[U-Boot] [PATCH] cmd_i2c: Provide option for bulk 'i2c write' in one transaction

[Lubomir Popov]

I2C chips do exist that require a write of some multi-byte data to occur in
a single bus transaction (aka atomic transfer), otherwise either the write
does not come into effect at all, or normal operation of internal circuitry
cannot be guaranteed. The current implementation of the 'i2c write' command
(transfer of multiple bytes from a memory buffer) in fact performs a separate
transaction for each byte to be written and thus cannot support such types of
I2C slave devices.

This patch provides an alternative by allowing 'i2c write' to execute the
write transfer of the given number of bytes in a single bus transaction if
CONFIG_SYS_I2C_BULK_WRITE is defined in the board header (otherwise the old
method shall compile).

Signed-off-by: Lubomir Popov <l-popov at ti.com>
---
 common/cmd_i2c.c |   15 ++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/common/cmd_i2c.c b/common/cmd_i2c.c
index 3a75f94..7116458 100644
--- a/common/cmd_i2c.c
+++ b/common/cmd_i2c.c
@@ -280,10 +280,22 @@ static int do_i2c_write(cmd_tbl_t *cmdtp, int flag, int argc, char * const argv[
 		return cmd_usage(cmdtp);

 	/*
-	 * Length is the number of objects, not number of bytes.
+	 * Length is the number of bytes.
 	 */
 	length = simple_strtoul(argv[4], NULL, 16);

+#if defined(CONFIG_SYS_I2C_BULK_WRITE)
+	/*
+	 * Write all bytes in a single I2C transaction. If the target
+	 * device is an EEPROM, it is your responsibility to not cross
+	 * a page bounady.
+	 */
+	if (i2c_write(chip, devaddr, alen, memaddr, length) != 0) {
+		puts("Error writing to the chip.\n");
+		return 1;
+	}
+#else
+	/* Perform <length> separate write transactions of one byte each */
 	while (length-- > 0) {
 		if (i2c_write(chip, devaddr++, alen, memaddr++, 1) != 0) {
 			puts("Error writing to the chip.\n");
@@ -296,6 +308,7 @@ static int do_i2c_write(cmd_tbl_t *cmdtp, int flag, int argc, char * const argv[
 		udelay(11000);
 #endif
 	}
+#endif
 	return 0;
 }

-- 
1.7.9.5