Based on kernel version 2.6.26. Page generated on 2008-07-16 21:13 EST.
1 Revised: 2000-Dec-05. 2 Again: 2002-Jul-06 3 Again: 2005-Sep-19 4 5 NOTE: 6 7 The USB subsystem now has a substantial section in "The Linux Kernel API" 8 guide (in Documentation/DocBook), generated from the current source 9 code. This particular documentation file isn't particularly current or 10 complete; don't rely on it except for a quick overview. 11 12 13 1.1. Basic concept or 'What is an URB?' 14 15 The basic idea of the new driver is message passing, the message itself is 16 called USB Request Block, or URB for short. 17 18 - An URB consists of all relevant information to execute any USB transaction 19 and deliver the data and status back. 20 21 - Execution of an URB is inherently an asynchronous operation, i.e. the 22 usb_submit_urb(urb) call returns immediately after it has successfully 23 queued the requested action. 24 25 - Transfers for one URB can be canceled with usb_unlink_urb(urb) at any time. 26 27 - Each URB has a completion handler, which is called after the action 28 has been successfully completed or canceled. The URB also contains a 29 context-pointer for passing information to the completion handler. 30 31 - Each endpoint for a device logically supports a queue of requests. 32 You can fill that queue, so that the USB hardware can still transfer 33 data to an endpoint while your driver handles completion of another. 34 This maximizes use of USB bandwidth, and supports seamless streaming 35 of data to (or from) devices when using periodic transfer modes. 36 37 38 1.2. The URB structure 39 40 Some of the fields in an URB are: 41 42 struct urb 43 { 44 // (IN) device and pipe specify the endpoint queue 45 struct usb_device *dev; // pointer to associated USB device 46 unsigned int pipe; // endpoint information 47 48 unsigned int transfer_flags; // ISO_ASAP, SHORT_NOT_OK, etc. 49 50 // (IN) all urbs need completion routines 51 void *context; // context for completion routine 52 void (*complete)(struct urb *); // pointer to completion routine 53 54 // (OUT) status after each completion 55 int status; // returned status 56 57 // (IN) buffer used for data transfers 58 void *transfer_buffer; // associated data buffer 59 int transfer_buffer_length; // data buffer length 60 int number_of_packets; // size of iso_frame_desc 61 62 // (OUT) sometimes only part of CTRL/BULK/INTR transfer_buffer is used 63 int actual_length; // actual data buffer length 64 65 // (IN) setup stage for CTRL (pass a struct usb_ctrlrequest) 66 unsigned char* setup_packet; // setup packet (control only) 67 68 // Only for PERIODIC transfers (ISO, INTERRUPT) 69 // (IN/OUT) start_frame is set unless ISO_ASAP isn't set 70 int start_frame; // start frame 71 int interval; // polling interval 72 73 // ISO only: packets are only "best effort"; each can have errors 74 int error_count; // number of errors 75 struct usb_iso_packet_descriptor iso_frame_desc[0]; 76 }; 77 78 Your driver must create the "pipe" value using values from the appropriate 79 endpoint descriptor in an interface that it's claimed. 80 81 82 1.3. How to get an URB? 83 84 URBs are allocated with the following call 85 86 struct urb *usb_alloc_urb(int isoframes, int mem_flags) 87 88 Return value is a pointer to the allocated URB, 0 if allocation failed. 89 The parameter isoframes specifies the number of isochronous transfer frames 90 you want to schedule. For CTRL/BULK/INT, use 0. The mem_flags parameter 91 holds standard memory allocation flags, letting you control (among other 92 things) whether the underlying code may block or not. 93 94 To free an URB, use 95 96 void usb_free_urb(struct urb *urb) 97 98 You may free an urb that you've submitted, but which hasn't yet been 99 returned to you in a completion callback. It will automatically be 100 deallocated when it is no longer in use. 101 102 103 1.4. What has to be filled in? 104 105 Depending on the type of transaction, there are some inline functions 106 defined in <linux/usb.h> to simplify the initialization, such as 107 fill_control_urb() and fill_bulk_urb(). In general, they need the usb 108 device pointer, the pipe (usual format from usb.h), the transfer buffer, 109 the desired transfer length, the completion handler, and its context. 110 Take a look at the some existing drivers to see how they're used. 111 112 Flags: 113 For ISO there are two startup behaviors: Specified start_frame or ASAP. 114 For ASAP set URB_ISO_ASAP in transfer_flags. 115 116 If short packets should NOT be tolerated, set URB_SHORT_NOT_OK in 117 transfer_flags. 118 119 120 1.5. How to submit an URB? 121 122 Just call 123 124 int usb_submit_urb(struct urb *urb, int mem_flags) 125 126 The mem_flags parameter, such as SLAB_ATOMIC, controls memory allocation, 127 such as whether the lower levels may block when memory is tight. 128 129 It immediately returns, either with status 0 (request queued) or some 130 error code, usually caused by the following: 131 132 - Out of memory (-ENOMEM) 133 - Unplugged device (-ENODEV) 134 - Stalled endpoint (-EPIPE) 135 - Too many queued ISO transfers (-EAGAIN) 136 - Too many requested ISO frames (-EFBIG) 137 - Invalid INT interval (-EINVAL) 138 - More than one packet for INT (-EINVAL) 139 140 After submission, urb->status is -EINPROGRESS; however, you should never 141 look at that value except in your completion callback. 142 143 For isochronous endpoints, your completion handlers should (re)submit 144 URBs to the same endpoint with the ISO_ASAP flag, using multi-buffering, 145 to get seamless ISO streaming. 146 147 148 1.6. How to cancel an already running URB? 149 150 There are two ways to cancel an URB you've submitted but which hasn't 151 been returned to your driver yet. For an asynchronous cancel, call 152 153 int usb_unlink_urb(struct urb *urb) 154 155 It removes the urb from the internal list and frees all allocated 156 HW descriptors. The status is changed to reflect unlinking. Note 157 that the URB will not normally have finished when usb_unlink_urb() 158 returns; you must still wait for the completion handler to be called. 159 160 To cancel an URB synchronously, call 161 162 void usb_kill_urb(struct urb *urb) 163 164 It does everything usb_unlink_urb does, and in addition it waits 165 until after the URB has been returned and the completion handler 166 has finished. It also marks the URB as temporarily unusable, so 167 that if the completion handler or anyone else tries to resubmit it 168 they will get a -EPERM error. Thus you can be sure that when 169 usb_kill_urb() returns, the URB is totally idle. 170 171 172 1.7. What about the completion handler? 173 174 The handler is of the following type: 175 176 typedef void (*usb_complete_t)(struct urb *, struct pt_regs *) 177 178 I.e., it gets the URB that caused the completion call, plus the 179 register values at the time of the corresponding interrupt (if any). 180 In the completion handler, you should have a look at urb->status to 181 detect any USB errors. Since the context parameter is included in the URB, 182 you can pass information to the completion handler. 183 184 Note that even when an error (or unlink) is reported, data may have been 185 transferred. That's because USB transfers are packetized; it might take 186 sixteen packets to transfer your 1KByte buffer, and ten of them might 187 have transferred successfully before the completion was called. 188 189 190 NOTE: ***** WARNING ***** 191 NEVER SLEEP IN A COMPLETION HANDLER. These are normally called 192 during hardware interrupt processing. If you can, defer substantial 193 work to a tasklet (bottom half) to keep system latencies low. You'll 194 probably need to use spinlocks to protect data structures you manipulate 195 in completion handlers. 196 197 198 1.8. How to do isochronous (ISO) transfers? 199 200 For ISO transfers you have to fill a usb_iso_packet_descriptor structure, 201 allocated at the end of the URB by usb_alloc_urb(n,mem_flags), for each 202 packet you want to schedule. You also have to set urb->interval to say 203 how often to make transfers; it's often one per frame (which is once 204 every microframe for highspeed devices). The actual interval used will 205 be a power of two that's no bigger than what you specify. 206 207 The usb_submit_urb() call modifies urb->interval to the implemented interval 208 value that is less than or equal to the requested interval value. If 209 ISO_ASAP scheduling is used, urb->start_frame is also updated. 210 211 For each entry you have to specify the data offset for this frame (base is 212 transfer_buffer), and the length you want to write/expect to read. 213 After completion, actual_length contains the actual transferred length and 214 status contains the resulting status for the ISO transfer for this frame. 215 It is allowed to specify a varying length from frame to frame (e.g. for 216 audio synchronisation/adaptive transfer rates). You can also use the length 217 0 to omit one or more frames (striping). 218 219 For scheduling you can choose your own start frame or ISO_ASAP. As explained 220 earlier, if you always keep at least one URB queued and your completion 221 keeps (re)submitting a later URB, you'll get smooth ISO streaming (if usb 222 bandwidth utilization allows). 223 224 If you specify your own start frame, make sure it's several frames in advance 225 of the current frame. You might want this model if you're synchronizing 226 ISO data with some other event stream. 227 228 229 1.9. How to start interrupt (INT) transfers? 230 231 Interrupt transfers, like isochronous transfers, are periodic, and happen 232 in intervals that are powers of two (1, 2, 4 etc) units. Units are frames 233 for full and low speed devices, and microframes for high speed ones. 234 The usb_submit_urb() call modifies urb->interval to the implemented interval 235 value that is less than or equal to the requested interval value. 236 237 In Linux 2.6, unlike earlier versions, interrupt URBs are not automagically 238 restarted when they complete. They end when the completion handler is 239 called, just like other URBs. If you want an interrupt URB to be restarted, 240 your completion handler must resubmit it.