining capacity and present rate.
The OSPM may read the Max Average Interval and Min Average Interval with _BIX during boot
time, and set a specific average interval within the range with _BMA.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – AveragingInterval (Integer(DWORD)) the averaging interval of battery capacity
measurement:
0x00000001 – 0xFFFFFFFF (in units of millisecond)
Return Value:
An Integer (DWORD) containing a result code as follows:
0x00000000 – Success.
0x00000001 – Failure to set Battery Measurement Averaging Interval because it is out of the
battery’s measurement capability.
0x00000002 – 0xFFFFFFFF – Reserved.
10.2.2.5 _BMS (Battery Measurement Sampling Time)

This object is used to set the sampling time of the battery capacity measurement, in milliseconds.
The Sampling Time is the duration between two consecutive measurements of the battery’s
capacities specified in _BST, such as present rate and remaining capacity. If the OSPM makes two
succeeding readings through _BST beyond the duration, two different results will be returned.
The OSPM may read the Max Sampling Time and Min Sampling Time with _BIX during boot time,
and set a specific sampling time within the range with _BMS.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – SamplingTime (Integer(DWORD)) the sampling time of battery capacity measurement:
0x00000001 – 0xFFFFFFFF (in units of millisecond)
Return Value:
0x00000000 – Success.
0x00000001 – Failure to set Battery Measurement Sampling Time because it is out of the battery’s
measurement capability.
0x00000002 – 0xFFFFFFFF – Reserved.

10.2.2.6 _BST (Battery Status)

This object returns the present battery status. Whenever the Battery State value changes, the system
will generate an SCI to notify the OS.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing the battery status as described below

_BST returns a package in the format below
Package {
Battery State // Integer (DWORD)
Battery Present Rate // Integer (DWORD)
Battery Remaining Capacity // Integer (DWORD)
Battery Present Voltage // Integer (DWORD)
}
Table 10-322 BST Return Package Values

Element Format Description
Battery Integer Bit values. Notice that the Charging bit and the Discharging bit are mutually
State (DWORD) exclusive and must not both be set at the same time. Even in critical state,
hardware should report the corresponding charging/discharging state.
• Bit [0] – 1 indicates the battery is discharging.
• Bit [1] – 1 indicates the battery is charging.
• Bit [2 ]– 1 indicates the battery is in the critical energy state (see
Section 3.9.4, “Low Battery Levels”). This does not mean battery failure.
Battery Integer Returns the power or current being supplied or accepted through the battery’s
Present (DWORD) terminals (direction depends on the Battery State value). The Battery Present
Rate Rate value is expressed as power [mWh] or current [mAh] depending on the
Power Unit value.
Batteries that are rechargeable and are in the discharging state are required to
return a valid Battery Present Rate value.
• 0x00000000 – 0x7FFFFFFF in [mW] or [mA]
0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown rate
Battery Integer Returns the estimated remaining battery capacity. The Battery Remaining
Remaining (DWORD) Capacity value is expressed as power [mWh] or current [mAh] depending on the
Capacity Power Unit value.
Batteries that are rechargeable are required to return a valid Battery Remaining
Capacity value.
• 0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown capacity
Battery Integer Returns the voltage across the battery’s terminals.
Present (DWORD) Batteries that are rechargeable must report Battery Present Voltage.
Voltage • 0x000000000 – 0x7FFFFFFF in [mV]
• 0xFFFFFFFF – Unknown voltage
Note: Only a primary battery can report unknown voltage.

Notice that when the battery is a primary battery (a non-rechargeable battery such as an Alkaline-
Manganese battery) and cannot provide accurate information about the battery to use in the
calculation of the remaining battery life, the Control Method Battery can report the percentage
directly to OS. It does so by reporting the Last Full Charged Capacity =100 and
BatteryPresentRate=0xFFFFFFFF. This means that Battery Remaining Capacity directly reports the
battery’s remaining capacity [%] as a value in the range 0 through 100 as follows:
Battery Remaining Capacity [=0 ~ 100]

Remaining Battery Percentage[%] = * 100
Last Full Charged Capacity [=100]
Figure 10-63 Remaining Battery Percent Formula

Remaining Battery Life [h] = = unknown
Battery Present Rate [=0xFFFFFFFF]
Figure 10-64 Remaining Battery Life Formula
10.2.2.7 _BTH (Battery Throttle Limit)

This method will communicate to the platform firmware the thermal throttle limit set by on the
battery.
Arguments:
Arg0 – An integer from 0 to 100 containing the battery thermal throttle limit in percentage. At 100%,
the battery can be charged at maximum current.
Return Value:
None.
Note: Firmware is responsible for taking the current thermal throttle limit into account when engaging
charging.

Example:
Scope(\_SB) {
Scope(\_SB.PCI0.ISA0) {
Device(EC0) {
Name(_HID, EISAID("PNP0C09")) // ID for this EC
// current resource description for this EC
IO(Decode16,0x62,0x62,0,1)
IO(Decode16,0x66,0x66,0,1)
})
Name(_GPE, 0) // GPE index for this EC
// create EC's region and field for thermal support
OperationRegion(EC0, EmbeddedControl, 0, 0xFF)
TMP, 16, // current temp
PSV, 16, // passive cooling temp
BTH 16, // battery charge rate limit
}
// following is a method that OSPM will schedule after
// it receives an SCI and queries the EC to receive value 7
Method(_Q07) {
Notify (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.TZ0, 0x80) } // end of Notify method
// create a thermal zone
ThermalZone (TZ0) {
Method(_TMP) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.TMP )} // get current temp
Method(_PSV) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.PSV) } // passive cooling temp
Name(_TZD, Package (){\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.BAT0}) // passive cooling devices
Name(_TC1, 4) // bogus example constant
Name(_TSP, 150) // passive sampling = 15 sec
} // end of TZ0
Device (BAT0) {
Name(_HID, "PNP0C0A")
Name(_UID, One)
Method (_BTH, 0x1, NotSerialized) {
Store(Arg0, \_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.BTH)
}
// additional battery objects
}
} // end of ECO
} // end of \_SB.PCI0.ISA0 scope
10.2.2.8 _BTP (Battery Trip Point)

This object is used to set a trip point to generate an SCI whenever the Battery Remaining Capacity
reaches or crosses the value specified in the _BTP object. Specifically, if Battery Remaining
Capacity is less than the last argument passed to _BTP, a notification must be issued when the value
of Battery Remaining Capacity rises to be greater than or equal to this trip-point value. Similarly, if
Battery Remaining Capacity is greater than the last argument passed to _BTP, a notification must be
issued when the value of Battery Remaining Capacity falls to be less than or equal to this trip-point
value. The last argument passed to _BTP will be kept by the system.
If the battery does not support this function, the _BTP control method is not located in the
namespace. In this case, the OS must poll the Battery Remaining Capacity value.

Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the new battery trip point
0 – Clear the trip point
1 – 0x7FFFFFFF – New trip point, in units of mWh or mAh depending on the Power Units value
Return Value:
None
10.2.2.9 _BTM (Battery Time)

This optional object returns the estimated runtime of the battery while it is discharging.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the rate at which the battery is expected to discharge
0 – Indicates that the battery will continue discharging at the current rate. The rate should be based
on the average rate of drain, not the current rate of drain.
1 – 0x7FFFFFFFThe discharge rate (in mA or mW)
Return Value:
An Integer containing the estimated remaining runtime
0 – The input discharge rate (Arg0) is too large for the battery or batteries to supply. If the input
argument was 0, this value indicates that the battery is critical.
1 – 0xFFFFFFFE –Estimated runtime in seconds
0xFFFFFFFF –Runtime is unknown
10.2.2.10 _BCT (Battery Charge Time)

When the battery is charging, this optional object returns the estimated time from present to when it
is charged to a given percentage of Last Full Charge Capacity.
Arguments:
Arg0 – ChargeLevel (Integer (DWORD)): The queried charge level in units of percent of Last Full
Charge Capacity. For example: 96 refers to 96% of Last Full Charge Capacity. Valid values are 1 –
100 (0x00000001 – 0x00000064).
Return Value:
0x00000000 –Specified targeted charging capacity is smaller than the current remaining capacity
or larger than 100% of Last Full Charge Capacity.
0x00000001 –0xFFFFFFFE – Estimated charging time in seconds
0xFFFFFFFF –Charging time is unknown
10.2.2.11 _BMD (Battery Maintenance Data)

This optional object returns information about the battery’s capabilities and current state in relation
to battery calibration and charger control features. If the _BMC object (defined below) is present
under a battery device, this object must also be present. Whenever the Status Flags value changes,
AML code will issue a Notify(battery_device, 0x82). In addition, AML will issue a

Notify(battery_device, 0x82) if evaluating _BMC did not result in causing the Status Flags to be set
as indicated in that argument to _BMC. AML is not required to issue Notify(battery_device, 0x82) if
the Status Flags change while evaluating _BMC unless the change does not correspond to the
argument passed to _BMC.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing the battery maintenance data as described below

_BMD returns a package in the format below:
Package {
Status Flags // Integer (DWORD)
Capability Flags // Integer (DWORD)
Recalibrate Count // Integer (DWORD)
Quick Recalibrate Time // Integer (DWORD)
Slow Recalibrate Time // Integer (DWORD)
}
Table 10-323 BMD Return Package Values

Status Integer Bit values. Bit [0] is mutually exclusive with bit [1] and bit [2]. If the charger is
Flags (DWORD) being manually controlled, there cannot be an AML controlled calibration cycle.
• Bit [0 ]– 1 indicates the battery is running an AML controlled calibration cycle
• Bit [1] – 1 indicates that charging has been disabled.
• Bit [2] – 1 indicates the battery is configured to discharge while AC power is
available.
• Bit [3] – 1 indicates that the battery should be recalibrated.
• Bit [4 ]– 1 indicates that the OS should put the system into standby to speed
charging during a calibration cycle. This is optional (based on user
preference) if “Slow Recalibrate Time” is not equal to 0x00000000.
• Bit [31:5] – reserved.
Capability Integer Bit values that describe the capabilities of the battery system. These bits allows
Flags (DWORD) a battery system with more limited capabilities to still be calibrated by OSPM.
• Bit [0] – 1 indicates that an AML controlled calibration cycle is supported.
• Bit [1] – 1 indicates that disabling the charger is supported.
• Bit [2 ]– 1 indicates that discharging while running on AC is supported.
• Bit [3 ]– 1 indicates that calling _BMC for one battery will affect the state of all
batteries in the system. This is for battery systems that cannot control
batteries individually.
• Bit [4 ]– 1 indicates that calibration should be done by first fully charging the
battery and then discharging it. Not setting this bit will indicate that calibration
can be done by simply discharging the battery.
• Bit [31:5] – reserved.


Recalibrate Integer This is used by battery systems that can’t detect when calibration is required,
Count (DWORD) but wish to recommend that the battery should be calibrated after a certain
number of cycles. Counting the number of cycles and partial cycles is done by
the OS.
• 0x00000000 – Only calibrate when Status Flag bit [3] is set.
• 0x00000000 – 0xFFFFFFFF – calibrate battery after detecting this many
battery cycles.
Quick Integer Returns the estimated time it will take to calibrate the battery if the system is put
Recalibrate (DWORD) into standby whenever Status Flags bit [4] is set. While the AML controlled
Time calibration cycle is in progress, this returns the remaining time in the calibration
cycle.
• 0x000000000 – indicates that standby while calibrating the battery is not
supported. The system should remain in S0 until calibration is completed.
• 0x00000001 – 0xFFFFFFFE – estimated recalibration time in seconds.
• 0xFFFFFFFF – indicates that the estimated time to recalibrate the battery is
unknown.
Slow Integer Returns the estimated time it will take to calibrate the battery if Status Flag Bit
Recalibrate (DWORD) [4] is ignored. While the AML controlled calibration cycle is in progress, this
Time returns the remaining time in the calibration cycle.
• 0x000000000 – indicates that battery calibration may not be successful if
Status Flags Bit [4] is ignored.
• 0x00000001 – 0xFFFFFFFE – estimated recalibration time in seconds.
• 0xFFFFFFFF – indicates that the estimated time to recalibrate the battery is
unknown.
See Section 3.9.5, “Battery Calibration” for an overview of Battery Calibration.

The Capability Flags and Recalibration Count are used to indicate what functions are controlled by
AML and what functions are controlled by OSPM as described in section 3.9.5, “Battery
Calibration”. If the system does not implement an AML controlled calibration cycle (bit [0]), it may
indicate using bit [1] and bit [2] that the OS can control a generic calibration cycle without
prompting the user to remove the power cord. Recalibration Count may be used to indicate that the
platform runtime firmware cannot determine when calibration should be preformed so bit 3 of the
Status Flags will never be set. In that case, OSPM will attempt to count the number of cycles.
Bit [3] is used by systems that do not have individual control over the batteries and can only perform
calibration on all batteries in the system at once. On such a system, if one battery requests calibration
and another battery does not, the OS may suggest that the user remove the battery that doesn’t need
calibration, before initiating the calibration cycle. When this bit is set, reading the Recalibrate Time
from either battery should give the time to recalibrate all batteries present in the system.
10.2.2.12 _BMC (Battery Maintenance Control)

This object is used to initiate calibration cycles or to control the charger and whether or not a battery
is powering the system. This object is only present under a battery device if the _BMD Capabilities
Flags field has bit 0, 1, or 2 set.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing feature control flags

Bit [0] – Set to initiate an AML controlled calibration cycle. Clear to end the calibration cycle
Bit [1] – Set to disable charging. Clear to enable charging
Bit [2] – Set to allow the battery to discharge while AC power is available. Clear to prevent
discharging while AC power is available
Return Value:
None
See Section 3.9.5 for an overview of Battery Calibration.
Evaluating this object with bit0 set will initiate an AML controlled recalibration cycle if _BMD
indicates that this is supported. The calibration cycle is controlled by the platform and will typically
include disabling the AC adapter and discharging the battery, then charging the battery. While the
battery is charging, the platform runtime firmware should set Bit [4] of the Status flags returned by
_BMD if it is possible to put the system into standby during calibration to speed up charging.
Evaluating this with Bit [0] equal to 0 will abort the calibration cycle if one is in process. If the
platform runtime firmware determines that the calibration cycle must be aborted (for example AC
power is lost), or the calibration completes successfully, the platform runtime firmware will end the
cycle automatically, clear the _BMD Status Flag Bit [0], and send a notify 0x82. While the
calibration cycle is in process, the battery will report data normally, so the OS must disable battery
alarms.
Bit [1] and Bit [2] may not be used in conjunction with the AML controlled calibration cycle.
Having Bit [0] set will override Bit [1] and Bit [2]. Bit [1] will prevent the battery from charging
even though AC power is connected. Bit [2] will allow the system to draw its power from the battery
even though AC power is available. When the battery is no longer capable of delivering current, this
setting is automatically cleared, and the system will continue running off AC power without
interruption. In addition, if AC power is lost this bit will be cleared. When AC power comes back,
the OS must set the bit again if the user wants to continue discharging. When the system clears this
bit automatically, it will result in a change in the Status Flags returned by _BMD. This will cause a
notify 0x82. Bit [1] is only cleared automatically if an AML controlled calibration cycle is initiated.
When a battery is discharging because Bit [2] is set, the _PSR method of the AC adapter device will
report that AC is offline because the system is not running off of the AC adapter. If the batteries are
controlled individually (Bit [3] of the _BMD Capabilities Flags), setting either battery to discharge
will cause _PSR to report AC offline. If more than one battery in the system has Bit [2] set to
discharge the battery, it is up to the system to decide which battery to discharge, so only on a system
that discharges the batteries one at a time, a battery with Bit2 set may not be discharging if another
battery in the system is being discharged.
If Batteries are not controlled individually, calling _BMC will initiate calibration, disable charge,
and/or allow discharge on all batteries in the system. The state of these batteries will be reflected in
the _BMD Status Flags for all batteries.
10.3 AC Adapters and Power Source Objects

The Power Source objects describe the system’s power source. These objects may be defined under
a Power Source device which is declared using a hardware identifier (_HID) of “ACPI0003”.
Typically there will be a power source device for each physical power supply contained within the
system. However, in cases where the power supply is shared, as in a blade server configuration, this

may not be possible. Instead the firmware can choose to expose a virtual power supply that
represents one or more of the physical power supplies.
Table 10-324 Power Source Objects

Object Description
_PSR Returns whether this power source device is currently online.
_PCL List of pointers to devices this power source is powering.
_PIF Returns static information about a power source.
_PRL List of pointers to all the other power source devices that belong in the same redundancy group
of which the power supply device is a member.
10.3.1 _PSR (Power Source)

Returns whether the power source device is currently in use. This can be used to determine if system
is running off this power supply or adapter. On mobile systes this will report that the system is not
running on the AC adapter if any of the batteries in the system is being forced to discharge. In
systems that contains multiple power sources, this object reports the power source’s online or offline
status.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the power source status
0 – Off-line (not on AC power)
1 – On-line
10.3.2 _PCL (Power Consumer List)

This object evaluates to a list of pointers, each pointing to a device or a bus powered by the power
source device. Pointing to a bus indicates that all devices under the bus are powered by the power
source device.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of References to devices or buses
10.3.3 _PIF (Power Source Information)

This object returns information about the Power Source, which remains constant until the Power
Source is changed. When the power source changes, the platform issues a Notify(0x0) (Bus Check)
to the Power Source device to indicate that OSPM must re-evaluate the _PIF object.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
A Package with the following format:
Package {
Power Source State // Integer (DWORD)
Maximum Output Power // Integer (DWORD)
Maximum Input Power // Integer (DWORD)
Model Number // String (ASCIIZ)
Serial Number // String (ASCIIZ)
OEM Information // String (ASCIIZ)
}
Table 10-325 PIF Method Result Codes

Power Source Integer Bit values that describe the type of this Power Source. These bits are
State (DWORD) especially useful in server scenarios.
Bit [0] – indicates the power source is a redundant one. If this bit is set,
this Power Source device should have a _PRL object.
Bit [1] – indicates the power source is being shared across multiple
machines.
Bit [31:2] – Reserved.
Maximum Output Integer The maximum rated output wattage of the power source device. [mW]
Power (DWORD) 0xFFFFFFFF is returned if the information is unavailable.
Maximum Input Integer The maximum rated input wattage of the power source device. [mW]
Power (DWORD) 0xFFFFFFFF is returned if the information is unavailable.
Model Number String OEM-specific Power Source model number. This element is optional
(ASCIIZ) and an empty string (a null character) should be used if this is not
supported.
Serial Number String OEM-specific Power Source serial number. This element is optional
(ASCIIZ) and an empty string (a null character) should be used if this is not
supported.
OEM Information String OEM-specific information that the UI uses to display about the Power
(ASCIIZ) Source device. This element is optional and a NULL string should be
used if this is not supported.
10.3.4 _PRL (Power Source Redundancy List)

This optional object evaluates to a list of Power Source devices that are in the same redundancy
grouping as Power Source device under which this object is defined. A redundancy grouping is a
group of power supplies that together provide redundancy. For example, on a system that contains
two power supplies that each could independently power the system, both power supplies would be
part of the same redundancy group. This is used in conjunction with the Power Source State values
specified by the _PIF object.
The entries should be in the format of a fully qualified ACPI namespace path.
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of References to power source devices. It has the
following format:
Package {
Power source[0], // Reference
Power source[1], // Reference
Power source[n] // Reference

}
10.4 Power Meters

The following section describes Power Metering objects. These objects may be defined under a
Power Meter device which is declared using the ACPI000D hardware identifier (_HID).
Table 10-326 Power Meter Objects

Object Description
_GAI Gets the averaging interval used by the power meter.
_GHL Gets the hardware power consumption limit that is enforced by the Power Meter.
_PAI Sets the power averaging interval used by the Power Meter.
_PMC Returns Power Meter capabilities.
_PMD Returns a list of devices whose power consumption is measured by the Power Meter.
_PMM Returns the power consumption measured by the Power Meter.
_PTP Sets Power Meter device trip points.
_SHL Sets the hardware power consumption limit that is enforced by the Power Meter.
10.4.1 _PMC (Power Meter Capabilities)

This object returns the capabilities of a power meter. This information remains constant unless either
the power meter’s firmware or the BMC hardware changes, at which time the platform is required to
send Notify(power_meter, 0x80) for the OSPM to re-evaluate _PMC.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package with the following format:

Package {
Supported Capabilities // Integer (DWORD)
Measurement Unit // Integer (DWORD)
Measurement Type // Integer (DWORD)
Measurement Accuracy // Integer (DWORD)
Measurement Sampling Time // Integer (DWORD)
Minimum Averaging Interval // Integer (DWORD)
Maximum Averaging Interval // Integer (DWORD)
Hysteresis Margin // Integer (DWORD)
Hardware Limit Is Configurable // Boolean (DWORD)
Min Configurable Hardware Limit // Integer (DWORD)
Max Configurable Hardware Limit // Integer (DWORD)
Model Number // String
Serial Number // String
OEM Information // String
}
Table 10-327 PMC Method Result Codes

Type
Supported Integer A bitmask that represents the capability flags:
Capabilities (DWORD) Bit [0] – indicates the power meter supports measurement.
Bit [1] – indicates the power meter supports trip points.
Bit [2] – indicates the power meter supports hardware enforced limit.
Bit [3 ]– indicates that the power meter supports notifications when the
hardware limit is enforced.
Bit [7:4] – reserved.
Bit [8] – indicates the power meter only reports data when discharging. This
applies to power meters that are battery-type devices.
Bit [9:31] Reserved
Measurement Integer The units used by the power meter to report measurement and configure trip
Unit (DWORD) points and hardware enforced limits.
0x00000000 – indicates measurements are reported in [mW].
Measurement Integer The type of measurement the power meter is measuring. A power meter may
Type (DWORD) measure either input or output power, not both.
0x00000000 – indicates the power meter is measuring input power.
0x00000001 – indicates the power meter is measuring output power.
Measurement Integer The accuracy of the power meter device, in thousandth of a percent. (0% -
Accuracy (DWORD) 100.000%) For example, The value 80000 would mean 80% accuracy.
Measurement Integer The sampling time of the power meter device, in milliseconds. This is the
Sampling (DWORD) minimum amount of time at which the measurement value will change. In
Time other words, the same reading will be returned by _PMM if OSPM makes 2
consecutive reads within a measurement sampling time. 0xFFFFFFFF is
returned if the information is unavailable.
Minimum Integer This is the minimum length of time (in milliseconds) within which the power
Averaging (DWORD) meter firmware is capable of averaging the measurements within it.
Interval
Maximum Integer This is the maximum length of time (in milliseconds) within which the power
Averaging (DWORD) meter firmware is capable of averaging the measurements within it.
Interval


Type
Hysteresis Integer The margin used by the BMC for hysteresis, in the unit of [Measurement Unit
Margin (DWORD) / Measurement Sampling Time]. This indicates the margin built around the
trip points and hardware limit notifications. This margin prevents unnecessary
notifies to the OSPM when the reading is fluctuating very close to one of the
trip points or the hardware limit. 0xFFFFFFFF is returned if the information is
unavailable.
Hardware Integer This boolean value represents whether hardware enforced limit is
Limit Is (DWORD) configurable by the OSPM.
Configurable 0x00000000 (zeros) – indicates the limit is read-only.
0xFFFFFFFF (ones) – indicates the limit is writable.
Minimum Integer The minimum value that can be configured into the hardware enforced limit,
Configurable (DWORD) expressed in the units as specified by Measurement Unit.
Hardware
Limit
Maximum Integer The maximum value that can be configured into the hardware enforced limit,
Configurable (DWORD) expressed in the units as specified by Measurement Unit.
Hardware
Limit
Model String OEM-specific Power meter model number. This element is optional and an
Number (ASCIIZ) empty string (a null character) should be used if this is not supported.
Serial String OEM-specific Power meter serial number. This element is optional and an
Number (ASCIIZ) empty string (a null character) should be used if this is not supported.
OEM String OEM-specific information that the UI uses to display about the Power meter
Information (ASCIIZ) device. This element is optional and a NULL string should be used if this is
not supported.
10.4.2 _PTP (Power Trip Points)

This object sets the upper and lower trip points for the power meter device. These 2 trip points define
a hysteresis range for which the OSPM can tolerate without re-reading the current measurement via
_PMM. When the power meter draw goes outside the range, a Notify(power_meter, 0x81) should be
sent to notify the OSPM, at which time the OSPM should re-evaluate _PMM and also set a pair of
trip points around the newest reading. If the latest value measured by the power meter is outside of
the range defined by the trip points by the time _PTP is called, a result code is returned.
Arguments: (2)
Arg0 (Integer) : Upper Trip Point
Arg1 (Integer) : Lower Trip Point
Return Value:
An Integer containing the status of the operation:
0x00000000 – Success
0x00000001 – Failure to set trip points because latest measurement is out of range
0x00000002 – Failure to set trip points due to hardware timeout

0x00000003 – Failure to set trip points due to unknown hardware error

0x00000004 – 0xFFFFFFFF - Reserved
10.4.3 _PMM (Power Meter Measurement)

This object returns the latest measurement reading from the power meter device. The value returned
represents real power (i.e. power factor is included in the value). In most cases this is a rolling
average value that is computed by the firmware over an averaging interval. On systems where this
interval can be configured, the _PAI object should be present under the power meter device (see
Section 10.4.4).
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer is returned to represent the latest measurement reading from the power meter device.
This value should be in the unit specified in the power meter capabilities (typically in milliwatts),
and is required to be the RMS value if the power meter is measuring in AC. If an error occurs while
obtaining the meter reading or if the value is not available then an Integer with all bits set is returned.
10.4.4 _PAI (Power Averaging Interval)

This object sets the averaging interval used by the power meter. The averaging interval is the total
time the power meter will take instantaneous measurement samples for, before averaging them to
produce the average power measurement as returned by _PMM. If the platform changes the
averaging interval independently from OSPM, the platform must issue a Notify(power_meter, 0x84)
to indicate the change to the OSPM. Upon receiving the notification, OSPM evaluates the _GAI
object to read the new averaging interval.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer that represents the desired value OSPM chose to be the power averaging interval,
in milliseconds. This value needs to be within the minimum and maximum averaging interval as
specified by _PMC. Otherwise, a failure result code is returned.
Return Value:
0x00000001 – Failure to set power averaging interval because it is out of range
0x00000002 – Failure to set power averaging interval due to hardware timeout
0x00000003 – Failure to set power averaging interval due to unknown hardware error
10.4.5 _GAI (Get Averaging Interval)

This object gets the averaging interval used by the power meter. The averaging interval is the total
time the power meter will take instantaneous measurement samples for, before averaging them to
produce the average power measurement as returned by _PMM. If the platform changes the

averaging interval independently from OSPM, the platform must issue a Notify(power_meter, 0x84)
to indicate the change to the OSPM. Upon receiving the notification, OSPM evaluates the _GAI
object to read the new averaging interval.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the currently configured power averaging interval, in milliseconds. If an error
occurs while obtaining the averaging interval or if the value is not available then an Integer with all
bits set is returned.
10.4.6 _SHL (Set Hardware Limit)

This object sets the hardware limit enforced by the power meter. This limit, if supported, will be
enforced by the circuitry on the platform hardware, to the best of its effort. This value is typically
also configurable via other out-of-band management mechanism. When the enforcement happens,
the platform should send a Notify(power_meter, 0x83) to the OSPM.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer value that represent the desired value OSPM chose as the hardware enforced
limit of this power meter, in the unit specified in _PMC. This value needs to be within the minimum
and maximum hardware limit as specified by _PMC. Otherwise, a failure result code is returned.
Return Value:
0x00000001 – Failure to set hardware limit because it is out of range
0x00000002 – Failure to set hardware limit due to the hardware timeout
0x00000003 – Failure to set hardware limit due to unknown hardware error
10.4.7 _GHL (Get Hardware Limit)

This object gets the hardware limit enforced by the power meter. This limit can be changed by either
the OSPM or by the platform through some out-of-band mechanism. When this value is changed, a
Notify(power_meter, 0x82) should be sent to notify the OSPM to re-read the hardware limit. If an
error occurs while obtaining the hardware limit or if the value is not available then an Integer with all
bits set is returned.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer is returned to represent the currently configured hardware enforced limit of the power
meter, in the unit specified in _PMC.

10.4.8 _PMD (Power Metered Devices)

This object evaluates to a package of device names. Each name corresponds to a device in the ACPI
namespace that is being measured by the power meter device. The measurement reported by the
power meter is roughly correspondent to the total power draw of all the devices returned.
If this control method is present, the package needs to contain at least 1 device. On a system that
supports power metering, a system power meter that measures the power draw of the entire system
should always be present and have a _PMD that contains \_SB as its sole entry.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package consisting of references to devices being measured by the power meter.
Package {
Power Meter[0] // NamePath
Power Meter[1] // NamePath
...
Power Meter[n] // NamePath
}
10.5 Wireless Power Controllers

FCC regulations dictate reduced output power levels for wireless devices in the presence of a human
body. To get platform certifications and for regulatory compliance, wireless devices put static
transmit power limit data in device memory (either EEPROM or flash) and apply it on a per band/
country basis. FCC regulations allow devices to dynamically reduce Effective Isotropically Radiated
Power (EIRP) when in close proximity to a human body to mitigate its adverse effects.
On current platforms, a dedicated Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) sensor for each wireless device is
used for notifying the wireless device that the system is in close proximity to a human body. This
solution requires multiple SAR sensors for systems that have multiple wireless devices, and doesn’t
provide any mechanism for the wireless devices to collaborate for better efficiency.
The idea is to create a well-defined Wireless Power Calibration ACPI device with an ACPI event
which can constitute the basis for notifying the Operating System (OS) and all other wireless devices
on a given system. Wireless Power Calibration device event can be triggered from any proximity
sensor device or by wireless device to mitigate interference from other wireless devices as well. The
OS can then map specific notifications to each wireless device to invoke specific actions.
1. Define Plug and play ID for Wireless Power Calibration device(ACPI0014)
Wireless Power Calibration Device. This device can have a control method to sense proximity
using platform defined sensor such as SAR, depth camera, touch device etc.
Device can also have control method to broadcast other wireless device notifying the user
proximity change or in band interference. 
2. Define a notification value for the device

Notifying the Wireless Power Calibration device with specific ACPI notify event id will enable
wireless device or platform drivers to notify if EIRP needs to be regulated.

Table 10-328 Wireless Power Calibration

Object Description
_WPC Indicate the WPC device current operational state.[Required]
_WPP Evaluate the WPC object and return the status of last operational state.[Optional]
10.5.1 Wireless Power Calibration Device

The following sections illustrate the operation and definition of the control method based Wireless
Power Calibration Device (WPC).
10.5.2 Wireless Power Calibration (_WPC)

The wireless power calibration can support the _WPC methods per participant device to calibrate
power and notify the participant device as the case me be. (i.e. Either direct proximity based power
calibration or notification for interference mitigation).
The _WPC method of the WPC device functions as a notifier to the participant wireless devices and
indicates either the messaging is for interference mitigation or direct power calibration.
Return Value:
0x00 – Direct Proximity Power Control
0x01 – Interference Mitigation Control
0x02 – Operational Band Change Control
0xFF – Reserved
10.5.3 Wireless Power Polling (_WPP)

This optional method evaluates the recommended polling frequency (in tenths of seconds) for this
Wireless Power Calibration device. A value of zero – or the absence of this object when other WPC
objects are defined – indicates that the OS does not need to poll the WPC device in order to detect
meaningful changes in Wireless power calibration (the hardware is capable of generating
asynchronous notifications).
Argument:
None
Return:
An Integer containing the recommended polling frequency in tenths of seconds. A value of zero
indicates that polling is not required.
10.6 Wireless Power Calibration Event
To communicate the changes in wireless power transmission or interference mitigation to the
OSPM. AML code should issue a Notify (wpc_device, 0xXX) whenever a change in power
calibration or interference mitigation is required to happen. The OS receives this notification and

may call the _WPD control method to determine the notification action associated with it. Event
generated may contain the information related to associate action that recipient devices need to take.
WPD notification should occur whenever a change in power transmission needed either as a result of
human proximity or interference mitigation. The granularity of the interference mitigation and
power transmission can be address as per the operational device characteristics.
The WPC notification for interference mitigation will generate pairwise event among participant
devices or multicast is if the interference is observed in all the bands of operations involving the
wireless devices.
Table 10-329 Wireless Power Control Notification Values:

0x80 Proximity based power calibration
0x81 Interference mitigation between Wifi (802.11) and Bluetooth devices
0x82-85 Reserved for Wifi/BT interference mitigation for later use
0x86 Interference mitigation between Wifi (802.11) and LTE/3GPP bands
0x87-90 Reserved for Wifi/LTE/3GPP interference mitigation for later use
0x91 Interference mitigation between Bluetooth and LTE/3GPP devices
0x92-0x95 Reserved for Bluetooth and LTE/3GPP interference mitigation for later use
10.7 Example: Power Source and Power Meter Namespace

Figure 10-65 below shows the ACPI namespace for a computer with a power meter, AC adapter and
two batteries associated with a docking station which itself has an AC adapter.

\ (Root) ACPI Namespace Root
\_SB System Bus
d PMT1 Power Meter #1
_PMC Power Meter Capabilities

_PMD Power Metered Device List
_PMM Power Meter Measurement
_PAI Power Averaging Interval
PMD
_GAI
_PTP Power Trip Points
PAI
_GHL Get Hardware Limit
_SHL Set Hardware Limit
d ADP1 AC Adapter #1
_PSR Power Source Type

_PCL Power Consumer List
d BAT1 Battery #1
_HID Plug and Play ID for BAT1
_STA Battery 1 Device Status
_BIX Battery 1 Information
_BST Battery 1 Status
_BTP Battery 1 Trip Point
d BAT2 Battery #2
_HID Plug and Play ID for BAT2

_STA Battery 2 Device Status
_BIX Battery 2 Information
_BST Battery 2 Status
_BTP Battery 2 Trip Point
PCI0 PCI Root Bridge #0
d DOCK Docking Station

d ADP2 AC Adapter #2
_PSR Power Source Type

Figure 10-65 Power Meter and Power Source/Docking Namespace Example

ACPI Specification Thermal Management
11 Thermal Management
This section describes the ACPI thermal model and specifies the ACPI Namespace objects OSPM
uses for thermal management of the platform.
11.1 Thermal Control

ACPI defines interfaces that allow OSPM to be proactive in its system cooling policies. With OSPM
in control of the operating environment, cooling decisions can be made based on the system’s
application load, the user’s preference towards performance or energy conservation, and thermal
heuristics. Graceful shutdown of devices or the entire system at critical heat levels becomes possible
as well. The following sections describe the ACPI thermal model and the ACPI Namespace objects
available to OSPM to apply platform thermal management policy.
The ACPI thermal model is based around conceptual platform regions called thermal zones that
physically contain devices, thermal sensors, and cooling controls. Generally speaking, the entire
platform is one large thermal zone, but the platform can be partitioned into several ACPI thermal
zones if necessary to enable optimal thermal management.
ACPI Thermal zones are a logical collection of interfaces to temperature sensors, trip points, thermal
property information, and thermal controls. Thermal zone interfaces apply either thermal zone wide
or to specific devices, including processors, contained within the thermal zone. ACPI defines
namespace objects that provide the thermal zone-wide interfaces in Section 11.3, “Thermal
Objects”. A subset of these objects may also be defined under devices. OS implementations
compatible with the ACPI 3.0 thermal model, interface with these objects but also support OS native
device driver interfaces that perform similar functions at the device level. This allows the integration
of devices with embedded thermal sensors and controls, perhaps not accessible by AML, to
participate in the ACPI thermal model through their inclusion in the ACPI thermal zone. OSPM is
responsible for applying an appropriate thermal policy when a thermal zone contains both thermal
objects and native OS device driver interfaces for thermal control.
Some devices in a thermal zone may be comparatively large producers of thermal load in relation to
other devices in the thermal zone. Devices may also have varying degrees of thermal sensitivity. For
example, some devices may tolerate operation at a significantly higher temperature than other
devices. As such, the platform can provide OSPM with information about the platform’s device
topology and the resulting influence of one device’s thermal load generation on another device. This
information must be comprehended by OSPM for it to achieve optimal thermal management through
the application of cooling controls.
ACPI expects all temperatures to be represented in tenths of degrees. This resolution is deemed
sufficient to enable OSPM to perform robust platform thermal management.

Thermal Management ACPI Specification
Thermal Zone
Processor
T
Thermal Zone-wide active
Processor with embedded cooling device (Fan)
temperature sensor
Device T
Thermal Zone-wide
T
temperature sensor
Device with embedded temperature

sensor and local active cooling device
(Fan)
T Represents a Temperature Sensor
Figure 11-66 ACPI Thermal Zone
11.1.1 Active, Passive, and Critical Policies

There are three cooling policies that OSPM uses to control the thermal state of the hardware. The
policies are active, passive and critical.
• Active Cooling. OSPM takes a direct action such as turning on one or more fans. Applying
active cooling controls typically consume power and produce some amount of noise, but are able
to cool a thermal zone without limiting system performance. Active cooling temperature trip
points declare the temperature thresholds OSPM uses to decide when to start or stop different
active cooling devices.
• Passive Cooling. OSPM reduces the power consumption of devices to reduce the temperature of
a thermal zone, such as slowing (throttling) the processor clock. Applying passive cooling
controls typically produces no user-noticeable noise. Passive cooling temperature trip points
specify the temperature thresholds where OSPM will start or stop passive cooling.
• Critical Trip Points. These are threshold temperatures at which OSPM performs an orderly, but
critical, shutdown of a device or the entire system. The _HOT object declares the critical
temperature at which OSPM may choose to transition the system into the S4 sleeping state, if
supported, The _CRT object declares the critical temperature at which OSPM must perform a
critical shutdown.

When a thermal zone appears in the ACPI Namespace or when a new device becomes a member of a
thermal zone, OSPM retrieves the temperature thresholds (trip points) at which it executes a cooling
policy. When OSPM receives a temperature change notification, it evaluates the thermal zone’s
temperature interfaces to retrieve current temperature values. OSPM compares the current
temperature values against the temperature thresholds. If any temperature is greater than or equal to
a corresponding active trip point then OSPM will perform active cooling . If any temperature is
greater than or equal to a corresponding passive trip point then OSPM will perform passive cooling.
If the _TMP object returns a value greater than or equal to the value returned by the _HOT object
then OSPM may choose to transition the system into the S4 sleeping state, if supported. If the _TMP
object returns a value greater than or equal to the value returned by the _CRT object then OSPM
must shut the system down. Embedded Hot and Critical trip points may also be exposed by
individual devices within a thermal zone. Upon passing of these trip points, OSPM must decide
whether to shut down the device or the entire system based upon device criticality to system
operation. OSPM must also evaluate the thermal zone’s temperature interfaces when any thermal
zone appears in the namespace (for example, during system initialization) and must initiate a cooling
policy as warranted independent of receipt of a temperature change notification. This allows OSPM
to cool systems containing a thermal zone whose temperature has already exceeded temperature
thresholds at initialization time.
An optimally designed system that uses several thresholds can notify OSPM of thermal increase or
decrease by raising an event every several degrees. This enables OSPM to anticipate thermal trends
and incorporate heuristics to better manage the system’s temperature.
To implement a preference towards performance or energy conservation, OSPM can request that the
platform change the priority of active cooling (performance) versus passive cooling (energy
conservation/silence) by evaluating the _SCP (Set Cooling Policy) object for the thermal zone or a
corresponding OS-specific interface to individual devices within a thermal zone.
11.1.2 Dynamically Changing Cooling Temperature Trip Points

The platform or its devices can change the active and passive cooling temperature trip points and
notify OSPM to reevaluate the trip point interfaces to establish the new policy threshold settings.
The following are the primary uses for this type of thermal notification:
• When OSPM changes the platform’s cooling policy from one cooling mode to another.
• When a swappable bay device is inserted or removed. A swappable bay is a slot that can
accommodate several different devices that have identical form factors, such as a CD-ROM
drive, disk drive, and so on. Many mobile PCs have this concept already in place.
• After the crossing of an active or passive trip point is signaled to implement hysteresis.
In each situation, OSPM must be notified to re-evaluate the thermal zone’s trip points via the AML
code execution of a Notify(thermal_zone, 0x81) statement or via an OS specific interface invoked
by device drivers for zone devices participating in the thermal model.
11.1.2.1 OSPM Change of Cooling Policy

When OSPM changes the platform’s cooling policy from one cooling mode to the other, the
following occurs:

1. OSPM notifies the platform of the new cooling mode by running the Set Cooling Policy (_SCP)
control method in all thermal zones and invoking the OS-specific Set Cooling Policy interface to
all participating devices in each thermal zone.
2. Thresholds are updated in the hardware and OSPM is notified of the change.
3. OSPM re-evaluates the active and passive cooling temperature trip points for the zone and all
devices in the zone to obtain the new temperature thresholds.
11.1.2.2 Resetting Cooling Temperatures to Adjust to Bay Device Insertion or

Removal
The platform can adjust the thermal zone temperature to accommodate the maximum operating
temperature of a bay device as necessary. For example:
1. Hardware detects that a device was inserted into or removed from the bay, updates the
temperature thresholds, and then notifies OSPM of the thermal policy change and device
insertion events.
2. OSPM re-enumerates the devices and re-evaluates the active and passive cooling temperature
trip points.
11.1.2.3 Resetting Cooling Temperatures to Implement Hysteresis

An OEM can build hysteresis into platform thermal design by dynamically resetting cooling
temperature thresholds. For example:
1. When the temperature increases to the designated threshold, OSPM will turn on the associated
active cooling device or perform passive cooling.
2. The platform resets the threshold value to a lower temperature (to implement hysteresis) and
notifies OSPM of the change. Because of this new threshold value, the fan will be turned off at a
lower temperature than when it was turned on (therefore implementing a negative hysteresis).
3. When the temperature hits the lower threshold value, OSPM will turn off the associated active
cooling device or cease passive cooling. The hardware will reset _ACx to its original value and
notify OSPM that the trip points have once again been altered.
11.1.3 Detecting Temperature Changes

The ability of the platform and its devices to asynchronously notify an ACPI-compatible OS of
meaningful changes in the thermal zone’s temperature is a highly desirable capability that relieves
OSPM from implementing a poll-based policy and generally results in a much more responsive and
optimal thermal policy implementation. Each notification instructs OSPM to evaluate whether a trip
point has been crossed and allows OSPM to anticipate temperature trends for the thermal zone.
It is recognized that much of the hardware used to implement thermal zone functionality today is not
capable of generating ACPI-visible notifications (SCIs) or only can do so with wide granularity (for
example, only when the temperature crosses the critical threshold). In these environments, OSPM
must poll the thermal zone's temperature periodically to implement an effective policy.
While ACPI specifies a mechanism that enables OSPM to poll thermal zone temperature, platform
reliance on thermal zone polling is strongly discouraged by this specification. OEMs should design
systems that asynchronously notify OSPM whenever a meaningful change in the zone’s temperature
occurs – relieving OSPM of the overhead associated with polling. In some cases, embedded

controller firmware can overcome limitations of existing thermal sensor capabilities to provide the
desired asynchronous notification.
Notice that the _TZP (thermal zone polling) object is used to indicate whether a thermal zone must
be polled by OSPM, and if so, a recommended polling frequency. See Section 11.4.26, “_TZP,” for
more information.
11.1.3.1 Temperature Change Notifications

Thermal zone-wide temperature sensor hardware that supports asynchronous temperature change
notifications does so using an SCI. The AML code that responds to this SCI must execute a
Notify(thermal_zone, 0x80) statement to inform OSPM that a meaningful change in temperature has
occurred. Alternatively, devices with embedded temperature sensors may signal their associated
device drivers and the drivers may use an OS-specific interface to signal OSPM’s thermal policy
driver. A device driver may also invoke a device specific control method that executes a
Notify(thermal_zone, 0x80) statement. When OSPM receives this thermal notification, it will
evaluate the thermal zone’s temperature interfaces to evaluate the current temperature values. OSPM
will then compare the values to the corresponding cooling policy trip point values (either zone-wide
or device-specific). If the temperature has crossed over any of the policy thresholds, then OSPM will
actively or passively cool (or stop cooling) the system, or shut the system down entirely.
Both the number and granularity of thermal zone trip points are OEM-specific. However, it is
important to notice that since OSPM can use heuristic knowledge to help cool the system, the more
events OSPM receives the better understanding it will have of the system’s thermal characteristic.
95
90 _CRT: Critical shutdown threshold
85
80
75 _AC0: Fan high speed threshold
70
65 _AC1: Fan low speed threshold
Temperature Change
60
Events (SCIs)
55
50 _PSV: Passive cooling threshold
45
40
35
30
25
Figure 11-67 Thermal Events
For example, the simple thermal zone illustrated above includes hardware that will generate a
temperature change notification using a 5 Celsius granularity. All thresholds (_PSV, _AC1, _AC0,
and _CRT) exist within the monitored range and fall on 5 boundaries. This granularity is appropriate
for this system as it provides sufficient opportunity for OSPM to detect when a threshold is crossed
as well as to understand the thermal zone’s basic characteristics (temperature trends).
Note: The ACPI specification defines Kelvin as the standard unit for absolute temperature values. All
thermal zone objects must report temperatures in Kelvin when reporting absolute temperature

values. All figures and examples in this section of the specification use Celsius for reasons of
clarity. ACPI allows Kelvin to be declared in precision of 1/10th of a degree (for example, 310.5).
Kelvin is expressed as /K = TC + 273.2.
11.1.3.2 Polling
Temperature sensor hardware that is incapable of generating thermal change events, or that can do
so for only a few thresholds should inform OSPM to implement a poll-based policy. OSPM does this
to ensure that temperature changes across threshold boundaries are always detectable.
Polling can be done in conjunction with hardware notifications. For example, thermal zone hardware
that only supports a single threshold might be configured to use this threshold as the critical
temperature trip point. Assuming that hardware monitors the temperature at a finer granularity than
OSPM would, this environment has the benefit of being more responsive when the system is
overheating.
A thermal zone advertises the need to be polled by OSPM via the _TZP object. See Section 11.4.26,
“_TZP,” for more information.
11.1.4 Active Cooling

Active cooling devices typically consume power and produce some amount of noise when enabled.
These devices attempt to cool a thermal zone through the removal of heat rather than limiting the
performance of a device to address an adverse thermal condition.
The active cooling interfaces in conjunction with the active cooling lists or the active cooling
relationship table (_ART) allow the platform to use an active device that offers varying degrees of
cooling capability or multiple cooling devices. The active cooling temperature trip points designate
the temperature where Active cooling is engaged or disengaged (depending upon the direction in
which the temperature is changing). For thermal zone-wide active cooling controls, the _ALx object
evaluates to a list of devices that actively cool the zone or the _ART object evaluates to describe the
entire active cooling relationship of various devices. For example:
• If a standard single-speed fan is the Active cooling device, then _AC0 evaluates to the
temperature where active cooling is engaged and the fan is listed in _AL0.
• If the zone uses two independently controlled single-speed fans to regulate the temperature, then
_AC0 will evaluate to the maximum cooling temperature using two fans, and _AC1 will
evaluate to the standard cooling temperature using one fan.
• If a zone has a single fan with a low speed and a high speed, the _AC0 will evaluate to the
temperature associated with running the fan at high-speed, and _AC1 will evaluate to the
temperature associated with running the fan at low speed. _AL0 and _AL1 will both point to
different device objects associated with the same physical fan, but control the fan at different
speeds.
• If the zone uses two independently controlled multiple-speed fans to regulate the temperature,
_AC0 of the target devices evaluates to the temperature at which OSPM will engage fan devices
described by the _ART object as needed up to a maximum capability level.
For ASL coding examples that illustrate these points, see Section 11.6, “Thermal Zone Interface
Requirements,” and Section 11.7, “Thermal Zone Examples.”

11.1.5 Passive Cooling

Passive cooling controls are able to cool a thermal zone without creating noise and without
consuming additional power (actually saving power), but do so by decreasing the performance of the
devices in the zone .
11.1.5.1 Processor Clock Throttling

The processor passive cooling threshold (_PSV) in conjunction with the processor list (_PSL) allows
the platform to indicate the temperature at which a passive control, for example clock throttling, will
be applied to the processor(s) residing in a given thermal zone. Unlike other cooling policies, during
passive cooling of processors OSPM may take the initiative to actively monitor the temperature in
order to cool the platform.
On an ACPI-compatible platform that properly implements CPU throttling, the temperature
transitions will be similar to the following figure, in a coolable environment, running a coolable
workload:
Temperature
100%
Tn - 1
P
CPU Performance
Tn
Tt
_TSP (Sampling period)
50%
Time
Figure 11-68 Temperature and CPU Performance Versus Time
The following equation should be used by OSPM to assess the optimum CPU performance change
necessary to lower the thermal zone’s temperature:
Equation #1:
P [%] = _TC1 * ( Tn - Tn-1 ) + _TC2 * (Tn - Tt)
Where:
Tn = current temperature
Tt = target temperature (_PSV)
The two coefficients _TC1 and _TC2 and the sampling period _TSP are hardware-dependent
constants the OEM must supply to OSPM (for more information, see Section 11.4, “Thermal

Objects”). The _TSP object contains a time interval that OSPM uses to poll the hardware to sample
the temperature. Whenever the time value returned by _TSP has elapsed, OSPM will evaluate _TMP
to sample the current temperature (shown as Tn in the above equation). Then OSPM will use the
sampled temperature and the passive cooling temperature trip point (_PSV) (which is the target
temperature Tt) to evaluate the equation for P. The granularity of P is determined by the CPU
duty width of the system.
Note: Equation #1 has an implied formula.
Equation #2:
Pn = Pn-1 + HW[- ?P ] where Minimum% <= Pn <= 100%
For Equation #2, whenever Pn-1 + ?P lies outside the range Minimum0-100%, then Pn will be
truncated to Minimum0-100%. Minimum% is the _MTL limit, or 0% if _MTL is not defined. For
hardware that cannot assume all possible values of Pn between Minimum0 and 100%, a hardware
specific mapping function HW is used.
In addition, the hardware mapping function in Equation #2 should be interpreted as follows:
For absolute temperatures:
1. If the right hand side of Equation #1 is negative, HW[ P] is rounded to the next available higher
setting of frequency.
2. If the right hand side of Equation #1 is positive, HW[P] is rounded to the next available lower
For relative temperatures:
1. If the right hand side of Equation #1 is positive, HW[ P] is rounded to the next available higher
2. If the right hand side of Equation #1 is negative, HW[P] is rounded to the next available lower
• The calculated Pn becomes Pn-1 during the next sampling period.
• For more information about CPU throttling, see Section 8.1.1, Processor Power State C0.” A
detailed explanation of this thermal feedback equation is beyond the scope of this specification.
11.1.6 Critical Shutdown

When the thermal zone-wide temperature sensor value reaches the threshold indicated by _CRT,
OSPM must immediately shut the system down. The system must disable the power either after the
temperature reaches some hardware-determined level above _CRT or after a predetermined time has
passed. Before disabling power, platform designers should incorporate some time that allows OSPM
to run its critical shutdown operation. There is no requirement for a minimum shutdown operation
window that commences immediately after the temperature reaches _CRT. This is because:
• Temperature might rise rapidly in some systems and slowly on others, depending on casing
design and environmental factors.
• Shutdown can take several minutes on a server and only a few seconds on a hand-held device.
Because of this indistinct discrepancy and the fact that a critical heat situation is a remarkably rare
occurrence, ACPI does not specify a target window for a safe shutdown. It is entirely up to the OEM
to build in a safe buffer that it sees fit for the target platform.

11.2 Cooling Preferences

A robust OSPM implementation provides the means for the end user to convey a preference (or a
level of preference) for either performance or energy conservation to OSPM. Allowing the end user
to choose this preference is most critical to mobile system users where maximizing system run-time
on a battery charge often has higher priority over realizing maximum system performance. For
example, if a user is taking notes on her PC in a quiet environment, such as a library or a corporate
meeting, she may want the system to emphasize passive cooling so that the system operates quietly,
even at the cost of system performance.
A user preference towards performance corresponds to the Active cooling mode while a user’s
preference towards energy conservation or quiet corresponds to the Passive cooling mode. ACPI
defines an interface to convey the cooling mode to the platform. Active cooling can be performed
with minimal OSPM thermal policy intervention. For example, the platform indicates through
thermal zone parameters that crossing a thermal trip point requires a fan to be turned on. Passive
cooling requires OSPM thermal policy to manipulate device interfaces that reduce performance to
reduce thermal zone temperature.
Either cooling mode will be activated only when the thermal condition requires it. When the thermal
zone is at an optimal temperature level where it does not warrant any cooling, both modes result in a
system operating at its maximum potential with all fans turned off.
Thermal zones supporting the Set Cooling Policy interface allow the user to switch the system’s
cooling mode emphasis. See Section 11.4.13, “_SCP,” for more information.
95
90
85
80
75
70
Active Cooling Thresholds (_ACx) 65 Passive Cooling Threshold (_PSV)
60
55
50
45
40
35
30
25
Figure 11-69 Active and Passive Threshold Values
As illustrated in Figure 11-69, the platform must convey the value for each threshold to instruct
OSPM to initiate the cooling policies at the desired target temperatures. The platform can emphasize
active or passive cooling modes by assigning different threshold values. Generally, if _ACx is set
lower than _PSV, then the system emphasizes active cooling. Conversely, if _PSV is set lower than
_ACx, then the emphasis is placed on passive cooling.
For example, a thermal zone that includes a processor and one single-speed fan may use _PSV to
indicate the temperature value at which OSPM would enable passive cooling and _AC0 to indicate
the temperature at which the fan would be turned on. If the value of _PSV is less than _AC0 then the

system will favor passive cooling (for example, CPU clock throttling). On the other hand, if _AC0 is
less than _PSV the system will favor active cooling (in other words, using the fan). See Figure 11-70
below.
Active Cooling Passive Cooling

Preference Preference
95 95
90 _CRT 90 _CRT
85 85
80 80
75 _PSV 75 _AC0
70 70
65 65
60 60
55 55
50 _AC0 50 _PSV
45 45
40 40
35 35
30 30
25 25
Figure 11-70 Cooling Preferences
The example on the left enables active cooling (for example, turn on a fan) when OSPM detects the
temperature has risen above 50. If for some reason the fan does not reduce the system temperature,
then at 75 OSPM will initiate passive cooling (for example, CPU throttling) while still running the
fan. If the temperature continues to climb, OSPM will quickly shut the system down when the
temperature reaches 90C. The example on the right is similar but the _AC0 and _PSV threshold
values have been swapped to emphasize passive cooling.
The ACPI thermal model allows flexibility in the thermal zone design. An OEM that needs a less
elaborate thermal implementation may consider using only a single threshold (for example, _CRT).
Complex thermal implementations can be modeled using multiple active cooling thresholds and
devices, or through the use of additional thermal zones.
11.2.1 Evaluating Thermal Device Lists

The Notify(thermal_zone, 0x82) statement is used to inform OSPM that a change has been made to
the thermal zone device lists. This thermal event instructs OSPM to re-evaluate the _ALx, _PSL, and
_TZD objects.
For example, a system that supports the dynamic insertions of processors might issue this
notification to inform OSPM of changes to _PSL following the insertion or removal of a processor.
OSPM would re-evaluate all thermal device lists and adjust its policy accordingly.
Notice that this notification can be used with the Notify(thermal_zone, 0x81) statement to inform
OSPM to both re-evaluate all device lists and all thresholds.

Alternatively, devices may include the _TZM (Thermal Zone Member) object their device scope to
convey their thermal zone association to OSPM. Section 11.4.25, “_TZM (Thermal Zone Member)”,
for more information.
11.2.2 Evaluating Device Thermal Relationship Information

The Notify(thermal_zone, 0x83) statement is used to inform OSPM that a change has been made to
the thermal relationship information. This thermal event instructs OSPM to re-evaluate the _TRT
and _ART objects. The thermal influence between devices may change when active cooling moves
air across device packages as compared to when only passive cooling controls are applied. Similarly,
the active cooling relationship may change as various fans are engaged to actively cool a platform or
if user preferences change.
11.2.3Fan Device Notifications

Notify events of type 0x80 will cause OSPM to evaluate the _FST object to evaluate the fan’s
current speed.
11.3 Fan Device

ACPI 1.0 defined a simple fan device that is assumed to be in operation when it is in the D0 state.
Thermal zones reference fan device(s) as being responsible primarily for cooling within that zone.
Notice that multiple fan devices can be present for any one thermal zone. They might be actual
different fans, or they might be used to implement one fan of multiple speeds (for example, by
turning both “fans” on the one fan will run full speed).
ACPI 4.0 defines additional fan device interface objects enabling OSPM to perform more robust
active cooling thermal control. These objects are summarized in Table 11-330. OSPM requires that
all of the objects listed in Table 11-330 be defined under a fan device to enable advanced active
cooling control. The absence of any of these objects causes OSPM to perform ACPI 1.0 style simple
fan control .
The Plug and Play ID of a fan device is PNP0C0B.
Table 11-330 Fan Specific Objects

Object Description
_FIF Returns fan device information.
_FPS Returns a list of supported fan performance states.
_FSL Control method that sets the fan device’s speed level (performance state).
_FST Returns current status information for a fan device.
While the Fan Device and its associated objects are optional, if the Fan Device is implemented by
the platform, all objects listed in Table 11-330 are required and must be provided.

11.3.1 Fan Objects

11.3.1.1 _FIF (Fan Information)
The optional _FIF object provides OSPM with fan device capability information.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing the fan device parameters as described in Table 11-331 below
_FIF evaluation returns a package of the following format:
Package (){
FineGrainControl, // Integer Boolean
StepSize // Integer DWORD
LowSpeedNotificationSupport // Integer Boolean
}
Table 11-331 FIF Package Details

Fine Grain Integer A non zero value in this field indicates OSPM may evaluate the fan device’s
Control (Boolean) _FSL object with a Level argument value in the range of 0-100, which
represents a percentage of maximum speed. A zero value in this field
indicates that OSPM may evaluate the fan device’s _FSL object with a Level
argument value that is a Control field value from a package in the _FPS
object’s package list only.
Step Size Integer The recommended minimum step size in percentage points to be used
(DWORD) when OSPM performs fine-grained fan speed control. OSPM may utilize the
value of this field if the FineGrainControl field is non-zero the value in this
field is between 1 and 9.
Low Speed Integer A non zero value in this field indicates that the platform will issue a Notify
Notification (Boolean) (0x80) to the fan device if a low (errant) fan speed is detected.
Support
If a fan device supports fine-grained control, OSPM may evaluate a fan device’s _FSL object with
any Level argument value that is less than or equal to the Control field value specified in the package
of the _FPS object’s package list that corresponds to the active cooling trip point that has been
exceeded. This capability provides OSPM access to one hundred fan speed settings thus enabling
fine-grained fan speed control. The platform uses the StepSize field to help OSPM optimize its fan
level selection policy by fine-grained fan speed control. The platform uses the StepSize field to help
OSPM optimize its fan level selection policy by indicating recommended increments in the fan
speed level value that are appropriate for the fan when one percent increments are not optimal. In the
event OSPM’s incremental selections of Level using the StepSize field value do not sum to 100%,
OSPM may select an appropriate ending Level increment to reach 100%. OSPM should use the
same residual step value first when reducing Level.

11.3.1.2 _FPS (Fan Performance States)

The optional _FPS object evaluates to a variable-length package containing a list of packages that
describe the fan device’s performance states. A temperature reading above an active cooling trip
point defined by an _ACx object in a thermal zone or above a native active cooling trip point of a
device within the thermal zone causes OSPM thermal control to engage the appropriate
corresponding fan performance state from the list of fan performance states described by the _FPS
object if the fan device is present in the corresponding _ALx device list or if an entry exists for the
fan and trip point in the active cooling relationship table (_ART).
OSPM assumes a linear relationship for the acoustic impact and power consumption values between
successive entries in the fan performance state list. Notice that the acoustic impact measurement unit
(Decibels) is inherently non-linear. As such, the platform should populate _FPS entries as necessary
to enable OSPM to achieve optimal results.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a Revision ID and a list of Packages that describe the fan
device’s performance states as described in Table 11-332 below.

Package {
Revision, // Integer - Current revision is: 0
FanPState[0], // Package
….
FanPState[n] // Package
}
Each FanPState sub-Package contains the elements described below:

Package () // Fan P-State
{
Control, // Integer DWORD
TripPoint, // Integer DWORD
Speed, // Integer DWORD
NoiseLevel, // Integer DWORD
Power // Integer DWORD
}
Table 11-332 FPS FanPstate Package Details

Control Integer Indicates the value to be used to set the fan speed to a specific level using the
(DWORD) _FSL object.
If the fan device supports fine-grained control as indicated by the _FIF object,
this value is a percentage (0-100) of maximum speed level.
If the fan device does not support fine-grained control, this field is an opaque
value that OSPM must simply use in its evaluation of the _FSL object to set the
level to this performance state.


TripPoint Integer 0-9: The active cooling trip point number that corresponds to this performance
(DWORD) state. If the _ART object is defined, OSPM may optionally use information
provided by the _ART object and _FPS objects to select alternative fan
performance states. Only one entry per unique trip point number is allowed in
the _FPS.
0x0A- 0xFFFFFFFE: Reserved
0x0FFFFFFFF: Indicates that this performance state does not correspond with
a specific active cooling trip point.
Speed Integer Indicates the speed of the fan in revolutions per minute in this performance
(DWORD) state.
NoiseLevel Integer This optional field indicates the audible noise emitted by the fan in this
(DWORD) performance state. The value represents the noise in 10ths of decibels. For
example, if the fan emits noise at 28.3dB in this performance state, the value of
this field would be 283. A value of 0xFFFFFFFF indicates that this field is not
populated.
Power Integer This optional field indicates the power consumption (in milliwatts) of the fan in
(DWORD) this performance state. For example, if the fan consumes .5W in this
performance state, the value of this field would be 500. A value of
0xFFFFFFFF indicates that this field is not populated.
11.3.1.3 FSL (Fan Set Level)

The optional _FSL object is a control method that OSPM evaluates to set a fan device’s speed
(performance state) to a specific level
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – Level (Integer): conveys to the platform the fan speed level to be set.
Return Value:
None
Argument Information
Arg0: Level. If the fan supports fine-grained control, Level is a percentage of maximum level (0-
100) that the platform is to engage the fan. If the fan does not support fine-grained control, Level is a
Control field value from a package in the _FPS object’s package list. A Level value of zero causes
the platform to turn off the fan.
11.3.1.4 _FST (Fan Status)

The optional _FST object provides status information for the fan device.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing fan device status information as described in Table 11-333 below
_FST evaluation returns a package of the following format:

Package (){
Control, // Integer DWORD
Speed // Integer DWORD
}
Table 11-333 FST Package Details

Control Integer The current control value used to operate the Fan. If the fan is not operating
(DWORD) Control will be zero. If the fan is operating, Control is the Level argument passed
in the evaluation of the _FSL object.
Speed Integer The current fan speed in revolutions per minute at which the fan is rotating. A
(DWORD) value of 0xFFFFFFFF indicates that the fan does not support speed reporting.
11.4 Thermal Objects

Objects related to thermal management are listed in the following table.
Table 11-334 Thermal Objects

Object Description
_ACx Returns active cooling policy threshold values in tenths of degrees.
_ALx List of active cooling device objects.
_ART Table of values that convey the Active Cooling Relationship between devices
_CRT Returns critical trip point in tenths of degrees where OSPM must perform a critical shutdown.
_HOT Returns critical trip point in tenths of degrees where OSPM may choose to transition the system
into S4.
_MTL Returns the minimum throttle limit of a zone, when defined under a thermal zone. T
_NTT Returns the temperature change threshold for devices containing native temperature sensors to
cause evaluation of the _TPT object
_PSL List of processor device objects for clock throttling.
_PSV Returns the passive cooling policy threshold value in tenths of degrees.
_RTV Conveys whether temperatures are expressed in terms of absolute or relative values.
_SCP Sets platform cooling policy (active or passive).
_STR String name for this thermal zone.
_TC1 Thermal constant for passive cooling.
_TC2 Thermal constant for passive cooling.
_TFP Thermal fast sampling period for Passive cooling in milliseconds.
_TMP Returns the thermal zone’s current temperature in tenths of degrees.

Object Description
_TPT Conveys the temperature of a devices internal temperature sensor to the platform when a
temperature trip point is crossed or a meaningful change in temperature occurs.
_TRT Table of values that convey the Thermal Relationship between devices
_TSN Returns a reference to the thermal sensor device used to monitor the temperature of the thermal
zone (when defined under a thermal zone).
_TSP Thermal sampling period for Passive cooling in tenths of seconds.
_TST Conveys the minimum separation for a devices’ programmable temperature trip points.
_TZD List of devices whose temperature is measured by this thermal zone.
_TZM Returns the thermal zone for which a device is a member.
_TZP Thermal zone polling frequency in tenths of seconds.
With the exception of _TPT, _TST, and the _TZM objects, the objects described in the following
sections may exist under a thermal zone. Devices with embedded thermal sensors and controls may
contain static cooling temperature trip points or dynamic cooling temperature trip points that must be
programmed by the device’s driver. In this case, thermal objects defined under a device serve to
convey the platform specific values for these settings to the devices driver.
11.4.1 _ACx (Active Cooling)

This optional object, if present under a thermal zone, returns the temperature trip point at which
OSPM must start or stop Active cooling, where x is a value between 0 and 9 that designates multiple
active cooling levels of the thermal zone. If the Active cooling device has one cooling level (that is,
“on”) then that cooling level must be defined as _AC0. If the cooling device has two levels of
capability, such as a high fan speed and a low fan speed, then they must be defined as _AC0 and
_AC1 respectively. The smaller the value of x, the greater the cooling strength _ACx represents. In
the above example, _AC0 represents the greater level of cooling (the faster fan speed) and _AC1
represents the lesser level of cooling (the slower fan speed). For every _ACx method, there must be
a matching _ALx object or a corresponding entry in an _ART object’s active cooling relationship
list.
If this object it present under a device, the device’s driver evaluates this object to determine the
device’s corresponding active cooling temperature trip point. This value may then be used by the
device’s driver to program an internal device temperature sensor trip point. When this object is
present under a device, the device must contain a native OS device driver interface supporting a
corresponding active cooling control, a matching _ALx object under the thermal zone of which the
device is a member must exist, or a corresponding entry in an _ART object’s active cooling
relationship list must.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the active cooling temperature threshold in tenths of degrees Kelvin

The return value is an integer that represents tenths of degrees Kelvin. For example, 300.0K is
represented by the integer 3000.
11.4.2 _ALx (Active List)

This object is defined under a thermal zone and evaluates to a list of Active cooling devices to be
turned on when the corresponding _ACx temperature threshold is exceeded. For example, these
devices could be fans.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of References to active cooling devices
The return value is a package consisting of references to all active cooling devices that should be
engaged when the associated active cooling threshold (_ACx) is exceeded.
When the returned package consists of references to an active cooling device that is a fan device and
the fan device implements _FPS and _FSL objects, OSPM activates the identified fan at a capability
level matching the level identified by this object. For example, if the system has a fan that
implements _FPS object with 5 levels, and if _AL3 is evaluated by the OSPM causing it to return
this fan’s reference, then the fan is activated by evaluating _FSL with the value from the Control
field of an _FPS entry whose TripPoint field value equals 3.
If a thermal zone has the _ART object defined, then it is not necessary to have any _ALx objects
implemented.
Note: If a thermal zone has _ART object defined as well as _ALx defined, the OSPM ignores _ALx
objects and uses _ART exclusively.
11.4.3 _ART (Active Cooling Relationship Table)

The optional _ART object evaluates to a variable-length package containing a list of packages each
of which describes the active cooling relationship between a device within a thermal zone and an
active cooling device. OSPM uses the combined information about the active cooling relationships
of all devices in the thermal zone to make active cooling policy decisions.
If _ART is implemented within a thermal zone, OSPM ignores all _ALx objects as _ART conveys a
mapping for each of the _ACx trip points to active cooling devices.
The platform can dynamically change the _ART object by notifying the thermal zone object with a
Notify code of 0x83, which will cause OSPM to re-evaluate both the _TRT and _ART objects. This
allows the platform to change the capability level mapping to various _ACx trip points dynamically
at run time.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a Revision ID and a list of Active Relationship Packages as
described below:


Package {
Revision, // Integer – Current revision is: 0
ActiveRelationship[0] // Package
….
ActiveRelationship[n] // Package
}
Each ActiveRelationship sub-Package contains the elements described below:

Package {
SourceDevice, // Object Reference to a Fan Device Object
TargetDevice, // Object Reference to a Device Object
Weight, // Integer
AC0MaxLevel, // Integer
AC9MaxLevel // Integer
}
Table 11-335 Thermal Relationship Package Values

SourceDevice Reference The fan device that has an impact on the cooling of the device indicated
(to a device) by TargetDevice.
TargetDevice Reference The device that is impacted by the fan device indicated by SourceDevice.
(to a device)
Weight Integer Indicates the SourceDevice’s contribution to the platform’s TargetDevice
total cooling capability when the fans of all entries in the _ART with the
same target device are engaged at their highest (maximum capability)
performance state. This is represented as a percentage value (0-100).
AC0MaxLevel Integer Indicates the maximum fans speed level in percent (0-100) that OSPM
(DWORD) may engage on the SourceDevice when a temperature exceeds the
_AC0 trip point value.
A value of 0xFFFFFFFF in this field indicates that the SourceDevice is not
to be engaged for the trip point.


In the case multiple active cooling trip points have been exceeded and _ART entries indicate various
maximum limits for the same SourceDevice, OSPM may operate the SourceDevice up to the highest
ACxMaxLevel value indicated for all exceeded trip points.

11.4.4 _CRT (Critical Temperature)

This object, when defined under a thermal zone, returns the critical temperature at which OSPM
must shutdown the system. If this object it present under a device, the device’s driver evaluates this
object to determine the device’s critical cooling temperature trip point. This value may then be used
by the device’s driver to program an internal device temperature sensor trip point.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the critical temperature threshold in tenths of degrees Kelvin
The result is an integer value that represents the critical shutdown threshold in tenths of degrees. For
example, 300.0K is represented by the integer 3000.
11.4.5 _CR3 (Warm/Standby Temperature)

This object, when defined under a thermal zone, returns the critical temperature at which OSPM may
choose to transition the system into a low power state with a faster exit latency than S4 sleeping state
(e.g. S3, or an equivalent low power state if the LOW_POWER_S0_IDLE_CAPABLE FADT flag
is set). The platform vendor should define _CR3 to be sufficiently below _CRT so as to allow
enough time to transition the system into this low power state. It may be sufficient to define either
_CR3 or _HOT depending on the type and thermal characteristics of the specific thermal zone under
consideration. If this object it present under a device, the device’s driver evaluates this object to
determine the device’s warm/standby cooling temperature trip point. This value may then be used by
the device’s driver to program an internal device temperature sensor trip point.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
The result is an integer value that represents the critical shutdown threshold in tenths of degrees. For
11.4.6 _DTI (Device Temperature Indication)

This optional object may be present under a device and is evaluated by OSPM when the device’s
native (driver managed) temperature sensor has crossed a cooling temperature trip point or when a
meaningful change in temperature (as indicated by evaluation of the _NTT object) has occurred.
OSPM evaluation of the _DTI object enables the platform to take action as a result of these events.
For example, the platform may choose to implement fan control hysteresis based on the conveyed
value or signal the revaluation of the _TDL or _PDL objects.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the current value of the temperature sensor (in tenths Kelvin)

Return Value:
None
11.4.7 _HOT (Hot Temperature)

This optional object, when defined under a thermal zone, returns the critical temperature at which
OSPM may choose to transition the system into the S4 sleeping state. The platform vendor should
define _HOT to be far enough below _CRT so as to allow OSPM enough time to transition the
system into the S4 sleeping state. While dependent on the amount of installed memory, on typical
platforms OSPM implementations can transition the system into the S4 sleeping state in tens of
seconds. If this object it present under a device, the device’s driver evaluates this object to determine
the device’s hot cooling temperature trip point. This value may then be used by the device’s driver to
program an internal device temperature sensor trip point.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
The return value is an integer that represents the critical sleep threshold tenths of degrees Kelvin. For
11.4.8 _MTL (Minimum Throttle Limit)

This object, when defined under a thermal zone, returns the minimum throttle limit of a zone. This
will determine how much a thermal zone limits the performance of its controlled devices. This value
can be used by OSPM to calculate the changes in performance limits it applies to the devices of the
thermal zone.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer value with the current minimum throttle limit, expressed as a percentage
11.4.9 _NTT (Notification Temperature Threshold)

This optional object may be defined under devices containing native temperature sensors and
evaluates to the temperature change threshold for the device where the platform requires notification
of the change via evaluation of the _TPT object.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the temperature threshold in tenths of degrees Kelvin.

The return value is an integer that represents the amount of change in device temperature that is
meaningful to the platform and for which the platform requires notification via evaluation of the
_TPT object.
11.4.10 _PSL (Passive List)

This object is defined under a thermal zone and evaluates to a list of processor objects to be used for
passive cooling.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of References to processor objects
The return value is a package consisting of references to all processor objects that will be used for
passive cooling when the zone’s passive cooling threshold (_PSV) is exceeded.
11.4.11 _PSV (Passive)

This optional object, if present under a thermal zone, evaluates to the temperature at which OSPM
must activate passive cooling policy.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the passive cooling temperature threshold in tenths of degrees Kelvin
The return value is an integer that represents tenths of degrees Kelvin. For example, 300.0 Kelvin is
represented by 3000.
If this object it present under a device, the device’s driver evaluates this object to determine the
device’s corresponding passive cooling temperature trip point. This value may then be used by the
device’s driver to program an internal device temperature sensor trip point. When this object is
present under a device, the device must contain a native OS device driver interface supporting a
passive cooling control.
11.4.12 _RTV (Relative Temperature Values)

This optional object may be present under a device or a thermal zone and is evaluated by OSPM to
determine whether the values returned by temperature trip point and current operating temperature
interfaces under the corresponding device or thermal zone represent absolute or relative temperature
values.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing a relative versus absolute indicator
0 Temperatures are absolute

Other Temperatures are relative

The return value is an integer that indicates whether values returned by temperature trip point and
current operating temperature interfaces represent absolute or relative temperature values.
If the _RTV object is not present or is present and evaluates to zero then OSPM assumes that all
values returned by temperature trip point and current operating temperature interfaces under the
device or thermal zone represent absolute temperature values expressed in tenths of degrees Kelvin.
If the _RTV object is present and evaluates to a non zero value then all values returned by
temperature trip point and current operating temperature interfaces under the corresponding device
or thermal zone represent temperature values relative to a zero point that is defined as the maximum
value of the device’s or thermal zone’s critical cooling temperature trip point. In this case,
temperature trip point and current operating temperature interfaces return values in units that are
tenths of degrees below the zero point.
OSPM evaluates the _RTV object before evaluating any other temperature trip point or current
operating temperature interfaces.
11.4.13 _SCP (Set Cooling Policy)

This optional object is a control method that OSPM invokes to set the platform’s cooling mode
policy setting. The platform may use the evaluation of _SCP to reassign _ACx and _PSV
temperature trip points according to the mode or limits conveyed by OSPM. OSPM will
automatically evaluate _ACx and _PSV objects after executing _SCP. This object may exist under a
thermal zone or a device.
Arguments: (3)
Arg0 – Mode An Integer containing the cooling mode policy code
Arg1 – AcousticLimit An Integer containing the acoustic limit
Arg2 – PowerLimit An Integer containing the power limit
Return Value:
None
Mode – 0 = Active, 1 = Passive
Acoustic Limit – Specifies the maximum acceptable acoustic level that active cooling devices may
generate. Values are 1 to 5 where 1 means no acoustic tolerance and 5 means maximum
acoustic tolerance.
Power Limit – Specifies the maximum acceptable power level that active cooling devices may
consume. Values are from 1 to 5 where 1 means no power may be used to cool and 5 means
maximum power may be used to cool.

Example:
// Fan Control is defined as follows:
// Speed 1 (Fan is Off): Acoustic Limit 1, Power Limit 1, <= 64C
// Speed 2: Acoustic Limit 2, Power Limit 2, 65C - 74C
// Speed 5: Acoustic Limit 5, Power Limit 5, >= 95C
// _SCP Notifies the platform the current cooling mode.

// Arg0 = Mode
// 0 - Active cooling
// 1 - Passive cooling
// Arg1 = Acoustic Limit
// 1 = No acoustic tolerance
// ...
// 5 = maximum acoustic tolerance
// Arg2 = Power Limit
// 1 = No power may be used to cool
// ...
// 5 = maximum power may be used to cool
Method(_SCP,3,Serialized)
{
// Store the Cooling Mode in NVS and use as needed in
// the rest of the ASL Code.
Store(Arg0, CTYP)
// Set PSVT to account for a Legacy OS that does not pass

// in either the acoustic limit or Power Limit.
If(Arg0)
{
Store(60,PSVT)
}
Else
{
Store(97,PSVT)
}
If (CondRefOf (_OSI,Local0))
{
If (\_OSI ("3.0 _SCP Extensions"))
{
// Determine Power Limit.
//
// NOTE1: PSVT = Passive Cooling Trip Point stored
// in NVS in Celsius.
//
// NOTE2: 4 Active Cooling Trips Points correspond to 5
// unique Power Limit regions and 5 unique acoustic limit
// regions.

//
// NOTE3: This code will define Passive cooling so that
// CPU throttling will be initiated within the Power Limit
// Region passed in such that the next higher Power Limit
// Region will not be reached.
Switch(Arg2)
{
Case(1) // Power Limit = 1.

{
// Stay in Acoustic Limit 1.
Store(60,PSVT) // Passive = 60C.
}
{
// Store Highest supported Acoustic Level
// at this Power Limit (1 or 2).
Store(70,PSVT)
If(Lequal(Arg1,1))
{
// Stay in Acoustic Level 1.
Store(60,PSVT)
}
}
{
// at this Power Limit (1, 2, or 3).
Store(80,PSVT)
If(Lequal(Arg1,2))
{
// Stay in Acoustic Level 1 or 2.
Store(70,PSVT)
}
If(Lequal(Arg1,1))
{
Store(60,PSVT)
}
}
{
// at this Power Limit (1, 2, 3, or 4).
Store(90,PSVT)
If(Lequal(Arg1,3))
{
Store(80,PSVT)
}
If(Lequal(Arg1,2))
{
Store(70,PSVT)
}
If(Lequal(Arg1,1))
{
Store(60,PSVT)
}
}


{
// at this Power Limit (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5).
Store(97,PSVT)
If(Lequal(Arg1,4))
{
Store(90,PSVT)
}
If(Lequal(Arg1,3))
{
Store(80,PSVT)
}
If(Lequal(Arg1,2))
{
Store(70,PSVT)
}
If(Lequal(Arg1,1))
{
Store(60,PSVT)
}
} // Case 5
} // Switch Arg 2
} // _OSI - Extended _SCP
} // CondRefOf _OSI
} // Method _SCP
11.4.14 _STR (String)

This optional object, when defined under a thermal zone, returns a string name for this thermal zone.
See Section 6.1.10 for full definition of _STR.
11.4.15 _TC1 (Thermal Constant 1)

This object evaluates to the constant _TC1 for use in the Passive cooling formula:
Performance [%]= _TC1 * ( Tn - Tn-1 ) + _TC2 * (Tn. - Tt)
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing Thermal Constant #1
11.4.16 _TC2 (Thermal Constant 2)

This object evaluates to the constant _TC2 for use in the Passive cooling formula:
Performance [%]= _TC1 * ( Tn - Tn-1 ) + _TC2 *(Tn - Tt)
Arguments:
None

Return Value:
An Integer containing Thermal Constant #2
11.4.17 _TFP (Thermal fast Sampling Period)

This object evaluates to a thermal sampling period (in milliseconds) used by OSPM to implement
the Passive cooling equation. This value, along with _TC1 and _TC2, will enable OSPM to provide
the proper hysteresis required by the system to accomplish an effective passive cooling policy.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the sampling period in milliseconds
The granularity of the sampling period is 1 milliseconds. For example, if the sampling period is 30.0
seconds, then _TFP needs to report 30,000; if the sampling period is 0.5 seconds, then it will report
500. OSPM can normalize the sampling over a longer period if necessary.
If both _TFP and _TSP are present in a Thermal Zone, _TFP overrides _TSP. Platforms which need
to support legacy operating systems from before _TFP in ACPI 6.0, must specify a _TSP if a
sampling period is required. OS support for _TFP can be discovered via _OSC (see Table 6-194).
11.4.18 _TMP (Temperature)

This control method returns the thermal zone’s current operating temperature.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the current temperature of the thermal zone (in tenths of degrees Kelvin)
The return value is the current temperature of the thermal zone in tenths of degrees Kelvin. For
11.4.19 _TPT (Trip Point Temperature)

This optional object may be present under a device and is invoked by OSPM to indicate to the
platform that the devices’ embedded temperature sensor has crossed a cooling temperature trip
point. After invocation, OSPM immediately evaluates the devices’ Active and Passive cooling
temperature trip point values. This enables the platform to implement hysteresis.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the current value of the temperature sensor (in tenths Kelvin)
Return Value:
None
The _TPT object is deprecated in ACPI 4.0. The _DTI object , Section 11.4.6 “_DTI (Device
Temperature Indication)”, should be used instead.

11.4.20 _TRT (Thermal Relationship Table)

This object evaluates to a package of packages each of which describes the thermal relationship
between devices within a thermal zone. OSPM uses the combined information about the thermal
relationships of all devices in the thermal zone to make thermal policy decisions.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of Thermal Relationship Packages as described below

Package {
ThermalRelationship[0] // Package
….
ThermalRelationship[n] // Package
}
Each ThermalRelationship sub-Package contains the elements described below:

Package {
SourceDevice, // Object Reference to a Device Object
TargetDevice, // Object Reference to a Device Object
Influence, // Integer
SamplingPeriod, // Integer
Reserved1, // Integer
Reserved4 // Integer
},
Table 11-336 Thermal Relationship Package Values

Source Reference The device that is influencing the device indicated by TargetDevice.
Device (to a device)
Target Reference The device that is influenced by the device indicated by SourceDevice.
Device (to a device)
Influence Integer The thermal influence of SourceDevice on TargetDevice - represented as
tenths of degrees Kelvin that the device indicated by SourceDevice raises the
temperature of the device indicated by TargetDevice per watt of thermal load
that SourceDevice generates.
Sampling Integer The minimum period of time in tenths of seconds that OSPM should wait after
Period applying a passive control to the device indicated by SourceDevice to detect
its impact on the device indicated by TargetDevice.
Reserved Integer Reserved for future use.
(1-4)

11.4.21 _TSN (Thermal Sensor Device)

This object, when defined under a thermal zone, returns a reference to the thermal sensor device
used to monitor the temperature of the thermal zone. For Native OS Device Driver Thermal
Interfaces, see Table 11.5.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A single Reference to the namespace device object that monitors the temperature of the thermal
zone.
11.4.22 _TSP (Thermal Sampling Period)

This object evaluates to a thermal sampling period (in tenths of seconds) used by OSPM to
implement the Passive cooling equation. This value, along with _TC1 and _TC2, will enable OSPM
to provide the proper hysteresis required by the system to accomplish an effective passive cooling
policy.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the sampling period in tenths of seconds
The granularity of the sampling period is 0.1 seconds. For example, if the sampling period is 30.0
seconds, then _TSP needs to report 300; if the sampling period is 0.5 seconds, then it will report 5.
OSPM can normalize the sampling over a longer period if necessary.
If both _TFP and _TSP are present in a Thermal Zone, _TFP overrides _TSP. Platforms which need
to support legacy operating systems from before _TFP in ACPI 6.0 must specify a _TSP if a
sampling period is required. OS support for _TFP can be discovered via _OSC (see Table 6-194).
11.4.23 _TST (Temperature Sensor Threshold)

This optional object may be present under a device and is evaluated by OSPM to determine the
minimum separation for a devices’ programmable temperature trip points. When a device contains
multiple programmable temperature trip points, it may not be necessary for OSPM to poll the
device’s temperature after crossing a temperature trip point when performing passive cooling control
policy.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the sensor threshold (in tenths of degrees Kelvin)
To eliminate polling, the device can program intermediate trip points of interest (higher or lower
than the current temperature) and signal the crossing of the intermediate trip points to OSPM. The
distance between the current temperature and these intermediate trip points may be platform specific

and must be set far enough away from the current temperature so as to not to miss the crossing of a
meaningful temperature point. The _TST object conveys the recommended minimum separation
between the current temperature and an intermediate temperature trip point to OSPM.
11.4.24 _TZD (Thermal Zone Devices)

This optional object evaluates to a package of device names. Each name corresponds to a device in
the ACPI namespace that is associated with the thermal zone. The temperature reported by the
thermal zone is roughly correspondent to that of each of the devices.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of References to thermal zone devices
The list of devices returned by the control method need not be a complete and absolute list of devices
affected by the thermal zone. However, the package should at least contain the devices that would
uniquely identify where this thermal zone is located in the machine. For example, a thermal zone in
a docking station should include a device in the docking station, a thermal zone for the CD-ROM
bay, should include the CD-ROM.
11.4.25 _TZM (Thermal Zone Member)

This optional object may exist under any device definition and evaluates to a reference to the thermal
zone of which the device is a member.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Reference to the parent device
11.4.26 _TZP (Thermal Zone Polling)

thermal zone. A value of zero indicates that OSPM does not need to poll the temperature of this
thermal zone in order to detect temperature changes (the hardware is capable of generating
asynchronous notifications).
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the recommended polling frequency in tenths of seconds
The return value contains the recommended polling frequency, in tenths of seconds. A value of zero
indicates that polling is not necessary.
systems that asynchronously notify OSPM whenever a meaningful change in the zone’s temperature

occurs—relieving the OS of the overhead associated with polling. See Section 11.1.3, “Detecting
Temperature Changes,” for more information.
This value is specified as tenths of seconds with a 1 second granularity. A minimum value of 30
seconds (_TZP evaluates to 300) and a maximum value of 300 seconds (in other words, 5 minutes)
(_TZP evaluates to 3000) may be specified. As this is a recommended value, OSPM will consider
other factors when determining the actual polling frequency to use.
11.5 Native OS Device Driver Thermal Interfaces

OS implementations compatible with the ACPI 3.0 thermal model, interface with the thermal objects
of a thermal zone but also comprehend the thermal zone devices’ OS native device driver interfaces
that perform similar functions to the thermal objects at the device level.
The recommended native OS device driver thermal interfaces that enable OSPM to perform optimal
performance / thermal management include:
• Reading a value from a device’s embedded thermal sensor
• Reading a value that indicates whether temperature and trip point values are reported in absolute
or relative temperatures
• Setting the platform’s cooling mode policy setting
• Reading the embedded thermal sensor’s threshold
• Reading the device’s active and passive cooling temperature trip points
• Reading the device’s association to a thermal zone
• Signaling the crossing of a thermal trip point
• Reading the desired polling frequency at which to check the devices temperature if the device
cannot signal OSPM or signal OSPM optimally (both before and after a temperature trip point is
crossed)
• Setting / limiting a device’s performance / throttling states
• Engaging / disengaging a device’s active cooling controls
These interfaces are OS specific and as such the OS vendor defines the exact interface definition for
each target operating system.
11.6 Thermal Zone Interface Requirements

While not all thermal zone interfaces are required to be present in each thermal zone, OSPM levies
conditional requirements for the presence of specific thermal zone interfaces based on the existence
of other related thermal zone interfaces. These interfaces may be implemented by thermal zone-wide
objects or by OS-specific device driver exposed thermal interfaces. The requirements are outlined
below:
• A thermal zone must contain at least one temperature interface; either the _TMP object or a
member device temperature interface.
• A thermal zone must contain at least one trip point (critical, near critical, active, or passive).

• If _ACx is defined then an associated _ALx must be defined (e.g. defining _AC0 requires _AL0
also be defined).
• If _PSV is defined then either the _PSL or _TZD objects must exist. The _PSL and _TZD
objects may both exist.
• If _PSL is defined then:
— If a linear performance control register is defined (via either P_BLK or the _PTC, _TSS,
_TPC objects) for a processor defined in _PSL or for a processor device in the zone as
indicated by _TZM then the _TC1, _TC2, and objects must exist. A_TFP or _TSP object
must also be defined if the device requires polling.
— If a linear performance control register is not defined (via either P_BLK or the _PTC, _TSS,
_TPC objects) for a processor defined in _PSL or for a processor device in the zone as
indicated by _TZM then the processor must support processor performance states (in other
words, the processor’s processor object must include _PCT, _PSS, and _PPC).
• If _PSV is defined and _PSL is not defined then at least one device in thermal zone, as indicated
by either the _TZD device list or devices’ _TZM objects, must support device performance
states.
• _SCP is optional.
• _TZD is optional outside of the _PSV requirement outlined above.
• If _HOT is defined then the system must support the S4 sleeping state.
11.7 Thermal Zone Examples
11.7.1 Example: The Basic Thermal Zone

The following ASL describes a basic configuration where the entire system is treated as a single
thermal zone. Cooling devices for this thermal zone consist of a processor and one single-speed fan.
This is an example only.
Notice that this thermal zone object (TZ0) is defined in the \_SB scope. Thermal zone objects should
appear in the namespace under the portion of the system that comprises the thermal zone. For
example, a thermal zone that is isolated to a docking station should be defined within the scope of
the docking station device. Besides providing for a well-organized namespace, this configuration
allows OSPM to dynamically adjust its thermal policy as devices are added or removed from the
system.

Scope(\_SB) {
Device(CPU0) {
Name(_UID, 1) // unique number for this processor
}
<…>
Device(EC0) {
IO(Decode16,0x62,0x62,0,1)
IO(Decode16,0x66,0x66,0,1)
})

MODE, 1, // thermal policy (quiet/perform)
FAN, 1, // fan power (on/off)
, 6, // reserved
AC0, 16, // active cooling temp (fan high)
, 16, // reserved
HOT 16, // critical S4 temp
CRT, 16 // critical temp
}
// following is a method that OSPM will schedule after

// it receives an SCI and queries the EC to receive value 7
Method(_Q07) {
Notify (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.TZ0, 0x80)
} // end of Notify method
// fan cooling on/off - engaged at AC0 temp

PowerResource(PFAN, 0, 0) {
Method(_STA) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FAN) } // check power state
Method(_ON) { Store (One, \_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FAN) } // turn on fan
Method(_OFF) { Store ( Zero, \_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FAN) } // turn off fan
}
// Create FAN device object

Device (FAN) {
// Device ID for the FAN
Name(_HID, EISAID("PNP0C0B"))
// list power resource for the fan
Name(_PR0, Package(){PFAN})
}

ThermalZone (TZ0) {
Method(_AC0) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.AC0) } // fan high temp
Name(_AL0, Package(){\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FAN}) // fan is act cool dev
Name(_PSL, Package (){\_SB.CPU0}) // passive cooling devices
Method(_HOT) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.HOT) } // get critical S4 temp
Method(_CRT) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.CRT) } // get critical temp

Method(_SCP, 1) { Store (Arg1, \_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.MODE) } // set cooling mode

Name(_TZP, 0) // polling not required
Name (_STR, Unicode (“System thermal zone”))
} // end of TZ0
} // end of ECO
} // end of \_SB.PCI0.ISA0 scope-
11.7.2 Example: Multiple-Speed Fans

The following ASL describes a thermal zone consisting of a processor and one dual-speed fan. As
with the previous example, this thermal zone object (TZ0) is defined in the \_SB scope and
represents the entire system. This is an example only.
Scope(\_SB) {
Device(CPU0) {
Name(_HID, "ACPI0007")
Name(_UID, 1) // unique number for this processor
}
<…>
Device(EC0) {
IO(Decode16,0x62,0x62,0,1)
IO(Decode16,0x66,0x66,0,1)
})

FAN0, 1, // fan strength high/off
FAN1, 1, // fan strength low/off
, 5, // reserved
AC0, 16, // active cooling temp (high)
AC1, 16, // active cooling temp (low)
HOT 18, // critical S4 temp
}
// following is a method that OSPM will schedule after it

// receives an SCI and queries the EC to receive value 7
Method(_Q07) {
} end of Notify method

// fan cooling mode high/off - engaged at AC0 temp

PowerResource(FN10, 0, 0) {
Method(_STA) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FAN0) } // check power state
Method(_ON) { Store (One, \_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FAN0) } // turn on fan at high
Method(_OFF) { Store (Zero, \_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FAN0) } // turn off fan
}
// fan cooling mode low/off - engaged at AC1 temp

Method(_ON) { Store (One, \_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FAN1) } // turn on fan at low
}
// Following is a single fan with two speeds. This is represented

// by creating two logical fan devices. When FN2 is turned on then
// the fan is at a low speed. When FN1 and FN2 are both on then
// the fan is at high speed.
//
// Create FAN device object FN1
Device (FN1) {
Name(_UID, 0)
Name(_PR0, Package(){FN10, FN11})
}

Device (FN2) {
Name(_UID, 1)
Name(_PR0, Package(){FN10})
}

ThermalZone (TZ0) {
Method(_AC0) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.AC0) } // fan high temp
Method(_AC1) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.AC1) } // fan low temp
Name(_AL0, Package() {\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FN1}) // active cooling (high)
Name(_AL1, Package() {\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FN2}) // active cooling (low)
Name(_PSL, Package() {\_SB.CPU0}) // passive cooling devices
Method(_CRT) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.CRT) } // get crit. temp
Name(_TZP, 0) // polling not required
} // end of TZ0
} // end of ECO

11.7.3 Example: Thermal Zone with Multiple Devices

Scope(\_SB) {
Device(CPU0) {
Name(_UID, 0)
//
// Load additional objects if 3.0 Thermal model support is available
//
Method(_INI, 0) {
If (\_OSI("3.0 Thermal Model")) {
LoadTable("OEM1", "PmRef", "Cpu0", "\\_SB.CPU0") // 3.0 Thermal Model
}
}
// For brevity, most processor objects have been excluded

// from this example (such as _PSS, _CST, _PCT, _PPC, etc.)
// Processor Throttle Control object

Name(_PTC, ResourceTemplate() {
Register(SystemIO, 32, 0, 0x120) // Processor Control
Register(SystemIO, 32, 0, 0x120) // Processor Status
})
// Throttling Supported States

// The values shown are for exemplary purposes only
Name(_TSS, Package() {
// Read: freq percentage, power, latency, control, status
Package() {0x64, 1000, 0x0, 0x7, 0x0}, // Throttle off (100%)
Package() {0x58, 800, 0x0, 0xF, 0x0}, // 87.5%
Package() {0x4B, 600, 0x0, 0xE, 0x0}, // 75%
Package() {0x3F, 400, 0x0, 0xD, 0x0} // 62.5%
})
// Throttling Present Capabilities

Method(_TPC) {
If(\_SB.AC) {
Return(0) // All throttle states available
} Else {
Return(2) // Throttle states >= 2 are available
}
}
} // end of CPU0 scope
Device(CPU1) {
Name(_UID, 1)
//
//
Method(_INI, 0) {
LoadTable("OEM1", "PmRef", "Cpu1", "\\_SB.CPU1") // 3.0 Thermal Model
}
}

// For brevity, most processor objects have been excluded

// from this example (such as _PSS, _CST, _PCT, _PPC, _PTC, etc.)
// Processor Throttle Control object

Name(_PTC, ResourceTemplate() {
Register(SystemIO, 32, 0, 0x120) // Processor Control
Register(SystemIO, 32, 0, 0x120) // Processor Status
})
// Throttling Supported States

Name(_TSS, Package() {
// Read: freq percentage, power, latency, control, status
Package() {0x64, 1000, 0x0, 0x7, 0x0}, // Throttle off (100%)
Package() {0x58, 800, 0x0, 0xF, 0x0}, // 87.5%
Package() {0x4B, 600, 0x0, 0xE, 0x0}, // 75%
Package() {0x3F, 400, 0x0, 0xD, 0x0} // 62.5%
})
// Throttling Present Capabilities

Method(_TPC) {
If(\_SB.AC) {
Return(0) // All throttle states available
} Else {
Return(2) // Throttle states >= 2 are available
}
}
Device(EC0) {
//
//
Method(_INI, 0) {
LoadTable("OEM1", "PmRef", "Tz3", "\\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0") // 3.0 Tz
}
}
// Current resource description for this EC

Name(_CRS,
IO(Decode16,0x62,0x62,0,1)
IO(Decode16,0x66,0x66,0,1)
})
// Create EC's region and field for thermal support

FAN0, 1, // fan strength high/off
, 6, // reserved
AC0, 16, // active cooling temp


HOT, 16, // critical S4 temp
}
// Following is a method that OSPM will schedule after it

// fan cooling mode high/off - engaged at AC0 temp
Method(_ON) { Store (One, \_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FAN0) } // turn on fan at high
}
// Following is a single fan with one speed.

Device (FN1) {
Name(_UID, 0)
Name(_PR0, Package(){FN10})
}
// Receives an SCI and queries the EC to receive value 7

Method(_Q07) {
} // end of Notify method
// Create standard specific thermal zone

ThermalZone (TZ0) {
Name(_PSL, Package() {\_SB.CPU0, \_SB.CPU1}) // passive cooling devices
Name(_AL0, Package() {\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.FN1}) // active cooling
Method(_AC0) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.AC0) } // fan temp (high)
Method(_AC1) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.AC1) } // fan temp (low)
Method(_CRT) { Return (\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0.CRT) } // get crit. temp
} // end of TZ0
} // end of ECO
//
// ACPI 3.0 Thermal Model SSDT
//
DefinitionBlock (
"TZASSDT.aml",
"OEM1",
0x01,
"PmRef",
"Tz3",
0x3000
)
{
External(\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0, DeviceObj)
External(\_SB.CPU0, DeviceObj)

Scope(\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.EC0)
{
// Create an ACPI 3.0 specific thermal zone
ThermalZone (TZ0) {
// This TRT is for exemplary purposes only
Name(_TRT, Package() {
// Thermal relationship package data. A package is generated for
// each permutation of device sets. 2 devices = 4 entries.
// Read: source, target, thermal influence, sampling period, 4 reserved
Package () {\_SB.CPU0, \_SB.CPU0, 20, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0},
Package () {\_SB.CPU1, \_SB.CPU1, 20, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0}
}) // end of TRT
} // end of TZ0
} // end of EC0 Scope
} // end of SSDT
//
// CPU0 3.0 Thermal Model SSDT
//
DefinitionBlock (
"CPU0SSDT.aml",
"OEM1",
0x01,
"PmRef",
"CPU0",
0x3000
)
{
External(\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.TZ0, ThermalZoneObj)
Scope(\_SB.CPU0)
{
//
// Add the objects required for 3.0 extended thermal support
//
// Create a region and fields for thermal support; the platform
// fills in the values and traps on writes to enable hysteresis.
// The Operation Region location is invalid
OperationRegion(CP00, SystemMemory, 0x00000000, 0xA)
Field(CP00, ByteAcc, Lock, Preserve) {
SCP, 1, // thermal policy (passive/active)
RTV, 1, // absolute or relative temperature
, 6, // reserved
CRT, 16, // critical temp
TPT, 16, // Temp trip point crossed
TST, 8 // Temp sensor threshold
}
Method(_TZM, 0) { Return(\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.TZ0) } // thermal zone member
// Some thermal zone methods are now located under the

// thermal device participating in the 3.0 thermal model.
// These methods provide device specific thermal information

Method(_SCP, 1) { Store (Arg0, \_SB.CPU0.SCP) } // set cooling mode

Method(_RTV) { Return (\_SB.CPU0.RTV) } // absolute or relative temp
Method(_AC0) { Return (\_SB.CPU0.AC0) } // active cooling (fan) temp
Method(_PSV) { Return (\_SB.CPU0.PSV) } // passive cooling temp
Method(_CRT) { Return (\_SB.CPU0.CRT) } // critical temp
Name(_TC1, 4) // thermal constant 1 (INVALID)
Method(_TPT, 1) { Store (Arg0, \_SB.CPU0.TPT)} // trip point temp
Method(_TST) { Return (\_SB.CPU0.TST) } // temp sensor threshold

} // end of SSDT
//
// CPU1 3.0 Thermal Model SSDT
//
DefinitionBlock (
"CPU1SSDT.aml",
"OEM1",
0x01,
"PmRef",
"CPU1",
0x3000
)
{
External(\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.TZ0, ThermalZoneObj)
Scope(\_SB.CPU1)
{
//
// Add the objects required for 3.0 extended thermal support
//
// Create a region and fields for thermal support; the platform
// fills in the values and traps on writes to enable hysteresis.
// The Operation Region location is invalid
OperationRegion(CP01, SystemIO, 0x00000008, 0xA)
Field(CP01, ByteAcc, Lock, Preserve) {
SCP, 1, // thermal policy (passive/active)
RTV, 1, // absolute or relative temperature
, 6, // reserved
CRT, 16, // critical temp
TPT, 16, // Temp trip point crossed
TST, 8 // Temp sensor threshold
}
Method(_TZM, 0) { Return(\_SB.PCI0.ISA0.TZ0) } // thermal zone member
// Some thermal zone methods are now located under the

// thermal device participating in the 3.0 thermal model.
// These methods provide device specific thermal information
Method(_SCP, 1) { Store (Arg0, \_SB.CPU1.SCP) } // set cooling mode
Method(_RTV) { Return (\_SB.CPU1.RTV) } // absolute or relative temp
Method(_AC0) { Return (\_SB.CPU1.AC0) } // active cooling (fan) temp
Method(_PSV) { Return (\_SB.CPU1.PSV) } // passive cooling temp
Method(_CRT) { Return (\_SB.CPU1.CRT) } // critical temp

Method(_TPT, 1) { Store (Arg0, \_SB.CPU1.TPT)} // trip point temp

Method(_TST) { Return (\_SB.CPU1.TST) } // temp sensor threshold

} // end of SSDT


ACPI Specification ACPI Embedded Controller Interface Specification
12 ACPI Embedded Controller Interface

Specification
ACPI defines a standard hardware and software communications interface between an OS driver and
an embedded controller. This allows any OS to provide a standard driver that can directly
communicate with an embedded controller in the system, thus allowing other drivers within the
system to communicate with and use the resources of system embedded controllers. This in turn
enables the OEM to provide platform features that the OS OSPM and applications can take
advantage of.
ACPI also defines a standard hardware and software communications interface between an OS
driver and an Embedded Controller-based SMB-HC (EC-SMB-HC).
The ACPI standard supports multiple embedded controllers in a system, each with its own resources.
Each embedded controller has a flat byte-addressable I/O space, currently defined as 256 bytes.
Features implemented in the embedded controller have an event “query” mechanism that allows
feature hardware implemented by the embedded controller to gain the attention of an OS driver or
ASL/AML code handler. The interface has been specified to work on the most popular embedded
controllers on the market today, only requiring changes in the way the embedded controller is
“wired” to the host interface.
Two interfaces are specified:
• A private interface, exclusively owned by the embedded controller driver.
• A shared interface, used by the embedded controller driver and some other driver.
This interface is separate from the traditional PC keyboard controller. Some OEMs might choose to
implement the ACPI Embedded Controller Interface (ECI) within the same embedded controller as
the keyboard controller function, but the ECI requires its own unique host resources (interrupt event
and access registers).
This interface does support sharing the ECI with an inter-environment interface (such as SMI) and
relies on the ACPI-defined “Global Lock” protocol. Note, however, that HW-reduced ACPI
platforms, which do not support the Global Lock, cannot share the EC interface. For information
about the Global Lock interface, see Section 5.2.10.1, “Global Lock.” Both the shared and private
EC interfaces are described in the following sections.
The ECI has been designed such that a platform can use it in either the legacy or ACPI modes with
minimal changes between the two operating environments. This is to encourage standardization for
this interface to enable faster development of platforms as well as opening up features within these
controllers to higher levels of software.
12.1 Embedded Controller Interface Description

Embedded controllers are the general class of microcontrollers used to support OEM-specific
implementations. The ACPI specification supports embedded controllers in any platform design, as
long as the microcontroller conforms to one of the models described in this section. The embedded

ACPI Embedded Controller Interface Specification ACPI Specification
controller is a unique feature in that it can perform complex low-level functions through a simple
interface to the host microprocessor(s).
Although there is a large variety of microcontrollers in the market today, the most commonly used
embedded controllers include a host interface that connects the embedded controller to the host data
bus, allowing bi-directional communications. A bi-directional interrupt scheme reduces the host
processor latency in communicating with the embedded controller.
Currently, the most common host interface architecture incorporated into microcontrollers is
modeled after the standard IA-PC architecture keyboard controller. This keyboard controller is
accessed at 0x60 and 0x64 in system I/O space. Port 0x60 is termed the data register, and allows bi-
directional data transfers to and from the host and embedded controller. Port 0x64 is termed the
command/status register; it returns port status information upon a read, and generates a command
sequence to the embedded controller upon a write. This same class of controllers also includes a
second decode range that shares the same properties as the keyboard interface by having a
command/status register and a data register. The following diagram graphically depicts this
interface.
COMMAND WRITE (SMI/SCI)

EC INPUT
SMI
BUFFER
DATA WRITE (SMI/SCI)
INTERFACE
CODE
INTERFACE
DATA READ (SMI/SCI) EC OUTPUT MAIN
ARBITRATION I/O
BUFFER FIRMWARE
CODE
SCI
INTERFACE
STATUS READ (SMI/SCI) EC STATUS
CODE
REGISTER
EC_SMI_STS
EC_SMI
EC_SMI_EN
EC_SCI_STS
EC_SCI
EC_SCI_EN
Figure 12-71 Shared Interface
The diagram above depicts the general register model supported by the ACPI Embedded Controller
Interface.

The first method uses an embedded controller interface shared between OSPM and the system
management code, which requires the Global Lock semaphore overhead to arbitrate ownership. The
second method is a dedicated embedded controller decode range for sole use by OSPM driver. The
following diagram illustrates the embedded controller architecture that includes a dedicated ACPI
interface.
EC_SMI_STS
EC_SMI
EC_SMI_EN
COMMAND WRITE (SMI)

SMI INPUT
BUFFER
DATA WRITE (SMI)
SMI
DATA READ (SMI) SMI OUTPUT
INTERFACE
BUFFER
CODE
STATUS READ (SMI) SMI STATUS

REGISTER
MAIN
I/O
COMMAND WRITE (SCI)
FIRMWARE
SCI INPUT
BUFFER
DATA WRITE (SCI)
SCI
DATA READ (SCI) SCI OUTPUT INTERFACE
BUFFER CODE
STATUS READ (SCI) SCI STATUS

REGISTER
EC_SCI_STS
EC_SCI
EC_SCI_EN
Figure 12-72 Private Interface

The private interface allows OSPM to communicate with the embedded controller without the
additional software overhead associated with using the Global Lock. Several common system
configurations can provide the additional embedded controller interfaces:
• Non-shared embedded controller. This will be the most common case where there is no need for
the system management handler to communicate with the embedded controller when the system
transitions to ACPI mode. OSPM processes all normal types of system management events, and
the system management handler does not need to take any actions.
• Integrated keyboard controller and embedded controller. This provides three host interfaces as
described earlier by including the standard keyboard controller in an existing component (chip
set, I/O controller) and adding a discrete, standard embedded controller with two interfaces for
system management activities.
• Standard keyboard controller and embedded controller. This provides three host interfaces by
providing a keyboard controller as a distinct component, and two host interfaces are provided in
the embedded controller for system management activities.
• Two embedded controllers. This provides up to four host interfaces by using two embedded
controllers; one controller for system management activities providing up to two host interfaces,
and one controller for keyboard controller functions providing up to two host interfaces.
• Embedded controller and no keyboard controller. Future platforms might provide keyboard
functionality through an entirely different mechanism, which would allow for two host
interfaces in an embedded controller for system management activities.
To handle the general embedded controller interface (as opposed to a dedicated interface) model, a
method is available to make the embedded controller a shareable resource between multiple tasks
running under the operating system’s control and the system management interrupt handler. This
method, as described in this section, requires several changes:
• Additional external hardware
• Embedded controller firmware changes
• System management interrupt handler firmware changes
• Operating software changes
Access to the shared embedded controller interface requires additional software to arbitrate between
the operating system’s use of the interface and the system management handler’s use of the
interface. This is done using the Global Lock as described in Section 5.2.10.1, “Global Lock", but is
not supported on HW-reduced ACPI platforms.
This interface sharing protocol also requires embedded controller firmware changes, in order to
ensure that collisions do not occur at the interface. A collision could occur if a byte is placed in the
system output buffer and an interrupt is then generated. There is a small window of time when the
incorrect recipient could receive the data. This problem is resolved by ensuring that the firmware in
the embedded controller does not place any data in the output buffer until it is requested by OSPM or
the system management handler.
More detailed algorithms and descriptions are provided in the following sections.

12.2 Embedded Controller Register Descriptions

The embedded controller contains three registers at two address locations: EC_SC and EC_DATA.
The EC_SC, or Embedded Controller Status/Command register, acts as two registers: a status
register for reads to this port and a command register for writes to this port. The EC_DATA
(Embedded Controller Data register) acts as a port for transferring data between the host CPU and
the embedded controller.
12.2.1 Embedded Controller Status, EC_SC (R)

This is a read-only register that indicates the current status of the embedded controller interface.
Table 12-337 Read only register table

Bit7 Bit6 Bit5 Bit4 Bit3 Bit2 Bit1 Bit0
IGN SMI_EVT SCI_EVT BURST CMD IGN IBF OBF
Where:
Table 12-338 Register details

IGN: Ignored
SMI_EVT: 1 – Indicates SMI event is pending (requesting SMI query).
0 – No SMI events are pending.
SCI_EVT: 1 – Indicates SCI event is pending (requesting SCI query).
0 – No SCI events are pending.
BURST: 1 – Controller is in burst mode for polled command processing.
0 – Controller is in normal mode for interrupt-driven command processing.
CMD: 1 – Byte in data register is a command byte (only used by controller).
0 – Byte in data register is a data byte (only used by controller).
IBF: 1 – Input buffer is full (data ready for embedded controller).
0 – Input buffer is empty.
OBF: 1 – Output buffer is full (data ready for host).
0 – Output buffer is empty.
The Output Buffer Full (OBF) flag is set when the embedded controller has written a byte of data
into the command or data port but the host has not yet read it. After the host reads the status byte and
sees the OBF flag set, the host reads the data port to get the byte of data that the embedded controller
has written. After the host reads the data byte, the OBF flag is cleared automatically by hardware.
This signals the embedded controller that the data has been read by the host and the embedded
controller is free to write more data to the host.
The Input Buffer Full (IBF) flag is set when the host has written a byte of data to the command or
data port, but the embedded controller has not yet read it. After the embedded controller reads the
status byte and sees the IBF flag set, the embedded controller reads the data port to get the byte of
data that the host has written. After the embedded controller reads the data byte, the IBF flag is

automatically cleared by hardware. This is the signal to the host that the data has been read by the
embedded controller and that the host is free to write more data to the embedded controller.
The SCI event (SCI_EVT) flag is set when the embedded controller has detected an internal event
that requires the operating system’s attention. The embedded controller sets this bit in the status
register, and generates an SCI to OSPM. OSPM needs this bit to differentiate command-complete
SCIs from notification SCIs. OSPM uses the query command to request the cause of the SCI_EVT
and take action. For more information, see Section 12.3, “Embedded Controller Command Set.”)
The SMI event (SMI_EVT) flag is set when the embedded controller has detected an internal event
that requires the system management interrupt handler's attention. The embedded controller sets this
bit in the status register before generating an SMI.
The Burst (BURST) flag indicates that the embedded controller has received the burst enable
command from the host, has halted normal processing, and is waiting for a series of commands to be
sent from the host. This allows OSPM or system management handler to quickly read and write
several bytes of data at a time without the overhead of SCIs between the commands.
12.2.2 Embedded Controller Command, EC_SC (W)

This is a write-only register that allows commands to be issued to the embedded controller. Writes to
this port are latched in the input data register and the input buffer full flag is set in the status register.
Writes to this location also cause the command bit to be set in the status register. This allows the
embedded controller to differentiate the start of a command sequence from a data byte write
operation.
12.2.3 Embedded Controller Data, EC_DATA (R/W)

This is a read/write register that allows additional command bytes to be issued to the embedded
controller, and allows OSPM to read data returned by the embedded controller. Writes to this port by
the host are latched in the input data register, and the input buffer full flag is set in the status register.
Reads from this register return data from the output data register and clear the output buffer full flag
in the status register.
12.3 Embedded Controller Command Set

The embedded controller command set allows OSPM to communicate with the embedded
controllers. ACPI defines the commands and their byte encodings for use with the embedded
controller that are shown in the following table.
Table 12-339 Embedded Controller Commands

Embedded Controller Command Command Byte Encoding
Read Embedded Controller (RD_EC) 0x80
Write Embedded Controller (WR_EC) 0x81
Burst Enable Embedded Controller (BE_EC) 0x82
Burst Disable Embedded Controller (BD_EC) 0x83
Query Embedded Controller (QR_EC) 0x84

12.3.1 Read Embedded Controller, RD_EC (0x80)

This command byte allows OSPM to read a byte in the address space of the embedded controller.
This command byte is reserved for exclusive use by OSPM, and it indicates to the embedded
controller to generate SCIs in response to related transactions (that is, IBF=0 or OBF=1 in the EC
Status Register), rather than SMIs. This command consists of a command byte written to the
Embedded Controller Command register (EC_SC), followed by an address byte written to the
Embedded Controller Data register (EC_DATA). The embedded controller then returns the byte at
the addressed location. The data is read at the data port after the OBF flag is set.
12.3.2 Write Embedded Controller, WR_EC (0x81)

This command byte allows OSPM to write a byte in the address space of the embedded controller.
This command byte is reserved for exclusive use by OSPM, and it indicates to the embedded
controller to generate SCIs in response to related transactions (that is, IBF=0 or OBF=1 in the EC
Status Register), rather than SMIs. This command allows OSPM to write a byte in the address space
of the embedded controller. It consists of a command byte written to the Embedded Controller
Command register (EC_SC), followed by an address byte written to the Embedded Controller Data
register (EC_DATA), followed by a data byte written to the Embedded Controller Data Register
(EC_DATA); this is the data byte written at the addressed location.
12.3.3 Burst Enable Embedded Controller, BE_EC (0x82)

This command byte allows OSPM to request dedicated attention from the embedded controller and
(except for critical events) prevents the embedded controller from doing tasks other than receiving
command and data from the host processor (either the system management interrupt handler or
OSPM). This command is an optimization that allows the host processor to issue several commands
back to back, in order to reduce latency at the embedded controller interface. When the controller is
in the burst mode, it should transition to the burst disable state if the host does not issue a command
within the following guidelines:
• First Access – 400 microseconds
• Subsequent Accesses – 50 microseconds each
• Total Burst Time – 1 millisecond
In addition, the embedded controller can disengage the burst mode at any time to process a critical
event. If the embedded controller disables burst mode for any reason other than the burst disable
command, it should generate an SCI to OSPM to indicate the change.
While in burst mode, the embedded controller follows these guidelines for OSPM driver:
SCIs are generated as normal, including IBF=0 and OBF=1.
Accesses should be responded to within 50 microseconds.
Burst mode is entered in the following manner:
OSPM driver writes the Burst Enable Embedded Controller, BE_EC (0x82) command byte and then
the Embedded Controller will prepare to enter the Burst mode. This includes processing any routine
activities such that it should be able to remain dedicated to OSPM interface for ~ 1 microsecond.

The Embedded Controller sets the Burst bit of the Embedded Controller Status Register, puts the
Burst Acknowledge byte (0x90) into the SCI output buffer, sets the OBF bit, and generates an SCI to
signal OSPM that it is in Burst mode.
Burst mode is exited the following manner:
OSPM driver writes the Burst Disable Embedded Controller, BD_EC (0x83) command byte and
then the Embedded Controller will exit Burst mode by clearing the Burst bit in the Embedded
Controller Status register and generating an SCI signal (due to IBF=0).
The Embedded Controller clears the Burst bit of the Embedded Controller Status Register.
12.3.4 Burst Disable Embedded Controller, BD_EC (0x83)

This command byte releases the embedded controller from a previous burst enable command and
allows it to resume normal processing. This command is sent by OSPM or system management
interrupt handler after it has completed its entire queued command sequence to the embedded
controller.
12.3.5 Query Embedded Controller, QR_EC (0x84)

OSPM driver sends this command when the SCI_EVT flag in the EC_SC register is set. When the
embedded controller has detected a system event that must be communicated to OSPM, it first sets
the SCI_EVT flag in the EC_SC register, generates an SCI, and then waits for OSPM to send the
query (QR_EC) command. OSPM detects the embedded controller SCI, sees the SCI_EVT flag set,
and sends the query command to the embedded controller. Upon receipt of the QR_EC command
byte, the embedded controller places a notification byte with a value between 0-255, indicating the
cause of the notification. The notification byte indicates which interrupt handler operation should be
executed by OSPM to process the embedded controller SCI. The query value of zero is reserved for
a spurious query result and indicates “no outstanding event.”
12.4 SMBus Host Controller Notification Header (Optional),

OS_SMB_EVT
This query command notification header is the special return code that indicates events with an
SMBus controller implemented within an embedded controller. These events include:
• Command completion
• Command error
• Alarm reception
The actual notification value is declared in the EC-SMB-HC device object in the ACPI Namespace.
12.5 Embedded Controller Firmware

The embedded controller firmware must obey the following rules in order to be ACPI-compatible:
• SMI Processing. Although it is not explicitly stated in the command specification section, a
shared embedded controller interface has a separate command set for communicating with each
environment it plans to support. In other words, the embedded controller knows which

environment is generating the command request, as well as which environment is to be notified

upon event detection, and can then generate the correct interrupts and notification values. This
implies that a system management handler uses commands that parallel the functionality of all
the commands for ACPI including query, read, write, and any other implemented specific
commands.
• SCI/SMI Task Queuing. If the system design is sharing the interface between both a system
management interrupt handler and OSPM, the embedded controller should always be prepared
to queue a notification if it receives a command. The embedded controller only sets the
appropriate event flag in the status (EC_SC) register if the controller has detected an event that
should be communicated to the OS or system management handler. The embedded controller
must be able to field commands from either environment without loss of the notification event.
At some later time, the OS or system management handler issues a query command to the
embedded controller to request the cause of the notification event.
• Notification Management. The use of the embedded controller means using the query
(QR_EC) command to notify OSPM of system events requiring action. If the embedded
controller is shared with the operating system, the SMI handler uses the SMI_EVT flag and an
SMI query command (not defined in this document) to receive the event notifications. The
embedded controller doesn’t place event notifications into the output buffer of a shared interface
unless it receives a query command from OSPM or the system management interrupt handler.
12.6 Interrupt Model

The EC Interrupt Model uses pulsed interrupts to speed the clearing process. The Interrupt is
firmware generated using an EC general-purpose output and has the waveform shown in Figure 12-
73. The embedded controller SCI is always wired directly to a GPE input or a GPIO pin, and OSPM
driver treats this as an edge event (the EC SCI cannot be shared).
Interrupt detected
T
HOLD
Interrupt serviced
and cleared
Figure 12-73 Interrupt Model
12.6.1 Event Interrupt Model

The embedded controller must generate SCIs for the events listed in the following table.

Table 12-340 Events for Which Embedded Controller Must Generate SCIs
Event Description
IBF=0 Signals that the embedded controller has read the last command or data from the input
buffer and the host is free to send more data.
OBF=1 Signals that the embedded controller has written a byte of data into the output buffer and
the host is free to read the returned data.
SCI_EVT=1 Signals that the embedded controller has detected an event that requires OS attention.
OSPM should issue a query (QR_EC) command to find the cause of the event.
12.6.2 Command Interrupt Model

The embedded controller must generate SCIs for commands as follows:
Table 12-341 Read Command (3 Bytes)

Byte #1 (Command byte Header) Interrupt on IBF=0
Byte #2 (Address byte to read) No Interrupt
Byte #3 (Data read to host) Interrupt on OBF=1
Table 12-342 Write Command (3 Bytes)

Byte #2 (Address byte to write) Interrupt on IBF=0
Byte #3 (Data to read ) Interrupt on IBF=0
Table 12-343 Query Command (2 Bytes

Byte #1 (Command byte Header) No Interrupt
Byte #2 (Query value to host) Interrupt on OBF=1
Table 12-344 Burst Enable Command (2 Bytes)

Byte #1 (Command byte Header) No Interrupt
Byte #2 (Burst acknowledge byte) Interrupt on OBF=1
Table 12-345 Burst Disable Command (1 Byte)

12.7 Embedded Controller Interfacing Algorithms

To initiate communications with the embedded controller, OSPM or system management handler
acquires ownership of the interface. This ownership is acquired through the use of the Global Lock
(described in Section 5.2.10.1, “Global Lock”), or is owned by default by OSPM as a non-shared
resource (and the Global Lock is not required for accessibility).

After ownership is acquired, the protocol always consists of the passing of a command byte. The
command byte will indicate the type of action to be taken. Following the command byte, zero or
more data bytes can be exchanged in either direction. The data bytes are defined according to the
command byte that is transferred.
The embedded controller also has two status bits that indicate whether the registers have been read.
This is used to ensure that the host or embedded controller has received data from the embedded
controller or host. When the host writes data to the command or data register of the embedded
controller, the input buffer flag (IBF) in the status register is set within 1 microsecond. When the
embedded controller reads this data from the input buffer, the input buffer flag is reset. When the
embedded controller writes data into the output buffer, the output buffer flag (OBF) in the status
register is set. When the host processor reads this data from the output buffer, the output buffer flag
is reset.
12.8 Embedded Controller Description Information

Certain aspects of the embedded controller’s operation have OEM-definable values associated with
them. The following is a list of values that are defined in the software layers of the ACPI
specification:
• Status flag indicating whether the interface requires the use of the Global Lock.
• Bit position of embedded controller interrupt in general-purpose status register.
• Decode address for command/status register.
• Decode address for data register.
• Base address and query value of any EC-SMBus controller.
For implementation details of the above listed information, see Section 12.11, “Defining an
Embedded Controller Device in ACPI Namespace,” and Section 12.12, “Defining an EC SMBus
Host Controller in ACPI Namespace.”
An embedded controller will require the inclusion of the GLK method in its ACPI namespace if
potentially contentious accesses to device resources are performed by non-OS code. See
Section 6.5.7, “_GLK (Global Lock)” for details about the _GLK method.
12.9 SMBus Host Controller Interface via Embedded

Controller
This section specifies a standard interface that an ACPI-compatible OS can use to communicate with
embedded controller-based SMBus host controllers (EC-SMB-HC). This interface allows the host
processor (under control of OSPM) to manage devices on the SMBus. Typical devices residing on
the SMBus include Smart Batteries, Smart Battery Chargers, contrast/backlight control, and
temperature sensors.
The EC-SMB-HC interface consists of a block of registers that reside in embedded controller space.
These registers are used by software to initiate SMBus transactions and receive SMBus
notifications. By using a well-defined register set, OS software can be written to operate with any
vendor’s embedded controller hardware.

Certain SMBus segments have special requirements that the host controller filters certain SMBus
commands (for example, to prevent an errant application or virus from potentially damaging the
battery subsystem). This is most easily accomplished by implementing the host interface controller
through an embedded controller—as embedded controller can easily filter out potentially
problematic commands.
Notice that an EC-SMB-HC interface will require the inclusion of the GLK method in its ACPI
namespace if potentially contentious accesses to device resources are performed by non-OS code.
See Section 6.5.7, “_GLK (Global Lock)” for details on using the _GLK method.
12.9.1 Register Description

The EC-SMBus host interface is a flat array of registers that are arranged sequentially in the
embedded controller address space.
12.9.1.1 Status Register, SMB_STS

This register indicates general status on the SMBus. This includes SMB-HC command completion
status, alarm received status, and error detection status (the error codes are defined later in this
section). This register is cleared to zeroes (except for the ALRM bit) whenever a new command is
issued using a write to the protocol (SMB_PRTCL) register. This register is always written with the
error code before clearing the protocol register. The SMB-HC query event (that is, an SMB-HC
interrupt) is raised after the clearing of the protocol register.
Note: OSPM must ensure the ALRM bit is cleared after it has been serviced by writing ‘00’ to the
SMB_STS register.

DONE ALRM RES STATUS
Where:
DONE: Indicates the last command has completed and no error.
ALRM: Indicates an SMBus alarm message has been received.
RES: Reserved
STATUS: Indicates SMBus communication status for one of the reasons listed in the following
table.
Table 12-346 SMBus Status Codes

Status Name Description
Code
00h SMBus OK Indicates the transaction has been successfully completed.
07h SMBus Unknown Failure Indicates failure because of an unknown SMBus error.
10h SMBus Device Address Indicates the transaction failed because the slave device address
Not Acknowledged was not acknowledged.
11h SMBus Device Error Indicates the transaction failed because the slave device signaled
Detected an error condition.

Status Name Description

Code
12h SMBus Device Command Indicates the transaction failed because the SMBus host does not
Access Denied allow the specific command for the device being addressed. For
example, the SMBus host might not allow a caller to adjust the
Smart Battery Charger’s output.
13h SMBus Unknown Error Indicates the transaction failed because the SMBus host
encountered an unknown error.
17h SMBus Device Access Indicates the transaction failed because the SMBus host does not
Denied allow access to the device addressed. For example, the SMBus
host might not allow a caller to directly communicate with an SMBus
device that controls the system’s power planes.
18h SMBus Timeout Indicates the transaction failed because the SMBus host detected a
timeout on the bus.
19h SMBus Host Unsupported Indicates the transaction failed because the SMBus host does not
Protocol support the requested protocol.
1Ah SMBus Busy Indicates that the transaction failed because the SMBus host
reports that the SMBus is presently busy with some other
transaction. For example, the Smart Battery might be sending
charging information to the Smart Battery Charger.
1Fh SMBus PEC (CRC-8) Indicates that a Packet Error Checking (PEC) error occurred during
Error the last transaction.
All other error codes are reserved.
12.9.1.2 Protocol Register, SMB_PRTCL

This register determines the type of SMBus transaction generated on the SMBus. In addition to
indicating the protocol type to the SMB-HC, a write to this register initiates the transaction on the
SMBus. Notice that bit 7 of the protocol value is used to indicate whether packet error checking
should be employed. A value of 1 (one) in this bit indicates that PEC format should be used for the
specified protocol, and a value of 0 (zero) indicates the standard (non-PEC) format should be used.

PEC PROTOCOL
Where:
PROTOCOL: 0x00 – Controller Not In Use
0x01 – Reserved
0x02 – Write Quick Command
0x03 – Read Quick Command
0x04 – Send Byte
0x05 – Receive Byte
0x06 – Write Byte

PROTOCOL: 0x00 – Controller Not In Use

0x07 – Read Byte
0x08 – Write Word
0x09 – Read Word
0x0A – Write Block
0x0B – Read Block
0x0C – Process Call
0x0D –
Block Write-Block Read Process Call
For example, the protocol value of 0x09 would be used to communicate to a device that supported
the standard read word protocol. If this device also supported packet error checking for this protocol,
a value of 0x89 (read word with PEC) could optionally be used. See the SMBus specification for
more information on packet error checking.
When OSPM initiates a new command such as write to the SMB_PRTCL register, the SMBus
controller first updates the SMB_STS register and then clears the SMB_PRTCL register. After the
SMB_PRTCL register is cleared, the host controller query value is raised.
All other protocol values are reserved.
12.9.1.3 Address Register, SMB_ADDR

This register contains the 7-bit address to be generated on the SMBus. This is the first byte to be sent
on the SMBus for all of the different protocols.

ADDRESS (A6:A0) RES
Where:
RES: Reserved
ADDRESS: 7-bit SMBus address. This address is not zero aligned (in other words, it is only a 7-bit
address (A6:A0) that is aligned from bit 1-7).
12.9.1.4 Command Register, SMB_CMD

This register contains the command byte that will be sent to the target device on the SMBus and is
used for the following protocols: send byte, write byte, write word, read byte, read word, process
call, block read and block write. It is not used for the quick commands or the receive byte protocol,
and as such, its value is a “don’t care” for those commands.

COMMAND

Where:
12.9.1.5 Data Register Array, SMB_DATA[i], i=0-31

COMMAND: Command byte to be sent to SMBus device.
This bank of registers contains the remaining bytes to be sent or received in any of the different
protocols that can be run on the SMBus. The SMB_DATA[i] registers are defined on a per-protocol
basis and, as such, provide efficient use of register space.

DATA
Where:
DATA: One byte of data to be sent or received (depending upon protocol).
12.9.1.6 Block Count Register, SMB_BCNT

This register contains the number of bytes of data present in the SMB_DATA[i] registers preceding
any write block and following any read block transaction. The data size is defined on a per protocol
basis.

RES BCNT
12.9.1.7 Alarm Address Register, SMB_ALRM_ADDR

This register contains the address of an alarm message received by the host controller, at slave
address 0x8, from the SMBus master that initiated the alarm. The address indicates the slave address
of the device on the SMBus that initiated the alarm message. The status of the alarm message is
contained in the SMB_ALRM_DATAx registers. Once an alarm message has been received, the
SMB-HC will not receive additional alarm messages until the ALRM status bit is cleared.

ADDRESS (A6:A0) RES
Where:
RES: Reserved
ADDRESS: Slave address (A6:A0) of the SMBus device that initiated the SMBus alarm message.
12.9.1.8 Alarm Data Registers, SMB_ALRM_DATA[0], SMB_ALRM_DATA[1]

These registers contain the two data bytes of an alarm message received by the host controller, at
slave address 0x8, from the SMBus master that initiated the alarm. These data bytes indicate the

specific reason for the alarm message, such that OSPM can take actions. Once an alarm message has
been received, the SMB-HC will not receive additional alarm messages until the ALRM status bit is
cleared.
DATA (D7:D0)
Where:
DATA: Data byte received in alarm message.
The alarm address and alarm data registers are not read by OSPM until the alarm status bit is set.
OSPM driver then reads the 3 bytes, and clears the alarm status bit to indicate that the alarm registers
are now available for the next event.
12.9.2 Protocol Description

This section describes how to initiate the different protocols on the SMBus through the interface
described in Section 12.9.1, “Register Descriptions.” The registers should all be written with the
appropriate values before writing the protocol value that starts the SMBus transaction. All
transactions can be completed in one pass.
12.9.2.1 Write Quick
Data Sent:
SMB_ADDR: Address of SMBus device.
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x02 to initiate the write quick protocol.
Data Returned:
SMB_STS: Status code for transaction.
SMB_PRTCL: 0x00 to indicate command completion.
12.9.2.2Read Quick
Data Sent:
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x03 to initiate the read quick protocol.

Data Returned:
12.9.2.3 Send Byte
Data Sent:
SMB_CMD: Command byte to be sent.
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x04 to initiate the send byte protocol, or 0x84 to initiate the send byte protocol
with PEC.
Data Returned:
12.9.2.4 Receive Byte
Data Sent:
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x05 to initiate the receive byte protocol, or 0x85 to initiate the receive byte
protocol with PEC.
Data Returned:
SMB_DATA[0]: Data byte received.
12.9.2.5 Write Byte
Data Sent:
SMB_DATA[0]: Data byte to be sent.
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x06 to initiate the write byte protocol, or 0x86 to initiate the write byte protocol
with PEC.
Data Returned:

12.9.2.6 Read Byte
Data Sent:
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x07 to initiate the read byte protocol, or 0x87 to initiate the read byte protocol
with PEC.
Data Returned:
SMB_DATA[0]: Data byte received.
12.9.2.7 Write Word
Data Sent:
SMB_DATA[0]: Low data byte to be sent.
SMB_DATA[1]: High data byte to be sent.
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x08 to initiate the write word protocol, or 0x88 to initiate the write word protocol
with PEC.
Data Returned:
12.9.2.8 Read Word
Data Sent:
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x09 to initiate the read word protocol, or 0x89 to initiate the read word protocol
with PEC.

Data Returned:
SMB_DATA[0]: Low data byte received.
SMB_DATA[1]: High data byte received.
12.9.2.9 Write Block
Data Sent:
SMB_DATA[0-31]: Data bytes to write (1-32).
SMB_BCNT: Number of data bytes (1-32) to be sent.
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x0A to initiate the write block protocol, or 0x8A to initiate the write block
protocol with PEC.
Data Returned:
12.9.2.10 Read Block
Data Sent:
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x0B to initiate the read block protocol, or 0x8B to initiate the read block
protocol with PEC.
Data Returned:
SMB_BCNT: Number of data bytes (1-32) received.
SMB_DATA[0-31]: Data bytes received (1-32).
12.9.2.11 Process Call
Data Sent:

SMB_DATA[0]: Low data byte to be sent.

SMB_DATA[1]: High data byte to be sent.
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x0C to initiate the process call protocol, or 0x8C to initiate the process call
protocol with PEC.
Data Returned:
SMB_DATA[0]: Low data byte received.
SMB_DATA[1]: High data byte received.
12.9.2.12 Block Write-Block Read Process Call
Data Sent:
SMB_DATA[0-31]: Data bytes to write (1-31).
SMB_BCNT: Number of data bytes (1-31) to be sent.
SMB_PRTCL: Write 0x0D to initiate the write block-read block process call protocol, or 0x8D to
initiate the write block-read block process call protocol with PEC.
Data Returned:
SMB_BCNT: Number of data bytes (1-31) received.
SMB_DATA[0-31]: Data bytes received (1-31).
Note: The following restrictions apply: The aggregate data length of the write and read blocks must not
exceed 32 bytes and each block (write and read) must contain at least 1 byte of data.
12.9.2.13 SMBus Register Set

The register set for the SMB-HC has the following format. All registers are 8 bit.
Table 12-347 SMB EC Interface

Location Register Name Description
BASE+0 SMB_PRTCL Protocol register
BASE+1 SMB_STS Status register
BASE+2 SMB_ADDR Address register
BASE+3 SMB_CMD Command register
BASE+4 SMB_DATA[0] Data register zero

Location Register Name Description

BASE+5 SMB_DATA[1] Data register one
BASE+6 SMB_DATA[2] Data register two
BASE+7 SMB_DATA[3] Data register three
BASE+8 SMB_DATA[4] Data register four
BASE+9 SMB_DATA[5] Data register five
BASE+10 SMB_DATA[6] Data register six
BASE+11 SMB_DATA[7] Data register seven
BASE+12 SMB_DATA[8] Data register eight
BASE+13 SMB_DATA[9] Data register nine
BASE+14 SMB_DATA[10] Data register ten
BASE+15 SMB_DATA[11] Data register eleven
BASE+16 SMB_DATA[12] Data register twelve
BASE+17 SMB_DATA[13] Data register thirteen
BASE+18 SMB_DATA[14] Data register fourteen
BASE+19 SMB_DATA[15] Data register fifteen
BASE+20 SMB_DATA[16] Data register sixteen
BASE+21 SMB_DATA[17] Data register seventeen
BASE+22 SMB_DATA[18] Data register eighteen
BASE+23 SMB_DATA[19] Data register nineteen
BASE+24 SMB_DATA[20] Data register twenty
BASE+25 SMB_DATA[21] Data register twenty-one
BASE+26 SMB_DATA[22] Data register twenty-two
BASE+27 SMB_DATA[23] Data register twenty-three
BASE+28 SMB_DATA[24] Data register twenty-four
BASE+29 SMB_DATA[25] Data register twenty-five
BASE+30 SMB_DATA[26] Data register twenty-six
BASE+31 SMB_DATA[27] Data register twenty-seven
BASE+32 SMB_DATA[28] Data register twenty-eight
BASE+33 SMB_DATA[29] Data register twenty-nine
BASE+34 SMB_DATA[30] Data register thirty
BASE+35 SMB_DATA[31] Data register thirty-one
BASE+36 SMB_BCNT Block Count Register
BASE+37 SMB_ALRM_ADDR Alarm address
BASE+38 SMB_ALRM_DATA[0] Alarm data register zero
BASE+39 SMB_ALRM_DATA[1] Alarm data register one
12.10 SMBus Devices

The embedded controller interface provides the system with a standard method to access devices on
the SMBus. It does not define the data and/or access protocol(s) used by any particular SMBus

device. Further, the embedded controller can (and probably will) serve as a gatekeeper to prevent
accidental or malicious access to devices on the SMBus.
Some SMBus devices are defined by their address and a specification that describes the data and the
protocol used to access that data. For example, the Smart Battery System devices are defined by a
series of specifications including:
• Smart Battery Data specification
• Smart Battery Charger specification
• Smart Battery Selector specification
• Smart Battery System Manager specification
The embedded controller can also be used to emulate (in part or totally) any SMBus device.
12.10.1 SMBus Device Access Restrictions

In some cases, the embedded controller interface will not allow access to a particular SMBus device.
Some SMBus devices can and do communicate directly between themselves. Unexpected accesses
can interfere with their normal operation and cause unpredictable results.
12.10.2 SMBus Device Command Access Restriction

There are cases where part of an SMBus device’s commands are public while others are private.
Extraneous attempts to access these commands might cause interference with the SMBus device’s
normal operation.
The Smart Battery and the Smart Battery Charger are good examples of devices that should not have
their entire command set exposed. The Smart Battery commands the Smart Battery Charger to
supply a specific charging voltage and charging current. Attempts by anyone to alter these values
can cause damage to the battery or the mobile system. To protect the system’s integrity, the
embedded controller interface can restrict access to these commands by returning one of the
following error codes: Device Command Access Denied (0x12) or Device Access Denied (0x17).
12.11 Defining an Embedded Controller Device in ACPI

Namespace
An embedded controller device is created using the named device object. The embedded controller’s
device object requires the following elements:

Table 12-348 Embedded Controller Device Object Control Methods

Object Description
_CRS Named object that returns the Embedded Controller’s current resource settings. Embedded
Controllers are considered static resources; hence only return their defined resources. The
embedded controller resides only in system I/O or memory space.
The first address region returned is the data port, and the second address region returned is the
status/command port for the embedded controller. If the EC is used on a HW-Reduced ACPI
platform, a third resource is required, which is the GPIO Interrupt Connection resource for the
EC's SCI Interrupt.
CRS is a standard device configuration control method defined in Section 6.2.2, “_CRS (Current
Resource Settings).”
_HID Named object that provides the Embedded Controller’s Plug and Play identifier. This value is set
to PNP0C09. _HID is a standard device configuration control method defined in Section 6.1.5,
“_HID (Hardware ID).”
_GPE Named Object that evaluates to either an integer or a package. If _GPE evaluates to an integer,
the value is the bit assignment of the SCI interrupt within the GPEx_STS register of a GPE block
described in the FADT that the embedded controller will trigger.
If _GPE evaluates to a package, then that package contains two elements. The first is an object
reference to the GPE Block device that contains the GPE register that will be triggered by the
embedded controller. The second element is numeric (integer) that specifies the bit assignment
of the SCI interrupt within the GPEx_STS register of the GPE Block device referenced by the
first element in the package. This control method is specific to the embedded controller.
This method is not required on Hardware-reduced ACPI platforms.
12.11.1 Example: EC Definition ASL Code

Example ASL code that defines an embedded controller device is shown below:
Device(EC0) {
// PnP ID
Name(_HID, EISAID(“PNP0C09”))
// Returns the “Current Resources” of EC
Name(_CRS,
ResourceTemplate(){ // port 0x62 and 0x66
IO(Decode16, 0x62, 0x62, 0, 1),
IO(Decode16, 0x66, 0x66, 0, 1)
/* For HW-Reduced ACPI Platforms, include a GPIO Interrupt Connection resource,
e.g. GPIO controller #2, pin 43.
GpioInt(Edge, ActiveHigh, ExclusiveAndWake,PullUp 0, “\\_SB.GPI2”){43}
*/
}
)

// Define that the EC SCI is bit 0 of the GP_STS register

Name(_GPE, 0) // Not required for HW-Reduced ACPI platforms
OperationRegion(ECOR, EmbeddedControl, 0, 0xFF)

Field(ECOR, ByteAcc, Lock, Preserve) {
// Field definitions go here
}
}
12.12 Defining an EC SMBus Host Controller in ACPI

Namespace
An EC-SMB-HC device is defined using the named device object. The EC-SMB- HC’s device
object requires the following elements:
Table 12-349 EC SMBus HC Device Objects

Object Description
_HID Named object that provides the EC-SMB- HC’s Plug and Play identifier. This value is be set to
ACPI0001. _HID is a standard device configuration control method defined in Section 6.1.5,
“_HID (Hardware ID).”
_EC Named object that evaluates to a WORD that defines the SMBus attributes needed by the
SMBus driver. _EC is the Embedded Controller Offset Query Control Method. The most
significant byte is the address offset in embedded controller space of the SMBus controller; the
least significant byte is the query value for all SMBus events.
12.12.1 Example: EC SMBus Host Controller ASL-Code

Example ASL code that defines an SMB-HC from within an embedded controller device is shown
below:
Device(EC0)
{
{
IO(Decode16, 0x62, 0x62, 0, 1), // Status port
IO(Decode16, 0x66, 0x66, 0, 1) // command port
})
Name(_GPE, 0)
Device (SMB0)
{
Name(_HID, "ACPI0001") // EC-SMB-HC
Name(_UID, 0) // Unique device identifier
Name(_EC, 0x2030) // EC offset 0x20, query bit 0x30
:
}

Device (SMB1)
{
Name(_HID, "ACPI0001") // EC-SMB-HC
Name(_UID, 1) // Unique device identifier
:
}
} // end of EC0.


ACPI Specification ACPI System Management Bus Interface Specification
13 ACPI System Management Bus Interface

Specification
This section describes the System Management Bus (SMBus) generic address space and the use of
this address space to access SMBus devices from AML.
Unlike other address spaces, SMBus operation regions are inherently non-linear, where each offset
within an SMBus address space represents a variable-sized (from 0 to 32 bytes) field. Given this
uniqueness, SMBus operation regions include restrictions on their field definitions and require the
use of an SMBus-specific data buffer for all transactions.
The SMBus interface presented in this section is intended for use with any hardware implementation
compatible with the SMBus specification. SMBus hardware is broadly classified as either non-EC–
based or EC-based. EC-based SMBus implementations comply with the standard register set defined
in Section 12, ACPI Embedded Controller Interface Specification.”
Non-EC SMBus implementations can employ any hardware interface and are typically used for their
cost savings when SMBus security is not required. Non–EC-based SMBus implementations require
the development of hardware specific drivers for each OS implementation. See Section 13.2.1,
“Declaring SMBus Host Controller Objects,” for more information.
Support of the SMBus generic address space by ACPI-compatible operating systems is optional. As
such, the Smart Battery System Implementer’s Forum (SBS-IF) has defined an SMBus interface
based on a standard set of control methods. This interface is documented in the SMBus Control
Method Interface Specification, available at “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/
acpi) under the heading "Smart Battery System Components and SMBus Specification"..
13.1 SMBus Overview

SMBus is a two-wire interface based upon the I²C protocol. The SMBus is a low-speed bus that
provides positive addressing for devices, as well as bus arbitration. For more information, refer to
the complete set of SMBus specifications published by the SBS-IF.
13.1.1 SMBus Slave Addresses

Slave addresses are specified using a 7-bit non-shifted notation. For example, the slave address of
the Smart Battery Selector device would be specified as 0x0A (1010b), not 0x14 (10100b) as might
be found in other documents. These two different forms of addresses result from the format in which
addresses are transmitted on the SMBus.
During transmission over the physical SMBus, the slave address is formatted in an 8-bit block with
bits 7-1 containing the address and bit 0 containing the read/write bit. ASL code, on the other hand,
presents the slave address simply as a 7-bit value making it the responsibility of the OS (driver) to
shift the value if needed. For example, the ASL value would have to be shifted left 1 bit before being
written to the SMB_ADDR register in the EC based SMBus as described in Section 12.9.1.3,
“Address Register, SMB_ADDR.”

ACPI System Management Bus Interface Specification ACPI Specification
13.1.2 SMBus Protocols

There are seven possible command protocols for any given SMBus slave device, and a device may
use any or all of the protocols to communicate. The protocols and associated access type indicators
are listed below. Notice that the protocols values are similar to those defined for the EC-based
SMBus in Section 12.9.1.2, “Protocol Register, SMB_PRTCL,” except that protocol pairs (for
example, Read Byte, Write Byte) have been joined.
Table 13-350 SMBus Protocol Types

Value Type Description
0x02 SMBQuick SMBus Read/Write Quick Protocol
0x04 SMBSendReceive SMBus Send/Receive Byte Protocol
0x06 SMBByte SMBus Read/Write Byte Protocol
0x08 SMBWord SMBus Read/Write Word Protocol
0x0A SMBBlock SMBus Read/Write Block Protocol
0x0C SMBProcessCall SMBus Process Call Protocol
0x0D SMBBlockProcessCall SMBus Write Block-Read Block Process Call Protocol
All other protocol values are reserved.

Notice that bit 7 of the protocol value is used by this interface to indicate to the SMB-HC whether or
not packet error checking (PEC) should be employed for a transaction. Packet error checking is
described in section 7.4 of the System Management Bus Specification, Version 1.1. This highly
desirable capability improves the reliability and robustness of SMBus communications.
The bit encoding of the protocol value is shown below. For example, the value 0x86 would be used
to specify the PEC version of the SMBus Read/Write Byte protocol.
Bits 6:0 = Protocol

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Bit 7 = Packet Error Checking
Figure 13-74 Bit Encoding Example
Notice that bit 0 of the protocol value is always zero (even number hexadecimal values). In a manner
similar to the slave address, software that implements the SMBus interface is responsible for setting
this bit to indicate whether the transaction is a read (for example, Read Byte) or write (for example,
Write Byte) operation.
For example, software implanting this interface for EC-SMBus segments would set bit 0 for read
transactions. For the SMBByte protocol (0x06), this would result in the value 0x07 being placed into
the SMB_PRTCL register (or 0x87 if PEC is requested) for write transactions.
13.1.3 SMBus Status Codes

The use of status codes helps AML determine whether an SMBus transaction was successful. In
general, a status code of zero indicates success, while a non-zero value indicates failure. The SMBus

interface uses the same status codes defined for the EC-SMBus (see Section 12.9.1.1, “Status
Register, SMB_STS”).
13.1.4 SMBus Command Values

SMBus devices may optionally support up to 256 device-specific commands. For these devices,
each command value supported by the device is modeled by this interface as a separate virtual
register. Protocols that do not transmit a command value (for example, Read/Write Quick and Send/
Receive Byte) are modeled using a single virtual register (with a command value = 0x00).
13.2 Accessing the SMBus from ASL Code

The following sections demonstrate how to access and use the SMBus from ASL code.
13.2.1 Declaring SMBus Host Controller Objects

EC-based SMBus 1.0-compatible HCs should be modeled in the ACPI namespace as described in
Section 12.11, “Defining an Embedded Controller SMBus Host Controller in ACPI Namespace.”
An example definition is given below. Using the HID value “ACPI0001” identifies that this SMB-
HC is implemented on an embedded controller using the standard SMBus register set defined in
Section 12.9, SMBus Host Controller Interface via Embedded Controller.”
Device (SMB0)
{
Name(_HID, "ACPI0001") // EC-based SMBus 1.0 compatible Host Controller
:
}
EC-based SMBus 2.0-compatible host controllers should be defined similarly in the namespace as
follows:
Device (SMB0)
{
Name(_HID, "ACPI0005") // EC-based SMBus 2.0 compatible Host Controller
:
}
Non–EC-based SMB-HCs should be modeled in a manner similar to the EC-based SMBus HC. An
example definition is given below. These devices use a vendor-specific hardware identifier (HID) to
specify the type of SMB-HC (do not use “ACPI0001” or “ACPI0005”). Using a vendor-specific
HID allows the correct software to be loaded to service this segment’s SMBus address space.

Device(SMB0)
{
Name(_HID, "<Vendor-Specific HID>") // Vendor-Specific HID
:
}
Regardless of the type of hardware, some OS software element (for example, the SMBus HC driver)
must register with OSPM to support all SMBus operation regions defined for the segment. This
software allows the generic SMBus interface defined in this section to be used on a specific
hardware implementation by translating between the conceptual (for example, SMBus address
space) and physical (for example, process of writing/reading registers) models. Because of this
linkage, SMBus operation regions must be defined immediately within the scope of the
corresponding SMBus device.
13.2.2 Declaring SMBus Devices

The SMBus, as defined by the SMBus 1.0 Specification, is not an enumerable bus. As a result, an
SMBus 1.0-compatible SMB-HC driver cannot discover child devices on the SMBus and load the
appropriate corresponding device drivers. As such, SMBus 1.0-compatible devices are declared in
the ACPI namespace, in like manner to other motherboard devices, and enumerated by OSPM.
The SMBus 2.0 specification adds mechanisms enabling device enumeration on the bus while
providing compatibility with existing devices. ACPI defines and associates the “ACPI0005” HID
value with an EC-based SMBus 2.0-compatible host controller. OSPM will enumerate SMBus 1.0-
compatible devices when declared in the namespace under an SMBus 2.0-compatible host
controller.
The responsibility for the definition of ACPI namespace objects, required by an SMBus 2.0-
compatible host controller driver to enumerate non–bus-enumerable devices, is relegated to the
Smart Battery System Implementers Forum. See “Links to ACPI-Related Documents” (http://
uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Smart Battery System Components and SMBus Specification"..
Starting in ACPI 2.0, _ADR is used to associate SMBus devices with their lowest SMBus slave
address.
13.2.3 Declaring SMBus Operation Regions

Each SMBus operation region definition identifies a single SMBus slave address. Operation regions
are defined only for those SMBus devices that need to be accessed from AML. As with other
regions, SMBus operation regions are only accessible via the Field term (see Section 13.2.2,
“Declaring SMBus Fields”).
This interface models each SMBus device as having a 256-byte linear address range. Each byte
offset within this range corresponds to a single command value (for example, byte offset 0x12
equates to command value 0x12), with a maximum of 256 command values. By doing this, SMBus
address spaces appear linear and can be processed in a manner similar to the other address space
types.
The syntax for the OperationRegion term (from Section 19.6.99, “OperationRegion (Declare
Operation Region]”) is described below.

Offset, // TermArg=>Integer
Length // TermArg=>Integer
)
Where:
• RegionName specifies a name for this slave device (for example, “SBD0”).
• RegionSpace must be set to SMBus (operation region type value 0x04).
• Offset is a word-sized value specifying the slave address and initial command value offset for
the target device. The slave address is stored in the high byte and the command value offset is
stored in the low byte. For example, the value 0x4200 would be used for an SMBus device
residing at slave address 0x42 with an initial command value offset of zero (0).
values, for regions with an initial command value offset of zero (0). The difference of these two
values is used for regions with non-zero offsets. For example, a region with an Offset value of
0x4210 would have a corresponding Length of 0xF0 (0x100 minus 0x10).
For example, the Smart Battery Subsystem (illustrated below) consists of the Smart Battery Charger
at slave address 0x09, the Smart Battery System Manager at slave address 0x0A, and one or more
batteries (multiplexed) at slave address 0x0B. (Notice that Figure 13-2 represents the logical
connection of a Smart Battery Subsystem. The actual physical connections of the Smart Battery(s)
and the Smart Battery Charger are made through the Smart Battery System Manager.) All devices
support the Read/Write Word protocol. Batteries also support the Read/Write Block protocol.
Smart Battery
System Manager
EC [0x0A]
'SMB0'
[0x09] [0x0B]
Smart Battery Smart Battery
Charger Device(s)
Figure 13-75 Smart Battery Subsystem Devices
The following ASL code shows the use of the OperationRegion term to describe these SMBus
devices:

Device (SMB0)
{
Name(_HID, "ACPI0001") // EC-SMBus Host Controller
OperationRegion(SBC0, SMBus, 0x0900, 0x100) // Smart Battery Charger

OperationRegion(SBS0, SMBus, 0x0A00, 0x100) // Smart Battery Selector
OperationRegion(SBD0, SMBus, 0x0B00, 0x100) // Smart Battery Device(s)
:
}
Notice that these operation regions in this example are defined within the immediate context of the
‘owning’ EC-SMBus device. Each definition corresponds to a separate slave address (device), and
happens to use an initial command value offset of zero (0).
13.2.4 Declaring SMBus Fields

As with other regions, SMBus operation regions are only accessible via the Field term. Each field
element is assigned a unique command value and represents a virtual register on the targeted SMBus
device.
The syntax for the Field term (from Section 19.6.40, “Event (Declare Event Synchronization
Object]”) is described below.
Field(
) {FieldUnitList}
Where:
• RegionName specifies the operation region name previously defined for the device.
modified buffer then becomes the execution result of that operation. This is slightly different
destination. Note that the source is never changed, since it could be a read only object (see
Section 13.2.5, “Declaring an SMBus Data Buffer” and Section 19.2.5, “Opcode Terms”).
SMBus, and NoLock otherwise.
• UpdateRule is not applicable to SMBus operation regions since each virtual register is accessed
in its entirety. This field is ignored for all SMBus field definitions.

SMBus operation regions require that all field elements be declared at command value granularity.
This means that each virtual register cannot be broken down to its individual bits within the field
definition.
limitation is imposed both to simplify the SMBus interface and to maintain consistency with the
physical model defined by the SMBus specification.
SMBus protocols are assigned to field elements using the AccessAs term within the field definition.
The syntax for this term (from Section 19.2.3, “ASL Root and SecondaryTerms”) is described
below.
AccessAs(
AccessType, //AccessTypeKeyword
AccessAttribute //Nothing | ByteConst | AccessAttribKeyword
)
Where:
• AccessType must be set to BufferAcc.
• AccessAttribute indicates the SMBus protocol to assign to command values that follow this
term. See Section 13.1.2, “SMBus Protocols,” for a listing of the SMBus protocol types and
values.
An AccessAs term must appear as the first entry in a field definition to set the initial SMBus protocol
for the field elements that follow. A maximum of one SMBus protocol may be defined for each field
element. Devices supporting multiple protocols for a single command value can be modeled by
specifying multiple field elements with the same offset (command value), where each field element
is preceded by an AccessAs term specifying an alternate protocol.
For example, the register at command value 0x08 for a Smart Battery device (illustrated below)
represents a word value specifying the battery temperature (in degrees Kelvin), while the register at
command value 0x20 represents a variable-length (0 to 32 bytes) character string specifying the
name of the company that manufactured the battery.
Smart Battery Device
Command Value Register
ManufacturerAccess() 0x00 (Word) Byte 0 Byte 1
RemainingCapacityAlarm() 0x01 (Word) Byte 0 Byte 1
:
Temperature() 0x08 (Word) Byte 0 Byte 1
:
ManufacturerName() 0x20 (Block) Byte 0 ... Byte 31
DeviceName() 0x21 (Block) Byte 0 ... Byte 31
:
Figure 13-76 Smart Battery Device Virtual Registers

The following ASL code shows the use of the OperationRegion, Field, AccessAs, and Offset terms
to represent these Smart Battery device virtual registers:
OperationRegion(SBD0, SMBus, 0x0B00, 0x0100)
Field(SBD0, BufferAcc, NoLock, Preserve)
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, SMBWord) // Use the SMBWord protocol for the following…
MFGA, 8, // ManufacturerAccess() [command value 0x00]
RCAP, 8, // RemainingCapacityAlarm() [command value 0x01]
Offset(0x08) // Skip to command value 0x08…
BTMP, 8, // Temperature() [command value 0x08]
Offset(0x20) // Skip to command value 0x20…
AccessAs(BufferAcc, SMBBlock) // Use the SMBBlock protocol for the following…
MFGN, 8, // ManufacturerName() [command value 0x20]
DEVN, 8 // DeviceName() [command value 0x21]
}
Notice that command values are equivalent to the field element’s byte offset (for example,
MFGA=0, RCAP=1, BTMP=8). The AccessAs term indicates which SMBus protocol to use for
each command value.
13.2.5 Declaring and Using an SMBus Data Buffer

The use of a data buffer for SMBus transactions allows AML to receive status and data length
values, as well as making it possible to implement the Process Call protocol. As previously
mentioned, the BufferAcc access type is used to indicate to the field handler that a region-specific
data buffer will be used.
For SMBus operation regions, this data buffer is defined as a fixed-length 34-byte buffer that, if
represented using a ‘C’-styled declaration, would be modeled as follows:
typedef struct
{
BYTE Status; // Byte 0 of the data buffer
BYTE Length; // Byte 1 of the data buffer
BYTE[32] Data; // Bytes 2 through 33 of the data buffer
}
Where:
• Status (byte 0) indicates the status code of a given SMBus transaction. See Section 13.1.3,
“SMBus Status Code,” for more information.
• Length (byte 1) specifies the number of bytes of valid data that exists in the data buffer. Use of
this field is only defined for the Read/Write Block protocol, where valid Length values are 0
through 32. For other protocols—where the data length is implied by the protocol—this field is
reserved.
• Data (bytes 33-2) represents a 32-byte buffer, and is the location where actual data is stored.
For example, the following ASL shows the use of the SMBus data buffer for performing transactions
to a Smart Battery device. This code is based on the example ASL presented in Section 13.2.4,
“Declaring SMBus Fields,” which lists the operation region and field definitions for the Smart
Battery device.

/* Create the SMBus data buffer */

Name(BUFF, Buffer(34){}) // Create SMBus data buffer as BUFF
CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x00, OB1) // OB1 = Status (Byte)
CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x01, OB2) // OB2 = Length (Byte)
CreateWordField(BUFF, 0x02, OB3) // OB3 = Data (Word – Bytes 2 & 3)
CreateField(BUFF, 0x10, 256, OB4) // OB4 = Data (Block – Bytes 2-33)
/* Read the battery temperature */

Store(BTMP, BUFF) // Invoke Read Word transaction
If(LEqual(OB1, 0x00)) // Successful?
{
// OB3 = Battery temperature in 1/10th degrees Kelvin
}
/* Read the battery manufacturer name */

Store(MFGN, BUFF) // Invoke Read Block transaction
If(LEqual(OB1, 0x00)) // Successful?
{
// OB2 = Length of the manufacturer name
// OB4 = Manufacturer name (as a counted string)
}
Length, and Data), where Data (bytes 33-2) is ‘typecast’ as both word (OB3) and block (OB4) data.
The example above demonstrates the use of the Store() operator to invoke a Read Block transaction
to obtain the name of the battery manufacturer. Evaluation of the source operand (MFGN) results in
a 34-byte buffer that gets copied by Store() to the destination buffer (BUFF).
Capturing the results of a write operation, for example to check the status code, requires an
additional Store() operator, as shown below.
Store(Store(BUFF, MFGN), BUFF) // Invoke Write Block transaction
If(LEqual(OB1, 0x00)) {…} // Transaction successful?
Note that the outer Store() copies the results of the Write Block transaction back into BUFF. This is
the nature of BufferAcc’s bi-directionality described in Section 13.2.4, “Declaring SMBus Fields” It
should be noted that storing (or parsing) the result of an SMBus Write transaction is not required
although useful for ascertaining the outcome of a transaction.
SMBus Process Call protocols require similar semantics due to the fact that only destination
operands are passed bi-directionally. These transactions require the use of the double-Store()
semantics to properly capture the return results.
13.3 Using the SMBus Protocols

This section provides information and examples on how each of the SMBus protocols can be used to
access SMBus devices from AML.
13.3.1 Read/Write Quick (SMBQuick)

The SMBus Read/Write Quick protocol (SMBQuick) is typically used to control simple devices
using a device-specific binary command (for example, ON and OFF). Command values are not used

by this protocol and thus only a single element (at offset 0) can be specified in the field definition.
This protocol transfers no data.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write Quick protocol should
be accessed:
OperationRegion(SMBD, SMBus, 0x4200, 0x100) // SMBus device at slave address 0x42

Field(SMBD, BufferAcc, NoLock, Preserve)
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, SMBQuick) // Use the SMBus Read/Write Quick protocol
}
/* Create the SMBus data buffer */

CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x00, OB1) // OB1 = Status (Byte)
/* Signal device (e.g. OFF) */

Store(FLD0, BUFF) // Invoke Read Quick transaction
If(LEqual(OB1, 0x00)) {…} // Successful?
/* Signal device (e.g. ON) */

Store(BUFF, FLD0) // Invoke Write Quick transaction
In this example, a single field element (FLD0) at offset 0 is defined to represent the protocol’s read/
write bit. Access to FLD0 will cause an SMBus transaction to occur to the device. Reading the field
results in a Read Quick, and writing to the field results in a Write Quick. In either case data is not
transferred—access to the register is simply used as a mechanism to invoke the transaction.
13.3.2 Send/Receive Byte (SMBSendReceive)

The SMBus Send/Receive Byte protocol (SMBSendReceive) transfers a single byte of data. Like
Read/Write Quick, command values are not used by this protocol and thus only a single element (at
offset 0) can be specified in the field definition.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Send/Receive Byte protocol should
be accessed:
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, SMBSendReceive) // Use the SMBus Send/Receive Byte protocol
}
// Create the SMBus data buffer


// Receive a byte of data from the device

Store(FLD0, BUFF) // Invoke a Receive Byte transaction
{
// DATA = Received byte…
}
// Send the byte ‘0x16’ to the device

Store(BUFF, FLD0) // Invoke a Send Byte transaction
In this example, a single field element (FLD0) at offset 0 is defined to represent the protocol’s data
byte. Access to FLD0 will cause an SMBus transaction to occur to the device. Reading the field
results in a Receive Byte, and writing to the field results in a Send Byte.
13.3.3 Read/Write Byte (SMBByte)

The SMBus Read/Write Byte protocol (SMBByte) also transfers a single byte of data. But unlike
Send/Receive Byte, this protocol uses a command value to reference up to 256 byte-sized virtual
registers.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write Byte protocol should be
accessed:
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, SMBByte) // Use the SMBus Read/Write Byte protocol
}

// Read a byte of data from the device using command value 1

Store(FLD1, BUFF) // Invoke a Read Byte transaction
{
// DATA = Byte read from FLD1…
}
// Write the byte ‘0x16’ to the device using command value 2

Store(BUFF, FLD2) // Invoke a Write Byte transaction
registers for command values 0, 1, and 2. Access to any of the field elements will cause an SMBus
transaction to occur to the device. Reading FLD1 results in a Read Byte with a command value of 1,
and writing to FLD2 results in a Write Byte with command value 2.

13.3.4 Read/Write Word (SMBWord)

The SMBus Read/Write Word protocol (SMBWord) transfers 2 bytes of data. This protocol also
uses a command value to reference up to 256 word-sized virtual device registers.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write Word protocol should
be accessed:
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, SMBWord) // Use the SMBus Read/Write Word protocol
}

// Read two bytes of data from the device using command value 1
Store(FLD1, BUFF) // Invoke a Read Word transaction
{
// DATA = Word read from FLD1…
}
// Write the word ‘0x5416’ to the device using command value 2
transaction to occur to the device. Reading FLD1 results in a Read Word with a command value of 1,
and writing to FLD2 results in a Write Word with command value 2.
Notice that although accessing each field element transmits a word (16 bits) of data, the fields are
listed as 8 bits each. The actual data size is determined by the protocol. Every field element is
declared with a length of 8 bits so that command values and byte offsets are equivalent.
13.3.5 Read/Write Block (SMBBlock)

The SMBus Read/Write Block protocol (SMBBlock) transfers variable-sized (0-32 bytes) data. This
protocol uses a command value to reference up to 256 block-sized virtual registers.
The following ASL code illustrates how a device supporting the Read/Write Block protocol should
be accessed:
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, SMBBlock) // Use the SMBus Read/Write Block protocol
}


CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x01, SIZE) // SIZE = Length (Byte)
CreateField(BUFF, 0x10, 256, DATA) // DATA = Data (Block)
// Read block data from the device using command value 1

Store(FLD1, BUFF) // Invoke a Read Block transaction
{
// SIZE = Size (number of bytes) of the block data read from FLD1…
// DATA = Block data read from FLD1…
}
// Write the block ‘TEST’ to the device using command value 2

Store(“TEST”, DATA) // Save “TEST” into the data buffer
Store(4, SIZE) // Length of valid data in the data buffer
transaction to occur to the device. Reading FLD1 results in a Read Block with a command value of
1, and writing to FLD2 results in a Write Block with command value 2.
13.3.6 Word Process Call (SMBProcessCall)

The SMBus Process Call protocol (SMBProcessCall) transfers 2 bytes of data bi-directionally
(performs a Write Word followed by a Read Word as an atomic transaction). This protocol uses a
command value to reference up to 256 word-sized virtual registers.
accessed:
{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, SMBProcessCall) // Use the SMBus Process Call protocol
}

// Process Call with input value ‘0x5416’ to the device using command value 1
Store(Store(BUFF, FLD1), BUFF) // Invoke a Process Call transaction
{
// DATA = Word returned from FLD1…
}
transaction to occur to the device. Reading or writing FLD1 results in a Process Call with a

command value of 1. Notice that unlike other protocols, Process Call involves both a write and read
operation in a single atomic transaction. This means that the Data element of the SMBus data buffer
is set with an input value before the transaction is invoked, and holds the output value following the
successful completion of the transaction.
13.3.7 Block Process Call (SMBBlockProcessCall)

The SMBus Block Write-Read Block Process Call protocol (SMBBlockProcessCall) transfers a
block of data bi-directionally (performs a Write Block followed by a Read Block as an atomic
transaction). The maximum aggregate amount of data that may be transferred is limited to 32 bytes.
This protocol uses a command value to reference up to 256 block-sized virtual registers.
accessed:
OperationRegion(SMBD, SMBus, 0x4200, 0x100) // SMbus device at slave address 0x42

{
AccessAs(BufferAcc, SMBBlockProcessCall) // Use the Block Process Call protocol
FLD0, 8, // Virtual register representing a command value of 0
FLD1, 8 // Virtual register representing a command value of 1
}
// Create the SMBus data buffer as BUFF

Name(BUFF, Buffer(34)()) // Create SMBus data buffer as BUFF
CreateByteField(BUFF, 0x01, SIZE) // SIZE = Length (Byte)
// Process Call with input value "ACPI" to the device using command value 1

Store(8, SIZE) // Length of the valid data
{
// SIZE now equals size of data returned
}

ACPI Specification Platform Communications Channel (PCC)
14 Platform Communications Channel (PCC)
The platform communication channel is a generic mechanism for OSPM to communicate with an
entity in the platform (e.g. a platform controller, or a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC)).
Neither the entity that OSPM communicates with, nor any aspects of the information passed back
and forth is defined in this section. That information is defined by the actual interface that that
employs PCC register address space as the communication channel.
PCC defines a new address space type (PCC Space, 0xA), which is implemented as one or more
independent communications channels, or subspaces.
This chapter is arranged as follows:
• Section 14.1 and Section 14.2 provide reference information covering the PCCT table, and
expected data structures used with PCC.
• Section 14.4, Section 14.5, and Section 14.6 describe how communications takes place between
the OSPM and the platform over PCC.
The interface is described in the following ACPI system description table.
14.1 Platform Communications Channel Table

Table 14-351 Platform Communications Channel Table (PCCT)
Length Offset
Header
Signature 4 0 ‘PCCT’ Signature for the Platform Communications Channel
Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of the entire PCCT.
Revision 1 8 2
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID
OEM Table ID 8 16 For the PCCT, the table ID is the manufacturer model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of PCCT for supplied OEM Table ID.
Flags 4 36 Platform Communications Channel Global flags, described in
Table 14-352.
PCC Subspace — 48 A list of Platform Communications Channel Subspace structures
Structure[n] for this platform. This structure is described in the following
(n = subspace ID) section. At most 256 subspaces are supported.

Platform Communications Channel (PCC) ACPI Specification
14.1.1 Platform Communications Channel Global Flags

Table 14-352 Platform Communications Channel Global Flags
PCC Global Bit Bit Description
Flags Length Offset
Platform Interrupt 1 0 If set, the platform is capable of generating an interrupt to indicate
completion of a command.
14.1.2 Platform Communications Channel Subspace Structures

PCC Subspaces are described by the PCC Subspace structure in the PCCT table. The subspace ID of
a PCC subspace is its index in the array of subspace structures, starting with subspace 0. All
subspaces have a common header, followed by a set of type-specific fields:
Table 14-353 Generic PCC Subspace Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 The type of subspace.
Length 1 1 Length of the subspace structure, in bytes. The next subspace
structure begins length bytes after the start of this one.
Type specific fields variable 2 See specific subspace types for more details
This specification defines the following subspaces:

• Type 0, the Generic Communications Subspace,
• Types 1 to 2, HW-Reduced Communications Subspaces,
• Types 3 and 4 are extended PCC subspaces.
All other subspace types are reserved.
14.1.3 Generic Communications Subspace Structure (type 0)

Table 14-354 PCC Subspace Structure type 0 (Generic Communications Subspace)
Length Offset
Type 1 0 0 (Generic Communications Subspace)
Length 1 1 62
Base Address 8 8 Base Address of the shared memory range, described in
Table 14-358.
Length 8 16 Length of the memory range. Must be > 8.


Length Offset
Doorbell Register 12 24 Contains the processor relative address, represented in Generic
Address Structure format, of the PCC doorbell.
Doorbell Preserve 8 36 Contains a mask of bits to preserve when writing the doorbell
register.
Doorbell Write 8 44 Contains a mask of bits to set when writing the doorbell register.
Nominal Latency 4 52 Expected latency to process a command, in microseconds.
Maximum Periodic 4 56 The maximum number of periodic requests that the subspace
Access Rate channel can support, reported in commands per minute. 0
indicates no limitation.
Minimum Request 2 60 The minimum amount of time that OSPM must wait after the
Turnaround Time completion of a command before issuing the next command, in
microseconds.
Note: Inaccurate values for the Maximum Periodic Access Rate and Minimum Request Turnaround
Time fields can result in punitive side effects for features that rely on the PCC interface. The
Platform should report accurate values that allow for maximum channel efficiency while
maintaining maximum channel stability.
Note: The Maximum Periodic Access Rate is used by OSPM to determine the maximum rate for periodic
evaluation of commands. Infrequent, event driven commands are not restricted by the maximum
periodic access rate.
14.1.4 HW-Reduced Communications Subspace Structure (type 1)

The HW-Reduced Communications Subspace is defined in Table 14-355. It is intended for use on HW-
Reduced ACPI Platforms, which do not support the SCI. Aside from the interrupt change, and the allowed
use of the Functional Fixed HW address space for the Doorbell Register, this subspace is identical to the
Generic Communications Subspace described in Section 14.2 and Section 14.4.

Table 14-355 PCC Subspace Structure type 1 (HW-Reduced Communications Subspace)

Length Offset
Type 1 0 1 (HW-Reduced Communications Subspace)
Length 1 1 62
Platform Interrupt 4 2 GSIV of the interrupt used for the PCC platform interrupt for this
Subspace.
Platform Interrupt 1 6 Bit [2-7] Reserved
Flags
Bit [1] Platform interrupt mode

Bit [0] Platform interrupt polarity

Table 14-358.
Note: Only the System I/O, System Memory, and Functional
Fixed Hardware spaces are valid for values for
Address_Space_ID.
register.
microseconds.
periodic access rate.

Note: Type 1 subspaces do not support a level triggered platform interrupt as no method is provided to
clear the interrupt. Where level interrupts are required, type 2 or type 3 subspaces should be used.
14.1.5 HW-Reduced Communications Subspace Structure (type 2)

The HW-Reduced Communications Subspace is defined in Table 14-356. It is intended for use on
HW-Reduced ACPI Platforms, which require read-modify-write sequence to acknowledge Platform
Interrupt. Aside from three Platform Ack fields at the bottom of the table, this subspace is identical
to the HW-Reduced Communications Subspace Structure (type 1) described above.
Table 14-356 PCC Subspace Structure type 2 (HW-Reduced Communications Subspace)

Length Offset
Type 1 0 2 (HW-Reduced Communications Subspace)
Length 1 1 90
Platform Interrupt 4 2 GSIV of the interrupt used for the PCC platform interrupt for this
Subspace.
Platform Interrupt 1 6 Bit [2-7] Reserved
Flags
Bit [1] Platform interrupt mode

Bit [0] Platform interrupt polarity

Section 14-358.
Address_Space_ID.
register.
microseconds.

Platform Interrupt 12 62 Contains the processor relative address, represented in Generic

Ack Register Address Structure format, of the platform interrupt ack register.
Address_Space_ID.
Platform Interrupt 8 74 Contains a mask of bits to preserve when writing the platform
Ack Preserve interrupt ack register.
Platform Interrupt 8 82 Contains a mask of bits to set when writing the platform interrupt
Ack Write ack register.
periodic access rate
14.1.6 Extended PCC subspaces (types 3 and 4)

Extended PCC communication subspaces are of two types:
Type 3 Master subspace: used by the OSPM to communicate with the platform.
Type 4 Slave subspace: Used by the platform to send asynchronous notifications to the OSPM.
Master subspaces are not substantially different to type 0,1, or 2 subspaces, the most notable
difference is that a type 3 master subspace does not support asynchronous notifications. Slave
subspaces, type 4, provide those notifications, and cannot be used by the OSPM to send messages to
the platform. Together a master and slave pair create a bidirectional interface between the OSPM
and the platform.
The format for PCCT entries describing master (type 3), and slave (type 4) subspaces is shown in the
following table.

Table 14-357 PCC Subspace Structure type 3 and type 4, master and slave respectively
Field Byte Byte Off-Description
Length set
Type 1 0 3 – Master subspace
4 - Slave subspace
Length 1 1 170
Platform Interrupt 4 2 GSIV of an interrupt triggered by the platform:
• For master subspaces (type 3) this is raised when a
command is completed on this subspace.
• For slave subspaces (type 4) this is raised when platform
sends a notification.
For a master subspace this field is ignored if the
platform interrupt flag (table 14-137) of the PCCT is
set to zero. If a slave subspace is present in the
PCCT, then the platform interrupt flag (table 14-137)
must be set to 1.
Note that if interrupts are edge triggered, then each
subspace must have its own unique interrupt. If
interrupt are level, a GSIV may be shared by multiple
subspaces, but each one must have unique Platform
interrupt Ack preserve and Ack Set masks (see
below)
Platform Interrupt 1 6 Bit 7:2Reserved
Flags Bit 1:Platform interrupt mode
• Set to 1 if interrupt is Edge triggered
• Set to 0 if interrupt Level triggered
• Bit 0: Platform interrupt polarity
• Set to 1 if interrupt is Active low
• Set to 0 if interrupt is Active high
Table 14-361.
Length 4 24 Length of the memory range. Must be >= 16.
Address Structure (GAS) format, of the PCC doorbell.
Fixed Hardware spaces are valid values for
Address_Space_ID
For slave subspaces this field is optional, if not present the field
should just contain zeros.
Doorbell Preserve 8 40 Contains a mask of bits to preserve when writing the
doorbell register.
This field is only relevant for master subspaces.
Access Rate subspace can support, reported in commands per minute. 0
indicates no limitation. This field is only relevant for master
subspaces.


Length set
microseconds. This field is only relevant for master subspaces.
Platform interrupt Ack 12 68 Contains the processor relative address, represented in Generic
Register Address Structure (GAS) format, of the platform interrupt
acknowledge register.
Address_Space_ID.
If the subspace does not support interrupts or the interrupt is
edge driven the register may be omitted. A value of 0x0 on all
12 bytes of the GAS structure indicates the register is not
present.
If the subspace does support interrupts, and these are level, this
register must be supplied. And is used to clear the interrupt by
using a read, modify, write sequence.
Platform interrupt Ack 8 80 Contains a mask of bits to preserve when writing the platform
Preserve interrupt ack register.
Platform interrupt Ack 8 88 Contains a mask of bits to set when writing the platform interrupt
Set ack register.
Command complete 12 104 Contains the processor relative address, represented in Generic
check register Address Structure (GAS) format, of the Command complete
address check register.
Address_Space_ID
Command complete 8 116 Mask to determine whether a command is complete, using the
check mask command complete check register. A command is complete if
the value of the register when combined through a logical AND
with this mask, yields a non-zero value
Command complete 12 128 Contains the processor relative address, represented in Generic
update register Address Structure (GAS) format, of the command complete
address update register.
Address_Space_ID
Command complete 8 136 Mask of bits to preserve in the command complete update
update preserve register, when updating command complete in this subspace.
mask
Command complete 8 142 Mask of bits to set in the command complete update register,
update set mask when updating command complete in this subspace.
For master subspaces the mask must indicate how to clear the
command complete bit.
For slave subspaces the mask must indicate how set the
command complete bit


Length set
Error status register 12 150 Contains the processor relative address, represented in Generic
Address Structure (GAS) format, of the Error status register.
This field is ignored by the OSPM on slave channels
Address_Space_ID
Note: this register can be the same as the command
complete check register.
Error status mask 8 162 The mask contained here can be combined through a logical
AND with content of the Error status register to ascertain
whether an error occurred in the transmission of the command
through the subspace.
The logical NOT of this mask is be used to clear the error. The
inverted mask is combined through a logical AND with the
content of the Error status register, and the result is written back
into said register.
This field is ignored for slave channels.
Slave subspaces may be used by the platform to send asynchronous notifications to the OSPM. Slave
subspace entries in the PCCT share the same format as master subspaces, with the following
modifications:
• Type is set to 4 – slave subspace
• The doorbell may be zero and if so must be ignored by the OSM. If present, the platform can
request that the OSPM writes to the doorbell after it has processed a notification.
A slave subspace is associated with a master, that is both a master/slave pair will connect the OSPM
to the same processing entity in the platform.
If a slave subspace is included in the PCCT then the Plaform Interrupt global flag (Table 14-317)
must be set to 1.

14.2 Generic Communications Channel Shared Memory

Region
Table 14-358 Generic Communications Channel Shared Memory Region
Length Offset
Signature 4 0 The PCC signature. The signature of a subspace is computed by
a bitwise-or of the value 0x50434300 with the subspace ID. For
example, subspace 3 has the signature 0x50434303.
Command 2 4 PCC command field, described in Table 14-359.
Status 2 6 PCC status field, described in Table 14-360.
Communication — 8 Memory region for reading/writing PCC data. The size of this
Space region is 8 bytes smaller than the size of the shared memory
region (specified in the General Communications Subspace
structure). The first byte of this field represents PCC address 0.
14.2.1 Generic Communications Channel Command Field

For channels of type 0 to 2, this 16-bit field is used to select one of the defined commands for the
platform to perform. OSPM is responsible for populating this field before each command invocation.
Table 14-359 Generic Communications Channel Command Field

Length Offset
Command 8 0 Command code to execute. Command codes are application
specific and defined by the consumer of this interface.
Notify on 1 15 If set, the platform should generate a Doorbell interrupt at the
completion completion of this command. The interrupt is an SCI for a Type 0
subspace structure, or as described by the Doorbell Interrupt field
for Type 1 and Type 2 subspace structures.
If the Doorbell bit is not set in the PCC global flags, this bit must be
cleared.

14.2.2 Generic Communications Channel Status Field

Table 14-360 Generic Communications Channel Status Field
Length Offset
Command 1 0 If set, the platform has completed processing the last command.
Complete
Platform interrupt 1 1 If set, the platform has issued a Platform Interrupt to this subspace.
OSPM must check the Command Complete and Platform
Notification fields to determine the cause of the Interrupt.
Error 1 2 If set, an error occurred executing the last command.
Platform 1 3 If set, indicates the platform is issuing an asynchronous notification
Notification to OSPM.
Note: OSPM (either in an Interrupt handler or via polling) is required to detect that the Command
Complete bit has been set and to clear it before issuing another command. While waiting for this
bit to be set, OSPM must not modify any portion of the shared memory region.
Note: The Platform Interrupt bit is required to be cleared in OSPM’s Interrupt handler so that a new event
can be detected.
14.3 Extended PCC Subspace Shared Memory Region

Table 14-361 Master Slave Communications Channel Shared Memory Region
Length Offset
Signature 4 0 The PCC signature. The signature of a subspace is computed
by a bitwise-or of the value 0x50434300 with the subspace ID.
For example, subspace 3 has the signature 0x50434303.
Flags 4 4 See Table 14-362 below.
Length 4 8 Length of payload being transmitted including command field.
Command 4 12 Command being sent over the subspace.
Communication -- 16 Memory region for reading/writing PCC data. The maximum
subspace size of this region is 16 bytes smaller than the size of the
shared memory region (specified in the Master slave
Communications Subspace structure). When a command is
sent to or received from the platform, the size of the data in this
space will be Length (expressed above) minus the 4 bytes
taken up by the command.
The 32-bit command field is used to select one of the defined commands for the platform to perform.
On master subspaces the OSPM is responsible for populating this field, alongside the command’s
payload, length and flags. For slave subspaces, the OSPM is responsible for interpreting the

command and payload fields to ascertain the nature of the notification that was sent. The format for
the flags field is shown in Table 14-362
Table 14-362 Master Slave Communications Channel Flags

Length Offset
Notify on completion 1 0 For master subspaces this field indicates to the platform that it
must generate an interrupt when the command has completed.
• Setting this bit to 1 when sending a command, requests
that completion of the command is signaled via the
platform interrupt.
• Setting it to 0 when sending a command, requests that no
interrupt is asserted when the command is completed.
For slave subspaces, if the doorbell field of the slave subspace
is non zero, and this flag is set, the OSPM must access the
doorbell once it has processed the notification.
This bit is ignored by the platform if the Platform Interrupt field
of the PCC flags (Table 14-352) is set to zero.
Reserved 31 1
14.4 Doorbell Protocol

Other than on slave subspaces, the doorbell is used by OSPM to notify the platform that the shared
memory region contains a valid command that is ready to be processed. A doorbell consists of a
hardware register that is accessed via I/O or memory mapped I/O, abstracted in the doorbell field of
the PCC subspace structure. OSPM rings the doorbell by performing a read/modify/write cycle on
the specified register, preserving and setting the bits specified in the preserve and write mask of the
PCC subspace structure.

Figure 14-77 Communication flow of the doorbell protocol
Figure 14-77 illustrates the steps that the OPSM takes to send message to the platform over a PCC
subspace.
1. Firstly the OSPM checks that there is no command pending completion on the subspace,
indicating that the subspace is free for use. This is done by checking that the command complete
bit is set in the status field of the subspace. If the bit is set the subspace is free for use, and the
shared memory associated with the subspace is exclusively owned by the OSPM.
2. The OSPM places a command into the shared memory of the subspace to update the flags,
length, command and payload fields (see Table 14-358). If the platform indicates support for
platform interrupts in the PCCT (see Table 14-352), then the OSPM can request that the
platform generate an interrupt once it has completed processing the command. This is requested
by setting the Notify on completion bit in the flags (see Table 14-352 and Table 14-362).
3. The OSPM then clears the command complete bit. This step transfers ownership of the shared
memory to the platform.
4. OSPM rings the doorbell by performing a read/modify/write cycle on the specified register,
preserving and setting the bits specified in the preserve and write mask of the PCC subspace
structure.
The management of the command complete bit differs slightly between subspaces of types 0-2 and
those of type 3. For the former, the command complete bit is in a status register which follows a
specific format described in Section 14.2.2. Type 3 subspaces still use a single command complete
bit, however allow the platform to dictate the location and format of the register holding it.
Therefore, PCCT structures describing type 3 subspaces use masks and an address to describe how
to set the bit. Equally, masks are used for describing how to clear the bit. For these subspaces to
check if the command complete bit is set, the OSPM combines the content of command complete
check register, through a bitwise AND, with the command complete check mask. A non-zero value

indicates the command complete bit is set. Clearing the command complete bit is done through the
command complete update register, which can differ in address from the command complete check
register. In this case the content of the update register is combined through a bitwise AND with the
preserve mask, the result is then combined through a bitwise inclusive OR with the set mask, and
that result is written back to the update register.
For subspaces of type 1-3, the command complete bit must be initialized to one, command complete
set, prior to OSPM sending a command. On type 0 channels, whether the platform sets command
complete when the subspace is initialized is implementation defined. On these subspaces, the OSPM
does not have to check for command complete to be set before sending the first command.
Figure 14-77 illustrates the steps the platform takes when it receives the command:
5. For robustness the platform might optionally check that command complete bit is clear
6. Processes the command
7. Sets the command complete bit
8. Triggers the platform interrupt indicated by the GSIV of the subspace’s PCCT entry (Table 14-
357). This will only occur if an interrupt has been requested in step 2, and interrupts are
supported by the platform. A platform can indicate support for interrupts through the Platform
interrupt flag (Table 14-352).
OSPM can detect command completion either by polling on the command complete bit or via a
platform interrupts. When the OSPM detects that the command has completed it proceeds with the
following steps:
9. If necessary clears platform interrupt. This step applies if:
• Platform interrupts are supported by the platform on command completion (Table 14-352)
• The interrupt was requested by the OSPM through the Notify on completion flag (see Table 14-
358 and Table 14-362).
• The interrupt is described as being a level triggered through the Platform Interrupt flags, and
Platform Interrupt Ack register address, and associated masks are provided by the subspace
PCCT entry (see table entries for types 2 and 3).
10. If detecting command completion via interrupt, optionally checks command is complete
11. Processes the command response
To ensure correct operation, it is necessary to ensure that all memory updates performed by the
OSPM in step 2 are observable by the platform before step 3 completes. Equally all memory updates
performed by the platform in step 6 must be observable by the OSPM before step 7 completes.
Note: For subspace types 0 to 2, all accesses to the Status Field must be made using interlocked
operations, by both entities sharing the subspace. Types 3-4 avoid this requirement. This
requirement will be removed for subspace types 0 to 2 as part of deprecation of platform async
notifications in a future spec revision – see Section 14.5.
14.5 Platform Notification

The following sections describe platform notifications on subspace types 0-2 and types 3-4.

14.5.1 Platform Notification for Subspace Types 0, 1 and 2

The doorbell protocol is a synchronous notification from OSPM to the platform to process a
command. If the platform wants to notify OSPM of an event asynchronously, it may set the Platform
Interrupt and Platform Notification status bits and issue a Platform Interrupt. OSPM will service the
Interrupt, clear the Platform Interrupt and Platform Notification bits, and service the platform
notification. The meaning of the platform notification and the steps required to service it are defined
by the individual components utilizing the PCC interface.
The platform must wait until OSPM has issued a consumer defined command that serves to notify
the platform that OSPM is ready to service Platform Notifications. The command is subspace
specific and may not be supported by all subspaces. Platform Notifications must be used in
conjunction with an interrupt. Polling for Platform Notifications is not supported.
The platform may not modify any portion of the shared memory region other than the status field
when issuing a platform notification.
Platform notifications for subspace types 0, 1, and 2 will be deprecated in a future revision of the
specification. Implementers requiring the platform be able to send asynchronous notifications to
OSPM should use master/slave subspaces.
Note: All accesses to the Status Field must be made using interlocked operations, by both entities
sharing the subspace. This requirement will be removed for subspace types 0 to 2 as part of
deprecation of platform async notifications in a future spec revision.

14.5.2 Platform Notification for slave PCC subspaces (type 4)

Master and subspaces only allow synchronous communication from the OSPM to the platform, and
do not use the platform notification mechanism provided for subspaces of types 0 to 2. Instead a
master subspace can be paired with a slave subspace, type 4, which is specifically provided for
platform to OSPM communications.
Figure 14-78 Communication flow for notifications on slave subspaces
Like type 3 master subspaces, type 4 slave subspaces include a command complete bit. Slave
subspaces are owned by the OSPM by default, and therefore it must set the set the command
complete bit when it is ready to receive notifications from the platform.
The flow of communications for a notification is illustrated in Figure 14-78. As can be seen the
communication flow is very similar to that of a master subspace, shown in Figure 14-77, except that
the roles of the platform and the OSPM are reversed. The steps are as follows:
1. Firstly, the platform checks that there no command pending completion on the subspace,
indicating that the subspace is free for use. This is done by checking that the command complete
bit is set in the status field of the subspace. If the bit is set the subspace is free for use, and the
shared memory associated with the subspace is exclusively owned by the platform.
2. The platform places a notification command into the shared memory in the subspace, updating
the flags, length, command and payload fields (see Table 14-361). The platform can request the
OSPM rings the doorbell once it has completed processing the notification command by setting
the Generate Signal bit in the flags (see Table 14-362).
3. The platform then clears the command complete bit. This transfers ownership of the shared
memory to the OSPM.

4. The platform raises the platform interrupt indicated by the GSIV of the slave subspace.
When the OSPM receives the interrupt it executes the following steps:
5. Clears the platform interrupt. This is required if the interrupt is described as being a level
triggered through the Platform Interrupt flags, and Platform Interrupt Ack register address, and
associated masks are provided by the subspace PCCT entry (see Table 14-357).
6. Optionally checks the command complete bit is clear.
7. Processes the notification command.
8. Sets the command complete bit using the command complete update register and masks.
9. Rings the doorbell. This is required if the doorbell ring was requested by the platform in step 2
above. This also requires that the PCCT entry for the subspace has a non-zero doorbell register
address.
The platform can check whether a notification has been processed by the OSPM either by polling the
command complete bit, or where supported through receiving a doorbell interrupt from the OSPM.
When the platform detects that the notification has been processed by the OSPM, the platform takes
the following steps:
10. If polling check command complete is set. If using a doorbell this step is optional.
11. Processes the command response
The platform must ensure that any writes in step 2, are observable by the OSPM application
processors before writes in step 3. Similarly, the OSPM must ensure that any writes in step 7 are
observable by the platform before step 8 completes.
Individual protocols that use PCC define the meaning of notifications.
14.6 Referencing the PCC address space

An individual PCC register may be referenced by the Generic Address Structure or in a Generic
Register Descriptor by using the Address Space ID PCC (0xA). When using the PCC address space,
the Access Size field is redefined to Subspace ID, and identifies which PCC subspace the descriptor
refers to.
As an example, the following resource template refers to the field occupying bits 8 through 15 at
address 0x30 in PCC subspace 9:
ResourceTemplate()
{
Register (
PCC, //AddressSpaceKeyword
8, //RegisterBitWidth
8, //RegisterBitOffset
0x30, //RegisterAddress
9 //AccessSize (subspace ID)
)
}
Note that the PCC address space may not be used in any resource template or register unless the
register/resource field explicitly allows the use of the PCC address space.


ACPI Specification System Address Map Interfaces
15 System Address Map Interfaces
This section explains how an ACPI-compatible system conveys its memory resources/type
mappings to OSPM. There are three ways for the system to convey memory resources /mappings to
OSPM. The first is an INT 15 BIOS interface that is used in IA-PC–based systems to convey the
system’s initial memory map. UEFI enabled systems use the UEFI GetMemoryMap() boot services
function to convey memory resources to the OS loader. These resources must then be conveyed by
the OS loader to OSPM. See the UEFI Specification for more information on UEFI services.
Lastly, if memory resources may be added or removed dynamically, memory devices are defined in
the ACPI Namespace conveying the resource information described by the memory device (see
Section 9.13, “Memory Devices”).
ACPI defines the following address range types.
Table 15-363 Address Range Types

Value Mnemonic Save in S4 Description
1 AddressRangeMemory Yes This range is available RAM usable by the operating
system.
2 AddressRangeReserved No This range of addresses is in use or reserved by the
system and is not to be included in the allocatable
memory pool of the operating system's memory
manager.
3 AddressRangeACPI Yes ACPI Reclaim Memory. This range is available RAM
usable by the OS after it reads the ACPI tables.
4 AddressRangeNVS Yes ACPI NVS Memory. This range of addresses is in
use or reserved by the system and must not be
used by the operating system. This range is
required to be saved and restored across an NVS
sleep.
5 AddressRangeUnusable No This range of addresses contains memory in which
errors have been detected. This range must not be
used by OSPM.
6 AddressRangeDisabled No This range of addresses contains memory that is
not enabled. This range must not be used by
OSPM.
7 AddressRangePersistentM No OSPM must comprehend this memory as having
emory non-volatile attributes and handle distinct from
conventional volatile memory. The memory region
supports byte-addressable non-volatility.
NOTE: Extended Attributes (Refer to Table 15-274)

for the memory reported using
AddressRangePersistentMemory should set Bit [0]
to 1.

System Address Map Interfaces ACPI Specification
Value Mnemonic Save in S4 Description

8 - 11 Undefined No Reserved for future use. OSPM must treat any
range of this type as if the type returned was
AddressRangeReserved.
12 OEM defined No An OS should not use a memory type in the vendor-
defined range because collisions may occur
between different vendors.
13 to Undefined No Reserved for future use. OSPM must treat any
0xEFFF range of this type as if the type returned was
FFFF AddressRangeReserved.
0xF000 OEM defined No An OS should not use a memory type in the vendor-
0000 to defined range because collisions may occur
0xFFFF between different vendors.
FFFF
Platform runtime firmware can use the AddressRangeReserved address range type to block out
various addresses as not suitable for use by a programmable device. Some of the reasons a platform
runtime firmware would do this are:
• The address range contains system ROM.
• The address range contains RAM in use by the ROM.
• The address range is in use by a memory-mapped system device.
• The address range is, for whatever reason, unsuitable for a standard device to use as a device
memory space.
• The address range is within an NVRAM device where reads and writes to memory locations are
no longer successful, that is, the device was worn out.
Note: OSPM will not save or restore memory reported as AddressRangeReserved,

AddressRangeUnusable, AddressRangeDisabled, or AddressRangePersistentMemory when
transitioning to or from the S4 sleeping state.
Note: Platform boot firmware must ensure that contents of memory that is reported as
AddressRangePersistentMemory is retained after a system reset or a power cycle event.
15.1 INT 15H, E820H - Query System Address Map

This interface is used in real mode only on IA-PC-based systems and provides a memory map for all
of the installed RAM, and of physical memory ranges reserved by the BIOS. The address map is
returned through successive invocations of this interface; each returning information on a single
range of physical addresses. Each range includes a type that indicates how the range of physical
addresses is to be treated by the OSPM.
If the information returned from E820 in some way differs from INT-15 88 or INT-15 E801, the
information returned from E820 supersedes the information returned from INT-15 88 or INT-15
E801. This replacement allows the BIOS to return any information that it requires from INT-15 88
or INT-15 E801 for compatibility reasons. For compatibility reasons, if E820 returns any
AddressRangeACPI or AddressRangeNVS memory ranges below 16 MiB, the INT-15 88 and INT-

15 E801 functions must return the top of memory below the AddressRangeACPI and
AddressRangeNVS memory ranges.
The memory map conveyed by this interface is not required to reflect any changes in available
physical memory that have occurred after the BIOS has initially passed control to the operating
system. For example, if memory is added dynamically, this interface is not required to reflect the
new system memory configuration.
Table 15-364 Input to the INT 15h E820h Call

Register Contents Description
EAX Function E820h
Code
EBX Continuation Contains the continuation value to get the next range of physical memory. This is
the value returned by a previous call to this routine. If this is the first call, EBX
must contain zero.
ES:DI Buffer Pointer to an Address Range Descriptor structure that the BIOS fills in.
Pointer
ECX Buffer Size The length in bytes of the structure passed to the BIOS. The BIOS fills in the
number of bytes of the structure indicated in the ECX register, maximum, or
whatever amount of the structure the BIOS implements. The minimum size that
must be supported by both the BIOS and the caller is 20 bytes. Future
implementations might extend this structure.
EDX Signature ‘SMAP’ Used by the BIOS to verify the caller is requesting the system map
information to be returned in ES:DI.
Table 15-365 Output from the INT 15h E820h Call

Register Contents Description
CF Carry Flag Non-Carry – Indicates No Error
EAX Signature ‘SMAP.’ Signature to verify correct BIOS revision.
ES:DI Buffer Returned Address Range Descriptor pointer. Same value as on input.
Pointer
ECX Buffer Size Number of bytes returned by the BIOS in the address range descriptor. The
minimum size structure returned by the BIOS is 20 bytes.
EBX Continuation Contains the continuation value to get the next address range descriptor. The
actual significance of the continuation value is up to the discretion of the BIOS.
The caller must pass the continuation value unchanged as input to the next
iteration of the E820 call in order to get the next Address Range Descriptor. A
return value of zero means that this is the last descriptor.
Note: the BIOS can also indicate that the last descriptor has already been
returned during previous iterations by returning the carry flag set. The caller will
ignore any other information returned by the BIOS when the carry flag is set.

Table 15-366 Address Range Descriptor Structure

Offset in Bytes Name Description
0 BaseAddrLow Low 32 Bits of Base Address
4 BaseAddrHigh High 32 Bits of Base Address
8 LengthLow Low 32 Bits of Length in Bytes
12 LengthHigh High 32 Bits of Length in Bytes
16 Type Address type of this range
20 Extended Attributes See Table 14-5
The BaseAddrLow and BaseAddrHigh together are the 64-bit base address of this range. The base
address is the physical address of the start of the range being specified.
The LengthLow and LengthHigh together are the 64-bit length of this range. The length is the
physical contiguous length in bytes of a range being specified.
The Type field describes the usage of the described address range as defined in Table 15-363.
Table 15-367 Extended Attributes for Address Range Descriptor Structure

Bit Mnemonic Description
0 Reserved Reserved, must be set to 1.
3 AddressRangeErrorLog If set, the address range descriptor represents memory used for
logging hardware errors.
31:4 Reserved Reserved for future use.
Note: Bit [1] and [2] were deprecated as of ACPI 6.1. Bit [3] is used only on PC-AT BIOS systems to
pinpoint the error log in memory. On UEFI-based systems, either UEFI Hardware Error Record
HwErrRec#### runtime UEFI variable interface or the Error Record Serialization Actions 0xD, 0xE
and 0xF for the APEI ERST interface must be implemented for the error logs.
15.2 E820 Assumptions and Limitations

• The platform boot firmware returns address ranges describing baseboard memory.
• The platform boot firmware does not return a range description for the memory mapping of PCI
devices, ISA Option ROMs, and ISA Plug and Play cards because the OS has mechanisms
available to detect them.
• The platform boot firmware returns chip set-defined address holes that are not being used by
devices as reserved.
• Address ranges defined for baseboard memory-mapped I/O devices, such as APICs, are returned
as reserved.
• All occurrences of the system platform boot firmware are mapped as reserved, including the
areas below 1 MB, at 16 MB (if present), and at end of the 4-GB address space.
• Standard PC address ranges are not reported. For example, video memory at A0000 to BFFFF
physical addresses are not described by this function. The range from E0000 to EFFFF is
specific to the baseboard and is reported as it applies to that baseboard.

• All of lower memory is reported as normal memory. The OS must handle standard RAM
locations that are reserved for specific uses, such as the interrupt vector table (0:0) and the
platform boot firmware data area (40:0).
15.3 UEFI GetMemoryMap() Boot Services Function

EFI enabled systems use the UEFI GetMemoryMap() boot services function to convey memory
resources to the OS loader. These resources must then be conveyed by the OS loader to OSPM.
The GetMemoryMap interface is only available at boot services time. It is not available as a run-time
service after OSPM is loaded. The OS or its loader initiates the transition from boot services to run-
time services by calling ExitBootServices(). After the call to ExitBootServices() all
system memory map information must be derived from objects in the ACPI Namespace.
The GetMemoryMap()interface returns an array of UEFI memory descriptors. These memory
descriptors define a system memory map of all the installed RAM, and of physical memory ranges
reserved by the firmware. Each descriptor contains a type field that dictates how the physical address
range is to be treated by the operating system. Table 15-368 defines the mapping from UEFI
memory types (see UEFI Specification) to ACPI address range types (see Table 15-363) that:
• Platform boot firmware shall follow if describing the memory range in both UEFI and legacy
BIOS modes; and
• an OS loader should use if it conveys that information to the OS using an ACPI E820h system
address map table.
Table 15-368 UEFI Memory Types and mapping to ACPI address range types
Type Mnemonic ACPI Address Range Type
0 EfiReservedMemoryType AddressRangeReserved
1 EfiLoaderCode AddressRangeMemory
2 EfiLoaderData AddressRangeMemory
3 EfiBootServicesCode AddressRangeMemory
4 EfiBootServicesData AddressRangeMemory
5 EfiRuntimeServiceCode AddressRangeReserved
6 EfiRuntimeServicesData AddressRangeReserved
7 EfiConventionalMemory AddressRangeMemory
8 EfiUnusableMemory AddressRangeReserved
9 EfiACPIReclaimMemory AddressRangeACPI
10 EfiACPIMemoryNVS AddressRangeNVS
11 EfiMemoryMappedIO AddressRangeReserved
12 EfiMemoryMappedIOPortSpace AddressRangeReserved
13 EfiPalCode AddressRangeReserved
14 EfiPersistentMemory AddressRangePersistentMemory
15 to Reserved. AddressRangeReserved
0x6FFFFFFF

Type Mnemonic ACPI Address Range Type

0x70000000 Reserved for OEM used An OS should not use a memory type in the
to vendor-defined range because collisions
0x7FFFFFFF may occur between different vendors.
0x80000000 Reserved for use by UEFI OS loaders that OSV defined
to are provided by operating system vendors
0xFFFFFFFF
Note: Table 15-368 applies to system firmware that supports legacy BIOS mode plus UEFI mode, and
OS loaders.
15.4 UEFI Assumptions and Limitations

• The firmware returns address ranges describing the current system memory configuration.
• The firmware does not return a range description for the memory mapping of PCI devices, ISA
Option ROMs, and ISA Plug and Play cards because the OS has mechanisms available to detect
them.
• The firmware does not return a range description for address space regions that are not backed
by physical hardware except those mentioned above. Regions that are backed by physical
hardware, but are not supposed to be accessed by the OS, must be returned as reserved. Herein
'reserved' is the definition of the term as noted by the ACPI specification as ACPI address range
reserved. OS may use addresses of memory ranges that are not described in the memory map at
its own discretion
• Address ranges defined for baseboard memory-mapped I/O devices, such as APICs, are returned
as reserved.
• All occurrences of the system firmware are mapped as reserved, including the areas below 1
MB, at 16 MB (if present), and at end of the 4-GB address space. This can include PAL code on
Itanium™ Processor Family (IPF)- based platforms.
• Standard PC address ranges are not reported. For example, video memory at A0000 to BFFFF
physical addresses are not described by this function. The range from E0000 to EFFFF is
specific to the baseboard and is reported as it applies to that baseboard.
• All of lower memory is reported as normal memory. The OS must handle standard RAM
locations that are reserved for specific uses, such as the interrupt vector table (0:0) and the
platform boot firmware data area (40:0). To preserve backward compatibility, platform should
avoid using persistent memory to materialize the lower memory. If persistent memory is used
for lower memory, platform boot firmware must report the lower memory address range using
AddressRangeMemory and must not report using AddressRangePersistentMemory.
• EFI contains descriptors for memory mapped I/O and memory mapped I/O port space to allow
for virtual mode calls to UEFI run-time functions. The OS must never use these regions.
15.5 Example Address Map

This sample address map (for an Intel processor-based system) describes a machine that has 128
MiB of RAM, 640 KiB of base memory and 127 MiB of extended memory. The base memory has

639 KiB available for the user and 1 KiB for an extended BIOS data area. A 4-MiB Linear Frame
Buffer (LFB) is based at 12 MiB. The memory hole created by the chip set is from 8 MiB to 16 MiB.
Memory-mapped APIC devices are in the system. The I/O Unit is at FEC00000 and the Local Unit is
at FEE00000. The system BIOS is remapped to 1 GB–64 KiB.
The 639-KiB endpoint of the first memory range is also the base memory size reported in the BIOS
data segment at 40:13. The following table shows the memory map of a typical system.
Table 15-369 Sample Memory Map

Base (Hex) Length Type Description
0000 0000 639 KiB AddressRangeMemory Available Base memory. Typically the same value as
is returned using the INT 12 function.
0009 FC00 1 KiB AddressRangeReserved Memory reserved for use by the BIOS(s). This area
typically includes the Extended BIOS data area.
000F 0000 64 KiB AddressRangeReserved System BIOS
0010 0000 7 MiB AddressRangeMemory Extended memory, which is not limited to the 64-MiB
address range.
0080 0000 4 MiB AddressRangeReserved Chip set memory hole required to support the LFB
mapping at 12 MiB.
0100 0000 60 MiB AddressRangeMemory Baseboard RAM relocated above a chip set memory
hole.
04C0 0000 60 MiB AddressRangePersistent Persistent memory that has non-volatile attributes
Memory located in this region.
FEC0 0000 4 KiB AddressRangeReserved I/O APIC memory mapped I/O at FEC00000.
FEE0 0000 4 KiB AddressRangeReserved Local APIC memory mapped I/O at FEE00000.
FFFF 0000 64 KiB AddressRangeReserved Remapped System BIOS at end of address space.
15.6 Example: Operating System Usage

The following code segment illustrates the algorithm to be used when calling the Query System
Address Map function. It is an implementation example and uses non-standard mechanisms.
E820Present = FALSE;
Reg.ebx = 0;
do {
Reg.eax = 0xE820;
Reg.es = SEGMENT (&Descriptor);
Reg.di = OFFSET (&Descriptor);
Reg.ecx = sizeof (Descriptor);
Reg.edx = 'SMAP';
_int( 15, regs );


if ((Regs.eflags & EFLAG_CARRY) || Regs.eax != 'SMAP') {
break;
}


if (Regs.ecx < 20 || Reg.ecx > sizeof (Descriptor) ) {

// bug in bios - all returned descriptors must be
// at least 20 bytes long, and cannot be larger then 
// the input buffer.

break;
}
E820Present = TRUE;
.
.
.
Add address range Descriptor.BaseAddress through 
Descriptor.BaseAddress + Descriptor.Length
as type Descriptor.Type
.
.
.
} while (Regs.ebx != 0);
if (!E820Present) {
.
.
.
call INT-15 88 and/or INT-15 E801 to obtain old style 
memory information
.
.
.
}
.

ACPI Specification Waking and Sleeping
16 Waking and Sleeping
ACPI defines a mechanism to transition the system between the working state (G0) and a sleeping
state (G1) or the soft-off (G2) state. During transitions between the working and sleeping states, the
context of the user’s operating environment is maintained. ACPI defines the quality of the G1
sleeping state by defining the system attributes of four types of ACPI sleeping states (S1, S2, S3, and
S4). Each sleeping state is defined to allow implementations that can tradeoff cost, power, and wake
latencies. Additionally, ACPI defines the sleeping states such that an ACPI platform can support
multiple sleeping states, allowing the platform to transition into a particular sleeping state for a
predefined period of time and then transition to a lower power/higher wake latency sleeping state
(transitioning through the G0 state) 1.
ACPI defines a programming model that provides a mechanism for OSPM to initiate the entry into a
sleeping or soft-off state (S1-S5); this consists of a 3-bit field SLP_TYPx2 that indicates the type of
sleep state to enter, and a single control bit SLP_EN to start the sleeping process. On HW-reduced
ACPI systems, the register described by the SLEEP_CONTROL_REG field in the FADT is used
instead of the fixed SLP_TYPx and SLP_EN register bit fields.
Note: Systems containing processors without a hardware mechanism to place the processor in a low-
power state may additionally require the execution of appropriate native instructions to place the
processor in a low-power state after OSPM sets the SLP_EN bit. The hardware may implement a
number of low-power sleeping states and then associate these states with the defined ACPI
sleeping states (through the SLP_TYPx fields). The ACPI system firmware creates a sleeping
object associated with each supported sleeping state (unsupported sleeping states are identified
by the lack of the sleeping object). Each sleeping object contains two constant 3-bit values that
OSPM will program into the SLP_TYPa and SLP_TYPb fields (in fixed register space), or, on HW-
reduced ACPI platforms, a single 3-bit value that OSPM will write to the register specified by the
FADT's SLEEP_CONTROL_REG field.
On systems that are not HW-reduced ACPI platforms, an alternate mechanism for entering and
exiting the S4 state is defined. This mechanism passes control to the platform runtime firmware to
save and restore platform context. Context ownership is similar in definition to the S3 state, but
hardware saves and restores the context of memory to non-volatile storage (such as a disk drive), and
OSPM treats this as an S4 state with implied latency and power constraints. This alternate
mechanism of entering the S4 state is referred to as the S4BIOS transition.
Prior to entering a sleeping state (S1-S4), OSPM will execute OEM-specific AML/ASL code
contained in the _PTS (Prepare To Sleep) control method. One use of the _PTS control method is
1. OSPM uses the RTC wakeup feature or the Time and Alarm Namespace device to program in the time tran-
sition delay. Prior to sleeping, OSPM will program the alarm to the closest (in time) wakeup event: either a transition
to a lower power sleeping state, or a calendar event (to run some application).
2. Notice that there can be two fixed PM1x_CNT registers, each pointing to a different system I/O space
region. Normally a register grouping only allows a bit or bit field to reside in a single register group instance (a or b);
however, each platform can have two instances of the SLP_TYP (one for each grouping register: a and b). The \_Sx
control method gives a package with two values: the first is the SLP_TYPa value and the second is the SLP_TYPb
value.

Waking and Sleeping ACPI Specification
that it can indicate to the embedded controller what sleeping state the system will enter. The
embedded controller can then respond by executing the proper power-plane sequencing upon sleep
state entry.
The _WAK (Wake) control method is then executed. This control method again contains OEM-
specific AML/ASL code. One use of the _WAK control method requests OSPM to check the
platform for any devices that might have been added or removed from the system while the system
was asleep. For example, a PC Card controller might have had a PC Card added or removed, and
because the power to this device was off in the sleeping state, the status change event was not
generated.
This section discusses the system initialization sequence of an ACPI-enabled platform. This includes
the boot sequence, different wake scenarios, and an example to illustrate how to use the system
address map reporting interfaces. This sequence is part of the ACPI event programming model.
Note: HW-reduced ACPI platforms do not implement the Legacy Mode nor the S4BIOS state described
below.
For detailed information on the power management control methods described above, see Section 7,
“Power and Performance Management.”
16.1 Sleeping States

The illustration below shows the transitions between the working state, the sleeping states, and the
Soft Off state.
S1
Sleeping
Wake SLP_TYPx=S1
Event and
SLP_EN
S2
SLP_TYPx=S2 Sleeping
and
ACPI
SLP_EN G1
Boot
(SCI_EN=1)
G2 (S5) - G0 (S0) - SLP_TYPx=S3

S3
and
Soft Off Working SLP_EN Sleeping
SLP_TYPx=S5
and
SLP_EN
or SLP_TYPx=S4
PWRBTN_OR S4BIOS_REQ and
to SLP_EN
SMI_CMD S4
Sleeping
SLP_TYPx=S4
OEM S4 BIOS and
Handler SLP_EN

Figure 16-79 Example Sleeping States
ACPI defines distinct differences between the G0 and G1 system states.

• In the G0 state, work is being performed by the OS/application software and the hardware. The
CPU or any particular hardware device could be in any one of the defined power states (C0-C3
or D0-D3); however, some work will be taking place in the system.
• In the G1 state, the system is assumed to be doing no work. Prior to entering the G1 state, OSPM
will place devices in a device power state compatible with the system sleeping state to be
entered; if a device is enabled to wake the system, then OSPM will place these devices into the
lowest Dx state from which the device supports wake. This is defined in the power resource
description of that device object. This definition of the G1 state implies:
• The CPUs execute no instructions in the G1 state.
• Hardware devices are not operating (except possibly to generate a wake event).
• If not HW-reduced, ACPI registers are affected as follows:
• Wake event bits are enabled in the corresponding fixed or general-purpose registers according to
enabled wake options.
• PM1 control register is programmed for the desired sleeping state.
• WAK_STS is set by hardware in the sleeping state.
All sleeping states have these specifications. ACPI defines additional attributes that allow an ACPI
platform to have up to four different sleeping states, each of which has different attributes. The
attributes were chosen to allow differentiation of sleeping states that vary in power, wake latency,
and implementation cost tradeoffs.
Running processors at reduced levels of performance is not an ACPI sleeping state (G1); this is a
working (G0) state–defined event.
The CPU cannot execute any instructions when in the sleeping state; OSPM relies on this fact. A
platform designer might be tempted to support a sleeping system by reducing the clock frequency of
the system, which allows the platform to maintain a low-power state while at the same time
maintaining communication sessions that require constant interaction (as with some network
environments). This is definitely a G0 activity where an OS policy decision has been made to turn
off the user interface (screen) and run the processor in a reduced performance mode. This type of
reduced performance state as a sleeping state is not defined by the ACPI specification; ACPI
assumes no code execution during sleeping states.
ACPI defines attributes for four sleeping states: S1, S2, S3 and S4. (Notice that S4 and S5 are very
similar from a hardware standpoint.) ACPI-compatible platforms can support multiple sleeping
states. ACPI specifies that a 3-bit binary number be associated with each sleeping state (these
numbers are given objects within ACPI’s root namespace: \_S0, \_S1, \_S2, \_S3, \_S4 and \_S5).
When entering a system sleeping state, OSPM will do the following:
1. Pick the deepest sleeping state supported by the platform and enabled waking devices.
2. Execute the _PTS control method (which passes the type of intended sleep state to OEM AML
code).
3. If OS policy decides to enter the S4 state and chooses to use the S4BIOS mechanism and
S4BIOS is supported by the platform, OSPM will pass control to the platform runtime firmware
software by writing the S4BIOS_REQ value to the SMI_CMD port.

4. If not using the S4BIOS mechanism, OSPM gets the SLP_TYPx value from the associated
sleeping object (\_S1, \_S2, \_S3, \_S4 or \_S5).
5. Program the SLP_TYPx fields with the values contained in the selected sleeping object.
Note: Compatibility Note: The _GTS method is deprecated in ACPI 5.0A. For earlier versions, execute
the _GTS control method, passing an argument that indicates the sleeping state to be entered (1,
2, 3, or 4 representing S1, S2, S3, and S4).
6. If entering S1, S2, or S3, flush the processor caches.

7. If not entering S4BIOS, set the SLP_EN bit to start the sleeping sequence. (This actually occurs
on the same write operation that programs the SLP_TYPx field in the PM1_CNT register.) If
entering S4BIOS, write the S4BIOS_REQ value into the SMI_CMD port.
8. If HW-reduced, program the register indicated by the SLEEP_CONTROL_REG FADT field
with the HW-reduced ACPI Sleep Type value (retrieved from the sleep state object in step 4
above) and with the SLP_EN bit set to one.
9. On systems containing processors without a hardware mechanism to place the processor in a
low-power state, execute appropriate native instructions to place the processor in a low-power
state.
The _PTS control method provides the platform runtime firmware a mechanism for performing
some housekeeping, such as writing the sleep type value to the embedded controller, before entering
the system sleeping state. Control method execution occurs “just prior” to entering the sleeping state
and is not an event synchronized with the write to the PM1_CNT register. Execution can take place
several seconds prior to the system actually entering the sleeping state. As such, no hardware power-
plane sequencing takes place by execution of the _PTS control method.
Note: Compatibility Note: The _BFS method is deprecated in ACPI 5.0A. In earlier versions, on waking,
the _BFS control method is executed. OSPM then executes the _WAK control method. This
control method executes OEM-specific ASL/AML code that can search for any devices that have
been added or removed during the sleeping state.
The following sections describe the sleeping state attributes.
16.1.1 S1 Sleeping State

The S1 state is defined as a low wake-latency sleeping state. In this state, all system context is
preserved with the exception of CPU caches. Before entering S1, OSPM will flush the system
caches. If the platform supports the WBINVD instruction (as indicated by the WBINVD and
WBINVD_FLUSH flags in the FADT), OSPM will execute the WBINVD instruction. The hardware
is responsible for maintaining all other system context, which includes the context of the CPU,
memory, and chipset.
Examples of S1 sleeping state implementation alternatives follow.
16.1.1.1 Example 1: S1 Sleeping State Implementation

This example references an IA processor that supports the stop grant state through the assertion of
the STPCLK# signal. When SLP_TYPx is programmed to the S1 value (the OEM chooses a value,
which is then placed in the \_S1 object) and the SLP_ENx bit is subsequently set, or when the HW-
reduced ACPI Sleep Type value for S1 and the SLP_EN bit are written to the Sleep Control

Register, the hardware can implement an S1 state by asserting the STPCLK# signal to the processor,
causing it to enter the stop grant state.
In this case, the system clocks (PCI and CPU) are still running. Any enabled wake event causes the
hardware to de-assert the STPCLK# signal to the processor whereby OSPM must first invalidate the
CPU caches and then transition back into the working state.
16.1.1.2 Example 2: S1 Sleeping State Implementation

When SLP_TYPx is programmed to the S1 value and the SLP_ENx bit is subsequently set, or the
HW-reduced ACPI Sleep Type value for S1 and the SLP_EN bit are written to the Sleep Control
Register, the hardware will implement an S1 sleeping state transition by doing the following:
1. Placing the processor into the stop grant state.
2. Stopping the processor’s input clock, placing the processor into the stop clock state.
3. Placing system memory into a self-refresh or suspend-refresh state. Refresh is maintained by the
memory itself or through some other reference clock that is not stopped during the sleeping
state.
4. Stopping all system clocks (asserts the standby signal to the system PLL chip). Normally the
RTC will continue running.
In this case, all clocks in the system have been stopped (except for the RTC). Hardware must reverse
the process (restarting system clocks) upon any enabled wake event whereby OSPM must first
invalidate the CPU caches and then transition back into the working state.

The S2 state is defined as a low wake latency sleep state. This state is similar to the S1 sleeping state
where any context except for system memory may be lost. Additionally, control starts from the
processor’s reset vector after the wake event. Before entering S2 the SLP_EN bit, OSPM will flush
the system caches. If the platform supports the WBINVD instruction (as indicated by the WBINVD
and WBINVD_FLUSH flags in the FADT), OSPM will execute the WBINVD instruction. The
hardware is responsible for maintaining chip set and memory context. An example of an S2 sleeping
state implementation follows.
16.1.2.1 Example: S2 Sleeping State Implementation

When the SLP_TYPx register(s) are programmed to the S2 value (found in the \_S2 object) and the
SLP_EN bit is set, or the HW-reduced ACPI Sleep Type value for S2 and the SLP_EN bit are
written to the Sleep Control Register, the hardware will implement an S2 sleeping state transition by
doing the following:
1. Stopping system clocks (the only running clock is the RTC).
2. Placing system memory into a self-refresh or suspend-refresh state.
3. Powering off the CPU and cache subsystem.
In this case, the CPU is reset upon detection of the wake event; however, core logic and memory
maintain their context. Execution control starts from the CPU’s boot vector. The platform boot
firmware is required to:
• Program the initial boot configuration of the CPU (such as the CPU’s MSR and MTRR
registers).

• Initialize the cache controller to its initial boot size and configuration.
• Enable the memory controller to accept memory accesses.
• Jump to the waking vector.

The S3 state is defined as a low wake-latency sleep state. From the software viewpoint, this state is
functionally the same as the S2 state. The operational difference is that some Power Resources that
may have been left ON in the S2 state may not be available to the S3 state. As such, some devices
may be in a lower power state when the system is in S3 state than when the system is in the S2 state.
Similarly, some device wake events can function in S2 but not S3. An example of an S3 sleeping
state implementation follows.
16.1.3.1 Example: S3 Sleeping State Implementation

When the SLP_TYPx register(s) are programmed to the S3 value (found in the \_S3 object) and the
SLP_EN bit is set, or the HW-reduced ACPI Sleep Type value for S3 and the SLP_EN bit are
written to the Sleep Control Register, the hardware will implement an S3 sleeping state transition by
doing the following:
1. Placing the memory into a low-power auto-refresh or self-refresh state.
2. Devices that are maintaining memory isolating themselves from other devices in the system.
3. Removing power from the system. At this point, only devices supporting memory are powered
(possibly partially powered). The only clock running in the system is the RTC clock.
In this case, the wake event repowers the system and resets most devices (depending on the
implementation).
Execution control starts from the CPU’s boot vector. The platform boot firmware is required to:
4. Program the initial boot configuration of the CPU (such as the MSR and MTRR registers).
5. Initialize the cache controller to its initial boot size and configuration.
6. Enable the memory controller to accept memory accesses.
7. Jump to the waking vector.
Notice that if the configuration of cache memory controller is lost while the system is sleeping, the
platform boot firmware is required to reconfigure it to either the pre-sleeping state or the initial boot
state configuration. The platform boot firmware can store the configuration of the cache memory
controller into the reserved memory space, where it can then retrieve the values after waking. OSPM
will call the _PTS method once per session (prior to sleeping).
The platform boot firmware is also responsible for restoring the memory controller’s configuration.
If this configuration data is destroyed during the S3 sleeping state, then the platform boot firmware
needs to store the pre-sleeping state or initial boot state configuration in a non-volatile memory area
(as with RTC CMOS RAM) to enable it to restore the values during the waking process.
When OSPM re-enumerates buses coming out of the S3 sleeping state, it will discover any devices
that have been inserted or removed, and configure devices as they are turned on.


The S4 sleeping state is the lowest-power, longest wake-latency sleeping state supported by ACPI.
In order to reduce power to a minimum, it is assumed that the hardware platform has powered off all
devices. Because this is a sleeping state, the platform context is maintained. Depending on how the
transition into the S4 sleeping state occurs, the responsibility for maintaining system context
changes. S4 supports two entry mechanisms: OS initiated and platform runtime firmware-initiated.
The OSPM-initiated mechanism is similar to the entry into the S1-S3 sleeping states; OSPM driver
writes the SLP_TYPx fields and sets the SLP_EN bit, or writes the HW-reduced ACPI Sleep Type
value for S3 and the SLP_EN bit to the Sleep Control Register. The platform runtime firmware-
initiated mechanism occurs by OSPM transferring control to the platform runtime firmware by
writing the S4BIOS_REQ value to the SMI_CMD port, and is not supported on HW-reduced ACPI
platforms.
In OSPM-initiated S4 sleeping state, OSPM is responsible for saving all system context. Before
entering the S4 state, OSPM will save context of all memory as specified in Section 15. See
Section 15, "System Address Map Interfaces” for more information.
Upon waking, OSPM shall then restore the system context. When OSPM re-enumerates buses
coming out of the S4 sleeping state, it will discover any devices that have come and gone, and
configure devices as they are turned on.
In the platform runtime firmware-initiated S4 sleeping state, OSPM is responsible for the same
system context as described in the S3 sleeping state (platform runtime firmware restores the memory
and some chip set context). The S4BIOS transition transfers control to the platform runtime
firmware, allowing it to save context to non-volatile memory (such as a disk partition).
16.1.4.1 Operating System-Initiated S4 Transition

If OSPM supports OSPM-initiated S4 transition, it will not generate a platform firmware-initiated
S4 transition. Platforms that support the platform firmware-initiated S4 transition also support
OSPM-initiated S4 transition.
OSPM-initiated S4 transition is initiated by OSPM by saving system context, writing the appropriate
values to the SLP_TYPx register(s), and setting the SLP_EN bit, or writes the HW-reduced ACPI
Sleep Type value for S4 and the SLP_EN bit to the Sleep Control Register. Upon exiting the S4
sleeping state, the platform boot firmware restores the chipset to its POST condition, updates the
hardware signature (described later in this section), and passes control to OSPM through a normal
boot process.
When the platform boot firmware builds the ACPI tables, it generates a hardware signature for the
system. If the hardware configuration has changed during an OS-initiated S4 transition, the platform
boot firmware updates the hardware signature in the FACS table. A change in hardware
configuration is defined to be any change in the platform hardware that would cause the platform to
fail when trying to restore the S4 context; this hardware is normally limited to boot devices. For
example, changing the graphics adapter or hard disk controller while in the S4 state should cause the
hardware signature to change. On the other hand, removing or adding a PC Card device from a PC
Card slot should not cause the hardware signature to change.

16.1.4.2 The S4BIOS Transition

This transition is not supported on HW-reduced ACPI platforms. On other systems, the platform
runtime firmware-initiated S4 transition begins with OSPM writing the S4BIOS_REQ value into the
SMI_CMD port (as specified in the FADT). Once gaining control, the platform runtime firmware
then saves the appropriate memory and chip set context, and then places the platform into the S4
state (power off to all devices).
In the FACS memory table, there is the S4BIOS_F bit that indicates hardware support for the
platform runtime firmware-initiated S4 transition. If the hardware platform supports the S4BIOS
state, it sets the S4BIOS_F flag within the FACS memory structure prior to booting the OS. If the
S4BIOS_F flag in the FACS table is set, this indicates that OSPM can request the platform runtime
firmware to transition the platform into the S4BIOS sleeping state by writing the S4BIOS_REQ
value (found in the FADT) to the SMI_CMD port (identified by the SMI_CMD value in the FADT).
Upon waking the platform boot firmware restores memory context and jumps to the waking vector
(similar to wake from an S3 state). Coming out of the S4BIOS state, the platform boot firmware
must only configure boot devices (so it can read the disk partition where it saved system context).
When OSPM re-enumerates buses coming out of the S4BIOS state, it will discover any devices that
have come and gone, and configure devices as they are turned on.
16.1.5 S5 Soft Off State

OSPM places the platform in the S5 soft off state to achieve a logical off. Notice that the S5 state is
not a sleeping state (it is a G2 state) and no context is saved by OSPM or hardware but power may
still be applied to parts of the platform in this state and as such, it is not safe to disassemble. Also
notice that from a hardware perspective, the S4 and S5 states are nearly identical. When initiated, the
hardware will sequence the system to a state similar to the off state. The hardware has no
responsibility for maintaining any system context (memory or I/O); however, it does allow a
transition to the S0 state due to a power button press or a Remote Start. Upon start-up, the platform
boot firmware performs a normal power-on reset, loads the boot sector, and executes (but not the
waking vector, as all ACPI table context is lost when entering the S5 soft off state).
The _TTS control method allows the platform runtime firmware a mechanism for performing some
housekeeping, such as storing the targeted sleep state in a “global” variable that is accessible by
other control methods (such as _PS3 and _DSW).
16.1.6 Transitioning from the Working to the Sleeping State

On a transition of the system from the working to the sleeping state, the following occurs:
1. OSPM decides (through a policy scheme) to place the system into the sleeping state.
2. OSPM invokes the _TTS method to indicate the deepest possible system state the system will
transition to (1, 2, 3, or 4 representing S1, S2, S3, and S4).
3. OSPM examines all devices enabled to wake the system and determines the deepest possible
sleeping state the system can enter to support the enabled wake functions. The _PRW named
object under each device is examined, as well as the power resource object it points to.
4. OSPM places all device drivers into their respective Dx state. If the device is enabled for wake,
it enters the Dx state associated with the wake capability. If the device is not enabled to wake the
system, it enters the D3 state.

5. OSPM executes the _PTS control method, passing an argument that indicates the desired
sleeping state (1, 2, 3, or 4 representing S1, S2, S3, and S4).
6. OSPM saves any other processor’s context (other than the local processor) to memory.
7. OSPM writes the waking vector into the FACS table in memory.
Note: Compatibility Note: The _GTS method is deprecated in ACPI 5.0A. For earlier versions, OSPM
executes the _GTS control method, passing an argument that indicates the sleeping state to be
entered (1, 2, 3, or 4 representing S1, S2, S3, and S4).
8. If not a HW-reduced ACPI platform, OSPM clears the WAK_STS in the PM1a_STS and
PM1b_STS registers. On HW-reduced ACPI platforms, OSPM clears the WAK_STS bit in the
Sleep Status Register.
9. OSPM saves the local processor’s context to memory.
10. OSPM flushes caches (only if entering S1, S2 or S3).
11. OSPM sets GPE enable registers or enables wake-capable interrupts to ensure that all
appropriate wake signals are armed
12. If entering an S4 state using the S4BIOS mechanism, OSPM writes the S4BIOS_REQ value
(from the FADT) to the SMI_CMD port. This passes control to the platform runtime firmware,
which then transitions the platform into the S4BIOS state.
13. If not entering an S4BIOS state, and not a HW-reduced ACPI platform, then OSPM writes
SLP_TYPa (from the associated sleeping object) with the SLP_ENa bit set to the PM1a_CNT
register.
14. OSPM writes SLP_TYPb with the SLP_EN bit set to the PM1b_CNT register, or writes the
HW-reduced ACPI Sleep Type value and the SLP_EN bit to the Sleep Control Register.
15. On systems containing processors without a hardware mechanism to place the processor in a
low-power state, OSPM executes appropriate native instructions to place the processor in a low-
power state.
16. OSPM loops on the WAK_STS bit, either in both the PM1a_CNT and PM1b_CNT registers, or
in the SLEEP_STATUS_REG, in the case of HW-reduced ACPI platforms
17. The system enters the specified sleeping state.
Note: This is accomplished after step 14 or 15 above.
16.1.7 Transitioning from the Working to the Soft Off State

On a transition of the system from the working to the soft off state, the following occurs:
1. OSPM executes the _PTS control method, passing the argument 5.
2. OSPM prepares its components to shut down (flushing disk caches).
Note: Compatibility Note: The _GTS method is deprecated in ACPI 5.0A. For earlier versions, OSPM
executes the _GTS control method, passing the argument 5.
3. If not a HW-reduced ACPI platform, OSPM writes SLP_TYPa (from the \_S5 object) with the
SLP_ENa bit set to the PM1a_CNT register.
4. OSPM writes SLP_TYPb (from the \_S5 object) with the SLP_ENb bit set to the PM1b_CNT
register, or writes the HW-reduced ACPI Sleep Type value for S5 and the SLP_EN bit to the
Sleep Control Register.

5. The system enters the Soft Off state.
16.2 Flushing Caches

Before entering the S1, S2 or S3 sleeping states, OSPM is responsible for flushing the system
caches. ACPI provides a number of mechanisms to flush system caches. These include:
• Using a native instruction (for example, the IA-32 architecture WBINVD instruction) to flush
and invalidate platform caches.
WBINVD_FLUSH flag set (1) in the FADT indicates the system provides this support level.
• Using the IA-32 instruction WBINVD to flush but not invalidate the platform caches.
WBINVD flag set (1) in the FADT indicates the system provides this support level.
The manual flush mechanism has two caveats:
• Largest cache is 1 MB in size (FLUSH_SIZE is a maximum value of 2 MB).
• No victim caches (for which the manual flush algorithm is unreliable).
Processors with built-in victim caches will not support the manual flush mechanism and are
therefore required to support the WBINVD mechanism to use the S2 or S3 state.
The manual cache-flushing mechanism relies on the two FADT fields:
• FLUSH_SIZE. Indicates twice the size of the largest cache in bytes.
• FLUSH_STRIDE. Indicates the smallest line size of the caches in bytes.
The cache flush size value is typically twice the size of the largest cache size, and the cache flush
stride value is typically the size of the smallest cache line size in the platform. OSPM will flush the
system caches by reading a contiguous block of memory indicated by the cache flush size.
16.3 Initialization
This section covers the initialization sequences for an ACPI platform. After a reset or wake from an
S2, S3, or S4 sleeping state (as defined by the ACPI sleeping state definitions), the CPU will start
execution from its boot vector. At this point, the initialization software has many options, depending
on what the hardware platform supports. This section describes at a high level what should be done
for these different options. Figure 16-80 illustrates the flow of the boot-up software.

Boot Vector
SLP_TYP=S2
Yes
?
No
Initialize CPU
Init Memory Controller
Enable Memory
Configure Caches
Enable Caches Initialize CPU
Initialize Chipset Enable Memory
Configure Caches
SLP_TYP=S3
Yes
?
No
SLP_TYP=
Restore memory
S4BIOS Yes
Image
?
No
POST Jump To
Waking Vector
Initialize Memory
Image
* System
* Reserved
* ACPI NVS
* ACPI Reclaim
* ACPI Tables
* MPS Tables
* ...
Boot OS Loader
Figure 16-80 Platform Firmware Initialization
The processor will start executing at its power-on reset vector when waking from an S2, S3, or S4
sleeping state, during a power-on sequence, or as a result of a hard or soft reset.
When executing from the power-on reset vector as a result of a power-on sequence, a hard or soft
reset, or waking from an S4 sleep state, the platform firmware performs complete hardware

initialization; placing the system in a boot configuration. The firmware then passes control to the
operating system boot loader.
When executing from the power-on reset vector as a result of waking from an S2 or S3 sleep state,
the platform firmware performs only the hardware initialization required to restore the system to
either the state the platform was in prior to the initial operating system boot, or to the pre-sleep
configuration state. In multiprocessor systems, non-boot processors should be placed in the same
state as prior to the initial operating system boot. The platform firmware then passes control back to
OSPM system by jumping to either the Firmware_Waking_Vector or the
X_Firmware_Waking_Vector in the FACS (see Table 5-38 for more information). The contents of
operating system memory contents may not be changed during the S2 or S3 sleep state.
First, the platform runtime firmware determines whether this is a wake from S2 or S3 by examining
the SLP_TYP register value, which is preserved between sleeping sessions. If this is an S2 or S3
wake, then the platform runtime firmware restores minimum context of the system before jumping
to the waking vector. This includes:
• CPU configuration. Platform runtime firmware restores the pre-sleep configuration or initial
boot configuration of each CPU (MSR, MTRR, firmware update, SMBase, and so on).
Interrupts must be disabled (for IA-32 processors, disabled by CLI instruction).
• Memory controller configuration. If the configuration is lost during the sleeping state, the
platform runtime firmware initializes the memory controller to its pre-sleep configuration or
initial boot configuration.
• Cache memory configuration. If the configuration is lost during the sleeping state, the
platform runtime firmware initializes the cache controller to its pre-sleep configuration or initial
boot configuration.
• Functional device configuration. The platform runtime firmware doesn’t need to configure/
restore context of functional devices such as a network interface (even if it is physically included
in chipset) or interrupt controller. OSPM is responsible for restoring all context of these devices.
The only requirement for the hardware and platform runtime firmware is to ensure that
interrupts are not asserted by devices when the control is passed to OS.
• ACPI registers. SCI_EN bit must be set on non-HW-reduced ACPI platforms, and all event
status/enable bits (PM1x_STS, PM1x_EN, GPEx_STS and GPEx_EN) must not be changed by
platform runtime firmware.
Note: The platform runtime firmware may reconfigure the CPU, memory controller and cache memory
controller to either the pre-sleeping configuration or the initial boot configuration. OSPM must
accommodate both configurations.
When waking from an S4BIOS sleeping state, the platform boot firmware initializes a minimum
number of devices such as CPU, memory, cache, chipset and boot devices. After initializing these
devices, the platform boot firmware restores memory context from non-volatile memory such as
hard disk, and jumps to waking vector.
As mentioned previously, waking from an S4 state is treated the same as a cold boot: the platform
boot firmware runs POST and then initializes memory to contain the ACPI system description
tables. After it has finished this, it can call OSPM loader, and control is passed to OSPM.
When waking from S4 (either S4OS or S4BIOS), the platform boot firmware may optionally set
SCI_EN bit before passing control to OSPM. In this case, interrupts must be disabled (for IA-32

processors, disabled CLI instruction) until the control is passed to OSPM and the chipset must be
configured in ACPI mode.
16.3.1 Placing the System in ACPI Mode

When a platform initializes from a cold boot (mechanical off or from an S4 or S5 state), the
hardware platform may be configured in a legacy configuration, if not a HW-reduced ACPI
platform. From these states, the platform boot firmware software initializes the computer as it would
for a legacy operating system. When control is passed to the operating system, OSPM will check the
SCI_EN bit and if it is not set will then enable ACPI mode by first finding the ACPI tables, and then
by generating a write of the ACPI_ENABLE value to the SMI_CMD port (as described in the
FADT). The hardware platform will set the SCI_EN bit to indicate to OSPM that the hardware
platform is now configured for ACPI.
Note: Before SCI is enabled, no SCI interrupt can occur. Nor can any SCI interrupt occur immediately
after ACPI is on. The SCI interrupt can only be signaled after OSPM has enabled one of the GPE/
PM1 enable bits.
When the platform is waking from an S1, S2 or S3 state, and from S4 and S5 on HW-reduced ACPI
platforms, OSPM assumes the hardware is already in the ACPI mode and will not issue an
ACPI_ENABLE command to the SMI_CMD port
16.3.2 Platform Boot Firmware Initialization of Memory

During a power-on reset, an exit from an S4 sleeping state, or an exit from an S5 soft-off state, the
platform boot firmware needs to initialize memory. This section explains how the platform boot
firmware should configure memory for use by a number of features including:
• ACPI tables.
• Platform firmware memory that wants to be saved across S4 sleeping sessions and should be
cached.
• Platform firmware memory that does not require saving and should be cached.
For example, the configuration of the platform’s cache controller requires an area of memory to
store the configuration data. During the wake sequence, the platform boot firmware will re-enable
the memory controller and can then use its configuration data to reconfigure the cache controllers.
To support these three items, IA-PC-based systems contain system address map reporting interfaces
that return the following memory range types:
• ACPI Reclaim Memory. Memory identified by the platform boot firmware that contains the
ACPI tables. This memory can be any place above 8 MB and contains the ACPI tables. When
OSPM is finished using the ACPI tables, it is free to reclaim this memory for system software
use (application space).
• ACPI Non-Volatile-Sleeping Memory (NVS). Memory identified by the BIOS as being
reserved by the platform boot firmware for its use. OSPM is required to tag this memory as
cacheable, and to save and restore its image before entering an S4 state. Except as directed by
control methods, OSPM is not allowed to use this physical memory. OSPM will call the _PTS
control method some time before entering a sleeping state, to allow the platform’s AML code to
update this memory image before entering the sleeping state. After the system awakes from an

S4 state, OSPM will restore this memory area and call the _WAK control method to enable the
platform boot firmware to reclaim its memory image.
Note: The memory information returned from the system address map reporting interfaces should be the
same before and after an S4 sleep.
When the system is first booting, OSPM will invoke E820 interfaces on IA-PC-based legacy
systems or the GetMemoryMap() interface on UEFI-enabled systems to obtain a system memory
map (see Section 15, “System Address Map Interfaces,” for more information). As an example, the
following memory map represents a typical IA-PC-based legacy platform’s physical memory map.
4 GB
Boot ROM
Boot Base
No Memory
Top of Memory1
Above 8 MB
RAM
8 MB
Contiguous
RAM
1 MB
Compatibility
Holes
640 KB
Compatibility
Memory
0
Figure 16-81 Example Physical Memory Map
The names and attributes of the different memory regions are listed below:
• 0–640 KB. Compatibility Memory. Application executable memory for an 8086 system.
• 640 KB–1 MB. Compatibility Holes. Holes within memory space that allow accesses to be
directed to the PC-compatible frame buffer (A0000h-BFFFFh), to adapter ROM space (C0000h-
DFFFFh), and to system platform firmware space (E0000h-FFFFFh).
• 1 MB–8 MB. Contiguous RAM. An area of contiguous physical memory addresses. Operating
systems may require this memory to be contiguous in order for its loader to load the OS properly
on boot up. (No memory-mapped I/O devices should be mapped into this area.)
• 8 MB–Top of Memory1. This area contains memory to the “top of memory1” boundary. In this
area, memory-mapped I/O blocks are possible.
• Boot Base–4 GB. This area contains the bootstrap ROM.
The platform boot firmware should decide where the different memory structures belong, and then
configure the E820 handler to return the appropriate values.

For this example, the platform boot firmware will report the system memory map by E820 as shown
in Figure 15-4. Notice that the memory range from 1 MB to top of memory is marked as system
memory, and then a small range is additionally marked as ACPI reclaim memory. A legacy OS that
does not support the E820 extensions will ignore the extended memory range calls and correctly
mark that memory as system memory.
Reserved Boot ROM

Memory
No Memory
Available
Address space Top of Memory2
Reserved Reserved
Memory
ACPI NVS NVS Memory
Memory Top of Memory1
Above 8 Mbyte
RAM
ACPI Reclaim
Memory ACPI Tables - System Memory (E820)
- Reserved Memory (E820)
8 MBytes - ACPI Reclaim Memory (E820)
Contiguous - ACPI NVS Memory (E820)
System Memory RAM
Reserved 1 MByte
Memory Compatibility
Holes
Available
Address space
640 KByte
Compatibility
System Memory Memory
0
Figure 16-82 Memory as Configured after Boot
Also, from the Top of Memory1 to the Top of Memory2, the platform boot firmware has set aside
some memory for its own use and has marked as reserved both ACPI NVS Memory and Reserved
Memory. A legacy OS will throw out the ACPI NVS Memory and correctly mark this as reserved
memory (thus preventing this memory range from being allocated to any add-in device).
OSPM will call the _PTS control method prior to initiating a sleep (by programming the sleep type,
followed by setting the SLP_EN bit). During a catastrophic failure (where the integrity of the AML
code interpreter or driver structure is questionable), if OSPM decides to shut the system off, it will
not issue a _PTS, but will immediately issue a SLP_TYP of "soft off" and then set the SLP_EN bit,
or directly write the HW-reduced ACPI Sleep Type value and the SLP_EN bit to the Sleep Control
Register. Hence, the hardware should not rely solely on the _PTS control method to sequence the
system to the "soft off" state. After waking from an S4 state, OSPM will restore the ACPI NVS
memory image and then issue the _WAK control method that informs platform runtime firmware
that its memory image is back.
16.3.3 OS Loading
At this point, the platform boot firmware has passed control to OSPM, either by using OSPM boot
loader (a result of waking from an S4/S5 or boot condition) or OSPM waking vector (a result of
waking from an S2 or S3 state). For the Boot OS Loader path, OSPM will get the system address

map via one of the mechanisms describe in Section 15, “System Address Map Interfaces.” If OSPM
is booting from an S4 state, it will then check the NVS image file’s hardware signature with the
hardware signature within the FACS table (built by platform boot firmware) to determine whether it
has changed since entering the sleeping state (indicating that the platforms fundamental hardware
configuration has changed during the current sleeping state). If the signature has changed, OSPM
will not restore the system context and can boot from scratch (from the S4 state). Next, for an S4
wake, OSPM will check the NVS file to see whether it is valid. If valid, then OSPM will load the
NVS image into system memory. Next, if not a HW-reduced ACPI platform, OSPM will check the
SCI_EN bit and if it is not set, will write the ACPI_ENABLE value to the SMI_CMD register to
switch into the system into ACPI mode and will then reload the memory image from the NVS file.
Boot OS Loader OS
Waking Vector
Get Memory Map

(E820)
* ACPI NVS
* ACPI Reclaim
* Reserved
* System
* Reserved
NVS File
No
?
Yes
Sanity Check
Compare memory and No Load OS Images
volume SSN
Yes
Memory Copy
SCI_EN set? Yes
No
Turn on ACPI
Execute _BFS
Execute _WAK
Continue
Figure 16-83 OS Initialization

If an NVS image file did not exist, then OSPM loader will load OSPM from scratch. At this point, OSPM will gener-
ate a _WAK call that indicates to the platform runtime firmware that its ACPI NVS memory image has been suc-
cessfully and completely updated.
16.3.4 Exiting ACPI Mode

For machines that do not boot in ACPI mode, ACPI provides a mechanism that enables the OS to
disable ACPI. The following occurs:
1. OSPM unloads all ACPI drivers (including the ACPI driver).
2. OSPM disables all ACPI events.
3. OSPM finishes using all ACPI registers.
4. OSPM issues an I/O access to the port at the address contained in the SMI_CMD field (in the
FADT) with the value contained in the ACPI_DISABLE field (in the FADT).
5. Platform runtime firmware then remaps all SCI events to legacy events and resets the SCI_EN
bit.
6. Upon seeing the SCI_EN bit cleared, the ACPI OS enters the legacy OS mode.
When and if the legacy OS returns control to the ACPI OS, if the legacy OS has not maintained the
ACPI tables (in reserved memory and ACPI NVS memory), the ACPI OS will reboot the system to
allow the platform runtime firmware to re-initialize the tables.


ACPI Specification Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) Architecture
Platforms
17 Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)

Architecture Platforms
Systems employing a Non Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture contain collections of
hardware resources including processors, memory, and I/O buses, that comprise what is commonly
known as a “NUMA node”. Two or more NUMA nodes are linked to each other via a high-speed
interconnect. Processor accesses to memory or I/O resources within the local NUMA node are
generally faster than processor accesses to memory or I/O resources outside of the local NUMA
node, accessed via the node interconnect. ACPI defines interfaces that allow the platform to convey
NUMA node topology information to OSPM both statically at boot time and dynamically at run time
as resources are added or removed from the system.
17.1 NUMA Node

A conceptual model for a node in a NUMA configuration may contain one or more of the following
components:
• Processor
• Memory
• I/O Resources
• Networking, Storage
• Chipset
The components defined as part of the model are intended to represent all possible components of a
NUMA node. A specific node in an implementation of a NUMA platform may not provide all of
these components. At a minimum, each node must have a chipset with an interface to the
interconnect between nodes.
The defining characteristic of a NUMA system is a coherent global memory and / or I/O address
space that can be accessed by all of the processors. Hence, at least one node must have memory, at
least one node must have I/O resources and at least one node must have processors. Other than the
chipset, which must have components present on every node, each is implementation dependent. In
the ACPI namespace, NUMA nodes are described as module devices. See Section 9.12,”Module
Device”.
17.2 System Locality

A collection of components that are presented to OSPM as a Symmetrical Multi-Processing (SMP)
unit belong to the same System Locality, also known as a Proximity Domain. The granularity of a
System Locality is typically at the NUMA Node level although the granularity can also be at the sub-
NUMA node level or the processor, memory and host bridge level. A System Locality is reported to
the OSPM using the _PXM method. If OSPM only needs to know a near/far distinction among the
System Localities, the _PXM method is sufficient.

Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) Architecture Platforms ACPI Specification
OSPM makes no assumptions about the proximity or nearness of different proximity domains. The
difference between two integers representing separate proximity domains does not imply distance
between the proximity domains (in other words, proximity domain 1 is not assumed to be closer to
proximity domain 0 than proximity domain 6).
17.2.1 System Resource Affinity Table Definition

This optional System Resource Affinity Table (SRAT) provides the boot time description of the
processor and memory ranges belonging to a system locality. OSPM will consume the SRAT only at
boot time. For any devices not in the SRAT, OSPM should use _PXM for them or their ancestors
that are hot-added into the system after boot up.
The SRAT describes the system locality that all processors and memory present in a system belong
to at system boot. This includes memory that can be hot-added (that is memory that can be added to
the system while it is running, without requiring a reboot). OSPM can use this information to
optimize the performance of NUMA architecture systems. For example, OSPM could utilize this
information to optimize allocation of memory resources and the scheduling of software threads.
17.2.2 System Resource Affinity Update

Dynamic migration of the devices may cause the relative system resource affinity information (if the
optional SRAT is present) to change. If this occurs, The System Resource Affinity Update
notification (Notify event of type 0x0D) may be generated by the platform to a device at a point on
the device tree that represents a System Resource Affinity. This indicates to OSPM to invoke the
_PXM object of the notified device to update the resource affinity.
17.3 System Locality Distance Information

Optionally, OSPM may further optimize a NUMA architecture system using information about the
relative memory latency distances among the System Localities. This may be useful if the distance
between multiple system localities is significantly different. In this case, a simple near/far distinction
may be insufficient. This information is contained in the optional System Locality Information Table
(SLIT) and is returned from the evaluation of the _SLI object.
The SLIT is a matrix that describes the relative distances between all System Localities. Support for
the _PXM object is required for SLIT. The System Locality as returned by the _PXM object is used
as the row and column indices of the matrix.
Note: (Implementation Note) The size of the SLIT table is determined by the largest _PXM value used
in the system. Hence, to minimize the size of the SLIT table, the _PXM values assigned by the
system firmware should be in the range 0, …, N-1, where N is the number of System Localities. If
_PXM values are not packed into this range, the SLIT will still work, but more memory will have to
be allocated to store the “Entries” portion of the SLIT for the matrix.
The static SLIT table provides the boot time description of the relative distances among all System
Localities. For hot-added devices and dynamic reconfiguration of the system localities, the _SLI
object must be used for runtime update.
The _SLI method is an optional object that provides the runtime update of the relative distances from
the System Locality i to all other System Localities in the system. Since _SLI method is providing

ACPI Specification Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) Architecture
Platforms
additional relative distance information among System Localities, if implemented, it is provided

alongside with the _PXM method.
17.3.1 Online Hot Plug

In the case of online addition, the Bus Check notification (0x0) is performed on a device object to
indicate to OSPM that it needs to perform the Plug and Play re-enumeration operation on the device
tree starting from the point where it has been notified. OSPM needs to evaluate all _PXM objects
associated with the added System Localities, or _SLI objects if the SLIT is present.
In the case of online deletion, OSPM needs to perform the Plug and Play ejection operation when it
receives the Eject Request notification (0x03). OSPM needs to remove the relative distance
information from its internal data structure for the removed System Localities.
17.3.2 Impact to Existing Localities

Dynamic reconfiguration of the system may cause the relative distance information (if the optional
SLIT is present) to become stale. If this occurs, the System Locality Information Update notification
(Notify event of type 0xB) may be generated by the platform to a device at a point on the device tree
that represents a System Locality. This indicates to OSPM that it needs to invoke the _SLI objects
associated with the System Localities on the device tree starting from the point where it has been
notified.
17.4 Heterogeneous Memory Attributes Information

Optionally, OSPM may further optimize a NUMA architecture system using the Heterogeneous
Memory Attributes. This may be useful if the memory latency and bandwidth attributes between
system localities is significantly different. In this case, the information is contained in the optional
Heterogeneous Memory Attributes (HMAT) and is returned from the evaluation of the _HMA
object.
The HMAT structure describes the latency and bandwidth information between memory access
Initiator and memory Target System Localities. The System Locality (proximity domain identifier)
as returned by the _PXM object is used in HMAT structure.
Implementation Note: The size of the HMAT table is determined by number of memory initiator
System Localities and the memory target System Localities. The static HMAT table provides the boot
time description of the memory latency and bandwidth among all memory access Initiator and
memory Target System Localities. For hot-added devices and dynamic reconfiguration of the system
localities, the _HMA object must be used for runtime update.
The _HMA method is an optional object that provides the runtime update of the latency and
bandwidth from the memory access Initiator System Locality “i" to all other memory Target System
Localities “j” in the system.
Since _HMA method is providing additional memory latency and bandwidth information among
System Localities, if implemented, it is provided alongside with the _PXM method.

Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) Architecture Platforms ACPI Specification
17.4.1 Online Hot Plug

In the case of online addition, the Bus Check notification (0x0) is performed on a device object to
indicate to OSPM that it needs to perform the Plug and Play re-enumeration operation on the device
tree starting from the point where it has been notified. OSPM needs to evaluate all _PXM objects
associated with the added System Localities, or _HMA objects if the HMAT is present.
In the case of online deletion, OSPM needs to perform the Plug and Play ejection operation when it
receives the Eject Request notification (0x03). OSPM needs to remove the ejected System Localities
related information from its internal data structure for the removed System Localities.
17.4.2 Impact to Existing Localities

Dynamic reconfiguration of the system may cause the memory latency and bandwidth information
(if the optional HMAT is present) to become stale. If this occurs, the Heterogeneous Memory
Attributes Update notification (Notify event of type 0xE) may be generated by the platform to a
device at a point on the device tree that represents a System Locality. This indicates to OSPM that it
needs to invoke the _HMA objects associated with the System Localities on the device tree starting
from the point where it has been notified.

ACPI Specification ACPI Platform Error Interfaces (APEI)
18 ACPI Platform Error Interfaces (APEI)
This section describes the ACPI Platform Error Interfaces (APEI), which provide a means for the
platform to convey error information to OSPM. APEI extends existing hardware error reporting
mechanisms and brings them together as components of a coherent hardware error infrastructure.
APEI takes advantage of the additional hardware error information available in today’s hardware
devices and integrates much more closely with the system firmware.
As a result, APEI provides the following benefits:
• Allows for more extensive error data to be made available in a standard error record format for
determining the root cause of hardware errors.
• Is extensible, so that as hardware vendors add new and better hardware error reporting
mechanisms to their devices, APEI allows the platform and the OSPM to gracefully
accommodate the new mechanisms.
This provides information to help system designers understand basic issues about hardware errors,
the relationship between the firmware and OSPM, and information about error handling and the
APEI architecture components.
APEI consists of four separate tables:
• Error Record Serialization Table (ERST)
• Boot Error Record Table (BERT)
• Hardware Error Source Table (HEST)
• Error Injection Table (EINJ)
18.1Hardware Errors and Error Sources

A hardware error is a recorded event related to a malfunction of a hardware component in a
computer platform. The hardware components contain error detection mechanisms that detect when
a hardware error condition exists. Hardware errors can be classified as either corrected errors or
uncorrected errors as follows:
• A corrected error is a hardware error condition that has been corrected by the hardware or by the
firmware by the time the OSPM is notified about the existence of the error condition.
• An uncorrected error is a hardware error condition that cannot be corrected by the hardware or
by the firmware. Uncorrected errors are either fatal or non-fatal.
— A fatal hardware error is an uncorrected or uncontained error condition that is determined to
be unrecoverable by the hardware. When a fatal uncorrected error occurs, the system is
restarted to prevent propagation of the error.
— A non-fatal hardware error is an uncorrected error condition from which OSPM can attempt
recovery by trying to correct the error. These are also referred to as correctable or
recoverable errors.
Central to APEI is the concept of a hardware error source. A hardware error source is any hardware
unit that alerts OSPM to the presence of an error condition. Examples of hardware error sources
include the following:

ACPI Platform Error Interfaces (APEI) ACPI Specification
• Processor machine check exception (for example, MC#)

• Chipset error message signals (for example, SCI, SMI, SERR#, MCERR#)
• I/O bus error reporting (for example, PCI Express root port error interrupt)
• I/O device errors
A single hardware error source might handle aggregate error reporting for more than one type of
hardware error condition. For example, a processor’s machine check exception typically reports
processor errors, cache and memory errors, and system bus errors.
A hardware error source is typically represented by the following:
• One or more hardware error status registers.
• One or more hardware error configuration or control registers.
• A signaling mechanism to alert OSPM to the existence of an error condition.
In some situations, there is not an explicit signaling mechanism and OSPM must poll the error status
registers to test for an error condition. However, polling can only be used for corrected error
conditions since uncorrected errors require immediate attention by OSPM.
18.2 Relationship between OSPM and System Firmware

Both OSPM and system firmware play important roles in hardware error handling. APEI improves
the methods by which both of these can contribute to the task of hardware error handling in a
complementary fashion. APEI allows the hardware platform vendor to determine whether the
firmware or OSPM will own key hardware error resources. APEI also allows the firmware to pass
control of hardware error resources to OSPM when appropriate.
18.3 Error Source Discovery

Platforms enumerate error sources to OSPM via a set of tables that describe the error sources. OSPM
may also support non-ACPI enumerated error sources such as: Machine Check Exception, Corrected
Machine Check, NMI, PCI Express AER, and on Itanium™ Processor Family (IPF) platforms the
INIT error source. Non-ACPI error sources are not described by this specification.
During initialization, OSPM examines the tables and uses this information to establish the necessary
error handlers that are responsible for processing error notifications from the platform.
18.3.1 Boot Error Source

Under normal circumstances, when a hardware error occurs, the error handler receives control and
processes the error. This gives OSPM a chance to process the error condition, report it, and
optionally attempt recovery. In some cases, the system is unable to process an error. For example,
system firmware or a management controller may choose to reset the system or the system might
experience an uncontrolled crash or reset.
The boot error source is used to report unhandled errors that occurred in a previous boot. This
mechanism is described in the BERT table. The boot error source is reported as a ‘one-time polled’
type error source. OSPM queries the boot error source during boot for any existing boot error
records. The platform will report the error condition to OSPM via a Common Platform Error Record

(CPER) compliant error record. The CPER format is described in the appendices of the UEFI
Specification.
The Boot Error Record Table (BERT) format is shown in Table 18-370.
Table 18-370 Boot Error Record Table (BERT) Table

length offset
Header Signature 4 0 ‘BERT’. Signature for the Boot Error Record Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of BERT.
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.
OEM Table ID 8 16 The manufacturer model ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of the BERT for the supplied OEM table ID.
Creator ID 4 28 Vendor ID of the utility that created the table.
Creator Revision 4 32 Revision of the utility that created the table.
Boot Error Region Length 4 36 The length in bytes of the boot error region.
Boot Error Region 8 40 64-bit physical address of the Boot Error Region.
The Boot Error Region is a range of addressable memory OSPM can access during initialization to
determine if an unhandled error condition occurred. System firmware must report this memory range
as firmware reserved. The format of the Boot Error Region follow that of an Error Status Block, this
is defined in Section 18.3.2.7. The format of the error status block is described by Table 18-380.
For details of some of the fields defined in Table 18-381, please refer to the definition of Section
Descriptors provided in the appendices of the UEFI Specification under the description of the
Common Platform Error Record.
18.3.2 ACPI Error Source

The hardware error source describes a standardized mechanism platforms may use to describe their
error sources. Use of this interface is the preferred way for platforms to describe their error sources
as it is platform and processor-architecture independent and allows the platform to describe the
operational parameters associated with error sources.
This mechanism allows for the platform to describe error sources in detail; communicating
operational parameters (i.e. severity levels, masking bits, and threshold values) to OSPM as
necessary. It also allows the platform to report error sources for which OSPM would typically not
implement support (for example, chipset-specific error registers).
The Hardware Error Source Table provides the platform firmware a way to describe a system’s
hardware error sources to OSPM. The format of the Hardware Error Source Table is shown in
Table 18-371.

Table 18-371 Hardware Error Source Table (HEST)

length offset
Header Signature 4 0 “HEST”. Signature for the Hardware Error Source Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of entire HEST. Entire table must be
contiguous.
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of the HEST for the supplied OEM table ID.
Error Source Count 4 36 The number of error source descriptors.
Error Source Structure[n] - 40 A series of Error Source Descriptor Entries.
The following sections detail each of the specific error source descriptors.
Note: Error source types 3, 4, and 5 are reserved for legacy reasons and must not be used.
18.3.2.1 IA-32 Architecture Machine Check Exception

Processors implementing the IA-32 Instruction Set Architecture employ a machine check exception
mechanism to alert OSPM to the presence of an uncorrected hardware error condition. The
information in this table is used by OSPM to configure the machine check exception mechanism for
each processor in the system.
Only one entry of this type is permitted in the HEST. OSPM applies the information specified in this
entry to all processors.

Table 18-372 IA-32 Architecture Machine Check Exception Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 0 – IA-32 Architecture Machine Check Exception Structure.
Source Id 2 2 This value serves to uniquely identify this error source against
other error sources reported by the platform.
Flags 1 6 Bit [0] - FIRMWARE_FIRST: If set, this bit indicates to the
OSPM that system firmware will handle errors from this
source first.
Bit [2] - GHES_ASSIST: If set, this bit indicates that although
OSPM is responsible for directly handling the error (as
expected when FIRMWARE_FIRST is not set), system
firmware reports additional information in the context of an
exception generated by the error. The additional information
is reported in a Generic Hardware Error Source structure with
a matching Related Source Id.
NOTE: If FIRMWARE_FIRST is set, this bit is reserved.
Enabled 1 7 Specifies whether MCE is to be enabled. If set to 1, this field
indicates this error source is to be enabled. If set to 0, this
field indicates that the error source is not to be enabled.
Number of Records 4 8 Indicates the number of error records to pre-allocate for this
To Pre-allocate error source.
Max Sections Per 4 12 Indicates the maximum number of error sections included in
Record an error record created as a result of an error reported by this
error source.
Global Capability Init 8 16 Indicates the value of the machine check global capability
Data register.
Global Control Init 8 24 Indicates the value to be written to the machine check global
Data control register.
Number Of Hardware 1 32 Indicates the number of hardware error reporting banks.
Banks
Machine Check Bank - 40 A list of Machine Check Bank structures defined in
Structure[n] Section 18.3.2.1.1
18.3.2.1.1 IA-32 Architecture Machine Check Bank Structure

This table describes the attributes of a specific IA-32 architecture machine check hardware error
bank.

Table 18-373 IA-32 Architecture Machine Check Error Bank Structure

Length Offset
Bank Number 1 0 Zero-based index identifies the machine check error bank.
Clear Status On 1 1 If set, indicates the status information in this machine check
Initialization bank is to be cleared during system initialization as follows:
0 – Clear
1 – Don’t clear
Status Data Format 1 2 Identifies the format of the data in the status register:
0 – IA-32 MCA
1 – Intel® 64 MCA
2 – AMD64MCA
All other values are reserved
Control Register 4 4 Address of the hardware bank’s control MSR. Ignored if zero.
MSR Address
Control Init Data 8 8 This is the value the OSPM will program into the machine check
bank’s control register.
Status Register 4 16 Address of the hardware bank’s MCi_STAT MSR. Ignored if
MSR Address zero.
Address Register 4 20 Address of the hardware bank’s MCi_ADDR MSR. Ignored if
MSR Address zero.
Misc Register 4 24 Address of the hardware bank’s MCi_MISC MSR. Ignored if
MSR Address zero.
18.3.2.2 IA-32 Architecture Corrected Machine Check

Processors implementing the IA-32 Instruction Set Architecture may report corrected processor
errors to OSPM. The information in this table allows platform firmware to communicate key
parameters of the corrected processor error reporting mechanism to OSPM, including whether CMC
processing should be enabled.

Table 18-374 IA-32 Architecture Corrected Machine Check Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 1 – IA-32 Architecture Corrected Machine Check Structure.
Source Id 2 2 Uniquely identifies the error source.
Flags 1 6 Bit [0] - FIRMWARE_FIRST: If set, this bit indicates that system
firmware will handle errors from this source first.
OSPM is responsible for directly handling the error (as expected
when FIRMWARE_FIRST is not set), system firmware reports
additional information in the context of an interrupt generated by
the error. The additional information is reported in a Generic
Hardware Error Source structure with a matching Related Source
Id.
All other bits must be set to zero.
Enabled 1 7 If the field value is 1, indicates this error source is to be enabled.
If the field value is 0, indicates that the error source is not to be
enabled.
If FIRMWARE_FIRST is set in the flags field, the Enabled field is
ignored by OSPM.
Number of 4 8 Indicates the number of error records to pre-allocate for this error
Records To Pre- source. Must be >= 1.
allocate
Max Sections Per 4 12 Indicates the maximum number of error sections included in an
Record error record created as a result of an error reported by this error
source. Must be >= 1.
Notification 28 16 Hardware Error Notification Structure as defined in Table 18-383
Structure
Number Of 1 44 The number of hardware error reporting banks.
Hardware Banks
Machine Check - 48 A list of Machine Check Bank structures defined in
Bank Structure[n] Section 18.3.2.1.1.
18.3.2.3 IA-32 Architecture Non-Maskable Interrupt

Uncorrected platform errors are typically reported using the Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) vector
(for example, INT 2). This table allows platform firmware to communicate parameters regarding the
configuration and handling of NMI error conditions.
Only one entry of this type is permitted in the HEST.

Table 18-375 IA-32 Architecture NMI Error Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 2 – IA-32 Architecture NMI Structure.
Source Id 2 2 Uniquely identifies this error source.
Number of Records 4 8 Indicates number of error records to pre-allocate for this error
To Pre-allocate source. Must be >= 1.
Max Sections Per 4 12 Indicates maximum number of error sections included in an
Max Raw Data 4 16 The size in bytes of the NMI error data.
Length
18.3.2.4 PCI Express Root Port AER Structure

PCI Express (PCIe) root ports may implement PCIe Advanced Error Reporting (AER) support. This
table contains information platform firmware supplies to OSPM for configuring AER support on a
given root port.
The HEST may contain one entry of this type for each PCI Express root port if none of the entries
has the GLOBAL flag set. If the GLOBAL flag is set, there may only be one entry of this type and
the information contained in that entry is applied to all PCIe root ports.
Table 18-376 PCI Express Root Port AER Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 6 – AER Root Port.
Flags 1 6 Bit [0] - FIRMWARE_FIRST: If set, this bit indicates to the OSPM
that system firmware will handle errors from this source first.
Bit [1] - GLOBAL: If set, indicates that the settings contained in
this structure apply globally to all PCI Express Devices.
enabled.
Number of Records 4 8 Indicates the number error records to pre-allocate for this error


Length Offset
Bus 4 16 Identifies the PCI Bus and Segment of the root port. The Bus is
encoded in bits [7:0]. For systems that expose multiple PCI
segment groups, the segment number is encoded in bits [23:8]
and bits [31-24] must be zero. For systems that do not expose
multiple PCI segment groups, bits [31:8] must be zero. If the
GLOBAL flag is specified, this field is ignored.
Device 2 20 Identifies the PCI Device Number of the root port.
If the GLOBAL flag is specified, this field is ignored.
Function 2 22 Identifies the PCI Function number of the root port.
Device Control 2 24 Device control bits with which to initialize the device.
Uncorrectable Error 4 28 Value to write to the root port’s Uncorrectable Error Mask register.
Mask
Uncorrectable Error 4 32 Value to write to the root port’s Uncorrectable Error Severity
Severity register.
Correctable Error 4 36 Value to write to the root port’s Correctable Error Mask register.
Mask
Advanced Error 4 40 Value to write to the root port’s Advanced Error Capabilities and
Capabilities and Control Register.
Control
Root Error 4 44 Value to write to the root port’s Root Error Command Register.
Command
18.3.2.5 PCI Express Device AER Structure

PCI Express devices may implement AER support. This table contains information platform
firmware supplies to OSPM for configuring AER support on a given PCI Express device.
The HEST may contain one entry of this type for each PCI Express endpoint device if none of the
entries has the GLOBAL flag set. If the GLOBAL flag is set, there may only be one entry of this
type and the information contained in that entry will be applied to all PCI Express endpoint devices.
Table 18-377 PCI Express Device AER Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 7 – AER Endpoint.
Flags 1 6 Bit [0] - FIRMWARE_FIRST: If set, indicates that system
Bit [1] – GLOBAL: If set, indicates that the settings contained in
this structure apply globally to all PCI Express Devices.


Length Offset
enabled.
Number of Records 4 8 Indicates the number of error records to pre-allocate for this error
Bus 4 16 Identifies the PCI Bus and Segment of the device. The Bus is
and bits [31:24] must be zero. For systems that do not expose
multiple PCI segment groups, bits 8-31 must be zero. If the
Device 2 20 Identifies the PCI Device Number of the device.
Function 2 22 Identifies the PCI Function Number of the device.
Uncorrectable Error 4 28 Value to write to the root port’s Uncorrectable Error Mask
Mask register.
Uncorrectable Error 4 32 Value to write to the root port’s Uncorrectable Error Severity
Severity register.
Correctable Error 4 36 Value to write to the root port’s Correctable Error Mask register.
Mask
Advanced Error 4 40 Value to write to the root port’s Advanced Error Capabilities and
Control
18.3.2.6 PCI Express/PCI-X Bridge AER Structure

PCI Express/PCI-X bridges that implement AER support implement fields that control the behavior
how errors are reported across the bridge.
The HEST may contain one entry of this type for each PCI Express/PCI-X bridges if none of the
entries has the GLOBAL flag set. If the GLOBAL flag is set, there may only be one entry of this
type and the information contained in that entry will be applied to all PCI Express/ PCI-X bridges.
Table 18-378 PCI Express Bridge AER Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 8 – AER Bridge.


Length Offset
Flags 1 6 Bit [0] - FIRMWARE_FIRST: If set, indicates that system
Bit [1] – GLOBAL: If set, indicates that the settings contained in
this structure apply globally to all PCI Express Bridges.
enabled.
To Pre-allocate error source. Must be >= 1.
Bus 4 16 Identifies the PCI Bus and Segment of the bridge. The Bus is
and bits [31:24] must be zero. For systems that do not expose
multiple PCI segment groups, bits 8-31 must be zero. If the
Device 2 20 Identifies the PCI device number of the bridge.
Function 2 22 Identifies the PCI function number of the bridge.
Reserved 2 26 This value must be zero.
Uncorrectable Error 4 28 Value to write to the bridge’s Uncorrectable Error Mask register.
Mask
Uncorrectable Error 4 32 Value to write to the bridge’s Uncorrectable Error Severity
Severity register.
Correctable Error 4 36 Value to write to the bridge’s Correctable Error Mask register.
Mask
Advanced Error 4 40 Value to write to the bridge’s Advanced Error Capabilities and
Control
Secondary 4 44 Value to write to the bridge’s secondary uncorrectable error
Uncorrectable Error mask register.
Mask
Secondary 4 48 Value to write to the bridge’s secondary uncorrectable error
Uncorrectable Error severity register.
Severity


Length Offset
Secondary 4 52 Value to write to the bridge’s secondary advanced capabilities
Advanced and control register.
Capabilities and
Control
18.3.2.7 Generic Hardware Error Source

The platform may describe a generic hardware error source to OSPM using the Generic Hardware
Error Source structure. A generic hardware error source is an error source that either notifies OSPM
of the presence of an error using a non-standard notification mechanism or reports error information
that is encoded in a non-standard format.
Using the information in a Generic Hardware Error Source structure, OSPM configures an error
handler to read the error data from an error status block – a range of memory set aside by the
platform for recording error status information.
As the generic hardware error source is non-standard, OSPM does not implement built-in support for
configuration and control operations. The error source must be configured by system firmware
during boot.
Some platforms may describe multiple Generic Hardware Error Source structures with different
notification types, as defined in Table 18-379. For example, a platform may describe one error
source for the handling of synchronous errors (e.g. MCE or SEA), and a second source for handling
asynchronous errors (e.g. SCI or External Interrupt).
Table 18-379 Generic Hardware Error Source Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 9 – Generic Hardware Error Source Structure.
Source Id 2 2 Uniquely identify the error source.
Related Source Id 2 4 This field represents the Source Id of an alternate error source
for which the platform:
(a) Requires Firmware-First handling (FIMWARE_FIRST flag is
set on alternate error source). See Section 18.4, “Firmware First
Error Handling”.
(b) Provides additional information in the context of a generated
exception or interrupt (GHES_ASSIST flag is set on alternate
error source).
If this generic error source does not represent an alternate
source, this field must be set to 0xFFFF.
Flags 1 6 Reserved.
enabled.
To Pre-allocate error source. Must be >= 1.

Max Raw Data 4 16 Indicates the size in bytes of the error data recorded by this
Length error source.
Error Status 12 20 Generic Address Structure as defined in Section 5.2.3.2.
Address This field specifies the location of a register that contains the
physical address of a block of memory that holds the error
status data for this error source. This range of memory must
reside in firmware reserved memory. OSPM maps this range
into system address space and reads the error status
information from the mapped address.
Notification 28 32 Hardware Error Notification Structure as defined in Table 18-
Structure 383. This structure specifies how this error source notifies
OSPM that an error has occurred.
Error Status Block 4 60 Identifies the length in bytes of the error status data block.
Length
The Error Status Address field specifies the location of an 8-byte memory-mapped register that
holds the physical address of the error status block. This error status block must reside in a range of
memory reported to OSPM as firmware reserved. OSPM maps the error status buffer into system
address space in order to read the error data.
18.3.2.7.1 Generic Error Data

The Error Status Block contains the error status information for a given generic error source. OSPM
provides an error handler that formats one or more of these blocks as necessary for the specific
operating system.
The generic error status block includes two levels of information. The top level is a Generic Error
Status Block structure and is defined in Table 18-380. Following the Generic Error Status Block
structure are one or more Generic Error Data Entry structures, defined in Table 18-381.
Table 18-380 Generic Error Status Block

Length Offset
Block Status 4 0 Indicates the type of error information reported in the error packet.
Bit [0] - Uncorrectable Error Valid: If set to one, indicates that an
uncorrectable error condition exists.
Bit [1] - Correctable Error Valid: If set to one, indicates that a
correctable error condition exists.
Bit [2] - Multiple Uncorrectable Errors: If set to one, indicates that
more than one uncorrectable errors have been detected.
Bit [3] - Multiple Correctable Errors: If set to one, indicates that
more than one correctable errors have been detected.
Bit [13:4] - Error Data Entry Count: This value indicates the
number of Error Data Entries found in the Data section.
Bit [31:14] - Reserved

Raw Data Offset 4 4 Offset in bytes from the beginning of the Error Status Block to raw
error data. The raw data must follow any Generic Error Data
Entries.
Raw Data Length 4 8 Length in bytes of the raw data.
Data Length 4 12 Length in bytes of the generic error data.
Error Severity 4 16 Identifies the error severity of the reported error:
0 – Recoverable
1 – Fatal
2 – Corrected
3 – None
Note: This is the error severity of the entire event. Each Generic
Error Data Entry also includes its own Error Severity field.
Generic Error Data Data 20 The information contained in this field is a collection of zero or
Entries Length more Generic Error Data Entries (see Table 18-381).
One or more Generic Error Data Entry structures may be recorded in the Generic Error Data
Entries field of the Generic Error Status Block structure. This allows the platform to accumulate
information for multiple hardware components related to a given error event. For example, if the
generic error source represents an error that occurs on a device on the secondary side of a PCI
Express / PCI-X Bridge, it is useful to record error information from the PCI Express Bridge and
from the PCI-X device. Utilizing two Generic Error Data Entry structures enables this. Table 18-
381 defines the layout of a Generic Error Data Entry.
For details of some of the fields defined in Table 18-381. Please refer to the definition of Section
Descriptors provided in the appendices of the UEFI Specification under the description of the
Common Platform Error Record.
Table 18-381 Generic Error Data Entry

Length Offset
Section Type 16 0 Identifies the type of error data in this entry.
See the Section Type field of the Section Descriptor in the UEFI
Specification.
Error Severity 4 16 Identifies the severity of the reported error.
0 – Recoverable
1 – Fatal
2 – Corrected
3 – None
Revision 2 20 The revision number is 0x300.
See the Revision field of the Section Descriptor in the UEFI
Specification.

Validation Bits 1 22 Identifies whether certain fields are populated with valid data.
This field indicates the validity of the following fields:
Bit 0 - If 1, the FRUId field contains valid information.
Bit 1 - If 1, the FRUString FRU Text field contains valid
information.
Bit 2 - If 1, the TimeStamp field contains valid information.
Bit 7:3 - Reserved, must be zero..
Flags 1 23 Flags describing the error data.
See the Flags field of the Section Descriptor in the UEFI
Specification appendix titled "Common Platform Error Record”.
Error Data Length 4 24 Length in bytes of the generic error data.
It is valid to have a Data Length of zero. This would be used for
instance in firmware-first error handling where the platform
reports errors to the OSPM using NMI.
FRU Id 16 28 Identifies the Field Replaceable Unit.
See the FRU Id field of the Section Descriptor in the UEFI
FRU Text 20 44 Text field describing the Field Replaceable Unit.
See the FRU Text field of the Section Descriptor in the UEFI
Timestamp 8 64 If marked valid per the validation bits field, this field correlates to
the time when the error information was collected by the system
software and may not necessarily represent the time of the error
event. The timestamp contains the local time in BCD format.
See the Timestamp field of the Error Record Header section in

the EFI Specification appendix titled "Common Platform Error
Record ”.
Data Error 64 Generic error data.
Data The information contained in this field must match one of the error
Length record section types defined in the UEFI Specification appendix,
“Common Platform Error Record”.
18.3.2.7.2 Event Notification For Generic Error Sources

An event notification is recommended for corrected errors where latency in processing error reports
is not critical to proper system operation. The implementation of Event notification requires the
platform to define a device with PNP ID PNP0C33 in the ACPI namespace, referred to as the error
device. This device is used to notify the OSPM that a generic error source is reporting an error. Since
multiple generic error sources can use event notification, it is the responsibility of the OSPM to scan
the list of these generic error sources and check the block status field ( Table 18-380) to identify the
source that reported the error.
The platform is responsible for providing a control method that issues a NOTIFY on the error device
(PNP0C33), with a notification code of type 0x80.

For traditional ACPI platforms the event signaling follows the model described in Section 5.6.4.1.1.
The platform implements a general purpose event (GPE) for the error notification, and the GPE has
an associated control method.
An example of a GPE control method for error notification is the following:
Method (\_GPE._L08) { // GPE 8 level error notification
Notify (error_device, 0x80)
}
For HW-reduced ACPI platforms, the event signaling follows the model described in Section 5.6.5
and Section 5.6.9. The platform implements a notification of error events via interrupts or a
GPIO pin. In both cases these are associated with an _EVT control method.
An example of an _EVT control method for GPIO-based error notification is the following:
Method (\_EVT) { // GPIO pin 300 error notification
Switch (Arg1) {
Case (300) {
Notify (error_device, 0x80)
}
}
}
The overall flow when the platform uses the event notification is:
The platform enumerates the error source with event as the notification method using the format in
Table 18-379 and Table 18-380
The platform surfaces an error device, PNP ID PNP0C33, to the OSPM
When the platform is ready to report an error, the platform populates the error status block including
the block status field ( Table 18-380)
Traditional ACPI platforms signal the error using an SCI, on the appropriate GPE:
• The OSPM evaluates the GPE control method associated with this event as indicated on
Section 5.6.4.1.1
• OSPM responds to this notification by checking the error status block of all generic error
sources with the SCI Generic notification type to identify the source reporting the error
HW-reduced ACPI platforms signal the error using a GPIO interrupt or another interrupt declared
under a generic event device (Section 5.6.9). In the case of GPIO-signaled events, an _AEI object
lists the appropriate GPIO pin, while for Interrupt-signaled events a _CRS object is used to list the
interrupt:
• The OSPM evaluates the control method associated with this event as indicated in
Section 5.6.5.3 and Section 5.6.9.3.
• OSPM responds to this notification by checking the error status block of all generic error
sources with the GPIO-Signal notification or Interrupt-signaled notification types to identify the
source reporting the error.

18.3.2.8 Generic Hardware Error Source version 2 (GHESv2 - Type 10)

This is an extension to the Generic Hardware Error source structure (Section 18.3.2.7) for hardware-
reduced platforms that rely on RAS controllers for generation of generic error records. A RAS
controller may be a hardware or firmware entity that may execute in parallel with OS execution
(e.g., a RAS controller may be firmware running on an independent microcontroller, or it could be in
the form of platform firmware that runs on one of the application processors). Platforms with RAS
controllers must prevent concurrent accesses to the Error Status Block (i.e., the RAS controller must
not overwrite the Error Status Block before the OS has completed reading it). Figure 18-84 provides
a high level example of how the RAS controller might interact with the OS.
Error Resource (e.g.
Generic Error
Status Block Memory, Bus, Cache)
(5) Clear (4) Copy (2) Generate

Block Status Record Record (1) Error IRQ
(3) Error Event
(if not polled)
OS RAS firmware
(6) Ack Error
Figure 18-84 APEI error flow example with external RAS controller
For GHESv2 error sources, the OSPM must acknowledge the consumption of the Error Status Block
by writing to the “Read Ack Register” listed in the GHESv2 structure (described in Table 18-382).
For platforms that describe multiple Generic Hardware Error Sources: The platform must provide a
unique memory region for the Error Status Block of each error source.
Table 18-382 Generic Hardware Error Source version 2 (GHESv2) Structure

Name Byte Byte Description
Length Offset
Type 2 0 10 – Generic Hardware Error Source (version 2) structure

Equivalent fields in 62 2 Same format as fields in Table 18-379 (Generic Hardware
Table 18-379 Error Source Structure) starting from Source Id and ending in
(Generic Hardware Error Status Block Length inclusive
Error Source
Structure)
Read Ack Register 12 64 Generic Address Structure as defined in Section 5.2.3.2 . This
field specifies the location of the Read Ack Register used to
notify the RAS controller that OSPM has processed the Error
Status Block. The OSPM writes the bit(s) specified in Read
Ack Write, while preserving the bit(s) specified in Read Ack
Preserve.

Name Byte Byte Description

Length Offset
Read Ack 8 76 Contains a mask of bits to preserve when writing the Read
Preserve Ack register.
Read Ack Write 8 84 Contains a mask of bits to set when writing the Read Ack
register.
These are the steps the OS must take once detecting an error from a particular GHESv2 error source:
• OSPM detects error (via interrupt/exception or polling the block status)
• OSPM copies the error status block
• OSPM clears the block status field of the error status block
• OSPM acknowledges the error via Read Ack register. For example:
— OSPM reads the Read Ack register  X
— OSPM writes  (( X & ReadAckPreserve) | ReadAckWrite)
18.3.2.9 Hardware Error Notification

This table describes the notification mechanism associated with a hardware error source.
Table 18-383 Hardware Error Notification Structure

Length Offset
Type 1 0 Identifies the notification type:
0 – Polled
1 – External Interrupt
2 – Local Interrupt
3 – SCI
4 – NMI
5 - CMCI
6 - MCE
7 - GPIO-Signal
8 - ARMv8 SEA
9 - ARMv8 SEI
10 - External Interrupt - GSIV
11 - Software Delegated Exception – See Links to ACPI-Related
Documents (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading, “SDEI
Specification.”
All other values are reserved
Length 1 1 Total length of the structure in bytes.


Length Offset
Configuration 2 2 This field indicates whether configuration parameters may be
Write Enable modified by OSPM. If the bit for the associated parameter is set,
the parameter is writeable by OSPM:
Bit [0]: Type
Bit [1]: Poll Interval
Bit [2]: Switch To Polling Threshold Value
Bit [3]: Switch To Polling Threshold Window
Bit [4]: Error Threshold Value
Bit [5]: Error Threshold Window
Poll Interval 4 4 Indicates the poll interval in milliseconds OSPM should use to
periodically check the error source for the presence of an error
condition.
Vector 4 8 Interrupt vector. For type 10 “External Interrupt – GSIV”, this field
specifies the GSIV triggered by the error source.
Switch To Polling 4 12 The number of error interrupts that must occur within Switch To
Threshold Value Polling Threshold Interval before OSPM switches the error source
to polled mode.
Switch To Polling 4 16 Indicates the time interval in milliseconds that Switch To Polling
Threshold Window Threshold Value interrupts must occur within before OSPM
switches the error source to polled mode.
Error Threshold 4 20 Indicates the number of error events that must occur within Error
Value Threshold Interval before OSPM processes the event as an error
condition.
Error Threshold 4 24 Indicates the time interval in milliseconds that Error Threshold
Window Value errors must occur within before OSPM processes the event
as an error condition.

18.3.2.10 IA-32 Architecture Deferred Machine Check

Processors implementing the IA-32 Instruction Set Architecture may report Deferred errors to
OSPM. These errors indicate that data has been corrupted but not consumed. The information in this
table allows platform firmware to communicate key parameters of the deferred processor error
reporting mechanism to OSPM, including whether Deferred Machine Check (DMC) processing
should be enabled.
Table 18-384 Architecture Deferred Machine Check Structure

Length Offset
Type 2 0 11 – IA-32 Architecture Deferred Machine Check Structure.
Source Id 2 2 This value serves to uniquely identify this error source
against other error sources reported by the platform.
Flags 1 6 Bit [0] - FIRMWARE_FIRST: If set, this bit indicates to the
OSPM that system firmware will handle errors from this
source first.
OSPM is responsible for directly handling the error (as
expected when FIRMWARE_FIRST is not set), system
firmware reports additional information in the context of
an interrupt generated by the error. The additional
information is reported in a Generic Hardware Error Source
structure with a matching Related Source Id.

Enabled 1 7 If the field value is 1, indicates this error source is to be
enabled. If the field value is 0, indicates that the error
source is not to be enabled. If FIRMWARE_FIRST is set in
the flags field, the Enabled field is ignored by OSPM.
Number of 4 8 Indicates the number of error records to pre-allocate for this
Records To Pre- error source. Must be >= 1.
allocate
Max Sections Per 4 12 Indicates the maximum number of error sections included in
Record an error record created as a result of an error reported by
this error source. Must be >= 1.
Notification 28 16 Hardware Error Notification Structure as defined in Table
Structure 18-345

Number Of 1 44 Indicates the number of hardware error reporting banks.

Hardware Banks
Machine Check - 48 A list of Machine Check Bank structures defined in
Bank Structure[n] Section 18.3.2.1.1.
18.4 Firmware First Error Handling

It may be necessary for the platform to process certain classes of errors in firmware before
relinquishing control to OSPM for further error handling. Errata management and error containment
are two examples where firmware-first error handling is beneficial. Generic hardware error sources
support this model through the related source ID.
The platform reports the original error source to OSPM via the hardware error source table (HEST)
and sets the FIRMWAREFIRST flag for this error source. In addition, the platform must report a
generic error source with a related source ID set to the original source ID. This generic error source
is used to notify OSPM of the errors on the original source and their status after the firmware first
handling.
There are different notification strategies that can be used in firmware first handling; the following
options are available to the platform:
• Traditional ACPI platforms may use NMI to notify the OSPM of both corrected and uncorrected
errors for a given error source
• Traditional ACPI platforms may use NMI to report uncorrected errors and the SCI to report
corrected errors
• Traditional ACPI platforms may use NMI to report uncorrected errors and polling to notify the
OSPM of corrected errors
• HW-reduced ACPI platforms may use GPIO-signaled events, Interrupt-signaled events, or
polling to report corrected errors.
18.4.1 Example: Firmware First Handling Using NMI Notification

If the platform chooses to use NMI to report errors, which is the recommended method for uncorrected errors, the
platform follows these steps:
1. System firmware configures the platform to trigger a firmware handler when the error occurs
2. System firmware identifies the error source for which it will handle errors via the error source
enumeration interface by setting the FIRMWARE_FIRST flag
3. System firmware describes the generic error source, and the associated error status block, as
described in Section 18.3.2.7. System firmware identifies the relation between the generic error
source and the original error source by using the original source ID in the related source ID of
Table 18-379.
4. When a hardware error reported by the error source occurs, system firmware gains control and
handles the error condition as required. Upon completion system firmware should do the
following:

a Extract the error information from the error source and fill in the error information in the
data block of the generic error source it identified as an alternate in step 3. The error
information format follows the specification in Section 18.3.2.7.1
b Set the appropriate bit in the block status field (Table 18-380) to indicate to the OSPM that a
valid error condition is present.
c Clears error state from the hardware.
d Generates an NMI.
At this point, the OSPM NMI handler scans the list of generic error sources to find the error source
that reported the error and processes the error report
18.5 Error Serialization

• The error record serialization feature is used to save and retrieve hardware error information to
and from a persistent store. OSPM interacts with the platform through a platform interface. If the
Error record Serialization Table (ERST) defined in Section 18-385 is present, OSPM uses the
ACPI solution described below. Otherwise, OSPM uses the UEFI runtime variable services to
carry out error record persistence operations on UEFI based platforms.
• For error persistence across boots, the platform must implement some form of non-volatile store
to save error records. The amount of space required depends on the platform’s processor
architecture. Typically, this store will be flash memory or some other form of non-volatile
RAM.
• Serialized errors are encoded according to the Common Platform Error Record (CPER) format,
which is described in the appendices of the UEFI Specification. These entries are referred to as
error records.
• The Error Record Serialization Interface is designed to be sufficiently abstract to allow hardware
vendors flexibility in how they implement their error record serialization hardware. The
platform provides details necessary to communicate with its serialization hardware by
populating the ERST with a set of Serialization Instruction Entries. One or more serialization
instruction entries comprise a Serialization Action. OSPM carries out serialization operations by
executing a series of Serialization Actions. Serialization Actions and Serialization Instructions
are described in detail in the following sections.
Table 18-385 details the layout of the ERST which system firmware is responsible for building.
Table 18-385 Error Record Serialization Table (ERST)

Length Offset
ACPI Standard Header
Header Signature 4 0 “ERST”. Signature for the Error Record Serialization
Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of entire ERST. Entire table must
be contiguous.
Revision 1 8 1

OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.

OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of the ERST for the supplied OEM
table ID.
Serialization Header
Serialization Header Size 4 36 Length in bytes of the serialization header.
Instruction Entry Count 4 44 The number of Serialization Instruction Entries in the
Serialization Action Table.
Serialization Action Table
Serialization Instruction Entries 48 A series of error logging instruction entries.
18.5.1 Serialization Action Table

A Serialization Action is defined as a series of Serialization Instructions on registers that result in a
well known action. A Serialization Instruction is a Serialization Action primitive and consists of
either reading or writing an abstracted hardware register. The Serialization Action Table contains
Serialization Instruction Entries for all the Serialization Actions the platform supports.
In most cases, a Serialization Action comprises only one Serialization Instruction, but it is
conceivable that a more complex device will require more than one Serialization Instruction. When
an action does comprise more than one instruction, the instructions must be listed consecutively and
they will consequently be performed sequentially, according to their placement in the Serialization
Action Table.
18.5.1.1 Serialization Actions

This section identifies the Serialization Actions that comprise the Error Record Serialization
interface. Table 18-386 identifies the supported error record Serialization Actions.
Table 18-386 Error Record Serialization Actions

Value Name Description
0x0 BEGIN_WRITE_OPERATION Indicates to the platform that an error record write operation is
beginning. This allows the platform to set its operational context.
0x1 BEGIN_READ_OPERATION Indicates to the platform that an error record read operation is
beginning. This allows the platform to set its operational context.
0x2 BEGIN_CLEAR_OPERATION Indicates to the platform that an error record clear operation is
beginning. This allows the platform to set its operation context.
0x3 END_OPERATION Indicates to the platform that the current error record operation
has ended. This allows the platform to clear its operational
context.
0x4 SET_RECORD_OFFSET Sets the offset from the base of the Error Log Address Range to
or from which the platform is to transfer an error record.


0x5 EXECUTE_OPERATION Instructs the platform to carry out the current operation based on
the current operational context.
0x6 CHECK_BUSY_STATUS Returns the state of the current operation. Once an operation
has been executed through the EXECUTE_OPERATION action,
the platform is required to return an indication that the operation
is in progress until the operation completes. This allows the OS
to poll for completion by repeatedly executing the
CHECK_BUSY_STATUS action until the platform indicates that
the operation not busy.
0x7 GET_COMMAND_STATUS Returns the status of the current operation. The platform is
expected to maintain a status code for each operation. See
Section 18-387 for a list of valid command status codes.
0x8 GET_RECORD_IDENTIFIER Returns the record identifier of an existing error record on the
persistent store. The error record identifier is a 64-bit unsigned
value as defined in the appendices of the UEFI Specification. If
the record store is empty, this action must return
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF.
0x9 SET_RECORD_IDENTIFIER Sets the record identifier. The error record identifier is a 64-bit
unsigned value as defined in the appendices of the UEFI
Specification.
0xA GET_RECORD_COUNT Retrieves the number of error records currently stored on the
platforms persistent store. The platform is expected to maintain
a count of the number of error records resident in its persistent
store.
0xB BEGIN_DUMMY_WRITE_OPE Indicates to the platform that a dummy error record write
RATION operation is beginning. This allows the platform to set its
operational context. A dummy error record write operation
performs no actual transfer of information from the Error Log
Address Range to the persistent store.
0xC RESERVED Reserved.
0xD GET_ERROR_LOG_ADDRESS Returns the 64-bit physical address OSPM uses as the buffer for
_RANGE reading/writing error records.
0xE GET_ERROR_LOG_ADDRESS Returns the length in bytes of the Error Log Address Range
_RANGE_LENGTH
0xF GET_ERROR_LOG_ADDRESS Returns attributes that describe the behavior of the error log
_RANGE_ATTRIBUTES address range.
Bit [0] (0x1) – Reserved.
Bit [1] (0x2) – Non-Volatile: Indicates that the error log address
range is in non-volatile RAM.
Bit [2] (0x4) – Slow: Indicates that the memory in which the error
log address range is locates has slow access times.
All other bits reserved.


0x10 GET_EXECUTE_OPERATION Returns an encoded QWORD : [63:32] value in microseconds
_TIMINGS that the platform expects would be the maximum amount of time
it will take to process and complete an EXECUTE_OPERATION.
[31:0] value in microseconds that the platform expects would be
the nominal amount of time it will take to process and complete
an EXECUTE_OPERATION.
Table 18-387 below defines the serialization action status codes returned from
GET_COMMAND_STATUS.
Table 18-387 Command Status Definition

Value Description
0x00 Success
0x01 Not Enough Space
0x02 Hardware Not Available
0x03 Failed
0x04 Record Store Empty
0x05 Record Not Found
18.5.1.2 Serialization Instruction Entries

Each Serialization Action consists of a series of one or more Serialization Instructions. A
Serialization Instruction represents a primitive operation on an abstracted hardware register
represented by the register region as defined in a Serialization Instruction Entry.
A Serialization Instruction Entry describes a region in a serialization hardware register and the
serialization instruction to be performed on that region. Table 18-388 details the layout of a
Serialization Instruction Entry.
Table 18-388 Serialization Instruction Entry

Length Offset
Serialization 1 N+0 The serialization action that this serialization instruction is a part of.
Action
Instruction 1 N+1 Identifies the instruction to execute. See Table 18-389 for a list of
valid serialization instructions.
Flags 1 N+2 Flags that qualify the instruction.
Reserved 1 N+3 Must be zero.
Register 12 N+4 Generic Address Structure as defined in Section 5.2.3.2 to describe
Region the address and bit.
Value 8 N+16 Value used with READ_REGISTER_VALUE and
WRITE_REGISTER_VALUE instructions.


Length Offset
Mask 8 N+24 The bit mask required to obtain the bits corresponding to the
serialization instruction in a given bit range defined by the register
region.
Register Region is described as a generic address structure. This structure describes the physical
address of a register as well as the bit range that corresponds to a desired region of the register. The
bit range is defined as the smallest set of consecutive bits that contains every bit in the register that is
associated with the Serialization Instruction. If bits [6:5] and bits [3:2] all correspond to a
Serialization Instruction, the bit range for that instruction would be [6:2].
Because a bit range could contain bits that do not pertain to a particular Serialization Instruction (i.e.
bit 4 in the example above), a bit mask is required to distinguish all the bits in the region that
correspond to the instruction. The Mask field is defined to be this bit mask with a bit set to ‘1’ for
each bit in the bit range (defined by the register region) corresponding to the Serialization
Instruction. Note that bit 0 of the bit mask corresponds to the lowest bit in the bit range. In the
example used above, the mask would be 11011b or 0x1B.
The Instruction field identifies the operation to be performed on the register region by the instruction
entry. Table 18-389 identifies the instructions that are supported.
Table 18-389 Serialization Instructions

0x00 READ_REGISTER A READ_REGISTER instruction reads the designated
information from the specified Register Region.
0x01 READ_REGISTER_VALUE A READ_REGISTER_VALUE instruction reads the designated
information from the specified Register Region and compares
the results with the contents of the Value field. If the information
read matches the contents of the Value field, TRUE is returned,
else FALSE is returned.
0x02 WRITE_REGISTER A WRITE_REGISTER instruction writes a value to the specified
Register Region. The Value field is ignored.
0x03 WRITE_REGISTER_VALUE A WRITE_REGISTER_VALUE instruction writes the contents of
the Value field to the specified Register Region.
0x04 NOOP This instruction is a NOOP.
0x05 LOAD_VAR1 Loads the VAR1 variable from the register region.
0x06 LOAD_VAR2 Loads the VAR2 variable from the register region.
0x07 STORE_VAR1 Stores the value in VAR1 to the indicate register region.
0x08 ADD Adds VAR1 and VAR2 and stores the result in VAR1.
0x09 SUBTRACT Subtracts VAR1 from VAR2 and stores the result in VAR1.
0x0A ADD_VALUE Adds the contents of the specified register region to Value and
stores the result in the register region.
0x0B SUBTRACT_VALUE Subtracts Value from the contents of the specified register
region and stores the result in the register region.
0x0C STALL Stall for the number of microseconds specified in Value.


0x0D STALL_WHILE_TRUE OSPM continually compares the contents of the specified
register region to Value until the values are not equal. OSPM
stalls between each successive comparison. The amount of time
to stall is specified by VAR1 and is expressed in microseconds.
0x0E SKIP_NEXT_INSTRUCTION_I This is a control instruction which compares the contents of the
F_TRUE register region with Value. If the values match, OSPM skips the
next instruction in the sequence for the current action.
0x0F GOTO OSPM will go to the instruction specified by Value. The
instruction is specified as the zero-based index. Each
instruction for a given action has an index based on its relative
position in the array of instructions for the action.
0x10 SET_SRC_ADDRESS_BASE Sets the SRC_BASE variable used by the MOVE_DATA
instruction to the contents of the register region.
0x11 SET_DST_ADDRESS_BASE Sets the DST_BASE variable used by the MOVE_DATA
instruction to the contents of the register region.
0x12 MOVE_DATA Moves VAR2 bytes of data from SRC_BASE + Offset to
DST_BASE + Offset, where Offset is the contents of the register
region.
The Flags field allows qualifying flags to be associated with the instruction. Table 18-390 identifies
the flags that can be associated with Serialization Instructions.
Table 18-390 Instruction Flags

0x01 PRESERVE_REGISTER For WRITE_REGISTER and WRITE_REGISTER_VALUE
instructions, this flag indicates that bits within the register that
are not being written must be preserved rather than destroyed.
For READ_REGISTER instructions, this flag is ignored.
18.5.1.2.1 READ_REGISTER_VALUE
A read register value instruction reads the register region and compares the result with the specified
value. If the values are not equal, the instruction failed. This can be described in pseudo code as
follows:
X = Read(register)
X = X >> Bit Offset described in Register Region
X = X & Mask
If (X != Value) FAIL
SUCCEED
18.5.1.2.2 READ_REGISTER
A read register instruction reads the register region. The result is a generic value and should not be
compared with Value. Value will be ignored. This can be described in pseudo code as follows:

X = Read(register)
X = X >> Bit Offset described in Register Region
X = X & Mask
Return X
18.5.1.2.3 WRITE_REGISTER_VALUE
A write register value instruction writes the specified value to the register region. If
PRESERVE_REGISTER is set in Instruction Flags, then the bits not corresponding to the write
value instruction are preserved. If the register is preserved, the write value instruction requires a read
of the register. This can be described in pseudo code as follows:
X = Value & Mask
X = X << Bit Offset described in Register Region
If (Preserve Register)
Y = Read(register)
Y = Y & ~(Mask << Bit Offset)
X = X | Y
Write(X, Register)
18.5.1.2.4 WRITE_REGISTER
A write register instruction writes a value to the register region. Value will be ignored. If
PRESERVE_REGISTER is set in Instruction Flags, then the bits not corresponding to the write
instruction are preserved. If the register is preserved, the write value instruction requires a read of the
register. This can be described in pseudo code as follows:
X = supplied value
X = X & Mask
X = X << Bit Offset described in Register Region
If (Preserve Register)
Y = Read(register)
Y = Y & ~(Mask << Bit Offset)
X = X | Y
Write(X, Register)
18.5.1.3 Error Record Serialization Information

The APEI error record includes an 8 byte field called OSPM Reserved. Table 18-391 defines the
layout of this field. The error record serialization information is a small buffer the platform can use
for serialization bookkeeping. The platform is free to use the 48 bits starting at bit offset 16 for its
own purposes. It may use these bits to indicate the busy/free status of an error record, to record an
internal identifier, etc.
Table 18-391 Error Record Serialization Info

Length Offset
Signature 16 0 16-bit signature (‘ER’) identifying the start of the error
record serialization data.
Platform Serialization Data 48 16 Platform private error record serialization information.

18.5.2 Operations
The error record serialization interface comprises three operations: Write, Read, and Clear. OSPM
uses the Write operation to write a single error record to the persistent store. The Read operation is
used to retrieve a single error record previously recorded to the persistent store using the write
operation. The Clear operation allows OSPM to notify the platform that a given error record has
been fully processed and is no longer needed, allowing the platform to recover the storage associated
with a cleared error record.
Where the Error Log Address Range is NVRAM, significant optimizations are possible since
transfer from the Error Log Address Range to a separate storage device is unnecessary. The platform
may still, however, copy the record from NVRAM to another device, should it choose to. This
allows, for example, the platform to copy error records to private log files. In order to give the
platform the opportunity to do this, OSPM must use the Write operation to persist error records even
when the Error Log Address Range is NVRAM. The Read and Clear operations, however, are
unnecessary in this case as OSPM is capable of reading and clearing error records without assistance
from the platform.
18.5.2.1 Writing
To write a single HW error record, OSPM executes the following steps:
1. Initializes the error record’s serialization info. OSPM must fill in the Signature.
2. Writes the error record to be persisted into the Error Log Address Range.
3. Executes the BEGIN_WRITE_OPERATION action to notify the platform that a record write
operation is beginning.
4. Executes the SET_RECORD_OFFSET action to inform the platform where in the
5. Error Log Address Range the error record resides.
6. Executes the EXECUTE_OPERATION action to instruct the platform to begin the write
operation.
7. Busy waits by continually executing CHECK_BUSY_STATUS action until FALSE is returned.
8. Executes a GET_COMMAND_STATUS action to determine the status of the write operation.
If an error is indicated, the OS
9. PM may retry the operation.
10. Executes an END_OPERATION action to notify the platform that the record write operation is
complete.
When OSPM performs the EXECUTE_OPERATION action in the context of a record write
operation, the platform attempts to transfer the error record from the designated offset in the Error
Log Address Range to a persistent store of its choice. If the Error Log Address Range is non-volatile
RAM, no transfer is required.
Where the platform is required to transfer the error record from the Error Log Address Range to a
persistent store, it performs the following steps in response to receiving a write command:
1. Sets some internal state to indicate that it is busy. OSPM polls by executing a
CHECK_BUSY_STATUS action until the operation is completed.
2. Reads the error record’s

3. Record ID field to determine where on the storage medium the supplied error record is to be
written. The platform attempts to locate the specified error record on the persistent store.
a If the specified error record does not exist, the platform attempts to write a new record to the
persistent store.
b If the specified error record does exists, then if the existing error record is large enough to be
overwritten by the supplied error record, the platform can do an in-place replacement. If the
existing record is not large enough to be overwritten, the platform must attempt to locate
space in which to write the new record. It may mark the existing record as Free and coalesce
adjacent free records in order to create the necessary space.
4. Transfers the error record to the selected location on the persistent store.
5. Updates an internal
6. Record Count if a new record was written.
7. Records the status of the operation so OSPM can retrieve the status by executing a
GET_COMMAND_STATUS action.
8. Modifies internal busy state as necessary so when OS
9. PM executes CHECK_BUSY_STATUS, the result indicates that the operation is complete.
If the Error Log Address Range resides in NVRAM, the minimum steps required of the platform are:
1. Sets some internal state to indication that it is busy. OSPM polls by executing a
2. Records the status of the o
3. peration so OSPM can retrieve the status by executing a GET_COMMAND_STATUS action.
4. Clear internal busy state so when OS
18.5.2.2 Reading
During boot, OSPM attempts to retrieve all serialized error records from the persistent store. If the
Error Log Address Range does not reside in NVRAM, the following steps are executed by OSPM to
retrieve all error records:
1. Executes the BEGIN_ READ_OPERATION action to notify the platform that a record read
2. Executes the SET_ RECORD_OFFSET action to inform the platform at what offset in the Error
Log Address Range the error record is to be transferred.
3. Executes the SET_RECORD_IDENTIFER action to inform the platform which error record is
to be read from its persistent store.
4. Executes the EXECUTE_OPERATION action to instruct the platform to begin the read
operation.
6. Executes a GET_COMMAND_STATUS action to determine the status of the read operation.
a If the status is Record Store Empty (0x04), continue to step 7.
b If an error occurred reading a valid error record, the status will be Failed (0x03), continue to
step 7.

c If the status is Record Not Found (0x05), indicating that the specified error record does not
exist, OSPM retrieves a valid identifier by executing a GET_RECORD_IDENTIFIER
action. The platform will return a valid record identifier.
d If the status is Success, OSPM transfers the retrieved record from the Error Log Address
Range to a private buffer and then executes the GET_RECORD_IDENTIFIER action to
determine the identifier of the next record in the persistent store.
7. Execute an END_OPERATION to notify the platform that the record read operation is
complete.
The steps performed by the platform to carry out a read request are as follows:
1. Sets some internal state to indicate that it is busy. OSPM polls by executing a
2. Using the record identifier supplied by OSPM through the SET_RECORD_IDENTIFIER
operation, determine which error record to read:
a If the identifier is 0x0 (unspecified), the platform reads the ‘first’ error record from its
persistent store. First, in this is implementation specific.
b If the identifier is non-zero, the platform attempts to locate the specified error record on the
persistent store.
c If the specified error record does not exist, set the status register’s
d Status to Record Not Found (0x05), and update the status register’s Identifier field with the
identifier of the ‘first’ error record.
3. Transfer the record from the persistent store to the offset specified by OSPM from the base of
the Error Log Address Range.
4. Record the Identifier of the ‘next’ valid error record that resides on the persistent store. This
allows OSPM to retrieve a valid record identifier by executing a GET_RECORD_IDENTIFIER
operation.
5. Record the status of the operation so OSPM can retrieve the status by executing a
GET_COMMAND_STATUS action.
6. Clear internal busy state so when OSPM executes CHECK_BUSY_STATUS, the result
indicates that the operation is complete.
Where the Error Log Address Range does reside in NVRAM, OSPM requires no platform support to
read persisted error records. OSPM can scan the Error Log Address Range on its own and retrieve
the error records it previously persisted.
18.5.2.3 Clearing
After OSPM has finished processing an error record, it will notify the platform by clearing the
record. This allows the platform to delete the record from the persistent store or mark it such that the
space is free and can be reused. The following steps are executed by OSPM to clear an error record:
1. Executes a BEGIN_ CLEAR_OPERATION action to notify the platform that a record clear
2. Executes a SET_RECORD_IDENTIFER action to inform the platform which error record is to
be cleared. This value must not be set to 0x0 (unspecified).
3. Executes an EXECUTE_OPERATION action to instruct the platform to begin the clear
operation.


5. Executes a GET_COMMAND_STATUS action to determine the status of the clear operation.
6. Execute an END_OPERATION to notify the platform that the record read operation is
complete.
The platform carries out a clear request by performing the following steps:
1. Sets some internal state to indication that it is busy. OSPM polls by executing a
2. Using the record identifier supplied by OSPM through the SET_RECORD_IDENTIFIER
operation, determine which error record to clear. This value may not be 0x0 (unspecified).
3. Locate the specified error record on the persistent store.
4. Mark the record as free by updating the Attributes in its serialization header.
5. Update internal record count.
6. Clear internal busy state so when OS
When the Error Log Address Range resides in NVRAM, the OS requires no platform support to
Clear error records.
18.5.2.4 Usage
This section describes several possible ways the error record serialization mechanism might be
implemented.
18.5.2.4.1 Error Log Address Range Resides in NVRAM

If the Error Log Address Range resides in NVRAM, then when OSPM writes a record into the
logging range, the record is automatically persistent and the busy bit can be cleared immediately. On
a subsequent boot, OSPM can read any persisted error records directly from the persistent store
range. The size of the persistent store, in this case, is expected to be enough for several error records.
18.5.2.4.2 Error Log Address Range Resides in (volatile) RAM

In this implementation, the Error Log Address Range describes an intermediate location for error
records. To persist a record, OSPM copies the record into the Error Log Address Range and sets the
Execute, at which time the platform runs necessary code (SMM code on non-UEFI based systems
and UEFI runtime code on UEFI-enabled systems) to transfer the error record from main memory to
some persistent store. To read a record, OSPM asks the platform to copy a record from the persistent
store to a specified offset within the Error Log Address Range. The size of the Error Log Address
Range is at least large enough for one error record.
18.5.2.4.3 Error Log Address Range Resides on Service Processor

In this type of implementation, the Error Log Address Range is really MMIO. When OSPM writes
an error record to the Error Log Address Range, it is really writing to memory on a service
processor. When the OSPM sets the Execute control bit, the platform knows that the OSPM is done
writing the record and can do something with it, like move it into a permanent location (i.e. hard
disk) on the service processor. The size of the persistent store in this type of implementation is
typically large enough for one error record.

18.5.2.4.4 Error Log Address Range is Copied Across Network

In this type of implementation, the Error Log Address Range is an intermediate cache for error
records. To persist an error record, OSPM copies the record into the Error Log Address Range and
set the Execute control bit, and the platform runs code to transmit this error record over the wire. The
size of the Error Log Address Range in this type of implementation is typically large enough for one
error record.
18.6 Error Injection

This section outlines an ACPI table mechanism, called EINJ, which allows for a generic interface
mechanism through which OSPM can inject hardware errors to the platform without requiring
platform specific OSPM level software. The primary goal of this mechanism is to support testing of
OSPM error handling stack by enabling the injection of hardware errors. Through this capability
OSPM is able to implement a simple interface for diagnostic and validation of errors handling on the
system.
18.6.1 Error Injection Table (EINJ)

The Error Injection Table provides a generic interface mechanism through which OSPM can inject
hardware errors to the platform without requiring platform specific OSPM software. System
firmware is responsible for building this table, which is made up of Injection Instruction entries.
Table 18-392 details the layout of the table.
Table 18-392 Error Injection Table (EINJ)

length offset
ACPI Standard Header
Header Signature 4 0 EINJ. Signature for the Error Record Injection Table.
Length 4 4 Length, in bytes, of entire EINJ. Entire table must be
contiguous.
Revision 1 8 1
OEMID 6 10 OEM ID.
OEM Revision 4 24 OEM revision of EINJ.
Injection Header
Injection Header Size 4 36 Length in bytes of the Injection Interface header.
Injection Flags 1 40 Reserved. Must be zero
Injection Entry Count 4 44 The number of Instruction Entries in the Injection Action
Table


length offset
Injection Action Table
Injection Instruction 48 A series of error injection instruction entries
Entries
Table 18-393 identifies the supported error injection actions.
Table 18-393 Error Injection Actions

0x0 BEGIN_INJECTION_OPERATION Indicates to the platform that an error injection is
beginning. This allows the platform to set its operational
context.
0x1 GET_TRIGGER_ERROR_ACTION_T Returns a 64-bit physical memory pointer to the
ABLE TRIGGER_ERROR action table.
The TRIGGER_ERROR action instructions when executed
by software trigger the error that was injected by the
immediately prior SET_ERROR_TYPE action.
0x2 SET_ERROR_TYPE Type of error to Inject. Only one ERROR_TYPE can be
injected at any given time. If there is request for multiple
injections at the same time, then the platform will return an
error condition.
0x3 GET_ERROR_TYPE Returns the error injection capabilities of the platform.
0x4 END_OPERATION Indicates to the platform that the current injection operation
has ended. This allows the platform to clear its operational
context.
0x5 EXECUTE_OPERATION Instructs the platform to carry out the current operation
based on the current operational context.
0x6 CHECK_BUSY_STATUS Returns the state of the current operation.
Once an operation has been executed through the
EXECUTE_OPERATION action, the platform is required to
return an indication that the operation is busy until the
operation is completed. This allows software to poll for
completion by repeatedly executing the
CHECK_BUSY_STATUS action until the platform
indicates that the operation is complete by setting not
busy.
The lower most bit (bit0) of the returned value indicates the
busy status by setting it to 1 and not busy status by setting
it to 0.
0x7 GET_COMMAND_STATUS Returns the status of the current operation.
The platform is expected to maintain a status code for
each operation. Bits [8:1] of the returned value indicate the
command status. See Table 18-387 for a list of valid
command status codes.


0x8 SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRE Type of error to Inject, and the address to inject. Only one
SS Error type can be injected at any given time. If there is
request for multiple injections at the same time, then the
platform will return an error condition.
Both this Action and the SET_ERROR_TYPE action will be
present as part of this EINJ action table. OSPM is free to
choose either of these two actions to inject an error. The
platform will give precedence to
SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS. In other words, if
a non-zero value is set using
SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS, then any error
type value set by SET_ERROR_TYPE will be ignored. If,
on the other hand, if no error type is specified using
SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS, then the platform
will use SET_ERROR_TYPE to identify the error type to
inject.
The RegisterRegion field (SeeTable 18-394) in
SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS points to a data
structure whose format is defined in Table 18-383.
Note that calling set error type with address without
specifying address has the same behavior as calling
SET_ERROR_TYPE.
0x9 GET_EXECUTE_OPERATION_TIMI Returns an encoded QWORD : [63:32] value in
NGS microseconds that the platform expects would be the
maximum amount of time it will take to process and
complete an EXECUTE_OPERATION. [31:0] value in
microseconds that the platform expects would be the
nominal amount of time it will take to process and complete
an EXECUTE_OPERATION.
0xFF TRIGGER_ERROR This is not a true error injection action. In response to error
injection, the platform returns a trigger error action table.
This table consists of a series of injection instruction
entries where the injection action is set to
TRIGGER_ERROR to distinguish such entries.
18.6.2 Injection Instruction Entries

An Injection action consists of a series of one or more Injection Instructions. An Injection
Instruction represents a primitive operation on an abstracted hardware register, represented by the
register region as defined in an Injection Instruction Entry.
An Injection Instruction Entry describes a region in an injection hardware register and the injection
instruction to be performed on that region.
Table 18-394 details the layout of an Injection Instruction Entry.

Table 18-394 Injection Instruction Entry

length offset
Injection 1 N+0 The injection action that this instruction is a part of. See Table 18-393
Action for supported injection actions.
Instruction 1 N+1 Identifies the instruction to execute. 
See Table 18-396 for a list of valid instructions.
Flags 1 N+2 Flags that qualify the instruction.
Reserved 1 N+3 Must be zero.
Register 12 N+4 Generic Address Structure as defined in Section 5.2.3.2 to describe the
Region address and bit.
Address_Space_ID must be 0 (System Memory) or 1 (System IO). This
constraint is an attempt to ensure that the registers are accessible in
the presence of hardware error conditions.
Value 8 N+16 This is the value field that is used by the instruction READ or
WRITE_REGISTER_VALUE.
Mask 8 N+24 The bit mask required to obtain the bits corresponding to the injection
instruction in a given bit range defined by the register region.
Register Region is described as a generic address structure. This structure describes the physical
address of a register as well as the bit range that corresponds to a desired region of the register. The
bit range is defined as the smallest set of consecutive bits that contains every bit in the register that is
associated with the injection Instruction. If bits [6:5] and bits [3:2] all correspond to an Injection
Instruction, the bit range for that instruction would be [6:2].
Because a bit range could contain bits that do not pertain to a particular injection Instruction (i.e. bit
4 in the example above), a bit mask is required to distinguish all the bits in the region that correspond
to the instruction. The Mask field is defined to be this bit mask with a bit set to a ‘1’ for each bit in
the bit range (defined by the register region) corresponding to the Injection Instruction. Note that bit
0 of the bit mask corresponds to the lowest bit in the bit range. In the example used above, the mask
would be 11011b or 0x1B.
Table 18-395 Instruction Flags

0x01 PRESERVE_REGISTER For WRITE_REGISTER and WRITE_REGISTER_VALUE
instructions, this flag indicates that bits within the register that
are not being written must be preserved rather than
destroyed.
For READ_REGISTER instructions, this flag is ignored.
18.6.3 Injection Instructions

Table 18-396 lists the supported Injection Instructions for Injection Instruction Entries.

Table 18-396 Injection Instructions

Opcode Instruction name Description
0x00 READ_REGISTER A READ_REGISTER instruction reads the value from the
specified register region.
0x01 READ_REGISTER_VALUE A READ_REGISTER_VALUE instruction reads the designated
information from the specified Register Region and compares
the results with the contents of the Value field.
If the information read matches the contents of the Value field,
TRUE is returned, else FALSE is returned.
0x02 WRITE_REGISTER A WRITE_REGISTER instruction writes a value to the specified
Register Region. The Value field is ignored.
0x03 WRITE_REGISTER_VALUE A WRITE_REGISTER_VALUE instruction writes the contents
of the Value field to the specified Register Region.
0x04 NOOP No operation.
Table 18-397 below defines the error injection status codes returned from
GET_COMMAND_STATUS.
Table 18-397 Command Status Definition

Value Description
0x0 Success
0x1 Unknown Failure
0x2 Invalid Access
Table 18-398 below defines the error type codes returned from GET_ERROR_TYPE.
Table 18-398 Error Type Definition

Bit Description
0 Processor Correctable
1 Processor Uncorrectable non-fatal
2 Processor Uncorrectable fatal
3 Memory Correctable
4 Memory Uncorrectable non-fatal
5 Memory Uncorrectable fatal
6 PCI Express Correctable
7 PCI Express Uncorrectable non-fatal
8 PCI Express Uncorrectable fatal
9 Platform Correctable
10 Platform Uncorrectable non-fatal
11 Platform Uncorrectable fatal
12:30 RESERVED

Bit Description
31 Vendor Defined Error Type. If this bit is set, then the Error types and related data
structures are defined by the Vendor, as shown in Table 18-400.
Table 18-399 SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS Data Structure

Length Offset
Error Type 4 0x0 Bit map of error types to inject. Refer Table 18-398. This
field is cleared by the platform once it is consumed.
Vendor Error Type 4 4 Specifies the offset from the beginning of the table to the
Extension Structure vendor error type extension structure. If no vendor error type
Offset extension is present, bit31 in error type must be clear and
this field must be set to 0.
Flags 4 0x8 Bit [0] – Processor Identification Field Valid

Bit [1 ]– Memory Address and Memory address Mask Field
Valid
Bit [2] – PCIe SBDF field valid
Bit [31:3] – RESERVED
This field is cleared by the platform once it is consumed.

Processor Error
Processor 4 0x0C Optional field: on non-ARM architectures, this is the physical
Identification APIC ID or the X2APIC ID of the processor which is a target
for the injection; on ARM systems, this is the ACPI
Processor UID value as used in the MADT.
Memory Error
Memory Address 8 0x10 Optional field which specifies the physical address of the
memory which is the target for the injection. Valid if Bit [1] of
the Flags field is set.
Memory Address 8 0x18 Optional field which provided a range mask for the address
Range field. Valid if Bit [1] of the Flags field is set. If the OSPM
doesn’t want to provide a range of address, then this field
should be zero.
PCIe SBDF 4 0x20 Byte 3 – PCIe Segment
Byte 2 – Bus Number
Byte 1 – Device Number [Bits 7:3], Function Number Bits
[2:0]
Byte 0 – RESERVED
Table 18-400 Vendor Error Type Extension Structure

Field Byte Byte Attribute Description
Length Offset

Length 4 0x0 Set by software. RO for

Platform
SBDF 4 0x04 Set by Platform. RO for This provides a PCIe Segment, Bus, Device
Software and Function number which can be used to
read the Vendor ID, Device ID and Rev ID, so
that software can identify the system for error
injection purposes.
The platform sets this field and is RO for
Software
Vendor ID 2 0x08 Set by Platform. RO for Vendor ID which identifies the device
Software manufacturer. This is same as the PCI SIG
defined Vendor ID
Software
Device ID 2 0x0A Set by Platform. RO for This 16-bit ID is assigned by the
Software manufacturer that identifies this device.
Software
Rev ID 1 0x0C Set by Platform. RO for This 8-bit value is assigned by the
Software manufacturer and identifies the revision
number of the device.
Software
Reserved 3 0x0D Set by Platform. RO for Reserved
Software
OEM Defined N 0x10 The rest of the fields are defined by the OEM.
structure
18.6.4 Trigger Action Table

Error injection operation is a two step process where the error is injected into the platform and
subsequently triggered. After software injects an error into the platform using SET_ERROR_TYPE
action, it needs to trigger the error. In order to trigger the error, the software invokes
GET_TRIGGER_ERROR_ACTION_TABLE action which returns a pointer to a Trigger Error
Action table. The format of the table is as shown in Table 18-401. Software executes the instruction
entries specified in the Trigger Error Action Table in order to trigger the injected error.
Table 18-401 Trigger Error Action

TRIGGER_ERROR Byte Byte Description
Header Length Offset
Header Size 4 0 Length in bytes of this header.
Revision 4 4
Table Size 4 8 Size in Bytes of the entire table.
Entry Count 4 12 The number of Instruction Entries in the TRIGGER_ERROR
Action Sequence (See Note 1)
Action Table

TRIGGER_ERROR 16 A series of error injection instruction entries as defined in

Instruction Entries (See Table 18-394.
Note 2)
Note: If the “Entry Count” field above is ZERO, then there are no action structures in the
TRIGGER_ERROR action table. The platform may make this field ZERO in situations where there
is no need for a TRIGGER_ERROR action (for example, in cases where the error injection action
seeds as well as consumes the error).
Note: The format of TRIGGER_ERROR Instructions Entries is the same as Injection Instruction entries
as described in Table 18-396.
18.6.5Error Injection Operation

Before OSPM can use this mechanism to inject errors, it must discover the error injection
capabilities of the platform by executing a GET_ERROR_TYPE. See Table 18-398 for definition of
error types.
After discovering the error injection capabilities, OSPM can inject and trigger an error according to
the sequence described below.
Note that injecting an error into the platform does not automatically consume the error. In response
to an error injection, the platform returns a trigger error action table. The software that injected the
error must execute the actions in the trigger error action table in order to consume the error. If a
specific error type is such that it is automatically consumed on injection, the platform will return a
trigger error action table consisting of NO_OP.
1. Executes a BEGIN_ INJECTION_OPERATION action to notify the platform that an error
injection operation is beginning.
2. Executes a GET_ERROR_TYPE action to determine the error injection capabilities of the
system. This action returns a DWORD bit map of the error types supported by the platform. See
Table 18-398 for definition of error types.
3. If GET_ERROR_TYPE returns the DWORD with Bit [31] set, it means that vendor defined
error types are present, apart from the standard error types defined in Table 18-398.
4. OSPM chooses the type of error to inject.
a If the OSPM chooses to inject one of the supported standard error types, then it sets the
corresponding bit in the “Error Type” field (see Table 18-399), by executing a
SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS command. For example, if OSPM chooses to
inject “Memory Correctable” error, then the OSPM executes
SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS with an “Error Type” value of 0x0000_0080.
• Optionally, the OSPM can choose the target of the injection, such as a memory range, PCIe
Segment/Device/Function or Processor APIC ID, depending on the type of error. The
OSPM does this by filling in the appropriate fields of the
“SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS Data structure”. See Table 18-399 for details.
b If the OSPM chooses to inject one of the vendor defined error types, then it executes
SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS with Bit[3]1 of “Error Type” field set.
• OSPM gets of the location of the “Vendor Error Type Extension Structure”, by reading the
“Vendor Error Type Extension Structure Offset” (see Table 18-400).

— OSPM reads the Vendor ID, Device ID and Rev ID from the PCI config space whose path
(PCIe Segment/Device/Function) is provided in the “SBDF” field of the Vendor Error Type
Extension Structure.
— If the Vendor ID/Device ID and Rev IDs match, then the OSPM can identify the platform it
is running on and would know the Vendor error types that are supported by this platform
— The OSPM writes the vendor error type to inject in the “OEM Defined Structure” field. (see
Table 18-400)
• Optionally, the OSPM can choose the target of the injection, such as a memory range, PCIe
Segment/Device/Function or Processor APIC ID, depending on the type of error. The
OSPM does this by filling in the appropriate fields of the
“SET_ERROR_TYPE_WITH_ADDRESS Data structure”. See Table 18-399 for details
5. Executes an EXECUTE_OPERATION action to instruct the platform to begin the injection
operation.
6. Busy waits by continually executing CHECK_BUSY_STATUS action until the platform
indicates that the operation is complete by clearing the abstracted Busy bit.
7. Executes a GET_COMMAND_STATUS action to determine the status of the read operation.
8. If the status indicates that the platform cannot inject errors, stop.
9. Executes a GET_TRIGGER_ERROR_ACTION_TABLE operation to get the physical pointer
to the TRIGGER_ERROR action table. This provides the flexibility in systems where injecting
an error is a two (or more) step process.
10. Executes the actions specified in the TRIGGER_ERROR action table.
11. Execute an END_OPERATION to notify the platform that the error injection operation is
complete.


ACPI Specification ACPI Source Language (ASL) Reference
19 ACPI Source Language (ASL) Reference
This section formally defines the ACPI Source Language (ASL). ASL is a source language for
defining ACPI objects including writing ACPI control methods. OEMs and platform firmware
developers define objects and write control methods in ASL and then use a translator tool (compiler)
to generate ACPI Machine Language (AML) versions of the control methods. For a formal
definition of AML, see the ACPI Machine Language (AML) Specification chapter.
AML and ASL are different languages though they are closely related.
Every ACPI-compatible OS must support AML. A given user can define some arbitrary source
language (to replace ASL) and write a tool to translate it to AML.
An OEM or platform firmware vendor needs to write ASL and be able to single-step AML for
debugging. (Debuggers and similar tools are expected to be AML-level tools, not source-level
tools.) An ASL translator implementer must understand how to read ASL and generate AML. An
AML interpreter author must understand how to execute AML.
This section has two parts:
• The ASL grammar, which is the formal ASL specification and also serves as a quick reference.
• A full ASL reference, which includes for each ASL operator: the operator invocation syntax, the
type of each argument, and a description of the action and use of the operator.
19.1 ASL 2.0 Symbolic Operators and Expressions

For the math and logical operations, ASL supports standard symbolic operators and expressions that
are similar to the C language. Compound assignment operators are also supported. The AML code
that is generated from the symbolic operators and expressions is identical to the AML code
generated for the equivalent legacy ASL operators.
The table below summarizes the ASL 2.0 support for symbolic operators.

ACPI Source Language (ASL) Reference ACPI Specification
ASL 2.0 Syntax Legacy ASL Equivalent
// Math operators
Z = X + Y Add (X, Y, Z)
Z = X / Y Divide (X, Y, , Z)
Z = X % Y Mod (X, Y, Z)
Z = X * Y Multiply (X, Y, Z)
Z = X - Y Subtract (X, Y, Z)
Z = X << Y ShiftLeft (X, Y, Z)

Z = X >> Y ShiftRight (X, Y, Z)
Z = X & Y And (X, Y, Z)

Z = X | Y Or (X, Y, Z)
Z = X ^ Y Xor (X, Y, Z)
Z = ~X Not (X, Z)
X++ Increment (X)

X--Decrement (X)
// Logical operators
(X == Y) LEqual (X, Y)
(X != Y) LNotEqual (X, Y)
(X < Y) LLess (X, Y)
(X > Y) LGreater (X, Y)
(X <= Y) LLessEqual (X, Y)
(X >= Y) LGreaterEqual (X, Y)
(X && Y) LAnd (X, Y)
(X || Y) LOr (X, Y)
!X LNot (X)
// Assignment and Compound Assignment operations
X = Y Store (Y, X)
X += Y Add (X, Y, X)
X /= Y Divide (X, Y, , X)
X %= Y Mod (X, Y, X)
X *= Y Multiply (X, Y, X)
X -= Y Subtract (X, Y, X)
X <<= Y ShiftLeft (X, Y, X)

X >>= Y ShiftRight (X, Y, X)
X &= Y And (X, Y, X)

X |= Y Or (X, Y, X)
X ^= Y Xor (X, Y, X)
// Miscellaneous
Z = X[Y] Index (X, Y, Z)
19.2 ASL Language Grammar

The purpose of this section is to state unambiguously the grammar rules used by the syntax checker

of an ASL compiler.
ASL statements declare objects. Each object has three parts, two of which might not be present.
Object := ObjectType FixedList VariableList

FixedList refers to a list, of known length, that supplies data that all instances of a given
ObjectType must have. A fixed list is written as ( a , b , c , … ) where the number of arguments
depends on the specific ObjectType, and some elements can be nested objects, that is (a, b, (q, r, s,
t), d). Arguments to a FixedList can have default values, in which case they can be skipped. Thus,
(a,,c) will cause the default value for the second argument to be used. Some ObjectTypes can have
a null FixedList, which is simply omitted. Trailing arguments of some object types can be left out of
a fixed list, in which case the default value is used.
VariableList refers to a list, not of predetermined length, of child objects that help define the parent.
It is written as { x, y, z, aa, bb, cc } where any argument can be a nested object. ObjectType
determines what terms are legal elements of the VariableList. Some ObjectTypes may have a null
variable list, which is simply omitted.
Other rules for writing ASL statements are the following:
• Multiple blanks are the same as one. Blank, (, ), ‘,’ and newline are all token separators.
• // marks the beginning of a comment, which continues from the // to the end of the line.
• /* marks the beginning of a comment, which continues from the /* to the next */.
• “” (quotes) surround an ASCII string.
• Numeric constants can be written in three ways: ordinary decimal, octal (using 0ddd) or
hexadecimal, using the notation 0xdd.
• Nothing indicates an empty item. For example, { Nothing } is equivalent to {}.
19.2.1 ASL Grammar Notation

The notation used to express the ASL grammar is specified in the following table.
Table 19-402 ASL Grammar Notation

Notation Convention Description Example
Term := Term Term … The term to the left of := can be aterm := bterm cterm means that aterm can be
expanded into the sequence of expanded into the two-term sequence of bterm
terms on the right. followed by cterm.
Angle brackets (< > ) Used to group items. <a b> | <c d> means either
a b or c d.
Arrow (=>) Indicates required run-time “TermArg => Integer” means that the argument
reduction of an ASL argument must be an ASL TermArg that must resolve to an
to an AML data type. Means Integer data type when it is evaluated by an AML
“reduces to” or “evaluates to” interpreter.
at run-time.


Bar symbol ( | ) Separates alternatives. aterm := bterm | <cterm dterm> means the
following constructs are possible:
• bterm
• cterm dterm
aterm := <bterm | cterm> dterm means the
following constructs are possible:
• bterm dterm
• cterm dterm
Term Term Term Terms separated from each N/A
other by spaces form an
ordered list.
Word in bold Denotes the name of a term in In the following ASL term definition:
the ASL grammar, ThermalZone (ZoneName) {TermList}
representing any instance of the item in bold is the name of the term.
such a term. ASL terms are not
case-sensitive.
Word in italics Names of arguments to In the following ASL term definition:
objects that are replaced for a ThermalZone (ZoneName) {TermList}
given instance. the italicized item is an argument. The item that is
not bolded or italicized is defined elsewhere in the
ASL grammar.
Single quotes (‘ ’) Indicate constant characters. ‘A’
0xdd Refers to a byte value 0x21 means a value of hexadecimal 21, or

expressed as two hexadecimal decimal 37. Notice that a value expressed in
digits. hexadecimal must start with a leading zero (0).
Dash character ( - ) Indicates a range. 1-9 means a single digit in the range 1 to 9
inclusive.

19.2.2 ASL Name and Pathname Terms

// Name and path characters supported
LeadNameChar :=
‘A’-‘Z’ | ‘a’-‘z’ | ‘_’
DigitChar :=
‘0’-‘9’
NameChar :=
DigitChar | LeadNameChar
RootChar :=
‘\’
ParentPrefixChar :=
‘^’
PathSeparatorChar :=
‘.’
CommaChar :=
‘,’
SemicolonDelimiter :=
Nothing | ‘;’
// Names and paths
NameSeg :=
<LeadNameChar> |
<LeadNameChar NameChar> |
<LeadNameChar NameChar NameChar> |
<LeadNameChar NameChar NameChar NameChar>
NameString :=
<RootChar NamePath> | <ParentPrefixChar PrefixPath NamePath> | NonEmptyNamePath
NamePath :=
Nothing | <NameSeg NamePathTail>
NamePathTail :=
Nothing | <PathSeparatorChar NameSeg NamePathTail>
NonEmptyNamePath :=
NameSeg | <NameSeg NamePathTail>
PrefixPath :=
Nothing | <ParentPrefixChar PrefixPath>

19.2.3 ASL Root and Secondary Terms

// Root Term
ASLCode := 
DefinitionBlockList
DefinitionBlockList :=
DefinitionBlockTerm | <DefinitionBlockTerm DefinitionBlockList>
// Major Terms
SuperName :=
NameString | ArgTerm | LocalTerm | DebugTerm | Type6Opcode | MethodInvocationTerm
Target :=
Nothing | SuperName
TermArg :=
Type2Opcode | DataObject | ArgTerm | LocalTerm | NameString | SymbolicExpression
MethodInvocationTerm :=
NameString( // NameString => Method
ArgList
) => Nothing | DataRefObject
// List Terms
ArgList :=
Nothing | <TermArg ArgListTail>
ArgListTail :=
Nothing | <CommaChar TermArg ArgListTail>
ByteList :=
Nothing | <ByteConstExpr ByteListTail>
ByteListTail :=
Nothing | <CommaChar ByteConstExpr ByteListTail>
DWordList :=
Nothing | <DWordConstExpr DWordListTail>
DWordListTail :=
Nothing | <CommaChar DWordConstExpr DWordListTail>
ExtendedAccessAttribTerm :=
ExtendedAccessAttribKeyword (
AccessLength //ByteConst
)
FieldUnitList :=
Nothing | <FieldUnit FieldUnitListTail>
FieldUnitListTail :=
Nothing | <CommaChar FieldUnit FieldUnitListTail>
FieldUnit :=
FieldUnitEntry | OffsetTerm | AccessAsTerm | ConnectionTerm
FieldUnitEntry :=
<Nothing | NameSeg> CommaChar Integer
PackageList :=
Nothing | <PackageElement PackageListTail>
PackageListTail :=
Nothing | <CommaChar PackageElement PackageListTail>
PackageElement :=
DataObject | NameString
ParameterTypePackage :=

ObjectTypeKeyword | {Nothing | ParameterTypePackageList}

ParameterTypePackageList :=
ObjectTypeKeyword | <ObjectTypeKeyword CommaChar ParameterTypePackageList>
ParameterTypesPackage :=
ObjectTypeKeyword | {Nothing | ParameterTypesPackageList}
ParameterTypesPackageList :=
ParameterTypePackage | <ParameterTypePackage CommaChar ParameterTypesPackageList>
TermList :=
Nothing | <Term SemicolonDelimiter TermList>
Term :=
Object | Type1Opcode | Type2Opcode | SymbolicExpression
Object :=
CompilerDirective | NamedObject | NameSpaceModifier
// Conditional Execution List Terms
CaseTermList :=
Nothing | CaseTerm | DefaultTerm DefaultTermList | CaseTerm CaseTermList
DefaultTermList :=
Nothing | CaseTerm | CaseTerm DefaultTermList
IfElseTerm :=
IfTerm ElseTerm
19.2.4 ASL Data and Constant Terms

// Numeric Value Terms
LeadDigitChar :=
‘1’-‘9’
HexDigitChar :=
DigitChar | ‘A’-‘F’ | ‘a’-‘f’
OctalDigitChar :=
‘0’-‘7’
NullChar :=
0x00
// Data Terms
DataObject :=
BufferData | PackageData | IntegerData | StringData
DataRefObject :=
DataObject | ObjectReference | DDBHandle
ComputationalData :=
BufferData | IntegerData | StringData
BufferData :=
Type5Opcode | BufferTerm
IntegerData :=
Type3Opcode | Integer | ConstTerm
PackageData :=
PackageTerm
StringData :=
Type4Opcode | String
// Integer Terms
Integer :=
DecimalConst | OctalConst | HexConst

DecimalConst :=
LeadDigitChar | <DecimalConst DigitChar>
OctalConst :=
‘0’ | <OctalConst OctalDigitChar>
HexConst :=
<0x HexDigitChar> | <0X HexDigitChar> | <HexConst HexDigitChar>
ByteConst :=
Integer => 0x00-0xFF
WordConst :=
Integer => 0x0000-0xFFFF
DWordConst :=
Integer => 0x00000000-0xFFFFFFFF
QWordConst :=
Integer => 0x0000000000000000-0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
ByteConstExpr :=
<Type3Opcode | ConstExprTerm | Integer> => ByteConst
WordConstExpr :=
<Type3Opcode | ConstExprTerm | Integer> => WordConst
DWordConstExpr :=
<Type3Opcode | ConstExprTerm | Integer> => DWordConst
QWordConstExpr :=
<Type3Opcode | ConstExprTerm | Integer> => QWordConst
ConstTerm :=
ConstExprTerm | Revision
ConstExprTerm :=
Zero | One | Ones
// String Terms
String :=
‘”’ Utf8CharList ‘”’
Utf8CharList :=
Nothing | <EscapeSequence Utf8CharList> | <Utf8Char Utf8CharList>
Utf8Char :=
0x01-0x21 | 
0x23-0x5B | 
0x5D-0x7F |
0xC2-0xDF 0x80-0xBF |
0xE0 0xA0-0xBF 0x80-0xBF |
0xE1-0xEC 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF |
0xED 0x80-0x9F 0x80-0xBF |
0xEE-0xEF 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF |
0xF0 0x90-0xBF 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF |
0xF1-0xF3 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF
// Escape sequences
EscapeSequence :=
SimpleEscapeSequence | OctalEscapeSequence | HexEscapeSequence
HexEscapeSequence :=
\x HexDigitChar |
\x HexDigitChar HexDigitChar
SimpleEscapeSequence :=
\' | \" | \a | \b | \f | \n | \r | \t | \v | \\
OctalEscapeSequence :=
\ OctalDigitChar |

\ OctalDigitChar OctalDigitChar |
\ OctalDigitChar OctalDigitChar OctalDigitChar
// Miscellaneous Data Type Terms
DDBHandle :=
Integer
ObjectReference :=
Integer
Boolean :=
True | False
True :=
Ones
False :=
Zero
// Symbolic Operator terms
Operators :=
'+' | '-' | '*' | '/' | '%' | '&' | '|' | '^' | '~' | '<' | '>' | '!' | '='
CompoundOperators :=
"<<" | ">>" | "++" | "-" | "==" | "!=" | "<=" | ">=" | "&&" | "||" | "+=" | "-=" | "*=" |
"/=" | "%=" | "<<=" | ">>=" | "&=" | "|=" | "^="
19.2.5 ASL Opcode Terms

CompilerDirective :=
IncludeTerm | ExternalTerm
NamedObject :=
BankFieldTerm | CreateBitFieldTerm | CreateByteFieldTerm | CreateDWordFieldTerm |
CreateFieldTerm | CreateQWordFieldTerm | CreateWordFieldTerm | DataRegionTerm |
DeviceTerm | EventTerm | FieldTerm | FunctionTerm | IndexFieldTerm | MethodTerm |
MutexTerm | OpRegionTerm | PowerResTerm | ProcessorTerm | ThermalZoneTerm
NameSpaceModifier :=
AliasTerm | NameTerm | ScopeTerm
SymbolicExpressionTerm :=
( TermArg ) |
AddSymbolicTerm | AndSymbolicTerm | DecSymbolicTerm | DivideSymbolicTerm | IncSymbolicTerm |
LAndSymbolicTerm | LEqualSymbolicTerm | LGreaterEqualSymbolicTerm | LGreaterSymbolicTerm |
LLessEqualSymbolicTerm | LLessSymbolicTerm | LNotEqualSymbolicTerm | LNotSymbolicTerm |
LOrSymbolicTerm | ModSymbolicTerm | MultiplySymbolicTerm | NotSymbolicTerm |
OrSymbolicTerm | ShiftLeftSymbolicTerm | ShiftRightSymbolicTerm | SubtractSymbolicTerm |
XorSymbolicTerm
SymbolicAssignmentTerm :=
StoreSymbolicTerm | AddCompoundTerm | AndCompoundTerm | DivideCompoundTerm |
ModCompoundTerm | MultiplyCompoundTerm | OrCompoundTerm | ShiftLeftCompoundTerm |
ShiftRightCompoundTerm | SubtractCompoundTerm | XorCompoundTerm
Type1Opcode :=
BreakTerm | BreakPointTerm | ContinueTerm | FatalTerm | ForTerm | IfElseTerm | LoadTerm |
NoOpTerm | NotifyTerm | ReleaseTerm | ResetTerm | ReturnTerm | SignalTerm |
SleepTerm | StallTerm | SwitchTerm | UnloadTerm | WhileTerm
A Type 1 opcode term does not return a value and can only be used standalone on a line of ASL code.
Since these opcodes do not return a value they cannot be used as a term in an expression.
Type2Opcode :=
AcquireTerm | AddTerm | AndTerm | ConcatTerm | ConcatResTerm | CondRefOfTerm |
CopyObjectTerm | DecTerm | DerefOfTerm | DivideTerm |FindSetLeftBitTerm |

FindSetRightBitTerm | FprintfTerm | FromBCDTerm | IncTerm | IndexTerm | LAndTerm |

LEqualTerm | LGreaterTerm | LGreaterEqualTerm | LLessTerm | LLessEqualTerm | LNotTerm |
LNotEqualTerm | LoadTableTerm | LOrTerm | MatchTerm | MidTerm |ModTerm | MultiplyTerm |
NAndTerm | NOrTerm | NotTerm | ObjectTypeTerm | OrTerm | PrintfTerm |RefOfTerm |
ShiftLeftTerm | ShiftRightTerm | SizeOfTerm | StoreTerm | SubtractTerm | TimerTerm |
ToBCDTerm | ToBufferTerm | ToDecimalStringTerm | ToHexStringTerm | ToIntegerTerm |
ToStringTerm | WaitTerm | XorTerm | MethodInvocationTerm | SymbolicExpressionTerm |
SymbolicAssignmentTerm
A Type 2 opcode returns a value and can be used in an expression.
Type3Opcode :=
AddTerm | AndTerm | DecTerm | DerefOfTerm | DivideTerm | EISAIDTerm |
FindSetLeftBitTerm | FindSetRightBitTerm | FromBCDTerm | IncTerm | LAndTerm |
LEqualTerm | LGreaterTerm | LGreaterEqualTerm | LLessTerm | LLessEqualTerm | LNotTerm |
LNotEqualTerm | LOrTerm | MatchTerm | ModTerm | MultiplyTerm | NAndTerm | NOrTerm |
NotTerm | OrTerm | ShiftLeftTerm | ShiftRightTerm | SubtractTerm | ToBCDTerm |
ToIntegerTerm | XorTerm | SymbolicExpressionTerm
The Type 3 opcodes are a subset of Type 2 opcodes that return an Integer value and can be used in
an expression that evaluates to a constant. These opcodes may be evaluated at ASL compile-time. To
ensure that these opcodes will evaluate to a constant, the following rules apply: The term cannot
have a destination (target) operand, and must have either a Type3Opcode, Type4Opcode, Type5Opcode,
ConstExprTerm, Integer, BufferTerm, Package, or String for all arguments.
Type4Opcode :=
ConcatTerm | DerefOfTerm | FprintfTerm | MidTerm | PrintfTerm | ToDecimalStringTerm |
ToHexStringTerm | ToStringTerm
The Type 4 opcodes are a subset of Type 2 opcodes that return a String value and can be used in an
expression that evaluates to a constant. These opcodes may be evaluated at ASL compile-time. To
Type5Opcode :=
ConcatTerm | ConcatResTerm | DerefOfTerm | MidTerm | ResourceTemplateTerm |
ToBufferTerm | ToPLDTerm | ToUUIDTerm | UnicodeTerm
The Type 5 opcodes are a subset of Type 2 opcodes that return a Buffer value and can be used in an
expression that evaluates to a constant. These opcodes may be evaluated at ASL compile-time. To

Type6Opcode :=
RefOfTerm | DerefOfTerm | IndexTerm | IndexSymbolicTerm | UserTermObj
The Type 6 opcodes are a subset of Type 2 opcodes that return a Reference value and can be used in
an expression. They cannot be evaluated at compile time. Type 6 also includes the UserTerm, which
is a control method invocation.
19.2.6 ASL Primary (Terminal) Terms

AccessAsTerm :=
AccessAs (
AccessType, // AccessTypeKeyword
AccessAttribute // Nothing | ByteConstExpr |
// AccessAttribKeyword | ExtendedAccessAttribTerm
)
AcquireTerm :=
Acquire (
SyncObject, // SuperName => Mutex
TimeoutValue // WordConstExpr
) => Boolean // True means the operation timed out and the Mutex was not acquired
AddCompoundTerm :=
Addend1-Result // TermArg => Integer => Target
+=
Addend2 // TermArg => Integer
=> Integer
AddSymbolicTerm :=
+
=> Integer
AddTerm :=
Add (
Addend1, // TermArg => Integer
Addend2, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer
AliasTerm :=
Alias (
SourceObject, // NameString

AliasObject // NameString
)
AndCompoundTerm :=
Source1-Result // TermArg => Integer => Target
&=
Source2 // TermArg => Integer
=> Integer
AndSymbolicTerm :=
&
=> Integer
AndTerm :=
And (
Source1, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer
ArgTerm :=
Arg0 | Arg1 | Arg2 | Arg3 | Arg4 | Arg5 | Arg6
BankFieldTerm :=
BankField (
RegionName, // NameString => OperationRegion
BankName, // NameString => FieldUnit
BankValue, // TermArg => Integer
UpdateRule // UpdateRuleKeyword
) {FieldUnitList}
BreakPointTerm :=
BreakPoint
BreakTerm :=
Break
BufferTerm :=
Buffer (
BuffSize // Nothing | TermArg => Integer
) {StringData | ByteList} => Buffer
CaseTerm :=
Case (
Value // DataObject
) {TermList}
ConcatResTerm :=
ConcatenateResTemplate (
Source1, // TermArg => Buffer
Source2, // TermArg => Buffer
Result // Target
) => Buffer

ConcatTerm :=
Concatenate (
Source1, // TermArg => SuperName
Source2, // TermArg => SuperName
Result // Target
) => Buffer | String
ConnectionTerm :=
Connection (
ConnectionResource // NameString | ResourceMacroTerm
)
CondRefOfTerm :=
CondRefOf (
Source // NameString | ArgTerm | LocalTerm | DerefOfTerm
Destination // Target
) => Boolean
ContinueTerm :=
Continue
CopyObjectTerm :=
CopyObject (
Source, // TermArg => DataRefObject
Result, // NameString | LocalTerm | ArgTerm
) => DataRefObject
CreateBitFieldTerm :=
CreateBitField (
SourceBuffer, // TermArg => Buffer
BitIndex, // TermArg => Integer
BitFieldName // NameString
)
CreateByteFieldTerm :=
CreateByteField (
ByteIndex, // TermArg => Integer
ByteFieldName // NameString
)
CreateDWordFieldTerm :=
CreateDWordField (
DWordFieldName // NameString
)
CreateFieldTerm :=
CreateField (
BitIndex, // TermArg => Integer
NumBits, // TermArg => Integer
FieldName // NameString
)
CreateQWordFieldTerm :=
CreateQWordField (

QWordFieldName // NameString
)
CreateWordFieldTerm :=
CreateWordField (
WordFieldName // NameString
)
DataRegionTerm :=
DataTableRegion (
SignatureString, // TermArg => String
OemIDString, // TermArg => String
OemTableIDString // TermArg => String
)
DebugTerm :=
Debug
DecSymbolicTerm :=
Minuend // SuperName => Integer
--
=> Integer
DecTerm :=
Decrement (
Minuend // SuperName
) => Integer
DefaultTerm :=
Default {TermList}
DefinitionBlockTerm :=
DefinitionBlock (
AMLFileName, // String
TableSignature, // String
ComplianceRevision, // ByteConst
OEMID, // String
TableID, // String
OEMRevision // DWordConst
) {TermList}
DerefOfTerm :=
DerefOf (
Source // NameString | ArgTerm | LocalTerm | RefOfTerm | CondRefOfTerm
// IndexTerm | MethodInvocationTerm
) => DataRefObject
DeviceTerm :=
Device (

DeviceName // NameString
) {TermList}
DivideCompoundTerm :=
Dividend-Result // TermArg => Integer => Target
/=
Divisor // TermArg => Integer
=> Integer
DivideSymbolicTerm :=
Dividend // TermArg => Integer
/
=> Integer
DivideTerm :=
Divide (
Dividend, // TermArg => Integer
Divisor, // TermArg => Integer
Remainder, // Target
Result // Target
) => Integer // Returns Result
EISAIDTerm :=
EISAID (
EisaIdString // StringData
) => DWordConst
ElseIfTerm :=
ElseIf (
Predicate // TermArg => Integer
) {TermList} ElseTerm
ElseTerm :=
Else {TermList} | ElseIfTerm | Nothing
EventTerm :=
Event (
EventName // NameString
)
ExternalTerm :=
External (
ObjName, // NameString
ObjType, // Nothing | ObjectTypeKeyword
ResultType, // Nothing | ParameterTypePackage
ParameterTypes // Nothing | ParameterTypesPackage
)
FatalTerm :=
Fatal (
Type, // ByteConstExpr
Code, // DWordConstExpr
Arg // TermArg => Integer
)
FieldTerm :=
Field (
RegionName, // NameString => OperationRegion

) {FieldUnitList}
FindSetLeftBitTerm :=
FindSetLeftBit (
Source, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer
FindSetRightBitTerm :=
FindSetRightBit (
Result // Target
) => Integer
ForTerm :=
For (
Initialize,// Nothing | TermArg => ComputationalData
Predicate,// Nothing | TermArg => ComputationalData
Update // Nothing | TermArg => ComputationalData
) {TermList}
FprintfTerm :=
Fprintf (
TermArg,
String,
PrintfArgList
) => String
FromBCDTerm :=
FromBCD (
BCDValue, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer
FunctionTerm :=
Function (
FunctionName, // NameString
ReturnType, // Nothing | ParameterTypePackage
) {TermList}
IfTerm :=
If (
) {TermList}
IncludeTerm :=
Include (
FilePathName // StringData
)
IncSymbolicTerm :=
Addend // SuperName => Integer
++
=> Integer
IncTerm := 
Increment (

Addend // SuperName
) => Integer
IndexFieldTerm :=
IndexField (
IndexName, // NameString => FieldUnit
DataName, // NameString => FieldUnit
) {FieldUnitList}
IndexSymbolicTerm :=
Source // TermArg => <String | Buffer | PackageTerm>
[ Index ] // TermArg => Integer
=> ObjectReference
IndexTerm :=
Index (
Source, // TermArg => <String | Buffer | PackageTerm>
Index, // TermArg => Integer
Destination // Target
) => ObjectReference
LAndSymbolicTerm :=
&&
=> Boolean
LAndTerm :=
LAnd (
Source2 // TermArg => Integer
) => Boolean
LEqualSymbolicTerm :=
Source1 // TermArg => ComputationalData
==
=> Boolean
LEqualTerm :=
LEqual (
Source1, // TermArg => ComputationalData
Source2 // TermArg => ComputationalData
) => Boolean
LGreaterEqualSymbolicTerm :=
>=
=> Boolean
LGreaterEqualTerm :=
LGreaterEqual (


) => Boolean
LGreaterSymbolicTerm :=
>
=> Boolean
LGreaterTerm :=
LGreater (
) => Boolean
LLessEqualSymbolicTerm :=
<=
=> Boolean
LLessEqualTerm :=
LLessEqual (
) => Boolean
LLessSymbolicTerm :=
<
=> Boolean
LLessTerm :=
LLess (
) => Boolean
LNotEqualTerm :=
LNotEqual (
) => Boolean
LNotEqualSymbolicTerm :=
!=
=> Boolean
LNotSymbolicTerm :=
!
Source // TermArg => Integer
=> Boolean
LNotTerm :=
LNot (


) => Boolean
LOrSymbolicTerm :=
||
=> Boolean
LoadTableTerm :=
LoadTable (
SignatureString, // TermArg => String
OemIDString, // TermArg => String
OemTableIDString, // TermArg => String
RootPathString, // Nothing | TermArg => String
ParameterPathString, // Nothing | TermArg => String
ParameterData // Nothing | TermArg => DataRefObject
) => DDBHandle
LoadTerm :=
Load (
Object, // NameString
DDBHandle // SuperName
)
LocalTerm :=
Local0 | Local1 | Local2 | Local3 | Local4 | Local5 | Local6 | Local7
LOrTerm :=
LOr (
Source2 // TermArg => Integer
) => Boolean
MatchTerm :=
Match (
SearchPackage, // TermArg => Package
Op1, // MatchOpKeyword
MatchObject1, // TermArg => ComputationalData
Op2, // MatchOpKeyword
MatchObject2, // TermArg => ComputationalData
StartIndex // TermArg => Integer
) => <Ones | Integer>
MethodTerm :=
Method (
MethodName, // NameString
NumArgs, // Nothing | ByteConstExpr
SerializeRule, // Nothing | SerializeRuleKeyword
SyncLevel, // Nothing | ByteConstExpr
ReturnType, // Nothing | ParameterTypePackage
) {TermList}
MidTerm :=
Mid (
Source, // TermArg => <Buffer | String>
Index, // TermArg => Integer
Length, // TermArg => Integer

Result // Target
) => <Buffer | String>
ModCompoundTerm :=
Dividend-Result // TermArg => Integer => Target
%=
=> Integer
ModSymbolicTerm :=
Dividend // TermArg => Integer
%
=> Integer
ModTerm :=
Mod (
Dividend, // TermArg => Integer
Divisor, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer // Returns Result
MultiplyCompoundTerm :=
Multiplicand-Result // TermArg => Integer => Target
*=
Multiplier // TermArg => Integer
=> Integer
MultiplySymbolicTerm :=
Multiplicand // TermArg => Integer
*
Multiplier // TermArg => Integer
=> Integer
MultiplyTerm :=
Multiply (
Multiplicand, // TermArg => Integer
Multiplier, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer
MutexTerm :=
Mutex (
MutexName, // NameString
SyncLevel // ByteConstExpr
)
NameTerm :=
Name (
ObjectName, // NameString
Object // DataObject
)
NAndTerm :=
NAnd (

Result // Target
) => Integer
NoOpTerm :=
NoOp
NOrTerm :=
NOr (
Result // Target
) => Integer
NotifyTerm :=
Notify (
Object, // SuperName => <ThermalZone | Processor | Device>
NotificationValue // TermArg => Integer
)
NotSymbolicTerm :=
~
=> Integer
NotTerm :=
Not (
Result // Target
) => Integer
ObjectTypeTerm :=
ObjectType (
Object // NameString | ArgTerm | LocalTerm | DebugTerm |
// RefOfTerm | DerefOfTerm | IndexTerm
) => Integer
OffsetTerm :=
Offset (
ByteOffset // IntegerData
)
OpRegionTerm :=
Offset, // TermArg => Integer

Length // TermArg => Integer

)
OrCompoundTerm :=
|=
=> Integer
OrSymbolicTerm :=
|
=> Integer
OrTerm :=
Or (
Result // Target
) => Integer
PackageTerm :=
Package (
NumElements // Nothing | ByteConstExpr | TermArg => Integer
) {PackageList} => Package
PLDKeyword :=
PLD_Revision | PLD_IgnoreColor | PLD_Red | PLD_Green | PLD_Blue |
PLD_Width | PLD_Height | PLD_UserVisible | PLD_Dock | PLD_Lid | PLD_Panel |
PLD_VerticalPosition | PLD_HorizontalPosition | PLD_Shape |
PLD_GroupOrientation | PLD_GroupToken | PLD_GroupPosition | PLD_Bay
PLD_Ejectable | PLD_EjectRequired | PLD_CabinetNumber
PLDKeywordList :=
PLDKeyword = StringData | PLDKeyword = IntegerData |
PLDKeyword = StringData, PLDKeywordList, PLDKeyword = IntegerData, PLDKeywordList
PowerResTerm :=
PowerResource (
ResourceName, // NameString
SystemLevel, // ByteConstExpr
ResourceOrder // WordConstExpr
) {TermList}
PrintfArgList :=
TermArg | TermArg , PrintfArgList
PrintfTerm :=
Printf (
String,
PrintfArgList
) => String
ProcessorTerm :=
Processor (
ProcessorName, // NameString
ProcessorID, // ByteConstExpr
PBlockAddress, // DWordConstExpr | Nothing (=0)

PblockLength // ByteConstExpr | Nothing (=0)

) {TermList}
RawDataBufferTerm :=
RawDataBuffer (
BuffSize // Nothing | WordConst
) { ByteList} => RawDataBuffer
RefOfTerm :=
RefOf (
Source // NameString | ArgTerm | LocalTerm | DerefOfTerm
) => ObjectReference
ReleaseTerm :=
Release (
SyncObject // SuperName
)
ResetTerm :=
Reset (
)
ReturnTerm :=
Return (
Arg // Nothing | TermArg => DataRefObject
)
ScopeTerm :=
Scope (
Location // NameString
) {TermList}
ShiftLeftCompoundTerm :=
Source-Result // TermArg => Integer => Target
<<=
ShiftCount // TermArg => Integer
=> Integer
ShiftLeftSymbolicTerm :=
<<
=> Integer
ShiftLeftTerm :=
ShiftLeft (
ShiftCount, // TermArg => Integer

Result // Target
) => Integer
ShiftRightCompoundTerm :=
Source-Result // TermArg => Integer => Target
>>=
=> Integer
ShiftRightSymbolicTerm :=
>>
=> Integer
ShiftRightTerm :=
ShiftRight (
ShiftCount, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer
SignalTerm :=
Signal (
)
SizeOfTerm :=
SizeOf (
DataObject // SuperName => <String | Buffer | Package>
) => Integer
SleepTerm :=
Sleep (
MilliSeconds // TermArg => Integer
)
StallTerm :=
Stall (
MicroSeconds // TermArg => Integer
)
StoreSymbolicTerm :=
Destination // SuperName
=
Source // TermArg => DataRefObject
=> DataRefObject
StoreTerm :=
Store (
Source, // TermArg => DataRefObject

Destination // SuperName
) => DataRefObject
SubtractCompoundTerm :=
Minuend-Result // TermArg => Integer => Target
-=
Subtrahend // TermArg => Integer
=> Integer
SubtractSymbolicTerm :=
Minuend // TermArg => Integer
-
Subtrahend // TermArg => Integer
=> Integer
SubtractTerm :=
Subtract (
Minuend, // TermArg => Integer
Subtrahend, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer
SwitchTerm :=
Switch (
Predicate // TermArg => ComputationalData
) {CaseTermList}
ThermalZoneTerm :=
ThermalZone (
ThermalZoneName // NameString
) {TermList}
TimerTerm :=
Timer => Integer
ToBCDTerm :=
ToBCD (
Value, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer
ToBufferTerm :=
ToBuffer (
Data, // TermArg => ComputationalData
Result // Target
) => ComputationalData
ToDecimalStringTerm :=
ToDecimalString (
Result // Target
) => String
ToHexStringTerm :=
ToHexString (
Result // Target
) => String
ToIntegerTerm :=
ToInteger (


Result // Target
) => Integer
ToPLDTerm :=
ToPLD (
PLDKeywordList
) => Buffer
ToStringTerm :=
ToString (
Source, // TermArg => Buffer
Length, // Nothing | TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => String
ToUUIDTerm :=
ToUUID (
String // StringData
) => Buffer
UnicodeTerm :=
Unicode (
String // StringData
) => Buffer
UnloadTerm :=
Unload (
DDBHandle // SuperName
)
WaitTerm :=
Wait (
SyncObject, // SuperName => Event
TimeoutValue // TermArg => Integer
) => Boolean // True means timed-out
WhileTerm :=
While (
) {TermList}
XorCompoundTerm :=
^=
=> Integer
XorSymbolicTerm :=
^
=> Integer
XOrTerm :=
XOr (


Source2, // TermArg => Integer
Result // Target
) => Integer
19.2.7 ASL Parameter Keyword Terms

AccessAttribKeyword :=
AttribQuick | AttribSendReceive | AttribByte | AttribBytes (n) | AttribRawBytes (n) |
AttribRawProcessBytes (n) | AttribWord | AttribBlock |AttribProcessCall |
AttribBlockProcessCall // Note: Used for SMBus and GenericSerialBus BufferAcc only |
AccessTypeKeyword :=
AnyAcc | ByteAcc | WordAcc | DWordAcc | QWordAcc | BufferAcc
AddressKeyword :=
AddressRangeMemory | AddressRangeReserved | AddressRangeNVS | AddressRangeACPI
AddressSpaceKeyword :=
RegionSpaceKeyword | FFixedHW | PCC
AddressingModeKeyword :=
AddressingMode7Bit | AddressingMode10Bit
ByteLengthKeyword :=
DataBitsFive | DataBitsSix | DataBitsSeven | DataBitsEight | DataBitsNine
BusMasterKeyword :=
BusMaster | NotBusMaster
ClockPhaseKeyword :=
ClockPhaseFirst | ClockPhaseSecond
ClockPolarityKeyword :=
ClockPolarityLow | ClockPolarityHigh
DecodeKeyword :=
SubDecode | PosDecode
EndianKeyword :=
BigEndianing | LittleEndian
ExtendedAccessAttribKeyword :=
AttribBytes | AttribRawBytes | AttribRawProcessBytes
// Note: Used for GenericSerialBus BufferAcc only.

FlowControlKeyword :=
FlowControlNone | FlowControlXon | FlowControlHardware
InterruptTypeKeyword :=
Edge | Level
InterruptLevel :=
ActiveHigh | ActiveLow
InterruptLevelKeyword :=
ActiveHigh | ActiveLow | ActiveBoth
IODecodeKeyword :=
Decode16 | Decode10
IoRestrictionKeyword :=
IoRestrictionNone | IoRestrictionInputOnly | IoRestrictionOutputOnly |
IoRestrictionNoneAndPreserve
LockRuleKeyword :=
Lock | NoLock
MatchOpKeyword :=
MTR | MEQ | MLE | MLT | MGE | MGT
MaxKeyword :=
MaxFixed | MaxNotFixed
MemTypeKeyword :=
Cacheable | WriteCombining | Prefetchable | NonCacheable
MinKeyword :=
MinFixed | MinNotFixed
ObjectTypeKeyword :=
UnknownObj | IntObj | StrObj | BuffObj | PkgObj | FieldUnitObj | DeviceObj |
EventObj | MethodObj | MutexObj | OpRegionObj | PowerResObj | ProcessorObj |
ThermalZoneObj | BuffFieldObj | DDBHandleObj
ParityKeyword :=
ParityTypeNone | ParityTypeSpace | ParityTypeMark | ParityTypeOdd | ParityTypeEven
PinConfigKeyword :=
PullDefault | PullUp | PullDown | PullNone
PolarityKeyword :=
PolarityHigh | PolarityLow
RangeTypeKeyword :=
ISAOnlyRanges | NonISAOnlyRanges | EntireRange
ReadWriteKeyword :=
ReadWrite | ReadOnly
RegionSpaceKeyword :=
UserDefRegionSpace | SystemIO | SystemMemory | PCI_Config | EmbeddedControl |
SMBus | SystemCMOS | PciBarTarget | IPMI | GeneralPurposeIO | GenericSerialBus
ResourceTypeKeyword :=
ResourceConsumer | ResourceProducer
SerializeRuleKeyword :=
Serialized | NotSerialized
ShareTypeKeyword :=
Shared | Exclusive | SharedAndWake | ExclusiveAndWake
SlaveModeKeyword :=
ControllerInitiated | DeviceInitiated
StopBitsKeyword :=
StopBitsZero | StopBitsOne | StopBitsOnePlusHalf | StopBitsTwo
TransferWidthKeyword :=
Width8Bit | Width16Bit | Width32Bit | Width64Bit | Width128Bit | Width256Bit
TranslationKeyword :=
SparseTranslation | DenseTranslation
TypeKeyword :=
TypeTranslation | TypeStatic
UpdateRuleKeyword :=
Preserve | WriteAsOnes | WriteAsZeros
UserDefRegionSpace :=
IntegerData => 0x80 - 0xFF
XferTypeKeyword :=

Transfer8 | Transfer16 | Transfer8_16

WireModeKeyword :=
ThreeWireMode | FourWireMode
19.2.8 ASL Resource Template Terms

ResourceMacroTerm := DMATerm | DWordIOTerm | DWordMemoryTerm | DWordSpaceTerm | EndDependentFnTerm
|
ExtendedIOTerm | ExtendedMemoryTerm | ExtendedSpaceTerm | FixedDMATerm | FixedIOTerm |
GpioIntTerm | GpioIOTerm | I2CSerialBusTerm | InterruptTerm | IOTerm | IRQNoFlagsTerm |
IRQTerm | Memory24Term | Memory32FixedTerm | Memory32Term | PinConfigTerm | PinFunctionTerm |
PinGroupTerm | PinGroupConfigTerm | PinGroupFunctionTerm | QWordIOTerm | QWordMemoryTerm |
QWordSpaceTerm | RegisterTerm | SPISerialBusTerm | StartDependentFnTerm |
StartDependentFnNoPriTerm | UARTSerialBusTerm | VendorLongTerm | VendorShortTerm |
WordBusNumberTerm | WordIOTerm | WordSpaceTerm
ResourceMacroList :=
Nothing | <ResourceMacroTerm ResourceMacroList>
ResourceMacroTerm :=
DMATerm | DWordIOTerm | DWordMemoryTerm | DWordSpaceTerm | EndDependentFnTerm |
ExtendedIOTerm | ExtendedMemoryTerm | ExtendedSpaceTerm | FixedDMATerm | FixedIOTerm |
GpioIntTerm | GpioIOTerm | I2CSerialBusTerm | InterruptTerm | IOTerm | IRQNoFlagsTerm |
IRQTerm | Memory24Term | Memory32FixedTerm | Memory32Term | QWordIOTerm | QWordMemoryTerm |
QWordSpaceTerm | RegisterTerm | SPISerialBusTerm | StartDependentFnTerm |
StartDependentFnNoPriTerm | UARTSerialBusTerm | VendorLongTerm | VendorShortTerm |
WordBusNumberTerm | WordIOTerm | WordSpaceTerm
DMATerm :=
DMA (
DMAType, // DMATypeKeyword (_TYP)
BusMaster, // BusMasterKeyword (_BM)
XferType, // XferTypeKeyword (_SIZ)
DescriptorName // Nothing | NameString
) {ByteList} // List of channels (0-7 bytes)
DWordIOTerm :=
DWordIO (
ResourceUsage, // Nothing (ResourceConsumer)| ResourceTypeKeyword
MinType, // Nothing (MinNotFixed) | MinKeyword (_MIF)
MaxType, // Nothing (MaxNotFixed) | MaxKeyword (_MAF)
Decode, // Nothing (PosDecode) | DecodeKeyword (_DEC)
RangeType, // Nothing (EntireRange) | RangeTypeKeyword (_RNG)
AddressGranularity, // DWordConstExpr (_GRA)
MinAddress, // DWordConstExpr (_MIN)
MaxAddress, // DWordConstExpr (_MAX)
AddressTranslation, // DWordConstExpr (_TRA)
AddressLength, // DWordConstExpr (_LEN)
ResourceSourceIndex, // Nothing | ByteConstExpr
ResourceSource, // Nothing | StringData
DescriptorName, // Nothing | NameString
TranslationType, // Nothing | TypeKeyword (_TTP)
TranslationDensity // Nothing | TranslationKeyword (_TRS)
)
DWordMemoryTerm :=
DWordMemory (
MaxType, // Nothing (MaxNotFixed) | MaxKeyword (_MAF)
MemType, // Nothing (NonCacheable) | MemTypeKeyword (_MEM)

ReadWriteType, // ReadWriteKeyword (_RW)

MemoryRangeType, // Nothing | AddressKeyword (_MTP)
TranslationType // Nothing | TypeKeyword (_TTP)
)
DWordSpaceTerm :=
DWordSpace (
ResourceType, // ByteConstExpr (_RT), 0xC0 – 0xFF
TypeSpecificFlags, // ByteConstExpr (_TSF)
)
EndDependentFnTerm :=
EndDependentFn ()
ExtendedIOTerm :=
ExtendedIO (
RangeType, // Nothing (EntireRange) | RangeTypeKeyword (_RNG)
AddressGranularity, // QWordConstExpr (_GRA)
MinAddress, // QWordConstExpr (_MIN)
MaxAddress, // QWordConstExpr (_MAX)
AddressTranslation, // QWordConstExpr (_TRA)
AddressLength, // QWordConstExpr (_LEN)
TypeSpecificAttributes, // Nothing | QWordConstExpr
)
ExtendedMemoryTerm :=
ExtendedMemory (
ResourceUsage, // Nothing (ResourceConsumer)| ResourceTypeKeyword


TypeSpecificAttributes, // Nothing | QWordConstExpr
)
ExtendedSpaceTerm :=
ExtendedSpace (
ResourceType, // ByteConstExpr (_RT), 0xC0 – 0xFF
TypeSpecificAttributes, // Nothing | QWordConstExpr (_ATT)
)
FixedDMATerm :=
FixedDMA (
DMAReq, //WordConstExpr (_DMA)
Channel, //WordConstExpr (_TYP)
XferWidth, //Nothing (Width32Bit) | TransferWidthKeyword (_SIZ)
DescriptorName, //Nothing | NameString
)
FixedIOTerm :=
FixedIO (
AddressBase, // WordConstExpr (_BAS)
RangeLength, // ByteConstExpr (_LEN)
DescriptorName // Nothing | NameString
)
GpioIntTerm :=
GpioInt(
InterruptType, // InterruptTypeKeyword (_MOD)
InterruptLevel, // InterruptLevelKeyword (_POL)
ShareType, // Nothing (Exclusive) | ShareTypeKeyword (_SHR)
PinConfig, // PinConfigKeyword | ByteConstExpr (_PPI)
DeBounceTime // Nothing | WordConstExpr (_DBT)
ResourceSource, // StringData
ResourceSourceIndex, // Nothing (0) | ByteConstExpr
VendorData // Nothing | RawDataBuffer (_VEN)
) {DWordList} // List of GPIO pins (_PIN)
GpioIOTerm :=
GpioIO (
PinConfig, // PinConfigKeyword | ByteConstExpr (_PPIC)
DeBounceTime // Nothing | WordConstExpr (_DBT)

DriveStrength // Nothing | WordConstExpr (_DRS)

IORestriction // Nothing (None) | IORestrictionKeyword (_IOR)
) {DWordList} // List of GPIO pins (_PIN)
I2CSerialBusTerm :=
I2CSerialBusV2 (
SlaveAddress, // WordConstExpr (_ADR)
SlaveMode, // Nothing (ControllerInitiated) | SlaveModeKeyword (_SLV)
ConnectionSpeed, // DWordConstExpr (_SPE)
AddressingMode, // Nothing (AddressingMode7Bit) | AddressModeKeyword (_MOD)
)
InterruptTerm :=
Interrupt (
ResourceType, // Nothing (ResourceConsumer)| ResourceTypeKeyword
InterruptType, // InterruptTypeKeyword (_LL, _HE)
InterruptLevel, // InterruptLevelKeyword (_LL, _HE)
ShareType, // Nothing (Exclusive) ShareTypeKeyword (_SHR)
) {DWordList} // list of interrupts (_INT)
IOTerm :=
IO (
IODecode, // IODecodeKeyword (_DEC)
MinAddress, // WordConstExpr (_MIN)
MaxAddress, // WordConstExpr (_MAX)
Alignment, // ByteConstExpr (_ALN)
RangeLength, // ByteConstExpr (_LEN)
)
IRQNoFlagsTerm :=
IRQNoFlags (
) {ByteList} // list of interrupts (0-15 bytes)
IRQTerm :=
IRQ (
InterruptType, // InterruptTypeKeyword (_LL, _HE)
InterruptLevel, // InterruptLevelKeyword (_LL, _HE)
) {ByteList} // list of interrupts (0-15 bytes)
Memory24Term :=
Memory24 (
MinAddress[23:8], // WordConstExpr (_MIN)
MaxAddress[23:8], // WordConstExpr (_MAX)

Alignment, // WordConstExpr (_ALN)

RangeLength, // WordConstExpr (_LEN)
)
Memory32FixedTerm :=
Memory32Fixed (
AddressBase, // DWordConstExpr (_BAS)
RangeLength, // DWordConstExpr (_LEN)
)
Memory32Term :=
Memory32 (
Alignment, // DWordConstExpr (_ALN)
RangeLength, // DWordConstExpr (_LEN)
)
PinConfigTerm :=
PinConfig (
PinConfigType, // ByteData (_TYP)
PinConfigValue, // ByteData (_VAL)
) {DWordList} (_PIN)
PinFunctionTerm :=
PinFunction (
PinPullConfiguration, // PinConfigKeyword | ByteConstExpr (_PPI)
FunctionNumber, // WordData
PinGroupTerm :=
PinGroup (
ResourceLabel, // StringData
PinGroupConfigTerm :=
PinGroupConfig (
PinConfigType, // ByteData (_TYP)
PinConfigValue, // ByteData (_VAL)

ResourceSourceLabel, // StringData
PinGroupFunctionTerm :=
PinGroupFunction (
FunctionNumber, // WordData (_FUN)
ResourceSourceLabel, // StringData
QWordIOTerm :=
QWordIO (
)
QWordMemoryTerm :=
QWordMemory (
)
QWordSpaceTerm :=
QWordSpace (


)
RawDataBufferTerm :=
RawDataBuffer (
(BuffSize) // Nothing | Integer
) {ByteList} => ByteList
RegisterTerm :=
Register (
AddressSpaceID, // AddressSpaceKeyword (_ASI)
RegisterBitWidth, // ByteConstExpr (_RBW)
RegisterOffset, // ByteConstExpr (_RBO)
RegisterAddress, // QWordConstExpr (_ADR)
AccessSize, // ByteConstExpr (_ASZ)
)
SPISerialBusTerm :=
SPISerialBusV2 (
DeviceSelection, // WordConstExpr (_ADR)
DeviceSelectionPolarity, // Nothing (PolarityLow) | DevicePolarityKeyword (_DPL)
WireMode, // Nothing (FourWireMode) | WireModeKeyword (_MOD)
DataBitLength, // ByteConstExpr (_LEN)
SlaveMode, // Nothing (ControllerInitiated) | SlaveModeKeyword (_SLV)
ConnectionSpeed, // DWordConstExpr (_SPE)
ClockPolarity, // ClockPolarityKeyword (_POL)
ClockPhase, // ClockPhaseKeyword (_PHA)
)
StartDependentFnNoPriTerm :=
StartDependentFnNoPri () {ResourceMacroList}
StartDependentFnTerm :=
StartDependentFn (
CompatPriority, // ByteConstExpr (0-2)
PerfRobustPriority // ByteConstExpr (0-2)
) {ResourceMacroList}
UARTSerialBusTerm :=
UARTSerialBusV2(
Initial BaudRate, // DwordConstExpr (_SPE)
BitsPerByte, // Nothing (DataBitsEight) | DataBitsKeyword (_LEN)

StopBits, // Nothing (StopBitsOne) | StopBitsKeyword (_STB)

LinesInUse, // ByteConstExpr (_LIN)
IsBigEndian, // Nothing (LittleEndian) | EndianessKeyword (_END)
Parity, // Nothing (ParityTypeNone) | ParityTypeKeyword (_PAR)
FlowControl, // Nothing (FlowControlNone) | FlowControlKeyword (_FLC)
ReceiveBufferSize, // WordConstExpr (_RXL)
TransmitBufferSize, // WordConstExpr (_TXL)
VendorData // Nothing | Object (_VEN)
)
VendorLongTerm :=
VendorLong (
) {ByteList}
VendorShortTerm :=
VendorShort (
) {ByteList} // Up to 7 bytes
WordBusNumberTerm :=
WordBusNumber (
AddressGranularity, // WordConstExpr (_GRA)
AddressTranslation, // WordConstExpr (_TRA)
AddressLength, // WordConstExpr (_LEN)
)
WordIOTerm :=
WordIO (
)
WordSpaceTerm :=

WordSpace (
)
19.3 ASL Concepts

This reference section is for developers who are writing ASL code while developing definition
blocks for platforms.
19.3.1 ASL Names

This section describes how to encode object names using ASL.
The following table lists the characters legal in any position in an ASL object name. ASL names are
not case-sensitive and will be converted to upper case.
Table 19-403 Named Object Reference Encodings

Value Description Title
0x41-0x5A, 0x5F, 0x61-0x7A Lead character of name LeadNameChar
(‘A’–‘Z’, ‘_’ , ‘a’–‘z’)
0x30-0x39, 0x41-0x5A, 0x5F, 0x61- Non-lead (trailing) character of name (‘A’– NameChar
0x7A ‘Z’, ‘_’, ‘a’–‘z’, ‘0’–‘9’)
The following table lists the name modifiers that can be prefixed to an ASL name.
Table 19-404 Definition Block Name Modifier Encodings

Value Description NamePrefix := Followed by …
0x5C Namespace root (‘\’) RootPrefix Name
0x5E Parent namespace (‘^’) ParentPrefix ParentPrefix or Name
19.3.1.1 _T_x Reserved Object Names

The ACPI specification reserves object names with the prefix _T_ for internal use by the ASL
compiler. The ASL compiler may, for example, use these objects to store temporary values when
implementing translation of complicated control structures into AML. The ASL compiler must

declare _T_x objects normally (using Name) and must not define them more than once within the
same scope.
19.3.2 ASL Literal Constants

This section describes how to encode integer and string constants using ASL.
19.3.2.1 Integers
DigitChar := ‘0’-‘9’
LeadDigitChar := ‘1’-‘9’
OctalDigitChar := ‘0’-‘7’
HexDigitChar := DigitChar | ‘A’-‘F’ | ‘a’-‘f’
Integer := DecimalConst | OctalConst | HexConst

DecimalConst := LeadDigitChar | <DecimalConst DigitChar>
OctalConst := ‘0’ | <OctalConst OctalDigitChar>
HexConst := <0x HexDigitChar> | <0X HexDigitChar> | <HexConst HexDigitChar>
ByteConst := Integer => 0x00-0xFF
WordConst := Integer => 0x0000-0xFFFF
DWordConst := Integer => 0x00000000-0xFFFFFFFF
QWordConst := Integer => 0x0000000000000000-0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Numeric constants can be specified in decimal, octal, or hexadecimal. Octal constants are preceded
by a leading zero (0), and hexadecimal constants are preceded by a leading zero and either a lower or
upper case ‘x’. In some cases, the grammar specifies that the number must evaluate to an integer
within a limited range, such as 0x00–0xFF, and so on.
19.3.2.2 Strings
String := ‘”’ Utf8CharList ‘”’
Utf8CharList := Nothing | <EscapeSequence Utf8CharList> | <Utf8Char Utf8CharList>
Utf8Char := 0x01-0x21 |
0x23-0x5B |
0x5D-0x7F |
0xC2-0xDF 0x80-0xBF |
0xE0 0xA0-0xBF 0x80-0xBF |
0xE1-0xEC 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF |
0xED 0x80-0x9F 0x80-0xBF |
0xEE-0xEF 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF |
0xF0 0x90-0xBF 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF |
0xF1-0xF3 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF |
0xF4 0x80-0x8F 0x80-0xBF 0x80-0xBF
EscapeSeq := SimpleEscapeSeq | OctalEscapeSeq | HexEscapeSeq
SimpleEscapeSeq := \' | \" | \a | \b | \f | \n | \r | \t | \v | \\
OctalEscapeSeq := \ OctalDigitChar |
\ OctalDigitChar OctalDigitChar |
\ OctalDigitChar OctalDigitChar OctalDigitChar
HexEscapeSeq := \x HexDigitChar |
\x HexDigitChar HexDigitChar
NullChar := 0x00
String literals consist of zero or more ASCII characters surrounded by double quotation marks ("). A
string literal represents a sequence of characters that, taken together, form a null-terminated string.
After all adjacent strings in the constant have been concatenated, a null character is appended.
Strings in the source file may be encoded using the UTF-8 encoding scheme as defined in the
Unicode 4.0 specification. UTF-8 is a byte-oriented encoding scheme, where some characters take a

single byte and others take multiple bytes. The ASCII character values 0x01-0x7F take up exactly
one byte.
However, only one operator currently supports UTF-8 strings: Unicode. Since string literals are
defined to contain only non-null character values, both Hex and Octal escape sequence values must
be non-null values in the ASCII range 0x01 through 0xFF. For arbitrary byte data (outside the range
of ASCII values), the Buffer object should be used instead.
Since the backslash is used as the escape character and also the namespace root prefix, any string
literals that are to contain a fully qualified namepath from the root of the namespace must use the
double backslash to indicate this:
Name (_EJD, ”\\_SB.PCI0.DOCK1”)
The double backslash is only required within quoted string literals.

Since double quotation marks are used close a string, a special escape sequence (\") is used to allow
quotation marks within strings. Other escape sequences are listed in the table below:
Table 19-405 ASL Escape Sequences

Escape Sequence ASCII Character
\a 0x07 (BEL)
\b 0x08 (BS)
\f 0x0C (FF)
\n 0x0A (LF)
\r 0x0D (CR)
\t 0x09 (TAB)
\v 0x0B (VT)
\" 0x22 (")
\' 0x27 (')
\\ 0x5C (\)
Since literal strings are read-only constants, the following ASL statement (for example) is not
supported:
Store (“ABC”, ”DEF”)
However, the following sequence of statements is supported:

Name (STR, ”DEF”)
...
Store (“ABC”, STR)
19.3.3 ASL Resource Templates

ASL includes some macros for creating resource descriptors. The ResourceTemplate macro creates a
Buffer in which resource descriptor macros can be listed. The ResourceTemplate macro

automatically generates an End descriptor and calculates the checksum for the resource template.
The format for the ResourceTemplate macro is as follows:
ResourceTemplate ()
{
// List of resource macros
}
The following is an example of how these macros can be used to create a resource template that can
be returned from a _PRS control method:
Name (PRS0, ResourceTemplate ()
{
StartDependentFn (1, 1)
{
IRQ (Level, ActiveLow, Shared) {10, 11}
DMA (TypeF, NotBusMaster, Transfer16) {4}
IO (Decode16, 0x1000, 0x2000, 0, 0x100)
IO (Decode16, 0x5000, 0x6000, 0, 0x100, IO1)
}
StartDependentFn (1, 1)
{
IRQ (Level, ActiveLow, Shared) {}
DMA (TypeF, NotBusMaster, Transfer16){5}
IO (Decode16, 0x3000, 0x4000, 0, 0x100)
IO (Decode16, 0x5000, 0x6000, 0, 0x100, IO2)
}
EndDependentFn ()
})
Occasionally, it is necessary to change a parameter of a descriptor in an existing resource template at

run-time (i.e., during a method execution.) To facilitate this, the descriptor macros optionally
include a name declaration that can be used later to refer to the descriptor. When a name is declared
with a descriptor, the ASL compiler will automatically create field names under the given name to
refer to individual fields in the descriptor.
The offset returned by a reference to a resource descriptor field name is either in units of bytes (for
8-, 16-, 32-, and 64-bit field widths) or in bits (for all other field widths). In all cases, the returned
offset is the integer offset (in either bytes or bits) of the name from the first byte (offset 0) of the
parent resource template.
For example, given the above resource template, the following code changes the minimum and
maximum addresses for the I/O descriptor named IO2:
CreateWordField (PRS0, IO2._MIN, IMIN)
Store (0xA000, IMIN)
CreateWordField (PRS0, IO2._MAX, IMAX)

Store (0xB000, IMAX)
The resource template macros for each of the resource descriptors are listed below, after the table
that defines the resource descriptor. The resource template macros are formally defined in
Section 6.4.1, “ASL Macros for Resource Descriptors.”
The reserved names (such as _MIN and _MAX) for the fields of each resource descriptor are defined
in the appropriate table entry of the table that defines that resource descriptor.

19.3.4 ASL Macros

ASL compilers support built in macros to assist in various ASL coding operations. These macros do
not have a corresponding AML opcode, but are instead fully processed by the compiler itself, and
may result in the generation of AML opcodes for other ASL/AML operators. The following table
lists some of the supported directives and an explanation of their function.
The ASL language provides a wide variety of data types and operators that manipulate data. It also
provides mechanisms for both explicit and implicit conversion between the data types when used
with ASL operators.
Each of the available ASL macros are described below.
EISAID (TextID)
Converts and compresses the 7-character text argument into its corresponding 4-byte
numeric EISA ID encoding (Integer). This can be used when declaring IDs for devices
that are EISA IDs.
For (Initialize, Predicate, Update) {TermList}
Converts a format string to a series of string Concatenate operations and stores the
result to a Named Object (Target).
Fprintf (Target, FormatString, FormatArgs)
Implements a standard For() loop by converting the For() arguments and TermList
into an AML While loop.
Printf (FormatString, FormatArgs)
Converts a format string to a series of string Concatenate operations and automatically
stores the result to the Debug Object.
ResourceTemplate ()
Used to supply Plug and Play resource descriptor information in human readable
form, which is then translated into the appropriate binary Plug and Play resource
descriptor encodings in a Resource Template Buffer object. For more information
about resource descriptor encodings, see Section 6.4, "Resource Data Types for
ACPI."
ToPLD (PLDKeywordList)
Converts a PLD (Physical Location of Device) Keyword List into a _PLD Buffer
object.
ToUUID (AsciiString)
Converts an ASCII UUID or GUID string to an encoded 128-bit Buffer object.
Unicode (StringData)
Converts a standard ASCII string to a Unicode string returned in a Buffer object.

19.3.5 ASL Data Types

ASL provides a wide variety of data types and operators that manipulate data. It also provides
mechanisms for both explicit and implicit conversion between the data types when used with ASL
operators.
The table below describes each of the available data types.
Table 19-406 Summary of ASL Data Types

ASL Data Type Description
[Uninitialized] No assigned type or value. This is the type of all control method LocalX variables
and unused ArgX variables at the beginning of method execution, as well as all
uninitialized Package elements. Uninitialized objects must be initialized (via Store
or CopyObject) before they may be used as source operands in ASL expressions.
Buffer An array of bytes. Uninitialized elements are zero by default.
Buffer Field Portion of a buffer created using CreateBitField, CreateByteField,
CreateWordField, CreateQWordField, CreateField, or returned by the Index
operator.
DDB Handle Definition block handle returned by the Load operator
Debug Object Debug output object. Formats an object and prints it to the system debug port. Has
no effect if debugging is not active.
Device Device or bus object
Event Event synchronization object
Field Unit (within an Portion of an address space, bit-aligned and of one-bit granularity. Created using
Operation Region) Field, BankField, or IndexField.
Integer An n-bit little-endian unsigned integer. In ACPI 1.0 this was 32 bits. In ACPI 2.0
and later, this is 64 bits. The Integer (DWORD) designation indicates that only the
lower 32 bits have meaning and the upper 32 bits of 64-bit integers must be zero
(masking of upper bits is not required).
Integer Constant Created by the ASL terms “Zero”, “One”, “Ones”, and “Revision”.
Method Control Method (Executable AML function)
Mutex Mutex synchronization object
Object Reference Reference to an object created using the RefOf, Index, or CondRefOf operators
Operation Region Operation Region (A region within an Address Space)
Package Collection of ASL objects with a fixed number of elements (up to 255).
Power Resource Power Resource description object
Processor Processor description object
RawDataBuffer An array of bytes. Uninitialized elements are zero by default. RawDataBuffer does
not contain any AML encoding bytes, only the raw bytes.
String Null-terminated ASCII string.
Thermal Zone Thermal Zone description object

Note: (Compatibility Note) The ability to store and manipulate object references was first introduced in
ACPI 2.0. In ACPI 1.0 references could not be stored in variables, passed as parameters or
returned from functions.
19.3.5.1 Data Type Conversion Overview

ASL provides two mechanisms to convert objects from one data type to another data type at run-time
(during execution of the AML interpreter). The first mechanism, Explicit Data Type Conversion,
allows the use of explicit ASL operators to convert an object to a different data type. The second
mechanism, Implicit Data Type Conversion, is invoked by the AML interpreter when it is necessary
to convert a data object to an expected data type before it is used or stored.
The following general rules apply to data type conversions:
• Input parameters are always subject to implicit data type conversion (also known as implicit
source operand conversion) whenever the operand type does not match the expected input type.
• Output (target) parameters for all operators except the explicit data conversion operators are
subject to implicit data type conversion (also known as implicit result object conversion)
whenever the target is an existing named object or named field that is of a different type than the
object to be stored.
• Output parameters for the explicit data conversion operators, as well as output parameters that
refer to a method local or argument (LocalX or ArgX) are not subject to implicit type
conversion.
Both of these mechanisms (explicit and implicit conversion) are described in detail in the sections
that follow.
19.3.5.2 Explicit Data Type Conversions

The following ASL operators are provided to explicitly convert an object from one data type to
another:
ToBuffer
Convert an Integer, String, or Buffer to an object of type Buffer
ToDecimalString
Convert an Integer, String, or Buffer to an object of type String. The string contains
the ASCII representation of the decimal value of the source operand.
ToHexString
Convert an Integer, String, or Buffer to an object of type String. The string contains
the ASCII representation of the hexadecimal value of the source operand.
ToInteger
Convert an Integer, String, or Buffer to an object of type Integer.
ToString
Copy directly and convert a Buffer to an object of type String.
The following ASL operator is provided to copy and transfer objects with an explicit result
conversion of the type of the target to match the type of the source object:

CopyObject
Explicitly store a copy of the operand object to the target name. No implicit type
conversion is performed. (This operator is used to avoid the implicit conversion
inherent in the ASL Store operator.)
19.3.5.3 Implicit Data Type Conversions

Automatic or Implicit type conversions can take place at two different times during the execution of
an ASL operator. First, it may be necessary to convert one or more of the source operands to the data
type(s) expected by the ASL operator. Second, the result of the operation may require conversion
before it is stored into the destination. (Many of the ASL operators can store their result optionally
into an object specified by the last parameter. In these operators, if the destination is specified, the
action is exactly as if a Store operator had been used to place the result in the destination.)
Such data conversions are performed by an AML interpreter during execution of AML code and are
known collectively as Implicit Operand Conversions. As described briefly above, there are two
different types of implicit operand conversion:
1. Conversion of a source operand from a mismatched data type to the correct data type required by
an ASL operator, called Implicit Source Conversion. This conversion occurs when a source
operand must be converted to the operand type expected by the operator. Any or all of the source
operands may be converted in this manner before the execution of the ASL operator can
proceed.
2. Conversion of the result of an operation to the existing type of a target operand before it is stored
into the target operand, called Implicit Result Conversion. This conversion occurs when the
target is a fixed type such as a named object or a field. When storing to a method Local or Arg,
no conversion is performed or required because these data types are of variable type (the store
simply overwrites any existing object and the existing type).
The following ASL operator is provided to copy and transfer objects with an implicit result
conversion to the existing type of the target object:
Store
Store a copy of the operand object to the target name. Implicit result conversion is
performed if the target name is of a fixed data type (see above). However, Stores to
method locals and arguments do not perform implicit conversion and are therefore the
same as using CopyObject.
19.3.5.4 Implicit Source Operand Conversion

During the execution of an ASL operator, each source operand is processed by the AML interpreter as follows:
• If the operand is of the type expected by the operator, no conversion is necessary.
• If the operand type is incorrect, attempt to convert it to the proper type.
• For the Concatenate operator and logical operators (LEqual, LGreater, LGreaterEqual, LLess,
LLessEqual, and LNotEqual), the data type of the first operand dictates the required type of the
second operand, and for Concatenate only, the type of the result object. (The second operator is
implicitly converted, if necessary, to match the type of the first operand.)
• If conversion is impossible, abort the running control method and issue a fatal error.

An implicit source conversion will be attempted anytime a source operand contains a data type that
is different that the type expected by the operator. For example:
Store (“5678”, Local1)
Add (0x1234, Local1, BUF1)
In the Add statement above, Local1 contains a String object and must undergo conversion to an
Integer object before the Add operation can proceed.
In some cases, the operator may take more than one type of operand (such as Integer and String). In
this case, depending on the type of the operand, the highest priority conversion is applied. The table
below describes the source operand conversions available. For example:
Store (Buffer (1) {}, Local0)
Name (ABCD, Buffer (10) {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0})
CreateDWordField (ABCD, 2, XYZ)
Name (MNOP, ”1234”)
Concatenate (XYZ, MNOP, Local0)
The Concatenate operator can take an Integer, Buffer or String for its first two parameters and the
type of the first parameter determines how the second parameter will be converted. In this example,
the first parameter is of type Buffer Field (from the CreateDWordField operator). What should it be
converted to: Integer, Buffer or String? According to Table 19-408, the highest priority conversion
is to Integer. Therefore, both of the following objects will be converted to Integers:
XYZ (0x05040302)
MNOP (0x31, 0x32, 0x33, 0x34)
And will then be joined together and the resulting type and value will be:
Buffer (0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x31, 0x32, 0x33, 0x34)
19.3.5.5 Implicit Result Object Conversion

For all ASL operators that generate and store a result value (including the Store operator), the result
object is processed and stored by the AML interpreter as follows:
• If the ASL operator is one of the explicit conversion operators (ToString, ToInteger, etc., and the
CopyObject operator), no conversion is performed. (In other words, the result object is stored
directly to the target and completely overwrites any existing object already stored at the target.)
• If the target is a method local or argument (LocalX or ArgX), no conversion is performed and
the result is stored directly to the target.
• If the target is a fixed type such as a named object or field object, an attempt is made to convert
the source to the existing target type before storing.
• If conversion is impossible, abort the running control method and issue a fatal error.
An implicit result conversion can occur anytime the result of an operator is stored into an object that
is of a fixed type. For example:

Name (BUF1, Buffer (10))

Add (0x1234, 0x789A, BUF1)
Since BUF1 is a named object of fixed type Buffer, the Integer result of the Add operation must be
converted to a Buffer before it is stored into BUF1.
19.3.5.6 Data Types and Type Conversions

The following table lists the available ASL data types and the available data type conversions (if
any) for each. The entry for each data type is fully cross-referenced, showing both the types to which
the object may be converted as well as all other types that may be converted to the data type.
The allowable conversions apply to both explicit and implicit conversions.
Table 19-407 Data Types and Type Conversions
ASL Data Type Can be implicitly or explicitly converted to Can be implicitly or explicitly
these Data Types: (In priority order) converted from these Data Types:
[Uninitialized] None. Causes a fatal error when used as Integer, String, Buffer, Package, DDB
a source operand in any ASL statement. Handle, Object Reference
Buffer Integer, String, Debug Object Integer, String
Buffer Field Integer, Buffer, String, Debug Object Integer, Buffer, String
DDB Handle Integer, Debug Object Integer
Debug Object None. Causes a fatal error when used as Integer, String, Buffer, Package, Field
a source operand in any ASL statement. Unit, Buffer Field, DDB Handle
Device None None
Event None None
Field Unit (within an Integer, Buffer, String, Debug Object Integer, Buffer, String
Operation Region)
Integer Buffer, Buffer Field, DDB Handle, Field Buffer, String
Unit, String, Debug Object
Integer Constant Integer, Debug Object None. Also, storing any object to a
constant is a no-op, not an error.
Method None None
Mutex None None
Object Reference None None
Operation Region None None
Package Debug Object None
String Integer, Buffer, Debug Object Integer, Buffer
Power Resource None None
Processor None None
RawDataBuffer None None
Thermal Zone None None

19.3.5.7 Data Type Conversion Rules

The following table presents the detailed data conversion rules for each of the allowable data type
conversions. These conversion rules are implemented by the AML Interpreter and apply to all
conversion types — explicit conversions, implicit source conversions, and implicit result
conversions.
Table 19-408 Object Conversion Rules

To convert To an object
from an of this Data This action is performed by the AML Interpreter:
object of this Type
Data Type
Buffer Buffer Field The contents of the buffer are copied to the Buffer Field. If the buffer is
smaller than the size of the buffer field, it is zero extended. If the buffer is
larger than the size of the buffer field, the upper bits are truncated.
Compatibility Note: This conversion was first introduced in ACPI 2.0. The
behavior in ACPI 1.0 was undefined.
Debug Object Each buffer byte is displayed as a hexadecimal integer, delimited by
spaces and/or commas.
Field Unit The entire contents of the buffer are copied to the Field Unit. If the buffer is
larger (in bits) than the size of the Field Unit, it is broken into pieces and
completely written to the Field Unit, lower chunks first. If the buffer (or the
last piece of the buffer, if broken up) is smaller than the size of the Field
Unit, it is zero extended before being written.
Integer If no integer object exists, a new integer is created. The contents of the
buffer are copied to the Integer, starting with the least-significant bit and
continuing until the buffer has been completely copied — up to the
maximum number of bits in an Integer. The size of an Integer is indicated
by the Definition Block table header’s Revision field. A Revision field value
less than 2 indicates that the size of an Integer is 32 bits. A value greater
than or equal to 2 signifies that the size of an Integer is 64 bits. If the buffer
is smaller than the size of an integer, it is zero extended. If the buffer is
larger than the size of an integer, it is truncated. Conversion of a zero-
length buffer to an integer is not allowed.
String If no string object exists, a new string is created. If the string already exists,
it is completely overwritten and truncated or extended to accommodate the
converted buffer exactly.The entire contents of the buffer are converted to a
string of two-character hexadecimal numbers, each separated by a space.
A zero-length buffer will be converted to a null (zero-length) string.
Buffer Field [See the If the Buffer Field is smaller than or equal to the size of an Integer (in bits),
Integer and it will be treated as an Integer. Otherwise, it will be treated as a Buffer. The
Buffer Rules] size of an Integer is indicated by the Definition Block table header’s
Revision field. A Revision field value less than 2 indicates that the size of
an Integer is 32 bits. A value greater than or equal to 2 signifies that the
size of an Integer is 64 bits. (See the conversion rules for the Integer and
Buffer data types.)
DDB Handle [See the The object is treated as an Integer (See conversion rules for the Integer
Integer Rule] data type.)

object of this Type
Data Type
Field Unit [See the If the Field Unit is smaller than or equal to the size of an Integer (in bits), it
Integer and will be treated as an Integer. If the Field Unit is larger than the size of an
Buffer Rules] Integer, it will be treated as a Buffer. The size of an Integer is indicated by
the Definition Block table header’s Revision field. A Revision field value
less than 2 indicates that the size of an Integer is 32 bits. A value greater
than or equal to 2 signifies that the size of an Integer is 64 bits. (See the
conversion rules for the Integer and Buffer data types.)
Integer Buffer If no buffer object exists, a new buffer object is created based on the size of
the integer (4 bytes for 32-bit integers and 8 bytes for 64-bit integers). If a
buffer object already exists, the Integer overwrites the entire Buffer object.
If the integer requires more bits than the size of the Buffer, then the integer
is truncated before being copied to the Buffer. If the integer contains fewer
bits than the size of the buffer, the Integer is zero-extended to fill the entire
buffer.
Buffer Field The Integer overwrites the entire Buffer Field. If the integer is smaller than
the size of the buffer field, it is zero-extended. If the integer is larger than
the size of the buffer field, the upper bits are truncated.
Debug Object The integer is displayed as a hexadecimal value.
Field Unit The Integer overwrites the entire Field Unit. If the integer is smaller than the
size of the buffer field, it is zero-extended. If the integer is larger than the
size of the buffer field, the upper bits are truncated.
String If no string object exists, a new string object is created based on the size of
the integer (8 characters for 32-bit integers and 16 characters for 64-bit
integers). If the string already exists, it is completely overwritten and
truncated or extended to accommodate the converted integer exactly. In
either case, the entire integer is converted to a string of hexadecimal ASCII
characters.
Package Package If no package object exists, a new package object is created. If the package
already exists, it is completely overwritten and truncated or extended to
accommodate the source package exactly. Any and all existing valid (non-
null) package elements of the target package are deleted, and the entire
contents of the source package are copied into the target package.
Debug Object Each element of the package is displayed based on its type.

object of this Type
Data Type
String Buffer If no buffer object exists, a new buffer object is created. If a buffer object
already exists, it is completely overwritten. If the string is longer than the
buffer, the string is truncated before copying. If the string is shorter than the
buffer, the remaining buffer bytes are set to zero. In either case, the string
is treated as a buffer, with each ASCII string character copied to one buffer
byte, including the null terminator. A null (zero-length) string will be
converted to a zero-length buffer.
Buffer Field The string is treated as a buffer. If this buffer is smaller than the size of the
buffer field, it is zero extended. If the buffer is larger than the size of the
buffer field, the upper bits are truncated.
Debug Object Each string character is displayed as an ASCII character.
Field Unit Each character of the string is written, starting with the first, to the Field
Unit. If the Field Unit is less than eight bits, then the upper bits of each
character are lost. If the Field Unit is greater than eight bits, then the
additional bits are zeroed.
Integer If no integer object exists, a new integer is created. The integer is initialized
to the value zero and the ASCII string is interpreted as a hexadecimal
constant. Each string character is interpreted as a hexadecimal value (‘0’-
‘9’, ‘A’-‘F’, ‘a’-‘f’), starting with the first character as the most significant digit,
and ending with the first non-hexadecimal character, end-of-string, or when
the size of an integer is reached (8 characters for 32-bit integers and 16
characters for 64-bit integers). Note: the first non-hex character terminates
the conversion without error, and a “0x” prefix is not allowed. Conversion of
a null (zero-length) string to an integer is not allowed.
19.3.5.8 Rules for Storing and Copying Objects

The table below lists the actions performed when storing objects to different types of named targets.
ASL provides the following types of “store” operations:
• The Store operator is used to explicitly store an object to a location, with implicit conversion
support of the source object.
• Many of the ASL operators can store their result optionally into an object specified by the last
parameter. In these operators, if the destination is specified, the action is exactly as if a Store
operator had been used to place the result in the destination.
• The CopyObject operator is used to explicitly store a copy of an object to a location, with no
implicit conversion support.

Table 19-409 Object Storing and Copying Rules

When Storing an This action is performed by the This action is performed by the
object of any data Store operator or any ASL operator CopyObject operator:
type to this type of with a Target operand:
Target location
Method ArgX The object is copied to the destination with no conversion applied, with one
variable exception. If the ArgX contains an Object Reference, an automatic de-reference
occurs and the object is copied to the target of the Object Reference instead of
overwriting the contents of ArgX
Method LocalX The object is copied to the destination with no conversion applied. Even if LocalX
variable contains an Object Reference, it is overwritten.
Field Unit or Buffer The object is copied to the destination Fields permanently retain their type and
Field after implicit result conversion is applied cannot be changed. Therefore,
CopyObject can only be used to copy an
object of type Integer or Buffer to fields.
Named data object The object is copied to the destination The object and type are copied to the
after implicit result conversion is applied named location.
to match the existing type of the named
location
19.3.5.9 Rules for Reading and Writing Objects

In the descriptions below, read operations always return the actual object, not a copy of the object in
order that constructs of the form:
Add (Local1, Local2, Local3)
do not create unnecessary copies of Local1 or Local2. Also, this behavior enables the call-by-
reference semantics of control method invocation.
19.3.5.9.1 ArgX Objects

1. Read from ArgX parameters
• ObjectReference - Automatic dereference, return the target of the reference. Use of
DeRefOf returns the same.
• Buffer – Return the Buffer. Can create an Index, Field, or Reference to the buffer.
• Package – Return the Package. Can create an Index or Reference to the package.
• All other object types – Return the object.
Example method invocation for the table below:
MTHD (RefOf (Obj), Buf, Pkg, Obj)
Table 19-410 Reading from ArgX Objects

Parameter MTHD ArgX Type Read operation on ArgX Result of read
RefOf (Obj), Reference to object Obj Store (Arg0, …) Obj
CopyObject (Arg0, …) Obj
DeRefOf (Arg0) Obj

Parameter MTHD ArgX Type Read operation on ArgX Result of read

Buf, Buffer Store (Arg1, …) Buf
CopyObject (Arg1, …) Buf
Index (Arg1, …) Index (Buf)
Field (Arg1, …) Field (Buf)
Pkg Package Store (Arg2, …) Pkg
CopyObject (Arg2, …) Pkg
Index (Arg2, …) Index (Pkg)
Obj All other object types Store (Arg3, …) Obj
CopyObject (Arg3, …) Obj
2. Store to ArgX parameters

• ObjectReference objects - Automatic dereference, copy the object and overwrite the final
target.
• All other object types- Copy the object and overwrite the ArgX variable. (Direct writes to
buffer or package ArgX parameters will also simply overwrite ArgX)
Table 19-411 Writing to ArgX Objects

Current type of ArgX Object to be Write operation on ArgX Result of write (in ArgX)
written
RefOf (OldObj) Obj Store (…, ArgX) RefOf (copy of Obj)
(Any type) CopyObject (…, ArgX) RefOf (copy of Obj)
All other object types Obj Store (…, ArgX) Copy of Obj
(Any type) CopyObject (…, ArgX) Copy of Obj
Note: RefOf (ArgX) returns a reference to ArgX.
19.3.5.9.2 LocalX Objects

1. Read from LocalX variables
• ObjectReference - If performing a DeRefOf return the target of the reference. Otherwise,
return the reference.
• All other object types - Return a the object
Table 19-412 Reading from LocalX Objects

Current LocalX Type Read operation on LocalX Result of read
RefOf (Obj) Store (LocalX, …) RefOf (Obj)
CopyObject (LocalX, …) RefOf (Obj)
DeRefOf (LocalX) Obj
Obj (All other types) Store (LocalX, …) Obj
CopyObject (LocalX, …) Obj
2. Store to LocalX variables

• All object types - Delete any existing object in LocalX first, then store a copy of the object.

Table 19-413 Writing to LocalX Objects

Current LocalX Type Object to be Write operation on LocalX Result of write (in
written LocalX)
All object types Obj Store (…, LocalX) Copy of Obj
(Any type) CopyObject (…, LocalX) Copy of Obj
19.3.5.9.3 Named Objects

1. Read from Named object
• ObjectReference - If performing a DeRefOf return the target of the reference. Otherwise,
return the reference.
• All other object types - Return the object
Table 19-414 Reading from Named Objects

Current NAME Type Read operation on NAME Result of read
RefOf (Obj) Store (NAME, …) RefOf (Obj)
CopyObject (NAME, …) RefOf (Obj)
DeRefOf (NAME) Obj
Obj (All other types) Store (NAME, …) Obj
CopyObject (NAME, …) Obj
2. Store to Named object

• All object types - Delete any existing object in NAME first, then store a copy of the object.
The Store operator will perform an implicit conversion to the existing type in NAME.
CopyObject does not perform an implicit store.
Table 19-415 Writing to Named Objects

Current NAME Object to be Write operation on NAME Result of write (in NAME)
Type written
Any Obj Store (…, NAME) Copy of Obj (converted to match
(Any Type) (Any type) CopyObject (…, NAME) existing type of NAME)
Copy of Obj (No conversion)

19.4 ASL Operator Summary

Operator Name Location Description
AccessAs page 896 Change Field Access
Acquire page 897 Acquire a mutex
Add page 897 Integer Add
Alias page 897 Define a name alias
And page 898 Integer Bitwise And
ArgX page 898 Method argument data objects
BankField page 898 Declare fields in a banked configuration object
Break page 900 Continue following the innermost enclosing While
BreakPoint page 900 Used for debugging, stops execution in the debugger
Buffer page 900 Declare Buffer object
Case page 901 Expression for conditional execution
Concatenate page 902 Concatenate two strings, integers or buffers
ConcatenateResTemplate page 903 Concatenate two resource templates
CondRefOf page 904 Conditional reference to an object
Connection page 904 Declare Field Connection Attributes
Continue page 905 Continue innermost enclosing While loop
CopyObject page 905 Copy and existing object
CreateBitField page 906 Declare a bit field object of a buffer object
CreateByteField page 906 Declare a byte field object of a buffer object
CreateDWordField page 906 Declare a DWord field object of a buffer object
CreateField page 907 Declare an arbitrary length bit field of a buffer object
CreateQWordField page 907 Declare a QWord field object of a buffer object
CreateWordField page 907 Declare a Word field object of a buffer object
DataTableRegion page 907 Declare a Data Table Region
Debug page 908 Debugger output
Decrement page 908 Decrement an Integer
Default page 909 Default execution path in Switch()
DefinitionBlock page 909 Declare a Definition Block
DerefOf page 910 Dereference an object reference
Device page 910 Declare a bus/device object
Divide page 912 Integer Divide
DMA page 913 DMA Resource Descriptor macro
DWordIO page 913 DWord IO Resource Descriptor macro
DWordMemory page 915 DWord Memory Resource Descriptor macro
DWordSpace page 917 DWord Space Resource Descriptor macro
EisaId page 918 EISA ID String to Integer conversion macro
Else page 919 Alternate conditional execution
ElseIf page 919 Conditional execution


EndDependentFn page 920 End Dependent Function
Event page 921 Resource Descriptor macro
ExtendedIO page 921 Declare an event synchronization object
ExtendedMemory page 923 Extended IO Resource Descriptor macro
ExtendedSpace page 924 Extended Space Resource Descriptor macro
External page 926 Declare external objects
Fatal page 927 Fatal error check
Field page 927 Declare fields of an operation region object
FindSetLeftBit page 930 Index of first least significant bit set
FindSetRightBit page 930 Index of first most significant bit set
FixedDMA page 934 Fixed DMA Resource Descriptor macro
FixedIO page 931 Fixed I/O Resource Descriptor macro
Fprintf page 932 Stores formatted string to a Named Object
FromBCD page 933 Convert from BCD to numeric
Function page 933 Declare control method
GpioInt page 934 GPIO Interrupt Connection Resource Descriptor macro
GpioIo page 935 GPIO I0 Connection Resource Descriptor macro
I2CSerialBusV2 page 936 I2C Serialbus Connection Resource Descriptor (Version 2)
macro
If page 937 Conditional execution
Include page 938 Include another ASL file
Increment page 939 Increment a Integer
Index page 942 Indexed Reference to member object
IndexField page 944 Declare Index/Data Fields
Interrupt page 944 Interrupt Resource Descriptor macro
IO page 945 IO Resource Descriptor macro
IRQ page 946 Interrupt Resource Descriptor macro
IRQNoFlags page 947 Short Interrupt Resource Descriptor macro
LAnd page 947 Logical And
LEqual page 947 Logical Equal
LGreater page 948 Logical Greater
LGreaterEqual page 948 Logical Not less
LLess page 948 Logical Less
LLessEqual page 949 Logical Not greater
LNot page 949 Logical Not
LNotEqual page 949 Logical Not equal
Load page 949 Load differentiating definition block
LoadTable page 950 Load Table from RSDT/XSDT
LocalX page 951 Method local data objects


LOr page 951 Logical Or
Match page 951 Search for match in package array
Memory24 page 953 Memory Resource Descriptor macro
Memory32Fixed page 955 Memory Resource Descriptor macro
Method page 955 Declare a control method
Mid page 957 Return a portion of buffer or string
Mod page 957 Integer Modulo
Multiply page 958 Integer Multiply
Mutex page 958 Declare a mutex synchronization object
Name page 959 Declare a Named object
NAnd page 959 Integer Bitwise Nand
NoOp page 959 No operation
NOr page 960 Integer Bitwise Nor
Not page 960 Integer Bitwise Not
Notify page 960 Notify Object of event
ObjectType page 961 Type of object
Offset page 960 Set Field Offset within operation range
One page 962 Constant One Object (1)
Ones page 962 Constant Ones Object (-1)
OperationRegion page 962 Declare an operational region
Or page 963 Integer Bitwise Or
Package page 964 Declare a package object
PowerResource page 979 Declare a power resource object
Printf page 979 Stores formatted string to Debug Object
Processor page 980 Declare a processor package
QWordIO page 981 QWord IO Resource Descriptor macro
QWordMemory page 983 QWord Memory Resource Descriptor macro
QWordSpace page 985 Qword Space Resource Descriptor macro
RawDataBuffer page 986 Declare a RawDataBuffer
RefOf page 986 Create Reference to an object
Register page 987 Generic register Resource Descriptor macro
Release page 988 Release a synchronization object
Reset page 988 Reset a synchronization object
ResourceTemplate page 988 Resource to buffer conversion macro
Return page 989 Return from method execution
Revision page 988 Constant revision object
Scope page 989 Open named scope
ShiftLeft page 990 Integer shift value left


ShiftRight page 991 Integer shift value right
Signal page 991 Signal a synchronization object
SizeOf page 991 Get the size of a buffer, string, or package
Sleep page 992 Sleep n milliseconds (yields the processor)
SPISerialbusV2 page 992 SPI Serialbus Connection Resource Descritor (Version 2)
macro
Stall page 993 Delay n microseconds (does not yield the processor)
StartDependentFn page 993 Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor macro
StartDependentFnNoPri page 994 Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor macro
Store page 994 Store object Integer
Subtract page 995 Subtract
Switch page 995 Select code to execute based on expression value
ThermalZone page 998 Declare a thermal zone package.
Timer page 998 Get 64-bit timer value
ToBCD page 999 Convert Integer to BCD
ToBuffer page 999 Convert data type to buffer
ToDecimalString page 999 Convert data type to decimal string
ToHexString page 100 Convert data type to hexadecimal string
0
ToInteger page 999 Convert data type to integer
ToPLD page 100 Converts a PLD Keyword List into a _PLD buffer
0
ToString page 100 Copy ASCII string from buffer
2
ToUUID page 100 Convert ASCII string to UUID
3
Unicode page 100 String to Unicode conversion macro
5
Unload page 100 Unload definition block
6
UARTSerialBusV2 page 100 UART SerialBus Connection Resource Descriptor (version2)
4 macro
VendorLong page 100 Vendor Resource Descriptor
6
VendorShort page 100 Vendor Resource Descriptor
6
Wait page 100 Wait on an Event
7
While page 100 Conditional loop
7
WordBusNumber page 100 Word Bus number Resource Descriptor macro
8


WordIO page 100 Word IO Resource Descriptor macro
9
WordSpace page 101 Word Space Resource Descriptor macro
1
Xor page 101 Integer Bitwise Xor
2
Zero page 101 Constant Zero object 0
3

19.5 ASL Operator Summary by Type

// ASL compiler controls
External page 926 Declare external objects
Include page 938 Include another ASL file
// ACPI table management
DefinitionBlock page 909 Declare a Definition Block
Load page 950 Load definition block
LoadTable page 951 Load Table from RSDT/XSDT
Unload page 100 Unload definition block
6
// Miscellaneous named object creation
Alias page 898 Define a name alias
Buffer page 900 Declare Buffer object
Device page 910 Declare a bus/device object
Function page 933 Declare a control method
Method page 955 Declare a control method
Name page 959 Declare a Named object
Package page 964 Declare a package object
PowerResource page 979 Declare a power resource object
Processor page 980 Declare a processor package
RawDataBuffer page 986 Declare a RawDataBuffer
Scope page 989 Open named scope
ThermalZone page 998 Declare a thermal zone package.
// Operation Regions and Fields
AccessAs page 896 Change Field Access
BankField page 899 Declare fields in a banked configuration object
Connection page 904 Declare Field Connection Attributes
DataTableRegion page 907 Declare a Data Table Region
Field page 927 Declare fields of an operation region object
IndexField page 942 Declare Index/Data Fields
Offset page 960 Set Field offset within operation region
OperationRegion page 962 Declare an operational region
// Buffer Fields
CreateBitField page 906 Declare a bit field object of a buffer object
CreateByteField page 906 Declare a byte field object of a buffer object
CreateDWordField page 906 Declare a DWord field object of a buffer object
CreateField page 907 Declare an arbitrary length bit field of a buffer object
CreateQWordField page 907 Declare a QWord field object of a buffer object
CreateWordField page 907 Declare a Word field object of a buffer object
// Synchronization

Acquire page 897 Acquire a mutex

Event page 921 Declare an event synchronization object
Mutex page 958 Declare a mutex synchronization object
Notify page 960 Notify Object of event
Release page 988 Release a synchronization object
Reset page 988 Reset a synchronization object
Signal page 991 Signal a synchronization object
Wait page 100 Wait on an Event
7
// Object references
CondRefOf page 904 Conditional reference to an object
DerefOf page 910 Dereference an object reference
RefOf page 986 Create Reference to an ob ect
// Integer arithmetic
Add page 897 Integer Add
And page 898 Integer Bitwise And
Decrement page 908 Decrement an Integer
Divide page 912 Integer Divide
FindSetLeftBit page 930 Index of first least significant bit set
FindSetRightBit page 930 Index of first most significant bit set
Increment page 939 Increment a Integer
Mod page 957 Integer Modulo
Multiply page 958 Integer Multiply
NAnd page 959 Integer Bitwise Nand
NOr page 960 Integer Bitwise Nor
Not page 960 Integer Bitwise Not
Or page 963 Integer Bitwise Or
ShiftLeft page 990 Integer shift value left
ShiftRight page 991 Integer shift value right I
Subtract page 995 Integer Subtract
Xor page 101 Integer Bitwise Xor
2
// Logical operators
LAnd page 947 Logical And
LEqual page 947 Logical Equal
LGreater page 948 Logical Greater
LGreaterEqual page 948 Logical Not less
LLess page 948 Logical Less
LLessEqual page 949 Logical Not greater
LNot page 949 Logical Not
LNotEqual page 949 Logical Not equal
LOr page 951 Logical Or
// Method execution control

Break page 900 Continue following the innermost enclosingWhile

BreakPoint page 900 Used for debugging, stops execution in the debugger
Case page 901 Expression for conditional execution
Continue page 905 Continue innermost enclosing While loop
Default page 909 Default execution path in Switch()
Else page 919 Alternate conditional execution
ElseIf page 919 Conditional execution
Fatal page 927 Fatal error check
If page 937 Conditional execution
NoOp page 959 No operation
Return page 989 Return from method execution
Sleep page 992 Sleep n milliseconds (yields the processor)
Stall page 993 Delay in microseconds (does not yield the processor)
Switch page 995 Select code to execute based on expression value
While page 100 Conditional loop
7
// Data type conversion and manipulation
Concatenate page 902 Concatenate two strings,integers or buffers
CopyObject page 905 Copy and existing object
Debug page 908 Debugger output
EisaId page 918 EISA ID String to Integer conversion macro
Fprintf page 932 Stores formatted string to a Named Object
FromBCD page 933 Convert from BCD to numeric
Index page 942 Indexed Reference to member object
Match page 951 Search for match in package array
Mid page 957 Return a portion of buffer or string
ObjectType page 961 Type of object
Printf page 979 Stores formatted string to Debug Object
SizeOf page 991 Get the size of a buffer, string, or package
Store page 994 Store object
Timer page 998 Get 64-bit timer value
ToBCD page 999 Convert Integer to BCD
ToBuffer page 999 Convert data type to buffer
ToDecimalString page 999 Convert data type to decimal string
ToHexString page 100 Convert data type to hexadecimal string
ToInteger 0page 99 Convert data type to integer
ToPLD 9 Converts a PLD Keyword List into a _PLD buffer
ToString page 100 Copy ASCII string from buffer
ToUUID 0 Convert ASCII string to UUID
Unicode page 100 String to Unicode conversion macro
2page 10
03page 1
005
// Resource Descriptor macros

ConcatenateResTemplate page 903 Concatenate two resource templates

DMA page 913 DMA Resource Descriptor macro
DWordIO page 913 DWord IO Resource Descriptor macro
DWordMemory page 915 DWord Memory Resource Descriptor macro
DWordSpace page 917 DWord Space Resource Descriptor macro
EndDependentFn page 920 End Dependent Function Resource Descriptor macro Extended I/O
ExtendedIO page 921 Resource Descriptor macro
ExtendedMemory page 923 Extended Memory Resource Descriptor macro
ExtendedSpace page 924 Extended Space Resource Descriptor macro
FixedDMA page 934 Fixed DMA resource Descriptor macro
FixedIO page 931 Fixed I/O Resource Descriptor macro
GpioInt page 934 GPIO Interrupt Connection Resource Descriptor macro
GpioIO page 935 GPIO IO Connection Resource Descriptor macro
I2CSerialBusV2 page 936 I2C SerialBus Connection Resource Descriptor (Version 2) macro
Interrupt page 944 Interrupt Resource Descriptor macro
IO page 945 IO Resource Descriptor macro
IRQ page 946 Interrupt Resource Descriptor macro
IRQNoFlags page 947 Short Interrupt Resource Descriptor macro
Memory32Fixed page 955 Memory Resource Descriptor macro
QWordIO page 981 QWord IO Resource Descriptor macro
QWordMemory page 983 QWord Memory Resource Descriptor macro
QWordSpace page 985 Qword Space Resource Descriptor macro
Register page 987 Generic register Resource Descriptor macro
ResourceTemplate page 988 Resource to buffer conversion macro
SPISerialBusV2 page 992 SPI SerialBus Connection Resource Descriptor (Version 2) macro
StartDependentFn page 993 Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor macro
StartDependentFnNoPri page 994 Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor macro
UARTSerialBusV2 page 100 UART SerialBus Connection Resource Descriptor (Version 2)
4 macro
VendorLong Vendor Resource Descriptor
VendorShort page 100 Vendor Resource Descriptor
WordBusNumber 6page 10 Word Bus number Resource Descriptor macro
WordIO 06 Word IO Resource Descriptor macro
WordSpace page 100 Word Space Resource Descriptor macro
8page 10
09page 1
011
// Constants
One page 962 Constant One Object (1)
Ones page 962 Constant Ones Object (-1)
Revision page 988 Constant revision object
Zero page 101 Constant Zero object (0)
3
// Control method objects
ArgX page 898 Method argument data objects
LocalX page 951 Method local data ob ects

19.6 ASL Operator Reference

This section describes each of the ASL operators. The syntax for each operator is given, with a
description of each argument and an overall description of the operator behavior. Example ASL
code is provided for the more complex operators.
ASL operators can be categorized as follows:
• Named Object creation
• Method execution control (If, Else, While, etc.)
• Integer math
• Logical operators
• Resource Descriptor macros
• Object conversion
• Utility/Miscellaneous
19.6.1 AccessAs (Change Field Unit Access)

Syntax
AccessAs (AccessType, AccessAttribute)
AccessAs (AccessType, AccessAttribute (AccessLength))
Arguments
AccessType is an AccessTypeKeyword that specifies the type of access desired (ByteAcc,
WordAcc, etc.). AccessAttribute is an optional argument of type AccessAttributeKeyword that
specifies additional protocols to be used, such as AttribQuick, AttribSendReceive, etc.
AccessLength is a required argument for some of the Access Attributes.
Description
The AccessAs operator is used within a FieldList to specify the Access Type, Access Attributes, and
Access Length for the remaining FieldUnits within the list (or until another AccessAs operator is
encountered.) It allows FieldUnits to have different access types within a single Field definition.
Supported AccessTypes:
• AnyAcc
• ByteAcc
• WordAcc
• DwordAcc
• QWordAcc
• BufferAcc
Supported simple AccessAttributes (with SMBus synonyms):
• AttribQuick (SMBQuick)
• AttribSendReceive (SMBSendReceive)

• AttribByte (SMBByte)
• AttribWord (SMBWord)
• AttribBlock (SMBBlock)
• AttribProcessCall (SMBProcessCall)
• AttribBlockProcessCall (SMBBlockProcessCall)
Access Attributes that require an AccessLength argument:
• AttribBytes (AccessLength)
• AttribRawBytes (AccessLength)
• AttribRawProcessBytes (AccessLength)
19.6.2 Acquire (Acquire a Mutex)

Syntax
Acquire (SyncObject, TimeoutValue) => Boolean
Arguments
SynchObject must be a mutex synchronization object. TimeoutValue is evaluated as an Integer.
Description
Ownership of the Mutex is obtained. If the Mutex is already owned by a different invocation, the
current execution thread is suspended until the owner of the Mutex releases it or until at least
TimeoutValue milliseconds have elapsed. A Mutex can be acquired more than once by the same
invocation.
Note: For Mutex objects referenced by a _DLM object, the host OS may also contend for ownership.
This operation returns True if a timeout occurred and the mutex ownership was not acquired. A
TimeoutValue of 0xFFFF (or greater) indicates that there is no timeout and the operation will wait
indefinitely.
19.6.3 Add (Integer Add)

Syntax
Add (Addend1, Addend2, Result) => Integer
Result = Addend1 + Addend2 => Integer
Result += Addend => Integer
Arguments
Addend1 and Addend2 are evaluated as Integers.
Description
The operands are added and the result is optionally stored into Result. Overflow conditions are
ignored and the result of overflows simply loses the most significant bits.

19.6.4 Alias (Declare Name Alias)

Syntax
Alias (SourceObject, AliasObject)
Arguments
SourceObject is any named object. AliasObject is a NameString.
Description
Creates a new object named AliasObject that refers to and acts exactly the same as SourceObject.
AliasObject is created as an alias of SourceObject in the namespace. The SourceObject name must
already exist in the namespace. If the alias is to a name within the same definition block, the
SourceObject name must be logically ahead of this definition in the block.
Example
The following example shows the use of an Alias term:
Alias (\SUS.SET.EVEN, SSE)
19.6.5 And (Integer Bitwise And)

Syntax
And (Source1, Source2, Result) => Integer
Result = Source1 & Source2 => Integer
Result &= Source => Integer
Arguments
Source1 and Source2 are evaluated as Integers.
Description
A bitwise AND is performed and the result is optionally stored into Result.
19.6.6 Argx (Method Argument Data Objects)

Syntax
Arg0 | Arg1 | Arg2 | Arg3 | Arg4 | Arg5 | Arg6
Description
Up to 7 argument-object references can be passed to a control method. On entry to a control method,
only the argument objects that are passed are usable.

19.6.7 BankField (Declare Bank/Data Field)

Syntax
BankField (RegionName, BankName, BankValue, AccessType, LockRule, UpdateRule)
{FieldUnitList}
Arguments
RegionName is the name of the host Operation Region. BankName is the name of the bank selection
register.
Accessing the contents of a banked field data object will occur automatically through the proper
bank setting, with synchronization occurring on the operation region that contains the BankName
data variable, and on the Global Lock if specified by the LockRule.
The AccessType, LockRule, UpdateRule, and FieldUnitList are the same format as the Field
operator.
Description
This operator creates data field objects. The contents of the created objects are obtained by a
reference to a bank selection register.
This encoding is used to define named data field objects whose data values are fields within a larger
object selected by a bank-selected register.
Example
The following is a block of ASL sample code using BankField:
• Creates a 4-bit bank-selected register in system I/O space.
• Creates overlapping fields in the same system I/O space that are selected via the bank register.
//
// Define a 256-byte operational region in SystemIO space
// and name it GIO0
OperationRegion (GIO0, SystemIO, 0x125, 0x100)
// Create some fields in GIO including a 4-bit bank select register
Field (GIO0, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {

GLB1, 1,
GLB2, 1,
Offset (1), // Move to offset for byte 1
BNK1, 4
}
// Create FET0 & FET1 in bank 0 at byte offset 0x30
BankField (GIO0, BNK1, 0, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {

Offset (0x30),
FET0, 1,
FET1, 1
}

// Create BLVL & BAC in bank 1 at the same offset
BankField (GIO0, BNK1, 1, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {

Offset (0x30),
BLVL, 7,
BAC, 1
}
19.6.8 Break (Break from While)

Syntax
Break
Description
Break causes execution to continue immediately following the innermost enclosing While or
Switch scope, in the current Method. If there is no enclosing While or Switch within the current
Method, a fatal error is generated.
Compatibility Note: In ACPI 1.0, the Break operator continued immediately following the
innermost “code package.” Starting in ACPI 2.0, the Break operator was changed to exit the
innermost “While” or “Switch” package. This should have no impact on existing code, since the
ACPI 1.0 definition was, in practice, useless.
19.6.9 BreakPoint (Execution Break Point)

Syntax
BreakPoint
Description
Used for debugging, the Breakpoint opcode stops the execution and enters the AML debugger. In
the non-debug version of the AML interpreter, BreakPoint is equivalent to Noop.
19.6.10 Buffer (Declare Buffer Object)

Syntax
Buffer (BufferSize) {Initializer} => Buffer
Arguments
Declares a Buffer of optional size BufferSize and an optional initial value of Initializer. The
Initializer is must be either a ByteList or a String.
Description
The optional BufferSize argument specifies the size of the buffer and an optional initial value of the
buffer is specified via the Initializer. The initial value can be either an ASCII String or a list of byte
values separated by commas. Strings are automatically null terminated with a single zero byte.

The relationship between the BufferSize and the Initializer is summarized by the rules below.
In the typical case, the BufferSize is identical to the length of the Initializer:
Name (BUF0, Buffer(4) {0x01,0x02,0x03,0x04}) // Length = 4
If the BufferSize is not specified, the length of the Initializer is used as the buffer size:
Name (BUF1, Buffer() {0,1,2,3,4,5})// Length = 6

Name (BUF2, Buffer() {"abcde"}) // Length = 6
If the BufferSize is larger than the length of the Initializer, the BufferSize is used as the final buffer
size. At runtime, the AML interpreter will automatically pad zeros to the Initializer to match the
BufferSize:
Name (BUF3, Buffer(1024) {4,5,6,7,8})// Length = 1024

Name (BUF4, Buffer(1024) {"abcde"})// Length = 1024
If the BufferSize is smaller than the length of the Initializer, the length of the Initializer is used as the
buffer size:
Name (BUF5, Buffer(1) {5,4,3,2,1}) // Length = 5
If the Initializer is not specified, the AML interpreter creates a buffer containing all zeros, the length
of which matches the BufferSize:
Name (BUF6, Buffer(32} {}) // Length = 32
If neither the BufferSize nor the Initializer are specified, a buffer of zero length is created:
Name (BUF7, Buffer() {}) // Length = 0
19.6.11 Case (Expression for Conditional Execution)

Syntax
Case (Value) {TermList}
Arguments
Value specifies an Integer, Buffer, String or Package object. TermList is a sequence of executable
ASL expressions.
Description
Execute code based upon the value of a Switch statement.

If the Case Value is an Integer, Buffer or String, then control passes to the statement that matches the
value of the enclosing Switch (Value). If the Case value is a Package, then control passes if any
member of the package matches the Switch (Value). The Switch CaseTermList can include any
number of Case instances, but no two Case Values (or members of a Value, if Value is a Package)
within the same Switch statement can contain the same value.
Execution of the statement body begins at the start of the TermList and proceeds until the end of the
TermList body or until a Break or Continue operator transfers control out of the body.
19.6.12 Concatenate (Concatenate Data)

Syntax
Concatenate (Source1, Source2, Result) => Buffer or String
Arguments
Source1 and Source2 must each evaluate to any valid ACPI object. For the basic data object types
(Integer, String, or Buffer), the value of the object is used in the concatenation. For all other object
types (see table 19-378 below), a string object is created that contains the name (type) of the object.
This string object is then concatenated according to the rules in Table 19-416.
The data type of Source1 dictates the required type of Source2 and the type of the result object.
Source2 is implicitly converted if necessary (and possible) to match the type of Source1.
Description
Source2 is concatenated to Source1 and the result data is optionally stored into Result.
Table 19-416 Concatenate Data Types

Source1 Data Type Source2 Data Type ( Converted Type) Result Data Type
Integer Integer/String/Buffer  Integer Buffer
String Integer/String/Buffer/All other types  String String
Buffer Integer/String/Buffer/All other types  Buffer Buffer
All other types String Integer/String/Buffer/All other types  String String
For the Source1/Integer case, a String or Buffer that cannot be implicitly converted to an Integer will
generate a fatal error.
Table 19-417 Concatenate Object Types

Data Object Type Name Resolved to Value
1 Integer Integer value of the object
2 String String value of the object
3 Buffer Buffer value of the object
Other Object Types Name Resolved to String

0 Uninitialized "[Uninitialized Object]"

Data Object Type Name Resolved to Value

4 Package "[Package]"
5 Field Unit "[Field]"
6 Device "[Device]"
7 Event "[Event]"
8 Control Method "[Control Method]"
9 Mutex "[Mutex]"
10 Operation Region "[Operation Region]"
11 Power Resource "[Power Resource]"
12 Processor "[Processor]"
13 Thermal Zone "[Thermal Zone]"
14 Buffer Field "[Buffer Field]"
15 DDB Handle "[DDB Handle]"
16 Debug Object "[Debug Object]"
Examples
Device (DEVX) {}
Name (PKGX, Package () {1,2,3,"Battery1"})
Method (MTHX, 2)
{
Concatenate ("My Object: ", DEVX, Debug) // MyObject: Device
Printf ("PKGX %o contains %o elements\n", PKGX, SizeOf

(PKGX))
Printf ("Arg0: %o\n", Arg0)

}
19.6.13 ConcatenateResTemplate (Concatenate Resource Templates)

Syntax
ConcatenateResTemplate (Source1, Source2, Result) => Buffer
Arguments
Source1 and Source2 are evaluated as Resource Template buffers.
Description
The resource descriptors from Source2 are appended to the resource descriptors from Source1. Then
a new end tag and checksum are appended and the result is stored in Result, if specified. If either
Source1 or Source2 is exactly 1 byte in length, a run-time error occurs. An empty buffer is treated as
a resource template with only an end tag.

19.6.14 CondRefOf (Create Object Reference Conditionally)

Syntax
CondRefOf (Source, Result) => Boolean
Arguments
Attempts to create a reference to the Source object. The Source of this operation can be any object
type (for example, data package, device object, and so on), and the result data is optionally stored
into Result.
Description
On success, the Destination object is set to refer to Source and the execution result of this operation
is the value True. On failure, Destination is unchanged and the execution result of this operation is
the value False. This can be used to reference items in the namespace that may appear dynamically
(for example, from a dynamically loaded definition block).
CondRefOf is equivalent to RefOf except that if the Source object does not exist, it is fatal for
RefOf but not for CondRefOf.
19.6.15 Connection (Declare Field Connection Attributes)

Syntax
Arguments
ConnectionResourceObj is a GPIO or Serial Bus Connection Descriptor depending on the Operation
Region type, or a named object containing the Descriptor
See Section 6.4.3.8.2, "Connection Resource Descriptors" and Section 19.6.46 "Field (Declare Field
Objects)" for more information.

Examples
OperationRegion(TOP1, GenericSerialBus, 0x00, 0x100)// GenericSerialBus device at command value
offset zero
Name (I2C, ResourceTemplate(){

I2CSerialBusV2(0x5a,,100000,, "\_SB.I2C",,,,,RawDataBuffer(){1,6})
})

{
Connection(I2C) // Specify connection resource information
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribWord) // Use the GenericSerialBus
// Read/Write Word protocol

{
Connection(I2CSerialBusV2(0x5b,,100000,, "\_SB.I2C",,,,,RawDataBuffer(){3,9}))
AccessAs(BufferAcc, AttribBytes (16))
}

Description
The Connection macro declares the connection attributes for subsequent fields defined within the
Field declaration.
19.6.16 Continue (Continue Innermost Enclosing While)

Syntax
Continue
Description
Continue causes execution to continue at the start of the innermost enclosing While scope, in the
currently executing Control Method, at the point where the condition is evaluated. If there is no
enclosing While within the current Method, a fatal error is generated.
19.6.17 CopyObject (Copy and Store Object)

Syntax
CopyObject (Source, Destination) => DataRefObject
Arguments
Converts the contents of the Source to a DataRefObject using the conversion rules in 18.2.5 and then
copies the results without conversion to the object referred to by Destination.

Description
If Destination is already an initialized object of type DataRefObject, the original contents of
Destination are discarded and replaced with Source. Otherwise, a fatal error is generated.
Note: (Compatibility Note) The CopyObject operator was first introduced new in ACPI 2.0.
19.6.18 CreateBitField (Create 1-Bit Buffer Field)

Syntax
CreateBitField (SourceBuffer, BitIndex, BitFieldName)
Arguments
SourceBuffer is evaluated as a buffer. BitIndex is evaluated as an integer. BitFieldName is a
NameString.
Description
A new buffer field object named BitFieldName is created for the bit of SourceBuffer at the bit index
of BitIndex. The bit-defined field within SourceBuffer must exist.BitFieldName is created for the bit
of SourceBuffer at the bit index of BitIndex. The bit-defined field within SourceBuffer must exist.
19.6.19 CreateByteField (Create 8-Bit Buffer Field)

Syntax
CreateByteField (SourceBuffer, ByteIndex, ByteFieldName)
Arguments
SourceBuffer is evaluated as a buffer. ByteIndex is evaluated as an integer. ByteFieldName is a
NameString.
Description
A new buffer field object named ByteFieldName is created for the byte of SourceBuffer at the byte
index of ByteIndex. The byte-defined field within SourceBuffer must exist.
19.6.20 CreateDWordField (Create 32-Bit Buffer Field)

Syntax
CreateDWordField (SourceBuffer, ByteIndex, DWordFieldName)
Arguments
SourceBuffer is evaluated as a buffer. ByteIndex is evaluated as an integer. DWordFieldName is a
NameString.
Description
A new buffer field object named DWordFieldName is created for the DWord of SourceBuffer at the
byte index of ByteIndex. The DWord-defined field within SourceBuffer must exist.

19.6.21 CreateField (Create Arbitrary Length Buffer Field)

Syntax
CreateField (SourceBuffer, BitIndex, NumBits, FieldName)
Arguments
SourceBuffer is evaluated as a buffer. BitIndex and NumBits are evaluated as integers. FieldName is
a NameString.
Description
A new buffer field object named FieldName is created for the bits of SourceBuffer at BitIndex for
NumBits. The entire bit range of the defined field within SourceBuffer must exist. If NumBits
evaluates to zero, a fatal exception is generated.
19.6.22 CreateQWordField (Create 64-Bit Buffer Field)

Syntax
CreateQWordField (SourceBuffer, ByteIndex, QWordFieldName)
Arguments
SourceBuffer is evaluated as a buffer. ByteIndex is evaluated as an integer. QWordFieldName is a
NameString.
Description
A new buffer field object named QWordFieldName is created for the QWord of SourceBuffer at the
byte index of ByteIndex. The QWord-defined field within SourceBuffer must exist.
19.6.23 CreateWordField (Create 16-Bit Buffer Field)

Syntax
CreateWordField (SourceBuffer, ByteIndex, WordFieldName)
Arguments
SourceBuffer is evaluated as a buffer. ByteIndex is evaluated as an integer. WordFieldName is a
NameString.
Description
A new bufferfield object named WordFieldName is created for the word of SourceBuffer at the byte
index of ByteIndex. The word-defined field within SourceBuffer must exist.
19.6.24 DataTableRegion (Create Data Table Operation Region)

Syntax
DataTableRegion (RegionName, SignatureString, OemIDString, OemTableIDString)

Arguments
Creates a new region named RegionName. SignatureString, OemIDString and OemTableIDString
are evaluated as strings.
Description
A Data Table Region is a special Operation Region whose RegionSpace is SystemMemory. Any
table referenced by a Data Table Region must be in memory marked by AddressRangeReserved or
AddressRangeNVS.
The memory referred to by the Data Table Region is the memory that is occupied by the table
referenced in XSDT that is identified by SignatureString, OemIDString and OemTableIDString.
Any Field object can reference RegionName
The base address of a Data Table region is the address of the first byte of the header of the table
identified by SignatureString, OemIDString and OemTableIDString. The length of the region is the
length of the table.
19.6.25 Debug (Debugger Output)

Syntax
Debug
Description
The debug data object is a virtual data object. Writes to this object provide debugging information.
On at least debug versions of the interpreter, any writes into this object are appropriately displayed
on the system’s native kernel debugger. All writes to the debug object are otherwise benign. If the
system is in use without a kernel debugger, then writes to the debug object are ignored. The
following table relates the ASL term types that can be written to the Debug object to the format of
the information on the kernel debugger display.
Table 19-418 Debug Object Display Formats

ASL Term Type Display Format
Numeric data object All digits displayed in hexadecimal format.
String data object String is displayed.
Object reference Information about the object is displayed (for example, object type and object
name), but the object is not evaluated.
The Debug object is a write-only object; attempting to read from the debug object is not supported.
19.6.26 Decrement (Integer Decrement)

Syntax
Decrement (Minuend) => Integer
Minuend-- => Integer

Arguments
Minuend is evaluated as an Integer.
Description
This operation decrements the Minuend by one and the result is stored back to Minuend. Equivalent
to Subtract (Minuend, 1, Minuend). Underflow conditions are ignored and the result is Ones.
19.6.27 Default (Default Execution Path in Switch)

Syntax
Default {TermList}
Arguments
TermList is a sequence of executable ASL expressions.
Description
Within the body of a Switch (page 995) statement, the statements specified by TermList will be
executed if no Case (page 901) statement value matches the Switch statement value. If Default is
omitted and no Case match is found, none of the statements in the Switch body are executed. There
can be at most one Default statement in the immediate scope of the parent Switch statement. The
Default statement can appear anywhere in the body of the Switch statement.
19.6.28 DefinitionBlock (Declare Definition Block)

Syntax
DefinitionBlock (AMLFileName, TableSignature, ComplianceRevision, OEMID, TableID,
OEMRevision) {TermList}
Arguments
AMLFileName is a string that specifies the desired name of the translated output AML file. If the
AMLFileName is a NULL (zero length) string, the ASL compiler will automatically create the
filename (typically generated from the input filename/pathname).TableSignature is a string that
contains the 4-character ACPI signature. ComplianceRevision is an 8-bit value. OEMID is a 6-
character string, TableId is an 8-character string, and OEMRevision is a 32-bit value. TermList is a
sequence of executable ASL expressions.
If multiple DefinitionBlocks are defined in the same ASL file, the first DefinitionBlock defines the
output AMLFileName as per the rule above.
Description
The DefinitionBlock term specifies the unit of data and/or AML code that the OS will load as part of
the Differentiated Definition Block or as part of an additional Definition Block.
This unit of data and/or AML code describes either the base system or some large extension (such as
a docking station). The entire DefinitionBlock will be loaded and compiled by the OS as a single
unit, and can be unloaded by the OS as a single unit.

System software loads a definition block by referencing the objects in the TermList package in order.
The object list is encoded as TermList, so that rather than describing a static object list, it is possible
to describe a dynamic object list according to the system settings. See "Section 5.4.2, Definition
Block Loading."
Note: For compatibility with ACPI versions before ACPI 2.0, the bit width of Integer objects is
dependent on the ComplianceRevision of the DSDT. If the ComplianceRevision is less than 2, all
integers are restricted to 32 bits. Otherwise, full 64-bit integers are used. The version of the DSDT
sets the global integer width for all integers, including integers in SSDTs.
19.6.29 DerefOf (Dereference an Object Reference)

Syntax
DerefOf (Source) => Object
Arguments
Returns the object referred by the Source object reference.
Description
If the Source evaluates to an object reference, the actual contents of the object referred to are
returned. If the Source evaluates to a string, the string is evaluated as an ASL name (relative to the
current scope) and the contents of that object are returned. If the object specified by Source does not
exist then a fatal error is generated. If the object specified is a reference generated by the Index()
operator and refers to an uninitialized package element, then a fatal error is generated.
Note: (Compatibility Note) The use of a String with DerefOf was first introduced in ACPI 2.0.
19.6.30 Device (Declare Device Package)

Syntax
Device (DeviceName) {TermList}
Arguments
Creates a Device object of name DeviceName, which represents a processor, a bus or a device, or
any other similar hardware. Device opens a name scope.
Description
A Device Package is one of the basic ways the Differentiated Definition Block describes the
hardware devices in the system to the operating software. Each Device Package is defined
somewhere in the hierarchical namespace corresponding to that device’s location in the system.
Within the namespace of the device are other names that provide information and control of the
device, along with any sub-devices that in turn describe sub-devices, and so on.
For any device, the platform runtime firmware provides only information that is added to the device
in a non-hardware standard manner. This type of value-added function is expressible in the ACPI
Definition Block such that operating software can use the function.

The platform runtime firmware supplies Device Objects only for devices that are obtaining some
system-added function outside the device’s normal capabilities and for any Device Object required
to fill in the tree for such a device. For example, if the system includes a PCI device (integrated or
otherwise) with no additional functions such as power management, the platform runtime firmware
would not report such a device; however, if the system included an integrated ISA device below the
integrated PCI device (device is an IS bridge), then the system would include a Device Package for
the ISA device with the minimum feature being added being the ISA device’s ID and configuration
information and the parent PCI device, because it is required to get the ISA Device Package
placement in the namespace correct.
The device object list is encoded as TermList, so that rather than describing a static device object list,
it is possible to describe a dynamic device object list according to the system settings. See
"Section 5.4.2, Definition Block Loading."
Example
The following block of ASL sample code shows a nested use of Device objects to describe an IDE
controller connected to the root PCI bus.

Device (IDE0) { // primary controller

Name (_ADR, 0) // put PCI Address (device/function) here
// define region for IDE mode register
OperationRegion (PCIC, PCI_Config, 0x50, 0x10)

Field (PCIC, AnyAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {
…
}
Device (PRIM) { // Primary adapter
Name (_ADR, 0) // Primary adapter = 0
…
Method (_STM, 2) {
…
}
Method (_GTM) {
…
}
Device (MSTR) { // master channel
Name (_ADR, 0)
Name (_PR0, Package () {0, PIDE})
Name (_GTF) {
…
}
}
Device (SLAV) {
Name (_ADR, 1)
Name (_PR0, Package () {0, PIDE})
Name (_GTF) {
…
}
}
}
}
19.6.31 Divide (Integer Divide)

Syntax
Divide (Dividend, Divisor, Remainder, Result) => Integer
Result = Dividend / Divisor => Integer
Result /= Divisor => Integer
Arguments
Dividend and Divisor are evaluated as Integers.
Description
Dividend is divided by Divisor, then the resulting remainder is optionally stored into Remainder and
the resulting quotient is optionally stored into Result. Divide-by-zero exceptions are fatal.
The function return value is the Result (quotient).

19.6.32 DMA (DMA Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
DMA (DmaType, IsBusMaster, DmaTransferSize, DescriptorName) {DmaChannelList} => Buffer
Arguments
DmaType specifies the type of DMA cycle: ISA compatible (Compatibility), EISA Type A
(TypeA), EISA Type B (TypeB) or EISA Type F (TypeF). The 2-bit field DescriptorName._TYP is
automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor, where ‘0’ is Compatibility,
‘1’ is TypeA, ‘2’ is TypeB and ‘3’ is TypeF.
IsBusMaster specifies whether this device can generate DMA bus master cycles (BusMaster) or not
(NotBusMaster). If nothing is specified, then BusMaster is assumed. The 1-bit field
DescriptorName._BM is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
where ‘0’ is NotBusMaster and ‘1’ is BusMaster.
DmaTransferSize specifies the size of DMA cycles the device is capable of generating: 8-bit
(Transfer8), 16-bit (Transfer16) or both 8 and 16-bit (Transfer8_16). The 2-bit field
DescriptorName._SIZ is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
where ‘0’ is Transfer8, ‘1’ is Transfer8_16 and ‘2’ is Transfer16.
DescriptorName is an optional argument that specifies a name for an integer constant that will be
created in the current scope that contains the offset of this resource descriptor within the current
resource template buffer. The predefined descriptor field names may be appended to this name to
access individual fields within the descriptor via the Buffer Field operators.
DmaChannelList is a comma-delimited list of integers in the range 0 through 7 that specify the DMA
channels used by the device. There may be no duplicates in the list.
Description
The DMA macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a DMA resource descriptor. The format of the
DMA resource descriptor can be found in “DMA Descriptor” (page 384). The macro is designed to
be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.33 DWordIO (DWord IO Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
DWordIO (ResourceUsage, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed, Decode, ISARanges, AddressGranularity,
AddressMinimum, AddressMaximum, AddressTranslation, RangeLength, ResourceSourceIndex,
ResourceSource, DescriptorName, TranslationType, TranslationDensity)
Arguments
ResourceUsage specifies whether the I/O range is consumed by this device (ResourceConsumer)
or passed on to child devices (ResourceProducer). If nothing is specified, then ResourceConsumer
is assumed.
IsMinFixed specifies whether the minimum address of this I/O range is fixed (MinFixed) or can be
changed (MinNotFixed). If nothing is specified, then MinNotFixed is assumed. The 1-bit field

DescriptorName._MIF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,

where ‘1’ is MinFixed and ‘0’ is MinNotFixed.
IsMaxFixed specifies whether the maximum address of this I/O range is fixed (MaxFixed) or can be
changed (MaxNotFixed). If nothing is specified, then MaxNotFixed is assumed. The 1-bit field
DescriptorName._MAF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
where ‘1’ is MaxFixed and ‘0’ is MaxNotFixed.
Decode specifies whether or not the device decodes the I/O range using positive (PosDecode) or
subtractive (SubDecode) decode. If nothing is specified, then PosDecode is assumed. The 1-bit field
DescriptorName._DEC is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
where ‘1’ is SubDecode and ‘0’ is PosDecode.
ISARanges specifies whether the I/O ranges specifies are limited to valid ISA I/O ranges (ISAOnly),
valid non-ISA I/O ranges (NonISAOnly) or encompass the whole range without limitation
(EntireRange). The 2-bit field DescriptorName._RNG is automatically created to refer to this
portion of the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is NonISAOnly, ‘2’ is ISAOnly and ‘0’ is EntireRange.
AddressGranularity evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the power-of-two boundary (- 1) on
which the I/O range must be aligned. The 32-bit field DescriptorName._GRA is automatically
created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
AddressMinimum evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the lowest possible base address of the I/
O range. The value must have ‘0’ in all bits where the corresponding bit in AddressGranularity is
‘1’. For bridge devices which translate addresses, this is the address on the secondary bus. The 32-bit
field DescriptorName._MIN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor.
AddressMaximum evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the highest possible base address of the
I/O range. The value must have ‘0’ in all bits where the corresponding bit in AddressGranularity is
field DescriptorName._MAX is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor.
AddressTranslation evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the offset to be added to a secondary
bus I/O address which results in the corresponding primary bus I/O address. For all non-bridge
devices or bridges which do not perform translation, this must be ‘0’. The 32-bit field
DescriptorName._TRA is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
RangeLength evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the total number of bytes decoded in the I/O
range. The 32-bit field DescriptorName._LEN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the
ResourceSourceIndex is an optional argument which evaluates to an 8-bit integer that specifies the
resource descriptor within the object specified by ResourceSource. If this argument is specified, the
ResourceSource argument must also be specified.
ResourceSource is an optional argument which evaluates to a string containing the path of a device
which produces the pool of resources from which this I/O range is allocated. If this argument is
specified, but the ResourceSourceIndex argument is not specified, a value of zero is assumed.

TranslationType is an optional argument that specifies whether the resource type on the secondary
side of the bus is different (TypeTranslation) from that on the primary side of the bus or the same
(TypeStatic). If TypeTranslation is specified, then the secondary side of the bus is Memory. If
TypeStatic is specified, then the secondary side of the bus is I/O. If nothing is specified, then
TypeStatic is assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName._TTP is automatically created to refer to this
portion of the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is TypeTranslation and ‘0’ is TypeStatic. See _TTP
(page 406) for more information
TranslationDensity is an optional argument that specifies whether or not the translation from the
primary to secondary bus is sparse (SparseTranslation) or dense (DenseTranslation). It is only
used when TranslationType is TypeTranslation. If nothing is specified, then DenseTranslation is
assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName._TRS is automatically created to refer to this portion of
the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is SparseTranslation and ‘0’ is DenseTranslation. See _TRS
(page 406) for more information.
Description
The DWordIO macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 32-bit I/O range resource descriptor.
The format of the 32-bit I/O range resource descriptor can be found in “DWord Address Space
Descriptor ” (page 398). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.34 DWordMemory (DWord Memory Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
DWordMemory (ResourceUsage, Decode, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed, Cacheable, ReadAndWrite,
AddressGranularity, AddressMinimum, AddressMaximum, AddressTranslation, RangeLength,
ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceSource, DescriptorName, MemoryRangeType, TranslationType)
Arguments
ResourceUsage specifies whether the Memory range is consumed by this device
(ResourceConsumer) or passed on to child devices (ResourceProducer). If nothing is specified,
then ResourceConsumer is assumed.
Decode specifies whether or not the device decodes the Memory range using positive (PosDecode)
or subtractive (SubDecode) decode. If nothing is specified, then PosDecode is assumed. The 1-bit
field DescriptorName._DEC is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor, where ‘1’ is SubDecode and ‘0’ is PosDecode.
IsMinFixed specifies whether the minimum address of this Memory range is fixed (MinFixed) or
can be changed (MinNotFixed). If nothing is specified, then MinNotFixed is assumed. The 1-bit
field DescriptorName._MIF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor, where ‘1’ is MinFixed and ‘0’ is MinNotFixed.
IsMaxFixed specifies whether the maximum address of this Memory range is fixed (MaxFixed) or
can be changed (MaxNotFixed). If nothing is specified, then MaxNotFixed is assumed. The 1-bit
field DescriptorName._MAF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor, where ‘1’ is MaxFixed and ‘0’ is MaxNotFixed.

Cacheable specifies whether or not the memory region is cacheable (Cacheable), cacheable and
write-combining (WriteCombining), cacheable and prefetchable (Prefetchable) or uncacheable
(NonCacheable). If nothing is specified, then NonCacheable is assumed. The 2-bit field
DescriptorName._MEM is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
where ‘1’ is Cacheable, ‘2’ is WriteCombining, ‘3’ is Prefetchable and ‘0’ is NonCacheable.
ReadAndWrite specifies whether or not the memory region is read-only (ReadOnly) or read/write
(ReadWrite). If nothing is specified, then ReadWrite is assumed. The 1-bit field
DescriptorName._RW is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
where ‘1’ is ReadWrite and ‘0’ is ReadOnly.
which the Memory range must be aligned. The 32-bit field DescriptorName._GRA is automatically
AddressMinimum evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the lowest possible base address of the
Memory range. The value must have ‘0’ in all bits where the corresponding bit in
AddressGranularity is ‘1’. For bridge devices which translate addresses, this is the address on the
secondary bus. The 32-bit field DescriptorName._MIN is automatically created to refer to this
portion of the resource descriptor.
secondary bus. The 32-bit field DescriptorName._MAX is automatically created to refer to this
RangeLength evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the total number of bytes decoded in the
Memory range. The 32-bit field DescriptorName._LEN is automatically created to refer to this
which produces the pool of resources from which this Memory range is allocated. If this argument is
specified, but the ResourceSourceIndex argument is not specified, a zero value is assumed.
MemoryRangeType is an optional argument that specifies the memory usage. The memory can be
marked as normal (AddressRangeMemory), used as ACPI NVS space (AddressRangeNVS), used
as ACPI reclaimable space (AddressRangeACPI) or as system reserved
(AddressRangeReserved). If nothing is specified, then AddressRangeMemory is assumed. The 2-
bit field DescriptorName._MTP is automatically created in order to refer to this portion of the

resource descriptor, where ‘0’ is AddressRangeMemory, ‘1’ is AddressRangeReserved, ‘2’ is

AddressRangeACPI and ‘3’ is AddressRangeNVS.
(TypeStatic). If TypeTranslation is specified, then the secondary side of the bus is I/O. If TypeStatic
is specified, then the secondary side of the bus is I/O. If nothing is specified, then TypeStatic is
assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName._TTP is automatically created to refer to this portion of
the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is TypeTranslation and ‘0’ is TypeStatic. See _TTP (page 406) for
more information.
Description
The DWordMemory macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 32-bit memory resource
descriptor. The format of the 32-bit memory resource descriptor can be found in “DWord Address
Space Descriptor ” (page 398). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate
(page 988).
19.6.35 DWordSpace (DWord Space Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
DWordSpace (ResourceType, ResourceUsage, Decode, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed,
TypeSpecificFlags, AddressGranularity, AddressMinimum, AddressMaximum, AddressTranslation,
RangeLength, ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceSource, DescriptorName)
Arguments
ResourceType evaluates to an 8-bit integer that specifies the type of this resource. Acceptable values
are 0xC0 through 0xFF.
field DescriptorName._MIF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
field DescriptorName._MAF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
TypeSpecificFlags evaluates to an 8-bit integer. The flags are specific to the ResourceType.


Memory range. The 32-bit field DescriptorName._LEN is automatically created to refer to this
Description
The DWordSpace macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 32-bit Address Space resource
descriptor. The format of the 32-bit Address Space resource descriptor can be found in “DWord
Address Space Descriptor ” (page 398). The macro is designed to be used inside of a
ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.36 EISAID (EISA ID String To Integer Conversion Macro)

Syntax
EISAID (EisaIdString) => DWordConst

Arguments
The EisaIdString must be a String object of the form “UUUNNNN”, where “U” is an uppercase
letter and “N” is a hexadecimal digit. No asterisks or other characters are allowed in the string.
Description
Converts EisaIdString, a 7-character text string argument, into its corresponding 4-byte numeric
EISA ID encoding. It can be used when declaring IDs for devices that have EISA IDs.
Example
EISAID (“PNP0C09”) // This is a valid invocation of the macro.
19.6.37 Else (Alternate Execution)

Syntax
Else {TermList}
Arguments
TermList is a sequence of executable ASL statements.
Description
If Predicate evaluates to 0 in an If statement, then control is transferred to the Else portion, which
can consist of zero or more ElseIf statements followed by zero or one Else statements. If the
Predicate of any ElseIf statement evaluates to non-zero, the statements in its term list are executed
and then control is transferred past the end of the final Else term. If no Predicate evaluates to non-
zero, then the statements in the Else term list are executed.
Example
The following example checks Local0 to be zero or non-zero. On non-zero, CNT is incremented;
otherwise, CNT is decremented.
If (LGreater (Local0, 5)
{
Increment (CNT)
} Else If (Local0) {
Add (CNT, 5, CNT)
}
Else
{
Decrement (CNT)
}
19.6.38 ElseIf (Alternate/Conditional Execution)

Syntax
ElseIf (Predicate)

Arguments
Predicate is evaluated as an Integer.
Description
If the Predicate of any ElseIf statement evaluates to non-zero, the statements in its term list are
executed and then control is transferred past the end of the final Else. If no Predicate evaluates to
non-zero, then the statements in the Else term list are executed.
Note: (Compatibility Note) The ElseIf operator was first introduced in ACPI 2.0, but is backward
compatible with the ACPI 1.0 specification. An ACPI 2.0 and later ASL compiler must synthesize
ElseIf from the If. and Else opcodes available in 1.0. For example:
If (predicate1)
{
…statements1…
}
ElseIf (predicate2)
{
…statements2…
}
Else
{
…statements3…
}
is translated to the following:

If (predicate1)
{
…statements1…
}
Else
{
If (predicate2)
{
…statements2…
}
Else
{
…statements3…
}
}
19.6.39 EndDependentFn (End Dependent Function Resource

Descriptor Macro)
Syntax
EndDependentFn () => Buffer
Description
The EndDependentFn macro generates an end-of-dependent-function resource descriptor buffer
inside of an ResourceTemplate (page 988). It must be matched with a StartDependentFn (page 993)
or StartDependentFnNoPri (page 994) macro.

19.6.40 Event (Declare Event Synchronization Object)

Syntax
Event (EventName)
Arguments
Creates an event synchronization object named EventName.
Description
For more information about the uses of an event synchronization object, see the ASL definitions for
the Wait, Signal, and Reset function operators.
19.6.41 ExtendedIO (Extended IO Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
ExtendedIO (ResourceUsage, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed, Decode, ISARanges, AddressGranularity,
AddressMinimum, AddressMaximum, AddressTranslation, RangeLength, TypeSpecificAttributes,
DescriptorName, TranslationType, TranslationDensity)
Arguments
DescriptorName._MIF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
DescriptorName._MAF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
DescriptorName._DEC is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
which the I/O range must be aligned. The 64-bit field DescriptorName._GRA is automatically

descriptor.
descriptor.
range. The 64-bit field DescriptorName._LEN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the
TypeSpecificAttributes is an optional argument that specifies attributes specific to this resource type.
See Section 6.4.3.5.4.1,”Type Specific Attributes”.
access individual fields within the descriptor via the Buffer Field operatorsDescription
The ExtendedIO macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 64-bit I/O resource descriptor, which
describes a range of I/O addresses. The format of the 64-bit I/O resource descriptor can be found in
“Extended Address Space Descriptor” (page 389). The macro is designed to be used inside of a
TypeStatic is assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName. _TTP is automatically created to refer to
this portion of the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is TypeTranslation and ‘0’ is TypeStatic. See _TTP
assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName._TRS is automatically created to refer to this portion of

19.6.42 ExtendedMemory (Extended Memory Resource Descriptor

Macro)
Syntax
ExtendedMemory (ResourceUsage, Decode, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed, Cacheable, ReadAndWrite,
TypeSpecificAttributes, DescriptorName, MemoryRangeType, TranslationType)
Arguments
field DescriptorName. _MIF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
field DescriptorName. _MAF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
DescriptorName._MEM is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
secondary bus. The 64-bit field DescriptorName ._MIN is automatically created to refer to this

secondary bus. The 64-bit field DescriptorName ._MAX is automatically created to refer to this
DescriptorName. _TRA is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
Memory range. The 64-bit field DescriptorName. _LEN is automatically created to refer to this
bit field DescriptorName. _MTP is automatically created in order to refer to this portion of the
assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName. _TTP is automatically created to refer to this portion of
more information.
Description
The ExtendedMemory macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 64-bit memory resource
descriptor, which describes a range of memory addresses. The format of the 64-bit memory resource
descriptor can be found in “Extended Address Space Descriptor” (page 402). The macro is designed
to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.43 ExtendedSpace (Extended Address Space Resource

Descriptor Macro)
Syntax
ExtendedSpace (ResourceType, ResourceUsage, Decode, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed,
RangeLength, TypeSpecificAttributes, DescriptorName)

Arguments
field DescriptorName. _DEC is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
which the Memory range must be aligned. The 64-bit field DescriptorName. _GRA is automatically

Description
The ExtendedSpace macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 64-bit Address Space resource
descriptor, which describes a range of addresses. The format of the 64-bit AddressSpace descriptor
can be found in “Extended Address Space Descriptor” (page 402). The macro is designed to be used
inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.44 External (Declare External Objects)

Syntax
External (ObjectName, ObjectType, ReturnType, ParameterTypes)
Arguments
ObjectName is a NameString.
ObjectType is an optional ObjectTypeKeyword (e.g. IntObj, PkgObj, etc.). If not specified,
“UnknownObj” type is assumed.
ReturnType is optional. If the specified ObjectType is MethodObj, then this specifies the type or
types of object returned by the method. If the method does not return an object, then nothing is
specified or UnknownObj is specified. To specify a single return type, simply use the
ObjectTypeKeyword. To specify multiple possible return types, enclose the comma-separated
ObjectTypeKeywords with braces. For example: {IntObj, BuffObj}.
ParameterTypes is optional. If the specified ObjectType is MethodObj, this specifies both the
number and type of the method parameters. It is a comma-separated, variable-length list of the
expected object type or types for each of the method parameters, enclosed in braces. For each
parameter, the parameter type consists of either an ObjectTypeKeyword or a comma-separated sub-
list of ObjectTypeKeywords enclosed in braces. There can be no more than seven parameters in
total.Description
The External directive informs the ASL compiler that the object is declared external to this table so
that no errors will be generated for an undeclared object. The ASL compiler will create the external
object at the specified place in the namespace (if a full path of the object is specified), or the object
will be created at the current scope of the External term.
For external control methods, the ASL compiler can emit an External AML opcode that contains the
name of the method and the number of required arguments. This information may be used by AML
disassemblers to properly disassemble the AML to the correct ASL code.
External is especially useful for use in secondary SSDTs, when the required scopes and objects are
declared in the main DSDT.
Example
This example shows the use of External in conjunction with Scope within an SSDT:

DefinitionBlock ("ssdt.aml", "SSDT", 2, "X", "Y", 0x00000001)

{
Scope (\_SB.PCI0)
{
}
}
19.6.45 Fatal (Fatal Error Check)

Syntax
Fatal (Type, Code, Arg)
Arguments
This operation is used to inform the OS that there has been an OEM-defined fatal error.
Description
In response, the OS must log the fatal event and perform a controlled OS shutdown in a timely
fashion.
19.6.46 Field (Declare Field Objects)

Syntax
Field (RegionName, AccessType, LockRule, UpdateRule) {FieldUnitList}
Arguments
RegionName is a namestring that refers to the host operation region.
AccessType defines the default access width of the field definition and is any one of the following:
AnyAcc, ByteAcc, WordAcc, DWordAcc, or QWordAcc. In general, accesses within the parent
object are performed naturally aligned. If desired, AccessType set to a value other than AnyAcc can
be used to force minimum access width. Notice that the parent object must be able to accommodate
the AccessType width. For example, an access type of WordAcc cannot read the last byte of an odd-
length operation region. The exceptions to natural alignment are the access types used for a non-
linear SMBus device. These will be discussed in detail below. Not all access types are meaningful
for every type of operational region.
LockRule is a flag that indicates whether the Global Lock is to be used when accessing this field and
is one of the following: Lock or NoLock. If LockRule is set to Lock, accesses to modify the
component data objects will acquire and release the Global Lock. If both types of locking occur, the
Global Lock is acquired after the parent object Mutex.
On Hardware-reduced ACPI platforms, Lock is not supported.
UpdateRule is used to specify how the unmodified bits of a field are treated and is any one of the
following: Preserve, WriteAsOnes, or WriteAsZeros. For example, if a field defines a component
data object of 4 bits in the middle of a WordAcc region, when those 4 bits are modified the
UpdateRule specifies how the other 12 bits are treated.

FieldUnitList is a variable-length list of individual field unit definitions, separated by commas. Each
entry in the field unit list is one of the following:
Table 19-419 Field Unit list entires

FieldUnitName, BitLength
Offset (ByteOffset)
AccessAs (AccessType, AccessAttribute)
FieldUnitName is the ACPI name for the field unit (1 to 4 characters), and BitLength is the length of
the field unit in bits. Offset is used to specify the byte offset of the next defined field unit. This can
be used instead of defining the bit lengths that need to be skipped. AccessAs is used to define the
access type and attributes for the remaining field units within the list. Connection is used to identify
the connection resource of the field access. This is necessary for GenericSerialBus and
GeneralPurposeIO operation region address spaces only.
Description
Declares a series of named data objects whose data values are fields within a larger object. The fields
are parts of the object named by RegionName, but their names appear in the same scope as the Field
term.
For example, the field operator allows a larger operation region that represents a hardware register to
be broken down into individual bit fields that can then be accessed by the bit field names. Extracting
and combining the component field from its parent is done automatically when the field is accessed.
When reading from a FieldUnit, returned values are normalized (shifted and masked to the proper
length.) The data type of an individual FieldUnit can be either a Buffer or an Integer, depending on
the bit length of the FieldUnit. If the FieldUnit is smaller than or equal to the size of an Integer (in
bits), it will be treated as an Integer. If the FieldUnit is larger than the size of an Integer, it will be
treated as a Buffer. The size of an Integer is indicated by the DSDT header’s Revision field. A
revision less than 2 indicates that the size of an Integer is 32 bits. A value greater than or equal to 2
signifies that the size of an Integer is 64 bits. For more information about data types and FieldUnit
type conversion rules, see Section 19.3.5.7, “Data Type Conversion Rules”.
Accessing the contents of a field data object provides access to the corresponding field within the
parent object. If the parent object supports Mutex synchronization, accesses to modify the
component data objects will acquire and release ownership of the parent object around the
modification.
The following table relates region types declared with an OperationRegion term to the different
access types supported for each region.
Table 19-420 OperationRegion Address Spaces and Access Types

Address Space Permitted Access Type(s) Description
SystemMemory ByteAcc, WordAcc, DWordAcc, All access allowed
QWordAcc, or AnyAcc

Address Space Permitted Access Type(s) Description

SystemIO ByteAcc, WordAcc, DWordAcc, All access allowed
QWordAcc, or AnyAcc
PCI_Config ByteAcc, WordAcc, DWordAcc, All access allowed
QWordAcc, or AnyAcc
EmbeddedControl ByteAcc Byte access only
SMBus BufferAcc Reads and writes to this operation region
involve the use of a region specific data buffer.
(See below.)
SystemCMOS ByteAcc Byte access only
PciBarTarget ByteAcc, WordAcc, DWordAcc, All access allowed
QWordAcc, or AnyAcc
IPMI BufferAcc Reads and writes to this operation region
involve the use of a region specific data buffer.
(See below.)
GeneralPurposeIO ByteAcc Byte access only
GenericSerialBus BufferAcc Reads and writes to this operation region
involve the use of a region-specific data buffer.
(See below.)
The named FieldUnit data objects are provided in the FieldList as a series of names and bit widths.
Bits assigned no name (or NULL) are skipped. The ASL compiler supports the Offset (ByteOffset)
macro within a FieldList to skip to the bit position of the supplied byte offset, and the AccessAs
macro to change access within the field list.
GenericSerialBus, SMBus and IPMI regions are inherently non-linear, where each offset within the
respective address space represents a variable sized (0 to 32 bytes) field. Given this uniqueness,
these operation regions include restrictions on their field definitions and require the use of a region-
specific data buffer when initiating transactions. For more information on the SMBus data buffer
format, see Section 13, “ACPI System Management Bus Interface Specification,”. For more
information on the IPMI data buffer format, see Section 5.5.2.4.4, “Declaring IPMI Operation
Regions". For more information on the Generic Serial Bus data buffer format, see Section 5.5.2.4.6
"Declaring Generic Serial Bus Operation Regions."
For restrictions on the use of Fields with GeneralPurposeIO OpRegions, see Section 5.5.2.4.5,
"Declaring General PurposeIO Operation Regions".
Example
OperationRegion (MIOC, PCI_Config, Zero, 0xFF)
Field (MIOC, AnyAcc, NoLock, Preserve)
{
Offset (0x58), 
HXGB, 32, 
HXGT, 32, 
GAPE, 8, 

MR0A, 4, 
MR0B, 4
}
19.6.47 FindSetLeftBit (Find First Set Left Bit)

Syntax
FindSetLeftBit (Source, Result) => Integer
Arguments
Source is evaluated as an Integer.
Description
The one-based bit location of the first MSb (most significant set bit) is optionally stored into Result.
The result of 0 means no bit was set, 1 means the left-most bit set is the first bit, 2 means the left-
most bit set is the second bit, and so on.
19.6.48 FindSetRightBit (Find First Set Right Bit)

Syntax
FindSetRightBit (Source, Result) => Integer
Arguments
Source is evaluated as an Integer.
Description
The one-based bit location of the most LSb (least significant set bit) is optionally stored in Result.
The result of 0 means no bit was set, 32 means the first bit set is the thirty-second bit, 31 means the
first bit set is the thirty-first bit, and so on.
19.6.49 FixedDMA (DMA Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
FixedDMA (DmaRequestLine, Channel, DmaTransferWidth, DescriptorName) => Buffer
Arguments
DmaRequestLine is a system-relative number uniquely identifying the request line statically
assigned to the device.. The bit field name _DMA is automatically created to refer to this portion of
the resource descriptor.
Channel is a controller-relative number uniquely identifying the channel statically assigned to this
DMARequestLine. Channels can be shared by reusing Channel numbers across descriptors. The bit
field name _TYP is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
DmaTransferWidth is an optional argument specifying the width of data transfer for which the
device is configured. Valid values are Width8Bit, Width16Bit, Width32Bit,Width64Bit, Width

128Bit or Width256Bit. If not specified, Width32Bit is assumed. The bit field name _SIZ is
automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
Description
The FixedDMA macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a Fixed DMA Descriptor (Section 6.4.3).
19.6.50 FixedIO (Fixed IO Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
FixedIO (AddressBase, RangeLength, DescriptorName) => Buffer
Arguments
AddressBase evaluates to a 16-bit integer. It describes the starting address of the fixed I/O range.
The field DescriptorName. _BAS is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor.
RangeLength evaluates to an 8-bit integer. It describes the length of the fixed I/O range. The field
DescriptorName. _LEN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
DescriptorName evaluates to a name string which refers to the entire resource descriptor.
Description
The FixedIO macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a fixed I/O resource descriptor. The format
of the fixed I/O resource descriptor can be found in “Fixed Location I/O Port Descriptor ”
(page 387). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.51 For (Conditional Loop)

Syntax
For (Initialize, Predicate, Update) {TermList}
Arguments
Initialize. This optional expression is evaluated once before the loop is entered. If not specified, no
initialization takes place.
Predicate. The list of terms within the TermList are executed until the predicate evaluates to zero
(FALSE). If this argument is not specified, the For macro is equivalent to While(1).
Update. This optional expression is evaluated once per execution of the loop, after all other terms
within the TermList have been executed.

Description
For is a macro that creates a loop by converting the input arguments to the equivalent ASL While
loop.
Note: Creation of a named object more than once in a given scope is not allowed. As such,
unconditionally creating named objects within a For loop must be avoided. A fatal error will be
generated on the second iteration of the loop, during the attempt to create the same named object a
second time.
Example
The following example shows the use of the For macro to create a loop, followed by the equivalent
While loop that is actually emitted by the ASL compiler:
for (local0 = 0, local0 < 8, local0++)
{
}
Local0 = 0
While (Local0 < 8)
{
Local0++
}
19.6.52 Fprintf (Create and Store formatted string)

Syntax
Fprintf (Destination, FormatString, FormatArgs) => String
Arguments
Fprintf is a macro that converts the evaluated FormatString into a series of string Concatenate
operations, storing the result in Destination.
FormatString is a string literal which may contain one or more uses of the format specifier, %o, to
indicate locations in the string where an object may be inserted. %o is the only format specifier
supported since the resulting object is a string and type conversion is handled automatically by
Concatenate.
FormatArgs is a comma separated list of Named Objects, Locals, or Args that can be evaluated to a
string. Each argument is added to the FormatString using the Concatenate operation at the location
specified by %o in order of appearance.
Description
Fprintf is a macro that converts the evaluated FormatString into a series of string Concatenate
operations, storing the result in Destination

Example
The following ASL example uses Fprintf to write a formatted string of Arg0 and Arg1 to the Named
Object STR1.
Fprintf (STR1, "%o: %o Successful", Arg1, Arg0)
This Fprintf macro expression evaluates to the following ASL operation.

Store (Concatenate (Concatenate (Concatenate (Concatenate
("", Arg1), ": "), Arg0), " Successful"), STR1)
19.6.53 FromBCD (Convert BCD To Integer)

Syntax
FromBCD (BCDValue, Result) => Integer
Arguments
BCDValue is evaluated as an Integer.
Description
The FromBCD operation is used to convert BCDValue to a numeric format and store the numeric
value into Result.
19.6.54 Function (Declare Control Method)

Syntax
Function (FunctionName, ReturnType, ParameterTypes) {TermList}
Arguments
ReturnType is optional and specifies the type(s) of the object(s) returned by the method. If the
method does not return an object, then nothing is specified or UnknownObj is specified. To specify
a single return type, simply use the ObjectTypeKeyword (e.g. IntObj, PkgObj, etc.). To specify
multiple possible return types, enclose the comma-separated ObjectTypeKeywords with braces. For
example: {IntObj, BuffObj}.
ParameterTypes specifies both the number and type of the method parameters. It is a comma-
separated, variable-length list of the expected object type or types for each of the method parameters,
enclosed in braces. For each parameter, the parameter type consists of either an ObjectTypeKeyword
or a comma-separated sub-list of ObjectTypeKeywords enclosed in braces. There can be no more
than seven parameters in total.
Description
Function declares a named package containing a series of terms that collectively represent a control
method. A control method is a procedure that can be invoked to perform computation. Function
opens a name scope.
System software executes a control method by executing the terms in the package in order. For more
information on method execution, see Section 5.5.2, “Control Method Execution.”

The current namespace location used during name creation is adjusted to be the current location on
the namespace tree. Any names created within this scope are “below” the name of this package. The
current namespace location is assigned to the method package, and all namespace references that
occur during control method execution for this package are relative to that location.
Functions are equivalent to a Method that specifies NotSerialized. As such, a function should not
create any named objects, since a second thread that might re-enter the function will cause a fatal
error if an attempt is made to create the same named object twice.
Note: (Compatibility Note) New for ACPI 3.0
Example
The following block of ASL sample code shows the use of Function for defining a control method:
Function (EXAM, IntObj, {StrObj, {IntObj, StrObj}})
{
Name (Temp,””)
Store (Arg0, Temp) // could have used Arg1
Return (SizeOf (Concatenate (Arg1, Temp)))
}
This declaration is equivalent to:

Method (EXAM, 2, NotSerialized, 0, IntObj, {StrObj, {IntObj, StrObj}})
{
…
}
19.6.55 GpioInt (GPIO Interrupt Connection Resource Descriptor

Macro)
GpioInt (EdgeLevel, ActiveLevel, Shared, PinConfig, DebounceTimeout, ResourceSource,
ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceUsage, DescriptorName, VendorData) {PinList}
Arguments
EdgeLevel can be either Edge or Level. The bit field name _MOD is automatically created to refer
to this portion of the resource descriptor.
ActiveLevel can be one of ActiveHigh, ActiveLow or ActiveBoth. ActiveBoth can be specified
only if EdgeLevel is Edge. The bit field name _POL is automatically created to refer to this portion
of the resource descriptor.
Shared is an optional argument and can be one of Shared, Exclusive, SharedAndWake or
ExclusiveAndWake. If not specified, Exclusive is assumed. The "Wake" designation indicates that
the interrupt is capable of waking the system from a low-power idle state or a system sleep state. The
bit field name _SHR is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
PinConfig can be one of PullDefault, PullUp, PullDown, PullNone or a vendor-supplied value in
the range 128-255. The bit field name _PPI is automatically created to refer to this portion of the
DebounceTimeout is an optional argument specifying the debounce wait time, in hundredths of
milliseconds. The bit field name _DBT is automatically created to refer to this portion of the

ResourceSource is a string which uniquely identifies the GPIO controller referred to by this
descriptor. ResourceSource can be a fully-qualified name, a relative name or a name segment that
ResourceSourceIndex is an optional argument and is assumed to be 0 for this revision.
ResourceUsage is an optional argument and is assumed to be ResourceConsumer for this revision.
VendorData is an optional argument that specifies a RawDataBuffer containing vendor-defined byte
data to be decoded by the OS driver. The bit field name _VEN is automatically created to refer to
this portion of the resource descriptor.
PinList is a list of (zero-based) pin numbers on the ResourceSource that are described by this
descriptor. For interrupt pin descriptors, only one pin is allowed. The bit field name _PIN is
Description
The GpioInt macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a GPIO Interrupt Connection resource
descriptor. The format of the GPIO Interrupt Connection resource descriptor can be found in "GPIO
Connection Descriptor" (Section 6.4.3.8.1). The macro is designed to be used inside of a Resource
Template (Section 19.3.3).
19.6.56 GpioIo (GPIO Connection IO Resource Descriptor Macro)

GpioIo (Shared, PinConfig, DebounceTimeout, DriveStrength, IORestriction, ResourceSource,
ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceUsage, DescriptorName, VendorData) {PinList}
Arguments
Shared is an optional argument and can be either Shared or Exclusive. If not specified, Exclusive is
assumed. The bit field name _SHR is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor.
PinConfig can be one of PullDefault, PullUp, PullDown, PullNone or a vendor-supplied value in
the range 128-255. The bit field name _PPI is automatically created to refer to this portion of the
DebounceTimeout is an optional argument specifying the hardware debounce wait time, in
hundredths of milliseconds. The bit field name _DBT is automatically created to refer to this portion
DriveStrength is an optional argument specifying the output drive capability of the pin, in
hundredths of milliamperes. The bit field name _DRS is automatically created to refer to this portion
IORestriction is an optional argument and can be IoRestrictionInputOnly,
IoRestrictionOutputOnly, IoRestrictionNone, or IORestrictionNoneAndPreserve.
IORestrictions limit the mode in which the pin can be accessed (Input or Output). They also ensure
that the pin configuration is preserved during periods when the driver is unloaded or the resource has

been disconnected by the driver. If not specified, IoRestrictionNone is assumed. The bit field name
_IOR is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
ResourceSource is a string which uniquely identifies the GPIO controller referred to by this
ResourceSourceIndex is an optional argument and is always 0 for this revision.
ResourceUsage is an optional argument and is always ResourceConsumer for this revision.
VendorData is an optional argument that specifies a RawDataBuffer containing vendor-defined byte
data to be decoded by the OS driver. The bit field name _VEN is automatically created to refer to
PinList is a list of pin numbers on the ResourceSource that are described by this descriptor. The bit
field name _PIN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
Description
The GpioIo macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a GPIO IO Connection resource descriptor.
The format of the GPIO IO Connection resource descriptor can be found in "GPIO Connection
Descriptor" (Section 6.4.3.8.1). The macro is designed to be used inside of a Resource Template
(Section 19.3.3).
19.6.57 I2CSerialBusV2 (I2C Serial Bus Connection Resource

Descriptor (Version 2) Macro)
Syntax
I2CSerialBusV2 (SlaveAddress, SlaveMode, ConnectionSpeed, AddressingMode, ResourceSource,
ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceUsage, DescriptorName, Shared, VendorData)
Arguments
SlaveAddress is the I2C bus address for this connection. The bit field name _ADR is automatically
SlaveMode is an optional argument and can be either ControllerInitiated or DeviceInitiated.
ControllerInitiated is the default. The bit field name _SLV is automatically created to refer to this
ConnectionSpeed is the maximum connection speed supported by this connection, in hertz. The bit
field name _SPE is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
AddressingMode is an optional argument and can be either AddressingMode7Bit or
AddressingMode10Bit. AddressingMode7Bit is the default. The bit field name _MOD is

ResourceSource is a string which uniquely identifies the I2C bus controller referred to by this
descriptor.
VendorData is an optional argument that specifies an object to be decoded by the OS driver. It is a
RawDataBuffer. The bit field name _VEN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the
Description
The I2CSerialBusV2 macro evaluates to a buffer that contains an I2C Serial Bus resource descriptor
(Version 2). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (see Section 19.3.3).
19.6.58 If (Conditional Execution)

Syntax
If (Predicate) {TermList}
Arguments
Predicate is evaluated as an Integer.
Description
If the Predicate is non-zero, the term list of the If term is executed.
Example
The following examples all check for bit 3 in Local0 being set, and clear it if set.

// example 1
If (And (Local0, 4))

{
XOr (Local0, 4, Local0)
}
// example 2
Store (4, Local2)

If (And (Local0, Local2))
{
XOr (Local0, Local2, Local0)
}
19.6.59 Include (Include Additional ASL File)

Syntax
Include (FilePathName)
Arguments
FilePathname is a StringData data type that contains the full OS file system path.
Description
Include another file that contains ASL terms to be inserted in the current file of ASL terms. The file
must contain elements that are grammatically correct in the current scope.
Example
Include ("dataobj.asl")
19.6.60 Increment (Integer Increment)

Syntax
Increment (Addend) => Integer
Destination = Source [Index] => ObjectReference
Addend++ => Integer
Arguments
Addend is evaluated as an Integer.
Description
Add one to the Addend and place the result back in Addend. Equivalent to Add (Addend, 1,
Addend). Overflow conditions are ignored and the result of an overflow is zero.

19.6.61 Index (Indexed Reference To Member Object)

Syntax
Index (Source, Index, Destination) => ObjectReference
Destination = Source [Index] => ObjectReference
Arguments
Source is evaluated to a buffer, string, or package data type. Index is evaluated to an integer. The
reference to the nth object (where n = Index) within Source is optionally stored as a reference into
Destination.
Description
When Source evaluates to a Buffer, Index returns a reference to a Buffer Field containing the nth
byte in the buffer. When Source evaluates to a String, Index returns a reference to a Buffer Field
containing the nth character in the string. When Source evaluates to a Package, Index returns a
reference to the nth object in the package.
19.6.61.1 Index with Packages

The following example ASL code shows a way to use the Index term to store into a local variable
the sixth element of the first package of a set of nested packages:
Name (IO0D, Package () {
Package () {
0x01, 0x03F8, 0x03F8, 0x01, 0x08, 0x01, 0x25, 0xFF, 0xFE, 0x00, 0x00
},
Package () {
0x01, 0x02F8, 0x02F8, 0x01, 0x08, 0x01, 0x25, 0xFF, 0xBE, 0x00, 0x00
},
Package () {
0x01, 0x03E8, 0x03E8, 0x01, 0x08, 0x01, 0x25, 0xFF, 0xFA, 0x00, 0x00
},
Package () {
x01, 0x02E8, 0x02E8, 0x01, 0x08, 0x01, 0x25, 0xFF, 0xBA, 0x00, 0x00
},
Package() {
0x01, 0x0100, 0x03F8, 0x08, 0x08, 0x02, 0x25, 0x20, 0x7F, 0x00, 0x00
}
})
// Get the 6th element of the first package
Store (DeRefOf (Index (DeRefOf (Index (IO0D, 0)), 5)), Local0)
Note: DeRefOf is necessary in the first operand of the Store operator in order to get the actual object,
rather than just a reference to the object. If DeRefOf were not used, then Local0 would contain an
object reference to the sixth element in the first package rather than the number 1.
19.6.61.2 Index with Buffers

The following example ASL code shows a way to store into the third byte of a buffer:

Name (BUFF, Buffer () {0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05})
// Store 0x55 into the third byte of the buffer
Store (0x55, Index (BUFF, 2))
The Index operator returns a reference to an 8-bit Buffer Field (similar to that created using
CreateByteField).
If Source is evaluated to a buffer data type, the ObjectReference refers to the byte at Index within
Source. If Source is evaluated to a buffer data type, a Store operation will only change the byte at
Index within Source.
The following example ASL code shows the results of a series of Store operations:
Name (SRCB, Buffer () {0x10, 0x20, 0x30, 0x40})
Name (BUFF, Buffer () {0x1, 0x2, 0x3, 0x4})
The following will store 0x78 into the 3rd byte of the destination buffer:
Store (0x12345678, Index (BUFF, 2))
The following will store 0x10 into the 2nd byte of the destination buffer:
Store (SRCB, Index (BUFF, 1))
The following will store 0x41 (an ‘A’) into the 4th byte of the destination buffer:
Store (“ABCDEFGH”, Index (BUFF, 3))
Note: (Compatibility Note) First introduced in ACPI 2.0. In ACPI 1.0, the behavior of storing data larger
than 8-bits into a buffer using Index was undefined.
19.6.61.3 Index with Strings

The following example ASL code shows a way to store into the 3rd character in a string:
Name (STR, “ABCDEFGHIJKL”)
// Store ‘H’ (0x48) into the third character to the string
Store (“H”, Index (STR, 2))
The Index operator returns a reference to an 8-bit Buffer Field (similar to that created using
CreateByteField).
Note: (Compatibility Note) First introduced in ACPI 2.0.
19.6.62 Interrupt (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
Interrupt (ResourceUsage, EdgeLevel, ActiveLevel, Shared, ResourceSourceIndex,
ResourceSource, DescriptorName) {InterruptList} => Buffer

Arguments
ResourceUsage describes whether the device consumes the specified interrupt
(ResourceConsumer) or produces it for use by a child device (ResourceProducer). If nothing is
specified, then ResourceConsumer is assumed.
EdgeLevel describes whether the interrupt is edge triggered (Edge) or level triggered (Level). The
field DescriptorName. _HE is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor, where ‘1’ is Edge and ‘0’ is Level.
ActiveLevel describes whether the interrupt is active-high (ActiveHigh) or active-low (ActiveLow).
The field DescriptorName. _LL is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor, where ‘1’ is ActiveHigh and ‘0’ is ActiveLow.
Shared describes whether the interrupt can be shared with other devices (Shared) or not
(Exclusive), and whether it is capable of waking the system from a low-power idle or system sleep
state (SharedAndWake or ExclusiveAndWake). The field DescriptorName. _SHR is
automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is Shared and ‘0’ is
Exclusive. If nothing is specified, then Exclusive is assumed.
ResourceSourceIndex evaluates to an integer between 0x00 and 0xFF and describes the resource
source index. If it is not specified, then it is not generated. If this argument is specified, the
ResourceSource evaluates to a string which uniquely identifies the resource source. If it is not
specified, it is not generated. If this argument is specified, but the ResourceSourceIndex argument is
not specified, a zero value is assumed.
InterruptList is a comma-delimited list on integers, at least one value is required. Each integer
represents a 32-bit interrupt number. At least one interrupt must be defined, and there may be no
duplicates in the list. The field “DescriptorName. _INT” is automatically created to refer to this
Description
The Interrupt macro evaluates to a buffer that contains an interrupt resource descriptor. The format
of the interrupt resource descriptor can be found in Section 6.4.3.6, Extended Interrupt Descriptor.
The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
The interrupt macro uses the ResourceUsage field to distinguish two types of devices, a
ResourceProducer and a ResourceConsumer.
A ResourceProducer represents a device that can forward interrupts from one or more devices to
processors under the OSPM. Usage of ResourceProducer within interrupt macros is undefined and
will be ignored by the OSPM. Declaring interrupt macros as ResourceProducer is not
recommended.
A ResourceConsumer is a device that consumes the interrupts declared in the InterruptList. Most
devices fall under this category and use this method to declare the interrupts that can be generated by
that device. The interrupt descriptors declared as ResourceConsumer, are generated by either the
main interrupt controller described in the MADT or by a device that acts as an “interrupt producer”.
The ResourceSource field is used to make this distinction. If this is omitted, the interrupt numbers in
the InterruptList identify global system interrupts, GSIVs, and these interrupts target the main

interrupt controller described in the MADT (see section 5.2.12). The ResourceSource field may also
provide the name of a device that is an “interrupt producer”. In this case the interrupt numbers in the
InterruptList refer to the private interrupt number space of the indicated an interrupt set of the
“interrupt producer” device.
The ResourceSourceIndex parameter is reserved. If platform specifies that “Interrupt
ResourceSource support” in the Platform-Wide OSC (bit 13 in Table 6-175), this parameter and
must be zero.
The following example illustrates how to specify consumption of a “secondary interrupt”. In this
example, the device SDC0 consumes a secondary interrupt from MUX0, which multiplexes a group
of secondary interrupts lines and generates a single summary interrupt (also referred to as an
“interrupt producer”). The device driver for MUX0 is expected to generate a specific software based
secondary interrupt based on implementation defined details of that device:
Scope(\_SB) {
Device(MUX0){
Name(_HID, EISAID("ACME0F0F")) // vendor specific interrupt combiner
Name(_UID, 0)
Name(_CRS, ResourceTemplate () {
MEMORY32FIXED(ReadWrite, 0x30000000, 0x200, )
//Summary Interrupt line (GSIV 51)
})
}
Device(SDC0){
Name(_HID, EISAID("PNP0D40")) // SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller
Name(_UID, 0)
Name(_CRS, ResourceTemplate () {
MEMORY32FIXED(ReadWrite, 0xFF000000, 0x200, )
// Secondary Interrupt 10 from interrupt combiner MUX0

Interrupt(ResourceConsumer, Edge, ActiveHigh, Exclusive, 0, “\\_SB.MUX0”){10}
})
}
19.6.63 IndexField (Declare Index/Data Fields)

Syntax
IndexField (IndexName, DataName, AccessType, LockRule, UpdateRule) {FieldUnitList}
Arguments
IndexName and DataName refer to field unit objects. AccessType, LockRule, UpdateRule, and
FieldList are the same format as the Field term.
Description
Creates a series of named data objects whose data values are fields within a larger object accessed by
an index/data-style reference to IndexName and DataName.
This encoding is used to define named data objects whose data values are fields within an index/data
register pair. This provides a simple way to declare register variables that occur behind a typical
index and data register pair.

Accessing the contents of an indexed field data object will automatically occur through the
DataName object by using an IndexName object aligned on an AccessType boundary, with
synchronization occurring on the operation region that contains the index data variable, and on the
Global Lock if specified by LockRule.
The value written to the IndexName register is defined to be a byte offset that is aligned on an
AccessType boundary. For example, if AccessType is DWordAcc, valid index values are 0, 4, 8, etc.
This value is always a byte offset and is independent of the width or access type of the DataName
register.
Example
The following is a block of ASL sample code using IndexField:
Creates an index/data register in system I/O space made up of 8-bit registers.
• Creates a FET0 field within the indexed range.
Method (EX1) {
// Define a 256-byte operational region in SystemIO space
// and name it GIO0
OperationRegion (GIO0, 1, 0x125, 0x100)
// Create a field named Preserve structured as a sequence

// of index and data bytes
Field (GIO0, ByteAcc, NoLock, WriteAsZeros) {

IDX0, 8,
DAT0, 8,
.
.
.
}
// Create an IndexField within IDX0 & DAT0 which has
// FETs in the first two bits of indexed offset 0,
// and another 2 FETs in the high bit on indexed
// 2F and the low bit of indexed offset 30

IndexField (IDX0, DAT0, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {

FET0, 1,
FET1, 1,
Offset (0x2f), // skip to byte offset 2f
, 7, // skip another 7 bits
FET3, 1,
FET4, 1
}
// Clear FET3 (index 2F, bit 7)
Store (Zero, FET3)
} // End EX1
19.6.64 Interrupt (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
Interrupt (ResourceUsage, EdgeLevel, ActiveLevel, Shared, ResourceSourceIndex,
ResourceSource, DescriptorName) {InterruptList} => Buffer
Arguments
ResourceUsage describes whether the device consumes the specified interrupt
(ResourceConsumer) or produces it for use by a child device (ResourceProducer). If nothing is
specified, then ResourceConsumer is assumed.
descriptor, where ‘1’ is Edge and ‘0’ is Level.
descriptor, where ‘1’ is ActiveHigh and ‘0’ is ActiveLow.
automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is Shared and ‘0’ is
Exclusive. If nothing is specified, then Exclusive is assumed.
ResourceSourceIndex evaluates to an integer between 0x00 and 0xFF and describes the resource
source index. If it is not specified, then it is not generated. If this argument is specified, the
ResourceSource evaluates to a string which uniquely identifies the resource source. If it is not
specified, it is not generated. If this argument is specified, but the ResourceSourceIndex argument is
not specified, a zero value is assumed.
InterruptList is a comma-delimited list on integers, at least one value is required. Each integer
represents a 32-bit interrupt number. At least one interrupt must be defined, and there may be no
duplicates in the list. The field “DescriptorName. _INT” is automatically created to refer to this

Description
The Interrupt macro evaluates to a buffer that contains an interrupt resource descriptor. The format
of the interrupt resource descriptor can be found in Section 6.4.3.6, Extended Interrupt Descriptor.
The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.65 IO (IO Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
IO (Decode, AddressMin, AddressMax, AddressAlignment, RangeLength, DescriptorName) =>
Buffer
Argument
Decode describes whether the I/O range uses 10-bit decode (Decode10) or 16-bit decode
(Decode16). The field DescriptorName. _DEC is automatically created to refer to this portion of the
resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is Decode16 and ‘0’ is Decode10.
AddressMin evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the minimum acceptable starting address for
the I/O range. It must be an even multiple of AddressAlignment. The field DescriptorName._MIN is
AddressMax evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the maximum acceptable starting address for
the I/O range. It must be an even multiple of AddressAlignment. The field DescriptorName._MAX is
AddressAlignment evaluates to an 8-bit integer that specifies the alignment granularity for the I/O
address assigned. The field DescriptorName. _ALN is automatically created to refer to this portion
RangeLength evaluates to an 8-bit integer that specifies the number of bytes in the I/O range. The
field DescriptorName. _LEN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor.
Description
The IO macro evaluates to a buffer which contains an IO resource descriptor. The format of the IO
descriptor can be found in “I/O Port Descriptor” (page 383). The macro is designed to be used inside
of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.66 IRQ (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
IRQ (EdgeLevel, ActiveLevel, Shared, DescriptorName) {InterruptList} => Buffer

Arguments
descriptor, where ‘1’ is Edge and ActiveHigh and ‘0’ is Level and ActiveLow.
descriptor, where ‘1’ is Edge and ActiveHigh and ‘0’ is Level and ActiveLow.
automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is Shared and ‘0’
is Exclusive. If nothing is specified, then Exclusive is assumed.
InterruptList is a comma-delimited list of integers in the range 0 through 15, at least one value is
required. There may be no duplicates in the list.
Description
The IRQ macro evaluates to a buffer that contains an IRQ resource descriptor. The format of the
IRQ descriptor can be found in “IRQ Descriptor” ((page 383). The macro produces the three-byte
form of the descriptor. The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.67 IRQNoFlags (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
IRQNoFlags (DescriptorName) {InterruptList} => Buffer
Arguments
resource template buffer.
InterruptList is a comma-delimited list of integers in the range 0 through 15, at least one value is
required. There may be no duplicates in the list Description
The IRQNoFlags macro evaluates to a buffer which contains an active-high, edge-triggered IRQ
resource descriptor. The format of the IRQ descriptor can be found in IRQ Descriptor (page 383).
The macro produces the two-byte form of the descriptor. The macro is designed to be used inside of
a ResourceTemplate (page 988).

19.6.68 LAnd (Logical And)

Syntax
LAnd (Source1, Source2) => Boolean
Source1 && Source2 => Boolean
Arguments
Source1 and Source2 are evaluated as integers.
Description
If both values are non-zero, True is returned: otherwise, False is returned.
19.6.69 LEqual (Logical Equal)

Syntax
LEqual (Source1, Source2) => Boolean
Source1 == Source2 => Boolean
Arguments
Source1 and Source2 must each evaluate to an integer, a string, or a buffer. The data type of Source1
dictates the required type of Source2. Source2 is implicitly converted if necessary to match the type
of Source1.
Description
If the values are equal, True is returned; otherwise, False is returned. For integers, a numeric
compare is performed. For strings and buffers, True is returned only if both lengths are the same and
the result of a byte-wise compare indicates exact equality.
19.6.70 LGreater (Logical Greater)

Syntax
LGreater (Source1, Source2) => Boolean
Source1 > Source2 => Boolean
Arguments
of Source1.
Description
If Source1 is greater than Source2, True is returned; otherwise, False is returned. For integers, a
numeric comparison is performed. For strings and buffers, a lexicographic comparison is performed.
True is returned if a byte-wise (unsigned) compare discovers at least one byte in Source1 that is
numerically greater than the corresponding byte in Source2. False is returned if at least one byte in

Source1 is numerically less than the corresponding byte in Source2. In the case of byte-wise
equality, True is returned if the length of Source1 is greater than Source2, False is returned if the
length of Source1 is less than or equal to Source2.
19.6.71 LGreaterEqual (Logical Greater Than Or Equal)

Syntax
LGreaterEqual (Source1, Source2) => Boolean
Source1 >= Source2 => Boolean
Arguments
of Source1.
Description
If Source1 is greater than or equal to Source2, True is returned; otherwise, False is returned.
Equivalent to LNot(LLess()). See the description of the LLess operator.
19.6.72 LLess (Logical Less)

Syntax
LLess (Source1, Source2) => Boolean
Source1 < Source2 => Boolean
Arguments
of Source1.
Description
If Source1 is less than Source2, True is returned; otherwise, False is returned. For integers, a
numeric comparison is performed. For strings and buffers, a lexicographic comparison is performed.
True is returned if a byte-wise (unsigned) compare discovers at least one byte in Source1 that is
numerically less than the corresponding byte in Source2. False is returned if at least one byte in
Source1 is numerically greater than the corresponding byte in Source2. In the case of byte-wise
equality, True is returned if the length of Source1 is less than Source2, False is returned if the length
of Source1 is greater than or equal to Source2.
19.6.73 LLessEqual (Logical Less Than Or Equal)

Syntax
LLessEqual (Source1, Source2) => Boolean
Source1 <= Source2 => Boolean

Arguments
of Source1.
Description
If Source1 is less than or equal to Source2, True is returned; otherwise False is returned. Equivalent
to LNot(LGreater()). See the description of the LGreater operator.
19.6.74 LNot (Logical Not)

Syntax
LNot (Source) => Boolean
!Source => Boolean
Arguments
Source is evaluated as an integer.
Description
If the value is zero True is returned; otherwise, False is returned.
19.6.75 LNotEqual (Logical Not Equal) )

Syntax
LNotEqual (Source1, Source2) => Boolean
Source1 != Source2 => Boolean
Arguments
of Source1.
Description
If Source1 is not equal to Source2, True is returned; otherwise False is returned. Equivalent to
LNot(LEqual()).See the description of the LEqual operator.
19.6.76 Load (Load Definition Block)

Syntax
Load (Object, DDBHandle)
Arguments
The Object parameter can either refer to an operation region field or an operation region directly. If
the object is an operation region, the operation region must be in SystemMemory space. The

Definition Block should contain an ACPI DESCRIPTION_HEADER of type SSDT. The Definition
Block must be totally contained within the supplied operation region or operation region field.
OSPM reads this table into memory, the checksum is verified, and then it is loaded into the ACPI
namespace. The DDBHandle parameter is the handle to the Definition Block that can be used to
unload the Definition Block at a future time via the Unload operator.
Description
Performs a run-time load of a Definition Block. Any table referenced by Load must be in memory
marked as AddressRangeReserved or AddressRangeNVS.
The OS can also check the OEM Table ID and Revision ID against a database for a newer revision
Definition Block of the same OEM Table ID and load it instead.
The default namespace location to load the Definition Block is relative to the root of the namespace.
The new Definition Block can override this by specifying absolute names or by adjusting the
namespace location using the Scope operator.
Loading a Definition Block is a synchronous operation. Upon completion of the operation, the
Definition Block has been loaded. The control methods defined in the Definition Block are not
executed during load time.
19.6.77 LoadTable (Load Definition Block From XSDT)

Syntax
LoadTable (SignatureString, OEMIDString, OEMTableIDString, RootPathString,
ParameterPathString, ParameterData) => DDBHandle
Arguments
The XSDT is searched for a table where the Signature field matches SignatureString, the OEM ID
field matches OEMIDString, and the OEM Table ID matches OEMTableIDString. All comparisons
are case sensitive. If the SignatureString is greater than four characters, the OEMIDString is greater
than six characters, or the OEMTableID is greater than eight characters, a run-time error is
generated. The OS can also check the OEM Table ID and Revision ID against a database for a newer
revision Definition Block of the same OEM Table ID and load it instead.
The RootPathString specifies the root of the Definition Block. It is evaluated using normal scoping
rules, assuming that the scope of the LoadTable instruction is the current scope. The new Definition
Block can override this by specifying absolute names or by adjusting the namespace location using
the Scope operator. If RootPathString is not specified, “\” is assumed
If ParameterPathString and ParameterData are specified, the data object specified by
ParameterData is stored into the object specified by ParameterPathString after the table has been
added into the namespace. If the first character of ParameterPathString is a backslash (‘\’) or caret
(‘^’) character, then the path of the object is ParameterPathString. Otherwise, it is
RootPathString.ParameterPathString. If the specified object does not exist, a run-time error is
generated.
The handle of the loaded table is returned. If no table matches the specified signature, then 0 is
returned.

Description
Performs a run-time load of a Definition Block from the XSDT. Any table referenced by LoadTable
must be in memory marked by AddressRangeReserved or AddressRangeNVS.
Note: OSPM loads the DSDT and all SSDTs during initialization. As such, Definition Blocks to be
conditionally loaded via LoadTable must contain signatures other than “SSDT”.
Loading a Definition Block is a synchronous operation. Upon completion of the operation, the
Definition Block has been loaded. The control methods defined in the Definition Block are not
executed during load time.
Example
Store (LoadTable (“OEM1”, ”MYOEM”, ”TABLE1”, ”\\_SB.PCI0”,”MYD”,
Package () {0,”\\_SB.PCI0”}), Local0)
This operation would search through the RSDT or XSDT for a table with the signature “OEM1,” the
OEM ID of “MYOEM,” and the table ID of “TABLE1.” If not found, it would store Zero in Local0.
Otherwise, it will store a package containing 0 and “\\_SB.PCI0” into the variable at
\_SB.PCI0.MYD.
19.6.78 Localx (Method Local Data Objects)

Syntax
Local0 | Local1 | Local2 | Local3 | Local4 | Local5 | Local6 | Local7
Description
Up to 8 local objects can be referenced in a control method. On entry to a control method, these
objects are uninitialized and cannot be used until some value or reference is stored into the object.
Once initialized, these objects are preserved in the scope of execution for that control method.
19.6.79 LOr (Logical Or)

Syntax
LOr (Source1, Source2) => Boolean
Source1 || Source2 => Boolean
Arguments
Source1 and Source2 are evaluated as integers.
Description
If either value is non-zero, True is returned; otherwise, False is returned.
19.6.80 Match (Find Object Match)

Syntax
Match (SearchPackage, Op1, MatchObject1, Op2, MatchObject2, StartIndex) => Ones | Integer

Arguments
SearchPackage is evaluated to a package object and is treated as a one-dimension array. Each
package element must evaluate to either an integer, a string, or a buffer. Uninitialized package
elements and elements that do not evaluate to integers, strings, or buffers are ignored. Op1 and Op2
are match operators. MatchObject1 and MatchObject2 are the objects to be matched and must each
evaluate to either an integer, a string, or a buffer. StartIndex is the starting index within the
SearchPackage.
Description
A comparison is performed for each element of the package, starting with the index value indicated
by StartIndex (0 is the first element). If the element of SearchPackage being compared against is
called P[i], then the comparison is:
If (P[i] Op1 MatchObject1) and (P[i] Op2 MatchObject2) then Match => i is returned.
If the comparison succeeds, the index of the element that succeeded is returned; otherwise, the
constant object Ones is returned. The data type of the MatchObject dictates the required type of the
package element. If necessary, the package element is implicitly converted to match the type of the
MatchObject. If the implicit conversion fails for any reason, the package element is ignored (no
match.)
Op1 and Op2 have the values and meanings listed in the following table.
Table 19-421 Match Term Operator Meanings

Operator Encoding Macro
TRUE – A don’t care, always returns TRUE 0 MTR
EQ – Returns TRUE if P[i] == MatchObject 1 MEQ
LE – Returns TRUE if P[i] <= MatchObject 2 MLE
LT – Returns TRUE if P[i] < MatchObject 3 MLT
GE – Returns TRUE if P[i] >= MatchObject 4 MGE
GT – Returns TRUE if P[i] > MatchObject 5 MGT
Example
Following are some example uses of Match:

Name (P1,
Package () {1981, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001}
)
// match 1993 == P1[i]

Match (P1, MEQ, 1993, MTR, 0, 0) // -> 7, since P1[7] == 1993
// match 1984 == P1[i]

Match (P1, MEQ, 1984, MTR, 0, 0) // -> ONES (not found)
// match P1[i] > 1984 and P1[i] <= 2000

Match (P1, MGT, 1984, MLE, 2000, 0) // -> 2, since P1[2]>1984 and P1[2]<=2000
// match P1[i] > 1984 and P1[i] <= 2000, starting with 3rd element
Match (P1, MGT, 1984, MLE, 2000, 3) // -> 3, first match at or past Start
19.6.81 Memory24 (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
Memory24 (ReadAndWrite, AddressMinimum, AddressMaximum, AddressAlignment,
RangeLength, DescriptorName)
Arguments
AddressMinimum evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies bits [8:23] of the lowest possible base
address of the memory range. All other bits are assumed to be zero. The value must be an even
multiple of AddressAlignment. The 16-bit field DescriptorName._MIN is automatically created to
refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
AddressMaximum evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies bits [8:23] of the highest possible base
address of the memory range. All other bits are assumed to be zero. The value must be an even
multiple of AddressAlignment. The 16-bit field DescriptorName._MAX is automatically created to
AddressAlignment evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies bits [0:15] of the required alignment for
the memory range. All other bits are assumed to be zero. The address selected must be an even
multiple of this value. The 16-bit field DescriptorName. _ALN is automatically created to refer to
memory range. The 16-bit field DescriptorName. _LEN is automatically created to refer to this
portion of the resource descriptor. The range length provides the length of the memory range in 256
byte blocks.

Description
The Memory24 macro evaluates to a buffer which contains an 24-bit memory descriptor. The
format of the 24-bit memory descriptor can be found in “24-Bit Memory Range Descriptor ”
Note: The use of Memory24 is deprecated and should not be used in new designs.
19.6.82 Memory32 (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
Memory32 (ReadAndWrite, AddressMinimum, AddressMaximum, AddressAlignment,
RangeLength, DescriptorName)
Arguments
memory range. The value must be an even multiple of AddressAlignment. The 32-bit field
DescriptorName._MIN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
memory range. The value must be an even multiple of AddressAlignment. The 32-bit field
DescriptorName._MAX is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
AddressAlignment evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the required alignment for the memory
range. The address selected must be an even multiple of this value. The 32-bit field DescriptorName.
_ALN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
portion of the resource descriptor. The range length provides the length of the memory range in 1
byte blocks.
Description
The Memory32 macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 32-bit memory descriptor, which
describes a memory range with a minimum, a maximum and an alignment. The format of the 32-bit
memory descriptor can be found in “32-Bit Memory Range Descriptor ” (page 392). The macro is
designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).

19.6.83 Memory32Fixed (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
Memory32Fixed (ReadAndWrite, AddressBase, RangeLength, DescriptorName)
Arguments
AddressBase evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the base address of the memory range. The
32-bit field DescriptorName. _BAS is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor.
Description
The Memory32Fixed macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 32-bit memory descriptor, which
describes a fixed range of memory addresses. The format of the fixed 32-bit memory descriptor can
be found in 32-Bit Fixed Memory Range Descriptor (page 393). The macro is designed to be used
19.6.84 Method (Declare Control Method)

Syntax
Method (MethodName, NumArgs, SerializeRule, SyncLevel, ReturnType, ParameterTypes)
{TermList}
Arguments
MethodName is evaluated as a Namestring data type.
NumArgs is optional and is the required number of arguments to be passed to the method, evaluated
as an Integer data type. If not specified, the default value is zero arguments. Up to 7 arguments may
be passed to a method. These arguments may be referenced from within the method as Arg0 through
Arg6.
SerializeRule is optional and is a flag that defines whether the method is serialized or not and is one
of the following: Serialized or NotSerialized. A method that is serialized cannot be reentered by
additional threads. If not specified, the default is NotSerialized.
SyncLevel is optional and specifies the synchronization level for the method (0 – 15). If not
specified, the default sync level is zero.

ReturnType is optional and specifies the type(s) of the object(s) returned by the method. If the
method does not return an object, then nothing is specified or UnknownObj is specified. To specify
a single return type, simply use the ObjectTypeKeyword (e.g. IntObj, PkgObj, etc.). To specify
multiple possible return types, enclose the comma-separated ObjectTypeKeywords with braces. For
example: {IntObj, BuffObj}.
ParameterTypes is optional and specifies the type of the method parameters. It is a comma-
separated, variable-length list of the expected object type or types for each of the method parameters,
enclosed in braces. For each parameter, the parameter type consists of either an ObjectTypeKeyword
or a comma-separated sub-list of ObjectTypeKeywords enclosed in braces. If ParameterTypes is
specified, the number of parameters must match NumArgs.
TermList is a variable-length list of executable ASL statements representing the body of the control
method.
Description
Creates a new control method of name MethodName. This is a named package containing a series of
object references that collectively represent a control method, which is a procedure that can be
invoked to perform computation. Method opens a name scope.
System software executes a control method by referencing the objects in the package in order. For
more information on method execution, see Section 5.5.2, “Control Method Execution.”
The current namespace location used during name creation is adjusted to be the current location on
the namespace tree. Any names created within this scope are “below” the name of this package. The
current namespace location is assigned to the method package, and all namespace references that
occur during control method execution for this package are relative to that location.
If a method is declared as Serialized, an implicit mutex associated with the method object is
acquired at the specified SyncLevel. If no SyncLevel is specified, SyncLevel 0 is assumed. The
serialize rule can be used to prevent reentering of a method. This is especially useful if the method
creates namespace objects. Without the serialize rule, the reentering of a method will fail when it
attempts to create the same namespace object.
There are eight local variables automatically available for each method, referenced as Local0
through Local7. These locals may be used to store any type of ASL object.
Also notice that all namespace objects created by a method have temporary lifetime. When method
execution exits, the created objects will be destroyed.
Examples
The following block of ASL sample code shows a use of Method for defining a control method that
turns on a power resource.
Method (_ON) {
Store (One, GIO.IDEP) // assert power
Store (One, GIO.IDER) // de-assert reset#
Stall (10) // wait 10us
Store (Zero, GIO.IDEI) // de-assert isolation
}
This method is an implementation of _SRS (Set Resources). It shows the use of a method argument
and two method locals.

Method (_SRS, 1, NotSerialized)

{
CreateWordField (Arg0, One, IRQW)
Store (\_SB.PCI0.PID1.IENA, Local1)
Or (IRQW, Local1, Local1)
Store (Local1, \_SB.PCI0.PID1.IENA)
FindSetRightBit (IRQW, Local0)
If (Local0)
{
Decrement (Local0)
Store (Local0, \_SB.PCI0.PID1.IN01)
}
}
19.6.85 Mid (Extract Portion of Buffer or String)

Syntax
Mid (Source, Index, Length, Result) => Buffer or String
Arguments
Source is evaluated as either a Buffer or String. Index and Length are evaluated as Integers.
Description
If Source is a buffer, then Length bytes, starting with the Indexth byte (zero-based) are optionally
copied into Result. If Index is greater than or equal to the length of the buffer, then the result is an
empty buffer. Otherwise, if Index + Length is greater than or equal to the length of the buffer, then
only bytes up to and including the last byte are included in the result.
If Source is a string, then Length characters, starting with the Indexth character (zero-based) are
optionally copied into Result. If Index is greater than or equal to the length of the buffer, then the
result is an empty string. Otherwise, if Index + Length is greater than or equal to the length of the
string, then only bytes up to an including the last character are included in the result.
19.6.86 Mod (Integer Modulo)

Syntax
Mod (Dividend, Divisor, Result) => Integer
Result = Dividend % Divisor => Integer
Result %= Divisor => Integer
Arguments
Dividend and Divisor are evaluated as Integers.
Description
The Dividend is divided by Divisor, and then the resulting remainder is optionally stored into Result.
If Divisor evaluates to zero, a fatal exception is generated.

19.6.87 Multiply (Integer Multiply)

Syntax
Multiply (Multiplicand, Multiplier, Result) => Integer
Result = Multiplicand * Multiplier => Integer
Result *= Multiplier => Integer
Arguments
Multiplicand and Multiplier are evaluated as Integers.
Description
The Multiplicand is multiplied by Multiplier and the result is optionally stored into Result. Overflow
conditions are ignored and results are undefined.
19.6.88 Mutex (Declare Synchronization/Mutex Object)

Syntax
Mutex (MutexName, SyncLevel)
Arguments
Creates a data mutex synchronization object named MutexName, with a synchronization level from
0 to 15 as specified by the Integer SyncLevel.
Description
A synchronization object provides a control method with a mechanism for waiting for certain events.
To prevent deadlocks, wherever more than one synchronization object must be owned, the
synchronization objects must always be released in the order opposite the order in which they were
acquired.
The SyncLevel parameter declares the logical nesting level of the synchronization object. The
current sync level is maintained internally for a thread, and represents the greatest SyncLevel among
mutex objects that are currently acquired by the thread. The SyncLevel of a thread before acquiring
any mutexes is zero. The SyncLevel of the Global Lock (\_GL) is zero.
All Acquire terms must refer to a synchronization object with a SyncLevel that is equal or greater
than the current level, and all Release terms must refer to a synchronization object with a SyncLevel
that is equal to the current level.
Mutex synchronization provides the means for mutually exclusive ownership. Ownership is acquired
using an Acquire term and is released using a Release term. Ownership of a Mutex must be
relinquished before completion of any invocation. For example, the top-level control method cannot
exit while still holding ownership of a Mutex. Acquiring ownership of a Mutex can be nested (can be
acquired multiple times by the same thread).

19.6.89 Name (Declare Named Object)

Syntax
Name (ObjectName, Object)
Arguments
Creates a new object named ObjectName. Attaches Object to ObjectName in the Global ACPI
namespace.
Description
Creates ObjectName in the namespace, which references the Object.
Example
The following example creates the name PTTX in the root of the namespace that references a
package.
Name (\PTTX, // Port to Port Translate Table
Package () {Package () {0x43, 0x59}, Package) {0x90, 0xFF}}
)
The following example creates the name CNT in the root of the namespace that references an integer
data object with the value 5.
Name (\CNT, 5)
19.6.90 NAnd (Integer Bitwise Nand)

Syntax
NAnd (Source1, Source2, Result) => Integer
Arguments
Description
A bitwise NAND is performed and the result is optionally stored in Result.
19.6.91 NoOp Code (No Operation)

Syntax
NoOp
Description
This operation has no effect.

19.6.92 NOr (Integer Bitwise Nor)

Syntax
NOr (Source1, Source2, Result) => Integer
Arguments
Description
A bitwise NOR is performed and the result is optionally stored in Result.
19.6.93 Not (Integer Bitwise Not)

Syntax
Not (Source, Result) => Integer
Result = ~Source => Integer
Arguments
Source is evaluated as an integer data type.
Description
A bitwise NOT is performed and the result is optionally stored in Result.
19.6.94 Notify (Notify Object of Event)

Syntax
Notify (Object, NotificationValue)
Arguments
Notifies the OS that the NotificationValue for the Object has occurred. Object must be a reference to
a device, processor, or thermal zone object.
Description
Object type determines the notification values. For example, the notification values for a thermal
zone object are different from the notification values used for a device object. Undefined notification
values are treated as reserved and are ignored by the OS.
For lists of defined Notification values, see Section 5.6.6, “Device Object Notifications.”
19.6.95 Offset (Change Current Field Unit Offset)

Syntax
Offset (ByteOffset)

Arguments
ByteOffset is the new offset (in bytes) for the next FieldUnit within a FieldList.
Description
The Offset operator is used within a FieldList to specify the byteOffset of the next defined field
within its parent operation region. This can be used instead of defining the bit lengths that need to be
skipped. All offsets are defined starting from zero, based at the starting address of the parent region.
19.6.96 ObjectType (Get Object Type)

Syntax
ObjectType (Object) => Integer
Arguments
Object is any valid object.
Description
The execution result of this operation is an integer that has the numeric value of the object type for
Object.
The object type codes are listed in Table 18-20. Notice that if this operation is performed on an
object reference such as one produced by the Alias, Index, or RefOf statements, the object type of
the base object is returned. For typeless objects such as predefined scope names (in other words,
\_SB, \_GPE, etc.), the type value 0 (Uninitialized) is returned.
Table 19-422 TValues Returned By the ObjectType Operator

Value Object
0 Uninitialized
1 Integer
2 String
3 Buffer
4 Package
5 Field Unit
6 Device
7 Event
8 Method
9 Mutex
10 Operation Region
11 Power Resource
12 Processor
13 Thermal Zone
14 Buffer Field
15 DDB Handle

16 Debug Object
>16 Reserved
19.6.97 One (Constant One Integer)

Syntax
One=> Integer
Description
The One operator returns an Integer with the value 1. Writes to this object are not allowed. The use
of this operator can reduce AML code size, since it is represented by a one-byte AML opcode.
19.6.98 Ones (Constant Ones Integer)

Syntax
Ones=> Integer
Description
The Ones operator returns an Integer with all bits set to 1. Writes to this object are not allowed. The
use of this operator can reduce AML code size, since it is represented by a one-byte AML opcode.
Note: The actual value of the integer returned by the Ones operator depends on the integer width of the
DSDT. If the revision of the DSDT is 1 or less, the integer width is 32 bits and Ones returns
0xFFFFFFFF. If the revision of the DSDT is 2 or greater, the integer width is 64 bits and Ones
returns 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF. This difference must be considered when performing
comparisons against the Ones Integer.
19.6.99 OperationRegion (Declare Operation Region)

Syntax
OperationRegion (RegionName, RegionSpace, Offset, Length)
Arguments
Declares an operation region named RegionName. Offset is the offset within the selected
RegionSpace at which the region starts (byte-granular), and Length is the length of the region in
bytes.
Description
An Operation Region is a type of data object where read or write operations to the data object are
performed in some hardware space. For example, the Definition Block can define an Operation
Region within a bus, or system I/O space. Any reads or writes to the named object will result in
accesses to the I/O space.
Operation regions are regions in some space that contain hardware registers for exclusive use by
ACPI control methods. In general, no hardware register (at least byte-granular) within the operation
region accessed by an ACPI control method can be shared with any accesses from any other source,

with the exception of using the Global Lock to share a region with the firmware. The entire
Operation Region can be allocated for exclusive use to the ACPI subsystem in the host OS.
Operation Regions that are defined within the scope of a method are the exception to this rule. These
Operation Regions are known as “Dynamic” since the OS has no idea that they exist or what
registers they use until the control method is executed. Using a Dynamic SystemIO or
SystemMemory Operation Region is not recommended since the OS cannot guarantee exclusive
access. All other types of Operation Regions may be Dynamic.
Operation Regions define the overall base address and length of a hardware region, but they cannot
be accessed directly by AML code. A Field object containing one or more FieldUnits is used to
overlay the Operation Region in order to access individual areas of the Region. An individual
FieldUnit within an Operation Region may be as small as one bit, or as large as the length of the
entire Region. FieldUnit values are normalized (shifted and masked to the proper length.) The data
type of a FieldUnit can be either a Buffer or an Integer, depending on the bit length of the
FieldUnit. If the FieldUnit is smaller than or equal to the size of an Integer (in bits), it will be treated
as an Integer. If the FieldUnit is larger than the size of an Integer, it will be treated as a Buffer. The
size of an Integer is indicated by the DSDT header’s Revision field. A revision less than 2 indicates
that the size of an Integer is 32 bits. A value greater than or equal to 2 signifies that the size of an
Integer is 64 bits. For more information about data types and FieldUnit type conversion rules, see
Section 19.3.5.7, “Data Type Conversion Rules”.
An Operation Region object implicitly supports Mutex synchronization. Updates to the object, or a
Field data object for the region, will automatically synchronize on the Operation Region object;
however, a control method may also explicitly synchronize to a region to prevent other accesses to
the region (from other control methods). Notice that according to the control method execution
model, control method execution is non-preemptive. Because of this, explicit synchronization to an
Operation Region needs to be done only in cases where a control method blocks or yields execution
and where the type of register usage requires such synchronization.
The predefined Operation Region types specified in ACPI are shown in the Table 5-156 on
page 260.
Example
The following example ASL code shows the use of OperationRegion combined with Field to
describe IDE 0 and 1 controlled through general I/O space, using one FET.
OperationRegion (GIO, SystemIO, 0x125, 0x1)
Field (GIO, ByteAcc, NoLock, Preserve) {
IDEI, 1, // IDEISO_EN - isolation buffer
IDEP, 1, // IDE_PWR_EN - power
IDER, 1 // IDERST#_EN - reset#
}
19.6.100 Or (Integer Bitwise Or)

Syntax
Or (Source1, Source2, Result) => Integer
Result = Source1 | Source2 => Integer

Result |= Source1 => Integer

Arguments
Description
A bitwise OR is performed and the result is optionally stored in Result.
19.6.101 Package (Declare Package Object)

Syntax
Package (NumElements) {PackageList} => Package
Arguments
NumElements is evaluated as an Integer. PackageList is an initializer list of objects.
Description
Declares an unnamed aggregation of named data items, constants, and/or references to non-data
namespace objects. The size of the package is NumElements. The PackageList contains the data
items, constants, and/or object references used to initialize the package.
If NumElements is absent, it is automatically set by the ASL compiler to match the number of
elements in the PackageList. If NumElements is present and greater than the number of elements in
the PackageList, the default entry of type Uninitialized (see ObjectType) is used to initialize the
package elements beyond those initialized from the PackageList.
There are three types of package elements allowed in the PackageList: ConstantData
Objects(Integers, Strings, Buffers, and Packages), named references that resolve to Data Objects
(Integers, Strings, Buffers, and Packages), and named references to objects other than Data Objects.
These constant terms are resolved at ASL compile time:
• Integer Constant
• String Constant
• Buffer Constant
• Package Constant
These Named References to Data Objects are resolved to actual data by the AML Interpreter at
runtime:
• Integer reference
• String reference
• Buffer reference
• Buffer Field reference
• Field Unit reference
• Package reference

These Named References to non-Data Objects cannot be resolved to values. They are instead
returned in the package as references:
• Device reference
• Event reference
• Method reference
• Mutex reference
• Operation Region reference
• Power Resource reference
• Processor reference
• Thermal Zone reference
Note: For Package elements of type Package (defining a subpackage), individual elements of the
subpackage are resolved according to the rules above, both compile-time and runtime.
Evaluating an uninitialized element will yield a runtime error, but elements can be assigned values at
runtime to define them (via the Index operator). It is a compile time error for NumElements to be less
than the number of elements defined in the PackageList.
The ASL compiler can emit two different AML opcodes for a Package declaration, either
PackageOp or VarPackageOp. For small, fixed-length packages, the PackageOp is used and this
opcode is compatible with ACPI 1.0. A VarPackageOp will be emitted if any of the following
conditions are true:
• The NumElements argument is a TermArg that can only be resolved at runtime.
• At compile time, NumElements resolves to a constant that is larger than 255.
• The PackageList contains more than 255 initializer elements.
Example
Name (INT1, 0x1234)
Processor (CPU0, 0, 0x1010, 6) {}
PowerResource (PWR1, 0, 0) {}
Name (PKG1, Package () {

0x3400, // Integer Constant, resolved at compile time
"Processor" // String Constant, resolved at compile time
\INT1 // Integer Reference, resolved to value at
// runtime
\CPU0 // Object Reference, returned as a reference
// object
Package () { // Package Constant. Elements are resolved at
// both compile time and runtime
0x4321, // Integer Constant, resolved at compile time
\INT1, // Integer Reference, resolved to value at
// runtime
\PWR1
})

The runtime values of the parent package and subpackages are:

Package [Contains 0x05 Elements]
(00) Integer 0x0000000000003400
(01) String [0x09] "Processor"
(02) Integer 0x0000000000001234
(03) Reference [Named Object] [CPU0] Processor
(04) Package [Contains 0x03 Elements]
(00) Integer 0x0000000000004321
(01) Integer 0x0000000000001234
(02) Reference [Named Object] [PWR1] Power
}
19.6.102 Pin Configuration

Syntax
Macro:
PinConfig (Shared/Exclusive, PinConfigType, PinConfigValue, ResourceSource,
ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceUsage, DescriptorName, VendorData) {Pin List}
Arguments
• Shared is an optional argument and can be either Shared or Exclusive. If not specified, Exclusive
is assumed. The bit field name _SHR is automatically created to refer to this portion of the
• PinConfigType can be one of the configuration types described below in Table 19-423. The bit
field _TYP is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
• PinConfigValue is one of the configurations values described below in Table 19-423. The bit
field _VAL is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
• ResourceSource is a string which uniquely identifies the pin controller referred to by this
descriptor. ResourceSource can be a fully-qualified name, a relative name or a name segment
• ResourceSourceIndex is an optional argument and is assumed to be 0 for this revision.
• ResourceUsage is an optional argument and is assumed to be ResourceConsumer for this
revision.
• DescriptorName is an optional argument that specifies a name for an integer constant that will
be created in the current scope that contains the offset of this resource descriptor within the
current resource template buffer. The predefined descriptor field names may be appended to this
name to access individual fields within the descriptor via the Buffer Field operators.
• VendorData is an optional argument that specifies a RawDataBuffer containing vendor-defined
byte data to be decoded by the OS driver. The bit field name _VEN is automatically created to
• PinList is a list of pin numbers on the ResourceSource that are described by this descriptor. The
bit field name _PIN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.

Table 19-423 Pin Configuration Types and Values
Pin Configuration Type Pin Configuration Description

Value
0x00 = Default N/A Default configuration. No configuration is applied.
0x01 = Bias Pull-Up Pull up resistance, in This means the pin is pulled up with a certain number of
Ohms. Ohms to an implicitly supplied VDD rail.
0x02 = Bias Pull-down Pull down resistance, This means the pin is pulled down with a certain number
in Ohms. of Ohms, toward the GND rail.
0x03 = Bias Default N/A If the silicon has a default biasing mode, reset the pin to
this mode.
0x04 = Bias Disable N/A Any software-selectable bias settings on the pin will be
disabled.
0x05 = Bias High Impedance N/A This means that the pin is configured into a high
impedance mode and essentially shut off from the
outside world. It will not influence the signal state if a rail
is connected to the pin, hence a good default mode.
0x06 = Bias Bus Hold N/A This will make the pin in a weak latch state where it
weakly drives the last value on a tristate bus.
0x07 = Drive Open Drain N/A This will configure the pin into open drain (open collector)
state.
0x08 = Drive Open Source N/A This will configure the pin into open source (open emitter)
state.
0x09 = Drive Push Pull N/A This will configure the pin into explicit push-pull state.
This is useful if the power-on default state is e.g. open
drain or high impedance state.
0x0A = Drive Strength Drive strength in This will set the output driver of the pin to supply a certain
milliamperes number of milliamperes, usually by activating several
driver stages.
0x0B = Slew Rate Custom format This controls the slew rate of the pin, affecting speed but
also sharpness of edges and thus noisiness on the
board. The hardware-specific argument tells what slew
rate to configure
0x0C = Input Debounce Debounce time in This will enable debouncing (for e.g. key inputs) of the pin
microseconds. signal.
0x0D = Input Schmitt Trigger Enabled = 1, Disabled This will enable Schmitt trigger support for the line.
=0
0x0E – 0x7F = Reserved Reserved Reserved
0x80 – 0xFF = Vendor defined Custom base From this point, vendor and Hardware-specific
values configurations are listed.
Description
The PinConfig macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a Pin Configuration resource descriptor.
The format of the Pin Configuration resource descriptor can be found in “Pin Configuration
Descriptor” on page 423. The macro is designed to be used inside of an ASL Resource Template
(Section 19.3.3).
Note: There is some overlap between the properties set by GpioIo/GpioInt/ PinFunction and
PinConfig descriptors. For example, both are setting properties such as pull-ups. If the same
property is specified by multiple descriptors for the same pins, the order in which these properties
are applied is undetermined. To avoid any conflicts, GpioInt/GpioIo/PinFunction should provide a

default value for these properties when PinConfig is used. If PinConfig is used to set pin bias,
PullDefault should be used for GpioIo/GpioInt/ PinFunction. If PinConfig is used to set debounce
timeout, 0 should be used for GpioIo/GpioInt. If PinConfig is used to set drive strength, 0 should be
used for GpioIo.
Example
//
// Description: GPIO
//
Device (GPI0)
{
Name (_HID, "PNPFFFE")
Name (_UID, 0x0)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
Method (_CRS, 0x0, NotSerialized)
{
Name (RBUF, ResourceTemplate()
{
Memory32Fixed(ReadWrite, 0x4FE00000, 0x20)
Interrupt(ResourceConsumer, Level, ActiveHigh,
Shared) {0x54}
})
Return(RBUF)
}
}
//
// Description: I2C controller 1
//
Device (I2C1)
{
Name (_HID, "PNPFFFF")
Name (_UID, 0x0)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
{
{
Memory32Fixed(ReadWrite, 0x4F800000, 0x20)
Shared) {0x55}

PinFunction(Exclusive, PullDefault, 0x5,

"\\_SB.GPI0", 0, ResourceConsumer, ) {2, 3}
// Configure 10k Pull up for I2C SDA/SCL pins
PinConfig(Exclusive, 0x01, 10000, "\\_SB.GPI0", 0,
ResourceConsumer, ) {2, 3}
})
Return(RBUF)
}
}
//
// Description: Physical display panel
//
Device (SDIO)
{
Name (_HID, "PNPFFFD")
Name (_UID, 0x0)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
{
{
Shared) {0x57}
GpioIo(Shared, PullDefault, 0, 0, IoRestrictionNone,
"\\_SB.GPI0",) {2, 3}
// Configure 20k Pull down
PinConfig(Exclusive, 0x02, 20000, "\\_SB.GPI0", 0,
// Enable Schmitt-trigger
PinConfig(Exclusive, 0x0D, 1, "\\_SB.GPI0", 0,
// Set slew rate to custom value 3
PinConfig(Exclusive, 0x0B, 3, "\\_SB.GPI0", 0,
})
Return(RBUF)
}
}

19.6.103 Pin Function

Syntax
Macro:
PinFunction(Shared/Exclusive, PinPullConfiguration, FunctionNumber, ResourceSource,
ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceUsage, DescriptorName, VendorData) {Pin List}
Arguments
• Shared is an optional argument and can be one of Shared, Exclusive. If not specified, Exclusive
• PinPullConfiguration can be one of PullDefault, PullUp, PullDown, PullNone or a vendor-
supplied value in the range 128-255.
• FunctionNumber is a provider-specific integer that designates which function is being described.
• ResourceSource is a string which uniquely identifies the GPIO controller referred to by this
descriptor. ResourceSource can be a fully-qualified name, a relative name or a name segment
revision.
• PinList is a non-empty list of (zero-based) pin numbers on the ResourceSource that are
described by this descriptor. The bit field name _PIN is automatically created to refer to this
Description
The PinFunction macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a Pin Function resource descriptor, as
described in this section. The macro is designed to be used inside of a Resource Template
(Section 19.3.3).
Note: PinFunction macro allows for maximum flexibility to define the desired function of each pin
individually. It is the responsibility of the firmware writer to take into account any platform-level
restrictions where pin function must be applied at a coarser granularity. Thus, if the platform design
requires the functions for a set of pins to be configured as group, the firmware writer must ensure
this is done in the corresponding PinFunction description by specifying all relevant pins in a single
PinFunction. In the multi-pin scenario, the OSPM must honor the PinFunction requirements for all
of the specified pins on an “all-or-nothing” basis.

Note: The Pin Function descriptor is intended for scenarios where non-GPIO functions are desired.
For GPIO-based functionalities, the firmware should always specify the appropriate GpioIo or
Gpioint descriptor.
Example:
//
//
Device (GPI0)
{
Name (_UID, 0x0)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
{
{
Shared) {0x54}
})
Return(RBUF)
}
//
//
Device (I2C1)
{
Name (_UID, 0x0)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
{
{
Shared) {0x55}

PinFunction(Exclusive, PullUp, 0x5, "\\_SB.GPI0", 0,

})
Return(RBUF)
}
}
//
//
Device (I2C2)
{
Name (_UID, 0x1)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
{
{
Shared) {0x56}
PinFunction(Exclusive, PullUp, 0x0, 0x4,
"\\_SB.GPI0", 0, ResourceConsumer, ) {2, 3}
})
Return(RBUF)
}
}
//
//
Device (DISP)
{
Name (_UID, 0x0)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
{


{
Shared) {0x57}
GpioIo(Shared, PullDefault, 0, 0, IoRestrictionNone,
"\\_SB.GPI0",) {2, 3}
})
Return(RBUF)
}
}
19.6.104 Pin Group

Syntax
Macro:
PinGroup (ResourceLabel, ResourceUsage, DescriptorName, VendorData) { Pin List }
Arguments
• ResourceUsage is an optional argument and is assumed to be ResourceProducer for this
revision.
• ResourceLabel is an arbitrary, non-empty string that uniquely identifies this particular PinGroup
resource from others within a resource template buffer. This label is used by resource consumers
to refer to this resource.
• PinList is a non-empty list of (zero-based) pin numbers on the ResourceSource that are
described by this descriptor. The bit field name _PIN is automatically created to refer to this
Description
The PinGroup macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a Pin Group resource descriptor. The format
of the Pin Group resource descriptor can be found in "Pin Group Descriptor" (Section 6.4.3.11). The
macro is designed to be used inside of a Resource Template (Section 19.3.3).
PinGroup resource descriptors must be declared within the scope of the pin controller device to
which the pins belong.

19.6.105 Pin Group Configuration

Syntax
Macro:
PinGroupConfig (Shared/Exclusive, PinConfigType, PinConfigValue, ResourceSource,
ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceSourceLabel, ResourceUsage, DesriptorName, VendorData)
Arguments:
• Shared is an optional argument and can be either Shared or Exclusive. If not specified, Exclusive
• PinConfigType can be one of the configuration types described below in Table 19-424. The bit
field name _TYP is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
• PinConfigValue is one of the configurations values described below in Table 19-424. The bit
field name _VAL is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
• ResourceSource is a string that uniquely identifies the GPIO controller which includes the
PinGroup resource referenced by this descriptor. ResourceSource can be a fully-qualified name,
a relative name or a name segment that utilizes the namespace search rules.
• ResourceSourceLabel is a non-empty string argument that matches ResourceLabel of the
PinGroup resource in the current resource template buffer of the GPIO controller referenced in
ResourceSource.
revision.
Table 19-424 Pin Group Configuration Types and Values

Value
0x00 = Default N/A Default configuration. No configuration is
applied).
0x01 = Bias Pull-Up Pull up resistance, in This means the pin is pulled up with a certain
Ohms. number of Ohms to an implicitly supplied VDD
rail.
0x02 = Bias Pull-down Pull down resistance, This means the pin is pulled down with a
in Ohms. certain number of Ohms, toward the GND rail.


Value
0x03 = Bias Default N/A If the silicon has a default biasing mode, reset
the pin to this mode.
0x04 = Bias Disable N/A Any software-selectable bias settings on the
pin will be disabled.
0x05 = Bias High Impedance N/A This means that the pin is configured into a
high impedance mode and essentially shut off
from the outside world. It will not influence the
signal state if a rail is connected to the pin,
hence a good default mode.
0x06 = Bias Bus Hold N/A This will make the pin in a weak latch state
where it weakly drives the last value on a
tristate bus.
0x07 = Drive Open Drain N/A This will configure the pin into open drain
(open collector) state.
0x08 = Drive Open Source N/A This will configure the pin into open source
(open emitter) state.
0x09 = Drive Push Pull N/A This will configure the pin into explicit push-
pull state. This is useful if the power-on default
state is e.g. open drain or high impedance
state.
0x0A = Drive Strength Drive strength in This will set the output driver of the pin to
milliamperes supply a certain number of milliamperes,
usually by activating several driver stages.
0x0B = Slew Rate Custom format This controls the slew rate of the pin, affecting
speed but also sharpness of edges and thus
noisiness on the board. The hardware-specific
argument tells what slew rate to configure
0x0C = Input Debounce Debounce time in This will enable debouncing (for e.g. key
microseconds. inputs) of the pin signal.
0x0D = Input Schmitt Trigger Enabled = 1, Disabled This will enable Schmitt trigger support for the
=0 line.
0x0E – 0x7F = Reserved Reserved Reserved
0x80 – 0xFF = Vendor defined Custom base From this point, vendor and Hardware-specific
values configurations are listed.
Description
The PinGroupConfig macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a Pin Group Configuration resource
descriptor. The format of the Pin Group Configuration resource descriptor can be found in "Pin
Group Configuration Descriptor" (Section 6.4.3.13). The macro is designed to be used inside of a
Resource Template (Section 19.3.3).
Example
//

//
Device (GPI0)
{
Name (_UID, 0x0)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
{
{
Shared) {0x54}
PinGroup(“group1”, ResourceProducer) {2, 3}
})
Return(RBUF)
}
//
//
Device (I2C1)
{
Name (_UID, 0x0)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
{
{
Shared) {0x55}
// Set function I2C1 for SDA/SCL pins
PinGroupFunction(Exclusive, 0x5, "\\_SB.GPI0, 0,
“group1”, ResourceConsumer, )
// Configure 10k Pull up for SDA/SCL pins
PinGroupConfig(Exclusive, 0x01, 10000, "\\_SB.GPI0 ",
0, “group1”, ResourceConsumer, )

})
Return(RBUF)
}
}
//
//
Device (I2C2)
{
Name (_UID, 0x1)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}
{
{
Shared) {0x56}
// Set function I2C2 for SDA/SCL pins
PinGroupFunction(Exclusive, 0x4, "\\_SB.GPI0 ", 0,
// Configure 10k Pull up for SDA/SCL pins
PinGroupConfig(Exclusive, 0x01, 10000, "\\_SB.GPI0 ",
0, “group1”, ResourceConsumer,)
})
Return(RBUF)
}
}
//
//
Device (DISP)
{
Name (_UID, 0x0)
Method (_STA)
{
Return(0xf)
}


{
{
Shared) {0x57}
// Set function GPIO for pin group group1
PinGroupFunction(Exclusive, 0x1, "\\_SB.GPI0 ", 0,
// Configure 20k Pull down
PinGroupConfig (Exclusive, 0x02, 20000, "\\_SB.GPI0
", 0, “group1”, ResourceConsumer, )
//Enable Schmitt-trigger
PinGroupConfig (Exclusive, 0x0D, 1, "\\_SB.GPI0 ", 0,
//Set slew rate to custom value 3
PinGroupConfig (Exclusive, 0x0B, 3, "\\_SB.GPI0 ", 0,
})
Return(RBUF)}
}
}
19.6.106 Pin Group Function

Syntax
Macro:
PinGroupFunction (Shared/Exclusive, FunctionNumber, ResourceSource, ResourceSourceIndex,
ResourceSourceLabel, ResourceUsage, DescriptorName, VendorData)
Arguments
• Shared is an optional argument and can be one of Shared, Exclusive. If not specified, Exclusive
• FunctionNumber is a provider-specific integer which designates which function is being
described. The bit field name _FUN is automatically created to refere to this portion of the
• ResourceSource is a string that uniquely identifies the GPIO controller which includes the
PinGroup resource referenced by this descriptor. ResourceSource can be a fully-qualified name,
a relative name or a name segment that utilizes the namespace search rules.
• ResourceSourceLabel is a non-empty string argument that matches ResourceLabel of a
PinGroup resource in the current resource template buffer of the GPIO controller referenced in
ResourceSource.

revision.
Description
The PinGroupFunction macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a Pin Function resource descriptor.
The format of the Pin Function resource descriptor can be found in “Pin Function Descriptor” on
page 422. The macro is designed to be used inside of an ASL Resource Template (Section 19.3.3).
19.6.107 PowerResource (Declare Power Resource)

Syntax
PowerResource (ResourceName, SystemLevel, ResourceOrder) {TermList}
Arguments
Declares a power resource named ResourceName. PowerResource opens a name scope.
Description
For a definition of the PowerResource term, see Section 7.2, “Declaring a Power Resource Object.”
The power management object list is encoded as TermList, so that rather than describing a static
power management object list, it is possible to describe a dynamic power management object list
according to the system settings. See "Section 5.4.2, Definition Block Loading."
19.6.108 Printf (Create and Store formatted string)

Syntax
Printf (FormatString, FormatArgs) => String
Arguments
Printf is a macro that converts the evaluated FormatString into a series of string Concatenate
operations, storing the result in the Debug object.
FormatString is a string literal which may contain one or more uses of the format specifier, %o, to
indicate locations in the string where an object may be inserted. %o is the only format specifier
supported since the resulting object is a string and type conversion is handled automatically by
Concatenate.

FormatArgs is a comma separated list of Named Objects, Locals, or Args that can be evaluated to a
string. Each argument is added to the FormatString using the Concatenate operation at the location
specified by %o in order of appearance.
Description
The Printf macro converts a format string into a series of cascading string Concatenate operations,
and stores the result in the Debug object
Example
The following ASL example uses Printf to write a formatted string with the values of Arg0, Arg1,
Arg2, and Arg3 to the Debug Object.
Printf ("%o: Unexpected value for %o, %o at line %o",
Arg0, Arg1, Arg2, Arg3)
This Printf macro expression evaluates to the following ASL operation.

Store (Concatenate (Concatenate (Concatenate (Concatenate
(Concatenate (Concatenate (Concatenate ("", Arg0),
": Unexpected value for "), Arg1), ", "), Arg2),
" at line "), Arg3), Debug)
19.6.109 Processor (Declare Processor)

This Operator is deprecated.
Declare Processors using the Device operator. See Section 19.6.30, "Device (Declare Device
Package)".
Note that this Operator may be required for compatibility with some legacy OSes, and can be used
for that purpose.
Syntax
Processor (ProcessorName, ProcessorID, PBlockAddress, PblockLength) {TermList}
Arguments
Declares a named processor object named ProcessorName. Processor opens a name scope. Each
processor is required to have a unique ProcessorID value that is unique from any other ProcessorID
value.
For each processor in the system, the ACPI system firmware declares one processor object in the
namespace anywhere within the \_SB scope. For compatibility with operating systems implementing
ACPI 1.0, the processor object may also be declared under the \_PR scope. An ACPI-compatible
namespace may define Processor objects in either the \_SB or \_PR scope but not both.
PBlockAddress provides the system I/O address for the processors register block. Each processor
can supply a different such address. PBlockLength is the length of the processor register block, in
bytes and is either 0 (for no P_BLK) or 6. With one exception, all processors are required to have the
same PBlockLength. The exception is that the boot processor can have a non-zero PBlockLength
when all other processors have a zero PBlockLength. It is valid for every processor to have a
PBlockLength of 0.

Description
The following block of ASL sample code shows a use of the Processor term.
Processor (
\_PR.CPU0, // Namespace name
1,
6 // PBlkLen
) {ObjectList}
The TermList is an optional list that may contain an arbitrary number of ASL Objects. Processor-
specific objects that may be included in the TermList include _PTC, _CST, _PCT, _PSS, _PPC,
_PSD, _TSD, _CSD, _PDC, _TPC, _TSS, and _OSC. These processor-specific objects can only be
specified when the processor object is declared within the \_SB scope. For a full definition of these
objects, see Section 8, “Processor Configuration and Control.”
The optional processor object list is encoded as TermList, so that rather than describing a static
processor object list, it is possible to describe a dynamic processor object list according to the system
settings. See "Section 5.4.2, Definition Block Loading."
19.6.110 QWordIO (QWord IO Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
QWordIO (ResourceUsage, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed, Decode, ISARanges, AddressGranularity,
Arguments
is assumed.
DescriptorName. _MIF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
DescriptorName. _MAF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
DescriptorName. _DEC is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,


which the I/O range must be aligned. The 64-bit field DescriptorName. _GRA is automatically
descriptor.
descriptor.
range. The 64-bit field DescriptorName. _LEN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the
assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName. _TRS is automatically created to refer to this portion of

Description
The QWordIO macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 64-bit I/O resource descriptor, which
describes a range of I/O addresses. The format of the 64-bit I/O resource descriptor can be found in
QWord Address Space Descriptor (page 395). The macro is designed to be used inside of a
19.6.111 QWordMemory (QWord Memory Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
QWordMemory (ResourceUsage, Decode, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed, Cacheable, ReadAndWrite,
ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceSource, DescriptorName, MemoryRangeType, TranslationType)
Arguments
DescriptorName. _MEM is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,

bit field DescriptorName. _MTP is automatically created in order to refer to this portion of the
assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName. _TTP is automatically created to refer to this portion of
more information.
Description
The QWordMemory macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 64-bit memory resource
descriptor, which describes a range of memory addresses. The format of the 64-bit memory resource
descriptor can be found in “QWord Address Space Descriptor ” (page 395). The macro is designed
to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).

19.6.112 QWordSpace (QWord Space Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
QWordSpace (ResourceType, ResourceUsage, Decode, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed,
RangeLength, ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceSource, DescriptorName)
Arguments

Description
The QWordSpace macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 64-bit Address Space resource
descriptor, which describes a range of addresses. The format of the 64-bit AddressSpace descriptor
can be found in “QWord Address Space Descriptor ” (page 395). The macro is designed to be used
19.6.113 RawDataBuffer
Syntax
RawDataBuffer (RDBufferSize) {ByteList} => RawDataBuffer
Arguments
Declares a RawDataBuffer of size RDBufferSize and optional initial value of ByteList.
Description
The optional RDBufferSize parameter specifies the size of the buffer and must be a word constant.
The initial value is specified in Initializer ByteList. If RDBufferSize is not specified, it defaults to the
size of initializer. If the count is too small to hold the value specified by initializer, the initializer size
is used.
Note that a RawDataBuffer is not encoded as a Buffer (Opcode, Package length bytes, etc), but
rather contains only the raw bytes specified.
19.6.114 RefOf (Create Object Reference)

Syntax
RefOf (Object) => ObjectReference
Arguments
Object can be any object type (for example, a package, a device object, and so on).

Description
Returns an object reference to Object. If the Object does not exist, the result of a RefOf operation is
fatal. Use the CondRefOf term in cases where the Object might not exist.
The primary purpose of RefOf() is to allow an object to be passed to a method as an argument to the
method without the object being evaluated at the time the method was loaded.
19.6.115 Register (Generic Register Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
Register (AddressSpaceKeyword, RegisterBitWidth, RegisterBitOffset, RegisterAddress,
AccessSize, DescriptorName)
Arguments
AddressSpaceKeyword specifies the address space where the register exists. The register can exist in
I/O space (SystemIO), memory (SystemMemory), PCI configuration space (PCI_Config),
embedded controller space (EmbeddedControl), SMBus (SMBus), Platform Communications
Channel (PCC), or fixed-feature hardware (FFixedHW). The 8-bit field DescriptorName. _ASI is
automatically created in order to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor. See Address Space
Id (page 409) for more information, including a list of valid values and their meanings.
RegisterBitWidth evaluates to an 8-bit integer that specifies the number of bits in the register. The 8-
bit field DescriptorName. _RBW is automatically created in order to refer to this portion of the
resource descriptor. See _RBW (page 409) for more information.
RegisterBitOffset evaluates to an 8-bit integer that specifies the offset in bits from the start of the
register indicated by RegisterAddress. The 8-bit field DescriptorName. _RBO is automatically
created in order to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor. See _RBO (page 409) for more
information.
RegisterAddress evaluates to a 64-bit integer that specifies the register address. The 64-bit field
DescriptorName. _ADR is automatically created in order to refer to this portion of the resource
descriptor. See _ADR (page 409) for more information.
AccessSize evaluates to an 8-bit integer that specifies the size of data values used when accessing the
address space as follows:
0 - Undefined (legacy)
1 - Byte access
2 - Word access
3 - DWord access
4 - QWord access
The 8-bit field DescriptorName. _ASZ is automatically created in order to refer to this portion of the
resource descriptor. See _ASZ (page 409) for more information. For backwards compatibility, the
AccesSize parameter is optional when invoking the Register macro. If the AccessSize parameter is
not supplied then the AccessSize field will be set to zero. In this case, OSPM will assume the access
size.

Description
The Register macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a generic register resource descriptor. The
format of the generic register resource descriptor can be found in “Generic Register Descriptor ”
19.6.116 Release (Release a Mutex Synchronization Object)

Syntax
Release (SyncObject)
Arguments
SynchObject must be a mutex synchronization object.
Description
If the mutex object is owned by the current invocation, ownership for the Mutex is released once. It
is fatal to release ownership on a Mutex unless it is currently owned. A Mutex must be totally
released before an invocation completes.
19.6.117 Reset (Reset an Event Synchronization Object)

Syntax
Reset (SyncObject)
Arguments
SynchObject must be an Event synchronization object.
Description
This operator is used to reset an event synchronization object to a non-signaled state. See also the
Wait and Signal function operator definitions.
19.6.118 ResourceTemplate (Resource To Buffer Conversion Macro)

Syntax
ResourceTemplate () {ResourceMacroList} => Buffer
Description
For a full definition of the ResourceTemplateTerm macro, see Section 19.3.3, “ASL Resource
Templates”.

19.6.119 Return (Return from Method Execution)

Syntax
Return
Return ()
Return (Arg)
Arguments
Arg is optional and can be any valid object or reference.
Description
Returns control to the invoking control method, optionally returning a copy of the object named in
Arg. If no Arg object is specified, a Return(Zero) is generated by the ASL compiler.
Note: In the absence of an explicit Return () statement, the return value to the caller is undefined.
19.6.120 Revision (Constant Revision Integer)

Syntax
Revision => Integer
Description
The Revision operator returns an Integer containing the current revision of the AML interpreter.
Writes to this object are not allowed.
19.6.121 Scope (Open Named Scope)

Syntax
Scope (Location) {ObjectList}
Arguments
Opens and assigns a base namespace scope to a collection of objects. All object names defined
within the scope are created relative to Location. Note that Location does not have to be below the
surrounding scope, but can refer to any location within the namespace. The Scope term itself does
not create objects, but only locates objects within the namespace; the actual objects are created by
other ASL terms.
Description
The object referred to by Location must already exist in the namespace and be one of the following
object types that has a namespace scope associated with it:
• A predefined scope such as: \ (root), \_SB, \GPE, \_PR, \_TZ, etc.
• Device
• Processor

• Thermal Zone
• Power Resource
The Scope term alters the current namespace location to the existing Location. This causes the
defined objects within TermList to be created relative to this new location in the namespace.
The object list is encoded as TermList, so that rather than describing a static object list, it is possible
to describe a dynamic object list according to the system settings. See "Section 5.4.2, Definition
Block Loading."
Note: When creating secondary SSDTs, it is often required to use the Scope operator to change the
namespace location in order create objects within some part of the namespace that has been defined
by the main DSDT. Use the External operator to declare the scope location so that the ASL
compiler will not issue an error for an undefined Location.
Examples
The following example ASL code uses the Scope operator and creates several objects:
Scope (\PCI0)
{
Name (X, 3)
Scope (\)
{
Method (RQ) {Return (0)}
}
Name (^Y, 4)
}
The created objects are placed in the ACPI namespace as shown:

\PCI0.X
\RQ
\Y
This example shows the use of External in conjunction with Scope within an SSDT:
DefinitionBlock ("ssdt.aml", "SSDT", 2, "X", "Y", 0x00000001)
{
Scope (\_SB.PCI0)
{
}
}
19.6.122 ShiftLeft (Integer Shift Left)

Syntax
ShiftLeft (Source, ShiftCount, Result) => Integer
Result = Source << ShiftCount => Integer
Result <<= ShiftCount => Integer

Arguments
Source and ShiftCount are evaluated as Integers.
Description
Source is shifted left with the least significant bit zeroed ShiftCount times. The result is optionally
stored into Result.
19.6.123 ShiftRight (Integer Shift Right)

Syntax
ShiftRight (Source, ShiftCount, Result) => Integer
Result = Source >> ShiftCount => Integer
Result >>= ShiftCount => Integer
Arguments
Source and ShiftCount are evaluated as Integers.
Description
Source is shifted right with the most significant bit zeroed ShiftCount times. The result is optionally
stored into Result.
19.6.124 Signal (Signal a Synchronization Event)

Syntax
Signal (SyncObject)
Arguments
SynchObject must be an Event synchronization object.
Description
The Event object is signaled once, allowing one invocation to acquire the event.
19.6.125 SizeOf (Get Data Object Size)

Syntax
SizeOf (ObjectName) => Integer
Arguments
ObjectName must be a buffer, string or package object.
Description
Returns the size of a buffer, string, or package data object.

For a buffer, it returns the size in bytes of the data. For a string, it returns the size in bytes of the
string, not counting the trailing NULL. For a package, it returns the number of elements. For an
object reference, the size of the referenced object is returned. Other data types cause a fatal run-time
error.
19.6.126 Sleep (Milliseconds Sleep)

Syntax
Sleep (MilliSeconds)
Arguments
The Sleep term is used to implement long-term timing requirements. Execution is delayed for at
least the required number of milliseconds.
Description
The implementation of Sleep is to round the request up to the closest sleep time supported by the OS
and relinquish the processor.
19.6.127 SPISerialBusV2 (SPI Serial Bus Connection Resource

Syntax
SPISerialBusV2 (DeviceSelection, DeviceSelectionPolarity, WireMode, DataBitLength,
SlaveMode, ConnectionSpeed, ClockPolarity, ClockPhase, ResourceSource, ResourceSourceIndex,
ResourceUsage, DescriptorName, Shared, VendorData)
Arguments
DeviceSelection is the device selection value. This value may refer to a chip-select line, GPIO line or
other line selection mechanism. _ADR is automatically created to refer to this portion of the
DeviceSelectionPolarity is an optional argument and can be either PolarityHigh or PolarityLow to
indicate that the device is active. PolarityLow is the default. The bit field _DPL is automatically
WireMode is an optional argument and can be either ThreeWireMode or FourWireMode.
FourWireMode is the default. The bit field name _MOD is automatically created to refer to this
DataBitLength is the size, in bits, of the smallest transfer unit for this connection. _LEN is
SlaveMode is an optional argument and can be either ControllerInitiated or DeviceInitiated.
ControllerInitiated is the default. The bit field name _SLV is automatically created to refer to this
ConnectionSpeed is the maximum connection speed supported by this connection, in hertz. The bit
field name _SPE is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.

ClockPolarity can be either ClockPolarityLow or ClockPolarityHigh. _POL is automatically created

to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
ClockPhase can be either ClockPhaseFirst or ClockPhaseSecond. _PHA is automatically created to
ResourceSource is a string which uniquely identifies the SPI bus controller referred to by this
ResourceUsage is an optional argument and is assumed to be ResourceConsumer for this
revision.DescriptorName is an optional argument that specifies a name for an integer constant that
will be created in the current scope that contains the offset of this resource descriptor within the
descriptor.
Description
The SPISerialBusV2 macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a SPI Serial Bus resource descriptor
(Version 2). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (see Section 19.3.3).
19.6.128 Stall (Stall for a Short Time)

Syntax
Stall (MicroSeconds)
Arguments
The Stall term is used to implement short-term timing requirements. Execution is delayed for at least
the required number of microseconds.
Description
The implementation of Stall is OS-specific, but must not relinquish control of the processor.
Because of this, delays longer than 100 microseconds must use Sleep instead of Stall.
19.6.129 StartDependentFn (Start Dependent Function Resource

Descriptor Macro)
Syntax
StartDependentFn (CompatibilityPriority, PerformancePriority) {ResourceList}

Arguments
CompatibilityPriority indicates the relative compatibility of the configuration specified by
ResourceList relative to the PC/AT. 0 = Good, 1 = Acceptable, 2 = Sub-optimal.
PerformancePriority indicates the relative performance of the configuration specified by
ResourceList relative to the other configurations. 0 = Good, 1 = Acceptable, 2 = Sub-optimal.
ResourceList is a list of resources descriptors which must be selected together for this configuration.
Description
The StartDependentFn macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a start dependent function
resource descriptor, which describes a group of resources which must be selected together. Each
subsequent StartDependentFn or StartDependentFnNoPri resource descriptor introduces a new
choice of resources for configuring the device, with the last choice terminated with an
EndDependentFn resource descriptor. The format of the start dependent function resource descriptor
can be found in “Start Dependent Functions Descriptor” (page 385). This macro generates the two-
byte form of the resource descriptor. The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate
(page 988).
19.6.130 StartDependentFnNoPri (Start Dependent Function Resource

Descriptor Macro)
Syntax
StartDependentFnNoPri () {ResourceList}
Description
The StartDependentFnNoPri macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a start dependent function
resource descriptor, which describes a group of resources which must be selected together. Each
subsequent StartDependentFn or StartDependentFnNoPri resource descriptor introduces a new
choice of resources for configuring the device, with the last choice terminated with an
EndDependentFn resource descriptor. The format of the start dependent function resource descriptor
can be found in “Start Dependent Functions Descriptor” (page 385). This macro generates the one-
byte form of the resource descriptor. The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate
(page 988).
This is similar to StartDependentFn (page 993) with both CompatibilityPriority and
PerformancePriority set to 1, but is one byte shorter.
19.6.131 Store (Store an Object)

Syntax
Store (Source, Destination) => DataRefObject
Destination = Source => DataRefObject

Arguments
This operation evaluates Source, converts it to the data type of Destination, and writes the result into
Destination. For information on automatic data-type conversion, see Section 19.3.5, “ASL Data
Types.”
Description
Stores to OperationRegion Field data types may relinquish the processor depending on the address
space.
All stores (of any type) to the constant Zero, constant One, or constant Ones object are not allowed.
Stores to read-only objects are fatal. The execution result of the operation depends on the type of
Destination. For any type other than an operation region field, the execution result is the same as the
data written to Destination. For operation region fields with an AccessType of ByteAcc, WordAcc,
DWordAcc, QWordAcc or AnyAcc, the execution result is the same as the data written to
Destination as in the normal case, but when the AccessType is BufferAcc, the operation region
handler may modify the data when it is written to the Destination so that the execution result
contains modified data.
Example
The following example creates the name CNT that references an integer data object with the value 5
and then stores CNT to Local0. After the Store operation, Local0 is an integer object with the value
5.
Name (CNT, 5)
Store (CNT, Local0)
19.6.132 Subtract (Integer Subtract)

Syntax
Subtract (Minuend, Subtrahend, Result) => Integer
Result = Minuend - Subtrahend => Integer
Result -= Subtrahend => Integer
Arguments
Minuend and Subtrahend are evaluated as Integers.
Description
Subtrahend is subtracted from Minuend, and the result is optionally stored into Result. Underflow
conditions are ignored and the result simply loses the most significant bits.
19.6.133 Switch (Select Code To Execute Based On Expression)

Syntax
Switch (Expression) {CaseTermList}

Arguments
Expression is an ASL expression that evaluates to an Integer, String or Buffer.
Description
The Switch, Case and Default statements help simplify the creation of conditional and branching
code. The Switch statement transfers control to a statement within the enclosed body of executable
ASL code
If the Case Value is an Integer, Buffer or String, then control passes to the statement that matches the
value of Switch (Expression). If the Case value is a Package, then control passes if any member of
the package matches the Switch (Value) The Switch CaseTermList can include any number of Case
instances, but no two Case Values (or members of a Value, if Value is a Package) within the same
Switch statement can have the same value.
Execution of the statement body begins at the selected TermList and proceeds until the TermList end
of body or until a Break or Continue statement transfers control out of the body.
The Default statement is executed if no Case Value matches the value of Switch (expression). If the
Default statement is omitted, and no Case match is found, none of the statements in the Switch body
are executed. There can be at most one Default statement. The Default statement can appear
anywhere in the body of the Switch statement.
A Case or Default term can only appear inside a Switch statement. Switch statements can be nested.
(Compatibility Note) The Switch, Case, and Default terms were first introduced in ACPI 2.0.
However, their implementation is backward compatible with ACPI 1.0 AML interpreters.
Example
Use of the Switch statement usually looks something like this:
Switch (expression)
{
Case (value) {
Statements executed if Lequal (expression, value)
}
Case (Package () {value, value, value}) {
Statements executed if Lequal (expression, any value in package)
}
Default {
Statements executed if expression does not equal
any case constant-expression
}
}

Note: (Compiler Note) The following example demonstrates how the Switch statement should be
translated into ACPI 1.0-compatible AML:
Switch (Add (ABCD( ),1)

{
Case (1) {
…statements1…
}
Case (Package () {4,5,6}) {
…statements2…
}
Default {
…statements3…
}
}
is translated as:
Name (_T_I, 0) // Create Integer temporary variable for result
While (One)
{
Store (Add (ABCD (), 1), _T_I)
If (LEqual (_T_I, 1)) {
…statements1…
}
Else {
If (LNotEqual (Match (Package () {4, 5, 6}, MEQ, _T_I, MTR, 0, 0), Ones)) {
…statements2…
}
Else {
…statements3…
}
Break
}
The While (One) is emitted to enable the use of Break and Continue within the Switch statement.
Temporary names emitted by the ASL compiler should appear at the top level of the method, since
the Switch statement could appear within a loop and thus attempt to create the name more than once.
Note: If the ASL compiler is unable to determine the type of the expression, then it will generate a
warning and assume a type of Integer. The warning will indicate that the code should use one of the
type conversion operators (Such as ToInteger, ToBuffer, ToDecimalString or ToHexString).
Caution: Some of these operators are defined starting with ACPI 2.0 and as such may not be
supported by ACPI 1.0b compatible interpreters.
For example:
Switch (ABCD ()) // Cannot determine the type because methods can return anything.
{
…case statements…
}
will generate a warning and the following code:
Name (_T_I, 0)
Store (ABCD (), _T_I)
To remove the warning, the code should be:

Switch (ToInteger (ABCD ()))

{
…case statements…
}
19.6.134 ThermalZone (Declare Thermal Zone)

Syntax
ThermalZone (ThermalZoneName) {TermList}
Arguments
Declares a Thermal Zone object named ThermalZoneName. ThermalZone opens a name scope.
Each use of a ThermalZone term declares one thermal zone in the system. Each thermal zone in a
system is required to have a unique ThermalZoneName.
Description
A thermal zone may be declared in the namespace anywhere within the \_SB scope. For
compatibility with operating systems implementing ACPI 1.0, a thermal zone may also be declared
under the \_TZ scope. An ACPI-compatible namespace may define Thermal Zone objects in either
the \_SB or \_TZ scope but not both.
For example ASL code that uses a ThermalZone statement, see Section 11, “Thermal Management.”
The thermal object list is encoded as TermList, so that rather than describing a static thermal object
list, it is possible to describe a dynamic thermal object list according to the system settings. See
"Section 5.4.2, Definition Block Loading."
19.6.135 Timer (Get 64-Bit Timer Value)

Syntax
Timer => Integer
Description
The timer opcode returns a monotonically increasing value that can be used by ACPI methods to
measure time passing, this enables speed optimization by allowing AML code to mark the passage
of time independent of OS ACPI interpreter implementation.
The Sleep opcode can only indicate waiting for longer than the time specified.
The value resulting from this opcode is 64 bits. It is monotonically increasing, but it is not
guaranteed that every result will be unique, i.e. two subsequent instructions may return the same
value. The only guarantee is that each subsequent evaluation will be greater-than or equal to the
previous ones.
The period of this timer is 100 nanoseconds. While the underlying hardware may not support this
granularity, the interpreter will do the conversion from the actual timer hardware frequency into 100
nanosecond units.

Users of this opcode should realize that a value returned only represents the time at which the
opcode itself executed. There is no guarantee that the next opcode in the instruction stream will
execute in any particular time bound.
The OSPM can implement this using the ACPI Timer and keep track of overrun. Other
implementations are possible. This provides abstraction away from chipset differences
19.6.136 ToBCD (Convert Integer to BCD)

Syntax
ToBCD (Value, Result) => Integer
Arguments
Value is evaluated as an integer
Description
The ToBCD operator is used to convert Value from a numeric (Integer) format to a BCD format and
optionally store the numeric value into Result.
19.6.137 ToBuffer (Convert Data to Buffer)

Syntax
ToBuffer (Data, Result) => Buffer
Arguments
Data must be an Integer, String, or Buffer data type.
Description
Data is converted to buffer type and the result is optionally stored into Result. If Data is an integer,
it is converted into n bytes of buffer (where n is 4 if the definition block has defined integers as 32
bits or 8 if the definition block has defined integers as 64 bits as indicated by the Definition Block
table header’s Revision field), taking the least significant byte of integer as the first byte of buffer. If
Data is a buffer, no conversion is performed. If Data is a string, each ASCII string character is
copied to one buffer byte, including the string null terminator. A null (zero-length) string will be
converted to a zero-length buffer.
19.6.138 ToDecimalString (Convert Data to Decimal String)

Syntax
ToDecimalString (Data, Result) => String
Arguments

Description
Data is converted to a decimal string, and the result is optionally stored into Result. If Data is
already a string, no action is performed. If Data is a buffer, it is converted to a string of decimal
values separated by commas. (Each byte of the buffer is converted to a single decimal value.) A
zero-length buffer will be converted to a null (zero-length) string.
19.6.139 ToHexString (Convert Data to Hexadecimal String)

Syntax
ToHexString (Data, Result) => String
Arguments
Description
Data is converted to a hexadecimal string, and the result is optionally stored into Result. If Data is
already a string, no action is performed. If Data is a buffer, it is converted to a string of hexadecimal
values separated by commas. A zero-length buffer will be converted to a null (zero-length) string.
19.6.140 ToInteger (Convert Data to Integer)

Syntax
ToInteger (Data, Result) => Integer
Arguments
Description
Data is converted to integer type and the result is optionally stored into Result. If Data is a string, it
must be either a decimal or hexadecimal numeric string (in other words, prefixed by “0x”) and the
value must not exceed the maximum of an integer value. If the value is exceeding the maximum, the
result of the conversion is unpredictable. A null (zero-length) string is illegal. If Data is a Buffer, the
first 8 bytes of the buffer are converted to an integer, taking the first byte as the least significant byte
of the integer. A zero-length buffer is illegal. If Data is an integer, no action is performed.
19.6.141 ToPLD (Creates a _PLD Buffer Object)

Syntax
ToPLD (PLDKeywordList) => _PLD Buffer Object
Arguments
PLDKeywordList is a list of PLDKeyword types that describe elements of a Physical Layer
Description (_PLD) buffer that can be assigned values. The table below shows the available

PLDKeyword types and their assignable types. Refer to the _PLD section for a description of the
_PLD method object.
Table 19-425 PLD Keywords and Assignment Types

PLDKeyword Assignment Type
PLD_Revision Integer
PLD_IgnoreColor Integer
PLD_Red Integer
PLD_Green Integer
PLD_Blue Integer
PLD_Width Integer
PLD_Height Integer
PLD_UserVisible Integer
PLD_Dock Integer
PLD_Lid Integer
PLD_Panel Integer or String
PLD_VerticalPosition Integer or String
PLD_HorizontalPosition Integer or String
PLD_Shape Integer or String
PLD_GroupOrientation Integer
PLD_GroupToken Integer
PLD_GroupPosition Integer
PLD_Bay Integer
PLD_Ejectable Integer
PLD_EjectRequired Integer
PLD_CabinetNumber Integer
PLD_CardCageNumber Integer
PLD_Reference Integer
PLD_Rotation Integer
PLD_Order Integer
PLD_VeriticalOffset Integer
PLD_HorizontalOffset Integer
A subset of PLDKeyword types can be assigned string values for improved readability. Those types
and their assignable values are shown in the table below.
Table 19-426 PLD Keywords and assignable String Values

PLDKeyword Assignable String Values
PLD_Panel “TOP”, “BOTTOM”,”LEFT”, “RIGHT”,”FRONT”,”BACK”,”UNKNOWN”
PLD_VerticalPosition “UPPER”,”CENTER”,”LOWER”
PLD_HorizontalPosition “LEFT”,”CENTER”,”RIGHT”

PLD_Shape “ROUND”,”OVAL”,”SQUARE”,
“VERTICALRECTANGLE”,
“HORIZONTALRECTANGLE”,
“VERTICALTRAPEZOID”,
“HORIZONTALTRAPEZOID”,
“UNKNOWN”
Description
The ToPLD macro converts a list of PLDKeyword types into a _PLD buffer object.
Example
The following ASL shows an example using ToPLDto construct a _PLD buffer/package object.
Name (_PLD, Package (0x01) // _PLD: Physical Location of Device
{
ToPLD (
PLD_Revision = 0x2,
PLD_IgnoreColor = 0x1,
PLD_Red = 0x37,
PLD_Green = 0x44,
PLD_Blue = 0xFF,
PLD_Width = 0x4,
PLD_Height = 0x19,
PLD_UserVisible = 0x1,
PLD_Dock = 0x0,
PLD_Lid = 0x1,
PLD_Panel = "TOP",
PLD_VerticalPosition = "CENTER",
PLD_HorizontalPosition = "RIGHT",
PLD_Shape = "VERTICALRECTANGLE",
PLD_GroupOrientation = 0x1,
PLD_GroupToken = 0xA,
PLD_GroupPosition = 0x21,
PLD_Bay = 0x1,
PLD_Ejectable = 0x0,
PLD_EjectRequired = 0x1,
PLD_CabinetNumber = 0x1E,
PLD_CardCageNumber = 0x17,
PLD_Reference = 0x0,
PLD_Rotation = 0x7,
PLD_Order = 0x3,
PLD_VerticalOffset = 0x141,
PLD_HorizontalOffset = 0x2C)
})
19.6.142 ToString (Convert Buffer To String)

Syntax
ToString (Source, Length, Result) => String
Arguments
Source is evaluated as a buffer. Length is evaluated as an integer data type.

Description
Starting with the first byte, the contents of the buffer are copied into the string until the number of
characters specified by Length is reached or a null (0) character is found. If Length is not specified or
is Ones, then the contents of the buffer are copied until a null (0) character is found. If the source
buffer has a length of zero, a zero length (null terminator only) string will be created. The result is
copied into the Result.
19.6.143 ToUUID (Convert String to UUID Macro)

Syntax
ToUUID (AsciiString) => Buffer
Arguments
AsciiString is evaluated as a String data type.
Description
This macro will convert an ASCII string to a 128-bit buffer. The string must have the following
format:
aabbccdd-eeff-gghh-iijj-kkllmmnnoopp
where aa – pp are one byte hexadecimal numbers, made up of hexadecimal digits. The resulting
buffer has the following format:
Table 19-427 UUID Buffer Format

String Offset In Buffer
aa 3
bb 2
cc 1
dd 0
ee 5
ff 4
gg 7
hh 6
ii 8
jj 9
kk 10
ll 11
mm 12
nn 13
oo 14
pp 15

19.6.144 UARTSerialBusV2 (UART Serial Bus Connection Resource

Syntax
UARTSerialBusV2 (InitialBaudRate, BitsPerByte, StopBits, LinesInUse, IsBigEndian, Parity,
FlowControl, ReceiveBufferSize, TransmitBufferSize, ResourceSource, ResourceSourceIndex,
ResourceUsage, DescriptorName, Shared, VendorData)
Arguments
InitialBaudRate evaluates to a 32-bit integer that specifies the default or initial connection speed in
bytes per second that the device supports. The bit field _SPE is automatically created to refer to this
BitsPerByte is an optional argument that specifies whether five bits (DataBitsFive), six bits
(DataBitsSix), seven bits (DataBitsSeven), eight bits (DataBitsEight) or nine bits (DataBitsNine)
contain data during transfer of a single packet or character. DataBitsEight is the default. The bit field
DescriptorName._LEN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
StopBits is an optional argument that specifies whether there are two bits (StopBitsTwo), one and a
half bits (StopBitsOnePlusHalf), one bit (StopBitsOne) or no bits (StopBitsZero) used to signal
the end of a packet or character. StopBitsOne is the default. The bit field _STB is automatically
LinesInUse evaluates to an integer representing 8 1-bit flags representing the presence (‘1’) or
absence (‘0’) of a particular line. The bit field _LIN is automatically created to refer to this portion
Bit Mask UART Line
Bit 7 (0x80) Request To Send (RTS)
Bit 6 (0x40) Clear To Send (CTS)
Bit 5 (0x20) Data Terminal Ready (DTR)
Bit 4 (0x10) Data Set Ready (DSR)
Bit 3 (0x08) Ring Indicator (RI)
Bit 2 (0x04) Data Carrier Detect (DTD)
Bit 1 (0x02) Reserved. Must be 0.
Bit 0 (0x01) Reserved. Must be 0.
IsBigEndian is an optional argument that specifies whether the device is expecting big endian
(BigEndian) or little endian (LittleEndian) data formats. LittleEndian is the default. The bit field
_END is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
Parity is an optional argument that specifies whether the type of parity bits included after the data in
a packet are to be interpreted as space parity (ParityTypeSpace), mark parity (ParityTypeMark), odd
parity (ParityTypeOdd), even parity (ParityTypeEven) or no parity (ParityTypeNone).
ParityTypeNone is the default. The bit field PAR is automatically created to refer to this portion of
the resource descriptor.

FlowControl is an optional argument that specifies whether there is hardware-based flow control
(FlowControlHardware), software-based flow control (FlowControlXON) or no flow control
(FlowControlNone) used when communicating with the device. FlowControlNone is the default.
The bit field_FLC is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor.
ReceiveBufferSize evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the upper limit in bytes of the receive
buffer that can be optimally utilized while communicating with this device. The bit field_RXL is
TransmitBufferSize evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the upper limit in bytes of the transmit
buffer that can be optimally utilized while communicating with this device. The bit field _TXL is
ResourceSource is a string which uniquely identifies the UART bus controller referred to by this
descriptor.
Description
The UARTSerialBusV2 macro evaluates to a buffer that contains a UART Serial Bus resource
descriptor (Version 2). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate
(seeSection 19.3.3 ).
19.6.145 Unicode (String To Unicode Conversion Macro)

Syntax
Unicode (String) => Buffer
Arguments
This macro will convert a string to a Unicode (UTF-16) string contained in a buffer. The format of
the Unicode string is 16 bits per character, with a 16-bit null terminator.

19.6.146 Unload (Unload Definition Block)

Syntax
Unload (Handle)
Arguments
Handle is evaluated as a DDBHandle data type.
Description
Performs a run-time unload of a Definition Block that was loaded using a Load term or LoadTable
term. Loading or unloading a Definition Block is a synchronous operation, and no control method
execution occurs during the function. On completion of the Unload operation, the Definition Block
has been unloaded (all the namespace objects created as a result of the corresponding Load
operation will be removed from the namespace).
19.6.147 VendorLong (Long Vendor Resource Descriptor)

Syntax
VendorLong (DescriptorName) {VendorByteList}
Arguments
VendorByteList evaluates to a comma-separated list of 8-bit integer constants, where each byte is
added verbatim to the body of the VendorLong resource descriptor. A maximum of n bytes can be
specified. UUID and UUID specific descriptor subtype are part of the VendorByteList.
Description
The VendorLong macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a vendor-defined resource descriptor.
The format of the long form of the vendor-defined resource descriptor can be found in Vendor-
Defined Descriptor (page 388). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate
(page 988).
This is similar to VendorShort (page 1006), except that the number of allowed bytes in
VendorByteList is 65,533 (instead of 7).
19.6.148 VendorShort (Short Vendor Resource Descriptor)

Syntax
VendorShort (DescriptorName) {VendorByteList}
Arguments

Description
The VendorShort macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a vendor-defined resource descriptor.
The format of the short form of the vendor-defined resource descriptor can be found in “Vendor-
Defined Descriptor” (page 388). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate
(page 988).
This is similar to VendorLong (page 1006), except that the number of allowed bytes in
VendorByteList is 7 (instead of 65,533).
19.6.149 Wait (Wait for a Synchronization Event)

Syntax
Wait (SyncObject, TimeoutValue) => Boolean
Arguments
SynchObject must be an event synchronization object. TimeoutValue is evaluated as an Integer. The
calling method blocks while waiting for the event to be signaled.
Description
The pending signal count is decremented. If there is no pending signal count, the processor is
relinquished until a signal count is posted to the Event or until at least TimeoutValue milliseconds
have elapsed.
This operation returns a non-zero value if a timeout occurred and a signal was not acquired. A
TimeoutValue of 0xFFFF (or greater) indicates that there is no time out and the operation will wait
indefinitely.
19.6.150 While (Conditional Loop)

Syntax
While (Predicate) {TermList}
Arguments
Predicate is evaluated as an integer.
Description
If the Predicate is non-zero, the list of terms in TermList is executed. The operation repeats until the
Predicate evaluates to zero.
Note: Creation of a named object more than once in a given scope is not allowed. As such,
unconditionally creating named objects within a While loop must be avoided. A fatal error will be

generated on the second iteration of the loop, during the attempt to create the same named object
a second time.
19.6.151 WordBusNumber (Word Bus Number Resource Descriptor

Macro)
Syntax
WordBusNumber (ResourceUsage, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed, Decode, AddressGranularity,
ResourceSource, DescriptorName)
Arguments
ResourceUsage specifies whether the bus range is consumed by this device (ResourceConsumer)
is assumed.
IsMinFixed specifies whether the minimum address of this bus number range is fixed (MinFixed) or
IsMaxFixed specifies whether the maximum address of this bus number range is fixed (MaxFixed)
or can be changed (MaxNotFixed). If nothing is specified, then MaxNotFixed is assumed. The 1-bit
Decode specifies whether or not the device decodes the bus number range using positive
(PosDecode) or subtractive (SubDecode) decode. If nothing is specified, then PosDecode is
assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName. _DEC is automatically created to refer to this portion of
the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is SubDecode and ‘0’ is PosDecode.
which the bus number range must be aligned. The 16-bit field DescriptorName. _GRA is
AddressMinimum evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the lowest possible bus number for the
bus number range. The value must have ‘0’ in all bits where the corresponding bit in
AddressMaximum evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the highest possible bus number for the
bus bus number which results in the corresponding primary bus bus number. For all non-bridge

RangeLength evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the total number of bus numbers decoded in
the bus number range. The 16-bit field DescriptorName. _LEN is automatically created to refer to
Description
The WordBusNumber macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 16-bit bus-number resource
descriptor. The format of the 16-bit bus number resource descriptor can be found in “Word Address
Space Descriptor ” (page 400). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate
(page 988).
19.6.152 WordIO (Word IO Resource Descriptor Macro)

Syntax
WordIO (ResourceUsage, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed, Decode, ISARanges, AddressGranularity,
Arguments
is assumed.
DescriptorName. _MIF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
DescriptorName. _MAF is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,
DescriptorName. _DEC is automatically created to refer to this portion of the resource descriptor,

which the I/O range must be aligned. The 16-bit field DescriptorName. _GRA is automatically
descriptor.
descriptor.
range. The 16-bit field DescriptorName. _LEN is automatically created to refer to this portion of the

assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName. _TRS is automatically created to refer to this portion of
Description
The WordIO macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 16-bit I/O range resource descriptor. The
format of the 16-bit I/O range resource descriptor can be found in “Word Address Space Descriptor
” (page 400). The macro is designed to be used inside of a ResourceTemplate (page 988).
19.6.153 WordSpace (Word Space Resource Descriptor Macro) )

Syntax
WordSpace (ResourceType, ResourceUsage, Decode, IsMinFixed, IsMaxFixed, TypeSpecificFlags,
ResourceSourceIndex, ResourceSource, DescriptorName)
Arguments
ResourceUsage specifies whether the bus range is consumed by this device (ResourceConsumer)
is assumed.
Decode specifies whether or not the device decodes the bus number range using positive
(PosDecode) or subtractive (SubDecode) decode. If nothing is specified, then PosDecode is
assumed. The 1-bit field DescriptorName. _DEC is automatically created to refer to this portion of
the resource descriptor, where ‘1’ is SubDecode and ‘0’ is PosDecode.
IsMinFixed specifies whether the minimum address of this bus number range is fixed (MinFixed) or
IsMaxFixed specifies whether the maximum address of this bus number range is fixed (MaxFixed)
or can be changed (MaxNotFixed). If nothing is specified, then MaxNotFixed is assumed. The 1-bit
which the bus number range must be aligned. The 16-bit field DescriptorName. _GRA is
AddressMinimum evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the lowest possible bus number for the

AddressMaximum evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the highest possible bus number for the
bus bus number which results in the corresponding primary bus bus number. For all non-bridge
RangeLength evaluates to a 16-bit integer that specifies the total number of bus numbers decoded in
the bus number range. The 16-bit field DescriptorName. _LEN is automatically created to refer to
Description
The WordSpace macro evaluates to a buffer which contains a 16-bit Address Space resource
descriptor. The format of the 16-bit Address Space resource descriptor can be found in “Word
Address Space Descriptor ” (page 400). The macro is designed to be used inside of a
19.6.154 XOr (Integer Bitwise Xor)

Syntax
XOr (Source1, Source2, Result) => Integer
Result = Source1 ^ Source2 => Integer
Result ^= Source => Integer
Arguments
Description
A bitwise XOR is performed and the result is optionally stored into Result.

19.6.155 Zero (Constant Zero Integer)

Syntax
Zero => Integer
Description
The Zero operator returns an Integer with the value 0. Writes to this object are not allowed. The use
of this operator can reduce AML code size, since it is represented by a one-byte AML opcode.


ACPI Specification ACPI Machine Language (AML) Specification
20 ACPI Machine Language (AML) Specification
This section formally defines the ACPI Control Method Machine Language (AML) language. AML
is the ACPI Control Method virtual machine language, machine code for a virtual machine that is
supported by an ACPI-compatible OS. ACPI control methods can be written in AML, but humans
ordinarily write control methods in ASL.
AML is the language processed by the ACPI AML interpreter. It is primarily a declarative language.
It’s best not to think of it as a stream of code, but rather as a set of declarations that the ACPI AML
interpreter will compile into the ACPI Namespace at definition block load time. For example, notice
that DefByte allocates an anonymous integer variable with a byte-size initial value in ACPI
namespace, and passes in an initial value. The byte in the AML stream that defines the initial value is
not the address of the variable’s storage location.
An OEM or platform firmware vendor needs to write ASL and be able to single-step AML for
debugging. (Debuggers and other ACPI control method language tools are expected to be AML-
level tools, not source-level tools.) An ASL translator implementer must understand how to read
ASL and generate AML. An AML interpreter author must understand how to execute AML.
AML and ASL are different languages, though they are closely related.
All ACPI-compatible operating systems must support AML. A given user can define some arbitrary
source language (to replace ASL) and write a tool to translate it to AML. However, the ACPI group
will support a single translator for a single language, ASL.
20.1 Notation Conventions

The notation conventions in the table below help the reader to interpret the AML formal grammar.
Table 20-428 AML Grammar Notation Conventions

0xdd Refers to a byte value expressed as 0x21
2 hexadecimal digits.
Number in bold. Denotes the encoding of the AML
term.
Term => Evaluated Type Shows the resulting type of the
evaluation of Term.
Single quotes (‘ ’) Indicate constant characters. ‘A’ => 0x41
Term := Term Term … The term to the left of := can be aterm := bterm cterm means that aterm
expanded into the sequence of can be expanded into the two-term
terms on the right. sequence of bterm followed by cterm.
Term Term Term … Terms separated from each other
by spaces form an ordered list.
Angle brackets (< > ) Used to group items. <a b> | <c d> means either a b or c d.

ACPI Machine Language (AML) Specification ACPI Specification

Bar symbol ( | ) Separates alternatives. aterm := bterm | [cterm dterm] means
the following constructs are possible:
bterm
cterm dterm
aterm := [bterm | cterm] dterm means
the following constructs are possible:
bterm dterm
cterm dterm
Dash character ( - ) Indicates a range. 1-9 means a single digit in the range 1 to
9 inclusive.
Parenthesized term The parenthesized term is the aterm(3) means aterm aterm aterm.
following another term. repeat count of the previous term. bterm(n) means n number of bterms.
20.2 AML Grammar Definition

This section defines the byte values that make up an AML byte stream.
The AML encoding can be categorized in the following groups:
• Table and Table Header encoding
• Name objects encoding
• Data objects encoding
• Package length encoding
• Term objects encoding
• Miscellaneous objects encoding
20.2.1 Table and Table Header Encoding

AMLCode := DefBlockHeader TermList
DefBlockHeader := TableSignature TableLength SpecCompliance CheckSum OemID

OemTableID OemRevision CreatorID CreatorRevision
TableSignature := DWordData // As defined in section 5.2.3.

TableLength := DWordData // Length of the table in bytes including
// the block header.
SpecCompliance := ByteData // The revision of the structure.
CheckSum := ByteData // Byte checksum of the entire table.
OemID := ByteData(6) // OEM ID of up to 6 characters. If the OEM
// ID is shorter than 6 characters, it
// can be terminated with a NULL
// character.
OemTableID := ByteData(8) // OEM Table ID of up to 8 characters. If
// the OEM Table ID is shorter than 8

// characters, it can be terminated with

// a NULL character.
OemRevision := DWordData // OEM Table Revision.
CreatorID := DWordData // Vendor ID of the ASL compiler.
CreatorRevision := DWordData // Revision of the ASL compiler.
20.2.2 Name Objects Encoding

LeadNameChar := ‘A’-‘Z’ | ‘_’
DigitChar := ‘0’-‘9’
NameChar := DigitChar | LeadNameChar
RootChar := ‘\’
ParentPrefixChar := ‘^’
‘A’-‘Z’ := 0x41 - 0x5A

‘_’ := 0x5F
‘0’-‘9’ := 0x30 - 0x39
‘\’ := 0x5C
‘^’ := 0x5E
NameSeg := <LeadNameChar NameChar NameChar NameChar>

// Notice that NameSegs shorter than 4 characters are filled with
// trailing underscores (‘_’s).
NameString := <RootChar NamePath> | <PrefixPath NamePath>
PrefixPath := Nothing | <‘^’ PrefixPath>
NamePath := NameSeg | DualNamePath | MultiNamePath | NullName
DualNamePath := DualNamePrefix NameSeg NameSeg

DualNamePrefix := 0x2E
MultiNamePath := MultiNamePrefix SegCount NameSeg(SegCount)
MultiNamePrefix := 0x2F
SegCount := ByteData
Note: SegCount can be from 1 to 255. For example: MultiNamePrefix(35) is encoded as 0x2f 0x23 and
followed by 35 NameSegs. So, the total encoding length will be 1 + 1 + 35*4 = 142. Notice that:
DualNamePrefix NameSeg NameSeg has a smaller encoding than the encoding of:
MultiNamePrefix(2) NameSeg NameSeg
SimpleName := NameString | ArgObj | LocalObj

SuperName := SimpleName | DebugObj | Type6Opcode
NullName := 0x00
Target := SuperName | NullName

20.2.3 Data Objects Encoding

ComputationalData := ByteConst | WordConst | DWordConst | QWordConst | String |
ConstObj | RevisionOp | DefBuffer
DataObject := ComputationalData | DefPackage | DefVarPackage
DataRefObject := DataObject | ObjectReference | DDBHandle
ByteConst := BytePrefix ByteData

BytePrefix := 0x0A
WordConst := WordPrefix WordData
WordPrefix := 0x0B
DWordConst := DWordPrefix DWordData
DWordPrefix := 0x0C
QWordConst := QWordPrefix QWordData
QWordPrefix := 0x0E
String := StringPrefix AsciiCharList NullChar
StringPrefix := 0x0D
ConstObj := ZeroOp | OneOp | OnesOp

ByteList := Nothing | <ByteData ByteList>
ByteData := 0x00 - 0xFF
WordData := ByteData[0:7] ByteData[8:15]
// 0x0000-0xFFFF
DWordData := WordData[0:15] WordData[16:31]
// 0x00000000-0xFFFFFFFF
QWordData := DWordData[0:31] DWordData[32:63]
// 0x0000000000000000-0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
AsciiCharList := Nothing | <AsciiChar AsciiCharList>
AsciiChar := 0x01 - 0x7F
NullChar := 0x00
ZeroOp := 0x00
OneOp := 0x01
OnesOp := 0xFF
RevisionOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x30
ExtOpPrefix := 0x5B
20.2.4 Package Length Encoding

PkgLength := PkgLeadByte |
<PkgLeadByte ByteData> |
<PkgLeadByte ByteData ByteData> |
<PkgLeadByte ByteData ByteData ByteData>
PkgLeadByte := <bit 7-6: ByteData count that follows (0-3)>

<bit 5-4: Only used if PkgLength < 63>
<bit 3-0: Least significant package length nybble>
Note: The high 2 bits of the first byte reveal how many follow bytes are in the PkgLength. If the
PkgLength has only one byte, bit 0 through 5 are used to encode the package length (in other
words, values 0-63). If the package length value is more than 63, more than one byte must be
used for the encoding in which case bit 4 and 5 of the PkgLeadByte are reserved and must be
zero. If the multiple bytes encoding is used, bits 0-3 of the PkgLeadByte become the least
significant 4 bits of the resulting package length value. The next ByteData will become the next

least significant 8 bits of the resulting value and so on, up to 3 ByteData bytes. Thus, the maximum
package length is 2**28.
20.2.5 Term Objects Encoding

Object := NameSpaceModifierObj | NamedObj
TermObj := Object | Type1Opcode | Type2Opcode
TermList := Nothing | <TermObj TermList>
TermArg := Type2Opcode | DataObject | ArgObj | LocalObj

MethodInvocation := NameString TermArgList
TermArgList := Nothing | <TermArg TermArgList>
20.2.5.1 Namespace Modifier Objects Encoding

NameSpaceModifierObj := DefAlias | DefName | DefScope
DefAlias := AliasOp NameString NameString

AliasOp := 0x06
DefName := NameOp NameString DataRefObject

NameOp := 0x08
DefScope := ScopeOp PkgLength NameString TermList

ScopeOp := 0x10
20.2.5.2 Named Objects Encoding

NamedObj := DefBankField | DefCreateBitField | DefCreateByteField | DefCreateDWordField |
DefCreateField | DefCreateQWordField |DefCreateWordField | DefDataRegion |
DefExternal | DefOpRegion | DefPowerRes | DefProcessor | DefThermalZone
DefBankField := BankFieldOp PkgLength NameString NameString BankValue FieldFlags FieldList

BankFieldOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x87
BankValue := TermArg => Integer
FieldFlags := ByteData // bit 0-3: AccessType
// 0 AnyAcc
// 1 ByteAcc
// 2 WordAcc
// 3 DWordAcc
// 4 QWordAcc
// 5 BufferAcc
// 6 Reserved
// 7-15 Reserved
// bit 4: LockRule
// 0 NoLock
// 1 Lock
// bit 5-6: UpdateRule
// 0 Preserve
// 1 WriteAsOnes 

// 2 WriteAsZeros
// bit 7: Reserved (must be 0)
FieldList := Nothing | <FieldElement FieldList>

NamedField := NameSeg PkgLength
ReservedField := 0x00 PkgLength
AccessField := 0x01 AccessType AccessAttrib
AccessType := ByteData // Bits 0:3 - Same as AccessType bits of FieldFlags.
// Bits 4:5 - Reserved
// Bits 7:6 - 0 = AccessAttrib = Normal Access Attributes
// 1 = AccessAttrib = AttribBytes (x)
// 2 = AccessAttrib = AttribRawBytes (x)
// 3 = AccessAttrib = AttribRawProcessBytes (x)
//
// x' is encoded as bits 0:7 of the AccessAttrib byte.
AccessAttrib := ByteData // If AccessType is BufferAcc for the SMB or

// GPIO OpRegions, AccessAttrib can be one of 
// the following values:
// 0x02 AttribQuick
// 0x04 AttribSendReceive
// 0x06 AttribByte
// 0x08 AttribWord
// 0x0A AttribBlock
// 0x0C AttribProcessCall
// 0x0D AttribBlockProcessCall
ConnectField := <0x02 NameString> | <0x02 BufferData>
DefCreateBitField := CreateBitFieldOp SourceBuff BitIndex NameString

CreateBitFieldOp := 0x8D
SourceBuff := TermArg => Buffer
BitIndex := TermArg => Integer
DefCreateByteField := CreateByteFieldOp SourceBuff ByteIndex NameString

CreateByteFieldOp := 0x8C
ByteIndex := TermArg => Integer
DefCreateDWordField := CreateDWordFieldOp SourceBuff ByteIndex NameString

CreateDWordFieldOp := 0x8A
DefCreateField := CreateFieldOp SourceBuff BitIndex NumBits NameString

CreateFieldOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x13
NumBits := TermArg => Integer
DefCreateQWordField := CreateQWordFieldOp SourceBuff ByteIndex NameString

CreateQWordFieldOp := 0x8F

DefCreateWordField := CreateWordFieldOp SourceBuff ByteIndex NameString

CreateWordFieldOp := 0x8B
DefDataRegion := DataRegionOp NameString TermArg TermArg TermArg

DataRegionOp := ExOpPrefix 0x88
DefDevice := DeviceOp PkgLength NameString TermList

DeviceOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x82
DefEvent := EventOp NameString

EventOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x02
DefExternal := ExternalOp NameString ObjectType ArgumentCount

ExternalOp := 0x15
ObjectType := ByteData
ArgumentCount := ByteData (0 – 7)
DefField := FieldOp PkgLength NameString FieldFlags FieldList

FieldOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x81
DefIndexField := IndexFieldOp PkgLength NameString NameString FieldFlags FieldList

IndexFieldOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x86
DefMethod := MethodOp PkgLength NameString MethodFlags TermList

MethodOp := 0x14
MethodFlags := ByteData // bit 0-2: ArgCount (0-7)
// bit 3: SerializeFlag
// 0 NotSerialized
// 1 Serialized
// bit 4-7: SyncLevel (0x00-0x0f)
DefMutex := MutexOp NameString SyncFlags

MutexOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x01
SyncFlags := ByteData // bit 0-3: SyncLevel (0x00-0x0f)
// bit 4-7: Reserved (must be 0)
DefOpRegion := OpRegionOp NameString RegionSpace RegionOffset RegionLen

OpRegionOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x80
RegionSpace := ByteData // 0x00 SystemMemory
// 0x01 SystemIO
// 0x02 PCI_Config
// 0x03 EmbeddedControl
// 0x04 SMBus
// 0x05 SystemCMOS
// 0x06 PciBarTarget
// 0x07 IPMI
// 0x08 GeneralPurposeIO
// 0x09 GenericSerialBus
// 0x80-0xFF: OEM Defined
RegionOffset := TermArg => Integer
RegionLen := TermArg => Integer
DefPowerRes := PowerResOp PkgLength NameString SystemLevel ResourceOrder TermList

PowerResOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x84
SystemLevel := ByteData
ResourceOrder := WordData
DefProcessor := ProcessorOp PkgLength NameString ProcID PblkAddr PblkLen TermList

ProcessorOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x83
ProcID := ByteData
PblkAddr := DWordData

PblkLen := ByteData
DefThermalZone := ThermalZoneOp PkgLength NameString TermList

ThermalZoneOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x85
ExtendedAccessField := 0x03 AccessType ExtendedAccessAttrib AccessLength
ExtendedAccessAttrib := ByteData // 0x0B AttribBytes

// 0x0E AttribRawBytes
// 0x0F AttribRawProcess
FieldElement := NamedField | ReservedField | AccessField | ExtendedAccessField |

ConnectField
20.2.5.3 Type 1 Opcodes Encoding

Type1Opcode := DefBreak | DefBreakPoint | DefContinue | DefFatal | DefIfElse |
DefLoad | DefNoop | DefNotify | DefRelease | DefReset | DefReturn |
DefSignal | DefSleep | DefStall | DefUnload | DefWhile
DefBreak := BreakOp
BreakOp := 0xA5
DefBreakPoint := BreakPointOp
BreakPointOp := 0xCC
DefContinue := ContinueOp
ContinueOp := 0x9F
DefElse := Nothing | <ElseOp PkgLength TermList>

ElseOp := 0xA1
DefFatal := FatalOp FatalType FatalCode FatalArg

FatalOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x32
FatalType := ByteData
FatalCode := DWordData
FatalArg := TermArg => Integer
DefIfElse := IfOp PkgLength Predicate TermList DefElse

IfOp := 0xA0
Predicate := TermArg => Integer
DefLoad := LoadOp NameString DDBHandleObject

LoadOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x20
DDBHandleObject := SuperName
DefNoop := NoopOp
NoopOp := 0xA3
DefNotify := NotifyOp NotifyObject NotifyValue

NotifyOp := 0x86
NotifyObject := SuperName => ThermalZone | Processor | Device
NotifyValue := TermArg => Integer
DefRelease := ReleaseOp MutexObject

ReleaseOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x27
MutexObject := SuperName
DefReset := ResetOp EventObject

ResetOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x26

EventObject := SuperName
DefReturn := ReturnOp ArgObject

ReturnOp := 0xA4
ArgObject := TermArg => DataRefObject
DefSignal := SignalOp EventObject

SignalOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x24
DefSleep := SleepOp MsecTime

SleepOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x22
MsecTime := TermArg => Integer
DefStall := StallOp UsecTime

StallOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x21
UsecTime := TermArg => ByteData
DefUnload := UnloadOp DDBHandleObject

UnloadOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x2A
DefWhile := WhileOp PkgLength Predicate TermList

WhileOp := 0xA2
20.2.5.4 Type 2 Opcodes Encoding

Type2Opcode := DefAcquire | DefAdd | DefAnd | DefBuffer | DefConcat |
DefConcatRes | DefCondRefOf | DefCopyObject | DefDecrement |
DefDerefOf | DefDivide | DefFindSetLeftBit | DefFindSetRightBit |
DefFromBCD | DefIncrement | DefIndex | DefLAnd | DefLEqual |
DefLGreater | DefLGreaterEqual | DefLLess | DefLLessEqual | DefMid |
DefLNot | DefLNotEqual | DefLoadTable | DefLOr | DefMatch | DefMod |
DefMultiply | DefNAnd | DefNOr | DefNot | DefObjectType | DefOr |
DefPackage | DefVarPackage | DefRefOf | DefShiftLeft | DefShiftRight |
DefSizeOf | DefStore | DefSubtract | DefTimer | DefToBCD | DefToBuffer |
DefToDecimalString | DefToHexString | DefToInteger | DefToString |
DefWait | DefXOr | MethodInvocation
Type6Opcode := DefRefOf | DefDerefOf | DefIndex | UserTermObj
DefAcquire := AcquireOp MutexObject Timeout

AcquireOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x23
Timeout := WordData
DefAdd := AddOp Operand Operand Target

AddOp := 0x72
Operand := TermArg => Integer
DefAnd := AndOp Operand Operand Target

AndOp := 0x7B
DefBuffer := BufferOp PkgLength BufferSize ByteList

BufferOp := 0x11
BufferSize := TermArg => Integer
DefConcat := ConcatOp Data Data Target

ConcatOp := 0x73
Data := TermArg => ComputationalData
DefConcatRes := ConcatResOp BufData BufData Target

ConcatResOp := 0x84

BufData := TermArg => Buffer
DefCondRefOf := CondRefOfOp SuperName Target

CondRefOfOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x12
DefCopyObject := CopyObjectOp TermArg SimpleName

CopyObjectOp := 0x9D
DefDecrement := DecrementOp SuperName

DecrementOp := 0x76
DefDerefOf := DerefOfOp ObjReference

DerefOfOp := 0x83
ObjReference := TermArg => ObjectReference | String
DefDivide := DivideOp Dividend Divisor Remainder Quotient

DivideOp := 0x78
Dividend := TermArg => Integer
Divisor := TermArg => Integer
Remainder := Target
Quotient := Target
DefFindSetLeftBit := FindSetLeftBitOp Operand Target

FindSetLeftBitOp := 0x81
DefFindSetRightBit := FindSetRightBitOp Operand Target

FindSetRightBitOp := 0x82
DefFromBCD := FromBCDOp BCDValue Target

FromBCDOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x28
BCDValue := TermArg => Integer
DefIncrement := IncrementOp SuperName

IncrementOp := 0x75
DefIndex := IndexOp BuffPkgStrObj IndexValue Target

IndexOp := 0x88
BuffPkgStrObj := TermArg => Buffer, Package or String
IndexValue := TermArg => Integer
DefLAnd := LandOp Operand Operand

LandOp := 0x90
DefLEqual := LequalOp Operand Operand

LequalOp := 0x93
DefLGreater := LgreaterOp Operand Operand

LgreaterOp := 0x94
DefLGreaterEqual := LgreaterEqualOp Operand Operand

LgreaterEqualOp := LnotOp LlessOp
DefLLess := LlessOp Operand Operand

LlessOp := 0x95
DefLLessEqual := LlessEqualOp Operand Operand

LlessEqualOp := LnotOp LgreaterOp
DefLNot := LnotOp Operand

LnotOp := 0x92

DefLNotEqual := LnotEqualOp Operand Operand

LnotEqualOp := LnotOp LequalOp
DefLoadTable := LoadTableOp TermArg TermArg TermArg TermArg TermArg TermArg

LoadTableOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x1F
DefLOr := LorOp Operand Operand

LorOp := 0x91
DefMatch := MatchOp SearchPkg MatchOpcode Operand MatchOpcode Operand StartIndex

MatchOp := 0x89
SearchPkg := TermArg => Package
MatchOpcode := ByteData // 0 MTR
// 1 MEQ
// 2 MLE
// 3 MLT
// 4 MGE
// 5 MGT
StartIndex := TermArg => Integer
DefMid := MidOp MidObj TermArg TermArg Target

MidOp := 0x9E
MidObj := TermArg => Buffer | String
DefMod := ModOp Dividend Divisor Target

ModOp := 0x85
DefMultiply := MultiplyOp Operand Operand Target

MultiplyOp := 0x77
DefNAnd := NandOp Operand Operand Target

NandOp := 0x7C
DefNOr := NorOp Operand Operand Target

NorOp := 0x7E
DefNot := NotOp Operand Target

NotOp := 0x80
DefObjectType := ObjectTypeOp <SimpleName | DebugObj |

DefRefOf | DefDerefOf | DefIndex>
ObjectTypeOp := 0x8E
DefOr := OrOp Operand Operand Target

OrOp := 0x7D
DefPackage := PackageOp PkgLength NumElements PackageElementList

PackageOp := 0x12
DefVarPackage := VarPackageOp PkgLength VarNumElements PackageElementList
VarPackageOp := 0x13
NumElements := ByteData
VarNumElements := TermArg => Integer
PackageElementList := Nothing | <PackageElement PackageElementList>
PackageElement := DataRefObject | NameString
DefRefOf := RefOfOp SuperName

RefOfOp := 0x71
DefShiftLeft := ShiftLeftOp Operand ShiftCount Target

ShiftLeftOp := 0x79

ShiftCount := TermArg => Integer
DefShiftRight := ShiftRightOp Operand ShiftCount Target

ShiftRightOp := 0x7A
DefSizeOf := SizeOfOp SuperName

SizeOfOp := 0x87
DefStore := StoreOp TermArg SuperName

StoreOp := 0x70
DefSubtract := SubtractOp Operand Operand Target

SubtractOp := 0x74
DefTimer := TimerOp
TimerOp := 0x5B 0x33
DefToBCD := ToBCDOp Operand Target

ToBCDOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x29
DefToBuffer := ToBufferOp Operand Target

ToBufferOp := 0x96
DefToDecimalString := ToDecimalStringOp Operand Target

ToDecimalStringOp := 0x97
DefToHexString := ToHexStringOp Operand Target

ToHexStringOp := 0x98
DefToInteger := ToIntegerOp Operand Target

ToIntegerOp := 0x99
DefToString := ToStringOp TermArg LengthArg Target

LengthArg := TermArg => Integer
ToStringOp := 0x9C
DefWait := WaitOp EventObject Operand

WaitOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x25
DefXOr := XorOp Operand Operand Target

XorOp := 0x7F
20.2.6 Miscellaneous Objects Encoding

Miscellaneous objects include:
• Arg objects
• Local objects
• Debug objects

20.2.6.1 Arg Objects Encoding

ArgObj := Arg0Op | Arg1Op | Arg2Op | Arg3Op | Arg4Op | Arg5Op | Arg6Op
Arg0Op := 0x68
Arg1Op := 0x69
Arg2Op := 0x6A
Arg3Op := 0x6B
Arg4Op := 0x6C
Arg5Op := 0x6D
Arg6Op := 0x6E
20.2.6.2 Local Objects Encoding

LocalObj := Local0Op | Local1Op | Local2Op | Local3Op | Local4Op | Local5Op | Local6Op |
Local7Op
Local0Op := 0x60
Local1Op := 0x61
Local2Op := 0x62
Local3Op := 0x63
Local4Op := 0x64
Local5Op := 0x65
Local6Op := 0x66
Local7Op := 0x67
20.2.6.3 Debug Objects Encoding

DebugObj := DebugOp
DebugOp := ExtOpPrefix 0x31
20.3 AML Byte Stream Byte Values

The following table lists all the byte values that can be found in an AML byte stream and the
meaning of each byte value. This table is useful for debugging AML code.
Table 20-429 AML Byte Stream Byte Values

Encoding Encoding Name Encoding Fixed List Variable List Arguments
Value Group Arguments
0x00 ZeroOp Data Object — —
0x01 OneOp Data Object — —
0x02-0x05 — — — —
0x06 AliasOp Term Object NameString —
NameString
0x07 — — — —
0x08 NameOp Term Object NameString —
DataRefObject
0x09 — — — —
0x0A BytePrefix Data Object ByteData —
0x0B WordPrefix Data Object WordData —
0x0C DWordPrefix Data Object DWordData —


0x0D StringPrefix Data Object AsciiCharList —
NullChar
0x0E QWordPrefix Data Object QWordData —
0x0F — — — —
0x10 ScopeOp Term Object NameString TermList
0x11 BufferOp Term Object TermArg ByteList
0x12 PackageOp Term Object ByteData Package TermList
0x13 VarPackageOp Term Object TermArg Package TermList
0x14 MethodOp Term Object NameString TermList
ByteData
0x15 ExternalOp Name Object NameString —
ByteData
ByteData
0x16-0x2D — — — —
0x2E (‘.’) DualNamePrefix Name Object NameSeg —
NameSeg
0x2F (‘/’) MultiNamePrefix Name Object ByteData —
NameSeg(N)
0x30-0x39 DigitChar— Name — —
('0'-'9') Object—
0x3A-0x40 — — — —
0x41-0x5A NameChar Name Object — —
(‘A’-‘Z’)
0x5B (‘[’) ExtOpPrefix — ByteData —
0x5B 0x00 — — — —
0x5B 0x01 MutexOp Term Object NameString —
ByteData
0x5B 0x02 EventOp Term Object NameString —
0x5B 0x12 CondRefOfOp Term Object SuperName —
SuperName
0x5B 0x13 CreateFieldOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
TermArg
NameString
0x5B 0x1F LoadTableOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
TermArg
TermArg
TermArg
TermArg
0x5B 0x20 LoadOp Term Object NameString —
SuperName


0x5B 0x21 StallOp Term Object TermArg —
0x5B 0x22 SleepOp Term Object TermArg —
0x5B 0x23 AcquireOp Term Object SuperName —
WordData
0x5B 0x24 SignalOp Term Object SuperName —
0x5B 0x25 WaitOp Term Object SuperName —
TermArg
0x5B 0x26 ResetOp Term Object SuperName —
0x5B 0x27 ReleaseOp Term Object SuperName —
0x5B 0x28 FromBCDOp Term Object TermArg Target —
0x5B 0x29 ToBCD Term Object TermArg Target —
0x5B 0x2A UnloadOp Term Object SuperName —
0x5B 0x30 RevisionOp Data Object — —
0x5B 0x31 DebugOp Debug Object — —
0x5B 0x32 FatalOp Term Object ByteData —
DWordData
TermArg
0x5B 0x33 TimerOp Term Object — —
0x5B 0x80 OpRegionOp Term Object NameString —
ByteData
TermArg
TermArg
0x5B 0x81 FieldOp Term Object NameString FieldList
ByteData
0x5B 0x82 DeviceOp Term Object NameString TermList
0x5B 0x83 ProcessorOp Term Object NameString TermList
ByteData
DWordData
ByteData
0x5B 0x84 PowerResOp Term Object NameString TermList
ByteData
WordData
0x5B 0x85 ThermalZoneOp Term Object NameString TermList
0x5B 0x86 IndexFieldOp Term Object NameString FieldList
NameString
ByteData
0x5B 0x87 BankFieldOp Term Object NameString FieldList
NameString
TermArg
ByteData


0x5B 0x88 DataRegionOp Term Object NameString —
TermArg
TermArg
TermArg
0x5B 0x80 - — — — —
0x5B 0xFF
0x5C (‘\’) RootChar Name Object — —
0x5D — — — —
0x5E (‘^’) ParentPrefixChar Name Object — —
0x5F(‘_’) NameChar— Name Object — —
0x60 (‘`’) Local0Op Local Object — —
0x61 (‘a’) Local1Op Local Object — —
0x62 (‘b’) Local2Op Local Object — —
0x63 (‘c’) Local3Op Local Object — —
0x64 (‘d’) Local4Op Local Object — —
0x65 (‘e’) Local5Op Local Object — —
0x66 (‘f’) Local6Op Local Object — —
0x67 (‘g’) Local7Op Local Object — —
0x68 (‘h’) Arg0Op Arg Object — —
0x69 (‘i’) Arg1Op Arg Object — —
0x6A (‘j’) Arg2Op Arg Object — —
0x6B (‘k’) Arg3Op Arg Object — —
0x6C (‘l’) Arg4Op Arg Object — —
0x6D (‘m’) Arg5Op Arg Object — —
0x6E (‘n’) Arg6Op Arg Object — —
0x6F — — — —
0x70 StoreOp Term Object TermArg —
SuperName
0x71 RefOfOp Term Object SuperName —
0x72 AddOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x73 ConcatOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x74 SubtractOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x75 IncrementOp Term Object SuperName —
0x76 DecrementOp Term Object SuperName —
0x77 MultiplyOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target


0x78 DivideOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
Target
0x79 ShiftLeftOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x7A ShiftRightOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x7B AndOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x7C NandOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x7D OrOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x7E NorOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x7F XorOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x80 NotOp Term Object TermArg Target —
0x81 FindSetLeftBitOp Term Object TermArg Target —
0x82 FindSetRightBitOp Term Object TermArg Target —
0x83 DerefOfOp Term Object TermArg —
0x84 ConcatResOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x85 ModOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x86 NotifyOp Term Object SuperName —
TermArg
0x87 SizeOfOp Term Object SuperName —
0x88 IndexOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x89 MatchOp Term Object TermArg —
ByteData
TermArg
ByteData
TermArg
TermArg
0x8A CreateDWordFieldOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
NameString
0x8B CreateWordFieldOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
NameString


0x8C CreateByteFieldOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
NameString
0x8D CreateBitFieldOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
NameString
0x8E ObjectTypeOp Term Object SuperName —
0x8F CreateQWordFieldOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
NameString
0x90 LandOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
0x91 LorOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
0x92 LnotOp Term Object TermArg —
0x92 0x93 LNotEqualOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
0x92 0x94 LLessEqualOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
0x92 0x95 LGreaterEqualOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
0x93 LEqualOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
0x94 LGreaterOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
0x95 LLessOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
0x96 ToBufferOp Term Object TermArg Target —
0x97 ToDecimalStringOp Term Object TermArg Target —
0x98 ToHexStringOp Term Object TermArg Target —
0x99 ToIntegerOp Term Object TermArg Target —
0x9A-0x9B — — — —
0x9C ToStringOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg Target
0x9D CopyObjectOp Term Object TermArg —
SimpleName
0x9E MidOp Term Object TermArg —
TermArg
TermArg Target
0x9F ContinueOp Term Object — —
0xA0 IfOp Term Object TermArg TermList
0xA1 ElseOp Term Object — TermList


0xA2 WhileOp Term Object TermArg TermList
0xA3 NoopOp Term Object — —
0xA4 ReturnOp Term Object TermArg —
0xA5 BreakOp Term Object — —
0xA6-0xCB — — — —
0xCC BreakPointOp Term Object — —
0xCD-0xFE — — — —
0xFF OnesOp Data Object — —
20.4 AML Encoding of Names in the Namespace

Assume the following namespace exists:
\
S0
MEM
SET
GET
S1
MEM
SET
GET
CPU
SET
GET
Assume further that a definition block is loaded that creates a node \S0.CPU.SET, and loads a block
using it as a root. Assume the loaded block contains the following names:
STP1
^GET
^^PCI0
^^PCI0.SBS
\S2
\S2.ISA.COM1
^^^S3
^^^S2.MEM
^^^S2.MEM.SET
Scope(\S0.CPU.SET.STP1) {
XYZ
ÂBC
ÂBC.DEF
}
This will be encoded in AML as:

'STP1'
ParentPrefixChar 'GET_'
ParentPrefixChar ParentPrefixChar 'PCI0'
ParentPrefixChar ParentPrefixChar DualNamePrefix 'PCI0' 'SBS_'
RootChar 'S2__'
RootChar MultiNamePrefix 3 'S2__' 'ISA_' 'COM1'
ParentPrefixChar ParentPrefixChar ParentPrefixChar 'S3__'
ParentPrefixChar ParentPrefixChar ParentPrefixChar DualNamePrefix 'S2__' 'MEM_'
ParentPrefixChar ParentPrefixChar ParentPrefixChar MultiNamePrefix 3 'S2__' 'MEM_' 'SET_'
After the block is loaded, the namespace will look like this (names added to the namespace by the
loading operation are shown in bold):
\
S0
MEM
SET
GET
CPU
SET
STP1
XYZ
ABC
DEF
GET
PCI0
SBS
S1
MEM
SET
GET
CPU
SET
GET
S2
ISA
COM1
MEM
SET
S3

ACPI Specification ACPI Data Tables and Table Definition Language
21 ACPI Data Tables and Table Definition

Language
There are two fundamental types of ACPI tables:

• Tables that contain AML code produced from the ACPI Source Language (ASL). These include
the DSDT, any SSDTs, and sometimes OEM-specific tables (OEMx).
• Tables that contain simple data and no AML byte code. These types of tables are known as
ACPI Data Tables. They include tables such as the FADT, MADT, ECDT, SRAT, etc. -
essentially any table other than a DSDT or SSDT.
• The first type of table is generated using an ASL compiler and this language is specified in
section 18.
The second type of table, the ACPI Data Table, is addressed by this section.
This section describes a simple language (the Table Definition Language or TDL) that can be used to
generate any ACPI data table. It simplifies the table generation for platform firmware vendors and
can automatically generate fields such as table lengths, subtable lengths, checksums, flag fields, etc.
21.1 Types of ACPI Data Tables

In the context of a compiler for the Table Definition Language (TDL), there are two types of ACPI
Data Tables:
• ACPI tables that are "known" to the compiler. These would typically include all of the basic
ACPI tables defined in the ACPI specification such as the FADT, MADT, ECDT, etc. Since
these tables are fully specified (usually via the ACPI specification, but from other sources as
well), the TDL compiler knows all details of these tables -- including all required data types,
optional or required sub-tables, etc.
• ACPI tables that are unknown to the compiler. These may include tables that are not defined in
the ACPI specification such as MCFG, DBGP, etc., or simply new ACPI tables that have not yet
been implemented in the compiler.
One of the goals of the ACPI Table Definition Language is to support both cases above. Most ACPI
tables will be known to the compiler (and will be the easiest to specify in TDL), but the language is
general enough to allow the definition of new ACPI tables that are unknown or unimplemented in
the compiler.
An additional goal of TDL is to support the output of a disassembler that formats an existing table
into TDL. This enables disassembler/change/compile operations.
21.2 ACPI Table Definition Language Specification

The following section defines the ACPI Table Definition Language (TDL). The grammar notation
follows the same rules as the ASL source language (See Section 19.2.1, ASL Grammar Notation.)
Full definition of the various data types follows the grammar specification.

ACPI Data Tables and Table Definition Language ACPI Specification
21.2.1 Overview of the Table Definition Language (TDL)

Most ACPI tables share the following structure (all except FACS):
• A common, 36 byte header containing the table signature, length, checksum, revision, and other
data.
• A table body which contains the specific table data.
The Table Definition Language allows the definition of an ACPI table via a collection of fields. Each
line of TDL source code is a field, and corresponds to a single data item in the definition of the table.
For example, the C definition of the common ACPI table header is as follows:
typedef struct acpi_table_header

{
char Signature[4];
UINT32 Length;
UINT8 Revision;
UINT8 Checksum;
char OemId[6];
char OemTableId[8];
UINT32 OemRevision;
char AslCompilerId[4];
UINT32 AslCompilerRevision;
} ACPI_TABLE_HEADER;
In the Table Definition Language, an ACPI table header can be described as follows:
: "ECDT"
: 00000000
: 01
: 00
: "OEM "
: "MACHINE1"
: 00000001
: ""
: 00000000
Additionally and optionally, it can also be described with accompanying field names:
Signature : "ECDT" [Embedded Controller Boot Resources Table]
Table Length : 00000000
Revision : 01
Checksum : 00
Oem ID : "OEM "
Oem Table ID : "MACHINE1"
Oem Revision : 00000001
Asl Compiler ID : ""
Asl Compiler Revision : 00000000
Note: In the ACPI table header, the TableLength, Checksum, AslCompilerId, and the
AslCompilerRevision fields are all output fields that are filled in automatically by the compiler

during table generation. Also, the field names are output by a disassembler that formats existing
tables into TDL code.
21.2.2 TDL Grammar Specification

//
// Root Term
//
DataTable :=
FieldList
//
// Field Terms
//
FieldList :=
Field |
<Field FieldList>
Field :=
<FieldDefinition OptionalFieldComment> |
CommentField
FieldDefinition :=
// Fields for predefined (known) ACPI tables
<OptionalFieldName ':' FieldValue> |
// Generic data types (used for custom or undefined ACPI tables)
<'UINT8' ':' IntegerExpression> | // 8-bit unsigned integer

<'String' ':' String> | // Quoted ASCII string
<'Unicode' ':' String> | // Quoted ASCII string -> Unicode string
<'Buffer' ':' ByteConstList> | // Raw buffer of 8-bit unsigned integers
<'GUID' ':' Guid> | // In GUID format
<'Label' ':' Label> // ASCII label - unquoted string
OptionalFieldName :=
Nothing |
AsciiCharList // Optional field name/description
FieldValue :=
IntegerExpression | String | Buffer | Flags | Label
OptionalFieldComment :=
Nothing |
<'[' AsciiCharList ']'>

CommentField :=
<'//' AsciiCharList NewLine> |
<'/*' AsciiCharList '*/'> |
<'[' AsciiCharList ']'>
//
// Data Expressions
//
IntegerExpression :=
Integer |
<IntegerExpression IntegerOperator IntegerExpression> |
<'(' IntegerExpression ')'>
//
// Operators below are shown in precedence order. The precedence rules
// are the same as the C language. Parentheses have precedence over
// all operators.
//
IntegerOperator :=
'!' | '~' | '*' | '/' | '%' | '+' | '-' | '<<' | '>>' |
'<' | '>' | '<=' | '>=' | '==' | '!=' | '&' | '^' | '|' |
'&&' |'||' |
//
// Data Types
//
String :=
<'"' AsciiCharList '"'>
Buffer :=
ByteConstList
Guid :=
<DWordConst '-' WordConst '-' WordConst '-' WordConst '-' Const48>
Label :=
AsciiCharList
//
// Data Terms
//
Integer :=
ByteConst | WordConst | Const24 | DWordConst | Const40 | Const48 | Const56 |
QWordConst | LabelReference
LabelReference :=
<'$' Label>
Flags :=
OneBit | TwoBits
ByteConstList :=
ByteConst |
<Byte Const ' ' ByteConstList>
AsciiCharList :=
Nothing |
PrintableAsciiChar |
<PrintableAsciiChar AsciiCharList>
//
// Terminals
//

ByteConst :=
0x00-0xFF
WordConst :=
0x0000 - 0xFFFF
Const24 :=
0x000000 - 0xFFFFFF
DWordConst :=
0x00000000 - 0xFFFFFFFF
Const40 :=
0x0000000000 - 0xFFFFFFFFFF
Const48 :=
0x000000000000 - 0xFFFFFFFFFFFF
Const56 :=
0x00000000000000 - 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
QWordConst :-
0x0000000000000000 - 0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
OneBit :=
0 - 1
TwoBits :=
0 - 3
PrintableAsciiChar :=
0x20 - 0x7E
NewLine :=
'\n'
21.2.3 Data Types

21.2.3.1 Integers
All integers in ACPI are unsigned. Four major types of unsigned integers are supported by the
compiler: Bytes, Words, DWords and QWords. In addition, for special cases, there are some odd
sized integers such as 24-bit and 56-bit. The actual required width of an integer is defined by the
ACPI table. If an integer is specified that is numerically larger than the width of the target field
within the input source, an error is issued by the compiler. Integers are expected by the data table
compiler to be entered in hexadecimal with no "hex" prefix.
Examples:
[001] Revision : 04// Byte (8-bit)
[002] C2 Latency : 0000// Word (16-bit)
[004] DSDT Address : 00000001// DWord (32-bit)
[008] Address : 0000000000000001// QWord (64-bit)
Length of non-power-of-two examples:
[003] Reserved : 000000// 24 bits

[007] Capabilities : 00000000000000 // 56 bits
21.2.3.2 Integer Expressions

Expressions are supported in all fields that require an integer value.
Supported operators (Standard C meanings, in precedence order):

() Parentheses
! Logical NOT
~ Bitwise ones compliment (NOT)
* Multiply
/ Divide
% Modulo
+ Add
- Subtract
<< Shift left
>> Shift right
< Less than
> Greater than
<= Less than or equal
>= Greater than or equal
== Equal
!= Not Equal
& Bitwise AND
^ bitwise Exclusive OR
| Bitwise OR
&& Logical AND
|| Logical OR
Examples:
[001] Revision : 04 * (4 + 7)// Byte (8-bit)
[002] C2 Latency : 0032 + 8// Word (16-bit)
21.2.3.3 Flags
Many ACPI tables contain flag fields. For these fields, only the individual flag bits need to be
specified to the compiler. The individual bits are aggregated into a single integer of the proper size
by the compiler.
Examples:
[002] Flags (decoded below) : 0005
Polarity : 1
Trigger Mode : 1
In this example, only the Polarity and Trigger Mode fields need to be specified to the compiler (as
either zero or one). The compiler then creates the final 16-bit Flags field for the ACPI table.

21.2.3.4 Strings
Strings must always be surrounded by quotes. The actual string that is generated by the compiler
may or may not be null-terminated, depending on the table definition in the ACPI specification. For
example, the OEM ID and OEM Table ID in the common ACPI table header (shown above) are
fixed at six and eight characters, respectively. They are not necessarily null terminated. Most other
strings, however, are of variable-length and are automatically null terminated by the compiler. If a
string is specified that is too long for a fixed-length string field, an error is issued. String lengths are
specified in the definition for each relevant ACPI table.
Escape sequences within a quoted string are not allowed. The backslash character '\' refers to the root
of the ACPI namespace.
Examples:
[008] Oem Table ID : "TEMPLATE" // Fixed length
[006] Processor UID String : "\CPU0"// Variable length
21.2.3.5 Buffers
A buffer is typically used whenever the required binary data is larger than a QWord, or the data does
not fit exactly into one of the standard integer widths. Examples include UUIDs and byte data
defined by the SLIT table.
Examples:
// SLIT entry
[032] Locality 0 : 0A 10 16 17 18 19 1A 1B 1C 1D 1E 1F 20 21 22 23 \
24 25 26 27 28 29 2A 2B 2C 2D 2E 2F 30 31 32 33
// DMAR entry
[002] PCI Path : 1F 07
Each hexadecimal byte should be entered separately, separated by a space. The continuation
character (backslash) may be used to continue the buffer data to more than one line.
21.2.4 Fields Set Automatically by the Compiler
There are several types of ACPI table fields that are set automatically by the compiler. This
simplifies the process of ACPI table development by relieving the programmer from these tasks.
Checksums: All ACPI table checksums are computed and inserted
automatically. This includes the main checksum that appears in
the standard ACPI table header, as well as any additional
checksum fields such as the extended checksum that appears in
the ACPI 2.0 RSDP.
Table and Subtable Lengths: All ACPI table lengths are computed and inserted automatically.
This includes the master table length that appears in the common

ACPI table header, and the length of any internal subtables as

applicable.
Examples:
[004] Table Length : 000000F4
[001] Subtable Type : 08 <Platform Interrupt Sources>

[001] Length : 10
[001] Subtable Type : 01 <Memory Affinity>

[001] Length : 28
Flags: As described in the previous section, individual flags are

aggregated automatically by the compiler and inserted into the
ACPI table as the correctly sized and valued integer.
Compiler IDs: The data table compiler automatically inserts the ID and current
revision for iASL into the common ACPI table header for each
table during compilation.
21.2.5 Special Fields
Reserved Fields: All fields that are declared as Reserved by the table definition
within the ACPI (or other) specification should be set to zero.
Table Revision: This field in the common ACPI table header is often very
important and defines the structure of the remaining table. The
developer should take care to ensure that this value is correct and
current. This field is not set automatically by the compiler. It is
instead used to indicate which version of the table is being
compiled.
Table Signature: There are several table signatures within ACPI that are either
different from the table name, or have unusual length:
FADT - signature is "FACP".

MADT - signature is "APIC".
RSDP - signature is "RSD PTR " (with trailing space)
21.2.6 TDL Generic Data Types

These data types are used to construct ACPI tables that are not predefined (known) by the TDL
compiler.
UINT8 Generates an 8-bit unsigned integer
UINT16 Generates a 16-bit unsigned integer


String Generates a null-terminated ASCII string (ASCIIZ)
Unicode Generates a null terminated Unicode (UTF-16) string
Buffer Generates a buffer of 8-bit unsigned integers
GUID Generates an encoded GUID in a 16-byte buffer
Label Generates a Label at the current location (offset) within the table.
This label can be referenced within integer expressions by prepending 
the label with a '$' sign.
21.2.7 Defining a Known ACPI Table in TDL

It is expected that most ACPI tables that will be created via the TDL compiler are ACPI tables that
are known to the compiler. This means that the compiler contains the required structure and
definition of the table, as per the ACPI specification or other specification for that table.
For these known ACPI tables, specifying the data for the table involves simply defining the value for
each field in the table. The compiler automatically types the data, performs range and any value
checks, and generates the appropriate output.
The starting point for any of the known ACPI tables is the document that specifies the format of the
table (usually the ACPI specification), or a table template file generated by an ASL compiler, or
even the output of an AML disassembler. Writing the TDL code involves implementing one line of
code for each data item specified in the table definition itself.
For example, the table header for an ACPI table can be defined as simply a sequence of strings and
integers. The TDL compiler will format these data items into a 36-byte ACPI header.
: "ECDT"
: 00000000
: 01
: 00
: "OEM "
: "MACHINE1"
: 00000001
: ""
: 00000000
21.2.8 Defining an Unknown or New ACPI table in TDL

For ACPI tables that are new or whose formats are otherwise unknown to the compiler, "generic"
data types are introduced to allow the definition of these tables using explicit data types.

Examples of Generic Data Types:

Label : StartRecord
UINT8 : 11
UINT16 : $EndRecord - $StartRecord // Record length
UINT24 : 112233
UINT32 : 11223344
UINT56 : 11223344556677
UINT64 : 1122334455667788
String : "This is a string"

DevicePath : "\PciRoot(0)\Pci(0x1f,1)\Usb(0,0)"
Unicode : "This string will be encoded to Unicode"
Buffer : AA 01 32 4C 77
GUID : 11223344-5566-7788-99aa-bbccddeeff00
Label : EndRecord
21.2.9 Table Definition Language Examples

21.2.9.1 ECDT Disassembler Output
The output of the iASL disassembler may be used as direct input to the TDL compiler:

[000h 0000 4] Signature : "ECDT" [Embedded Controller Data Table]

[004h 0004 4] Table Length : 0000004E
[008h 0008 1] Revision : 01
[009h 0009 1] Checksum : F4
[00Ah 0010 6] Oem ID : "INTEL "
[010h 0016 8] Oem Table ID : "TEMPLATE"
[018h 0024 4] Oem Revision : 00000001
[01Ch 0028 4] Asl Compiler ID : "INTL"
[020h 0032 4] Asl Compiler Revision : 20110316
[024h 0036 12] Command/Status Register : [Generic Address Structure]

[024h 0036 1] Space ID : 01 [SystemIO]
[025h 0037 1] Bit Width : 08
[026h 0038 1] Bit Offset : 00
[027h 0039 1] Encoded Access Width : 00 [Undefined/Legacy]
[028h 0040 8] Address : 0000000000000066
[030h 0048 12] Data Register : [Generic Address Structure]

[030h 0048 1] Space ID : 01 [SystemIO]
[031h 0049 1] Bit Width : 08
[032h 0050 1] Bit Offset : 00
[033h 0051 1] Encoded Access Width : 00 [Undefined/Legacy]
[034h 0052 8] Address : 0000000000000062
[03Ch 0060 4] UID : 00000000

[040h 0064 1] GPE Number : 09
[041h 0065 13] Namepath : "\_SB.PCI0.EC"
Raw Table Data: Length 78 (0x4E)
0000: 45 43 44 54 4E 00 00 00 01 F4 49 4E 54 45 4C 20 ECDTN.....INTEL
0010: 54 45 4D 50 4C 41 54 45 01 00 00 00 49 4E 54 4C TEMPLATE....INTL
0020: 16 03 11 20 01 08 00 00 66 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ... ....f.......
0030: 01 08 00 00 62 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ....b...........
0040: 09 5C 5F 53 42 2E 50 43 49 30 2E 45 43 00 .\_SB.PCI0.EC.
21.2.9.2 ECDT Definition with Field Comments

Similar to the disassembler output but simpler:
Signature : "ECDT" [Embedded Controller Data Table]
Table Length : 0000004E
Revision : 01
Checksum : F4
Oem ID : "INTEL "
Oem Table ID : "TEMPLATE"
Asl Compiler ID : "INTL"
Command/Status Register : [Generic Address Structure]

Space ID : 01 [SystemIO]
Bit Width : 08
Bit Offset : 00
Encoded Access Width : 00 [Undefined/Legacy]
Address : 0000000000000066

Data Register : [Generic Address Structure]

Space ID : 01 [SystemIO]
Bit Width : 08
Bit Offset : 00
Encoded Access Width : 00 [Undefined/Legacy]
Address : 0000000000000062
UID : 00000000
GPE Number : 09
Namepath : "\_SB.PCI0.EC"
21.2.10 Minimal ECDT Definition

An example of a minimal ECDT definition with no Field Names:
: "ECDT" [Embedded Controller Boot Resources Table]
: 0000004E
: 01
: F4
: "INTEL "
: "TEMPLATE"
: 00000001
: "INTL"
: 20110316
: [Generic Address Structure]

: 01 [SystemIO]
: 08
: 00
: 00 [Undefined/Legacy]
: 0000000000000066
: [Generic Address Structure]

: 01 [SystemIO]
: 08
: 00
: 00 [Undefined/Legacy]
: 0000000000000062
: 00000000
: 09
: "\_SB.PCI0.EC"
21.2.10.1 Generic ACPI Table Definition

Tables that are not known to the TDL compiler can be defined by using the generic data types. All
ACPI tables are assumed to have the common ACPI header, however:
Signature : "OEMZ"
Table Length : 00000052
Revision : 01
Checksum : 6C
Oem ID : "TEST"
Oem Table ID : "CUSTOM "
Asl Compiler ID : "INTL

UINT8 : 01
UINT8 : 08
UINT8 : 00
UINT8 : 00
UINT64 : 0000000000000066
UINT32 : 00000000
UINT8 : 12
String : "Hello World!"


ACPI Specification
Appendix A Device Class Specifications
This section defines the behavior of devices as that behavior relates to power management and,
specifically, to the four device power states defined by ACPI. The goal is enabling device vendors to
design power-manageable products that meet the basic needs of OSPM and can be utilized by any
ACPI-compatible operating system.
A.1 Overview
The power management of individual devices is the responsibility of a policy owner in the operating
system. This software element will implement a power management policy that is appropriate for the
type (or class) of device being managed. Device power management policy typically operates in
conjunction with a global system power policy implemented in the operating system.
In general, the device-class power management policy strives to reduce power consumption while
the system is working by transitioning among various available power states according to device
usage. The challenge facing policy owners is to minimize power consumption without adversely
impacting the system’s usability. This balanced approach provides the user with both power savings
and good performance.
Because the policy owner has very specific knowledge about when a device is in use or potentially in
use, there is no need for hardware timers or such to determine when to make these transitions.
Similarly, this level of understanding of device usage makes it possible to use fewer device power
states. Generally, intermediate states attempt to draw a compromise between latency and
consumption because of the uncertainty of actual device usage. With the increased knowledge in the
OS, good decisions can be made about whether the device is needed at all. With this ability to turn
devices off more frequently, the benefit of having intermediate states diminishes.
The policy owner also determines what class-specific events can cause the system to transition from
sleeping to working states, and enables this functionality based on application or user requests.
Notice that the definition of the wake events that each class supports will influence the system’s
global power policy in terms of the level of power management a system sleeping state can attain
while still meeting wake latency requirements set by applications or the user.
A.2 Device Power States

The following definitions apply to devices of all classes:
• D0. State in which device is on and running. It is receiving full power from the system and is
delivering full functionality to the user.
• D1. Class-specific low-power state (defined in the following section) in which device context
may or may not be lost. Buses in D1 cannot do anything to the bus that would force devices on
that bus to lose context.
• D2. Class-specific low-power state (defined in the following section) in which device context
may or may not be lost. Attains greater power savings than D1. Buses in D2 can cause devices
on that bus to lose some context (for example, the bus reduces power supplied to the bus).
Devices in D2 must be prepared for the bus to be in D2 or higher.

ACPI Specification
• D3. State in which device is off and not running. Device context is lost. Power can be removed
from the device.
Device power-state transitions are typically invoked through bus-specific mechanisms (for example,
ATA Standby, USB Suspend, and so on). In some cases, bus-specific mechanisms are not available
and device-specific mechanisms must be used. Notice that the explicit command for entering the D3
state might be the removal of power.
It is the responsibility of the policy owner (or other software) to restore any lost device context when
returning to the D0 state.
A.2.1 Bus Power Management

Policy owners for bus devices (for example, PCI, USB, Small Computer System Interface [SCSI])
have the additional responsibility of tracking the power states of all devices on the bus and for
transitioning the bus itself to only those power states that are consistent with those of its devices.
This means that the bus state can be no lower than the highest state of one of its devices. However,
enabled wake events can affect this as well. For example, if a particular device is in the D2 state and
set to wake the system and the bus can only forward wake requests while in the D1 state, then the
bus must remain in the D1 state even if all devices are in a lower state.
Below are summaries of relevant bus power management specifications with references to the
sources.
A.2.2 Display Power Management

Refer to the Display Power Management Signaling Specification (DPMS), available from:
Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA)
2150 North First Street
Suite 440
San Jose, CA 95131-2029
A DPMS-compliant video controller and DPMS-compliant monitor use the horizontal and vertical
sync signals to control the power mode of the monitor. There are 4 modes of operation: normal,
standby, suspend and off. DPMS-compliant video controllers toggle the sync lines on or off to select
the power mode.
A.2.3 PCMCIA/PCCARD/CardBus Power Management

PCMCIA and PCCARD devices do not have device power states defined. The only power states
available are on and off, controlled by the host bus controller. The CardBus specification is a
superset of the PCCARD specification, incorporating the power management specification for PCI
bus. Power management capabilities query, state transition commands and wake event reporting are
identical.
A.2.4 PCI Power Management

Refer to the PCI Special Interest Group (PCISIG) Web site, at “Links to ACPI-Related Documents”
(http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "PCI Sig".
• PCI Bus Power Management Capabilities Query. PCI Bus device capabilities are reported
via the optional Capabilities List registers, which are accessed via the Cap_Ptr.

ACPI Specification
• PCI Bus Power Management State Transition Commands. PCI Bus device power states are
controlled and queried via the standard Power Management Status/Control Register (PMCSR).
• PCI Bus Wakeup Event Reporting. PCI wake events are reported on the optional PME#
signal, with setting of the Wake_Int bit in the PMCSR. Wake event reporting is controlled by the
Wake_En bit in the PMCSR register.
A.2.5 USB Power Management

Refer to the Universal Serial Bus Implementers Forum (USB-IF ) Web site, at “Links to ACPI-
Related Documents” (http://uefi.org/acpi) under the heading "Universal Serial Bus Power
Management".
• USB Power Management Capabilities Query. USB device capabilities are reported to the
USB Host via the standard Power Descriptors. These address power consumption, latency time,
wake support, and battery support and status notification.
• USB Power Management State Transition Commands. USB device power states are
controlled by the USB Host via the standard SET_FEATURE command. USB device power
states are queried via the standard USB GET_STATUS command.
• USB Wakeup Event Reporting. USB wake event reporting is controlled using the
SET_FEATURE command, with value DEVICE_REMOTE_WAKEUP. USB wake events are
reported by sending remote wake resume signaling.
A.2.6 Device Classes

Below is a list of the class-specific device power management definitions available in this
specification. Notice that there exists a default device class definition that applies to all devices, even
if there is a separate, class-specific section that adds additional requirements.
• Audio Device Class. Applies to audio devices.
• COM Port Device Class. Applies to COM ports devices.
• Display Device Class. Applies to CRT monitors, LCD panels, and video controllers for those
devices.
• Input Device Class. Applies to standard types of input devices such as keyboards, keypads,
mice, pointing devices, joysticks, and game pads, plus new types of input devices such as virtual
reality devices.
• Modem Device Class. Applies to modem and modem-like (for example, ISDN terminal
adapters) devices.
• Network Device Class. Applies specifically to Ethernet and token ring adapters. ATM and
ISDN adapters are not supported by this specification.
• PC Card Controller Device Class. Applies to PC Card controllers and slots.
• Storage Device Class. Applies specifically to ATA hard disks, floppy disks, ATAPI and SCSI
CD-ROMs, and the IDE channel.
A.3 Default Device Class

The requirements expressed in this section apply to all devices, even if there is a separate, class-
specific power management definition that identifies additional requirements.

ACPI Specification
Table A-430 Default Power State Definitions
State Definition
D0 Device is on and running. It is receiving full power from the system, and is delivering full functionality
to the user.
D1 This state is not defined and not used by the default device class.
D2 This state is not defined and not used by the default device class.
D3 Device is off and not running. Device context is assumed lost, and there is no need for any of it to be
preserved in hardware. This state should consume the minimum power possible. Its only
requirement is to recognize a bus-specific command to re-enter D0. Power can be removed from
the device while in D3. If power is removed, the device will receive a bus-specific hardware reset
upon reapplication of power, and should initialize itself as in a normal power on.
A.3.1 Default Power Management Policy
Present Next Cause

State State
D0 D3 Device determined by the OS to not be needed by any applications or the user.
System enters a sleeping state.
D3 D0 Device determined by the OS to be needed by some application or the user.
A.3.2 Default Wake Events

There are no default wake events, because knowledge of the device is implicit in servicing such
events. Devices can expose wake capabilities to OSPM, and device-specific software can enable
these, but there is no generic application-level or OS-wide support for undefined wake events.
A.3.3 Minimum Power Capabilities

All devices must support the D0 and D3 states. Functionality available in D0 must be available after
returning to D0 from D3 without requiring a system reboot or any user intervention. This
requirement applies whether or not power is removed from the device during D3.
A.4 Audio Device Class

The requirements expressed in this section apply to audio devices
A.4.1 Power State Definitions
State Status Definition

D0 Required Power is on. Device is operating.

ACPI Specification
D1 Optional Power consumption is less than D0 state. Device must be able to transition between
D0 and D1 states within 100 ms. No audio samples may be lost by entering and
leaving this state.
D2 Required Power consumption is less than D0 state. Device must be able to transition between
D0 and D2 states within 100 ms. Audio samples may be lost by entering and leaving
this state.
D3 Required The device is completely off or drawing minimal power. For example, a stereo will be
off, but a light-emitting diode (LED) may be on and the stereo may be listening to IR
commands.
If a device is in the D1 or D2 state it must resume within 100 ms. A device in the D3 state may take
as long as it needs to power up. It is the responsibility of the policy owner to advertise to the system
how long a device requires to power up.
All audio devices must be capable of D0, D2 and D3 states. It is desirable that an audio device be
capable of D1 state. The difference between D1 and D2 is that a device capable of D1 can maintain
complete state information in reduced power mode. The policy owner or other software must save
all states for D2-capable devices. Some audio samples may be lost in transitioning into and out of the
D2 state.
Notice that the D1 state was added to allow digital signal processor (DSP)-equipped audio hardware
to exploit low-power modes in the DSP. For example, a DSP may be used to implement Dolby AC-
3 Decode. When paused it stops playing audio, but the DSP may contain thousands of bytes worth of
state information. If the DSP supports a low-power state, it can shut down and later resume from
exactly the audio sample where it paused without losing state information.
A.4.2 Power Management Policy

For the purpose of the following state transition policy, the following device-specific operational
states are defined:
• Playing. Audio is playing.
• Recording:
• Foreground. Normal application is recording. Recording is considered foreground unless
specifically designated low priority.
• Background. Speech recognition or speech activity detection is running. Recording may be
preempted by foreground recording or playing. Any audio recording may be designated as
background.
• Full Duplex. Device is simultaneously playing and recording.
• Paused. File handle is open. Only devices that are playing, foreground recording or in full
duplex operation may be paused. Background recording may not be paused. State is static and
never lost. The paused state assumes that a device must transition to the resumed state rapidly.
Playing or recording must be resumed within 100 ms. No audio samples may be lost between the
device is paused and later resumed.
• Closed. No file handle is open.

ACPI Specification
Present Next Cause

State State
D3 D0 Audio device moves from closed to open state or paused when the device receives the
resume command.
D0 D1 Audio device receives pause command. If device is D1 capable, this state is preferred. If
not, the device driver will preserve context, and the device will be set to D2.
D2/D1 D0 Audio device receives a resume command.
D0 D2 Audio device is closed. Audio inactivity timer started.
D2 D3 Audio inactivity timer expires.
D0 D3 Audio device is in background record mode and receives power-down command.
When an audio device is in the D0 state it will refuse system requests to transition to D3 state unless
it is in background record mode. When an audio device is paused (D1 or D2) and it receives a
request to transition to the D3 state, it will save the state of the audio device and transition to the D3
state.
Since multimedia applications often open and close audio files in rapid succession, it is
recommended that an inactivity timer be employed by the policy owner to prevent needless
shutdowns (D3 transitions) of the audio hardware. For example, frequent power cycling may
damage audio devices powered by vacuum tubes.
A.4.3 Wake Events

An audio device may be a wake device. For example, a USB microphone designed for security
applications might use the USB wake mechanism to signal an alarm condition.

All audio devices must be capable of D0, D2 and D3 power states. If the device is capable of
maintaining context while in a low-power state it should advertise support for D1. Transitional
latency for the D2 or D3 states must be less than 100 ms. There are no latency restrictions for D3
transitions, but the policy owner should advertise the amount of time required.
A.5 COM Port Device Class

The requirements expressed in this section apply to Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitters
(UARTs) such as the common NS16550 buffered serial port and equivalents.
The two required states for any power-managed COM Port are full on (D0) and full off (D3). This in
turn requires that the COM port hardware be power-manageable by ACPI control methods for COM
ports that are on system boards, or by standard bus power management controls for COM ports that
are on add-in cards (for example, PCI). Because of this, ISA-based COM port add-in cards will not
be able to meet this requirement, and therefore cannot be compliant with this specification.

ACPI Specification

D0 Required Line drivers are on. UART context is preserved.
D1 N/A This state is not defined for COM Ports. Use the D3 state instead.
D2 N/A This state is not defined for COM Ports. Use the D3 state instead.
D3 Required Line drivers are off (unpowered; outputs isolated from devices attached to the port).
UART context is lost. Latency to return to D0 is less than 1 second.
Present Next Cause

State State
D3 D0 Power-on reset
COM port opened by an application
D0 D3 COM port closed
System enters sleeping state while wake is disabled on this device.
System enters sleeping state while wake is enabled on this device and the device is
capable of generating wake to the system from state D3.
A.5.3 Wake Events

If the COM port is capable of generating wake events, asserting the “ring indicator” line (V.24
circuit 125) will cause the COM port to assert a wake event. There are two common mechanisms
that may be employed (either one or both) for performing machine wake using COM ports.
The first provides a solution that is capable of waking the PC whether the UART is powered (D0) or
not (D3). Here, the “ring indicator” line (from V.24 circuit 125) is commonly connected directly to
the system wake device in addition to being connected to the UART. While this implementation is
normative for COM ports located on system motherboards (see the ACPI specification), it could also
be done by add-in cards with COM ports that reside on buses supporting system wake from devices
in D3 (for example, PME# signal on PCI).
The second mechanism requires that the UART be powered (D0) to use the UART’s interrupt output
pin to generate the wake event instead. When using this method, the OS COM port policy owner or
power management control methods are expected to configure the UART. Although any UART
interrupt source (for example, ‘data ready’) could theoretically be used to wake the system, these
methods are beyond the scope of this document.

A COM port conforming to this specification must support the D0 and D3 states.
A.6 Display Device Class

The requirements expressed in this section apply to all devices engaged in the display of program
content, which includes full screen display devices, display controllers, and graphics adapters. This

ACPI Specification
class does not include video capture devices unless they are children of the graphics adapter. This
class does not include edge displays or hardware indicators for device states.
While saving power from the display and adapter are primary goals of Display Device Class power
management definitions, the definitions are also intended to ensure that the user perceives the
system as "off" during system sleeping states, as required above. When the system enters a lower
power state, the screen must go black so the user knows the system is idle. This is important because
devices that cannot actually save power (standard televisions, for example) can still support the user
notice of system idle by going black.
A.6.1.1 CRT Monitors (not including other full screen displays)

D0 Required This state is equivalent to the “On” state defined in the VESA DPMS specification (see
Related Documents) and is signaled to the display using the DPMS method.
Display is fully on
Video image is active
D1 Optional This state is equivalent to the “Standby” state defined in the VESA DPMS and is
signaled to the display using the DPMS method.
Display is functional but may be conserving energy
Video image is blank
Latency to return to D0 must be less than 5 seconds
D2 Required This state is equivalent to the “Suspend” state defined in the VESA DPMS specification
and is signaled to the display using the DPMS method.
Display is functional and conserving energy
Latency to return to D0 is less than 10 seconds
D3 Required This state is equivalent to the “Off” state defined in the VESA DPMS specification and
is signaled to the display using the DPMS method.
Display is non-functional
CRT Monitors are a special case in power management. On the one hand, they support a common
defined method (DPMS) for changing power states. On the other hand, that procedure and the CRT
support is extremely slow and out of keeping with other faster power control methods used by other
forms of display. This definition should not preclude the use of faster and more effective methods of
transitioning the CRT if they are available and known to the controller. DPMS is not recommended
as solution for new display devices in the future.

ACPI Specification
A.6.1.2 Internal Flat Panel Devices

D0 Required This state is equivalent to the “On” state for a DPMS device, but is signaled to the panel
by the correct application of power and/or controller specific signaling.
Display is fully on
Backlight (if present) is fully on(subject to performance state requirements – see below)
D1 Optional This state is not required to be physically different than a D3 state if the device is able to
meet the resume requirement and the driver is able to restore state.
Display retains internal state but may be conserving energy
Backlight(if present) is fully off
Latency to return to D0 must be less than 500 milliseconds
D2 Optional This state is not required to be physically different than a D3 state if the device is able to
meet the resume requirement and the driver is able to restore state.
Display retains state but is conserving energy
Backlight (if present) is fully off;
Latency to return to D0 is less than 500 milliseconds
D3 Required This state is equivalent to the “Off” state defined in the VESA DPMS specification. It is
signaled by the removal of power or possibly by controller-specific signaling.
Backlight (if present) is fully off.
Internal flat panels (also known as local flat panels or sometimes as LCDs) do not normally support
or require DPMS signaling to change power states. Instead, controllers capable of managing such
panels tend to provide vendor-specific methods to control internal flat panels, often involving
special sequencing of power signals to the panel. Some may be managed only by the application or
removal of power.
Backlight control for power management states is likewise controller and even platform specific.
Note that on-off backlight control for power management states is often unrelated to backlight
intensity or brightness control that is used while in the D0 state.
The 500 milliseconds is only to allow some existing hardware to function . The target for new
devices should be 100 milliseconds.
A.6.1.3 DVI Displays (Digital Flat Panels and DVI Monitors)

D0 Required This state is equivalent to the “On” state for a DPMS device, but is signaled to the
display by the correct application of power and/or controller specific signaling.
Display is fully on

ACPI Specification

D1 Optional This state is not required to be physically different than a D3 state if the device is able
to meet the resume requirement and the driver is able to restore state. It is signaled by
the removal of display output and time expiring. The physical state entered is no
different than D2.
to meet the resume requirement and the driver is able to restore state. It is signaled by
the removal of display output and time expiring The physical state entered is no
different than D1.
signaled by the removal of display output and time expiring
Although 250 milliseconds is shown here because not all devices in this group are fast now, the
target resume for a new device should be 100 milliseconds.
A.6.1.4 Standard TV Devices (and Analog HDTVs)

D0 Required This state is equivalent to the “On” state for a DPMS device.
Display is fully on
D1 Optional Video image is blank
D2 Optional Video image is blank

D3 Required This state is not equivalent to the “Off” state defined in the VESA DPMS specification
because not power is actually saved.
A.6.1.5 Other (new) Full Screen Devices

Some devices not specifically defined here already exist, such as projectors that emulate CRTs or
HDTVs. Others may be coming. It is important for any device used for full screen display to support

ACPI Specification
power transitions and power management states, but the primary requirement for the method should
be low overhead.
D0 Required This state is equivalent to the “On” state for a DPMS device, but is signaled to the
panel by the correct application of power and/or device specific signaling known to the
controller.
Display is fully on
to meet the resume requirement and the driver is able to restore state. It is signaled to
the panel by the correct application of power and/or device specific signaling known to
the controller.
to meet the resume requirement and the driver is able to restore state. It is signaled to
the panel by the correct application of power and/or device specific signaling known to
the controller.
signaled by the removal of display output and/or device specific methods known to the
controller.
Although 250 milliseconds is shown here because not all devices in this group are fast now, the
target resume for a new device should be 100 milliseconds.
A.6.1.6 Video Controllers (Graphics Adapters)

D0 Required Back-end is on
Video controller context is preserved
Video memory contents are preserved
D1 Optional Back-end is off, except for CRT control signaling (DPMS)
Video controller context is preserved
Video memory contents is preserved
D2 Optional Back-end is off, except for CRT control signaling (DPMS)
Video controller context is lost
Video memory contents is lost

ACPI Specification

D3 Required Back-end is off
Video controller context is lost (power removed)
Video memory contents is lost (power removed)
A.6.1.7 Display Codecs

Like the displays they control, display codecs are children of the adapter and cannot be in a higher
state than the adapter or a lower state than the displays they control . It is generally not helpful to
deal with codecs entirely separately from the adapter or the displays they control. While it may vary
from device to device, a codec will either be safely powered down when its display is powered down
or it may require power as long as the adapter receives power.
A.6.2 Power Management Policy for the Display Class

Present Next Cause
State State
D0 D1 User inactivity for a period of time (T1)
D1 D2 User inactivity for a period of time (T2 > T1)
D2 D3 User inactivity for a period of time (T3 > T2)
D1/D2/D3 D0 User activity or application UI change (for example, dialog pop-up)
These state transition definitions apply to both the full screen display and the video controller.
However, the control of the two devices is independent, except that a video controller will never be
put into a lower power state than its full screen display. Also, while full screen displays can
transition directly from D1 to D3 or from D2 to D3, the adapters require a transition to D0 from D1
or D2 before entering D3.
Transitions for the video controller are commanded via the bus-specific control mechanism for
device states. Monitor/LCD transitions are commanded by signaling from the video controller and
are only generated as a result of explicit commands from the policy-owner. Full screen display
power control is functionally independent from any other interface the monitor may provide (such as
USB). For instance, Hubs and HID devices in the monitor enclosure may be power-managed by their
driver over the USB bus, but the Monitor/LCD device itself may not; it must be power-managed
from the video controller using the methods above.
A.6.3 Wake Events

Display devices incorporating a system power switch should generate a wake event when the switch
is pressed while the system is sleeping.

A CRT monitor conforming to this specification must support the D0, D2, and D3 states. Other full
screen displays only need to support D0 and D3. Support for the D1 state is optional in all cases.
Transitional latencies for the D1 or D2 state must meet the requirements above.

ACPI Specification
A video controller conforming to this specification must support the D0 and D3 states. Support for
the D1 and D2 states is optional. Transitional latencies for the D1 must be less than 100 milliseconds
while D2 and D3 must transition to D0 in less than 200 milliseconds.
A.6.5 Performance States for Display Class Devices

Performance states for display devices and adapters have one clear difference from defined power
management states. There is no display in any power management state higher than D0. However,
performance states are all applied within D0, which means they save power while continuing to
display. Not all display class devices will support performance states, but in all cases, they must
allow continued display where they exist.
A.6.5.1 Common Requirements for Display Class Performance States

The definition of each state (up the line toward the OSPM) must include maximum latency
information on transitions into the state and transitions out of the state. (For states other than DPS1,
it may be necessary to indicate whether the latency is the time from DPS0 to DPSx or only from
DPSx-1 to DPSx.)
Each state has to have a relative weight indicator or a relative power savings indicator (i.e., it can
make a difference in OSPM policies whether DPS1 saves 2% power and DPS2 save 75% power
even if latency is longer.)
While ASL NameSpace structures may provide some of this information, it is recommended that
display class performance states be entered and exited by driver and not by control method wherever
possible.
A.6.5.2 Performance states for Full Screen Displays

A.6.5.2.1 CRT Performance States
Some CRTs (in theory) have the capability for "reduced on" -- a mode which displays but uses less
power than full performance. Even without this capability, a CRT may be able to use reduced refresh
or other methods to reduce the total power of displaying.
A.6.5.2.2 Internal Flat Panel

In general, panels consume a fixed amount of power. However, some panels are also capable of
supporting reduced refresh. More important, the amount of backlight brightness is a major factor in
system power. This clearly needs to be coordinated with direct ASL control methods for brightness
and with ambient light sensing when present. However, a performance state may be achieved by
offsetting the brightness value computed by other methods, either by a fixed amount or a fixed
percentage.
A.6.5.2.3 DVI Full Screen Devices

DVI Devices are normally capable of frequency control and may be able to benefit by frequency
control. However, because of sensitivity to signal loss, DVI devices may have limitations on other
types of performance control.

ACPI Specification
A.6.5.2.4 Standard TV and Analog HDTVs

Standard TV and Analog HDTVs do not appear capable of performance states. Codecs controlling
them may be capable of power saving, however.
A.6.5.2.5 New Devices

The ability to reduce power while continuing to display will be increasingly important.
A.6.5.3 Performance States for Video Controllers/Display Adapters

Adapters are somewhat limited during performance states because they have to continue to support
display on one or more full screen devices. However, they can still do a number of things to support
performance states, including
• Changes to basic display and render capabilities, including speed or frequency range supported.
• Feature/Capability/Quality Control – limiting specific hardware features, limiting refresh rates,
limiting resolutions.
The limiting factor on what can be supported may sometimes be in the OSPM. If the OSPM support
dynamic changes in these features during a performance state change (even if no other time), more
opportunities arise.
Once again, the latency on transitions and the power saved by specific states have to be made
available to the OSPM in order to use these options effectively.
A.7 Input Device Class

The requirements expressed in this section apply to standard types of input devices such as
keyboards, keypads, mice, pointing devices, joysticks, game pads, to devices that combine these
kinds of input functionality (composite devices, and so on), and to new types of input devices such
as virtual reality devices, simulation devices, and so on.

D0 Required Device is receiving full power from its power source, delivering full functionality to the
user, and preserving applicable context and state information.
D1 Optional Input device power consumption is greatly reduced. In general, device is in a power
management state and is not delivering any functionality to the user except wake
functionality if applicable. Device status, state, or other information indicators (for
example, LEDs, LCD displays, and so on) are turned off to save power.
The following device context and state information should be preserved by the policy
owner or other software:
Keyboard. Num, caps, scroll lock states (and Compose and Kana states if
applicable) and associated LED/indicator states, repeat delay, and repeat rate.
Joystick. Forced feedback effects (if applicable).
Any input device. All context and state information that cannot be preserved by the
device when it’s conserving power.

ACPI Specification

D2 N/A This state is not defined for input devices, use D1 as the power management state
instead.
D3 Required Input device is off and not running. In general, the device is not delivering any
functionality to the user except wake functionality if applicable. Device context and
state information is lost.

Present Next Cause
State State
D3 D0 Requested by the system
D0 D1/D3* Requested by the system (for example, system goes to sleep with wake enabled)
D0/D1 D3 Requested by the system (for example, system goes to sleep with wake disabled)
Power is removed
D1/D3 D0 Device with enabled wake capability requests transition by generating a wake event
Requested by the system
Note: *Depends on capability of device (if it features D1 or D3 wake capability or not); device will be put
in state with the lowest possible power consumption.
A.7.3 Wake Events

It is recommended, but not required, that input devices implement and support bus-specific wake
mechanisms if these are defined for their bus type. This is recommended because a user typically
uses an input device of some kind to wake the system when it is in a power management state (for
example, when the system is sleeping).
The actual input data (particular button or key pressed) that’s associated with a wake event should
never be discarded by the device itself, but should always be passed along to the policy owner or
other software for further interpretation. This software implements a policy for how this input data
should be interpreted, and decides what should be passed along to higher-level software, and so on.
It is recommended that the device button(s) or key(s) used for power management purposes are
clearly labeled with text and/or icons. This is recommended for keyboards and other input devices
on which all buttons or keys are typically labeled with text and/or icons that identify their usage.
For example, a keyboard could include a special-purpose power management button (for example,
“Power”) that, when pressed during a system sleeping state, generates a wake event. Alternatively,
the button(s) on mice and other pointing devices could be used to trigger a wake event.
Examples of more advanced wake events include keyboard wake signaling when any key is pressed,
mouse wake signaling on detection of X/Y motion, joystick wake signaling on X/Y motion, and so
on. However, in order to avoid accidental or unintentional wake of the system, and to give the user
some control over which input events will result in a system wake, it’s suggested that more advanced
types of wake events are implemented as features that can be turned on or off by the user (for
example, as part of the OSPM user interface).

ACPI Specification

An input device conforming to this specification must support the D0 and D3 states. Support for the
D1 state is optional.
A.8 Modem Device Class

• The requirements expressed in this section apply to modems and similar devices, such as USB
controlled ISDN Terminal Adapters (“digital modems”) and computer-connected telephone
devices ("CT phones"). This specification will refer to these devices as “modems; the same
considerations apply to digital modems and CT phones unless explicitly stated otherwise.
• The scope of this section is further restricted to modems that support power management using
methods defined by the relevant PC-modem connection bus. These include PCI, USB, PCCARD
(PCMCIA), CardBus, and modems on the system motherboard described by ACPI system
firmware control methods. The scope does not include bus-specific means for devices to alert
the host PC (for example, how to deliver a ”ringing”’ message), nor does it address how those
alerting operations are controlled.
A.8.1 Technology Overview

Modems are traditionally serial devices, but today modems may be attached to a PC by many
different means. Further, many new modems expose a software serial interface, where the modem
controller function is implemented in software. This specification addresses three different
connection types:
• Traditional connections without power-managed connections (for example, COM, LPT, ISA)
• Power managed connections (for example, PCCARD, CardBus, PCI, USB)
• Motherboard modems
For some of the above modem connection types mentioned, there are three different modem
architectures possible:
• Traditional modem (DAA, DSP, and controller in hardware)
• Controller-less design (DAA and DSP in hardware)
• "Soft modem" design (DAA and CODEC only in hardware)
The hardware components of the modem shall be controlled by the relevant bus commands, where
applicable (USB, PCI, CardBus). The software components are dependent on the power state of the
CPU.
A.8.1.1 Traditional Connections

In older methods (COM, LPT, ISA) the modem is controlled primarily by serialized ASCII
command strings (for example, V.25ter) and traditional V.24 (RS-232) out-of-band leads. In these
legacy devices, there are no common means for power management other than the power switch for
the device, or the entire system unit.
An external modem connected to a COM port or LPT port typically has its own power supply. An
LPT port modem might run from the current on the LPT port +5V supply. For COM or LPT port
modems, power is typically controlled by a user switch.

ACPI Specification
The most common modem type is an ISA card with an embedded COM port. From a software
standpoint, they are logically identical to external modems, but the modems are powered by the PC
system unit. Power is drawn from the ISA bus without independent power switching.
A.8.1.2 Power-Managed Connections

PCMCIA, PCCARD and CardBus slots are powered and power-managed by the system, using
means defined in the relevant bus specifications. For PCMCIA and PCCARD devices, only D0 and
D3 states are available, via Socket Services in the OS and/or ACPI system firmware. CardBus adds
intermediate states, using the same mechanisms defined for PCI Bus.
PCI bus slots are powered and power-managed by the system, using means defined in the PCI
specification.
USB devices may be powered by the USB itself (100mA or 500mA), or have their own external
power supply. All USB devices are power-managed by the USB bus master, using means defined in
the USB specification.
A.8.1.3 Motherboard Modems

A modem embedded in the motherboard is powered by controls on the motherboard. It should be
power-managed by using control methods exposed via ACPI system firmware tables.

D0 Required Phone interface is on (may be on or off hook)
Speaker is on
Controller Context is preserved
D1 N/A Not defined (do not use)
D2 Optional Phone interface is not powered by the host (on hook)
Speaker is off
Controller context is preserved
2 seconds maximum restore time
D3 Required Phone interface is not powered by host (on hook)
Speaker is off
Controller context may be lost
5 seconds maximum restore time

ACPI Specification

Present Next State Cause
State
D2/D3 D0 System issues a bus command to enter the D0 state (for example, an application
is answering or originating a call).
D0 D2 System issues a bus command to enter the D2 state. (for example, an application
is listening for an incoming call).
D0 D3 System issues a bus command to enter the D3 state (for example, all
applications have closed the Modem device).
A.8.4 Wake Events

For any type of modem device, wake events (if supported and enabled) are only generated in
response to detected “ringing” from an incoming call. All other events associated with modems
(V.8bis messages, and so on) require that the PC be in the “working” state to capture them. The
methods and signals used to generate the wake may vary as a function of the modem connection
(bus) type and modem architecture.
Machine wake is allowed from any modem power state (D0, D2, and D3), and is accomplished by
methods described in the appropriate bus power management specification (PCI, USB, PCCARD),
or by ACPI system board control methods (for Modem on Motherboard implementations).
If the specific modem implementation or connection type does not enable it to assert system wake
signaling, these modems will not be able to wake the machine. The OS modem policy owner will
have to retain the PC in the “working” state to perform all types of event detection (including
ringing).

A modem or similar device conforming to this specification must support the D0 and D3
states. Support of the D2 state is optional.
A.9 Network Device Class

The requirements expressed in this section apply to Ethernet and token ring adapters. ATM and
ISDN adapters are not supported by this specification.

For the purpose of the following state definitions “no bus transmission” means that transmit requests
from the host processor are not honored, and “no bus reception” means that received data are not
transferred to host memory.
D0 Required Device is on and running and is delivering full functionality and performance to the
user
Device is fully compliant with the requirements of the attached network

ACPI Specification

D1 Optional No bus transmission allowed
No bus reception allowed
No interrupts can occur
Device context may be lost
D2 Optional No bus transmission allowed
Device context may be lost
D3 Required Device context is assumed to be lost
No bus transmission allowed
This document does not specify maximum power and maximum latency requirements for the
sleeping states because these numbers are very different for different network technologies. The
device must meet the requirements of the bus that it attaches to.
Although the descriptions of states D1 and D2 are the same, the choice of whether to implement D1
or D2 or both may depend on bus services required, power requirements, or time required to restore
the physical layer. For example, a device designed for a particular bus might include state D1
because it needs a bus service such as a bus clock to support Magic Packet™ wake, and that service
is available in the bus device’s D1 power state but not in D2. Also, a device might include both state
D1 and state D2 to provide a choice between lower power and lower latency.

Present Next Cause
State State
D0 Dx System enters sleep state. If wake is enabled, Dx is the lowest power state (for
example, D1, D2, D3) from which the network device supports system wake.
An appropriate time-out has elapsed after a “link down” condition was detected. Dx is
the lowest power state in which the network device can detect “link up.”
D0 D3 System initiated network shutdown.
System enters sleep state and wake is either not enabled or the network device is
capable of waking from D3.
D1/D2/D3 D0 System wake (transition to S0), including a wake caused by a network wake event.
A.9.3 Wake Events

Network wake events are generally the result of either a change in the link status or the reception of
a wake frame from the network.
A.9.3.1 Link Status Events

Link status wake events are useful to indicate a change in the network’s availability, particularly
when this change may impact the level at which the system should re-enter the sleeping state. For
example, a transition from “link off” to “link on” may trigger the system to re-enter sleep at a higher

ACPI Specification
level (for example, S2 versus S3) so that wake frames can be detected. Conversely, a transition from
“link on” to “link off” may trigger the system to re-enter sleep at a deeper level (for example, S3
versus S2) since the network is not currently available. The network device should implement an
internal delay to avoid unnecessary transitions when the link status toggles on or off momentarily.
A.9.3.2 Wake Frame Events

Wake frame events are used to wake the system whenever meaningful data is presented to the system
over the network. Examples of meaningful data include the reception of a Magic Packet™, a
management request from a remote administrator, or simply network traffic directly targeted to the
local system. In all of these cases the network device was pre-programmed by the policy owner or
other software with information on how to identify wake frames from other network traffic. The
details of how this information is passed between software and network device depend on the OS
and therefore are not described in this specification.

A network device conforming to this specification must support the D0 and D3 states. Support for
the D1 and D2 states is optional.
A.10 PC Card Controller Device Class

The requirements expressed in this section apply to PC Card controller devices and the PC Card
slots.
Power management of PC Cards is not defined by this specification. PC Card power management is
defined by the relevant power management specification for the card’s device class (for example,
network, modem, and so on), in conjunction with the PC Card standard (for 16-bit cards) or the PCI
Power Management Specification (for CardBus cards).

ACPI Specification

D0 Required Card status change interrupts are fully functional.
Card functional interrupts are fully functional.
Controller context (for example, memory, I/O windows) is fully functional.
Controller interface is fully functional (processor can access cards).
Power to cards (slots) is available (may be on or off under software control).
The controller is at its highest power consumption level.
Bus command response time is at its fastest level.
PC Cards can be in any Dx power state (D0-D3).
Note: In D0 state, CSTSCHG interrupts can be passed to a system from a powered
down PC Card (for more detail, refer to section 5.2.11.2 of PC Card Standard,
Electrical Specification).
D1 Optional Card status change interrupts are disabled. CSTSCHG interrupt events are still
detectable by the controller and cause the bus-specific wake signal to be asserted if
wake is enabled on the controller.
Card functional interrupts are disabled.
Controller context is preserved (all register contents must be maintained but memory
and I/O windows need not be functional).
Controller interface is non-functional (processor cannot access cards).
Power to cards (slots) is available (may be on or off; retains power setting it had at
time of entry to D1).
Power-level consumption for the controller is high but less than D0.
The time required to restore the function from the D1 state to the D0 state is quicker
than resumption from D3.
Bus command response time is equal to or slower than in D0.
PC Cards can be in the D1, D2, or D3 power states (not D0).
Note: In D1 state, CSTSCHG interrupts can be passed to a system from a powered-
down PC Card (for more detail, refer to section 5.2.11.2 of PC Card Standard,
Electrical Specification).
D2 Optional Functionally the same as D1 (may be implemented instead of D1 in order to allow
bus and/or system to enter a lower-power state).
D3 Required Card status change interrupt: Disabled and need not be detected.
Card functional interrupt: Disabled and need not be detected.
Controller context (for example, memory, I/O windows): Lost.
Controller interface: Non-functional (processor can not access cards).
Clock to controller: Off.
Power to cards (slots): Off (card context lost).
Note: If Vcc is removed (for example, PCI Bus B3) while the device is in the D3 state,
a bus-specific reset (for example, PCI RST#) must be asserted when power is
restored and functions will then return to the D0 state with a full power-on reset
sequence. Whenever the transition from D3 to D0 is initiated through assertion of a
bus-specific reset, the power-on defaults will be restored to the function by hardware
just as at initial power up. The function must then be fully initialized and reconfigured
by software.

The PC Card controller is a bus controller. As such, its power state is dependent on the devices

ACPI Specification
plugged into the bus (child devices). OSPM will track the state of all devices on the bus and will put
the bus into the best possible power state based on the current device requirements on that bus. For
example, if the PC Card cards are all in the D1 state, OSPM will put the PC Card controller in the D1
state.
Present Next Cause
State State
D2/D3 D0 Any card in any slot needing to transition to state D0 due to a wake event or because of
system usage.
D0 D1 No card in any slot is in state D0.
D0 D2 No card in any slot is in state D0 or D1.
D0 D3 All cards in all slots are in state D3.
A.10.3 Wake Events

A wake event is any event that would normally assert the controller’s status change interrupt (for
example, card insertion, card battery state change, card ReqAttn event, and so on) or ring-indicate
signal.

A PC Card controller device conforming to this specification must support the D0 and D3
states. Support for the D1 or D2 states is optional.
A.11 Storage Device Class

The requirements expressed in this section apply to ATA hard disks, floppy disks, ATAPI and SCSI
CD-ROMs, and the IDE channel.

ACPI Specification
A.11.1.1 Hard Disk, CD-ROM and IDE/ATAPI Removable Storage Devices

D0 Required Drive controller (for example, interface and control electronics) is functional.
Interface mode context (for example, communications timings) is programmed.
D1 Optional Drive controller (for example, interface and control electronics) is functional.
Interface mode context (for example, communications timings) is preserved.
Drive motor (for example, spindle) is stopped, with fast-start mode enabled, if
available.
Laser (if any) is off.
Recommended latency to return to D0 is less than 5 seconds.
Power consumption in D1 should be no more than 80% of power consumed in D0.
Note: For ATA devices, this state is invoked by the Standby Immediate command.
D2 N/A This state is not defined for storage devices.
D3 Required Drive controller (for example, interface and control electronics) is not functional;
context is lost.
Interface mode (for example, communications timings) is not preserved.
Drive motor (for example, spindle) is stopped.
Laser (if any) is off.
Power consumption in D3 is no more than 10% of power consumed in D0.
Note: For ATA devices, this state is invoked by the “sleep” command.
A.11.1.2 Floppy Disk Devices

D0 Required Drive controller (for example, interface and control electronics) is functional.
Drive motor (for example, spindle) is turning.
D1 N/A This state is not defined for floppy disk drives.
D2 N/A This state is not defined for floppy disk drives.
D3 Required Drive controller (for example, interface and control electronics) is not functional;
context is lost.
Drive motor (for example, spindle) is stopped.

ACPI Specification
A.11.1.3 IDE Channel Devices

D0 Required Adapter is functional.
Adapter interface mode (for example, communications timings) is programmed.
Power is applied to the bus (and all devices connected to it).
D1 N/A This state is not defined for the IDE Channel.
D2 N/A This state is not defined for the IDE Channel.
D3 Required Adapter is non-functional.
Adapter interface mode (for example, communications timings) is not preserved.
Power to the bus (and all devices connected to it) may be off.
A.11.2.1 Hard Disk, Floppy Disk, CD-ROM and IDE/ATAPI Removable

Storage Devices
Present Next Cause
State State
D3 D0 Device usage (high-priority I/O).
D0 D1* Device inactivity (no high-priority I/O) for some period of time (T1).
D0 D3 Device inactivity (no high-priority I/O) for a period of time (T2=>T1).
System enters sleeping state.
D1* D0 Device usage (High-priority I/O).
Note: * If supported.
Note: For ATA, the D3-to-D0 transition requires a reset of the IDE channel. This means that both
devices on a channel must be placed into D3 at the same time.
A.11.2.2 IDE Channel Devices

Present Next Cause
State State
D3 D0 Any device on the channel needing to transition to a state other than state D3.
D0 D3 All devices on the channel in state D3.
A.11.3 Wake Events

Storage devices with removable media can, optionally, signal wake upon insertion of media using
their bus-specific notification mechanism. There are no other wake events defined for Storage
devices.

A hard disk, CD-ROM or IDE/ATAPI removable storage device conforming to this specification
must support the D0 and D3 states. Support for the D1 state is optional.

ACPI Specification
A floppy disk and IDE channel device conforming to this specification must support the D0 and D3
states.

ACPI Specification

ACPI Specification
Appendix B Video Extensions
B.1 ACPI Extensions for Display Adapters: Introduction

This section of the document describes a number of specialized ACPI methods to support
motherboard graphics devices.
In many cases, system manufacturers need to add special support to handle multiple output devices
such as panels and TV-out capabilities, as well as special power management features. This is
particularly true for notebook manufacturers. The methods described here have been designed to
enable interaction between the platform firmware, video driver, and OS to smoothly support these
features.
Systems containing a built-in display adapter are required to implement the ACPI Extensions for
Display Adapters.
Table B-431 Video Extension Object Requirements

Method Description Requirement
_DOS Enable/Disable output switching Required if system supports display switching
or LCD brightness levels
_DOD Enumerate all devices attached to display Required if integrated controller supports
adapter output switching
_ROM Get ROM Data Required if ROM image is stored in proprietary
format
_GPD Get POST Device Required if _VPO is implemented
_SPD Set POST Device Required if _VPO is implemented
_VPO Video POST Options Required if system supports changing post
VGA device
_ADR Return the unique ID for this device Required
_BCL Query list of brightness control levels Required if embedded LCD supports
supported brightness control
_BCM Set the brightness level Required if _BCL is implemented
_DDC Return the EDID for this device Required if embedded LCD does not support
return of EDID via standard interface
_DCS Return status of output device Required if the system supports display
switching (via hotkey)
_DGS Query graphics state Required if the system supports display
switching (via hotkey
_DSS Device state set Required if the system supports display
switching (via hotkey).

ACPI Specification
B.2 Definitions
• Built-in display adapter. This is a graphics chip that is built into the motherboard and cannot be
replaced. ACPI information is valid for such built-in devices.
•
• Add-in display adapter. This is a graphics chip or board that can be added to or removed from
the computer. Because the platform firmware cannot have specific knowledge of add-in boards,
ACPI information is not available for add-in devices.
•
• Boot-up display adapter. This is the display adapter programmed by the platform boot
firmware during machine power-on self-test (POST). It is the device upon which the machine
will show the initial operating system boot screen, as well as any platform boot firmware
messages.
• The system can change the boot-up display adapter, and it can switch between the built-in
adapter and the add-in adapter.
• Display device. This is a synonym for the term display adapter discussed above.
• Output device. This is a device, which is a recipient of the output of a display device. For
example, a CRT or a TV is an output device.
B.3 ACPI Namespace

This is an example of the display-related namespace on an ACPI system:

ACPI Specification
GPE // ACPI General-purpose HW event

_L0x // Notify(VGA, 0x80) to tell OSPM of the event, when user presses
// the hot key to switch the output status of the monitor.
// Notify(VGA, 0x81) to tell the event to OSPM, when there are any
// changes on the sub-devices for the VGA controller
SB
|- PCI
|- VGA // Define the VGA controller in the namespace
|- _PS0 / PR0
|- _PS1 / PR1
|- _PS3
|- _DOS // Method to control display output switching
|- _DOD // Method to retrieve information about child output devices
|- _ROM // Method to retrieve the ROM image for this device
|- _GPD // Method for determining which VGA device will post
|- _SPD // Method for controlling which VGA device will post
|- _VPO // Method for determining the post options
|- CRT // Child device CRT
|- _ADR // Hardware ID for this device
|- _DDC // Get EDID information from the monitor device
|- _DCS // Get current hardware status
|- _DGS // Query desired hardware active \ inactive state
|- _DSS // Set hardware active \ inactive state
|- _PS0 \
|- _PS1 - Power methods
|- _PS2 - for the output device
|- _PS3 /
|- LCD // Child device LCD
|- _BCL // Brightness control levels
|- _BCM // Brightness control method
|- _BQC // Brightness Query Current Level
|- _PS0 \
|- _PS1 - Power methods
|- _PS2 - for the output device
|- _PS3 /
|- TV // Child Device TV
The LCD device represents the built-in output device. Mobile PCs will always have a built-in LCD
display, but desktop systems that have a built-in graphics adapter generally don’t have a built-in
output device.
B.4Display-specific Methods
The methods described in this section are all associated with specific display devices. This device-
specific association is represented in the namespace example in the previous section by the
positioning of these methods in a device tree.

ACPI Specification
B.3.1 _DOS (Enable/Disable Output Switching)

Many ACPI machines currently reprogram the active display output automatically when the user
presses the display toggle switch on the keyboard. This is done because most video device drivers
are currently not capable of being notified synchronously of such state changes. However, this
behavior violates the ACPI specification, because the system modifies some graphics device
registers.
The existence of the _DOS method indicates that the platform runtime firmware is capable of
automatically switching the active display output or controlling the brightness of the LCD. If it
exists at all, the _DOS method must be present for all display output devices. This method is
required if the system supports display switching or LCD brightness control.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the encoded switching controls (see below)
Return Value:
None
Additional Argument Information:

Bits [1:0]
0 – The platform runtime firmware should not automatically switch (toggle) the active display
output, but instead just save the desired state change for the display output devices in variables
associated with each display output, and generate the display switch event. OSPM can query
these state changes by calling the _DGS method.
1 – The platform runtime firmware should automatically switch (toggle) the active display output,
with no interaction required on the OS part. The display switch event should not be generated
in this case.
2 – The _DGS values should be locked. It’s highly recommended that the platform runtime
firmware do nothing when hotkey pressed. No switch, no notification.
3 – The platform runtime firmware should not automatically switch (toggle) the active display
output, but instead generate the display switch event notify codes 0x82, 0x83, or 0x84. OSPM
will determine what display output state should be set, and change the display output state
without further involvement from the platform runtime firmware.
Bit [2]
0 – The platform runtime firmware should automatically control the brightness level of the LCD
when the power changes from AC to DC.
1 – The platform runtime firmware should not automatically control the brightness level of the
LCD when the power changes from AC to DC.
The _DOS method controls this automatic switching behavior. This method should do so by saving
the parameter passed to this method in a global variable somewhere in the platform runtime
firmware data segment. The platform runtime firmware then checks the value of this variable when
doing display switching. This method is also used to control the generation of the display switching
Notify(VGA, 0x80/0x81).
The platform runtime firmware, when doing switching of the active display, must verify the state of
the variable set by the _DOS method. The default value of this variable must be 1.

ACPI Specification
B.3.2 _DOD (Enumerate All Devices Attached to the Display Adapter)

This method is used to enumerate devices attached to the display adapter. This method is required if
integrated controller supports output switching.
On many laptops today, a number of devices can be connected to the graphics adapter in the
machine. These devices are on the motherboard and generally are not directly enumerable by the
video driver; for this reason, all motherboard VGA attached devices are listed in the ACPI
namespace.
These devices fall into two categories:
• Video output devices. For example, a machine with a single display device on the motherboard
can have three possible output devices attached to it, such as a TV, a CRT, or a panel.
• Non-video output devices. For example, TV Tuner, DVD decoder, Video Capture. They just
attach to VGA and their power management closely relates to VGA.
Both ACPI and the video driver have the ability to program and configure output devices. This
means that both ACPI and the video driver must enumerate the devices using the same IDs. To solve
this problem, the _DOD method returns a list of devices attached to the graphics adapter, along with
device-specific configuration information. This information will allow the cooperation between
ACPI components and the video driver.
Every child device enumerated in the ACPI namespace under the graphics adapter must be specified
in this list of devices. Each display device must have its own ID, which is unique with respect to any
other attachable devices enumerated.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A Package containing a variable-length list of Integers, each of which contains the 32-bit device
attribute of a child device (See Table B-432)
Example:
Method (_DOD, 0) {
Return (
Package()
{
0x00000110, // Primary LCD panel, not detectable by firmware
0x80000100, // CRT type display, not detectable by firmware
0x80000220, // TV type display, not detectable by the firmware
0x80000411, // Secondary LCD panel, not detectable by firmware
}
)
}

ACPI Specification
Table B-432 Video Output Device Attributes

Bits Definition
15:0 Device ID. The device ID must match the ID’s specified by Video Chip Vendors. They must also be
unique under VGA namespace.
Bit [3:0] Display Index
A zero-based instance of the Display, when multiple displays of the same type are
attached, regardless of where it is associated. Starting from the first adapter and its
first display of the type on the first integrated internal device and then incrementing
per device-function according to its relative port number.
Bit [7:4] Display Port Attachment
This field differentiates displays of the same type attached at different points of one
adapter. The zero-based number scheme is specific to each Video Chip Vendors’
implementation.
Bit [11:8] Display Type

Describes the specific type of Display Technology in use.
0 – Other
1 – VGA* CRT or VESA* Compatible Analog Monitor
2 – TV/HDTV or other Analog-Video Monitor
3 – External Digital Monitor (See Note 1.)
4 – Internal/Integrated Digital Flat Panel (See Note 2.)
5~15 – Reserved for future use
Bit [15:12] Chipset Vendor Specific.
16 Platform boot firmware can detect the device.
17 Non-VGA output device whose power is related to the VGA device. This can be used when
specifying devices like TV Tuner, DVD decoder, Video Capture … etc.
20:18 For VGA multiple-head devices, this specifies head or pipe ID e.g. for Dual-Pipe*, Dual-Display*,
Duo-View*, TwinView*, Triple-View* … etc, beginning with 0 for head 0 or single-head device and
increasing for each additional head.
31 Device ID Scheme
1 – Uses the bit-field definitions above (bits 15:0)
0 – Other scheme, contact the Video Chip Vendor
As mentioned in the above table, a “Pipe” or “Head” refers to a unique display content stream e.g. at
a particular color-depth, resolution, and refresh-rate. The “Port” refers to the display output device
attachment and may include a DAC, encoder or other mechanism required to support a given display
end-point. The “Display Type” describes the generalized class of display output technology, and the
means of integration. The “Display Index” is then an index that assists in creating a unique identifier
display end-points in scenarios where other attributes are the same.

ACPI Specification
Pipe / Head Ports Display Types Display Index
Port 0 =1 0 = 1st CRT
Primary Desktop Pipe 0
Port 1 =4 0 = 1st LCD
Dual - Link
Port 2
=3 st
0 = 1 DVI
Secondary
Desktop Pipe 1 Dual-Port
Port 3
=2
Port 4
=1
Figure B-1 Example Display Architecture
Table B-433 Example Device Ids

Bits Definition
0x000xyyyy Bit [31] = 0. Other proprietary scheme - 0x110 Device ID is an exception. (See Note 3)
0x00000110 Integrated LCD Panel #1 using a common, backwards compatible ID
0x80000100 Integrated VGA CRT or VESA compatible Monitor #1 on Port0
0x80000240 Integrated TV #1 on Port4
0x80000410 Integrated Internal LCD Panel #1 on Port1
0x80000421 LVDS Panel #2 Dual-Link using Port2 & 3. (See Note 4)
0x80000131 VGA CRT or VESA compatible Monitor #2 on Port3
0x80000121 Dual-Link VGA CRT or VESA compatible Monitor #2 using Port2 & 3. (See Note 4.)
0x80000320 DVI Monitor #1 on Port2 (shares Port2 with a Dual-Function DVI/TV Encoder). (See Note 5)
0x80000331 DVI Monitor #2 on Port3
0x80000330 Dual-Link DVI Monitor #1 using Port2 & 3
0x80000231 TV #2 on Port2 (shares Port2 with a Dual-Function DVI/TV Encoder). (See Note 5)

ACPI Specification
Note: An “External Digital Monitor” is an external display device attachable via a user-accessible
connector standard (e.g. DFP* or DVI* Compatible Monitors).
Note: An “Internal Flat Panel” is a non-detachable fixed pixel display device, including a backlight, and is
internally associated, without user-accessible connectors, to the Video Chip (e.g. TFT LCD via
TMDS*, LVDS* interface).
Note: When Bit [31] is 0, no assumptions can be made on which ID will be used for any particular display
type. Contact the Video Chip vendor for details of the ID scheme employed.
Note: In certain cases multiple Displays Ports may be combined to increase bandwidth for a particular
Display in higher-resolution modes. In this situation, the Display Type and Port Number should
remain the same in order to retain a consistent ID for the same device, regardless of the selected
display mode.
Note: In certain cases, more than one type of display (and connector) may be supportable on a single
Port (e.g. DVI + TV + CRT on a single Display Encoder device), while only one display is
selectable at any time. In this case the Port Number field of the ID may be the same as other
Display ID’s however the other fields (e.g. Display Type) provide uniqueness.
B.3.3 _ROM (Get ROM Data)

This method is used to get a copy of the display devices’ ROM data. This method is required when
the ROM image is stored in a proprietary format such as stored in the platform firmware ROM. This
method is not necessary if the ROM image can be read through a standard PCI interface (using ROM
BAR). If _ROM is present, it is preferred over the image read through the standard PCI interface, in
order to allow platform runtime firmware to provide re-configured ROM data via the method.
The video driver can use the data returned by this method to program the device. The format of the
data returned by this function is a large linear buffer limited to 4 KB. The content of the buffer is
defined by the graphics independent hardware vendor (IHV) that builds this device. The format of
this ROM data will traditionally be compatible with the ROM format of the normal PCI video card,
which will allow the video driver to program its device, independently of motherboard versus add-in
card issues.
The data returned by the _ROM method is implementation-specific data that the video driver needs
to program the device. This method is defined to provide this data as motherboard devices typically
don’t have a dedicated option ROM. This method will allow a video driver to get the key
implementation specific data it needs so that it can fully control and program the device without
platform runtime firmware support.
Arguments: (2)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the offset of the display device ROM data
Arg1 – An Integer containing the size of the buffer to fill in (up to 4K).
Return Value:
A Buffer containing the requested ROM data
B.3.4 _GPD (Get POST Device)

This method is required if the _VPO method is implemented.
This method is used as a mechanism for the OS to query a CMOS value that determines which VGA
device will be posted at boot. A zero return value indicates the motherboard VGA will be posted on

ACPI Specification
the next boot, a 1 indicates a PCI VGA device will be posted, and a 2 indicates an AGP VGA device
will be posted.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing encoded post information (32 bits valid)
Bits [1:0]
00 – Post the motherboard VGA device
01 – Post an add-in PCI VGA device
10 – Post an add-in AGP VGA device
11 – Post an add-in PCI-Express VGA device
Bits [31:2] – Reserved (must be 0)
B.3.5 _SPD (Set POST Device)

This method is required if the _VPO method is implemented.
This method is used as a mechanism for the OS to update a CMOS value that determines which
video device will be posted at boot. A zero argument will cause the “motherboard” to be posted on
the next boot, a 1 will cause an add-in PCI device to be posted, and a 2 will cause an add-in AGP
device to be posted.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing encode post information (32 bits valid)
Bits [1:0]
00 – Post the motherboard VGA device
01 – Post an add-in PCI VGA device
10 – Post an add-in AGP VGA device
11 – Post an add-in PCI-Express VGA device
Bits [31:2] – Reserved (must be 0)

Return Value:
An Integer containing the status of the operation
0– Operation was successful
Non-zero –Operation failed

ACPI Specification
Example
Method (_SPD, 1){ // Make the motherboard device the device to post }
B.3.6 _VPO (Video POST Options)

This method is required for systems with video devices built onto the motherboard and support
changing post-VGA device.
This method is used as a mechanism for the OS to determine what options are implemented. This
method will be used in conjunction with _GPD and _SPD
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the options that are implemented and available
Bit [0] – Posting the motherboard VGA device is an option. (Bit [0] should always be set)
Bit [1] – Posting a PCI VGA device is an option.
Bit [2] – Posting an AGP VGA device is an option.
Bit [3] – Posting a PCI-Express VGA device is an option.
Bits [31:4] – Reserved (must be zero)
B.4 Notifications for Display Devices

Display devices may need to know about external, asynchronous events. In order to accommodate
that, the following notifications are defined.
The event number is standardized because the event will be handled by the OS directly under certain
circumstances (see _DOS method in this specification).
These notifications are valid for Display Devices
Table B-434 Notifications for Display Devices.

Value Description
0x80 Cycle Output Device. Used to notify OSPM whenever the state of one of the output devices
attached to the VGA controller has been switched or toggled. This event will, for example, be
generated when the user presses a hotkey to switch the active display output from the LCD panel to
the CRT.
0x81 Output Device Status Change. Used to notify OSPM whenever the state of any output devices
attached to the VGA controller has been changed. This event will, for example, be generated when
the user plugs-in or remove a CRT from the VGA port. In this case, OSPM will re-enumerate all
devices attached to VGA
0x82 Cycle Display Output Hotkey Pressed. Used to notify OSPM whenever the user has pressed the
Cycle display hotkey.
0x83 Next Display Output Hotkey Pressed. Used to notify OSPM whenever the user has pressed the
Next display hotkey.

ACPI Specification
Value Description
0x84 Previous Display Output Hotkey Pressed. Used to notify OSPM whenever the user has pressed
the Previous display hotkey.
B.5 Output Device-specific Methods

The methods in this section are methods associated with the display output device.
B.5.1 _ADR (Return the Unique ID for this Device)

This method returns a unique ID representing the display output device. All output devices must
have a unique hardware ID. This method is required for all The IDs returned by this method will
appear in the list of hardware IDs returned by the _DOD method.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the device ID (32 bits)
Example:
Method (_ADR, 0) {
return(0x0100) // device ID for this CRT
}
This method is required for all output display devices.
B.5.2 _BCL (Query List of Brightness Control Levels Supported)

This method allows the OS to query a list of brightness level supported by built-in display output
devices. (This method in not allowed for externally connected displays.) This method is required if
an integrated LCD is present and supports brightness levels.
Each brightness level is represented by a number between 0 and 100, and can be thought of as a
percentage. For example, 50 can be 50% power consumption or 50% brightness, as defined by the
OEM.
The OEM may define the number 0 as "Zero brightness" that can mean to turn off the lighting (e.g.
LCD panel backlight) in the device. This may be useful in the case of an output device that can still
be viewed using only ambient light, for example, a transflective LCD. If Notify(Output Device,
0x85) for “Zero brightness” is issued, OSPM may be able to turn off the lighting by calling
_BCM(0).
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
A variable-length Package containing a list of Integers representing the the supported brightness
levels. Each integer has 8 bits of significant data.

ACPI Specification
Example:
Method (_BCL, 0) {
// List of supported brightness levels
Return (Package(7){
80, // level when machine has full power
50, // level when machine is on batteries
// other supported levels:
20, 40, 60, 80, 100}
}
The first number in the package is the level of the panel when full power is connected to the
machine. The second number in the package is the level of the panel when the machine is on
batteries. All other numbers are treated as a list of levels OSPM will cycle through when the user
toggles (via a keystroke) the brightness level of the display.
These levels will be set using the _BCM method described in the following section.
B.5.3 _BCM (Set the Brightness Level)

This method allows OSPM to set the brightness level of a built-in display output device.
The OS will only set levels that were reported via the _BCL method. This method is required if
_BCL is implemented.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the new brightness level
Return Value:
None
Example:
Method (_BCM, 1) { // Set the requested level }
The method will be called in response to a power source change or at the specific request of the end
user, for example, when the user presses a function key that represents brightness control.
B.5.4 _BQC (Brightness Query Current level)

This optional method returns the current brightness level of a built-in display output device. If
present, it must be set by the platform for initial brightness.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the current brightness level (must be one of the values returned from the
_BCL method)

ACPI Specification
B.5.5 _DDC (Return the EDID for this Device)

This method returns an EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) structure that represents the
display output device. This method is required for integrated LCDs that do not have another standard
mechanism for returning EDID data.
Arguments:
Arg0 – An Integer containing a code for the return data length:
1 – Return 128 bytes of data
2 – Return 256 bytes of data
Return Value:
Either a Buffer containing the requested data (of the length specified in Arg0), or an Integer (value
0) if Arg0 was invalid
Example:
Method (_DDC, 2) {
If (LEqual (Arg0, 1)) { Return (Buffer(128){ ,,,, }) }
If (LEqual (Arg0, 2)) { Return (Buffer(256){ ,,,, }) }
Return (0)
}
The buffer will later be interpreted as an EDID data block. The format of this data is defined by the
VESA EDID specification.
B.5.6 _DCS (Return the Status of Output Device)

This method is required if hotkey display switching is supported.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the device status (32 bits) (See Table B-435)
Table B-435 Device Status

Bits Definition
0 Output connector exists in the system now
1 Output is activated
2 Output is ready to switch
3 Output is not defective (it is functioning properly)
4 Device is attached (this is optional)
31:5 Reserved (must be zero)
Example:
• If the output signal is activated by _DSS, _DCS returns 0x1F or 0x0F.

ACPI Specification
• If the output signal is inactivated by _DSS, _DCS returns 0x1D or 0x0D.

• If the device is not attached or cannot be detected, _DCS returns 0x0xxxx and should return
0x1xxxx if it is attached.
• If the output signal cannot be activated, _ DCS returns 0x1B or 0x0B.
• If the output connector does not exist (when undocked), _DCS returns 0x00.
B.5.7 _DGS (Query Graphics State)

This method is used to query the state (active or inactive) of the output device. This method is
required if hotkey display switching is supported.
Arguments:
None
Return Value:
An Integer containing the device state (32 bits) (See Table B-436)
Table B-436 Device State for _DGS

Bits Definition
0 0 – Next desired state is inactive
1 – Next desired state is active
The desired state represents what the user wants to activate or deactivate, based on the special
function keys the user pressed. OSPM will query the desired state when it receives the display toggle
event (described earlier).
B.5.8 _DSS (Device Set State)

OSPM will call this method when it determines the outputs can be activated or deactivated. OSPM
will manage this to avoid flickering as much as possible. This method is required if hotkey display
switching is supported.
Arguments: (1)
Arg0 – An Integer containing the new device state (32 bits) (See Table B-437)
Return Value:
None
Table B-437 Device State for _DSS

Bits Definition
0 0 – Set output device to inactive state
1 – Set output device to active state
30 0 – Do whatever Bit [31] requires
1 – Don’t do actual switching, but need to change _DGS to next state

ACPI Specification
Bits Definition
31 0 – Don’t do actual switching, just cache the change
1 – If Bit [30] = 0, commit actual switching, including any _DSS with MSB=0 called before
If Bit [30] = 1, don’t do actual switching, change _DGS to next state
Example Usage:
OS may call in such an order to turn off CRT, and turn on LCD
CRT._DSS(0);
LCD._DSS(80000001L);
or
LCD._DSS(1);
CRT._DSS(80000000L);
OS may call in such an order to force platform runtime firmware to make _DGS jump to next state
without actual CRT, LCD switching
CRT._DSS(40000000L);
LCD._DSS(C0000001L);
B.6 Notifications Specific to Output Devices

Output devices may need to know about external, asynchronous events. In order, each of these
events corresponds to accommodate that, pressing a key or button on the following machine. Using
these notifications is not appropriate if no physical device exists that is associated with them. OSPM
may ignore any of these notifications if, for example the current user does not have permission to
change the state of the output device.
These notifications are only valid for Output Devices.
Table B-438 Notification Values for Output Devices

Value Description
0x85 Cycle Brightness. Used to notify OSPM that the output device brightness should be increased by
one level. Used to notify OSPM that the user pressed a button or key that is associated with cycling
brightness. A useful response by OSPM would be to increase output device brightness by one or
more levels. (Levels are defined in _BCL.) If the brightness level is currently at the maximum value,
it should be set to the minimum level.
0x86 Increase Brightness. Used to notify OSPM that the output device brightness should be increased
by one or more levels as defined by the _BCL object. Used to notify OSPM that the user pressed a
button or key that is associated with increasing brightness. If the brightness level is currently at the
maximum value, OSPM may should ignore the notification.
0x87 Decrease Brightness. Used to notify OSPM that the output device brightness should be
decreased by one or more levels as defined by the _BCL object. Used to notify OSPM that the user
pressed a button or key that is associated with decreasing device brightness. If the brightness level
is currently at the minimum value, OSPM may should ignore the notification.

ACPI Specification
Value Description
0x88 Zero Brightness. Used to notify OSPM that the output device brightness should be zeroed,
effectively turning off any lighting that is associated with the device. Used to notify OSPM that the
user pressed a button or key associated with zeroing device brightness. This is not to be confused
with putting the device in a D3 state. While the brightness may be decreased to zero, the device
may still be displaying, using only ambient light.
0x89 Display Device Off. Used to notify OSPM that the device should be put in an off state, one that is
not active or visible to the user, usually D3, but possibly D1 or D2. Used to notify OSPM that the
user pressed a low power button or key associated with putting the device in an off state. There is
no need for a corresponding “device on” notification, for two reasons. First, OSPM may choose to
toggle device state when this event is pressed multiple times. Second, OSPM may (and probably
will) choose to turn the monitor on whenever the user types on the keyboard, moves the mouse, or
otherwise indicates that he or she is attempting to interact with the machine.
B.7 Notes on State Changes

It is possible to have any number of simultaneous active output devices. It is possible to have 0, 1, 2
... and so on active output devices. For example, it is possible for both the LCD device and the CRT
device to be active simultaneously. It is also possible for all display outputs devices to be inactive
(this could happen in a system where multiple graphics cards are present).
The state of the output device is separate from the power state of the device. The “active” state
represents whether the image being generated by the graphics adapter would be sent to this particular
output device. A device can be powered off or in a low-power mode but still be the active output
device. A device can also be in an off state but still be powered on.
Example of the display-switching mechanism:
The laptop has three output devices on the VGA adapter. At this moment in time, the panel and the
TV are both active, while the CRT is inactive. The automatic display-switching capability has been
disabled by OSPM by calling _DOS(0), represented by global variable display_switching = 0.
The platform runtime firmware, in order to track the state of these devices, will have three global
variable to track the state of these devices. There are currently initialized to:
crt_active – 0
panel_active – 1
tv_active – 1
The user now presses the display toggle switch, which would switch the TV output to the CRT.
The platform runtime firmware first updates three temporary variables representing the desired state
of output devices:
want_crt_active – 1
want_panel_active – 1
want_tv_active – 0
Then the platform runtime firmware checks the display_switching variable. Because this variable is
set to zero, the platform runtime firmware does not do any device reprogramming, but instead
generates a Notify(VGA, 0x80/0x81) event for the display. This event will be sent to OSPM.
OSPM will call the _DGS method for each enumerated output device to determine which devices
should now be active. OSPM will determine whether this is possible, and will reconfigure the

ACPI Specification
internal data structure of the OS to represent this state change. The graphics modes will be
recomputed and reset.
Finally, OSPM will call the _DSS method for each output device it has reconfigured.
Note: OSPM may not have called the _DSS routines with the same values and the _DGS routines
returned, because the user may be overriding the default behavior of the hardware-switching
driver or operating system-provided UI. The data returned by the _DGS method (the want_XXX
values) are only a hint to the OS as to what should happen with the output devices.
If the display-switching variable is set to 1, then the platform runtime firmware would not send the
event, but instead would automatically reprogram the devices to switch outputs. Any legacy display
notification mechanism could also be performed at this time.

ACPI Specification

ACPI Specification
Symbols
_EJx 374
??????????????????????????????????? 163
????????????????????????????????????????????? 163
A
AC adapter
device ID 296
power source objects 651
AC status notification 632
access, device 725
AccessAs term 270, 737
acoustics See noise
ACPI
definition 25
device ID 295, 313
goals 9
ACPI Hardware See hardware
ACPI Machine Language See AML
ACPI mode
entering 783
exiting 787
ACPI Namespace
AML encoding 1033
control method access 260
definition 25
display adapters 1076
embedded controller device definition 726
generic hardware registers 106
Modifier Objects encoding, AML 1019
naming conventions 251
root namespaces 254
SMBus host controller objects 733
ACPI Source Language See ASL
ACPI System Description tables See tables
ACPI-compatible hardware See hardware
Acquire (Acquire a Mutex) 897
Acquire terms 958
active cooling
_ACx object 665, 678
control methods 668
definition 664
engaging 668
preferences 64, 671

ACPI Specification
threshold values 671

active line printer (LPT) ports 55
Active List (_ALx) object 679
Add (Integer Add) 897
add-in display adapter, definition 1076
Address (_ADR) object 322
address register (SMB_ADDR) 718
Address Space Descriptors
DWORD resource descriptor format 398
Extended 402
QWORD resource descriptor format 395, 983, 984, 986
resource specific flags 406
WORD resource descriptor format 400
Address Space Resource Descriptors
valid combinations 394
addresses
alarm fields 95
BARs (Base Address Registers) 261
blocking, BIOS 764
bus types 322, 327, 333, 366, 367
control methods 260
decoding 579
FACS 144
format 118
functional fixed hardware 119
Generic Address Structure (GAS) 119
generic hardware 71, 78
I/O (S)APIC 159, 431
map samples 768
mixed, preventing 159, 431
registers 84
reset register 105
slave 631, 731
system description tables 114
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface See ACPI
Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller See APIC
alarm address register (SMB_ALRM_ADDR) 719
alarm data register (SMB_ALRM_DATA) 719
alarm events 94
Alias (Declare Name Alias) 898
allocation, device resources 368
Ambient Light Sensor devices 296
AML

ACPI Specification
Arg Objects encoding 1027

battery events 637
byte values 1027
code event handler 73
compiling 71
Control Method Battery 638
data buffers, SMBus 271, 738
Data Objects encoding 1018
Debug Objects encoding 1027
definition 25
grammar 1016
Local Objects encoding 1027
Name Objects encoding 1016, 1017
Named Objects encoding 1019
Namespace encoding 1033
Namespace Modifier Objects encoding 1019
notation conventions 1015
Package Length encoding 1018
purpose of 71
sleep button code example 92
SMBus device access protocols 273, 739
Term Objects encoding 1019
Type 1 Opcodes encoding 1022
Type 2 Opcodes encoding 1023
And (Integer Bitwise And) 898
angle brackets
AML 1015
ASL notation 837
answering phones
modem example 53
APIC
_MAT (Multiple APIC Table Entry) 352
definition 26
I/O 30, 155
local 31
multiple description table (MADT) 31
NMI 157
Processor Local 154, 180
structure types 153
support 155
APM BIOS 43
appliance PCs 142
ARB_DIS 103

ACPI Specification
architecture, system description tables 113

Arg Objects encoding, AML 1027
arguments, control methods 258
Argx (Method Argument Data Objects) 898
arrow symbol
ASL notation 837
ASL
_FIX usage example 343
_HPP example 346
case sensitivity 871
CMOS protocols 261
converting to AML 71
data and constant terms 841
data types 876
definition 26
Definition Block terms 909
EC-SMB-HC device code 728
embedded controller device code 727
grammar 836
grammar notation 837
index with buffers example code 939
IPMI data buffer code 265
IPMI devices 263
lid status code example 111
macros 875
modifiers 871
multiple Smart Battery subsystem code 636
name and pathname terms 839
nested packages sample code 939
object names 871
objects, declaring 257
opcode terms 843
opcodes 843
operator reference 896
operator summary 887
operator summary by type 892
parameter keyword terms 861
parameters 878
Power Resource statements 443
primary terms 845
reserved object names 871
resource template terms 863, 1004
root and secondary terms 840

ACPI Specification
SMBBlock code 276, 278, 279, 742

SMBBlockProcessCall code 277, 280, 744
SMBByte code 274, 741
SMBProcessCall code 277, 743
SMBQuick code 273, 740
SMBSendReceive code 274, 740
SMBus data buffer code 272, 738
SMBus devices 735
SMBWord code 275, 742
storing results 878
thermal zone examples 694
virtual register code 264, 267, 268, 738
AT interrupt model 169
ATA hard disks See storage devices
audible output See noise
audio devices, power management 1051, 1052
aware device drivers 285
B
BankField (Declare Bank/Data Field) 899
bar symbol
AML notation 1016
ASL notation 838
Base Bus Number (_BBN) object 434
batteries
Control Method Batteries 636
emergency shutdown 61
events 637
low-level warnings 60
management 58
multiple 58
remaining capacity 646
types supported 52
batteries See also Smart Batteries
Battery Charge Time (_BCT) object 648
Battery Information (_BIF) object 638
Battery Information Extended(_BIX) object 640
Battery Maintenance Control (_BMC) object 650
Battery Maintenance Data (_BMD) object 648
Battery Measurement Averaging Interval (_BMA) object 644
Battery Measurement Sampling Time (_BMS) object 644
Battery Status (_BST) object 645
Battery Time (_BTM) object 648

ACPI Specification
Battery Trip Point (_BTP) object 647

bay devices 666
BIOS
address range types 764
configuring boot devices 57
determining ACPI support 96
Device Objects 910
devices, switching 1090
Dock Name (_BDN) 431
initialization 781
legacy functions 43
legacy specifications 23
memory initialization 783
relation to ACPI 13
resetting enable bits 108
bits
alarm 95
child 78, 106
child status 108
control 106
enable 82
general-purpose events 108
generic hardware registers 106
ignored 30, 79
interrupt status 78
lid status 111
parent 78, 106
PM timer 102
PM1 Control registers 101
PM1 Enable registers 100
PM1 Status registers 98, 541
PM2 Control register 103
processor control register 103
processor LVL2 104
processor LVL3 104
register notation 74
reserved 33, 79, 117
reset register 105
SMBus protocol encoding 732
status 82, 106
system event signals 57
write-only 79
blanks 837

ACPI Specification
block count register (SMB_BCNT) 719

block devices, GPE 574
Block Write-Read Block Process Call (SMBBlockProcessCall) protocol 277, 744
blocking, control methods 258
blocks, register 83
BM_RLD 102
BM_STS 98
bold
AML notation 1015
ASL notation 838
boot architecture flags, IA-PC 142
boot devices 57
boot resources, embedded controller 170
bootstrap ROM 784
boot-up 780
brackets, angle
AML notation 1015
ASL notation 837
Break (Break from While) 900
BreakPoint (Execution Break Point) 900
bridges
Base Bus Number (_BBN) 434
DWORD 399
flags 407
ISA bus device 565, 911
purpose 116
QWORD 397, 404
WORD 401
Brightness Control Levels Supported, Query List of (_BCL) 1085
brightness control, LCDs 1075
Brightness Level, Set (_BCM) 1086
Buffer (Declare Buffer Object) 900
Buffer field data type, ASL 876, 880
buffers, IPMI 264
buffers, SMBus 271, 738
built-in display adapter, definition 1076
Burst Disable Embedded Controller (BD_EC) 712
Burst Enable Embedded Controller (BE_EC) 711
Burst flags 710
burst mode 711
Bus/Device packages 910
buses
power management standards 1050

ACPI Specification
segment locations 434

setting power states 51
button control models 88
buttons See power button
byte values, AML 1027
C
C0 processor power state
definition 40
implementation 473
definition 40
implementation 475
definition 40
implementation 475
definition 41
implementation 475
cache controller configuration 782
caches, flushing 477, 780
capacity, battery
calculating 58
low-level warnings 60
remaining 646
status information 52
CardBus mode 431
Case (Conditional Execution) 901
case sensitivity, ASL 871
category names 14
Celsius scale 667
centenary value, RTC alarm 95
Central Processing Unit See CPU
CENTURY 95
channels, DMA 384, 388
chemistry independence 632
child bits 78, 106
child objects, ASL statements 837
child status bits 108
CityplaceEnterprise servers 142
CLK_VAL 104
clock logic 473
CMOS protocols 261
cold boots 104, 105, 782

ACPI Specification
cold insertion and removal 371

COM port devices, power management 53, 1051, 1054
command protocols, SMBus 732
command register (SMB_CMD) 718
commands, embedded controller interface 710
comments, ASL 837
compatibility memory 784
compatibility, compiler 996
Compatible ID (_CID) object 323
compiling, ASL to AML 71, 996
composite battery 58
Concatenate (Concatenate Data) 902
ConcatenateResTemplate (Concatenate Resource Templates) 903
CondRefOf (Conditional Reference Of) 904
configuration objects, device 336
configuring
BIOS initialization 782
boot devices 57
modem example 57
Plug and Play devices 57
context, device 27
context, system
definition 34
during emergency shutdown 62
S4 sleeping state 777
sleep states lost in 40
contiguous RAM 784
Continue (Continue Innermost Enclosing While) 905
control bits
functions 106
symbol 73
Control Method placeBattery 295, 636
control methods
_ADR (Return the Unique ID for this Device) 1085
_BCL (Query List of Brightness Control Levels Supported) 1085
_BCM (Set the Brightness Level) 1086
_BDN (BIOS Dock Name) 431
_DCK (Dock) 431
_DCS (Return the Status of Output Device) 1087
_DDC (Return the EDID for this Device) 1087
_DDS (PlaceNameDevice PlaceNameSet PlaceTypeState)PlaceName 1088
_DGS (PlaceNameQuery PlaceNameGraphics PlaceTypeState)PlaceName 1088

ACPI Specification
_DOD (Enumerate All Devices Attached to the Display Adapter) 1079

_DOS (Enable/Disable Output Switching) 1078
_GPD (Get POST Device) 1082
_LID (lid device) 557, 558, 564, 592, 600, 601, 602, 603
_MSG (Message) 555
_OFF 444
_PS0 (PlaceNamePower PlaceTypeState 0) 448
_PS0 (Power State 0) 449
_PSC (PlaceNamePower PlaceTypeState Current) 449
_PSW 454
_PTS (Prepare To Sleep) 460
_REG (Region) 432
_ROM (Get Rom Data) 1082
_SCP (Set Cooling Policy) 685
_SPD (Set POST Device) 1083
_STM (Set Timing Mode) 570
_TMP (Temperature) 665, 689
_VPO (Video POST OPtions) 1084
_WAK (System Wake) 467
ASL, writing 835
battery 638
device identification 321
device removal 371
initialization (_INI) 430
lid device 547, 556, 564, 591
OEM-supplied 460
overview 258
power button 89, 565
Power Resource objects 444
power source 652, 654
reserved names 297
resources 336
sleep button 91, 565
system indicators 554
thermal management 677
video extensions 1075
control methods See also objects
control registers 82
controllers, embedded
definition 27

ACPI Specification
interface 28
conversion, data types 876
cooling modes 63, 664
cooling preferences 64, 671
CopyObject (Copy an Object) 905
core logic, system events 57
CPU
boot configuration 782
boot-up 780
cache flushing 477
clock logic 473
definition 26
fixed hardware control 71, 118
multiple performance state control 520
non-symmetric power state support 473
passive cooling 669
performance states 41
processor power states 471
throttling 473, 513
waking operations 52
crashed systems 88, 89
CreateBitField (Create 1-Bit Buffer Field) 906
CreateByteField (Create 8-Bit Buffer Field) 906
CreateDWordField (Create 32-Bit Buffer Field) 906
CreateField (Create Arbitrary Length Buffer Field) 907
CreateQWordField (Create 64-Bit Buffer Field) 907
CreateWordField (Create 16-Bit Buffer Field) 907
Critical battery state 61
Critical Temperature (_CRT) object 670, 682
critical temperature shutdowns 664, 670
Cross Device Dependency 79
CRT monitors, power management 1055
C-States (processor power) 476, 481
CT phones See modems
Current Resource Settings (_CRS) objects 338, 551
D
D0-Fully On
control method 448, 449
definition 39
In Rush Current (_IRC) object 454
power resource object 450
transitioning to 450

ACPI Specification
D1 Device State
definition 38
D1 PlaceNameDevice PlaceTypeState
control methods 448
D1 PlaceNameplaceDevice PlaceTypeState
power resource objects 450
D2 Device State
definition 38
D2 PlaceNameDevice PlaceTypeState
control methods 448
D2 PlaceNameplaceDevice PlaceTypeState
power resource objects 451
D3-Off
control methods 449
definition 38
dash character
AML notation 1016
ASL notation 838
data buffers, IPMI 264
data buffers, SMBus 271, 738
Data Objects encoding, AML 1018
data objects, ASL
Buffer 900
Package 964
data register array (SMB_DATA) 719
data types
ASL 876
concatenate 884, 885, 886, 902
data types, resource See resource data types
DataTableRegion (Create Data Table Operation Region) 907
day alarm 94
day mode 47
DAY_ALRM 95
DDB Handle data type, ASL 876, 880
DDT, Plug and Play devices 56
Debug (Debugger Output) 908
Debug Object data type, ASL 876, 880
Debug Objects encoding, AML 1027
debugging
requirements for 835
decimals, notation 837

ACPI Specification
Decrement (Integer Decrement) 908

Default (Default Execution Path in Switch) 909
Definition Blocks
ASL code 871
encoding 254
loading 115, 149, 950
loading from XSDT 950
unloading 1006
DefinitionBlock (Declare Definition Block) 909
definitions See terminology
degrees, Kelvin 667
dependencies, device 79, 385
DerefOf (Dereference an Object Reference) 910
description tables See tables
design guides 14, 16
desktop PCs
profile system type 141
Device (Declare Bus/Device Package) 910
device and processor performance states 41, 56
Device Class Power Management specifications 50
Device data type, ASL 876, 880
device drivers, ACPI-Aware 285
Device Name (_DDN) object 325
device power
management 48
modem example 52
objects 446
requirements 1051
standards 49, 50
states 37
devices
audio, power management 1052
class-specific objects 295
COM port, power management 1054
context, definition 27
definition 27
graphics 1075
identification objects 321
input, power management 1062
insertion and removal objects 370
interference 79
modems, power management 1064
network, power management 1066

ACPI Specification
object notification 289

PC Card controllers, power management 1068
Plug and Play IDs 295
power states 37
resource allocation 368
resource control method 336
SMBus, declaring 734
storage, power management 1070
waking system 452
Devices Attached to the Display Adapter (_DOD) 1079
Differentiated Definition Block
Bus/Device packages 910
determining device power capabilities 51
modem example 54
Differentiated Description Block
isolation logic 54
Differentiated System Description Table See DSDT
digital modems See modems
Direct Memory Access (_DMA) object 339
Disable (_DIS) object 338
Disable Output Switching (_DOS) 1078
display adapters
ACPI Namespace 1076
control methods 1075
definitions 1076
switching devices 1090
display devices, power management 1051, 1055
Display Power Management Signaling Specification (DPMS) 1050
Divide (Integer Divide) 912
DMA resource descriptor format 384, 388
DMA Resource Descriptor Macro 913, 930
Dock (_DCK) control method 431
docking
control methods 370, 431
event signals 58
objects 372
query events 107
documentation
organization 20
supplemental 23
drain rates, battery 59
drivers
interference 79

ACPI Specification
restoration 39
DSDT
definition 27, 150
purpose 115
dual 8259 155, 156
dual-button model 88
duty cycle 473
DVD decoders 1079
DWORD 103
DWORD resource descriptor format 398
DWordIO (DWord IO Resource Descriptor Macro) 913
DWordMemory (DWord Memory Resource Descriptor Macro) 915
DWordSpace (DWord Space Resource Descriptor Macro) 917
dynamic insertion and removal 370
dynamic objects 259
dynamic Operation Regions 963
dynamic transitioning 75
E
E_TMR_VAL 103
E820 mapping 764
EC_DATA (embedded controller data register) 710
EC_SC (R) (embedded controller status register) 709
EC_SC (W) (embedded controller command register) 710
ECDT 170
ECI See embedded controller interface
EC-SMB-HC 715, 728
EDID control methods (_DDC) 1087
EFI
GetMemoryMap interface 767
RSDP location 121
EISA ID 325
EISAID (EISA ID String To Integer Conversion Macro) 918
Eject (_EJx) object 374
Eject Device List (_EDL) object 372
Ejection Dependent Device (_EJD) object 373
ejection mechanisms 370
Else (Alternate Execution) 919
ElseIf (Alternate/Conditional Execution) 919
embedded controller
boot resources table 170
burst mode 711
device ID 295
device object 565

ACPI Specification
event control example 106

multiple 705
operations 111
queuing events 284, 285
region control method 432
embedded controller interface
ACPI Namespace objects 726
algorithms 714
ASL code, device 727
bi-directional communications 706
Burst flag 710
command interrupt model 714
command register (EC_SC (W)) 710
command set 710
commands, restricted 726
configurations, additional 708
data register (EC_DATA) 710
definition 28
firmware requirements 712
Input Buffer Full (IBF) flag 710, 715
objects 726
OEM-definable values 715
Output Buffer Full (OBF) flag 709, 715
registers 709
shared 706, 708
SMBus host controller 715
SMBus notification header (OS_SMB_EVT) 712
SMBus protocol descriptions 720
SMBus registers 716
specifications 705
emergency shutdown 61
enable bits
corresponding status bits 108
resetting 108
symbol 73
enable register 57
Enable/Disable Output Switch (_DOS) 1078
encoding
AML 1016
Definition Blocks 254
object names, ASL 871
tables 117
End Dependent Functions resource descriptor format 386

ACPI Specification
end tag resource descriptor format 389

EndDependentFn End Dependent Functions Descriptor Macro) 920
energy conservation See power management
Enumerate All Devices Attached to the Display Adapter (_DOD) 1079
enumeration, enabling 734
errors, fatal 927
Ethernet adapters See network devices
Event (Declare Event Synchronization Object) 921
Event data type, ASL 876, 880
events
alarm 94
AML code handler 73
battery 637
button 88
enable register 57
fixed feature 29
fixed handling 282
general model 57
general-purpose registers 29, 106
hardware 76
interrupt 76, 96
link status 1067
OS-transparent 77
power button 89
power button override 90
programming model 280
query 107
shared 78
status register 57
synchronization objects 991
synchronization, waiting for 1007
user-initiated 88
wake frame 1068
exiting ACPI mode 787
extended I/O bus 295
Extended Interrupt resource descriptor format 407
Extended IO Resource Descriptor Macro 921
Extended Memory Resource Descriptor Macro 923
Extended resource descriptor format 402
Extended Root Systems Description Table See XSDT
Extended Space Resource Descriptor Macro 924
External (Declare External Objects) 926

ACPI Specification
F
FACS
definition 28
flags 147
Global Lock 147
table fields 144
FADT
alarm bits 94
cache flushing 477, 780
definition 28
flags 105, 106
optional feature bits 97
Plug and Play IDs 343
reset register location 104, 105
SCI interrupt mapping 96
fans
active cooling 63
device operations 673
noise preferences 64
Plug and Play ID 112
thermal zone example 696
Fatal (Fatal Error Check) 927
fatal errors 927
features
fixed 29
generic 29
generic hardware 108
Field (Declare Field Objects) 927
fields
alarm 95
cache flushing 780
declaring objects 927
embedded controller boot resources 170
FACS 144
FADT 128, 343
I/O APIC 155
IPMI 263
MADT 152, 179, 204
NMI 157
Processor Local APIC 154, 162, 205, 207, 208, 209
reserved 117
RSDT 127

ACPI Specification
SBST 169
SMBus 267, 269, 736
Start Dependent Functions 385
FindSetLeftBit (Find First Set Left Bit) 930
FindSetRightBit (Find First Set Right Bit) 930
firmware
ACPI System 14
embedded controller requirements 712
OSPM controls 45
SMM functional fixed hardware implementation 118
Firmware ACPI Control Structure See FACS
Fixed ACPI Description Table See FADT
fixed event handling 282
fixed features
definition 29
events 29
registers 29
fixed hardware
definition 69
feature control bits 101
feature enable bits 99
feature status bits 97
features 80
functional implementation 71
interfaces 118
power button 89
programming model 70
register blocks 83
registers 82, 97
sleep button 91
fixed location I/O port descriptor resource descriptor format 387
Fixed Register Resource Provider (_FIX) 342
fixed width registers 409
FixedIO (Fixed IO Resource Descriptor) 931
FixedList 837
flags
Burst 710
DWORD 398
FACS 147
FADT 105, 106
I/O resource 406
IA-PC boot architecture 142
Input Buffer Full (IBF) 710, 715

ACPI Specification
interrupt vector 408

local APIC 155
MADT 153
memory resource 405, 406
MPS INTI 156
Output Buffer Full (OBF) 709, 715
QWORD 395, 403
SMI event (SMI_EVT) 710
system type 142
WORD 401
floppy controller device objects 572
Floppy Disk Drive Mode (_FDM) control method 574
Floppy Disk Enumerate (_FDE) object 572
Floppy Disk Information (_FDI) object 573
floppy disks See storage devices
flushing caches 477, 780
frequency mismatch 290
FromBCD (Convert BCD To Integer) 933
Function (Declare Control Method) 933
functional device configuration 782
functions
End Dependent 386
Start Dependent 385
G
G0 Working state
behavior during 773
definition 36
properties 37
transitioning to 74
transitioning to Sleeping state 778
transitioning to Soft-Off 779
G1 Sleeping state
definition 36
properties 37
G2 Soft Off
definition 36
properties 37
transitioning to 75
G3 Mechanical Off
definition 36
properties 37
transitioning from 74

ACPI Specification
transitioning to 46
game pads See input devices
GAS See Generic Address Structure
GBL_EN 100
GBL_RLS 102
GBL_STS 98
general event model 57
general-purpose event registers
addresses 85, 106
blocks 86, 108
definition 29
event 0 108
event 0 enable 109
event 0 status 109
event 1 109
event 1 enable 110
event 1 status 110
grouping 84
general-purpose events
_Exx, _Lxx, and _Qxx methods 284
handling 283, 287
wake 285
generic address space, SMBus 731
Generic Address Structure (GAS) 119
generic events
example 107, 469
top-level 107
generic feature, definition 29
generic hardware
definition 69
features 80, 108
power button control 89
registers 71, 82, 106
sleep button control 91
generic ISA bus device 565
generic register resource descriptor format 409
Get POST Device (_GPD) 1082
Get ROM Data (_ROM) 1082
Get Task File (_GTF) control method 566
Get Timing Mode (_GTM) control method 569
GetMemoryMap 767
Global Lock 147
Global Lock (_GLK) object 435

ACPI Specification
Global Lock Mutex 312

Global Lock Structure 148
global standby timer 78
global system interrupts 156, 168
global system states
transitioning 45, 76, 327, 328, 332, 1081
goals
ACPI 9
OSPM 9
power management 10
GPE
block devices 296, 574
control method 285
grammar
AML 1016
ASL 836
grammar notation
AML 1015
ASL 837
graphics devices, requirements for 1075
Green PCs, power management for 47
groupings, register See register groupings
guides, design 14, 16
H
hardware
ACPI interfaces 12
definition 25
events 76
features 80
fixed 70
ignored bits 79
interfaces 14
legacy 78
legacy vs. ACPI 11
OEM implementation 11
OS-independent 72, 118
OSPM model 74
register definitions 71
registers 81
reserved bits 79
value-added 72
hardware ID (_HID) object 324, 325, 633
headers, long 127

ACPI Specification
headers, table 114

heat management See thermal management
hexadecimals, notation 837
holes, compatibility 784
home PCs, power management for 47
host controller objects, SMBus 733
hot insertion and removal 374
Hot Plug Parameters (_HPP) object 345, 348, 350
Hot Temperature (_HOT) object 683
hung systems 88, 89
hysteresis 666
I
I/O APIC
_MAT (Multiple APIC Table Entry 352
definition 30
Global System Interrupts 168
mixed addresses, preventing 159, 431
structure 155
I/O port resource descriptor format 386
I/O resource flag 406
I/O SAPIC
definition 30
mixed addresses, preventing 159, 431
Platform Interrupt Source structure 160, 161, 162
structure 158
I/O space 116
IA (Intel Architecture) specifications 23
IA-32 systems 118
IA-PC
boot architecture flags 142
definition 30
interrupt models 156
memory map system 764
RSDP location 121
ID, Compatible (_CID object) 323
IDE
controller device 567
drives 72
IDE devices See storage devices
identification objects, device 321
idle loops, CPU 56
idle timers, legacy 78
IDs, Plug and Play 295, 321

ACPI Specification
If (Conditional Execution) 937

ignored bits
definition 30, 79
PM1 Status register 99
implementation requirements
OEM 11
OS 19
OSPM 18
In Rush Current (_IRC) object 454
Include (Include Additional ASL File) 938
Increment (Integer Increment) 938
independence, OS
functional fixed hardware 118
generic hardware 72
Index (Indexed Reference To Member Object) 939
Index with Buffers 939
Index with Packages 939
Index with Strings 940
IndexField (Declare Index/Data Fields) 942
indicators, system 554
initialization
BIOS 781
boot-up 780
OS 786
initialization object (_INI) 430
Input Buffer Full (IBF) flag 710, 715
input devices, power management 1051, 1062
Input/Output See I/O
insertion and removal objects 370
insertion and removal, batteries 637
INT 15 mapping 764
Integer data type, ASL 876, 880
Integers 872
Intel Architecture specifications 23
Intel Architecture-Personal Computer See IA-PC
interdependent resources 385
interfaces
ACPI 12
battery 58
BIOS, legacy 43
design guides 14
EC-SMB-HC 715

ACPI Specification
embedded controller 28
fixed hardware 118
hardware 14
sharing protocols 708
SMBus 34, 731
interference, device 79
Interrupt (Extended Interrupt Descriptor Macro) 940, 944
interrupt events
logic 76
SCI 96
shareable 96
SMI 96
Interrupt Source Overrides 156
interrupt sources, non-maskable (NMIs) 157
interrupt status bits 78
interrupts
Extended Interrupt resource descriptor format 407
models 152, 156, 168, 179, 210
Platform Interrupt Source structure 160
PMIs 160
invocation, control methods 260
IO (I/O Port Resource Descriptor Macro) 945
IPMI
data buffers 264
fields, declaring 263
operation regions 262
IRQ (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro 945
IRQNoFlags (Interrupt Resource Descriptor Macro) 946
IRQs
mapping 156, 157
PCI routing 363
resource descriptor format 383
ISA
bus device 295, 313, 565
Device Objects code 911
interrupt sources 156
old cards 386
ISDN Terminal Adapters See modems
isolation logic 54
italics, ASL notation 838
J
joysticks See input devices

ACPI Specification
K
Kelvin scale 667
kernel 13
key, logic diagrams 73
keyboard controllers 705
keyboards See input devices
L
LAnd (Logical And) 947
large resource resource descriptor format 278, 280, 389
latency
acceptable 45, 327, 328, 332, 1081
global power states 37
LCD panels
brightness control 1075
power management 1055
legacy BIOS interfaces 43
legacy hardware
BIOS specification 23
boot flags 142
converting to fixed 70
definition 30
interrupt handlers 96
support 11
legacy OS, definition 31
legacy systems
definition 30
power button functions 46
power management 78
power state transitions 74
switching devices out of 431
transitioning to ACPI 96
LEqual (Logical Equal) 947
LGreater (Logical Greater) 947
LGreaterEqual (Logical Greater Than Or Equal) 948
lid device 296
lid status notification values 292, 293, 294
lid switch 110
life, battery 59
link status events 1067
LINT 157
LLess (Logical Less) 948
LLessEqual (Logical Less Than Or Equal) 948

ACPI Specification
LNot (Logical Not) 949

LNotEqual (Logical Not Equal) 949
Load (Load Definition Block) 949
loading Definition Blocks 115, 149, 950
LoadTable (Load Definition Block From XSDT) 950
local APIC, definition 31
Local Objects encoding, AML 1027
Localx (Method Local Data Objects) 951
Lock (_LCK) object 375
Lock, Global 147
logic
fixed power button 89
lid switch 111
sleep button 91
sleeping/wake control 93
LOr (Logical Or) 951
low-level warnings, battery 60
LPT ports 55
M
macros, ASL
24-bit Memory Resource Descriptor 953
32-bit Fixed Memory Resource Descriptor 955
32-bit Memory Resource Descriptor 954
coding 875
DMA Resource Descriptor 913, 930
DWordIO Resource Descriptor 913
DWordMemory Resource Descriptor 915
DWordSpace Resource Descriptor 917
EISAID Conversion 918
End Dependent Functions Resource Descriptor 920
Extended Interrupt Resource Descriptor 940, 944
ExtendedIO Resource Descriptor 921
ExtendedMemory Resource Descriptor 923
ExtendedSpace Resource Descriptor 924
FixedIO Resource Descriptor 931
I/O Port Resource Descriptor 945
IRQ Interrupt Resource Descriptor 945
IRQNoFlags Interrupt Resource Descriptor 946
QWordIO Resource Descriptor 981
QWordMemory Resource Descriptor 983
QWordSpace Resource Descriptor 985
Register Resource Descriptor 987
ResourceTemplate 988

ACPI Specification
Start Dependent Function NoPri Resource Descriptor 994

Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor 993
Unicode Conversion 1005
UUID Conversion 1003
VendorLong Resource Descriptor 1006
VendorShort Resource Descriptor 1006
WordBusNumber Resource Descriptor 1008
WordIO Resource Descripto 1009
WordSpace Resource Descriptor 1011
MADT
_MAT object 352
definition 31
flags 153
interrupt models 152, 179, 210
table fields 152, 179, 204
Magic Packet wake 1067
management See power management
mapping
E820 764
EFI GetMemoryMap 767
INT 15 764
IRQs 156, 157
Query System Address Map function 769
samples 768
Match (Find Object Match) 951
Mechanical Off
definition 36
properties 37
transitioning from 74
transitioning to 46
memory
BIOS initialization 783
controller configuration 782
descriptor macros 955
devices 579
map sample 768
NVS 784
resource flag 406
memory device 296
memory range descriptors
24-Bit 390
32-Bit 392
32-Bit Fixed Location 393

ACPI Specification
purpose 391
Memory24 (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro) 953
Memory32 (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro) 954
Memory32Fixed (Memory Resource Descriptor Macro) 955
Message (_MSG) control method 555
Method (Declare Control Method) 955
Method data type, ASL 876, 880
methods, control See control methods
mice See input devices
Microsoft Device Class Power Management specifications 50
Mid (Extract Portion of Buffer or String) 957
mobile PCs
lid switch 110
power management 46
profile system type 141
Mod (Integer Modulo) 957
modems
configuration example 57
power management 1051, 1064
power management example 52
modifiers
ASL names 871
Module Device 296, 576
MON-ALRM 95
monitors See display devices
month alarm 95
motherboard device configurations
ACPI goals 9
controlled by OSPM 43
modems 1065
MPS INTI flags 156
Multiple APIC Description Table See MADT
Multiple APIC Table Entry (_MAT) object 352
multiple Smart Battery Subsystem 635
Multiply (Integer Multiply) 958
multiprocessor PCs
performance control 520
power management for 47
mutex
acquiring 897
Global Lock 312
release synchronization objects 988
Mutex (Declare Synchronization/Mutex Object) 958

ACPI Specification
Mutex data type, ASL 876, 880

N
Name (Declare Named Object) 959
Name Objects encoding, AML 1016, 1017
name terms, ASL 839
Named Objects encoding, AML 1019
names, object 31
Namespace See ACPI Namespace
naming conventions 251
NAnd (Integer Bitwise Nand) 959
nested packages 939
network devices, power management 1051, 1066
NMIs 157
noise, active cooling 63
non-linear address spaces 262, 731
Non-Maskable Interrupt Sources (NMIs) 157
non-visible states, device power 37
Non-Volatile Sleeping memory (NVS) 784
NoOp Code (No Operation) 959
NOr (Integer Bitwise Nor) 960
Not (Integer Bitwise Not) 960
notation
AML 1015
ASL 837
numeric constants 837
register bits 74
Nothing 837
notification
battery removal 637
power button control 89
Smart Battery status 632
temperature changes 667
Notification Temperature Threshold (_NTT) object 683
Notify (Notify Object of Event) 960
numeric constants, notation 837
NVS files
checking validity 786
NVS memory 784
O
object name, definition 31
Object Reference data type, ASL 876, 880
objects
_ BMC (Battery Maintenance Control) 650

ACPI Specification
_ACx (Active Cooling) 665, 678

_ADR (Address) 322
_BBN (Base Bus Number) 434
_BCT (Battery Charge Time) 648
_BIF (Battery Information) 638
_BIX (Battery Information Extended) 640
_BMA (Battery Measurement Averaging Interval) 644
_BMD (Battery Maintenance Data) 648
_BMS (Battery Measurement Sampling Time) 644
_BST (Battery Status) 645
_BTM (Battery Time) 648
_BTP (Battery Trip Point) 647
_CID (Compatible ID) 323
_CRS (Current Resource Settings) 338, 551
_CRT (Critical Temperature) 670, 682
_CST (C States) 481
_DDN (Device Name 325
_DIS (Disable) 338
_DMA (Direct Memory Access) 339
_EDL (Eject Device List) 372
_EJD (Ejection Dependent Device) 373
_EJx (Eject) 374
_FDE (Floppy Disk Enumerate) 572
_FIX (Fixed Register Resource Provider) 342
_GLK (Global Lock) 435
_HID (hardware ID) 324, 325, 633
_HOT (Hot Temperature) 683
_HPP (Hot Plug Parameters) 345, 348, 350
_INI (Init) 430
_IRC (In Rush Current) 454
_LCK (Lock) 375
_MAT (Multiple APIC Table Entry) 352
_NTT (Notification Temperature Threshold) 683
_PCL (Power Consumer List) 652
_PCT (Performance Control) 521
_PPC (Performance Present Capabilities) 523
_PR0 (Power Resources for D0) 450
_PRS (Possible Resource Settings) 362
_PRW (Power Resources for Wake) 286, 452
_PSL (Passive List) 684
_PSR (Power Source) 652

ACPI Specification
_PSS (Performance Supported States) 484, 516, 521, 525

_PSV (Passive) 665, 684
_PTC (Processor Throttling Control) 513
_RMV (Remove) 381
_S1D 455
_S2D 455
_S3D 456
_S4D 457
_SBS (Smart Battery Subsystem) 633, 634
_SEG (Segment) 434
_SRS (Set Resource Settings) 368
_STA (Status) 445
_STR (String) 335
_SUN (Slot User Number) 335
_TC1 (Thermal Constant 1) 688
_TC2 (Thermal Constant 2) 688
_TSP (Thermal Sampling Period) 691
_TZD (Thermal Zone Devices) 692
_TZP (Thermal Zone Polling) 563, 592, 601, 688, 692
_UID (Unique ID) 336
ASL encoding 871
ASL statements 837
ASL, declaring 257
control methods 258
definition 31
device identification 321
device insertion and removal 370
device power resource 450
dynamic 259
EC-SMB-HC 728
embedded controller interface 726
floppy controller 572
global scope 254
initialization 430
Module Device 576
names, reserved 871
Notify operator 289
OS-defined 312
Power Resource 443
processor 479
reserved and predefined 297
revision data 316
Smart Battery 633

ACPI Specification
SMBus host controller 733

static 259
unnamed 256
objects See also control methods
ObjectType 837
ObjectType (Get Object Type) 961
OEM implementation 11
OEM-supplied control methods 460
OFF 444
off See Mechanical Off
ON 445
One (Constant One Object) 962
Ones (Constant Ones Object) 962
opcodes
Type 1, AML 1022
Type 2, AML 1023
Operating System See OS
Operation Region data type, ASL 876, 880
Operation Region Field Unit data type, ASL 876
operation regions
IPMI 262
SMBus 731
OperationRegion (Declare Operation Region) 260, 962
operator reference, ASL 896
operator summary by type, ASL 892
operator summary, ASL 887
operators, ASL 876
Or (Integer Bitwise Or) 963
organization, document 20
original equipment manufacturer See OEM
OS
AML support, required 835
boot flags 142
compatibility requirements 19
defined object names 312
device power management 50
drivers, embedded controller interface 705
functional fixed hardware implementation 119
independent generic hardware 72
legacy hardware interaction 11
loading 785
name object 315

ACPI Specification
policy owner, device power management 1049

power management 10
transparent events 77
OSPM
caches, flushing 780
cooling policy changes 665
cooling preferences 64
device insertion and removal 371
event handlers 78
exclusive controls 45
fixed hardware access 71
fixed hardware registers 97
functions 43
general-event register access 109
generic hardware model 72
goals 9
hardware model 74
implementation requirements 18
passive cooling 669
PlaceNameplaceSet PlaceNamePower PlaceTypeState operation 51
power state control 45
Real Time Clock Alarm (RTC) 94
resetting system 105
SMBus registration 734
transitioning to sleeping states 773
transitioning working to sleeping states 778
transitioning working to soft-off state 779
Output Buffer Full (OBF) flag 709, 715
output devices
control methods 1087
definition 1076
switching 1090
types of 1079
override, power button 90
P
P_BLK 103
P_LVL2 104
P_LVL3 104
P0 performance state, definition 41
P1 performance state, definition 41
Package (Declare Package Object) 964

ACPI Specification
Package data type, ASL 876, 880

packages
definition 32
length 255
length encoding, AML 1018
nested 939
packet error checking (PEC) 732
parameters, ASL 878
parent bits 78, 106
parent objects, ASL statements 837
parentheses, AML notation 1016
Passive (_PSV) object 665, 684
passive cooling
definition 63, 664
preferences 64, 671
processor clock throttling 669
threshold values 671
Passive List (_PSL) object 684
PC Card controllers, power management 1051, 1068
PC keyboard controllers 705
PCCARD 1050
PCI
BAR target operations 261
bus number 434
buses, address space translation 116
Device Objects code 911
device power management 1050
interrupt pins 362
IRQ routing 363
power management 1050
PCI configuration space 71
PCI Interrupt Link device 296
PCISIG 1050
PCMCIA 1050
PEC (packet error checking) 717, 732
Performance Control (_PCT) object 521
Performance Present Capabilities (_PPC) object 523
performance states
definitions 41
device 56
Performance Supported States (_PSS) object 484, 516, 521, 525
performance, energy conservation vs. 64
Persistent System Description Table (PSDT) 151

ACPI Specification
phones, answering
modem example 53
PIC method 318
pins
general event model 58
GPE 109
PlaceNameAddress PlaceTypeRange types 763
PlaceNameDevice PlaceNameSet PlaceTypeState (_DSS) 1088
PlaceNameGraphics PlaceTypeState, Query (_DGS) 1088
PlaceNameSet PlaceNamePower PlaceTypeState 51
placeSOHO servers 142
platform
implementation 14
Platform Interrupt Source structure 160, 161, 162
Platform Management Interrupts (PMIs) 160
Plug and Play devices
ACPI control 56
IDs 295, 321
large resource items 389
resource control method 336
small resource items 383
specifications 23
PM timer
bits 102
function 78
idle time, determining 56
operations 87
register address 85
register blocks 86
PM1 Control registers
addresses 84
bits 101
blocks 86
grouping 84, 101
PM1 Enable registers 98
PM1 Event registers
addresses 84
blocks 85
grouping 84, 97
PM1 Status registers 97
PM2 Control registers
addresses 85
bits 103

ACPI Specification
blocks 86
PM2 Controller register grouping 84
PMIs 160
Pn performance state, definition 41
PNPBIOS 43
Polarity flags 157
policy owner 1049
port descriptors, I/O 386
Possible Resource Settings (_PRS) object 362
POST Device control methods 1082, 1083
power button
ASL code example 89
definition 32
device ID 296
dual-button model 88
fixed hardware 89
functions 46
object notification values 292
override 90, 93
single-button model 88
Power Consumer List (_PCL) object 652
power consumption
device and processor performance states 41
global power states 37
power loss
Mechanical Off 74
power management
audio devices 1052
buses 1050
COM port devices 1054
cooling, relationship to 64
definition 33
desktop PCs 46
device 48, 1051
device objects 446
display devices 1055
display standards 1050
goals 10
input devices 1062
legacy 78
mobile PCs 46
modem devices 1064

ACPI Specification
modem example 52
multiprocessor PCs 47
network devices 1066
PC Card controllers 1068
PCI 1050
PCMCIA 1050
performance vs. energy conservation 64
preferred system types 141
servers 47
setting device power states 51
storage devices 1070
power management (PM) timer
function 78
idle time, determining 56
operations 87
register address 85
register blocks 86
Power Resource data type, ASL 876, 880
power resources
battery management 629
child objects 444
definition 33
device objects 450
isolation logic 54
objects 443
shared 55
wake system object 452
Power Source (_PSR) object 652
power sources
AC adapter 652
definition 33
object notification values 291, 294
power states
controlled by OSPM 45
device 37
global 35
non-symmetric processor 473
objects 448, 449
processor 471
sleeping 39
transitioning 74

ACPI Specification
PowerResource (Declare Power Resource) 979

predefined ACPI names 297
preferences, user
performance vs. energy conservation 64, 671
power button 46
preferred PM profile system 141
Prepare to Sleep (_PTS) control method 460
Process Call (SMBProcessCall) protocol 277, 743
Processor (Declare Processor) 980
processor and device performance states 41
processor control block 86
processor control registers
addresses 85
bits 103
Processor data type, ASL 876, 880
processor device notification values 293
Processor devices 296
Processor Local APIC 154, 157, 180
Processor Local SAPIC 159
processor LVL2 register 104, 472
processor LVL3 register 104, 472
processor objects 479
processor See CPU
Processor Throttling Control (_PTC) object 513
programming models
events 280
feature summary 80
fixed 70
generic 71
protocol register (SMB_PRTCL) 717
protocols
CMOS 261
SMBus 720, 732, 739
Proximity (_PXM) object 337, 364
PSDT 151
pseudocode language See AML
pulsed interrupts 713
PWRBTN_EN 100
PWRBTN_STS 98
Q
Query Embedded Controller (QR_EC) 712
query events 107

ACPI Specification
query value, definition 74

quotes
AML notation 1015
ASL notation 838
QWord IO Resource Descriptor Macro 981
QWord Memory Resource Descriptor Macro 983
QWORD resource descriptor format 395, 983, 984, 986
QWord Space Resource Descriptor Macro 985
R
Read Embedded Controller (RD_EC) 711
Read/Write Block (SMBBlock) protocol 742
Read/Write Byte (SMBByte) protocol 274, 741
Read/Write Quick (SMBQuick) protocol 273, 739
Read/Write Word (SMBWord) protocol 275, 742
reclaim memory 783
RefOf (Create Object Reference) 986
Region (_REG) control method 432
register bits, notation 74
register blocks 83
register definitions, hardware 119
Register Generic Register Descriptor Macro) 987
register groupings
definition 33, 82
list of 83
registers
control 82
EC-SMB-HC 716
enable 57
fixed feature 29
fixed hardware 97
general-purpose event 29
reset 104, 105
SMB-HC 724
status 57
virtual 264, 267, 268, 733, 738
related device interference 79
Release (Release a Mutex Synchronization Object) 988
Release terms 958
Remaining Battery Percentage 59, 646
removal objects 370
removal, batteries 637

ACPI Specification
Remove (_RMV) object 381

requirements, implementation
OS 19
OSPM 18
reserved ACPI names 297
reserved bits
definition 33
hardware 79
PM1 Control registers 102
PM1 Enable registers 100, 101
PM1 Status register 98, 99
software requirements 117
reserved object names 871
reserved SMBus protocol values 732
Reset (Reset an Event Synchronization Object) 988
reset register 104, 105
resource data types
Address Space Resource Descriptors 394
control methods 382
DMA 384, 388
End Dependent Functions 386
end tag 389
IRQ 383
large 278, 280, 389
large vendor defined 391
memory range descriptors 390
small 382
small vendor defined 388
Start Dependent Functions 385
vendor defined 391
resources
allocation 368
control method 336
interdependencies 385
resources, power See power resources
ResourceTemplate Resource To Buffer Conversion Macro) 988
restoring system context 777
results, storing 878
Return (Return from Method Execution) 989
Revision (Constant Revision Object) 989
revision data object 316
RISC processors 394
RISC systems 46

ACPI Specification
ROM control methods 1082

Root System Description Pointer See RSDP
Root System Description Table See RSDT
RSDP
definition 33
location 121
table structure 122
RSDT
definition 33
table fields 127
RTC_EN 100
RTC_STS 99
RTC/CMOS protocols 261
S
S0 State (Working) 463
S1 Sleeping state
_S1D object 455
behavior during 463
definition 40
implementation 774
transitioning 461
waking using RTC 94
S2 Sleeping state
_S2D object 455
behavior during 464
definition 40
implementation 775
transitioning 461
waking using RTC 94
S3 Sleeping state
_S3D object 456
behavior during 464
definition 40
implementation 776
transitioning 461
waking using RTC 94
S4 Sleeping state
_S4D object 457
behavior during 465
definition 40
implementation 777
low-level battery 61
waking using RTC 94

ACPI Specification
S5 Soft-Off
behavior during 778
definition 36, 40
properties 37
SAPIC
definition 34
I/O 30, 158
local 31
NMI 157
Processor Local 159
SATA
controller device 571
saving system context
S4 Non-Volatile Sleep state 777
SBST 169
SCI
definition 35
embedded controller events 714
interrupt handlers 76, 96
SCI_EN 96, 97, 101
Scope (Open Named Scope) 989
SCSI, power management 1050
Secondary System Description Table See SSDT
Segment (_SEG) object 434
Send/Receive Byte (SMBSendReceive) protocol 274, 740
separators, ASL 837
Serialized methods 934, 956
server machines, power management 47
Set Cooling Policy (SCP) control method 685
Set POST Device (_SPD) 1083
Set Resource Settings (_SRS) object 368
Set the Brightness Level (_BCM) 1086
Set Timing Mode (_STM) control method 570
settings, user
power button 46
shareable interrupts 96
shared interface, embedded controller 706, 708
ShiftLeft (Integer Shift Left) 990
ShiftRight (Integer Shift Right) 991
Short Vendor-Defined Resource Descriptor macro 1006

ACPI Specification
shutdown, emergency 61, 670

shutting down See Mechanical Off
Signal (Signal a Synchronization Event) 991
signatures
collisions, avoiding 124, 125
interpreting 115, 127
values, storing 117
single quotes
AML notation 1015
ASL notation 838
SizeOf (Get Data Object Size) 991
slave addresses, SMBus 631, 731
Sleep (Milliseconds Sleep) 992
sleep button
ASL code example 92
definition 34
device ID 296
fixed hardware 91
support 91
Sleeping states
behavior during 463
button logic 91
definitions 36, 39
entering 773
logic controlling 93
objects 455
packages, system state 461
power consumption 37
properties 37
transitioning 45, 327, 328, 332, 461, 1081
user settings 46
waking using RTC 94
Slot User Number (_SUN) object 335
SLP_EN 102, 773
SLP_EN field 93
SLP_TYPx 102, 773
SLP_TYPx field 82, 93
SLPBTN_EN 100
SLPBTN_STS 98
small resource data type 382
Smart Batteries

ACPI Specification
(_SBS object 634

definition 34
device ID 296
multiple battery subsystem 635
single battery subsystem 635
SMBus data buffers 272, 738
SMBus devices 735
specifications 23
status notification 632
subsystem 58, 629
supported 52
table 34
table formats 169
Smart Battery Charger
functions 632
Smart Battery Selector 633
Smart Battery System Manager
functions 631
SMB-HC 631, 636, 724
SMBus
address register (SMB_ADDR) 718
alarm address register (SMB_ALRM_ADDR) 719
block count register (SMB_BCNT) 719
Block Write-Read Block Process Call (SMBBlockProcessCall) protocol 277, 744
commands, restricted 726
data buffers 271, 738
data register array (SMB_DATA) 719
definition 35
device enumeration, enabling 734
device ID 296
encoding, bit 732
fields, declaring 267, 269, 736
host controller notification header (OS_SMB_EVT) 712
host controller objects, declaring 733
interface 34
operation regions 731, 734
PEC (packet error checking) 732
Process Call (SMBProcessCall) protocol 277, 743
protocol register (SMB_PRTCL) 717
protocols 720, 732, 739

ACPI Specification
Read/Write Block (SMBBlock) protocol 742

Read/Write Byte (SMBByte) protocol 274, 741
Read/Write Quick (SMBQuick) 273, 739
Read/Write Word (SMBWord) protocol 275, 742
Send/Receive Byte (SMBSendReceive) protocol 274, 740
slave addresses 631, 731
specifications 23
status codes 733
status register (SMB_STS) 716
transactions 733
virtual registers 733
SMBus devices 296
SMI
definition 35
embedded controller firmware 713
interrupt events 76, 96
SMM firmware 118
Soft-Off
behavior during 466, 778
definition 36, 40
properties 37
transitioning crashed systems to 89
transitioning to 75, 779
sources, power See power sources
SSDT 33, 151
Stall (Stall for a Short Time) 993
standards
device power states 50
Start Dependent functions resource descriptor format 385
StartDependentFn Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor Macro) 993
StartDependentFnNoPri Start Dependent Function Resource Descriptor Macro) 994
statements
ElseIf 919
If 919
Power Resource 443
Processor 479
statements, ASL 837
states See power states
static objects 259
Status (_STA) 445
Status (_STA) object 381
status bits
corresponding enable bits 108

ACPI Specification
functions 106
symbol 73
status codes, SMBus 733
status notification, Smart Battery 632
status register 57
status register (SMB_STS) 716
sticky status bit, definition 73
storage devices, power management 1051, 1070
Store (Store an Object) 994
storing results, ASL operators 878
Streamlined Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller See SAPIC
String (_STR) object 335
String data type, ASL 876, 880
strings, ASL 872
Subtract (Integer Subtract) 995
supplemental documentation 23
surprise-style removal 370, 381
Switch (Select Code To Execute Based On Expression) 995
switching, output devices 1090
Sx states See Sleeping states
syntax
OperationRegion 262, 735
Power Resource statements 443
syntax, ASL 837
system context
definition 34
S4 Sleeping state 777
sleep states lost in 40
System Control Interrupt See SCI
system description tables See tables
system events, general model 57
system indicators 554
System Management Bus See SMBus
System Management Interrupt See SMI
System Management Mode See SMM
System Status (_SST) control method 554
System Wake (_WAK) control method 467
T
tables
address format 118
compatibility 118
DSDT 150

ACPI Specification
embedded controller boot resources 170

encoding format 117
FACS 144
headers 114, 122
MADT 152, 179, 204
overview 113
RSDP 122
RSDT 127
SBST (Smart Battery Description) 169
signatures 124, 125
SSDT 151
Temperature (_TMP) control method 665, 689
temperature changes, detecting 666
temperature management See thermal management
Term Objects encoding, AML 1019
terminology
design guides 14, 16
general 25
sleeping states 39
terms
AML 1015
ASL notation 837
Thermal Constant 1 (_TC1) object 688
Thermal Constant 2 (_TC2) object 688
thermal management
control methods 677
energy conservation, optimizing 64
notification of temperature changes 667
objects 677
OSPM controlled 663
performance, optimizing 64
polling 666, 668
temperature changes, detecting 666
threshold settings, dynamically changing 665
trip points 667
Thermal Sampling Period (_TSP) object 691
thermal states, definition 35
Thermal Zone data type, ASL 876, 880
Thermal Zone Devices (_TZD) object 692
Thermal Zone Polling (_TZP) object 563, 592, 601, 688, 692
thermal zones

ACPI Specification
basic configuration 694, 698

examples 694, 698
mobile PC example 62
multiple-speed fan example 696
object requirements 693
ThermalZone (Declare Thermal Zone) 998
thirty-two bit fixed location memory range resource descriptor format 393
thirty-two bit memory range resource descriptor format 392
throttling 473, 513
THT_EN 104
Timer (Get 64-Bit Timer Value) 998
timers
global standby 78
idle 78
power management (PM) 78, 87
TMR- field 88
TMR_EN 100
TMR_STS 98, 541
TMR_VAL 102
ToBCD (Convert Integer to BCD) 999
ToBuffer (Convert Data to Buffer) 999
ToDecimalString (Convert Data to Decimal String) 999
ToHexString (Convert Data to Hexadecimal String) 1000
ToInteger (Convert Data to Integer) 1000
token ring adapters See network devices
top of memory 784
ToString (Convert Buffer To String) 1002
transactions, SMBus
data buffers 271, 738
status codes 733
transitioning
crashed systems 88, 89
Legacy mode to ACPI 96
power states 45, 74, 327, 328, 332, 1081
working to sleeping states 778
working to soft-off states 779
transparent events 77
transparent switching, device power states 39, 538
trap monitors 78
Trigger Mode flags 157
trip points, thermal 667

ACPI Specification
turning off See Mechanical Off

TVs 1079
twenty-four bit memory range resource descriptor format 390
Type 1 Opcodes, AML encoding 1022
Type 2 Opcodes, AML encoding 1023
U
UARTs, power management 1054
Unicode (String To Unicode Conversion Macro) 1005
Uninitialzed data type, ASL 876, 880
Unique ID (_UID) object 336
Unload (Unload Definition Block) 1006
unnamed objects 256
unrelated device interference 79
upper case, ASL names 871
USB, power management 1050, 1051
user preferences
power button 46
user-visible power states 45
UUID (Convert String to UUID Macro) 1003
V
value-added hardware
enabling OSPM 72
registers 106
Variable List 837
VCR-style ejection mechanism 370
vendor defined large resource descriptor format 391
vendor defined resource data types 391
vendor defined small resource descriptor format 388
VendorLong Long Vendor-Defined Descriptor macro) 1006
VendorShort Vendor Defined Resource Descriptor Macro) 1006
VESA specifications 1050
VGA 1079, 1082
video controllers, power management 1055
Video Electronics Standards Associations (VESA) 1050
Video POST Options (_VPO) 1084
virtual data objects 908
virtual registers 264, 267, 268, 733, 738
visible states
global system 35
W
Wait (Wait for a Synchronization Event) 1007
WAK_STS (Wake Status) 93, 99

ACPI Specification
wake frame events 1068

waking
_WAK control method 467
audio devices 1054
COM ports 1055
device power resource object (_PRW) 452
devices 1052
disabling system-waking devices 454
display devices 1060
initialization 780
input devices 1063
latency time 45, 327, 328, 332, 1081
lid switch 110
logic controlling 93
modem devices 1066
network devices 1067
OS operations 52
PC Card controllers 1070
Real Time Clock Alarm (RTC) 94
resetting lost enable bits 108
storage devices 1072
warm insertion and removal 374
warnings, battery 60
WBINVD 780
web sites
Intel Architecture 23
Microsoft 23
PCISIG 1050
PCMCIA 1050
Smart Battery System 23
SMBus specification 731
USB-IF 1051
While (Conditional Loop) 1007
WORD resource descriptor format 400
WordBusNumber (Word Bus Number Resource Descriptor Macro) 1008
WordIO (Word IO Resource Descriptor Macro) 1009
WordSpace (Word Space Resource Descriptor Macro) 1011
Working state
behavior during 773
definition 36
properties 37
transitioning to 74
transitioning to Sleeping state 778

ACPI Specification
transitioning to Soft-Off 779

workstations 141
Write Embedded Controller (WR_EC) 711
write-only bits
control 73
definition 79
X
XOr (Integer Bitwise Xor) 1012
XSDT
definition 35
loading Definition Block 950
location 114
Z
Zero (Constant Zero Object) 1013
Zero, One, Ones data type, ASL 876, 880
zones, thermal See thermal zones

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Advanced Configuration and Power

Copyright 2017 Unified EFI Forum, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Revision History ................................................................................................. iii

Version 6.2 May 2017 xix

3.3.4 Device Power State Definitions........................................................................... 50

xx May 2017 Version 6.2

5 ACPI Software Programming Model .......................................................... 113

Version 6.2 May 2017 xxi

5.6.5 GPIO-signaled ACPI Events ............................................................................. 287

xxii May 2017 Version 6.2

6.2.18 _HMA(Heterogeneous Memory Attributes) ..................................................... 370

Version 6.2 May 2017 xxiii

7.3.14 _PSW (Power State Wake)............................................................................. 454

xxiv May 2017 Version 6.2

9.2.2 _MSG (Message) .............................................................................................. 555

Version 6.2 May 2017 xxv

9.18.5 _GWS (Get Wake alarm status)...................................................................... 600

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10.5.1 Wireless Power Calibration Device ................................................................. 660

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11.6 Thermal Zone Interface Requirements ....................................................................... 693

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13.3 Using the SMBus Protocols ........................................................................................ 739

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16.3.3 OS Loading ..................................................................................................... 785