1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
6 Many drivers need to communicate with sub-devices. These devices can do all
7 sort of tasks, but most commonly they handle audio and/or video muxing,
8 encoding or decoding. For webcams common sub-devices are sensors and camera
11 Usually these are I2C devices, but not necessarily. In order to provide the
12 driver with a consistent interface to these sub-devices the
13 :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` struct (v4l2-subdev.h) was created.
15 Each sub-device driver must have a :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` struct. This struct
16 can be stand-alone for simple sub-devices or it might be embedded in a larger
17 struct if more state information needs to be stored. Usually there is a
18 low-level device struct (e.g. ``i2c_client``) that contains the device data as
19 setup by the kernel. It is recommended to store that pointer in the private
20 data of :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` using :c:func:`v4l2_set_subdevdata`. That makes
21 it easy to go from a :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` to the actual low-level bus-specific
24 You also need a way to go from the low-level struct to :c:type:`v4l2_subdev`.
25 For the common i2c_client struct the i2c_set_clientdata() call is used to store
26 a :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` pointer, for other buses you may have to use other
29 Bridges might also need to store per-subdev private data, such as a pointer to
30 bridge-specific per-subdev private data. The :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` structure
31 provides host private data for that purpose that can be accessed with
32 :c:func:`v4l2_get_subdev_hostdata` and :c:func:`v4l2_set_subdev_hostdata`.
34 From the bridge driver perspective, you load the sub-device module and somehow
35 obtain the :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` pointer. For i2c devices this is easy: you call
36 ``i2c_get_clientdata()``. For other buses something similar needs to be done.
37 Helper functions exists for sub-devices on an I2C bus that do most of this
40 Each :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` contains function pointers that sub-device drivers
41 can implement (or leave ``NULL`` if it is not applicable). Since sub-devices can
42 do so many different things and you do not want to end up with a huge ops struct
43 of which only a handful of ops are commonly implemented, the function pointers
44 are sorted according to category and each category has its own ops struct.
46 The top-level ops struct contains pointers to the category ops structs, which
47 may be NULL if the subdev driver does not support anything from that category.
53 struct v4l2_subdev_core_ops {
54 int (*log_status)(struct v4l2_subdev *sd);
55 int (*init)(struct v4l2_subdev *sd, u32 val);
59 struct v4l2_subdev_tuner_ops {
63 struct v4l2_subdev_audio_ops {
67 struct v4l2_subdev_video_ops {
71 struct v4l2_subdev_pad_ops {
75 struct v4l2_subdev_ops {
76 const struct v4l2_subdev_core_ops *core;
77 const struct v4l2_subdev_tuner_ops *tuner;
78 const struct v4l2_subdev_audio_ops *audio;
79 const struct v4l2_subdev_video_ops *video;
80 const struct v4l2_subdev_pad_ops *video;
83 The core ops are common to all subdevs, the other categories are implemented
84 depending on the sub-device. E.g. a video device is unlikely to support the
85 audio ops and vice versa.
87 This setup limits the number of function pointers while still making it easy
88 to add new ops and categories.
90 A sub-device driver initializes the :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` struct using:
92 :c:func:`v4l2_subdev_init <v4l2_subdev_init>`
93 (:c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`, &\ :c:type:`ops <v4l2_subdev_ops>`).
96 Afterwards you need to initialize :c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`->name with a
97 unique name and set the module owner. This is done for you if you use the
100 If integration with the media framework is needed, you must initialize the
101 :c:type:`media_entity` struct embedded in the :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` struct
102 (entity field) by calling :c:func:`media_entity_pads_init`, if the entity has
107 struct media_pad *pads = &my_sd->pads;
110 err = media_entity_pads_init(&sd->entity, npads, pads);
112 The pads array must have been previously initialized. There is no need to
113 manually set the struct :c:type:`media_entity` function and name fields, but the
114 revision field must be initialized if needed.
116 A reference to the entity will be automatically acquired/released when the
117 subdev device node (if any) is opened/closed.
119 Don't forget to cleanup the media entity before the sub-device is destroyed:
123 media_entity_cleanup(&sd->entity);
125 If the subdev driver intends to process video and integrate with the media
126 framework, it must implement format related functionality using
127 :c:type:`v4l2_subdev_pad_ops` instead of :c:type:`v4l2_subdev_video_ops`.
129 In that case, the subdev driver may set the link_validate field to provide
130 its own link validation function. The link validation function is called for
131 every link in the pipeline where both of the ends of the links are V4L2
132 sub-devices. The driver is still responsible for validating the correctness
133 of the format configuration between sub-devices and video nodes.
135 If link_validate op is not set, the default function
136 :c:func:`v4l2_subdev_link_validate_default` is used instead. This function
137 ensures that width, height and the media bus pixel code are equal on both source
138 and sink of the link. Subdev drivers are also free to use this function to
139 perform the checks mentioned above in addition to their own checks.
141 There are currently two ways to register subdevices with the V4L2 core. The
142 first (traditional) possibility is to have subdevices registered by bridge
143 drivers. This can be done when the bridge driver has the complete information
144 about subdevices connected to it and knows exactly when to register them. This
145 is typically the case for internal subdevices, like video data processing units
146 within SoCs or complex PCI(e) boards, camera sensors in USB cameras or connected
147 to SoCs, which pass information about them to bridge drivers, usually in their
150 There are however also situations where subdevices have to be registered
151 asynchronously to bridge devices. An example of such a configuration is a Device
152 Tree based system where information about subdevices is made available to the
153 system independently from the bridge devices, e.g. when subdevices are defined
154 in DT as I2C device nodes. The API used in this second case is described further
157 Using one or the other registration method only affects the probing process, the
158 run-time bridge-subdevice interaction is in both cases the same.
160 In the synchronous case a device (bridge) driver needs to register the
161 :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` with the v4l2_device:
163 :c:func:`v4l2_device_register_subdev <v4l2_device_register_subdev>`
164 (:c:type:`v4l2_dev <v4l2_device>`, :c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`).
166 This can fail if the subdev module disappeared before it could be registered.
167 After this function was called successfully the subdev->dev field points to
168 the :c:type:`v4l2_device`.
170 If the v4l2_device parent device has a non-NULL mdev field, the sub-device
171 entity will be automatically registered with the media device.
173 You can unregister a sub-device using:
175 :c:func:`v4l2_device_unregister_subdev <v4l2_device_unregister_subdev>`
176 (:c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`).
179 Afterwards the subdev module can be unloaded and
180 :c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`->dev == ``NULL``.
182 You can call an ops function either directly:
186 err = sd->ops->core->g_std(sd, &norm);
188 but it is better and easier to use this macro:
192 err = v4l2_subdev_call(sd, core, g_std, &norm);
194 The macro will to the right ``NULL`` pointer checks and returns ``-ENODEV``
195 if :c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>` is ``NULL``, ``-ENOIOCTLCMD`` if either
196 :c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`->core or :c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`->core->g_std is ``NULL``, or the actual result of the
197 :c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`->ops->core->g_std ops.
199 It is also possible to call all or a subset of the sub-devices:
203 v4l2_device_call_all(v4l2_dev, 0, core, g_std, &norm);
205 Any subdev that does not support this ops is skipped and error results are
206 ignored. If you want to check for errors use this:
210 err = v4l2_device_call_until_err(v4l2_dev, 0, core, g_std, &norm);
212 Any error except ``-ENOIOCTLCMD`` will exit the loop with that error. If no
213 errors (except ``-ENOIOCTLCMD``) occurred, then 0 is returned.
215 The second argument to both calls is a group ID. If 0, then all subdevs are
216 called. If non-zero, then only those whose group ID match that value will
217 be called. Before a bridge driver registers a subdev it can set
218 :c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`->grp_id to whatever value it wants (it's 0 by
219 default). This value is owned by the bridge driver and the sub-device driver
220 will never modify or use it.
222 The group ID gives the bridge driver more control how callbacks are called.
223 For example, there may be multiple audio chips on a board, each capable of
224 changing the volume. But usually only one will actually be used when the
225 user want to change the volume. You can set the group ID for that subdev to
226 e.g. AUDIO_CONTROLLER and specify that as the group ID value when calling
227 ``v4l2_device_call_all()``. That ensures that it will only go to the subdev
230 If the sub-device needs to notify its v4l2_device parent of an event, then
231 it can call ``v4l2_subdev_notify(sd, notification, arg)``. This macro checks
232 whether there is a ``notify()`` callback defined and returns ``-ENODEV`` if not.
233 Otherwise the result of the ``notify()`` call is returned.
235 The advantage of using :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` is that it is a generic struct and
236 does not contain any knowledge about the underlying hardware. So a driver might
237 contain several subdevs that use an I2C bus, but also a subdev that is
238 controlled through GPIO pins. This distinction is only relevant when setting
239 up the device, but once the subdev is registered it is completely transparent.
241 In the asynchronous case subdevice probing can be invoked independently of the
242 bridge driver availability. The subdevice driver then has to verify whether all
243 the requirements for a successful probing are satisfied. This can include a
244 check for a master clock availability. If any of the conditions aren't satisfied
245 the driver might decide to return ``-EPROBE_DEFER`` to request further reprobing
246 attempts. Once all conditions are met the subdevice shall be registered using
247 the :c:func:`v4l2_async_register_subdev` function. Unregistration is
248 performed using the :c:func:`v4l2_async_unregister_subdev` call. Subdevices
249 registered this way are stored in a global list of subdevices, ready to be
250 picked up by bridge drivers.
252 Bridge drivers in turn have to register a notifier object. This is
253 performed using the :c:func:`v4l2_async_notifier_register` call. To
254 unregister the notifier the driver has to call
255 :c:func:`v4l2_async_notifier_unregister`. The former of the two functions
256 takes two arguments: a pointer to struct :c:type:`v4l2_device` and a
257 pointer to struct :c:type:`v4l2_async_notifier`.
259 Before registering the notifier, bridge drivers must do two things:
260 first, the notifier must be initialized using the
261 :c:func:`v4l2_async_notifier_init`. Second, bridge drivers can then
262 begin to form a list of subdevice descriptors that the bridge device
263 needs for its operation. Subdevice descriptors are added to the notifier
264 using the :c:func:`v4l2_async_notifier_add_subdev` call. This function
265 takes two arguments: a pointer to struct :c:type:`v4l2_async_notifier`,
266 and a pointer to the subdevice descripter, which is of type struct
267 :c:type:`v4l2_async_subdev`.
269 The V4L2 core will then use these descriptors to match asynchronously
270 registered subdevices to them. If a match is detected the ``.bound()``
271 notifier callback is called. After all subdevices have been located the
272 .complete() callback is called. When a subdevice is removed from the
273 system the .unbind() method is called. All three callbacks are optional.
275 V4L2 sub-device userspace API
276 -----------------------------
278 Beside exposing a kernel API through the :c:type:`v4l2_subdev_ops` structure,
279 V4L2 sub-devices can also be controlled directly by userspace applications.
281 Device nodes named ``v4l-subdev``\ *X* can be created in ``/dev`` to access
282 sub-devices directly. If a sub-device supports direct userspace configuration
283 it must set the ``V4L2_SUBDEV_FL_HAS_DEVNODE`` flag before being registered.
285 After registering sub-devices, the :c:type:`v4l2_device` driver can create
286 device nodes for all registered sub-devices marked with
287 ``V4L2_SUBDEV_FL_HAS_DEVNODE`` by calling
288 :c:func:`v4l2_device_register_subdev_nodes`. Those device nodes will be
289 automatically removed when sub-devices are unregistered.
291 The device node handles a subset of the V4L2 API.
293 ``VIDIOC_QUERYCTRL``,
294 ``VIDIOC_QUERYMENU``,
297 ``VIDIOC_G_EXT_CTRLS``,
298 ``VIDIOC_S_EXT_CTRLS`` and
299 ``VIDIOC_TRY_EXT_CTRLS``:
301 The controls ioctls are identical to the ones defined in V4L2. They
302 behave identically, with the only exception that they deal only with
303 controls implemented in the sub-device. Depending on the driver, those
304 controls can be also be accessed through one (or several) V4L2 device
308 ``VIDIOC_SUBSCRIBE_EVENT`` and
309 ``VIDIOC_UNSUBSCRIBE_EVENT``
311 The events ioctls are identical to the ones defined in V4L2. They
312 behave identically, with the only exception that they deal only with
313 events generated by the sub-device. Depending on the driver, those
314 events can also be reported by one (or several) V4L2 device nodes.
316 Sub-device drivers that want to use events need to set the
317 ``V4L2_SUBDEV_USES_EVENTS`` :c:type:`v4l2_subdev`.flags and initialize
318 :c:type:`v4l2_subdev`.nevents to events queue depth before registering
319 the sub-device. After registration events can be queued as usual on the
320 :c:type:`v4l2_subdev`.devnode device node.
322 To properly support events, the ``poll()`` file operation is also
327 All ioctls not in the above list are passed directly to the sub-device
328 driver through the core::ioctl operation.
331 I2C sub-device drivers
332 ----------------------
334 Since these drivers are so common, special helper functions are available to
335 ease the use of these drivers (``v4l2-common.h``).
337 The recommended method of adding :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` support to an I2C driver
338 is to embed the :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` struct into the state struct that is
339 created for each I2C device instance. Very simple devices have no state
340 struct and in that case you can just create a :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` directly.
342 A typical state struct would look like this (where 'chipname' is replaced by
343 the name of the chip):
347 struct chipname_state {
348 struct v4l2_subdev sd;
349 ... /* additional state fields */
352 Initialize the :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` struct as follows:
356 v4l2_i2c_subdev_init(&state->sd, client, subdev_ops);
358 This function will fill in all the fields of :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` ensure that
359 the :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` and i2c_client both point to one another.
361 You should also add a helper inline function to go from a :c:type:`v4l2_subdev`
362 pointer to a chipname_state struct:
366 static inline struct chipname_state *to_state(struct v4l2_subdev *sd)
368 return container_of(sd, struct chipname_state, sd);
371 Use this to go from the :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` struct to the ``i2c_client``
376 struct i2c_client *client = v4l2_get_subdevdata(sd);
378 And this to go from an ``i2c_client`` to a :c:type:`v4l2_subdev` struct:
382 struct v4l2_subdev *sd = i2c_get_clientdata(client);
385 :c:func:`v4l2_device_unregister_subdev`\ (:c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`)
386 when the ``remove()`` callback is called. This will unregister the sub-device
387 from the bridge driver. It is safe to call this even if the sub-device was
390 You need to do this because when the bridge driver destroys the i2c adapter
391 the ``remove()`` callbacks are called of the i2c devices on that adapter.
392 After that the corresponding v4l2_subdev structures are invalid, so they
393 have to be unregistered first. Calling
394 :c:func:`v4l2_device_unregister_subdev`\ (:c:type:`sd <v4l2_subdev>`)
395 from the ``remove()`` callback ensures that this is always done correctly.
398 The bridge driver also has some helper functions it can use:
402 struct v4l2_subdev *sd = v4l2_i2c_new_subdev(v4l2_dev, adapter,
403 "module_foo", "chipid", 0x36, NULL);
405 This loads the given module (can be ``NULL`` if no module needs to be loaded)
406 and calls :c:func:`i2c_new_device` with the given ``i2c_adapter`` and
407 chip/address arguments. If all goes well, then it registers the subdev with
410 You can also use the last argument of :c:func:`v4l2_i2c_new_subdev` to pass
411 an array of possible I2C addresses that it should probe. These probe addresses
412 are only used if the previous argument is 0. A non-zero argument means that you
413 know the exact i2c address so in that case no probing will take place.
415 Both functions return ``NULL`` if something went wrong.
417 Note that the chipid you pass to :c:func:`v4l2_i2c_new_subdev` is usually
418 the same as the module name. It allows you to specify a chip variant, e.g.
419 "saa7114" or "saa7115". In general though the i2c driver autodetects this.
420 The use of chipid is something that needs to be looked at more closely at a
421 later date. It differs between i2c drivers and as such can be confusing.
422 To see which chip variants are supported you can look in the i2c driver code
423 for the i2c_device_id table. This lists all the possibilities.
425 There are one more helper function:
427 :c:func:`v4l2_i2c_new_subdev_board` uses an :c:type:`i2c_board_info` struct
428 which is passed to the i2c driver and replaces the irq, platform_data and addr
431 If the subdev supports the s_config core ops, then that op is called with
432 the irq and platform_data arguments after the subdev was setup.
434 The :c:func:`v4l2_i2c_new_subdev` function will call
435 :c:func:`v4l2_i2c_new_subdev_board`, internally filling a
436 :c:type:`i2c_board_info` structure using the ``client_type`` and the
439 V4L2 sub-device functions and data structures
440 ---------------------------------------------
442 .. kernel-doc:: include/media/v4l2-subdev.h
444 .. kernel-doc:: include/media/v4l2-async.h