Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Specification

Advanced Configuration and Power Interface Specification
• Operating system and device driver developers
• BIOS and ACPI 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.
12 April, 2015 Version 6.0