SN9C1xx PC Camera Controllers
Driver for Linux
=============================
- Documentation -
Index
=====
1. Copyright
2. Disclaimer
3. License
4. Overview and features
5. Module dependencies
6. Module loading
7. Module parameters
8. Optional device control through "sysfs"
9. Supported devices
10. Notes for V4L2 application developers
11. Video frame formats
12. Contact information
13. Credits
1. Copyright
============
Copyright (C) 2004-2007 by Luca Risolia <luca.risolia@studio.unibo.it>
2. Disclaimer
=============
SONiX is a trademark of SONiX Technology Company Limited, inc.
This software is not sponsored or developed by SONiX.
3. License
==========
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
4. Overview and features
========================
This driver attempts to support the video interface of the devices assembling
the SONiX SN9C101, SN9C102, SN9C103, SN9C105 and SN9C120 PC Camera Controllers
("SN9C1xx" from now on).
The driver relies on the Video4Linux2 and USB core modules. It has been
designed to run properly on SMP systems as well.
The latest version of the SN9C1xx driver can be found at the following URL:
http://www.linux-projects.org/
Some of the features of the driver are:
- full compliance with the Video4Linux2 API (see also "Notes for V4L2
application developers" paragraph);
- available mmap or read/poll methods for video streaming through isochronous
data transfers;
- automatic detection of image sensor;
- support for built-in microphone interface;
- support for any window resolutions and optional panning within the maximum
pixel area of image sensor;
- image downscaling with arbitrary scaling factors from 1, 2 and 4 in both
directions (see "Notes for V4L2 application developers" paragraph);
- two different video formats for uncompressed or compressed data in low or
high compression quality (see also "Notes for V4L2 application developers"
and "Video frame formats" paragraphs);
- full support for the capabilities of many of the possible image sensors that
can be connected to the SN9C1xx bridges, including, for instance, red, green,
blue and global gain adjustments and exposure (see "Supported devices"
paragraph for details);
- use of default color settings for sunlight conditions;
- dynamic I/O interface for both SN9C1xx and image sensor control and
monitoring (see "Optional device control through 'sysfs'" paragraph);
- dynamic driver control thanks to various module parameters (see "Module
parameters" paragraph);
- up to 64 cameras can be handled at the same time; they can be connected and
disconnected from the host many times without turning off the computer, if
the system supports hotplugging;
- no known bugs.
5. Module dependencies
======================
For it to work properly, the driver needs kernel support for Video4Linux and
USB.
The following options of the kernel configuration file must be enabled and
corresponding modules must be compiled:
# Multimedia devices
#
CONFIG_VIDEO_DEV=m
To enable advanced debugging functionality on the device through /sysfs:
# Multimedia devices
#
CONFIG_VIDEO_ADV_DEBUG=y
# USB support
#
CONFIG_USB=m
In addition, depending on the hardware being used, the modules below are
necessary:
# USB Host Controller Drivers
#
CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD=m
CONFIG_USB_UHCI_HCD=m
CONFIG_USB_OHCI_HCD=m
The SN9C103, SN9c105 and SN9C120 controllers also provide a built-in microphone
interface. It is supported by the USB Audio driver thanks to the ALSA API:
# Sound
#
CONFIG_SOUND=y
# Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
#
CONFIG_SND=m
# USB devices
#
CONFIG_SND_USB_AUDIO=m
And finally:
# USB Multimedia devices
#
CONFIG_USB_SN9C102=m
6. Module loading
=================
To use the driver, it is necessary to load the "sn9c102" module into memory
after every other module required: "videodev", "v4l2_common", "compat_ioctl32",
"usbcore" and, depending on the USB host controller you have, "ehci-hcd",
"uhci-hcd" or "ohci-hcd".
Loading can be done as shown below:
[root@localhost home]# modprobe sn9c102
Note that the module is called "sn9c102" for historic reasons, althought it
does not just support the SN9C102.
At this point all the devices supported by the driver and connected to the USB
ports should be recognized. You can invoke "dmesg" to analyze kernel messages
and verify that the loading process has gone well:
[user@localhost home]$ dmesg
or, to isolate all the kernel messages generated by the driver:
[user@localhost home]$ dmesg | grep sn9c102
7. Module parameters
====================
Module parameters are listed below:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: video_nr
Type: short array (min = 0, max = 64)
Syntax: <-1|n[,...]>
Description: Specify V4L2 minor mode number:
-1 = use next available
n = use minor number n
You can specify up to 64 cameras this way.
For example:
video_nr=-1,2,-1 would assign minor number 2 to the second
recognized camera and use auto for the first one and for every
other camera.
Default: -1
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: force_munmap
Type: bool array (min = 0, max = 64)
Syntax: <0|1[,...]>
Description: Force the application to unmap previously mapped buffer memory
before calling any VIDIOC_S_CROP or VIDIOC_S_FMT ioctl's. Not
all the applications support this feature. This parameter is
specific for each detected camera.
0 = do not force memory unmapping
1 = force memory unmapping (save memory)
Default: 0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: frame_timeout
Type: uint array (min = 0, max = 64)
Syntax: <0|n[,...]>
Description: Timeout for a video frame in seconds before returning an I/O
error; 0 for infinity. This parameter is specific for each
detected camera and can be changed at runtime thanks to the
/sys filesystem interface.
Default: 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name: debug
Type: ushort
Syntax: <n>
Description: Debugging information level, from 0 to 3:
0 = none (use carefully)
1 = critical errors
2 = significant informations
3 = more verbose messages
Level 3 is useful for testing only. It also shows some more
informations about the hardware being detected.
This parameter can be changed at runtime thanks to the /sys
filesystem interface.
Default: 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Optional device control through "sysfs" [1]
==========================================
If the kernel has been compiled with the CONFIG_VIDEO_ADV_DEBUG option enabled,
it is possible to read and write both the SN9C1xx and the image sensor
registers by using the "sysfs" filesystem interface.
Every time a supported device is recognized, a write-only file named "green" is
created in the /sys/class/video4linux/videoX directory. You can set the green
channel's gain by writing the desired value to it. The value may range from 0
to 15 for the SN9C101 or SN9C102 bridges, from 0 to 127 for the SN9C103,
SN9C105 and SN9C120 bridges.
Similarly, only for the SN9C103, SN9C105 and SN9C120 controllers, blue and red
gain control files are available in the same directory, for which accepted
values may range from 0 to 127.
There are other four entries in the directory above for each registered camera:
"reg", "val", "i2c_reg" and "i2c_val". The first two files control the
SN9C1xx bridge, while the other two control the sensor chip. "reg" and
"i2c_reg" hold the values of the current register index where the following
reading/writing operations are addressed at through "val" and "i2c_val". Their
use is not intended for end-users. Note that "i2c_reg" and "i2c_val" will not
be created if the sensor does not actually support the standard I2C protocol or
its registers are not 8-bit long. Also, remember that you must be logged in as
root before writing to them.
As an example, suppose we were to want to read the value contained in the
register number 1 of the sensor register table - which is usually the product
identifier - of the camera registered as "/dev/video0":
[root@localhost #] cd /sys/class/video4linux/video0
[root@localhost #] echo 1 > i2c_reg
[root@localhost #] cat i2c_val
Note that "cat" will fail if sensor registers cannot be read.
Now let's set the green gain's register of the SN9C101 or SN9C102 chips to 2:
[root@localhost #] echo 0x11 > reg
[root@localhost #] echo 2 > val
Note that the SN9C1xx always returns 0 when some of its registers are read.
To avoid race conditions, all the I/O accesses to the above files are
serialized.
The sysfs interface also provides the "frame_header" entry, which exports the
frame header of the most recent requested and captured video frame. The header
is always 18-bytes long and is appended to every video frame by the SN9C1xx
controllers. As an example, this additional information can be used by the user
application for implementing auto-exposure features via software.
The following table describes the frame header exported by the SN9C101 and
SN9C102:
Byte # Value or bits Description
------ ------------- -----------
0x00 0xFF Frame synchronisation pattern
0x01 0xFF Frame synchronisation pattern
0x02 0x00 Frame synchronisation pattern
0x03 0xC4 Frame synchronisation pattern
0x04 0xC4 Frame synchronisation pattern
0x05 0x96 Frame synchronisation pattern
0x06 [3:0] Read channel gain control = (1+R_GAIN/8)
[7:4] Blue channel gain control = (1+B_GAIN/8)
0x07 [ 0 ] Compression mode. 0=No compression, 1=Compression enabled
[2:1] Maximum scale factor for compression
[ 3 ] 1 = USB fifo(2K bytes) is full
[ 4 ] 1 = Digital gain is finish
[ 5 ] 1 = Exposure is finish
[7:6] Frame index
0x08 [7:0] Y sum inside Auto-Exposure area (low-byte)
0x09 [7:0] Y sum inside Auto-Exposure area (high-byte)
where Y sum = (R/4 + 5G/16 + B/8) / 32
0x0A [7:0] Y sum outside Auto-Exposure area (low-byte)
0x0B [7:0] Y sum outside Auto-Exposure area (high-byte)
where Y sum = (R/4 + 5G/16 + B/8) / 128
0x0C 0xXX Not used
0x0D 0xXX Not used
0x0E 0xXX Not used
0x0F 0xXX Not used
0x10 0xXX Not used
0x11 0xXX Not used
The following table describes the frame header exported by the SN9C103:
Byte # Value or bits Description
------ ------------- -----------
0x00 0xFF Frame synchronisation pattern
0x01 0xFF Frame synchronisation pattern
0x02 0x00 Frame synchronisation pattern
0x03 0xC4 Frame synchronisation pattern
0x04 0xC4 Frame synchronisation pattern
0x05 0x96 Frame synchronisation pattern
0x06 [6:0] Read channel gain control = (1/2+R_GAIN/64)
0x07 [6:0] Blue channel gain control = (1/2+B_GAIN/64)
[7:4]
0x08 [ 0 ] Compression mode. 0=No compression, 1=Compression enabled
[2:1] Maximum scale factor for compression
[ 3 ] 1 = USB fifo(2K bytes) is full
[ 4 ] 1 = Digital gain is finish
[ 5 ] 1 = Exposure is finish
[7:6] Frame index
0x09 [7:0] Y sum inside Auto-Exposure area (low-byte)
0x0A [7:0] Y sum inside Auto-Exposure area (high-byte)
where Y sum = (R/4 + 5G/16 + B/8) / 32
0x0B [7:0] Y sum outside Auto-Exposure area (low-byte)
0x0C [7:0] Y sum outside Auto-Exposure area (high-byte)
where Y sum = (R/4 + 5G/16 + B/8) / 128
0x0D [1:0] Audio frame number
[ 2 ] 1 = Audio is recording
0x0E [7:0] Audio summation (low-byte)
0x0F [7:0] Audio summation (high-byte)
0x10 [7:0] Audio sample count
0x11 [7:0] Audio peak data in audio frame
The AE area (sx, sy, ex, ey) in the active window can be set by programming the
registers 0x1c, 0x1d, 0x1e and 0x1f of the SN9C1xx controllers, where one unit
corresponds to 32 pixels.
[1] The frame headers exported by the SN9C105 and SN9C120 are not described.
9. Supported devices
====================
None of the names of the companies as well as their products will be mentioned
here. They have never collaborated with the author, so no advertising.
From the point of view of a driver, what unambiguously identify a device are
its vendor and product USB identifiers. Below is a list of known identifiers of
devices assembling the SN9C1xx PC camera controllers:
Vendor ID Product ID
--------- ----------
0x0458 0x7025
0x045e 0x00f5
0x045e 0x00f7
0x0471 0x0327
0x0471 0x0328
0x0c45 0x6001
0x0c45 0x6005
0x0c45 0x6007
0x0c45 0x6009
0x0c45 0x600d
0x0c45 0x6011
0x0c45 0x6019
0x0c45 0x6024
0x0c45 0x6025
0x0c45 0x6028
0x0c45 0x6029
0x0c45 0x602a
0x0c45 0x602b
0x0c45 0x602c
0x0c45 0x602d
0x0c45 0x602e
0x0c45 0x6030
0x0c45 0x603f
0x0c45 0x6080
0x0c45 0x6082
0x0c45 0x6083
0x0c45 0x6088
0x0c45 0x608a
0x0c45 0x608b
0x0c45 0x608c
0x0c45 0x608e
0x0c45 0x608f
0x0c45 0x60a0
0x0c45 0x60a2
0x0c45 0x60a3
0x0c45 0x60a8
0x0c45 0x60aa
0x0c45 0x60ab
0x0c45 0x60ac
0x0c45 0x60ae
0x0c45 0x60af
0x0c45 0x60b0
0x0c45 0x60b2
0x0c45 0x60b3
0x0c45 0x60b8
0x0c45 0x60ba
0x0c45 0x60bb
0x0c45 0x60bc
0x0c45 0x60be
0x0c45 0x60c0
0x0c45 0x60c2
0x0c45 0x60c8
0x0c45 0x60cc
0x0c45 0x60ea
0x0c45 0x60ec
0x0c45 0x60ef
0x0c45 0x60fa
0x0c45 0x60fb
0x0c45 0x60fc
0x0c45 0x60fe
0x0c45 0x6102
0x0c45 0x6108
0x0c45 0x610f
0x0c45 0x6130
0x0c45 0x6138
0x0c45 0x613a
0x0c45 0x613b
0x0c45 0x613c
0x0c45 0x613e
The list above does not imply that all those devices work with this driver: up
until now only the ones that assemble the following pairs of SN9C1xx bridges
and image sensors are supported; kernel messages will always tell you whether
this is the case (see "Module loading" paragraph):
Image sensor / SN9C1xx bridge | SN9C10[12] SN9C103 SN9C105 SN9C120
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HV7131D Hynix Semiconductor | Yes No No No
HV7131R Hynix Semiconductor | No Yes Yes Yes
MI-0343 Micron Technology | Yes No No No
MI-0360 Micron Technology | No Yes Yes Yes
OV7630 OmniVision Technologies | Yes Yes No No
OV7660 OmniVision Technologies | No No Yes Yes
PAS106B PixArt Imaging | Yes No No No
PAS202B PixArt Imaging | Yes Yes No No
TAS5110C1B Taiwan Advanced Sensor | Yes No No No
TAS5110D Taiwan Advanced Sensor | Yes No No No
TAS5130D1B Taiwan Advanced Sensor | Yes No No No
"Yes" means that the pair is supported by the driver, while "No" means that the
pair does not exist or is not supported by the driver.
Only some of the available control settings of each image sensor are supported
through the V4L2 interface.
Donations of new models for further testing and support would be much
appreciated. Non-available hardware will not be supported by the author of this
driver.
10. Notes for V4L2 application developers
=========================================
This driver follows the V4L2 API specifications. In particular, it enforces two
rules:
- exactly one I/O method, either "mmap" or "read", is associated with each
file descriptor. Once it is selected, the application must close and reopen the
device to switch to the other I/O method;
- although it is not mandatory, previously mapped buffer memory should always
be unmapped before calling any "VIDIOC_S_CROP" or "VIDIOC_S_FMT" ioctl's.
The same number of buffers as before will be allocated again to match the size
of the new video frames, so you have to map the buffers again before any I/O
attempts on them.
Consistently with the hardware limits, this driver also supports image
downscaling with arbitrary scaling factors from 1, 2 and 4 in both directions.
However, the V4L2 API specifications don't correctly define how the scaling
factor can be chosen arbitrarily by the "negotiation" of the "source" and
"target" rectangles. To work around this flaw, we have added the convention
that, during the negotiation, whenever the "VIDIOC_S_CROP" ioctl is issued, the
scaling factor is restored to 1.
This driver supports two different video formats: the first one is the "8-bit
Sequential Bayer" format and can be used to obtain uncompressed video data
from the device through the current I/O method, while the second one provides
either "raw" compressed video data (without frame headers not related to the
compressed data) or standard JPEG (with frame headers). The compression quality
may vary from 0 to 1 and can be selected or queried thanks to the
VIDIOC_S_JPEGCOMP and VIDIOC_G_JPEGCOMP V4L2 ioctl's. For maximum flexibility,
both the default active video format and the default compression quality
depend on how the image sensor being used is initialized.
11. Video frame formats [1]
=======================
The SN9C1xx PC Camera Controllers can send images in two possible video
formats over the USB: either native "Sequential RGB Bayer" or compressed.
The compression is used to achieve high frame rates. With regard to the
SN9C101, SN9C102 and SN9C103, the compression is based on the Huffman encoding
algorithm described below, while with regard to the SN9C105 and SN9C120 the
compression is based on the JPEG standard.
The current video format may be selected or queried from the user application
by calling the VIDIOC_S_FMT or VIDIOC_G_FMT ioctl's, as described in the V4L2
API specifications.
The name "Sequential Bayer" indicates the organization of the red, green and
blue pixels in one video frame. Each pixel is associated with a 8-bit long
value and is disposed in memory according to the pattern shown below:
B[0] G[1] B[2] G[3] ... B[m-2] G[m-1]
G[m] R[m+1] G[m+2] R[m+2] ... G[2m-2] R[2m-1]
...
... B[(n-1)(m-2)] G[(n-1)(m-1)]
... G[n(m-2)] R[n(m-1)]
The above matrix also represents the sequential or progressive read-out mode of
the (n, m) Bayer color filter array used in many CCD or CMOS image sensors.
The Huffman compressed video frame consists of a bitstream that encodes for
every R, G, or B pixel the difference between the value of the pixel itself and
some reference pixel value. Pixels are organised in the Bayer pattern and the
Bayer sub-pixels are tracked individually and alternatingly. For example, in
the first line values for the B and G1 pixels are alternatingly encoded, while
in the second line values for the G2 and R pixels are alternatingly encoded.
The pixel reference value is calculated as follows:
- the 4 top left pixels are encoded in raw uncompressed 8-bit format;
- the value in the top two rows is the value of the pixel left of the current
pixel;
- the value in the left column is the value of the pixel above the current
pixel;
- for all other pixels, the reference value is the average of the value of the
pixel on the left and the value of the pixel above the current pixel;
- there is one code in the bitstream that specifies the value of a pixel
directly (in 4-bit resolution);
- pixel values need to be clamped inside the range [0..255] for proper
decoding.
The algorithm purely describes the conversion from compressed Bayer code used
in the SN9C101, SN9C102 and SN9C103 chips to uncompressed Bayer. Additional
steps are required to convert this to a color image (i.e. a color interpolation
algorithm).
The following Huffman codes have been found:
0: +0 (relative to reference pixel value)
100: +4
101: -4?
1110xxxx: set absolute value to xxxx.0000
1101: +11
1111: -11
11001: +20
110000: -20
110001: ??? - these codes are apparently not used
[1] The Huffman compression algorithm has been reverse-engineered and
documented by Bertrik Sikken.
12. Contact information
=======================
The author may be contacted by e-mail at <luca.risolia@studio.unibo.it>.
GPG/PGP encrypted e-mail's are accepted. The GPG key ID of the author is
'FCE635A4'; the public 1024-bit key should be available at any keyserver;
the fingerprint is: '88E8 F32F 7244 68BA 3958 5D40 99DA 5D2A FCE6 35A4'.
13. Credits
===========
Many thanks to following persons for their contribute (listed in alphabetical
order):
- Luca Capello for the donation of a webcam;
- Philippe Coval for having helped testing the PAS202BCA image sensor;
- Joao Rodrigo Fuzaro, Joao Limirio, Claudio Filho and Caio Begotti for the
donation of a webcam;
- Dennis Heitmann for the donation of a webcam;
- Jon Hollstrom for the donation of a webcam;
- Nick McGill for the donation of a webcam;
- Carlos Eduardo Medaglia Dyonisio, who added the support for the PAS202BCB
image sensor;
- Stefano Mozzi, who donated 45 EU;
- Andrew Pearce for the donation of a webcam;
- John Pullan for the donation of a webcam;
- Bertrik Sikken, who reverse-engineered and documented the Huffman compression
algorithm used in the SN9C101, SN9C102 and SN9C103 controllers and
implemented the first decoder;
- Mizuno Takafumi for the donation of a webcam;
- an "anonymous" donator (who didn't want his name to be revealed) for the
donation of a webcam.
- an anonymous donator for the donation of four webcams and two boards with ten
image sensors.
