summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/time_interpolators.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/time_interpolators.txt')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/time_interpolators.txt41
1 files changed, 41 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/time_interpolators.txt b/Documentation/time_interpolators.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..e3b60854fbc2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/time_interpolators.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+Time Interpolators
+------------------
+
+Time interpolators are a base of time calculation between timer ticks and
+allow an accurate determination of time down to the accuracy of the time
+source in nanoseconds.
+
+The architecture specific code typically provides gettimeofday and
+settimeofday under Linux. The time interpolator provides both if an arch
+defines CONFIG_TIME_INTERPOLATION. The arch still must set up timer tick
+operations and call the necessary functions to advance the clock.
+
+With the time interpolator a standardized interface exists for time
+interpolation between ticks. The provided logic is highly scalable
+and has been tested in SMP situations of up to 512 CPUs.
+
+If CONFIG_TIME_INTERPOLATION is defined then the architecture specific code
+(or the device drivers - like HPET) may register time interpolators.
+These are typically defined in the following way:
+
+static struct time_interpolator my_interpolator {
+ .frequency = MY_FREQUENCY,
+ .source = TIME_SOURCE_MMIO32,
+ .shift = 8, /* scaling for higher accuracy */
+ .drift = -1, /* Unknown drift */
+ .jitter = 0 /* time source is stable */
+};
+
+void time_init(void)
+{
+ ....
+ /* Initialization of the timer *.
+ my_interpolator.address = &my_timer;
+ register_time_interpolator(&my_interpolator);
+ ....
+}
+
+For more details see include/linux/timex.h and kernel/timer.c.
+
+Christoph Lameter <christoph@lameter.com>, October 31, 2004
+