diff --git a/Documentation/thermal/sysfs-api.txt b/Documentation/thermal/sysfs-api.txt
index 88c0233..526d4b9 100644
--- a/Documentation/thermal/sysfs-api.txt
+++ b/Documentation/thermal/sysfs-api.txt
@@ -329,8 +329,9 @@
 netlink event. Netlink socket initialization is done during the _init_
 of the framework. Drivers which intend to use the notification mechanism
 just need to call thermal_generate_netlink_event() with two arguments viz
-(originator, event). Typically the originator will be an integer assigned
-to a thermal_zone_device when it registers itself with the framework. The
+(originator, event). The originator is a pointer to struct thermal_zone_device
+from where the event has been originated. An integer which represents the
+thermal zone device will be used in the message to identify the zone. The
 event will be one of:{THERMAL_AUX0, THERMAL_AUX1, THERMAL_CRITICAL,
 THERMAL_DEV_FAULT}. Notification can be sent when the current temperature
 crosses any of the configured thresholds.
diff --git a/drivers/thermal/thermal_sys.c b/drivers/thermal/thermal_sys.c
index 8c8ce80..d85f51f 100644
--- a/drivers/thermal/thermal_sys.c
+++ b/drivers/thermal/thermal_sys.c
@@ -1711,7 +1711,8 @@
 	.name = THERMAL_GENL_MCAST_GROUP_NAME,
 };
 
-int thermal_generate_netlink_event(u32 orig, enum events event)
+int thermal_generate_netlink_event(struct thermal_zone_device *tz,
+					enum events event)
 {
 	struct sk_buff *skb;
 	struct nlattr *attr;
@@ -1721,6 +1722,9 @@
 	int result;
 	static unsigned int thermal_event_seqnum;
 
+	if (!tz)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
 	/* allocate memory */
 	size = nla_total_size(sizeof(struct thermal_genl_event)) +
 	       nla_total_size(0);
@@ -1755,7 +1759,7 @@
 
 	memset(thermal_event, 0, sizeof(struct thermal_genl_event));
 
-	thermal_event->orig = orig;
+	thermal_event->orig = tz->id;
 	thermal_event->event = event;
 
 	/* send multicast genetlink message */
diff --git a/include/linux/thermal.h b/include/linux/thermal.h
index 883bcda..9b78f8c 100644
--- a/include/linux/thermal.h
+++ b/include/linux/thermal.h
@@ -246,9 +246,11 @@
 void thermal_unregister_governor(struct thermal_governor *);
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_NET
-extern int thermal_generate_netlink_event(u32 orig, enum events event);
+extern int thermal_generate_netlink_event(struct thermal_zone_device *tz,
+						enum events event);
 #else
-static inline int thermal_generate_netlink_event(u32 orig, enum events event)
+static int thermal_generate_netlink_event(struct thermal_zone_device *tz,
+						enum events event)
 {
 	return 0;
 }