Implement USB-PD Extended Alert Messages to power up via the Docking Station Power Button

Some current docking stations already support powering on a connected notebook via an open standard: Since specification version 3.0, USB-PD has allowed the transmission of so-called Extended Alert Messages, which can be used to simulate the power button

Under 6.4.5. Alert Message in the current USB-PD documentation, the following options are listed, among others:

1 - Power State change (DFP only).

2 - Power button press (UFP only).

3 - Power button release (UFP only).

An example of a supported docking station is the HP Thunderbolt 4 G6; the following statement can be found in the Technical White Paper regarding this model: “The dock Power button may support non-HP Notebooks that have implemented the USB Power Delivery specification to support Extended Alert messages.”

Based on a brief online search, other models may already be compatible or could become compatible in the future.

I therefore request that the Framework Team implement the corresponding standard.

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Fyi, Framework has implemented this on the AMD Strix Point board. So just a question whether they backported that functionality to the other PD controllers and older SMC firmwares.

Dell docks also use the extended alert messages and their older docks were firmware updated to support them.

Worth opening a feature request issue on Framework’s firmware tracker on github for this.