 995f5fefb0
			
		
	
	
	995f5fefb0
	
	
	
		
			
			The media spec contains several errors in the description of the I/O streaming ioctls, in particular with respect to the userptr I/O method. The most important change is that you really need to set count and index in v4l2_requestbuffer and v4l2_buffer when dealing with user pointer streaming. Signed-off-by: Hans Verkuil <hverkuil@xs4all.nl> Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@redhat.com>
		
			
				
	
	
		
			1074 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			43 KiB
			
		
	
	
	
		
			XML
		
	
	
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			1074 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			43 KiB
			
		
	
	
	
		
			XML
		
	
	
	
	
	
|   <title>Input/Output</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>The V4L2 API defines several different methods to read from or
 | |
| write to a device. All drivers exchanging data with applications must
 | |
| support at least one of them.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>The classic I/O method using the <function>read()</function>
 | |
| and <function>write()</function> function is automatically selected
 | |
| after opening a V4L2 device. When the driver does not support this
 | |
| method attempts to read or write will fail at any time.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>Other methods must be negotiated. To select the streaming I/O
 | |
| method with memory mapped or user buffers applications call the
 | |
| &VIDIOC-REQBUFS; ioctl. The asynchronous I/O method is not defined
 | |
| yet.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>Video overlay can be considered another I/O method, although
 | |
| the application does not directly receive the image data. It is
 | |
| selected by initiating video overlay with the &VIDIOC-S-FMT; ioctl.
 | |
| For more information see <xref linkend="overlay" />.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>Generally exactly one I/O method, including overlay, is
 | |
| associated with each file descriptor. The only exceptions are
 | |
| applications not exchanging data with a driver ("panel applications",
 | |
| see <xref linkend="open" />) and drivers permitting simultaneous video capturing
 | |
| and overlay using the same file descriptor, for compatibility with V4L
 | |
| and earlier versions of V4L2.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para><constant>VIDIOC_S_FMT</constant> and
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_REQBUFS</constant> would permit this to some degree,
 | |
| but for simplicity drivers need not support switching the I/O method
 | |
| (after first switching away from read/write) other than by closing
 | |
| and reopening the device.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <para>The following sections describe the various I/O methods in
 | |
| more detail.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <section id="rw">
 | |
|     <title>Read/Write</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Input and output devices support the
 | |
| <function>read()</function> and <function>write()</function> function,
 | |
| respectively, when the <constant>V4L2_CAP_READWRITE</constant> flag in
 | |
| the <structfield>capabilities</structfield> field of &v4l2-capability;
 | |
| returned by the &VIDIOC-QUERYCAP; ioctl is set.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Drivers may need the CPU to copy the data, but they may also
 | |
| support DMA to or from user memory, so this I/O method is not
 | |
| necessarily less efficient than other methods merely exchanging buffer
 | |
| pointers. It is considered inferior though because no meta-information
 | |
| like frame counters or timestamps are passed. This information is
 | |
| necessary to recognize frame dropping and to synchronize with other
 | |
| data streams. However this is also the simplest I/O method, requiring
 | |
| little or no setup to exchange data. It permits command line stunts
 | |
| like this (the <application>vidctrl</application> tool is
 | |
| fictitious):</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <informalexample>
 | |
|       <screen>
 | |
| > vidctrl /dev/video --input=0 --format=YUYV --size=352x288
 | |
| > dd if=/dev/video of=myimage.422 bs=202752 count=1
 | |
| </screen>
 | |
|     </informalexample>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>To read from the device applications use the
 | |
| &func-read; function, to write the &func-write; function.
 | |
| Drivers must implement one I/O method if they
 | |
| exchange data with applications, but it need not be this.<footnote>
 | |
| 	<para>It would be desirable if applications could depend on
 | |
| drivers supporting all I/O interfaces, but as much as the complex
 | |
| memory mapping I/O can be inadequate for some devices we have no
 | |
| reason to require this interface, which is most useful for simple
 | |
| applications capturing still images.</para>
 | |
|       </footnote> When reading or writing is supported, the driver
 | |
| must also support the &func-select; and &func-poll;
 | |
| function.<footnote>
 | |
| 	<para>At the driver level <function>select()</function> and
 | |
| <function>poll()</function> are the same, and
 | |
| <function>select()</function> is too important to be optional.</para>
 | |
|       </footnote></para>
 | |
|   </section>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <section id="mmap">
 | |
|     <title>Streaming I/O (Memory Mapping)</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Input and output devices support this I/O method when the
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_CAP_STREAMING</constant> flag in the
 | |
| <structfield>capabilities</structfield> field of &v4l2-capability;
 | |
| returned by the &VIDIOC-QUERYCAP; ioctl is set. There are two
 | |
| streaming methods, to determine if the memory mapping flavor is
 | |
| supported applications must call the &VIDIOC-REQBUFS; ioctl.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Streaming is an I/O method where only pointers to buffers
 | |
| are exchanged between application and driver, the data itself is not
 | |
| copied. Memory mapping is primarily intended to map buffers in device
 | |
| memory into the application's address space. Device memory can be for
 | |
| example the video memory on a graphics card with a video capture
 | |
| add-on. However, being the most efficient I/O method available for a
 | |
| long time, many other drivers support streaming as well, allocating
 | |
| buffers in DMA-able main memory.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>A driver can support many sets of buffers. Each set is
 | |
| identified by a unique buffer type value. The sets are independent and
 | |
| each set can hold a different type of data. To access different sets
 | |
| at the same time different file descriptors must be used.<footnote>
 | |
| 	<para>One could use one file descriptor and set the buffer
 | |
| type field accordingly when calling &VIDIOC-QBUF; etc., but it makes
 | |
| the <function>select()</function> function ambiguous. We also like the
 | |
| clean approach of one file descriptor per logical stream. Video
 | |
| overlay for example is also a logical stream, although the CPU is not
 | |
| needed for continuous operation.</para>
 | |
|       </footnote></para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>To allocate device buffers applications call the
 | |
| &VIDIOC-REQBUFS; ioctl with the desired number of buffers and buffer
 | |
| type, for example <constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE</constant>.
 | |
| This ioctl can also be used to change the number of buffers or to free
 | |
| the allocated memory, provided none of the buffers are still
 | |
| mapped.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Before applications can access the buffers they must map
 | |
| them into their address space with the &func-mmap; function. The
 | |
| location of the buffers in device memory can be determined with the
 | |
| &VIDIOC-QUERYBUF; ioctl. The <structfield>m.offset</structfield> and
 | |
| <structfield>length</structfield> returned in a &v4l2-buffer; are
 | |
| passed as sixth and second parameter to the
 | |
| <function>mmap()</function> function. The offset and length values
 | |
| must not be modified. Remember the buffers are allocated in physical
 | |
| memory, as opposed to virtual memory which can be swapped out to disk.
 | |
| Applications should free the buffers as soon as possible with the
 | |
| &func-munmap; function.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <example>
 | |
|       <title>Mapping buffers</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <programlisting>
 | |
| &v4l2-requestbuffers; reqbuf;
 | |
| struct {
 | |
| 	void *start;
 | |
| 	size_t length;
 | |
| } *buffers;
 | |
| unsigned int i;
 | |
| 
 | |
| memset (&reqbuf, 0, sizeof (reqbuf));
 | |
| reqbuf.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE;
 | |
| reqbuf.memory = V4L2_MEMORY_MMAP;
 | |
| reqbuf.count = 20;
 | |
| 
 | |
| if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-REQBUFS;, &reqbuf)) {
 | |
| 	if (errno == EINVAL)
 | |
| 		printf ("Video capturing or mmap-streaming is not supported\n");
 | |
| 	else
 | |
| 		perror ("VIDIOC_REQBUFS");
 | |
| 
 | |
| 	exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
 | |
| }
 | |
| 
 | |
| /* We want at least five buffers. */
 | |
| 
 | |
| if (reqbuf.count < 5) {
 | |
| 	/* You may need to free the buffers here. */
 | |
| 	printf ("Not enough buffer memory\n");
 | |
| 	exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
 | |
| }
 | |
| 
 | |
| buffers = calloc (reqbuf.count, sizeof (*buffers));
 | |
| assert (buffers != NULL);
 | |
| 
 | |
| for (i = 0; i < reqbuf.count; i++) {
 | |
| 	&v4l2-buffer; buffer;
 | |
| 
 | |
| 	memset (&buffer, 0, sizeof (buffer));
 | |
| 	buffer.type = reqbuf.type;
 | |
| 	buffer.memory = V4L2_MEMORY_MMAP;
 | |
| 	buffer.index = i;
 | |
| 
 | |
| 	if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-QUERYBUF;, &buffer)) {
 | |
| 		perror ("VIDIOC_QUERYBUF");
 | |
| 		exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
 | |
| 	}
 | |
| 
 | |
| 	buffers[i].length = buffer.length; /* remember for munmap() */
 | |
| 
 | |
| 	buffers[i].start = mmap (NULL, buffer.length,
 | |
| 				 PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, /* recommended */
 | |
| 				 MAP_SHARED,             /* recommended */
 | |
| 				 fd, buffer.m.offset);
 | |
| 
 | |
| 	if (MAP_FAILED == buffers[i].start) {
 | |
| 		/* If you do not exit here you should unmap() and free()
 | |
| 		   the buffers mapped so far. */
 | |
| 		perror ("mmap");
 | |
| 		exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
 | |
| 	}
 | |
| }
 | |
| 
 | |
| /* Cleanup. */
 | |
| 
 | |
| for (i = 0; i < reqbuf.count; i++)
 | |
| 	munmap (buffers[i].start, buffers[i].length);
 | |
|       </programlisting>
 | |
|     </example>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Conceptually streaming drivers maintain two buffer queues, an incoming
 | |
| and an outgoing queue. They separate the synchronous capture or output
 | |
| operation locked to a video clock from the application which is
 | |
| subject to random disk or network delays and preemption by
 | |
| other processes, thereby reducing the probability of data loss.
 | |
| The queues are organized as FIFOs, buffers will be
 | |
| output in the order enqueued in the incoming FIFO, and were
 | |
| captured in the order dequeued from the outgoing FIFO.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>The driver may require a minimum number of buffers enqueued
 | |
| at all times to function, apart of this no limit exists on the number
 | |
| of buffers applications can enqueue in advance, or dequeue and
 | |
| process. They can also enqueue in a different order than buffers have
 | |
| been dequeued, and the driver can <emphasis>fill</emphasis> enqueued
 | |
| <emphasis>empty</emphasis> buffers in any order. <footnote>
 | |
| 	<para>Random enqueue order permits applications processing
 | |
| images out of order (such as video codecs) to return buffers earlier,
 | |
| reducing the probability of data loss. Random fill order allows
 | |
| drivers to reuse buffers on a LIFO-basis, taking advantage of caches
 | |
| holding scatter-gather lists and the like.</para>
 | |
|       </footnote> The index number of a buffer (&v4l2-buffer;
 | |
| <structfield>index</structfield>) plays no role here, it only
 | |
| identifies the buffer.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Initially all mapped buffers are in dequeued state,
 | |
| inaccessible by the driver. For capturing applications it is customary
 | |
| to first enqueue all mapped buffers, then to start capturing and enter
 | |
| the read loop. Here the application waits until a filled buffer can be
 | |
| dequeued, and re-enqueues the buffer when the data is no longer
 | |
| needed. Output applications fill and enqueue buffers, when enough
 | |
| buffers are stacked up the output is started with
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant>. In the write loop, when
 | |
| the application runs out of free buffers, it must wait until an empty
 | |
| buffer can be dequeued and reused.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>To enqueue and dequeue a buffer applications use the
 | |
| &VIDIOC-QBUF; and &VIDIOC-DQBUF; ioctl. The status of a buffer being
 | |
| mapped, enqueued, full or empty can be determined at any time using the
 | |
| &VIDIOC-QUERYBUF; ioctl. Two methods exist to suspend execution of the
 | |
| application until one or more buffers can be dequeued. By default
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant> blocks when no buffer is in the
 | |
| outgoing queue. When the <constant>O_NONBLOCK</constant> flag was
 | |
| given to the &func-open; function, <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant>
 | |
| returns immediately with an &EAGAIN; when no buffer is available. The
 | |
| &func-select; or &func-poll; function are always available.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>To start and stop capturing or output applications call the
 | |
| &VIDIOC-STREAMON; and &VIDIOC-STREAMOFF; ioctl. Note
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMOFF</constant> removes all buffers from both
 | |
| queues as a side effect. Since there is no notion of doing anything
 | |
| "now" on a multitasking system, if an application needs to synchronize
 | |
| with another event it should examine the &v4l2-buffer;
 | |
| <structfield>timestamp</structfield> of captured buffers, or set the
 | |
| field before enqueuing buffers for output.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Drivers implementing memory mapping I/O must
 | |
| support the <constant>VIDIOC_REQBUFS</constant>,
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_QUERYBUF</constant>,
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_QBUF</constant>, <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant>,
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant> and
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMOFF</constant> ioctl, the
 | |
| <function>mmap()</function>, <function>munmap()</function>,
 | |
| <function>select()</function> and <function>poll()</function>
 | |
| function.<footnote>
 | |
| 	<para>At the driver level <function>select()</function> and
 | |
| <function>poll()</function> are the same, and
 | |
| <function>select()</function> is too important to be optional. The
 | |
| rest should be evident.</para>
 | |
|       </footnote></para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>[capture example]</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   </section>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <section id="userp">
 | |
|     <title>Streaming I/O (User Pointers)</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Input and output devices support this I/O method when the
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_CAP_STREAMING</constant> flag in the
 | |
| <structfield>capabilities</structfield> field of &v4l2-capability;
 | |
| returned by the &VIDIOC-QUERYCAP; ioctl is set. If the particular user
 | |
| pointer method (not only memory mapping) is supported must be
 | |
| determined by calling the &VIDIOC-REQBUFS; ioctl.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>This I/O method combines advantages of the read/write and
 | |
| memory mapping methods. Buffers are allocated by the application
 | |
| itself, and can reside for example in virtual or shared memory. Only
 | |
| pointers to data are exchanged, these pointers and meta-information
 | |
| are passed in &v4l2-buffer;. The driver must be switched
 | |
| into user pointer I/O mode by calling the &VIDIOC-REQBUFS; with the
 | |
| desired buffer type. No buffers are allocated beforehands,
 | |
| consequently they are not indexed and cannot be queried like mapped
 | |
| buffers with the <constant>VIDIOC_QUERYBUF</constant> ioctl.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <example>
 | |
|       <title>Initiating streaming I/O with user pointers</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <programlisting>
 | |
| &v4l2-requestbuffers; reqbuf;
 | |
| 
 | |
| memset (&reqbuf, 0, sizeof (reqbuf));
 | |
| reqbuf.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE;
 | |
| reqbuf.memory = V4L2_MEMORY_USERPTR;
 | |
| 
 | |
| if (ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-REQBUFS;, &reqbuf) == -1) {
 | |
| 	if (errno == EINVAL)
 | |
| 		printf ("Video capturing or user pointer streaming is not supported\n");
 | |
| 	else
 | |
| 		perror ("VIDIOC_REQBUFS");
 | |
| 
 | |
| 	exit (EXIT_FAILURE);
 | |
| }
 | |
|       </programlisting>
 | |
|     </example>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Buffer addresses and sizes are passed on the fly with the
 | |
| &VIDIOC-QBUF; ioctl. Although buffers are commonly cycled,
 | |
| applications can pass different addresses and sizes at each
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_QBUF</constant> call. If required by the hardware the
 | |
| driver swaps memory pages within physical memory to create a
 | |
| continuous area of memory. This happens transparently to the
 | |
| application in the virtual memory subsystem of the kernel. When buffer
 | |
| pages have been swapped out to disk they are brought back and finally
 | |
| locked in physical memory for DMA.<footnote>
 | |
| 	<para>We expect that frequently used buffers are typically not
 | |
| swapped out. Anyway, the process of swapping, locking or generating
 | |
| scatter-gather lists may be time consuming. The delay can be masked by
 | |
| the depth of the incoming buffer queue, and perhaps by maintaining
 | |
| caches assuming a buffer will be soon enqueued again. On the other
 | |
| hand, to optimize memory usage drivers can limit the number of buffers
 | |
| locked in advance and recycle the most recently used buffers first. Of
 | |
| course, the pages of empty buffers in the incoming queue need not be
 | |
| saved to disk. Output buffers must be saved on the incoming and
 | |
| outgoing queue because an application may share them with other
 | |
| processes.</para>
 | |
|       </footnote></para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Filled or displayed buffers are dequeued with the
 | |
| &VIDIOC-DQBUF; ioctl. The driver can unlock the memory pages at any
 | |
| time between the completion of the DMA and this ioctl. The memory is
 | |
| also unlocked when &VIDIOC-STREAMOFF; is called, &VIDIOC-REQBUFS;, or
 | |
| when the device is closed. Applications must take care not to free
 | |
| buffers without dequeuing. For once, the buffers remain locked until
 | |
| further, wasting physical memory. Second the driver will not be
 | |
| notified when the memory is returned to the application's free list
 | |
| and subsequently reused for other purposes, possibly completing the
 | |
| requested DMA and overwriting valuable data.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>For capturing applications it is customary to enqueue a
 | |
| number of empty buffers, to start capturing and enter the read loop.
 | |
| Here the application waits until a filled buffer can be dequeued, and
 | |
| re-enqueues the buffer when the data is no longer needed. Output
 | |
| applications fill and enqueue buffers, when enough buffers are stacked
 | |
| up output is started. In the write loop, when the application
 | |
| runs out of free buffers it must wait until an empty buffer can be
 | |
| dequeued and reused. Two methods exist to suspend execution of the
 | |
| application until one or more buffers can be dequeued. By default
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant> blocks when no buffer is in the
 | |
| outgoing queue. When the <constant>O_NONBLOCK</constant> flag was
 | |
| given to the &func-open; function, <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant>
 | |
| returns immediately with an &EAGAIN; when no buffer is available. The
 | |
| &func-select; or &func-poll; function are always available.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>To start and stop capturing or output applications call the
 | |
| &VIDIOC-STREAMON; and &VIDIOC-STREAMOFF; ioctl. Note
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMOFF</constant> removes all buffers from both
 | |
| queues and unlocks all buffers as a side effect. Since there is no
 | |
| notion of doing anything "now" on a multitasking system, if an
 | |
| application needs to synchronize with another event it should examine
 | |
| the &v4l2-buffer; <structfield>timestamp</structfield> of captured
 | |
| buffers, or set the field before enqueuing buffers for output.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Drivers implementing user pointer I/O must
 | |
| support the <constant>VIDIOC_REQBUFS</constant>,
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_QBUF</constant>, <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant>,
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMON</constant> and
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_STREAMOFF</constant> ioctl, the
 | |
| <function>select()</function> and <function>poll()</function> function.<footnote>
 | |
| 	<para>At the driver level <function>select()</function> and
 | |
| <function>poll()</function> are the same, and
 | |
| <function>select()</function> is too important to be optional. The
 | |
| rest should be evident.</para>
 | |
|       </footnote></para>
 | |
|   </section>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <section id="async">
 | |
|     <title>Asynchronous I/O</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>This method is not defined yet.</para>
 | |
|   </section>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <section id="buffer">
 | |
|     <title>Buffers</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>A buffer contains data exchanged by application and
 | |
| driver using one of the Streaming I/O methods. Only pointers to
 | |
| buffers are exchanged, the data itself is not copied. These pointers,
 | |
| together with meta-information like timestamps or field parity, are
 | |
| stored in a struct <structname>v4l2_buffer</structname>, argument to
 | |
| the &VIDIOC-QUERYBUF;, &VIDIOC-QBUF; and &VIDIOC-DQBUF; ioctl.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <para>Nominally timestamps refer to the first data byte transmitted.
 | |
| In practice however the wide range of hardware covered by the V4L2 API
 | |
| limits timestamp accuracy. Often an interrupt routine will
 | |
| sample the system clock shortly after the field or frame was stored
 | |
| completely in memory. So applications must expect a constant
 | |
| difference up to one field or frame period plus a small (few scan
 | |
| lines) random error. The delay and error can be much
 | |
| larger due to compression or transmission over an external bus when
 | |
| the frames are not properly stamped by the sender. This is frequently
 | |
| the case with USB cameras. Here timestamps refer to the instant the
 | |
| field or frame was received by the driver, not the capture time. These
 | |
| devices identify by not enumerating any video standards, see <xref
 | |
| linkend="standard" />.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <para>Similar limitations apply to output timestamps. Typically
 | |
| the video hardware locks to a clock controlling the video timing, the
 | |
| horizontal and vertical synchronization pulses. At some point in the
 | |
| line sequence, possibly the vertical blanking, an interrupt routine
 | |
| samples the system clock, compares against the timestamp and programs
 | |
| the hardware to repeat the previous field or frame, or to display the
 | |
| buffer contents.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <para>Apart of limitations of the video device and natural
 | |
| inaccuracies of all clocks, it should be noted system time itself is
 | |
| not perfectly stable. It can be affected by power saving cycles,
 | |
| warped to insert leap seconds, or even turned back or forth by the
 | |
| system administrator affecting long term measurements. <footnote>
 | |
| 	  <para>Since no other Linux multimedia
 | |
| API supports unadjusted time it would be foolish to introduce here. We
 | |
| must use a universally supported clock to synchronize different media,
 | |
| hence time of day.</para>
 | |
| 	</footnote></para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <table frame="none" pgwide="1" id="v4l2-buffer">
 | |
|       <title>struct <structname>v4l2_buffer</structname></title>
 | |
|       <tgroup cols="4">
 | |
| 	&cs-ustr;
 | |
| 	<tbody valign="top">
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>index</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Number of the buffer, set by the application. This
 | |
| field is only used for <link linkend="mmap">memory mapping</link> I/O
 | |
| and can range from zero to the number of buffers allocated
 | |
| with the &VIDIOC-REQBUFS; ioctl (&v4l2-requestbuffers; <structfield>count</structfield>) minus one.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>&v4l2-buf-type;</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>type</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Type of the buffer, same as &v4l2-format;
 | |
| <structfield>type</structfield> or &v4l2-requestbuffers;
 | |
| <structfield>type</structfield>, set by the application.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>bytesused</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>The number of bytes occupied by the data in the
 | |
| buffer. It depends on the negotiated data format and may change with
 | |
| each buffer for compressed variable size data like JPEG images.
 | |
| Drivers must set this field when <structfield>type</structfield>
 | |
| refers to an input stream, applications when an output stream.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>flags</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Flags set by the application or driver, see <xref
 | |
| linkend="buffer-flags" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>&v4l2-field;</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>field</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Indicates the field order of the image in the
 | |
| buffer, see <xref linkend="v4l2-field" />. This field is not used when
 | |
| the buffer contains VBI data. Drivers must set it when
 | |
| <structfield>type</structfield> refers to an input stream,
 | |
| applications when an output stream.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>struct timeval</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>timestamp</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><para>For input streams this is the
 | |
| system time (as returned by the <function>gettimeofday()</function>
 | |
| function) when the first data byte was captured. For output streams
 | |
| the data will not be displayed before this time, secondary to the
 | |
| nominal frame rate determined by the current video standard in
 | |
| enqueued order. Applications can for example zero this field to
 | |
| display frames as soon as possible. The driver stores the time at
 | |
| which the first data byte was actually sent out in the
 | |
| <structfield>timestamp</structfield> field. This permits
 | |
| applications to monitor the drift between the video and system
 | |
| clock.</para></entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>&v4l2-timecode;</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>timecode</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>When <structfield>type</structfield> is
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE</constant> and the
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_TIMECODE</constant> flag is set in
 | |
| <structfield>flags</structfield>, this structure contains a frame
 | |
| timecode. In <link linkend="v4l2-field">V4L2_FIELD_ALTERNATE</link>
 | |
| mode the top and bottom field contain the same timecode.
 | |
| Timecodes are intended to help video editing and are typically recorded on
 | |
| video tapes, but also embedded in compressed formats like MPEG. This
 | |
| field is independent of the <structfield>timestamp</structfield> and
 | |
| <structfield>sequence</structfield> fields.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>sequence</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Set by the driver, counting the frames in the
 | |
| sequence.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry spanname="hspan"><para>In <link
 | |
| linkend="v4l2-field">V4L2_FIELD_ALTERNATE</link> mode the top and
 | |
| bottom field have the same sequence number. The count starts at zero
 | |
| and includes dropped or repeated frames. A dropped frame was received
 | |
| by an input device but could not be stored due to lack of free buffer
 | |
| space. A repeated frame was displayed again by an output device
 | |
| because the application did not pass new data in
 | |
| time.</para><para>Note this may count the frames received
 | |
| e.g. over USB, without taking into account the frames dropped by the
 | |
| remote hardware due to limited compression throughput or bus
 | |
| bandwidth. These devices identify by not enumerating any video
 | |
| standards, see <xref linkend="standard" />.</para></entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>&v4l2-memory;</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>memory</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>This field must be set by applications and/or drivers
 | |
| in accordance with the selected I/O method.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>union</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>m</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>offset</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>When <structfield>memory</structfield> is
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_MEMORY_MMAP</constant> this is the offset of the buffer
 | |
| from the start of the device memory. The value is returned by the
 | |
| driver and apart of serving as parameter to the &func-mmap; function
 | |
| not useful for applications. See <xref linkend="mmap" /> for details.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>unsigned long</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>userptr</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>When <structfield>memory</structfield> is
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_MEMORY_USERPTR</constant> this is a pointer to the
 | |
| buffer (casted to unsigned long type) in virtual memory, set by the
 | |
| application. See <xref linkend="userp" /> for details.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>length</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Size of the buffer (not the payload) in bytes.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>input</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Some video capture drivers support rapid and
 | |
| synchronous video input changes, a function useful for example in
 | |
| video surveillance applications. For this purpose applications set the
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_INPUT</constant> flag, and this field to the
 | |
| number of a video input as in &v4l2-input; field
 | |
| <structfield>index</structfield>.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry><structfield>reserved</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>A place holder for future extensions and custom
 | |
| (driver defined) buffer types
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_PRIVATE</constant> and higher. Applications
 | |
| should set this to 0.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	</tbody>
 | |
|       </tgroup>
 | |
|     </table>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <table frame="none" pgwide="1" id="v4l2-buf-type">
 | |
|       <title>enum v4l2_buf_type</title>
 | |
|       <tgroup cols="3">
 | |
| 	&cs-def;
 | |
| 	<tbody valign="top">
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>1</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Buffer of a video capture stream, see <xref
 | |
| 		linkend="capture" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_OUTPUT</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>2</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Buffer of a video output stream, see <xref
 | |
| 		linkend="output" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_OVERLAY</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>3</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Buffer for video overlay, see <xref linkend="overlay" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VBI_CAPTURE</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>4</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Buffer of a raw VBI capture stream, see <xref
 | |
| 		linkend="raw-vbi" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VBI_OUTPUT</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>5</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Buffer of a raw VBI output stream, see <xref
 | |
| 		linkend="raw-vbi" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_SLICED_VBI_CAPTURE</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>6</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Buffer of a sliced VBI capture stream, see <xref
 | |
| 		linkend="sliced" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_SLICED_VBI_OUTPUT</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>7</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Buffer of a sliced VBI output stream, see <xref
 | |
| 		linkend="sliced" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_OUTPUT_OVERLAY</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>8</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Buffer for video output overlay (OSD), see <xref
 | |
| 		linkend="osd" />. Status: <link
 | |
| linkend="experimental">Experimental</link>.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_PRIVATE</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0x80</entry>
 | |
| 	  <entry>This and higher values are reserved for custom
 | |
| (driver defined) buffer types.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	</tbody>
 | |
|       </tgroup>
 | |
|     </table>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <table frame="none" pgwide="1" id="buffer-flags">
 | |
|       <title>Buffer Flags</title>
 | |
|       <tgroup cols="3">
 | |
| 	&cs-def;
 | |
| 	<tbody valign="top">
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_MAPPED</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0x0001</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>The buffer resides in device memory and has been mapped
 | |
| into the application's address space, see <xref linkend="mmap" /> for details.
 | |
| Drivers set or clear this flag when the
 | |
| <link linkend="vidioc-querybuf">VIDIOC_QUERYBUF</link>, <link
 | |
| 	  linkend="vidioc-qbuf">VIDIOC_QBUF</link> or <link
 | |
| 	  linkend="vidioc-qbuf">VIDIOC_DQBUF</link> ioctl is called. Set by the driver.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_QUEUED</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0x0002</entry>
 | |
| 	  <entry>Internally drivers maintain two buffer queues, an
 | |
| incoming and outgoing queue. When this flag is set, the buffer is
 | |
| currently on the incoming queue. It automatically moves to the
 | |
| outgoing queue after the buffer has been filled (capture devices) or
 | |
| displayed (output devices). Drivers set or clear this flag when the
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_QUERYBUF</constant> ioctl is called. After
 | |
| (successful) calling the <constant>VIDIOC_QBUF </constant>ioctl it is
 | |
| always set and after <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant> always
 | |
| cleared.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_DONE</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0x0004</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>When this flag is set, the buffer is currently on
 | |
| the outgoing queue, ready to be dequeued from the driver. Drivers set
 | |
| or clear this flag when the <constant>VIDIOC_QUERYBUF</constant> ioctl
 | |
| is called. After calling the <constant>VIDIOC_QBUF</constant> or
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant> it is always cleared. Of course a
 | |
| buffer cannot be on both queues at the same time, the
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_QUEUED</constant> and
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_DONE</constant> flag are mutually exclusive.
 | |
| They can be both cleared however, then the buffer is in "dequeued"
 | |
| state, in the application domain to say so.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_KEYFRAME</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0x0008</entry>
 | |
| 	  <entry>Drivers set or clear this flag when calling the
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant> ioctl. It may be set by video
 | |
| capture devices when the buffer contains a compressed image which is a
 | |
| key frame (or field), &ie; can be decompressed on its own.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_PFRAME</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0x0010</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Similar to <constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_KEYFRAME</constant>
 | |
| this flags predicted frames or fields which contain only differences to a
 | |
| previous key frame.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_BFRAME</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0x0020</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Similar to <constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_PFRAME</constant>
 | |
| 	this is a bidirectional predicted frame or field. [ooc tbd]</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_TIMECODE</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0x0100</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>The <structfield>timecode</structfield> field is valid.
 | |
| Drivers set or clear this flag when the <constant>VIDIOC_DQBUF</constant>
 | |
| ioctl is called.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_BUF_FLAG_INPUT</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0x0200</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>The <structfield>input</structfield> field is valid.
 | |
| Applications set or clear this flag before calling the
 | |
| <constant>VIDIOC_QBUF</constant> ioctl.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	</tbody>
 | |
|       </tgroup>
 | |
|     </table>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <table pgwide="1" frame="none" id="v4l2-memory">
 | |
|       <title>enum v4l2_memory</title>
 | |
|       <tgroup cols="3">
 | |
| 	&cs-def;
 | |
| 	<tbody valign="top">
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_MEMORY_MMAP</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>1</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>The buffer is used for <link linkend="mmap">memory
 | |
| mapping</link> I/O.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_MEMORY_USERPTR</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>2</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>The buffer is used for <link linkend="userp">user
 | |
| pointer</link> I/O.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_MEMORY_OVERLAY</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>3</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>[to do]</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	</tbody>
 | |
|       </tgroup>
 | |
|     </table>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <section>
 | |
|       <title>Timecodes</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <para>The <structname>v4l2_timecode</structname> structure is
 | |
| designed to hold a <xref linkend="smpte12m" /> or similar timecode.
 | |
| (struct <structname>timeval</structname> timestamps are stored in
 | |
| &v4l2-buffer; field <structfield>timestamp</structfield>.)</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <table frame="none" pgwide="1" id="v4l2-timecode">
 | |
| 	<title>struct <structname>v4l2_timecode</structname></title>
 | |
| 	<tgroup cols="3">
 | |
| 	  &cs-str;
 | |
| 	  <tbody valign="top">
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry><structfield>type</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>Frame rate the timecodes are based on, see <xref
 | |
| 		  linkend="timecode-type" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry>__u32</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry><structfield>flags</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>Timecode flags, see <xref linkend="timecode-flags" />.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry>__u8</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry><structfield>frames</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>Frame count, 0 ... 23/24/29/49/59, depending on the
 | |
| 	    type of timecode.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry>__u8</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry><structfield>seconds</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>Seconds count, 0 ... 59. This is a binary, not BCD number.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry>__u8</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry><structfield>minutes</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>Minutes count, 0 ... 59. This is a binary, not BCD number.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry>__u8</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry><structfield>hours</structfield></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>Hours count, 0 ... 29. This is a binary, not BCD number.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry>__u8</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry><structfield>userbits</structfield>[4]</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>The "user group" bits from the timecode.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	  </tbody>
 | |
| 	</tgroup>
 | |
|       </table>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <table frame="none" pgwide="1" id="timecode-type">
 | |
| 	<title>Timecode Types</title>
 | |
| 	<tgroup cols="3">
 | |
| 	&cs-def;
 | |
| 	  <tbody valign="top">
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_TYPE_24FPS</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>1</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>24 frames per second, i. e. film.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_TYPE_25FPS</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>2</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>25 frames per second, &ie; PAL or SECAM video.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_TYPE_30FPS</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>3</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>30 frames per second, &ie; NTSC video.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_TYPE_50FPS</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>4</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_TYPE_60FPS</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>5</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry></entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	  </tbody>
 | |
| 	</tgroup>
 | |
|       </table>
 | |
| 
 | |
|       <table frame="none" pgwide="1" id="timecode-flags">
 | |
| 	<title>Timecode Flags</title>
 | |
| 	<tgroup cols="3">
 | |
| 	&cs-def;
 | |
| 	  <tbody valign="top">
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_FLAG_DROPFRAME</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>0x0001</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>Indicates "drop frame" semantics for counting frames
 | |
| in 29.97 fps material. When set, frame numbers 0 and 1 at the start of
 | |
| each minute, except minutes 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 are omitted from the
 | |
| count.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_FLAG_COLORFRAME</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>0x0002</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>The "color frame" flag.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_USERBITS_field</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>0x000C</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>Field mask for the "binary group flags".</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_USERBITS_USERDEFINED</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>0x0000</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>Unspecified format.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	    <row>
 | |
| 	      <entry><constant>V4L2_TC_USERBITS_8BITCHARS</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>0x0008</entry>
 | |
| 	      <entry>8-bit ISO characters.</entry>
 | |
| 	    </row>
 | |
| 	  </tbody>
 | |
| 	</tgroup>
 | |
|       </table>
 | |
|     </section>
 | |
|   </section>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <section id="field-order">
 | |
|     <title>Field Order</title>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>We have to distinguish between progressive and interlaced
 | |
| video. Progressive video transmits all lines of a video image
 | |
| sequentially. Interlaced video divides an image into two fields,
 | |
| containing only the odd and even lines of the image, respectively.
 | |
| Alternating the so called odd and even field are transmitted, and due
 | |
| to a small delay between fields a cathode ray TV displays the lines
 | |
| interleaved, yielding the original frame. This curious technique was
 | |
| invented because at refresh rates similar to film the image would
 | |
| fade out too quickly. Transmitting fields reduces the flicker without
 | |
| the necessity of doubling the frame rate and with it the bandwidth
 | |
| required for each channel.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>It is important to understand a video camera does not expose
 | |
| one frame at a time, merely transmitting the frames separated into
 | |
| fields. The fields are in fact captured at two different instances in
 | |
| time. An object on screen may well move between one field and the
 | |
| next. For applications analysing motion it is of paramount importance
 | |
| to recognize which field of a frame is older, the <emphasis>temporal
 | |
| order</emphasis>.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>When the driver provides or accepts images field by field
 | |
| rather than interleaved, it is also important applications understand
 | |
| how the fields combine to frames. We distinguish between top and
 | |
| bottom fields, the <emphasis>spatial order</emphasis>: The first line
 | |
| of the top field is the first line of an interlaced frame, the first
 | |
| line of the bottom field is the second line of that frame.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>However because fields were captured one after the other,
 | |
| arguing whether a frame commences with the top or bottom field is
 | |
| pointless. Any two successive top and bottom, or bottom and top fields
 | |
| yield a valid frame. Only when the source was progressive to begin
 | |
| with, ⪚ when transferring film to video, two fields may come from
 | |
| the same frame, creating a natural order.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>Counter to intuition the top field is not necessarily the
 | |
| older field. Whether the older field contains the top or bottom lines
 | |
| is a convention determined by the video standard. Hence the
 | |
| distinction between temporal and spatial order of fields. The diagrams
 | |
| below should make this clearer.</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <para>All video capture and output devices must report the current
 | |
| field order. Some drivers may permit the selection of a different
 | |
| order, to this end applications initialize the
 | |
| <structfield>field</structfield> field of &v4l2-pix-format; before
 | |
| calling the &VIDIOC-S-FMT; ioctl. If this is not desired it should
 | |
| have the value <constant>V4L2_FIELD_ANY</constant> (0).</para>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <table frame="none" pgwide="1" id="v4l2-field">
 | |
|       <title>enum v4l2_field</title>
 | |
|       <tgroup cols="3">
 | |
| 	&cs-def;
 | |
| 	<tbody valign="top">
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_ANY</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>0</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Applications request this field order when any
 | |
| one of the <constant>V4L2_FIELD_NONE</constant>,
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_FIELD_TOP</constant>,
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_FIELD_BOTTOM</constant>, or
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_FIELD_INTERLACED</constant> formats is acceptable.
 | |
| Drivers choose depending on hardware capabilities or e. g. the
 | |
| requested image size, and return the actual field order. &v4l2-buffer;
 | |
| <structfield>field</structfield> can never be
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_FIELD_ANY</constant>.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_NONE</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>1</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Images are in progressive format, not interlaced.
 | |
| The driver may also indicate this order when it cannot distinguish
 | |
| between <constant>V4L2_FIELD_TOP</constant> and
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_FIELD_BOTTOM</constant>.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_TOP</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>2</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Images consist of the top field only.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_BOTTOM</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>3</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Images consist of the bottom field only.
 | |
| Applications may wish to prevent a device from capturing interlaced
 | |
| images because they will have "comb" or "feathering" artefacts around
 | |
| moving objects.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_INTERLACED</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>4</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Images contain both fields, interleaved line by
 | |
| line. The temporal order of the fields (whether the top or bottom
 | |
| field is first transmitted) depends on the current video standard.
 | |
| M/NTSC transmits the bottom field first, all other standards the top
 | |
| field first.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_SEQ_TB</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>5</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Images contain both fields, the top field lines
 | |
| are stored first in memory, immediately followed by the bottom field
 | |
| lines. Fields are always stored in temporal order, the older one first
 | |
| in memory. Image sizes refer to the frame, not fields.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_SEQ_BT</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>6</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Images contain both fields, the bottom field
 | |
| lines are stored first in memory, immediately followed by the top
 | |
| field lines. Fields are always stored in temporal order, the older one
 | |
| first in memory. Image sizes refer to the frame, not fields.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_ALTERNATE</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>7</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>The two fields of a frame are passed in separate
 | |
| buffers, in temporal order, &ie; the older one first. To indicate the field
 | |
| parity (whether the current field is a top or bottom field) the driver
 | |
| or application, depending on data direction, must set &v4l2-buffer;
 | |
| <structfield>field</structfield> to
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_FIELD_TOP</constant> or
 | |
| <constant>V4L2_FIELD_BOTTOM</constant>. Any two successive fields pair
 | |
| to build a frame. If fields are successive, without any dropped fields
 | |
| between them (fields can drop individually), can be determined from
 | |
| the &v4l2-buffer; <structfield>sequence</structfield> field. Image
 | |
| sizes refer to the frame, not fields. This format cannot be selected
 | |
| when using the read/write I/O method.<!-- Where it's indistinguishable
 | |
| from V4L2_FIELD_SEQ_*. --></entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_INTERLACED_TB</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>8</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Images contain both fields, interleaved line by
 | |
| line, top field first. The top field is transmitted first.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	  <row>
 | |
| 	    <entry><constant>V4L2_FIELD_INTERLACED_BT</constant></entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>9</entry>
 | |
| 	    <entry>Images contain both fields, interleaved line by
 | |
| line, top field first. The bottom field is transmitted first.</entry>
 | |
| 	  </row>
 | |
| 	</tbody>
 | |
|       </tgroup>
 | |
|     </table>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <figure id="fieldseq-tb">
 | |
| 	<title>Field Order, Top Field First Transmitted</title>
 | |
| 	<mediaobject>
 | |
| 	  <imageobject>
 | |
| 	    <imagedata fileref="fieldseq_tb.pdf" format="PS" />
 | |
| 	  </imageobject>
 | |
| 	  <imageobject>
 | |
| 	    <imagedata fileref="fieldseq_tb.gif" format="GIF" />
 | |
| 	  </imageobject>
 | |
| 	</mediaobject>
 | |
|     </figure>
 | |
| 
 | |
|     <figure id="fieldseq-bt">
 | |
| 	<title>Field Order, Bottom Field First Transmitted</title>
 | |
| 	<mediaobject>
 | |
| 	  <imageobject>
 | |
| 	    <imagedata fileref="fieldseq_bt.pdf" format="PS" />
 | |
| 	  </imageobject>
 | |
| 	  <imageobject>
 | |
| 	    <imagedata fileref="fieldseq_bt.gif" format="GIF" />
 | |
| 	  </imageobject>
 | |
| 	</mediaobject>
 | |
|     </figure>
 | |
|   </section>
 | |
| 
 | |
|   <!--
 | |
| Local Variables:
 | |
| mode: sgml
 | |
| sgml-parent-document: "v4l2.sgml"
 | |
| indent-tabs-mode: nil
 | |
| End:
 | |
|   -->
 |