Features On Top

Power management on top of SMBus

Just like the I2C-Bus, the SMBus defines a protocol for inter-device communication. It adds timeouts and standards for data transfer formats, however, it does not define the content of transmitted data.

The new PMBus standard is based on the SMBus. It defines a set of commands and data structures required by power control and management components.

This allows interoperability between ICs not only on the electrical level but also regarding the command semantics.

As an example, the PMBus defines a command for setting and reading over voltage level – something that is essential in the power management domain.

In this sense, the PMBus is not a new bus but a protocol layer on top of the SM-Bus.

More information about the PMBus can be found at www.pmbus.org.

The PMBus name and logo are trademarks of SMIF, Inc.