V4L/DVB (11321): pxa_camera: Redesign DMA handling

[linux-2.6-omap-h63xx.git] / Documentation / video4linux / pxa_camera.txt

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+                              PXA-Camera Host Driver
+                              ======================
+
+Constraints
+-----------
+  a) Image size for YUV422P format
+     All YUV422P images are enforced to have width x height % 16 = 0.
+     This is due to DMA constraints, which transfers only planes of 8 byte
+     multiples.
+
+
+Global video workflow
+---------------------
+  a) QCI stopped
+     Initialy, the QCI interface is stopped.
+     When a buffer is queued (pxa_videobuf_ops->buf_queue), the QCI starts.
+
+  b) QCI started
+     More buffers can be queued while the QCI is started without halting the
+     capture.  The new buffers are "appended" at the tail of the DMA chain, and
+     smoothly captured one frame after the other.
+
+     Once a buffer is filled in the QCI interface, it is marked as "DONE" and
+     removed from the active buffers list. It can be then requeud or dequeued by
+     userland application.
+
+     Once the last buffer is filled in, the QCI interface stops.
+
+
+DMA usage
+---------
+  a) DMA flow
+     - first buffer queued for capture
+       Once a first buffer is queued for capture, the QCI is started, but data
+       transfer is not started. On "End Of Frame" interrupt, the irq handler
+       starts the DMA chain.
+     - capture of one videobuffer
+       The DMA chain starts transfering data into videobuffer RAM pages.
+       When all pages are transfered, the DMA irq is raised on "ENDINTR" status
+     - finishing one videobuffer
+       The DMA irq handler marks the videobuffer as "done", and removes it from
+       the active running queue
+       Meanwhile, the next videobuffer (if there is one), is transfered by DMA
+     - finishing the last videobuffer
+       On the DMA irq of the last videobuffer, the QCI is stopped.
+
+  b) DMA prepared buffer will have this structure
+
+     +------------+-----+---------------+-----------------+
+     | desc-sg[0] | ... | desc-sg[last] | finisher/linker |
+     +------------+-----+---------------+-----------------+
+
+     This structure is pointed by dma->sg_cpu.
+     The descriptors are used as follows :
+      - desc-sg[i]: i-th descriptor, transfering the i-th sg
+        element to the video buffer scatter gather
+      - finisher: has ddadr=DADDR_STOP, dcmd=ENDIRQEN
+      - linker: has ddadr= desc-sg[0] of next video buffer, dcmd=0
+
+     For the next schema, let's assume d0=desc-sg[0] .. dN=desc-sg[N],
+     "f" stands for finisher and "l" for linker.
+     A typical running chain is :
+
+         Videobuffer 1         Videobuffer 2
+     +---------+----+---+  +----+----+----+---+
+     | d0 | .. | dN | l |  | d0 | .. | dN | f |
+     +---------+----+-|-+  ^----+----+----+---+
+                      |    |
+                      +----+
+
+     After the chaining is finished, the chain looks like :
+
+         Videobuffer 1         Videobuffer 2         Videobuffer 3
+     +---------+----+---+  +----+----+----+---+  +----+----+----+---+
+     | d0 | .. | dN | l |  | d0 | .. | dN | l |  | d0 | .. | dN | f |
+     +---------+----+-|-+  ^----+----+----+-|-+  ^----+----+----+---+
+                      |    |                |    |
+                      +----+                +----+
+                                           new_link
+
+  c) DMA hot chaining timeslice issue
+
+     As DMA chaining is done while DMA _is_ running, the linking may be done
+     while the DMA jumps from one Videobuffer to another. On the schema, that
+     would be a problem if the following sequence is encountered :
+
+      - DMA chain is Videobuffer1 + Videobuffer2
+      - pxa_videobuf_queue() is called to queue Videobuffer3
+      - DMA controller finishes Videobuffer2, and DMA stops
+      =>
+         Videobuffer 1         Videobuffer 2
+     +---------+----+---+  +----+----+----+---+
+     | d0 | .. | dN | l |  | d0 | .. | dN | f |
+     +---------+----+-|-+  ^----+----+----+-^-+
+                      |    |                |
+                      +----+                +-- DMA DDADR loads DDADR_STOP
+
+      - pxa_dma_add_tail_buf() is called, the Videobuffer2 "finisher" is
+        replaced by a "linker" to Videobuffer3 (creation of new_link)
+      - pxa_videobuf_queue() finishes
+      - the DMA irq handler is called, which terminates Videobuffer2
+      - Videobuffer3 capture is not scheduled on DMA chain (as it stopped !!!)
+
+         Videobuffer 1         Videobuffer 2         Videobuffer 3
+     +---------+----+---+  +----+----+----+---+  +----+----+----+---+
+     | d0 | .. | dN | l |  | d0 | .. | dN | l |  | d0 | .. | dN | f |
+     +---------+----+-|-+  ^----+----+----+-|-+  ^----+----+----+---+
+                      |    |                |    |
+                      +----+                +----+
+                                           new_link
+                                          DMA DDADR still is DDADR_STOP
+
+      - pxa_camera_check_link_miss() is called
+        This checks if the DMA is finished and a buffer is still on the
+        pcdev->capture list. If that's the case, the capture will be restarted,
+        and Videobuffer3 is scheduled on DMA chain.
+      - the DMA irq handler finishes
+
+     Note: if DMA stops just after pxa_camera_check_link_miss() reads DDADR()
+     value, we have the guarantee that the DMA irq handler will be called back
+     when the DMA will finish the buffer, and pxa_camera_check_link_miss() will
+     be called again, to reschedule Videobuffer3.
+
+--
+Author: Robert Jarzmik <robert.jarzmik@free.fr>