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authorAndrew Chew <achew@nvidia.com>2012-08-06 14:43:09 -0700
committerSimone Willett <swillett@nvidia.com>2012-10-24 17:15:38 -0700
commit7dd02775470d2b243f96b7d1f4e8b9c4e3b3ada6 (patch)
tree459b9b26f5e6d1cdae2e8d517abf66b00380328c /Documentation
parent5a9bfd588b755f354ae21471a3a2a3e559ca6fae (diff)
media: tegra: Add docs for Tegra V4L2 camera
This readme describes theory of operations of the Tegra camera host driver. Signed-off-by: Andrew Chew <achew@nvidia.com> Change-Id: I9e6f761cd60f5b8a537174290df21fb85f016dca Reviewed-on: http://git-master/r/145347 Reviewed-by: Automatic_Commit_Validation_User GVS: Gerrit_Virtual_Submit Reviewed-by: Allen Martin <amartin@nvidia.com>
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+Theory of Operations
+====================
+
+There are three separate drivers within the V4L2 framework that are interesting
+to Tegra-based platforms. They are as follows:
+
+Image Sensor driver
+===================
+This driver communicates only with the image sensor hardware (typically via
+I2C transactions), and is intentionally PLATFORM-AGNOSTIC. Existing image
+sensor drivers can be found in drivers/media/video. For example, the ov9740
+driver communicates with the Omnivision OV9740 image sensor with built-in ISP.
+
+Some of the things that this driver is responsible for are:
+
+Setting up the proper output format of the image sensor,
+
+Setting up image output extents
+
+Setting up capture and crop regions
+
+Camera Host driver
+==================
+This driver communicates only with the camera controller on a given platform,
+and is intentionally IMAGE-SENSOR-AGNOSTIC. Existing camera host drivers
+can be found in drivers/media/video, of which tegra_v4l2_camera.c is the
+example that is interesting to us. This camera host driver knows how to
+program the CSI/VI block on Tegra2 and Tegra3 platforms.
+
+Some of the things that this driver is responsible for are:
+
+Setting up the proper input format (image frame data flowing from the image
+sensor to the camera host),
+
+Setting up the proper output format (image frame data flowing from the
+camera host to system memory),
+
+Programming the DMA destination to receive the image frame data,
+
+Starting and stopping the reception of image frame data.
+
+Videobuf driver
+===============
+This driver is responsible for the allocation and deallocation of buffers that
+are used to hold image frame data. Different camera hosts have different
+DMA requirements, which makes it necessary to allow for different methods of
+buffer allocation. For example, the Tegra2 and Tegra3 camera host cannot
+DMA via a scatter-gather list, so the image frame buffers must be physically
+contiguous. The videobuf-dma-contig.c videobuf driver can be found in
+drivers/media/video, and contains a videobuf implementation that allocates
+physically contiguous regions. One can also have a videobuf driver that
+uses a different allocator like nvmap.
+
+The nvhost driver and Syncpts
+=============================
+
+The camera host driver (tegra_v4l2_camera) has a dependency on the nvhost
+driver/subsystem in order to make use of syncpts. In other words, the camera
+host driver is a client of nvhost.
+
+A syncpt is essentially an incrementing hardware counter that triggers an
+interrupt when a certain number (or threshold) is reached. The interrupt,
+however, is hidden from clients of nvhost. Instead, asynchronous completion
+notification is done via calling an nvhost routine that goes to sleep, and
+wakes up upon completion.
+
+Tegra has a number of syncpts that serve various purposes. The two syncpts
+that are used by the camera host driver are the VI and CSI syncpts. Other
+syncpts are used in display, etc.
+
+A syncpt increments when a certain hardware condition is met.
+
+The public operations available for a syncpt are:
+
+nvhost_syncpt_read_ext(syncpt_id) - Read the current syncpt counter value.
+nvhost_syncpt_wait_timeout_ext(syncpt_id, threshold, timeout) - Go to sleep
+ until the syncpt value reaches the threshold, or until the timeout
+ expires.
+nvhost_syncpt_cpu_incr_ext(syncpt_id) - Manually increment a syncpt.
+
+Syncpts are used in the camera host driver in order to signify the completion
+of an operation. The typical usage case can be illustrated by summarizing
+the steps that the camera host driver takes in capturing a single frame
+(this is called one-shot mode, where we program up each frame transfer
+separately):
+
+0) At the very start, read the current syncpt values and remember them. See
+ tegra_camera_activate() -> tegra_camera_save_syncpts(), where we read
+ the current values and store them in pcdev->syncpt_csi and pcdev->syncpt_vi.
+
+1) Program the camera host registers to prepare to receive frames from the
+ image sensor using the proper input format. Note that we are at this
+ point NOT telling the camera host to DMA a frame. That comes later. See
+ tegra_camera_capture_setup(), where we do a whole bunch of magical
+ register writes depending on our input format, output format, image extents,
+ etc.
+
+2) Increment our remembered copies of the current syncpt values according to
+ how many syncpt increments we are expecting for the given operation we
+ want to perform. For capturing a single frame, we are expecting a single
+ increment on the CSI syncpt when the reception of the frame is complete, and
+ a single increment on the VI syncpt when the DMA of the frame is complete.
+ See tegra_camera_capture_start(), where we increment pcdev->syncpt_csi
+ and pcdev->syncpt_vi.
+
+3) Program the DMA destination registers, and toggle the bit in
+ TEGRA_CSI_PIXEL_STREAM_PPA_COMMAND to do the DMA on the next available
+ frame. See tegra_camera_capture_start() for this.
+
+4) Call nvhost_syncpt_wait_timeout_ext() to wait on the CSI syncpt threshold.
+ Remember that we incremented our local syncpt values in step 2. Those
+ new values become the threshold to wait for. See
+ tegra_camera_capture_start().
+
+5) When the frame finishes its transfer from the image sensor to the camera
+ host, the CSI syncpt hardware counter will be incremented by hardware.
+ Since the hardware syncpt value will now match the threshold, our call to
+ nvhost_syncpt_wait_timeout_ext() in step 4 wakes up.
+
+6) We now tell the camera host to get ready for the DMA to complete. We do
+ this by writing again to TEGRA_CSI_PIXEL_STREAM_PPA_COMMAND. See
+ tegra_camera_capture_stop().
+
+7) When the camera host finishes its DMA, we expect the hardware to increment
+ the VI syncpt. Therefore, we call nvhost_syncpt_wait_timeout_ext() on
+ the VI syncpt with our new threshold that we got by the incrementing in
+ step 2. See tegra_camera_capture_stop().
+
+8) When the camera host finally finishes its DMA, the VI syncpt hardware
+ counter increments. Since our VI syncpt threshold is met, the call to
+ nvhost_syncpt_wait_timeout_ext() wakes up, and we are done. See
+ tegra_camera_capture_stop().
+
+9) To capture the next frame, go back to step 2. The tegra_v4l2_camera driver
+ calls tegra_camera_capture_setup at the beginning, and then a worker thread
+ repeatedly calls tegra_camera_capture_start() and
+ tegra_camera_capture_stop(). See tegra_camera_work() ->
+ tegra_camera_capture_frame().
+
+Note for VIP: Only a single syncpt is used for the VIP path. We use the
+continuous VIP VSYNC syncpt to determine the completion of a frame transfer.
+In addition, to start and finish the capture of a frame, the
+VI_CAMERA_CONTROL register is used. See tegra_camera_capture_start() and
+tegra_camera_capture_stop() to see how that register is used for the VIP path.
+Essentially, steps 4, 5, and 6 are eliminated, and instead of writing to
+TEGRA_CSI_PIXEL_STREAM_PPA_COMMAND or TEGRA_CSI_PIXEL_STREAM_PPB_COMMAND,
+we write to VI_CAMERA_CONTROL to achieve the same purpose for VIP.
+
+VIP versus CSI
+==============
+VI_VI_CORE_CONTROL bits 26:24 (INPUT_TO_CORE_EXT) should be set to 0
+(use INPUT_TO_CORE).
+
+VI_VI_INPUT_CONTROL bit 1 (VIP_INPUT_ENABLE) should be set to 1 (ENABLED),
+bit 26:25 (SYNC_FORMAT) should be set to 1 (ITU656), and bit 27 (FIELD_DETECT)
+should be set to 1 (ENABLED).
+
+VI_H_DOWNSCALE_CONTROL bit 0 (INPUT_H_SIZE_SEL) should be set to 0 (VIP),
+and bits 3:2 (INPUT_H_SIZE_SEL_EXT) should be set to 0 (USE INPUT_H_SIZE_SEL).
+
+Rather than placing the image width and height into VI_CSI_PPA_H_ACTIVE and
+VI_CSI_PPA_V_ACTIVE, respectively (or the CSI B counterparts), use
+VI_VIP_H_ACTIVE and VI_VIP_V_ACTIVE bits 31:16. Bits 15:0 of VI_VIP_H_ACTIVE
+and VI_VIP_V_ACTIVE are the number of clock cycles to wait after receiving
+HSYNC or VSYNC before starting. This can be used to adjust the vertical and
+horizontal back porches.
+
+VI_PIN_INPUT_ENABLE should be set to 0x00006fff, which enables input pins
+VHS, VVS, and VD11..VD0.
+
+VI_PIN_INVERSION bits 1 and 2 can be used to invert input pins VHS and VVS,
+respectively.
+
+VI_CONT_SYNCPT_VIP_VSYNC bit 8 (enable VIP_VSYNC) should be set to 1, and
+bits 7:0 should hold the index of the syncpt to be used. When this syncpt
+is enabled, the syncpt specified by the index will increment by 1 every
+time a VSYNC occurs. We use this syncpt to signal frame completion.
+
+VI_CAMERA_CONTROL bit 0 should be set to 1 to start capturing. Writing a 0
+to this bit is ignored, so to stop capturing, write 1 to bit 2.