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NAME
meteor — video capture driver interface
DESCRIPTION
The meteor driver defined a video capture interface. The meteor driver is no longer in the tree, but
other devices support this interface so the interface portion is documented here.
Meteor Capture Modes
The meteor capture driver has three modes of capture operation.
1. Conventional read(2) interface.
This mode is the easiest and slowest to use. This mode is great for capturing a single field at
little programming cost.
In this mode, the user opens the device, sets the capture mode and size (see: METEORSETGEO ioctl(2)
call), and uses the read(2) system call to load the data into a buffer.
meteor_read.c; read 400x300 RGB24 into a viewable PPM file
#include <sys/fcntl.h>
#include <machine/ioctl_meteor.h>
extern int errno;
#define ROWS 300
#define COLS 400
#define SIZE (ROWS * COLS * 4)
main()
{
struct meteor_geomet geo;
char buf[SIZE],b[4],header[16],*p;
int i,o,c;
if ((i = open("/dev/meteor0", O_RDONLY)) < 0) {
printf("open failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
/* set up the capture type and size */
geo.rows = ROWS;
geo.columns = COLS;
geo.frames = 1;
geo.oformat = METEOR_GEO_RGB24 ;
if (ioctl(i, METEORSETGEO, &geo) < 0) {
printf("ioctl failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
c = METEOR_FMT_NTSC;
if (ioctl(i, METEORSFMT, &c) < 0) {
printf("ioctl failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
c = METEOR_INPUT_DEV0;
if (ioctl(i, METEORSINPUT, &c) < 0) {
printf("ioctl failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
if ((c=read(i, &buf[0], SIZE)) < SIZE) {
printf("read failed %d %d %d\n", c, i, errno);
close(i);
exit(1);
}
close(i);
if ((o = open("rgb24.ppm", O_WRONLY | O_CREAT, 0644)) < 0) {
printf("ppm open failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
/* make PPM header and save to file */
strcpy(&header[0], "P6 400 300 255 ");
header[2] = header[6] = header[10] = header[14] = '\n';
write (o, &header[0], 15);
/* save the RGB data to PPM file */
for (p = &buf[0]; p < &buf[SIZE]; ) {
b[2] = *p++; /* blue */
b[1] = *p++; /* green */
b[0] = *p++; /* red */
*p++; /* NULL byte */
write(o,&b[0], 3); /* not very efficient */
}
close(o);
exit(0);
}
2. Memory mapped single capture or unsynchronized continuous capture.
The single capture mode is designed for conferencing tools such as nv. These tools need to control
the starting of the image capture and also need several frames a second. The continuous capture
mode is designed for applications that want free-running data.
In this mode, the user opens the device, sets the capture mode and size (see: METEORSETGEO ioctl(2)
call), mmap(2)s the frame buffer memory into the user process space, and issues either the single-
capture or the continuous capture call (see: METEORCAPTUR ioctl(2) call) to load the data into the
memory mapped buffer.
As explained in the METEORCAPTUR ioctl(2) call, the single frame capture ioctl(2) will block until
the capture is complete, the continuous capture will return immediately.
meteor_mmap_single_continuous.c
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
#include <sys/fcntl.h>
#include <machine/ioctl_meteor.h>
extern int errno;
#define ROWS 480
#define COLS 640
#define SIZE (ROWS * COLS * 2)
main()
{
struct meteor_geomet geo;
char buf[SIZE];
char *mmbuf;
int i,c;
if ((i = open("/dev/meteor0", O_RDONLY)) < 0) {
printf("open failed\n");
exit(1);
}
geo.rows = ROWS;
geo.columns = COLS;
geo.frames = 1;
geo.oformat = METEOR_GEO_RGB16 ;
if (ioctl(i, METEORSETGEO, &geo) < 0) {
printf("ioctl failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
c = METEOR_FMT_NTSC;
if (ioctl(i, METEORSFMT, &c) < 0) {
printf("ioctl failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
c = METEOR_INPUT_DEV0;
if (ioctl(i, METEORSINPUT, &c) < 0) {
printf("ioctl failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
mmbuf=(char *)mmap((caddr_t)0, SIZE, PROT_READ,
MAP_SHARED, i, (off_t)0);
#ifdef SINGLE_MODE
/* single frame capture */
c = METEOR_CAP_SINGLE ;
ioctl(i, METEORCAPTUR, &c); /* wait for the frame */
/* directly access the frame buffer array data in mmbuf */
#else
/* continuous frame capture */
c = METEOR_CAP_CONTINOUS ;
ioctl(i, METEORCAPTUR, &c); /* returns immediately */
/* directly access the frame buffer array data in mmbuf */
c = METEOR_CAP_STOP_CONT ;
ioctl(i, METEORCAPTUR, &c); /* close will also stop capture */
#endif
close(i);
exit(0);
}
3. Memory mapped, multi-frame ring buffer synchronize capture.
This continuous capture mode is synchronized with the application that processes up to 32 frames.
This gives the advantages of both single and continuous capture modes.
The kernel notifies the application of a new data by raising an application defined signal. The
driver also shares a structure with the application that allows them to communicate which frame has
been written by the kernel and which frame has been read by the application.
The shared structure starts on the first page after your data. The structure address can be found
by calculation:
(number_rows * number_columns * pixel_depth + 4095) & 0xfffff000
or
((number_rows * number_columns * pixel_depth + 4095)/4096) * 4096
The shared structure is of type struct meteor_mem. The two most important fields are called active
and num_active_buf. active is a bitmap of frames written by the kernel. num_active_bufs is a count
of frames marked in the active field. When a frame is read in by the driver, the num_active_bufs
count is tested, if this count is below the threshold of number of active frames (value in
meteor_mem's hiwat variable), the bit representing frame number in the buffer is stored in the
active variable, the num_active_bufs is incremented, the kernel then raises the specified signal to
activate the user application. The user application's responsibility when getting the signal is to
check the active bitmap to determine the lowest active frame, use the data as the application
desires, clear the bitmap entry for that frame, and decrement the num_active_bufs. If the threshold
of number of active frames (hiwat) has been exceeded, no new frames or signal from the kernel will
occur until the num_active_bufs is less than or equal to lowat.
The driver loads the frames in a round-robin fashion. It is expected that the user removes them in
the same order. The driver does not check to see if the frame is already active.
The frame_size and number of frames in the buffer are also provided to the meteor_mem structure, but
changing these fields in the application will not change the operation of the driver.
In programming for this mode, the user opens the device, sets the geometry, mmap(2)s the data/common
control structure, then starts the continuous capture mode. A special signal catcher is required to
process the frames as they are read by the kernel.
When specifying the geometry (see: METEORSETGEO ioctl(2) call), it is important that the number of
frames is set greater than 1.
skeleton_capture_n.c
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
#include <sys/fcntl.h>
#include <sys/signal.h>
#include <machine/ioctl_meteor.h>
int video; /* made global if you wish to stop capture in signal handler */
caddr_t data_frames;
struct meteor_mem *common_mem;
extern int errno;
#define FRAME_MAX
void
usr2_catcher()
{
#ifdef SIGNAL_STOP
struct meteor_capframe capframe; /* for ioctl */
#endif
char *frame;
/* find frame */
frame = (char *) (data_frames + sig_cnt * common_mem->frame_size) ;
/* add frame processing here */
/* deactivate frame */
common_mem->active &= ~(1 << (sig_cnt % 16));
common_mem->num_active_bufs--;
/* process next frame on next interrupt */
sig_cnt = ((sig_cnt+1) % FRAME_MAX);
#ifdef SIGNAL_STOP
if (some_condition_requiring_stopping) {
capframe.command=METEOR_CAP_STOP_FRAMES;
if (ioctl(i, METEORCAPFRM, &capframe) < 0) {
printf("METEORCAPFRM failed %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
}
#endif
}
main()
{
struct meteor_geomet geo;
int height, width, depth, frames, size;
struct meteor_capframe capframe;
if ((i = open("/dev/meteor0", O_RDONLY)) < 0) {
printf("open failed\n");
exit(1);
}
printf("test %d %d\n", errno, i);
height = geo.rows = 120;
width= geo.columns = 320;
frames = geo.frames = FRAME_MAX;
depth = 2; /* 2 bytes per pixel for RGB*/
geo.oformat = METEOR_GEO_RGB16;
if (ioctl(i, METEORSETGEO, &geo) < 0) {
printf("METEORSETGEO failed %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
c = METEOR_FMT_NTSC;
if (ioctl(i, METEORSFMT, &c) < 0) {
printf("ioctl failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
c = METEOR_INPUT_DEV0;
if (ioctl(i, METEORSINPUT, &c) < 0) {
printf("ioctl failed: %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
size = ((width*height*depth*frames+4095)/4096)*4096;
/* add one page after data for meteor_mem */
data_frames = mmap((caddr_t)0, size + 4096, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
MAP_SHARED, i, (off_t)0);
if (data_frames == (caddr_t) MAP_FAILED) return (0);
/* common_mem is located at page following data */
common_mem = (struct meteor_mem *) (y + size);
signal(SIGUSR2, usr2_catcher); /* catch new frame message */
capframe.command=METEOR_CAP_N_FRAMES;
capframe.signal=SIGUSR2;
capframe.lowat=12; /* must be < hiwat */
capframe.hiwat=14; /* must be < FRAME_MAX */
/* start the sync capture */
if (ioctl(i, METEORCAPFRM, &capframe) < 0) {
printf("METEORCAPFRM failed %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
/* this is the background working area, or you can sleep */
/* to stop capture */
capframe.command=METEOR_CAP_STOP_FRAMES;
if (ioctl(i, METEORCAPFRM, &capframe) < 0) {
printf("METEORCAPFRM failed %d\n", errno);
exit(1);
}
}
Meteor IOCTL Call and Parameters
The meteor capture driver has ioctl(2) requests for capturing, reading card status, for setting and
reading the geometry, and for setting and reading the attributes.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO CHECK FOR ERRORS ON THESE RETURNING IOCTLs. Errors indicate that something is
very wrong with the ioctl(2) and the application should not attempt to proceed further with capturing.
The meteor capture driver still makes attempts to stop the next capture step if an error occurred in a
previous step but was ignored by the application programmer.
1. ioctl(2) requests METEORSETGEO and METEORGETGEO
METEORSETGEO and METEORGETGEO are used to set and read the input size, input device, and output
format for frame capture.
These ioctl(2) routines use the meteor_geomet structure that has the following entries:
rows number of rows (lines high) in output image
columns number of pixels in a row (width) in output image
frames number of frames in buffer. Should be 1, unless using the multi-framed synchronous capture
mode (METEORCAPFRM) which REQUIRES frames to be larger than 1.
Note: if rows, columns or frames is not changed, then the existing values are used. The
system defaults is 640x480x1.
oformat you may choose one of the following output format:
METEOR_GEO_RGB16 (RGB 16 bits xrrrrrgg gggbbbbb default)
METEOR_GEO_RGB24 (RGB 24 bits packed in 32 bits: 00000000 rrrrrrrr gggggggg bbbbbbbb)
METEOR_GEO_YUV_PACKED (4-2-2 YUV 16 bits packed byte format: u0 y0 v0 y1 u1 y2 v1 y3 ...)
METEOR_GEO_YUV_PLANER (4-2-2 YUV 16 bits planer format: rows * columns bytes of y rows *
column / 4 bytes of even u rows * column / 4 bytes of even v rows *
column / 4 bytes of odd u rows * column / 4 bytes of odd v)
The METEORSETGEO ioctl(2) will fail if more than one entry from a category is selected. It is
highly recommended that a METEORSETGEO is done before capturing data because you cannot guarantee
the initial mode the card.
The METEORSETGEO will also attempt to reallocate a new contiguous kernel buffer if the new geometry
exceeds the old geometry. On the other hand, if the new geometry will fit in the existing buffer,
the existing buffer is used.
If METEORSETGEO fails the ioctl(2) will return a value of -1 and the external variable errno will be
set to:
[EINVAL] invalid meteor_geomet structure pointer, rows, columns, frames were invalid.
[ENOMEM] could not allocate the contiguous block.
2. ioctl(2) requests METEORSFMT and METEORGFMT
METEORSFMT and METEORGFMT are used to set and read the camera input standard format.
Possible formats are:
METEOR_FMT_NTSC NTSC (default mode)
METEOR_FMT_PAL PAL
METEOR_FMT_SECAM SECAM
METEOR_FMT_AUTOMODE Autodetect.
3. ioctl(2) requests METEORSINPUT and METEORGINPUT
METEORSINPUT and METEORGINPUT are used to set and read the camera input device. Using the DB9
connector on the Meteor card, 4 input devices can be connected and an input camera can be selected
with this ioctl(2).
Possible formats are:
METEOR_INPUT_DEV0 (default if none specified)
METEOR_INPUT_DEV_RCA (same as METEOR_INPUT_DEV0)
METEOR_INPUT_DEV1
METEOR_INPUT_DEV2
METEOR_INPUT_DEV_SVIDEO (same as METEOR_INPUT_DEV2)
4. ioctl(2) request METEORSTATUS
METEORSTATUS is used to read the status of the Meteor capture card and returns the following
information:
METEOR_STATUS_ID_MASK 4 bit ID of the SAA7196 scaler chip.
METEOR_STATUS_DIR 0 = scaler uses internal source.
1 = scaler uses external data of expansion bus.
METEOR_STATUS_OEF 0 = even field detected.
1 = odd field detected.
METEOR_STATUS_SVP VRAM Port state:
0 = inputs HFL and INCADDR inactive.
1 = inputs HFL and INCADDR active.
METEOR_STATUS_STTC 0 = TV horizontal time constant (slow).
1 = VCR horizontal time constant (fast).
METEOR_STATUS_HCLK 0 = Horizontal Phase Lock Loop locked.
1 = Horizontal Phase Lock Loop unlocked.
METEOR_STATUS_FIDT 0 = 50 Hz Field detected.
1 = 60 Hz Field detected.
METEOR_STATUS_ALTD 0 = no line alternating color burst detected.
1 = line alternating color burst detected (PAL/SECAM).
METEOR_STATUS_CODE 0 = no color information detected.
1 = color information detected.
5. ioctl(2) request METEORCAPTUR
METEORCAPTUR is used to single frame capture or unsynchronized continuous capture.
The single frame capture ioctl(2) request will return only after a frame has been captured and
transferred to the frame buffer.
The unsynchronized continuous capture will return immediately and data is directly deposited into
the buffer when it is available. Since this is unsynchronized, it is possible the data is being
written by the kernel while being read by the application.
These ioctl(2) routines use the following settings:
METEOR_CAP_SINGLE capture one frame
METEOR_CAP_CONTINOUS unsynchronized continuous capture
METEOR_CAP_STOP_CONT stop the unsynchronized continuous capture
If METEORCAPTUR fails the ioctl(2) will return a value of -1 and the external variable errno will be
set to:
[EINVAL] invalid capture command value
[ENXIO] there is not internal buffer to hold the frame. This indicates the previous set
geometry ioctl(2) failed.
[EIO] card is already capturing.
6. ioctl(2) request METEORCAPFRM
METEORCAPFRM is used for synchronous capture of multiple frames.
This ioctl(2) routine uses the meteor_capture structure that has the following entries:
command possible values for command are:
METEOR_CAP_STOP_FRAMES stop the capture; does not use the other variable in structure.
METEOR_CAP_N_FRAMES start the capture using the other variables in the structure as
inputs
signal signal to send to application when a new frame has been captured. This signal will only be
raised if the captured frame is saved.
lowat see below
hiwat see below
When a new frame is completed, the driver checks the current unread frame count stored in shared
variable (the shared variable is stored in the meteor_mem structure) num_active_buf; if the count is
larger than hiwat, the driver will not store any new frames and will not send capture signal to the
user application until the num_active_buf is lower than lowat.
If METEORCAPFRM fails the ioctl(2) will return a value of -1 and the external variable errno will be
set to:
[EINVAL] invalid meteor_geomet structure pointer or bad command.
[ENXIO] there is not internal buffer to hold the frame. This indicates the previous set
geometry ioctl(2) failed.
[EIO] card is already capturing.
7. ioctl(2) requests METEORSCHCV and METEORGCHCV
METEORSCHCV and METEORGCHCV are used to set and get the chrominance gain control and effects the UV
output amplitude.
If METEORSCHCV or METEORGCHCV fails the ioctl(2) will return a value of -1 and the external variable
errno will be set to:
[EINVAL] invalid unsigned char pointer.
8. ioctl(2) requests METEORGHUE and METEORSHUE
METEORGHUE and METEORSHUE are used to get and set the hue. The signed character has legal values
are from +127 which represent +178.6 degrees to -128 which represents -180 degrees.
If METEORGHUE or METEORSHUE fails the ioctl(2) will return a value of -1 and the external variable
errno will be set to:
[EINVAL] invalid signed char pointer.
9. ioctl(2) requests METEORSCOUNT and METEORGCOUNT
METEORGCOUNT is used to get the count of frame errors, DMA errors and count of the number of frames
captured that have occurred since the device was opened. METEORSCOUNT can be used to reinitialize
the counters.
This ioctl(2) routines use the meteor_counts structure that has the following entries:
fifo_errors number of FIFO errors since device was opened.
dma_errors number of DMA errors since device was opened.
frame_count number of frames captured since device was opened.
If METEORSCOUNT or METEORGCOUNT fails the ioctl(2) will return a value of -1 and the external
variable errno will be set to:
[EINVAL] invalid meteor_counts structure pointer.
AUTHORS
Jim Lowe <james@miller.cs.uwm.edu>
Mark Tinguely <tinguely@plains.nodak.edu>
BUGS
The meteor driver no longer works at all.
Debian August 15, 1995 METEOR(4)