Embedded controller: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 22:31, 7 July 2014

Revision as of 22:33, 7 July 2014

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A generic embedded controller often has the following tasks:

*Receiving and processing signals from the keyboard<ref name="ps2kbc">http://www.computer-engineering.org/ps2keyboard/</ref> and other buttons and switches (e.g., power button, laptop lid switch)

*Turning the computer on and off

*Controlling access to the [[A20 line]]<ref>http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/kbd/A20.html</ref>

*Thermal measurement and response including fan control, [[Dynamic frequency scaling|CPU throttling]], and emergency shutdown in response to rising temperatures

*Controlling indicator [[LED]]s

*Power management including managing the [[voltage regulator module]], the [[battery]] charger, and the battery

*Allowing remote diagnostics and remediation over the network

*Performing software-requested CPU reset<ref>http: name="ps2kbc"//www.computer-engineering.org/ps2keyboard/</ref>

As a core system component, the embedded controller is always on when power is supplied to the mainboard. To communicate with the main computer system, several forms of communication can be used, including [[Advanced Configuration and Power Interface|ACPI]], [[SMBus]], or [[Shared memory|shared memory]].