Based on kernel version 3.0.4. Page generated on 2011-10-03 22:07 EST.
1 <title>Common API Elements</title> 2 3 <para>Programming a V4L2 device consists of these 4 steps:</para> 5 6 <itemizedlist> 7 <listitem> 8 <para>Opening the device</para> 9 </listitem> 10 <listitem> 11 <para>Changing device properties, selecting a video and audio 12 input, video standard, picture brightness a. o.</para> 13 </listitem> 14 <listitem> 15 <para>Negotiating a data format</para> 16 </listitem> 17 <listitem> 18 <para>Negotiating an input/output method</para> 19 </listitem> 20 <listitem> 21 <para>The actual input/output loop</para> 22 </listitem> 23 <listitem> 24 <para>Closing the device</para> 25 </listitem> 26 </itemizedlist> 27 28 <para>In practice most steps are optional and can be executed out of 29 order. It depends on the V4L2 device type, you can read about the 30 details in <xref linkend="devices" />. In this chapter we will discuss 31 the basic concepts applicable to all devices.</para> 32 33 <section id="open"> 34 <title>Opening and Closing Devices</title> 35 36 <section> 37 <title>Device Naming</title> 38 39 <para>V4L2 drivers are implemented as kernel modules, loaded 40 manually by the system administrator or automatically when a device is 41 first opened. The driver modules plug into the "videodev" kernel 42 module. It provides helper functions and a common application 43 interface specified in this document.</para> 44 45 <para>Each driver thus loaded registers one or more device nodes 46 with major number 81 and a minor number between 0 and 255. Assigning 47 minor numbers to V4L2 devices is entirely up to the system administrator, 48 this is primarily intended to solve conflicts between devices.<footnote> 49 <para>Access permissions are associated with character 50 device special files, hence we must ensure device numbers cannot 51 change with the module load order. To this end minor numbers are no 52 longer automatically assigned by the "videodev" module as in V4L but 53 requested by the driver. The defaults will suffice for most people 54 unless two drivers compete for the same minor numbers.</para> 55 </footnote> The module options to select minor numbers are named 56 after the device special file with a "_nr" suffix. For example "video_nr" 57 for <filename>/dev/video</filename> video capture devices. The number is 58 an offset to the base minor number associated with the device type. 59 <footnote> 60 <para>In earlier versions of the V4L2 API the module options 61 where named after the device special file with a "unit_" prefix, expressing 62 the minor number itself, not an offset. Rationale for this change is unknown. 63 Lastly the naming and semantics are just a convention among driver writers, 64 the point to note is that minor numbers are not supposed to be hardcoded 65 into drivers.</para> 66 </footnote> When the driver supports multiple devices of the same 67 type more than one minor number can be assigned, separated by commas: 68 <informalexample> 69 <screen> 70 > insmod mydriver.o video_nr=0,1 radio_nr=0,1</screen> 71 </informalexample></para> 72 73 <para>In <filename>/etc/modules.conf</filename> this may be 74 written as: <informalexample> 75 <screen> 76 alias char-major-81-0 mydriver 77 alias char-major-81-1 mydriver 78 alias char-major-81-64 mydriver <co id="alias" /> 79 options mydriver video_nr=0,1 radio_nr=0,1 <co id="options" /> 80 </screen> 81 <calloutlist> 82 <callout arearefs="alias"> 83 <para>When an application attempts to open a device 84 special file with major number 81 and minor number 0, 1, or 64, load 85 "mydriver" (and the "videodev" module it depends upon).</para> 86 </callout> 87 <callout arearefs="options"> 88 <para>Register the first two video capture devices with 89 minor number 0 and 1 (base number is 0), the first two radio device 90 with minor number 64 and 65 (base 64).</para> 91 </callout> 92 </calloutlist> 93 </informalexample> When no minor number is given as module 94 option the driver supplies a default. <xref linkend="devices" /> 95 recommends the base minor numbers to be used for the various device 96 types. Obviously minor numbers must be unique. When the number is 97 already in use the <emphasis>offending device</emphasis> will not be 98 registered. <!-- Blessed by Linus Torvalds on 99 linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, 2002-11-20. --></para> 100 101 <para>By convention system administrators create various 102 character device special files with these major and minor numbers in 103 the <filename>/dev</filename> directory. The names recommended for the 104 different V4L2 device types are listed in <xref linkend="devices" />. 105 </para> 106 107 <para>The creation of character special files (with 108 <application>mknod</application>) is a privileged operation and 109 devices cannot be opened by major and minor number. That means 110 applications cannot <emphasis>reliable</emphasis> scan for loaded or 111 installed drivers. The user must enter a device name, or the 112 application can try the conventional device names.</para> 113 114 <para>Under the device filesystem (devfs) the minor number 115 options are ignored. V4L2 drivers (or by proxy the "videodev" module) 116 automatically create the required device files in the 117 <filename>/dev/v4l</filename> directory using the conventional device 118 names above.</para> 119 </section> 120 121 <section id="related"> 122 <title>Related Devices</title> 123 124 <para>Devices can support several related functions. For example 125 video capturing, video overlay and VBI capturing are related because 126 these functions share, amongst other, the same video input and tuner 127 frequency. V4L and earlier versions of V4L2 used the same device name 128 and minor number for video capturing and overlay, but different ones 129 for VBI. Experience showed this approach has several problems<footnote> 130 <para>Given a device file name one cannot reliable find 131 related devices. For once names are arbitrary and in a system with 132 multiple devices, where only some support VBI capturing, a 133 <filename>/dev/video2</filename> is not necessarily related to 134 <filename>/dev/vbi2</filename>. The V4L 135 <constant>VIDIOCGUNIT</constant> ioctl would require a search for a 136 device file with a particular major and minor number.</para> 137 </footnote>, and to make things worse the V4L videodev module 138 used to prohibit multiple opens of a device.</para> 139 140 <para>As a remedy the present version of the V4L2 API relaxed the 141 concept of device types with specific names and minor numbers. For 142 compatibility with old applications drivers must still register different 143 minor numbers to assign a default function to the device. But if related 144 functions are supported by the driver they must be available under all 145 registered minor numbers. The desired function can be selected after 146 opening the device as described in <xref linkend="devices" />.</para> 147 148 <para>Imagine a driver supporting video capturing, video 149 overlay, raw VBI capturing, and FM radio reception. It registers three 150 devices with minor number 0, 64 and 224 (this numbering scheme is 151 inherited from the V4L API). Regardless if 152 <filename>/dev/video</filename> (81, 0) or 153 <filename>/dev/vbi</filename> (81, 224) is opened the application can 154 select any one of the video capturing, overlay or VBI capturing 155 functions. Without programming (e. g. reading from the device 156 with <application>dd</application> or <application>cat</application>) 157 <filename>/dev/video</filename> captures video images, while 158 <filename>/dev/vbi</filename> captures raw VBI data. 159 <filename>/dev/radio</filename> (81, 64) is invariable a radio device, 160 unrelated to the video functions. Being unrelated does not imply the 161 devices can be used at the same time, however. The &func-open; 162 function may very well return an &EBUSY;.</para> 163 164 <para>Besides video input or output the hardware may also 165 support audio sampling or playback. If so, these functions are 166 implemented as OSS or ALSA PCM devices and eventually OSS or ALSA 167 audio mixer. The V4L2 API makes no provisions yet to find these 168 related devices. If you have an idea please write to the linux-media 169 mailing list: &v4l-ml;.</para> 170 </section> 171 172 <section> 173 <title>Multiple Opens</title> 174 175 <para>In general, V4L2 devices can be opened more than once. 176 When this is supported by the driver, users can for example start a 177 "panel" application to change controls like brightness or audio 178 volume, while another application captures video and audio. In other words, panel 179 applications are comparable to an OSS or ALSA audio mixer application. 180 When a device supports multiple functions like capturing and overlay 181 <emphasis>simultaneously</emphasis>, multiple opens allow concurrent 182 use of the device by forked processes or specialized applications.</para> 183 184 <para>Multiple opens are optional, although drivers should 185 permit at least concurrent accesses without data exchange, &ie; panel 186 applications. This implies &func-open; can return an &EBUSY; when the 187 device is already in use, as well as &func-ioctl; functions initiating 188 data exchange (namely the &VIDIOC-S-FMT; ioctl), and the &func-read; 189 and &func-write; functions.</para> 190 191 <para>Mere opening a V4L2 device does not grant exclusive 192 access.<footnote> 193 <para>Drivers could recognize the 194 <constant>O_EXCL</constant> open flag. Presently this is not required, 195 so applications cannot know if it really works.</para> 196 </footnote> Initiating data exchange however assigns the right 197 to read or write the requested type of data, and to change related 198 properties, to this file descriptor. Applications can request 199 additional access privileges using the priority mechanism described in 200 <xref linkend="app-pri" />.</para> 201 </section> 202 203 <section> 204 <title>Shared Data Streams</title> 205 206 <para>V4L2 drivers should not support multiple applications 207 reading or writing the same data stream on a device by copying 208 buffers, time multiplexing or similar means. This is better handled by 209 a proxy application in user space. When the driver supports stream 210 sharing anyway it must be implemented transparently. The V4L2 API does 211 not specify how conflicts are solved. <!-- For example O_EXCL when the 212 application does not want to be preempted, PROT_READ mmapped buffers 213 which can be mapped twice, what happens when image formats do not 214 match etc.--></para> 215 </section> 216 217 <section> 218 <title>Functions</title> 219 220 <para>To open and close V4L2 devices applications use the 221 &func-open; and &func-close; function, respectively. Devices are 222 programmed using the &func-ioctl; function as explained in the 223 following sections.</para> 224 </section> 225 </section> 226 227 <section id="querycap"> 228 <title>Querying Capabilities</title> 229 230 <para>Because V4L2 covers a wide variety of devices not all 231 aspects of the API are equally applicable to all types of devices. 232 Furthermore devices of the same type have different capabilities and 233 this specification permits the omission of a few complicated and less 234 important parts of the API.</para> 235 236 <para>The &VIDIOC-QUERYCAP; ioctl is available to check if the kernel 237 device is compatible with this specification, and to query the <link 238 linkend="devices">functions</link> and <link linkend="io">I/O 239 methods</link> supported by the device. Other features can be queried 240 by calling the respective ioctl, for example &VIDIOC-ENUMINPUT; 241 to learn about the number, types and names of video connectors on the 242 device. Although abstraction is a major objective of this API, the 243 ioctl also allows driver specific applications to reliable identify 244 the driver.</para> 245 246 <para>All V4L2 drivers must support 247 <constant>VIDIOC_QUERYCAP</constant>. Applications should always call 248 this ioctl after opening the device.</para> 249 </section> 250 251 <section id="app-pri"> 252 <title>Application Priority</title> 253 254 <para>When multiple applications share a device it may be 255 desirable to assign them different priorities. Contrary to the 256 traditional "rm -rf /" school of thought a video recording application 257 could for example block other applications from changing video 258 controls or switching the current TV channel. Another objective is to 259 permit low priority applications working in background, which can be 260 preempted by user controlled applications and automatically regain 261 control of the device at a later time.</para> 262 263 <para>Since these features cannot be implemented entirely in user 264 space V4L2 defines the &VIDIOC-G-PRIORITY; and &VIDIOC-S-PRIORITY; 265 ioctls to request and query the access priority associate with a file 266 descriptor. Opening a device assigns a medium priority, compatible 267 with earlier versions of V4L2 and drivers not supporting these ioctls. 268 Applications requiring a different priority will usually call 269 <constant>VIDIOC_S_PRIORITY</constant> after verifying the device with 270 the &VIDIOC-QUERYCAP; ioctl.</para> 271 272 <para>Ioctls changing driver properties, such as &VIDIOC-S-INPUT;, 273 return an &EBUSY; after another application obtained higher priority. 274 An event mechanism to notify applications about asynchronous property 275 changes has been proposed but not added yet.</para> 276 </section> 277 278 <section id="video"> 279 <title>Video Inputs and Outputs</title> 280 281 <para>Video inputs and outputs are physical connectors of a 282 device. These can be for example RF connectors (antenna/cable), CVBS 283 a.k.a. Composite Video, S-Video or RGB connectors. Only video and VBI 284 capture devices have inputs, output devices have outputs, at least one 285 each. Radio devices have no video inputs or outputs.</para> 286 287 <para>To learn about the number and attributes of the 288 available inputs and outputs applications can enumerate them with the 289 &VIDIOC-ENUMINPUT; and &VIDIOC-ENUMOUTPUT; ioctl, respectively. The 290 &v4l2-input; returned by the <constant>VIDIOC_ENUMINPUT</constant> 291 ioctl also contains signal status information applicable when the 292 current video input is queried.</para> 293 294 <para>The &VIDIOC-G-INPUT; and &VIDIOC-G-OUTPUT; ioctl return the 295 index of the current video input or output. To select a different 296 input or output applications call the &VIDIOC-S-INPUT; and 297 &VIDIOC-S-OUTPUT; ioctl. Drivers must implement all the input ioctls 298 when the device has one or more inputs, all the output ioctls when the 299 device has one or more outputs.</para> 300 301 <!-- 302 <figure id=io-tree> 303 <title>Input and output enumeration is the root of most device properties.</title> 304 <mediaobject> 305 <imageobject> 306 <imagedata fileref="links.pdf" format="ps" /> 307 </imageobject> 308 <imageobject> 309 <imagedata fileref="links.gif" format="gif" /> 310 </imageobject> 311 <textobject> 312 <phrase>Links between various device property structures.</phrase> 313 </textobject> 314 </mediaobject> 315 </figure> 316 --> 317 318 <example> 319 <title>Information about the current video input</title> 320 321 <programlisting> 322 &v4l2-input; input; 323 int index; 324 325 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-G-INPUT;, &index)) { 326 perror ("VIDIOC_G_INPUT"); 327 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 328 } 329 330 memset (&input, 0, sizeof (input)); 331 input.index = index; 332 333 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-ENUMINPUT;, &input)) { 334 perror ("VIDIOC_ENUMINPUT"); 335 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 336 } 337 338 printf ("Current input: %s\n", input.name); 339 </programlisting> 340 </example> 341 342 <example> 343 <title>Switching to the first video input</title> 344 345 <programlisting> 346 int index; 347 348 index = 0; 349 350 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-S-INPUT;, &index)) { 351 perror ("VIDIOC_S_INPUT"); 352 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 353 } 354 </programlisting> 355 </example> 356 </section> 357 358 <section id="audio"> 359 <title>Audio Inputs and Outputs</title> 360 361 <para>Audio inputs and outputs are physical connectors of a 362 device. Video capture devices have inputs, output devices have 363 outputs, zero or more each. Radio devices have no audio inputs or 364 outputs. They have exactly one tuner which in fact 365 <emphasis>is</emphasis> an audio source, but this API associates 366 tuners with video inputs or outputs only, and radio devices have 367 none of these.<footnote> 368 <para>Actually &v4l2-audio; ought to have a 369 <structfield>tuner</structfield> field like &v4l2-input;, not only 370 making the API more consistent but also permitting radio devices with 371 multiple tuners.</para> 372 </footnote> A connector on a TV card to loop back the received 373 audio signal to a sound card is not considered an audio output.</para> 374 375 <para>Audio and video inputs and outputs are associated. Selecting 376 a video source also selects an audio source. This is most evident when 377 the video and audio source is a tuner. Further audio connectors can 378 combine with more than one video input or output. Assumed two 379 composite video inputs and two audio inputs exist, there may be up to 380 four valid combinations. The relation of video and audio connectors 381 is defined in the <structfield>audioset</structfield> field of the 382 respective &v4l2-input; or &v4l2-output;, where each bit represents 383 the index number, starting at zero, of one audio input or output.</para> 384 385 <para>To learn about the number and attributes of the 386 available inputs and outputs applications can enumerate them with the 387 &VIDIOC-ENUMAUDIO; and &VIDIOC-ENUMAUDOUT; ioctl, respectively. The 388 &v4l2-audio; returned by the <constant>VIDIOC_ENUMAUDIO</constant> ioctl 389 also contains signal status information applicable when the current 390 audio input is queried.</para> 391 392 <para>The &VIDIOC-G-AUDIO; and &VIDIOC-G-AUDOUT; ioctl report 393 the current audio input and output, respectively. Note that, unlike 394 &VIDIOC-G-INPUT; and &VIDIOC-G-OUTPUT; these ioctls return a structure 395 as <constant>VIDIOC_ENUMAUDIO</constant> and 396 <constant>VIDIOC_ENUMAUDOUT</constant> do, not just an index.</para> 397 398 <para>To select an audio input and change its properties 399 applications call the &VIDIOC-S-AUDIO; ioctl. To select an audio 400 output (which presently has no changeable properties) applications 401 call the &VIDIOC-S-AUDOUT; ioctl.</para> 402 403 <para>Drivers must implement all input ioctls when the device 404 has one or more inputs, all output ioctls when the device has one 405 or more outputs. When the device has any audio inputs or outputs the 406 driver must set the <constant>V4L2_CAP_AUDIO</constant> flag in the 407 &v4l2-capability; returned by the &VIDIOC-QUERYCAP; ioctl.</para> 408 409 <example> 410 <title>Information about the current audio input</title> 411 412 <programlisting> 413 &v4l2-audio; audio; 414 415 memset (&audio, 0, sizeof (audio)); 416 417 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-G-AUDIO;, &audio)) { 418 perror ("VIDIOC_G_AUDIO"); 419 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 420 } 421 422 printf ("Current input: %s\n", audio.name); 423 </programlisting> 424 </example> 425 426 <example> 427 <title>Switching to the first audio input</title> 428 429 <programlisting> 430 &v4l2-audio; audio; 431 432 memset (&audio, 0, sizeof (audio)); /* clear audio.mode, audio.reserved */ 433 434 audio.index = 0; 435 436 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-S-AUDIO;, &audio)) { 437 perror ("VIDIOC_S_AUDIO"); 438 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 439 } 440 </programlisting> 441 </example> 442 </section> 443 444 <section id="tuner"> 445 <title>Tuners and Modulators</title> 446 447 <section> 448 <title>Tuners</title> 449 450 <para>Video input devices can have one or more tuners 451 demodulating a RF signal. Each tuner is associated with one or more 452 video inputs, depending on the number of RF connectors on the tuner. 453 The <structfield>type</structfield> field of the respective 454 &v4l2-input; returned by the &VIDIOC-ENUMINPUT; ioctl is set to 455 <constant>V4L2_INPUT_TYPE_TUNER</constant> and its 456 <structfield>tuner</structfield> field contains the index number of 457 the tuner.</para> 458 459 <para>Radio devices have exactly one tuner with index zero, no 460 video inputs.</para> 461 462 <para>To query and change tuner properties applications use the 463 &VIDIOC-G-TUNER; and &VIDIOC-S-TUNER; ioctl, respectively. The 464 &v4l2-tuner; returned by <constant>VIDIOC_G_TUNER</constant> also 465 contains signal status information applicable when the tuner of the 466 current video input, or a radio tuner is queried. Note that 467 <constant>VIDIOC_S_TUNER</constant> does not switch the current tuner, 468 when there is more than one at all. The tuner is solely determined by 469 the current video input. Drivers must support both ioctls and set the 470 <constant>V4L2_CAP_TUNER</constant> flag in the &v4l2-capability; 471 returned by the &VIDIOC-QUERYCAP; ioctl when the device has one or 472 more tuners.</para> 473 </section> 474 475 <section> 476 <title>Modulators</title> 477 478 <para>Video output devices can have one or more modulators, uh, 479 modulating a video signal for radiation or connection to the antenna 480 input of a TV set or video recorder. Each modulator is associated with 481 one or more video outputs, depending on the number of RF connectors on 482 the modulator. The <structfield>type</structfield> field of the 483 respective &v4l2-output; returned by the &VIDIOC-ENUMOUTPUT; ioctl is 484 set to <constant>V4L2_OUTPUT_TYPE_MODULATOR</constant> and its 485 <structfield>modulator</structfield> field contains the index number 486 of the modulator. This specification does not define radio output 487 devices.</para> 488 489 <para>To query and change modulator properties applications use 490 the &VIDIOC-G-MODULATOR; and &VIDIOC-S-MODULATOR; ioctl. Note that 491 <constant>VIDIOC_S_MODULATOR</constant> does not switch the current 492 modulator, when there is more than one at all. The modulator is solely 493 determined by the current video output. Drivers must support both 494 ioctls and set the <constant>V4L2_CAP_MODULATOR</constant> flag in 495 the &v4l2-capability; returned by the &VIDIOC-QUERYCAP; ioctl when the 496 device has one or more modulators.</para> 497 </section> 498 499 <section> 500 <title>Radio Frequency</title> 501 502 <para>To get and set the tuner or modulator radio frequency 503 applications use the &VIDIOC-G-FREQUENCY; and &VIDIOC-S-FREQUENCY; 504 ioctl which both take a pointer to a &v4l2-frequency;. These ioctls 505 are used for TV and radio devices alike. Drivers must support both 506 ioctls when the tuner or modulator ioctls are supported, or 507 when the device is a radio device.</para> 508 </section> 509 </section> 510 511 <section id="standard"> 512 <title>Video Standards</title> 513 514 <para>Video devices typically support one or more different video 515 standards or variations of standards. Each video input and output may 516 support another set of standards. This set is reported by the 517 <structfield>std</structfield> field of &v4l2-input; and 518 &v4l2-output; returned by the &VIDIOC-ENUMINPUT; and 519 &VIDIOC-ENUMOUTPUT; ioctl, respectively.</para> 520 521 <para>V4L2 defines one bit for each analog video standard 522 currently in use worldwide, and sets aside bits for driver defined 523 standards, ⪚ hybrid standards to watch NTSC video tapes on PAL TVs 524 and vice versa. Applications can use the predefined bits to select a 525 particular standard, although presenting the user a menu of supported 526 standards is preferred. To enumerate and query the attributes of the 527 supported standards applications use the &VIDIOC-ENUMSTD; ioctl.</para> 528 529 <para>Many of the defined standards are actually just variations 530 of a few major standards. The hardware may in fact not distinguish 531 between them, or do so internal and switch automatically. Therefore 532 enumerated standards also contain sets of one or more standard 533 bits.</para> 534 535 <para>Assume a hypothetic tuner capable of demodulating B/PAL, 536 G/PAL and I/PAL signals. The first enumerated standard is a set of B 537 and G/PAL, switched automatically depending on the selected radio 538 frequency in UHF or VHF band. Enumeration gives a "PAL-B/G" or "PAL-I" 539 choice. Similar a Composite input may collapse standards, enumerating 540 "PAL-B/G/H/I", "NTSC-M" and "SECAM-D/K".<footnote> 541 <para>Some users are already confused by technical terms PAL, 542 NTSC and SECAM. There is no point asking them to distinguish between 543 B, G, D, or K when the software or hardware can do that 544 automatically.</para> 545 </footnote></para> 546 547 <para>To query and select the standard used by the current video 548 input or output applications call the &VIDIOC-G-STD; and 549 &VIDIOC-S-STD; ioctl, respectively. The <emphasis>received</emphasis> 550 standard can be sensed with the &VIDIOC-QUERYSTD; ioctl. Note parameter of all these ioctls is a pointer to a &v4l2-std-id; type (a standard set), <emphasis>not</emphasis> an index into the standard enumeration.<footnote> 551 <para>An alternative to the current scheme is to use pointers 552 to indices as arguments of <constant>VIDIOC_G_STD</constant> and 553 <constant>VIDIOC_S_STD</constant>, the &v4l2-input; and 554 &v4l2-output; <structfield>std</structfield> field would be a set of 555 indices like <structfield>audioset</structfield>.</para> 556 <para>Indices are consistent with the rest of the API 557 and identify the standard unambiguously. In the present scheme of 558 things an enumerated standard is looked up by &v4l2-std-id;. Now the 559 standards supported by the inputs of a device can overlap. Just 560 assume the tuner and composite input in the example above both 561 exist on a device. An enumeration of "PAL-B/G", "PAL-H/I" suggests 562 a choice which does not exist. We cannot merge or omit sets, because 563 applications would be unable to find the standards reported by 564 <constant>VIDIOC_G_STD</constant>. That leaves separate enumerations 565 for each input. Also selecting a standard by &v4l2-std-id; can be 566 ambiguous. Advantage of this method is that applications need not 567 identify the standard indirectly, after enumerating.</para><para>So in 568 summary, the lookup itself is unavoidable. The difference is only 569 whether the lookup is necessary to find an enumerated standard or to 570 switch to a standard by &v4l2-std-id;.</para> 571 </footnote> Drivers must implement all video standard ioctls 572 when the device has one or more video inputs or outputs.</para> 573 574 <para>Special rules apply to USB cameras where the notion of video 575 standards makes little sense. More generally any capture device, 576 output devices accordingly, which is <itemizedlist> 577 <listitem> 578 <para>incapable of capturing fields or frames at the nominal 579 rate of the video standard, or</para> 580 </listitem> 581 <listitem> 582 <para>where <link linkend="buffer">timestamps</link> refer 583 to the instant the field or frame was received by the driver, not the 584 capture time, or</para> 585 </listitem> 586 <listitem> 587 <para>where <link linkend="buffer">sequence numbers</link> 588 refer to the frames received by the driver, not the captured 589 frames.</para> 590 </listitem> 591 </itemizedlist> Here the driver shall set the 592 <structfield>std</structfield> field of &v4l2-input; and &v4l2-output; 593 to zero, the <constant>VIDIOC_G_STD</constant>, 594 <constant>VIDIOC_S_STD</constant>, 595 <constant>VIDIOC_QUERYSTD</constant> and 596 <constant>VIDIOC_ENUMSTD</constant> ioctls shall return the 597 &EINVAL;.<footnote> 598 <para>See <xref linkend="buffer" /> for a rationale. Probably 599 even USB cameras follow some well known video standard. It might have 600 been better to explicitly indicate elsewhere if a device cannot live 601 up to normal expectations, instead of this exception.</para> 602 </footnote></para> 603 604 <example> 605 <title>Information about the current video standard</title> 606 607 <programlisting> 608 &v4l2-std-id; std_id; 609 &v4l2-standard; standard; 610 611 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-G-STD;, &std_id)) { 612 /* Note when VIDIOC_ENUMSTD always returns EINVAL this 613 is no video device or it falls under the USB exception, 614 and VIDIOC_G_STD returning EINVAL is no error. */ 615 616 perror ("VIDIOC_G_STD"); 617 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 618 } 619 620 memset (&standard, 0, sizeof (standard)); 621 standard.index = 0; 622 623 while (0 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-ENUMSTD;, &standard)) { 624 if (standard.id & std_id) { 625 printf ("Current video standard: %s\n", standard.name); 626 exit (EXIT_SUCCESS); 627 } 628 629 standard.index++; 630 } 631 632 /* EINVAL indicates the end of the enumeration, which cannot be 633 empty unless this device falls under the USB exception. */ 634 635 if (errno == EINVAL || standard.index == 0) { 636 perror ("VIDIOC_ENUMSTD"); 637 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 638 } 639 </programlisting> 640 </example> 641 642 <example> 643 <title>Listing the video standards supported by the current 644 input</title> 645 646 <programlisting> 647 &v4l2-input; input; 648 &v4l2-standard; standard; 649 650 memset (&input, 0, sizeof (input)); 651 652 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-G-INPUT;, &input.index)) { 653 perror ("VIDIOC_G_INPUT"); 654 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 655 } 656 657 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-ENUMINPUT;, &input)) { 658 perror ("VIDIOC_ENUM_INPUT"); 659 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 660 } 661 662 printf ("Current input %s supports:\n", input.name); 663 664 memset (&standard, 0, sizeof (standard)); 665 standard.index = 0; 666 667 while (0 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-ENUMSTD;, &standard)) { 668 if (standard.id & input.std) 669 printf ("%s\n", standard.name); 670 671 standard.index++; 672 } 673 674 /* EINVAL indicates the end of the enumeration, which cannot be 675 empty unless this device falls under the USB exception. */ 676 677 if (errno != EINVAL || standard.index == 0) { 678 perror ("VIDIOC_ENUMSTD"); 679 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 680 } 681 </programlisting> 682 </example> 683 684 <example> 685 <title>Selecting a new video standard</title> 686 687 <programlisting> 688 &v4l2-input; input; 689 &v4l2-std-id; std_id; 690 691 memset (&input, 0, sizeof (input)); 692 693 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-G-INPUT;, &input.index)) { 694 perror ("VIDIOC_G_INPUT"); 695 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 696 } 697 698 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-ENUMINPUT;, &input)) { 699 perror ("VIDIOC_ENUM_INPUT"); 700 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 701 } 702 703 if (0 == (input.std & V4L2_STD_PAL_BG)) { 704 fprintf (stderr, "Oops. B/G PAL is not supported.\n"); 705 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 706 } 707 708 /* Note this is also supposed to work when only B 709 <emphasis>or</emphasis> G/PAL is supported. */ 710 711 std_id = V4L2_STD_PAL_BG; 712 713 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-S-STD;, &std_id)) { 714 perror ("VIDIOC_S_STD"); 715 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 716 } 717 </programlisting> 718 </example> 719 <section id="dv-timings"> 720 <title>Digital Video (DV) Timings</title> 721 <para> 722 The video standards discussed so far has been dealing with Analog TV and the 723 corresponding video timings. Today there are many more different hardware interfaces 724 such as High Definition TV interfaces (HDMI), VGA, DVI connectors etc., that carry 725 video signals and there is a need to extend the API to select the video timings 726 for these interfaces. Since it is not possible to extend the &v4l2-std-id; due to 727 the limited bits available, a new set of IOCTLs is added to set/get video timings at 728 the input and output: </para><itemizedlist> 729 <listitem> 730 <para>DV Presets: Digital Video (DV) presets. These are IDs representing a 731 video timing at the input/output. Presets are pre-defined timings implemented 732 by the hardware according to video standards. A __u32 data type is used to represent 733 a preset unlike the bit mask that is used in &v4l2-std-id; allowing future extensions 734 to support as many different presets as needed.</para> 735 </listitem> 736 <listitem> 737 <para>Custom DV Timings: This will allow applications to define more detailed 738 custom video timings for the interface. This includes parameters such as width, height, 739 polarities, frontporch, backporch etc. 740 </para> 741 </listitem> 742 </itemizedlist> 743 <para>To enumerate and query the attributes of DV presets supported by a device, 744 applications use the &VIDIOC-ENUM-DV-PRESETS; ioctl. To get the current DV preset, 745 applications use the &VIDIOC-G-DV-PRESET; ioctl and to set a preset they use the 746 &VIDIOC-S-DV-PRESET; ioctl.</para> 747 <para>To set custom DV timings for the device, applications use the 748 &VIDIOC-S-DV-TIMINGS; ioctl and to get current custom DV timings they use the 749 &VIDIOC-G-DV-TIMINGS; ioctl.</para> 750 <para>Applications can make use of the <xref linkend="input-capabilities" /> and 751 <xref linkend="output-capabilities"/> flags to decide what ioctls are available to set the 752 video timings for the device.</para> 753 </section> 754 </section> 755 756 &sub-controls; 757 758 <section id="format"> 759 <title>Data Formats</title> 760 761 <section> 762 <title>Data Format Negotiation</title> 763 764 <para>Different devices exchange different kinds of data with 765 applications, for example video images, raw or sliced VBI data, RDS 766 datagrams. Even within one kind many different formats are possible, 767 in particular an abundance of image formats. Although drivers must 768 provide a default and the selection persists across closing and 769 reopening a device, applications should always negotiate a data format 770 before engaging in data exchange. Negotiation means the application 771 asks for a particular format and the driver selects and reports the 772 best the hardware can do to satisfy the request. Of course 773 applications can also just query the current selection.</para> 774 775 <para>A single mechanism exists to negotiate all data formats 776 using the aggregate &v4l2-format; and the &VIDIOC-G-FMT; and 777 &VIDIOC-S-FMT; ioctls. Additionally the &VIDIOC-TRY-FMT; ioctl can be 778 used to examine what the hardware <emphasis>could</emphasis> do, 779 without actually selecting a new data format. The data formats 780 supported by the V4L2 API are covered in the respective device section 781 in <xref linkend="devices" />. For a closer look at image formats see 782 <xref linkend="pixfmt" />.</para> 783 784 <para>The <constant>VIDIOC_S_FMT</constant> ioctl is a major 785 turning-point in the initialization sequence. Prior to this point 786 multiple panel applications can access the same device concurrently to 787 select the current input, change controls or modify other properties. 788 The first <constant>VIDIOC_S_FMT</constant> assigns a logical stream 789 (video data, VBI data etc.) exclusively to one file descriptor.</para> 790 791 <para>Exclusive means no other application, more precisely no 792 other file descriptor, can grab this stream or change device 793 properties inconsistent with the negotiated parameters. A video 794 standard change for example, when the new standard uses a different 795 number of scan lines, can invalidate the selected image format. 796 Therefore only the file descriptor owning the stream can make 797 invalidating changes. Accordingly multiple file descriptors which 798 grabbed different logical streams prevent each other from interfering 799 with their settings. When for example video overlay is about to start 800 or already in progress, simultaneous video capturing may be restricted 801 to the same cropping and image size.</para> 802 803 <para>When applications omit the 804 <constant>VIDIOC_S_FMT</constant> ioctl its locking side effects are 805 implied by the next step, the selection of an I/O method with the 806 &VIDIOC-REQBUFS; ioctl or implicit with the first &func-read; or 807 &func-write; call.</para> 808 809 <para>Generally only one logical stream can be assigned to a 810 file descriptor, the exception being drivers permitting simultaneous 811 video capturing and overlay using the same file descriptor for 812 compatibility with V4L and earlier versions of V4L2. Switching the 813 logical stream or returning into "panel mode" is possible by closing 814 and reopening the device. Drivers <emphasis>may</emphasis> support a 815 switch using <constant>VIDIOC_S_FMT</constant>.</para> 816 817 <para>All drivers exchanging data with 818 applications must support the <constant>VIDIOC_G_FMT</constant> and 819 <constant>VIDIOC_S_FMT</constant> ioctl. Implementation of the 820 <constant>VIDIOC_TRY_FMT</constant> is highly recommended but 821 optional.</para> 822 </section> 823 824 <section> 825 <title>Image Format Enumeration</title> 826 827 <para>Apart of the generic format negotiation functions 828 a special ioctl to enumerate all image formats supported by video 829 capture, overlay or output devices is available.<footnote> 830 <para>Enumerating formats an application has no a-priori 831 knowledge of (otherwise it could explicitly ask for them and need not 832 enumerate) seems useless, but there are applications serving as proxy 833 between drivers and the actual video applications for which this is 834 useful.</para> 835 </footnote></para> 836 837 <para>The &VIDIOC-ENUM-FMT; ioctl must be supported 838 by all drivers exchanging image data with applications.</para> 839 840 <important> 841 <para>Drivers are not supposed to convert image formats in 842 kernel space. They must enumerate only formats directly supported by 843 the hardware. If necessary driver writers should publish an example 844 conversion routine or library for integration into applications.</para> 845 </important> 846 </section> 847 </section> 848 849 &sub-planar-apis; 850 851 <section id="crop"> 852 <title>Image Cropping, Insertion and Scaling</title> 853 854 <para>Some video capture devices can sample a subsection of the 855 picture and shrink or enlarge it to an image of arbitrary size. We 856 call these abilities cropping and scaling. Some video output devices 857 can scale an image up or down and insert it at an arbitrary scan line 858 and horizontal offset into a video signal.</para> 859 860 <para>Applications can use the following API to select an area in 861 the video signal, query the default area and the hardware limits. 862 <emphasis>Despite their name, the &VIDIOC-CROPCAP;, &VIDIOC-G-CROP; 863 and &VIDIOC-S-CROP; ioctls apply to input as well as output 864 devices.</emphasis></para> 865 866 <para>Scaling requires a source and a target. On a video capture 867 or overlay device the source is the video signal, and the cropping 868 ioctls determine the area actually sampled. The target are images 869 read by the application or overlaid onto the graphics screen. Their 870 size (and position for an overlay) is negotiated with the 871 &VIDIOC-G-FMT; and &VIDIOC-S-FMT; ioctls.</para> 872 873 <para>On a video output device the source are the images passed in 874 by the application, and their size is again negotiated with the 875 <constant>VIDIOC_G/S_FMT</constant> ioctls, or may be encoded in a 876 compressed video stream. The target is the video signal, and the 877 cropping ioctls determine the area where the images are 878 inserted.</para> 879 880 <para>Source and target rectangles are defined even if the device 881 does not support scaling or the <constant>VIDIOC_G/S_CROP</constant> 882 ioctls. Their size (and position where applicable) will be fixed in 883 this case. <emphasis>All capture and output device must support the 884 <constant>VIDIOC_CROPCAP</constant> ioctl such that applications can 885 determine if scaling takes place.</emphasis></para> 886 887 <section> 888 <title>Cropping Structures</title> 889 890 <figure id="crop-scale"> 891 <title>Image Cropping, Insertion and Scaling</title> 892 <mediaobject> 893 <imageobject> 894 <imagedata fileref="crop.pdf" format="PS" /> 895 </imageobject> 896 <imageobject> 897 <imagedata fileref="crop.gif" format="GIF" /> 898 </imageobject> 899 <textobject> 900 <phrase>The cropping, insertion and scaling process</phrase> 901 </textobject> 902 </mediaobject> 903 </figure> 904 905 <para>For capture devices the coordinates of the top left 906 corner, width and height of the area which can be sampled is given by 907 the <structfield>bounds</structfield> substructure of the 908 &v4l2-cropcap; returned by the <constant>VIDIOC_CROPCAP</constant> 909 ioctl. To support a wide range of hardware this specification does not 910 define an origin or units. However by convention drivers should 911 horizontally count unscaled samples relative to 0H (the leading edge 912 of the horizontal sync pulse, see <xref linkend="vbi-hsync" />). 913 Vertically ITU-R line 914 numbers of the first field (<xref linkend="vbi-525" />, <xref 915 linkend="vbi-625" />), multiplied by two if the driver can capture both 916 fields.</para> 917 918 <para>The top left corner, width and height of the source 919 rectangle, that is the area actually sampled, is given by &v4l2-crop; 920 using the same coordinate system as &v4l2-cropcap;. Applications can 921 use the <constant>VIDIOC_G_CROP</constant> and 922 <constant>VIDIOC_S_CROP</constant> ioctls to get and set this 923 rectangle. It must lie completely within the capture boundaries and 924 the driver may further adjust the requested size and/or position 925 according to hardware limitations.</para> 926 927 <para>Each capture device has a default source rectangle, given 928 by the <structfield>defrect</structfield> substructure of 929 &v4l2-cropcap;. The center of this rectangle shall align with the 930 center of the active picture area of the video signal, and cover what 931 the driver writer considers the complete picture. Drivers shall reset 932 the source rectangle to the default when the driver is first loaded, 933 but not later.</para> 934 935 <para>For output devices these structures and ioctls are used 936 accordingly, defining the <emphasis>target</emphasis> rectangle where 937 the images will be inserted into the video signal.</para> 938 939 </section> 940 941 <section> 942 <title>Scaling Adjustments</title> 943 944 <para>Video hardware can have various cropping, insertion and 945 scaling limitations. It may only scale up or down, support only 946 discrete scaling factors, or have different scaling abilities in 947 horizontal and vertical direction. Also it may not support scaling at 948 all. At the same time the &v4l2-crop; rectangle may have to be 949 aligned, and both the source and target rectangles may have arbitrary 950 upper and lower size limits. In particular the maximum 951 <structfield>width</structfield> and <structfield>height</structfield> 952 in &v4l2-crop; may be smaller than the 953 &v4l2-cropcap;.<structfield>bounds</structfield> area. Therefore, as 954 usual, drivers are expected to adjust the requested parameters and 955 return the actual values selected.</para> 956 957 <para>Applications can change the source or the target rectangle 958 first, as they may prefer a particular image size or a certain area in 959 the video signal. If the driver has to adjust both to satisfy hardware 960 limitations, the last requested rectangle shall take priority, and the 961 driver should preferably adjust the opposite one. The &VIDIOC-TRY-FMT; 962 ioctl however shall not change the driver state and therefore only 963 adjust the requested rectangle.</para> 964 965 <para>Suppose scaling on a video capture device is restricted to 966 a factor 1:1 or 2:1 in either direction and the target image size must 967 be a multiple of 16 × 16 pixels. The source cropping 968 rectangle is set to defaults, which are also the upper limit in this 969 example, of 640 × 400 pixels at offset 0, 0. An 970 application requests an image size of 300 × 225 971 pixels, assuming video will be scaled down from the "full picture" 972 accordingly. The driver sets the image size to the closest possible 973 values 304 × 224, then chooses the cropping rectangle 974 closest to the requested size, that is 608 × 224 975 (224 × 2:1 would exceed the limit 400). The offset 976 0, 0 is still valid, thus unmodified. Given the default cropping 977 rectangle reported by <constant>VIDIOC_CROPCAP</constant> the 978 application can easily propose another offset to center the cropping 979 rectangle.</para> 980 981 <para>Now the application may insist on covering an area using a 982 picture aspect ratio closer to the original request, so it asks for a 983 cropping rectangle of 608 × 456 pixels. The present 984 scaling factors limit cropping to 640 × 384, so the 985 driver returns the cropping size 608 × 384 and adjusts 986 the image size to closest possible 304 × 192.</para> 987 988 </section> 989 990 <section> 991 <title>Examples</title> 992 993 <para>Source and target rectangles shall remain unchanged across 994 closing and reopening a device, such that piping data into or out of a 995 device will work without special preparations. More advanced 996 applications should ensure the parameters are suitable before starting 997 I/O.</para> 998 999 <example> 1000 <title>Resetting the cropping parameters</title> 1001 1002 <para>(A video capture device is assumed; change 1003 <constant>V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE</constant> for other 1004 devices.)</para> 1005 1006 <programlisting> 1007 &v4l2-cropcap; cropcap; 1008 &v4l2-crop; crop; 1009 1010 memset (&cropcap, 0, sizeof (cropcap)); 1011 cropcap.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE; 1012 1013 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-CROPCAP;, &cropcap)) { 1014 perror ("VIDIOC_CROPCAP"); 1015 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 1016 } 1017 1018 memset (&crop, 0, sizeof (crop)); 1019 crop.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE; 1020 crop.c = cropcap.defrect; 1021 1022 /* Ignore if cropping is not supported (EINVAL). */ 1023 1024 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-S-CROP;, &crop) 1025 && errno != EINVAL) { 1026 perror ("VIDIOC_S_CROP"); 1027 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 1028 } 1029 </programlisting> 1030 </example> 1031 1032 <example> 1033 <title>Simple downscaling</title> 1034 1035 <para>(A video capture device is assumed.)</para> 1036 1037 <programlisting> 1038 &v4l2-cropcap; cropcap; 1039 &v4l2-format; format; 1040 1041 reset_cropping_parameters (); 1042 1043 /* Scale down to 1/4 size of full picture. */ 1044 1045 memset (&format, 0, sizeof (format)); /* defaults */ 1046 1047 format.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE; 1048 1049 format.fmt.pix.width = cropcap.defrect.width >> 1; 1050 format.fmt.pix.height = cropcap.defrect.height >> 1; 1051 format.fmt.pix.pixelformat = V4L2_PIX_FMT_YUYV; 1052 1053 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-S-FMT;, &format)) { 1054 perror ("VIDIOC_S_FORMAT"); 1055 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 1056 } 1057 1058 /* We could check the actual image size now, the actual scaling factor 1059 or if the driver can scale at all. */ 1060 </programlisting> 1061 </example> 1062 1063 <example> 1064 <title>Selecting an output area</title> 1065 1066 <programlisting> 1067 &v4l2-cropcap; cropcap; 1068 &v4l2-crop; crop; 1069 1070 memset (&cropcap, 0, sizeof (cropcap)); 1071 cropcap.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_OUTPUT; 1072 1073 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, VIDIOC_CROPCAP;, &cropcap)) { 1074 perror ("VIDIOC_CROPCAP"); 1075 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 1076 } 1077 1078 memset (&crop, 0, sizeof (crop)); 1079 1080 crop.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_OUTPUT; 1081 crop.c = cropcap.defrect; 1082 1083 /* Scale the width and height to 50 % of their original size 1084 and center the output. */ 1085 1086 crop.c.width /= 2; 1087 crop.c.height /= 2; 1088 crop.c.left += crop.c.width / 2; 1089 crop.c.top += crop.c.height / 2; 1090 1091 /* Ignore if cropping is not supported (EINVAL). */ 1092 1093 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, VIDIOC_S_CROP, &crop) 1094 && errno != EINVAL) { 1095 perror ("VIDIOC_S_CROP"); 1096 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 1097 } 1098 </programlisting> 1099 </example> 1100 1101 <example> 1102 <title>Current scaling factor and pixel aspect</title> 1103 1104 <para>(A video capture device is assumed.)</para> 1105 1106 <programlisting> 1107 &v4l2-cropcap; cropcap; 1108 &v4l2-crop; crop; 1109 &v4l2-format; format; 1110 double hscale, vscale; 1111 double aspect; 1112 int dwidth, dheight; 1113 1114 memset (&cropcap, 0, sizeof (cropcap)); 1115 cropcap.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE; 1116 1117 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-CROPCAP;, &cropcap)) { 1118 perror ("VIDIOC_CROPCAP"); 1119 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 1120 } 1121 1122 memset (&crop, 0, sizeof (crop)); 1123 crop.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE; 1124 1125 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-G-CROP;, &crop)) { 1126 if (errno != EINVAL) { 1127 perror ("VIDIOC_G_CROP"); 1128 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 1129 } 1130 1131 /* Cropping not supported. */ 1132 crop.c = cropcap.defrect; 1133 } 1134 1135 memset (&format, 0, sizeof (format)); 1136 format.fmt.type = V4L2_BUF_TYPE_VIDEO_CAPTURE; 1137 1138 if (-1 == ioctl (fd, &VIDIOC-G-FMT;, &format)) { 1139 perror ("VIDIOC_G_FMT"); 1140 exit (EXIT_FAILURE); 1141 } 1142 1143 /* The scaling applied by the driver. */ 1144 1145 hscale = format.fmt.pix.width / (double) crop.c.width; 1146 vscale = format.fmt.pix.height / (double) crop.c.height; 1147 1148 aspect = cropcap.pixelaspect.numerator / 1149 (double) cropcap.pixelaspect.denominator; 1150 aspect = aspect * hscale / vscale; 1151 1152 /* Devices following ITU-R BT.601 do not capture 1153 square pixels. For playback on a computer monitor 1154 we should scale the images to this size. */ 1155 1156 dwidth = format.fmt.pix.width / aspect; 1157 dheight = format.fmt.pix.height; 1158 </programlisting> 1159 </example> 1160 </section> 1161 </section> 1162 1163 <section id="streaming-par"> 1164 <title>Streaming Parameters</title> 1165 1166 <para>Streaming parameters are intended to optimize the video 1167 capture process as well as I/O. Presently applications can request a 1168 high quality capture mode with the &VIDIOC-S-PARM; ioctl.</para> 1169 1170 <para>The current video standard determines a nominal number of 1171 frames per second. If less than this number of frames is to be 1172 captured or output, applications can request frame skipping or 1173 duplicating on the driver side. This is especially useful when using 1174 the &func-read; or &func-write;, which are not augmented by timestamps 1175 or sequence counters, and to avoid unnecessary data copying.</para> 1176 1177 <para>Finally these ioctls can be used to determine the number of 1178 buffers used internally by a driver in read/write mode. For 1179 implications see the section discussing the &func-read; 1180 function.</para> 1181 1182 <para>To get and set the streaming parameters applications call 1183 the &VIDIOC-G-PARM; and &VIDIOC-S-PARM; ioctl, respectively. They take 1184 a pointer to a &v4l2-streamparm;, which contains a union holding 1185 separate parameters for input and output devices.</para> 1186 1187 <para>These ioctls are optional, drivers need not implement 1188 them. If so, they return the &EINVAL;.</para> 1189 </section> 1190 1191 <!-- 1192 Local Variables: 1193 mode: sgml 1194 sgml-parent-document: "v4l2.sgml" 1195 indent-tabs-mode: nil 1196 End: 1197 -->