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 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 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 at http://smbus.org/specs/ (or see http://uefi.org/acpi under the heading “Smart Battery System Components and SMBus Specification”).

• 13.1. SMBus Overview
• 13.2. Accessing the SMBus from ASL Code
• 13.3. Using the SMBus Protocols