1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
3 ==========================
4 MHI (Modem Host Interface)
5 ==========================
7 This document provides information about the MHI protocol.
12 MHI is a protocol developed by Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc. It is used
13 by the host processors to control and communicate with modem devices over high
14 speed peripheral buses or shared memory. Even though MHI can be easily adapted
15 to any peripheral buses, it is primarily used with PCIe based devices. MHI
16 provides logical channels over the physical buses and allows transporting the
17 modem protocols, such as IP data packets, modem control messages, and
18 diagnostics over at least one of those logical channels. Also, the MHI
19 protocol provides data acknowledgment feature and manages the power state of the
20 modems via one or more logical channels.
28 MMIO (Memory mapped IO) consists of a set of registers in the device hardware,
29 which are mapped to the host memory space by the peripheral buses like PCIe.
30 Following are the major components of MMIO register space:
32 MHI control registers: Access to MHI configurations registers
34 MHI BHI registers: BHI (Boot Host Interface) registers are used by the host
35 for downloading the firmware to the device before MHI initialization.
37 Channel Doorbell array: Channel Doorbell (DB) registers used by the host to
38 notify the device when there is new work to do.
40 Event Doorbell array: Associated with event context array, the Event Doorbell
41 (DB) registers are used by the host to notify the device when new events are
44 Debug registers: A set of registers and counters used by the device to expose
45 debugging information like performance, functional, and stability to the host.
50 All data structures used by MHI are in the host system memory. Using the
51 physical interface, the device accesses those data structures. MHI data
52 structures and data buffers in the host system memory regions are mapped for
55 Channel context array: All channel configurations are organized in channel
58 Transfer rings: Used by the host to schedule work items for a channel. The
59 transfer rings are organized as a circular queue of Transfer Descriptors (TD).
61 Event context array: All event configurations are organized in the event context
64 Event rings: Used by the device to send completion and state transition messages
67 Command context array: All command configurations are organized in command
70 Command rings: Used by the host to send MHI commands to the device. The command
71 rings are organized as a circular queue of Command Descriptors (CD).
76 MHI channels are logical, unidirectional data pipes between a host and a device.
77 The concept of channels in MHI is similar to endpoints in USB. MHI supports up
78 to 256 channels. However, specific device implementations may support less than
79 the maximum number of channels allowed.
81 Two unidirectional channels with their associated transfer rings form a
82 bidirectional data pipe, which can be used by the upper-layer protocols to
83 transport application data packets (such as IP packets, modem control messages,
84 diagnostics messages, and so on). Each channel is associated with a single
90 Transfers between the host and device are organized by channels and defined by
91 Transfer Descriptors (TD). TDs are managed through transfer rings, which are
92 defined for each channel between the device and host and reside in the host
93 memory. TDs consist of one or more ring elements (or transfer blocks)::
95 [Read Pointer (RP)] ----------->[Ring Element] } TD
96 [Write Pointer (WP)]- [Ring Element]
98 --------->[Ring Element]
101 Below is the basic usage of transfer rings:
103 * Host allocates memory for transfer ring.
104 * Host sets the base pointer, read pointer, and write pointer in corresponding
106 * Ring is considered empty when RP == WP.
107 * Ring is considered full when WP + 1 == RP.
108 * RP indicates the next element to be serviced by the device.
109 * When the host has a new buffer to send, it updates the ring element with
110 buffer information, increments the WP to the next element and rings the
111 associated channel DB.
116 Events from the device to host are organized in event rings and defined by Event
117 Descriptors (ED). Event rings are used by the device to report events such as
118 data transfer completion status, command completion status, and state changes
119 to the host. Event rings are the array of EDs that resides in the host
120 memory. EDs consist of one or more ring elements (or transfer blocks)::
122 [Read Pointer (RP)] ----------->[Ring Element] } ED
123 [Write Pointer (WP)]- [Ring Element]
125 --------->[Ring Element]
128 Below is the basic usage of event rings:
130 * Host allocates memory for event ring.
131 * Host sets the base pointer, read pointer, and write pointer in corresponding
133 * Both host and device has a local copy of RP, WP.
134 * Ring is considered empty (no events to service) when WP + 1 == RP.
135 * Ring is considered full of events when RP == WP.
136 * When there is a new event the device needs to send, the device updates ED
137 pointed by RP, increments the RP to the next element and triggers the
143 A Ring Element is a data structure used to transfer a single block
144 of data between the host and the device. Transfer ring element types contain a
145 single buffer pointer, the size of the buffer, and additional control
146 information. Other ring element types may only contain control and status
147 information. For single buffer operations, a ring descriptor is composed of a
148 single element. For large multi-buffer operations (such as scatter and gather),
149 elements can be chained to form a longer descriptor.
159 MHI is in reset state after power-up or hardware reset. The host is not allowed
160 to access device MMIO register space.
164 MHI is ready for initialization. The host can start MHI initialization by
165 programming MMIO registers.
169 MHI is running and operational in the device. The host can start channels by
170 issuing channel start command.
174 MHI operation is suspended by the device. This state is entered when the
175 device detects inactivity at the physical interface within a preset time.
179 MHI is in low power state. MHI operation is suspended and the device may
180 enter lower power mode.
184 MHI operation stopped by the host. This state is entered when the host suspends
190 After system boots, the device is enumerated over the physical interface.
191 In the case of PCIe, the device is enumerated and assigned BAR-0 for
192 the device's MMIO register space. To initialize the MHI in a device,
193 the host performs the following operations:
195 * Allocates the MHI context for event, channel and command arrays.
196 * Initializes the context array, and prepares interrupts.
197 * Waits until the device enters READY state.
198 * Programs MHI MMIO registers and sets device into MHI_M0 state.
199 * Waits for the device to enter M0 state.
204 MHI data transfer is initiated by the host to transfer data to the device.
205 Following are the sequence of operations performed by the host to transfer
208 * Host prepares TD with buffer information.
209 * Host increments the WP of the corresponding channel transfer ring.
210 * Host rings the channel DB register.
211 * Device wakes up to process the TD.
212 * Device generates a completion event for the processed TD by updating ED.
213 * Device increments the RP of the corresponding event ring.
214 * Device triggers IRQ to wake up the host.
215 * Host wakes up and checks the event ring for completion event.
216 * Host updates the WP of the corresponding event ring to indicate that the
217 data transfer has been completed successfully.