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diff --git a/Documentation/media/kapi/v4l2-subdev.rst b/Documentation/media/kapi/v4l2-subdev.rst index 1b262aa..3e2b25b 100644 --- a/Documentation/media/kapi/v4l2-subdev.rst +++ b/Documentation/media/kapi/v4l2-subdev.rst @@ -1,3 +1,259 @@ +V4L2 sub-devices +---------------- + +Many drivers need to communicate with sub-devices. These devices can do all +sort of tasks, but most commonly they handle audio and/or video muxing, +encoding or decoding. For webcams common sub-devices are sensors and camera +controllers. + +Usually these are I2C devices, but not necessarily. In order to provide the +driver with a consistent interface to these sub-devices the v4l2_subdev struct +(v4l2-subdev.h) was created. + +Each sub-device driver must have a v4l2_subdev struct. This struct can be +stand-alone for simple sub-devices or it might be embedded in a larger struct +if more state information needs to be stored. Usually there is a low-level +device struct (e.g. i2c_client) that contains the device data as setup +by the kernel. It is recommended to store that pointer in the private +data of v4l2_subdev using v4l2_set_subdevdata(). That makes it easy to go +from a v4l2_subdev to the actual low-level bus-specific device data. + +You also need a way to go from the low-level struct to v4l2_subdev. For the +common i2c_client struct the i2c_set_clientdata() call is used to store a +v4l2_subdev pointer, for other busses you may have to use other methods. + +Bridges might also need to store per-subdev private data, such as a pointer to +bridge-specific per-subdev private data. The v4l2_subdev structure provides +host private data for that purpose that can be accessed with +v4l2_get_subdev_hostdata() and v4l2_set_subdev_hostdata(). + +From the bridge driver perspective you load the sub-device module and somehow +obtain the v4l2_subdev pointer. For i2c devices this is easy: you call +i2c_get_clientdata(). For other busses something similar needs to be done. +Helper functions exists for sub-devices on an I2C bus that do most of this +tricky work for you. + +Each v4l2_subdev contains function pointers that sub-device drivers can +implement (or leave NULL if it is not applicable). Since sub-devices can do +so many different things and you do not want to end up with a huge ops struct +of which only a handful of ops are commonly implemented, the function pointers +are sorted according to category and each category has its own ops struct. + +The top-level ops struct contains pointers to the category ops structs, which +may be NULL if the subdev driver does not support anything from that category. + +It looks like this: + +.. code-block:: none + + struct v4l2_subdev_core_ops { + int (*log_status)(struct v4l2_subdev *sd); + int (*init)(struct v4l2_subdev *sd, u32 val); + ... + }; + + struct v4l2_subdev_tuner_ops { + ... + }; + + struct v4l2_subdev_audio_ops { + ... + }; + + struct v4l2_subdev_video_ops { + ... + }; + + struct v4l2_subdev_pad_ops { + ... + }; + + struct v4l2_subdev_ops { + const struct v4l2_subdev_core_ops *core; + const struct v4l2_subdev_tuner_ops *tuner; + const struct v4l2_subdev_audio_ops *audio; + const struct v4l2_subdev_video_ops *video; + const struct v4l2_subdev_pad_ops *video; + }; + +The core ops are common to all subdevs, the other categories are implemented +depending on the sub-device. E.g. a video device is unlikely to support the +audio ops and vice versa. + +This setup limits the number of function pointers while still making it easy +to add new ops and categories. + +A sub-device driver initializes the v4l2_subdev struct using: + +.. code-block:: none + + v4l2_subdev_init(sd, &ops); + +Afterwards you need to initialize subdev->name with a unique name and set the +module owner. This is done for you if you use the i2c helper functions. + +If integration with the media framework is needed, you must initialize the +media_entity struct embedded in the v4l2_subdev struct (entity field) by +calling media_entity_pads_init(), if the entity has pads: + +.. code-block:: none + + struct media_pad *pads = &my_sd->pads; + int err; + + err = media_entity_pads_init(&sd->entity, npads, pads); + +The pads array must have been previously initialized. There is no need to +manually set the struct media_entity function and name fields, but the +revision field must be initialized if needed. + +A reference to the entity will be automatically acquired/released when the +subdev device node (if any) is opened/closed. + +Don't forget to cleanup the media entity before the sub-device is destroyed: + +.. code-block:: none + + media_entity_cleanup(&sd->entity); + +If the subdev driver intends to process video and integrate with the media +framework, it must implement format related functionality using +v4l2_subdev_pad_ops instead of v4l2_subdev_video_ops. + +In that case, the subdev driver may set the link_validate field to provide +its own link validation function. The link validation function is called for +every link in the pipeline where both of the ends of the links are V4L2 +sub-devices. The driver is still responsible for validating the correctness +of the format configuration between sub-devices and video nodes. + +If link_validate op is not set, the default function +v4l2_subdev_link_validate_default() is used instead. This function ensures +that width, height and the media bus pixel code are equal on both source and +sink of the link. Subdev drivers are also free to use this function to +perform the checks mentioned above in addition to their own checks. + +There are currently two ways to register subdevices with the V4L2 core. The +first (traditional) possibility is to have subdevices registered by bridge +drivers. This can be done when the bridge driver has the complete information +about subdevices connected to it and knows exactly when to register them. This +is typically the case for internal subdevices, like video data processing units +within SoCs or complex PCI(e) boards, camera sensors in USB cameras or connected +to SoCs, which pass information about them to bridge drivers, usually in their +platform data. + +There are however also situations where subdevices have to be registered +asynchronously to bridge devices. An example of such a configuration is a Device +Tree based system where information about subdevices is made available to the +system independently from the bridge devices, e.g. when subdevices are defined +in DT as I2C device nodes. The API used in this second case is described further +below. + +Using one or the other registration method only affects the probing process, the +run-time bridge-subdevice interaction is in both cases the same. + +In the synchronous case a device (bridge) driver needs to register the +v4l2_subdev with the v4l2_device: + +.. code-block:: none + + int err = v4l2_device_register_subdev(v4l2_dev, sd); + +This can fail if the subdev module disappeared before it could be registered. +After this function was called successfully the subdev->dev field points to +the v4l2_device. + +If the v4l2_device parent device has a non-NULL mdev field, the sub-device +entity will be automatically registered with the media device. + +You can unregister a sub-device using: + +.. code-block:: none + + v4l2_device_unregister_subdev(sd); + +Afterwards the subdev module can be unloaded and sd->dev == NULL. + +You can call an ops function either directly: + +.. code-block:: none + + err = sd->ops->core->g_std(sd, &norm); + +but it is better and easier to use this macro: + +.. code-block:: none + + err = v4l2_subdev_call(sd, core, g_std, &norm); + +The macro will to the right NULL pointer checks and returns -ENODEV if subdev +is NULL, -ENOIOCTLCMD if either subdev->core or subdev->core->g_std is +NULL, or the actual result of the subdev->ops->core->g_std ops. + +It is also possible to call all or a subset of the sub-devices: + +.. code-block:: none + + v4l2_device_call_all(v4l2_dev, 0, core, g_std, &norm); + +Any subdev that does not support this ops is skipped and error results are +ignored. If you want to check for errors use this: + +.. code-block:: none + + err = v4l2_device_call_until_err(v4l2_dev, 0, core, g_std, &norm); + +Any error except -ENOIOCTLCMD will exit the loop with that error. If no +errors (except -ENOIOCTLCMD) occurred, then 0 is returned. + +The second argument to both calls is a group ID. If 0, then all subdevs are +called. If non-zero, then only those whose group ID match that value will +be called. Before a bridge driver registers a subdev it can set sd->grp_id +to whatever value it wants (it's 0 by default). This value is owned by the +bridge driver and the sub-device driver will never modify or use it. + +The group ID gives the bridge driver more control how callbacks are called. +For example, there may be multiple audio chips on a board, each capable of +changing the volume. But usually only one will actually be used when the +user want to change the volume. You can set the group ID for that subdev to +e.g. AUDIO_CONTROLLER and specify that as the group ID value when calling +v4l2_device_call_all(). That ensures that it will only go to the subdev +that needs it. + +If the sub-device needs to notify its v4l2_device parent of an event, then +it can call v4l2_subdev_notify(sd, notification, arg). This macro checks +whether there is a notify() callback defined and returns -ENODEV if not. +Otherwise the result of the notify() call is returned. + +The advantage of using v4l2_subdev is that it is a generic struct and does +not contain any knowledge about the underlying hardware. So a driver might +contain several subdevs that use an I2C bus, but also a subdev that is +controlled through GPIO pins. This distinction is only relevant when setting +up the device, but once the subdev is registered it is completely transparent. + + +In the asynchronous case subdevice probing can be invoked independently of the +bridge driver availability. The subdevice driver then has to verify whether all +the requirements for a successful probing are satisfied. This can include a +check for a master clock availability. If any of the conditions aren't satisfied +the driver might decide to return -EPROBE_DEFER to request further reprobing +attempts. Once all conditions are met the subdevice shall be registered using +the v4l2_async_register_subdev() function. Unregistration is performed using +the v4l2_async_unregister_subdev() call. Subdevices registered this way are +stored in a global list of subdevices, ready to be picked up by bridge drivers. + +Bridge drivers in turn have to register a notifier object with an array of +subdevice descriptors that the bridge device needs for its operation. This is +performed using the v4l2_async_notifier_register() call. To unregister the +notifier the driver has to call v4l2_async_notifier_unregister(). The former of +the two functions takes two arguments: a pointer to struct v4l2_device and a +pointer to struct v4l2_async_notifier. The latter contains a pointer to an array +of pointers to subdevice descriptors of type struct v4l2_async_subdev type. The +V4L2 core will then use these descriptors to match asynchronously registered +subdevices to them. If a match is detected the .bound() notifier callback is +called. After all subdevices have been located the .complete() callback is +called. When a subdevice is removed from the system the .unbind() method is +called. All three callbacks are optional. + V4L2 subdev kAPI ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ |