libcamera/Documentation/sensor_driver_requirements.rst
Jacopo Mondi 29d6d0e93b libcamera: Move IPA sensor controls validation to CameraSensor
The CameraSensor class validates that the sensor driver in use supports
the controls required for IPA modules to work correctly.

For in-tree IPA modules, whose pipeline handlers already use
CameraSensor there's no need to validate such controls again.

Remove controls validation from the IPU3 and RkISP1 IPA modules and rely
on CameraSensor doing that at initialization time.

The list of mandatory controls is expanded to add V4L2_CID_ANALOGUE_GAIN
without which IPA modules cannot function.

The new requirement only applies to RAW sensors, platforms like UVC and
Simple are not impacted by this change.

While at it, expand the sensor driver requirements documentation to
include V4L2_ANALOGUE_GAIN in the list of mandatory controls a sensor
driver has to support.

Signed-off-by: Jacopo Mondi <jacopo@jmondi.org>
Reviewed-by: Kieran Bingham <kieran.bingham@ideasonboard.com>
Reviewed-by: Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>
2022-11-23 18:44:35 +01:00

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.. SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
.. _sensor-driver-requirements:
Sensor Driver Requirements
==========================
libcamera handles imaging devices in the CameraSensor class and defines
a consistent interface through its API towards other library components.
The CameraSensor class uses the V4L2 subdev kernel API to interface with the
camera sensor through one or multiple sub-devices exposed in userspace by
the sensor driver.
In order for libcamera to be fully operational and provide all the required
information to interface with the camera sensor to applications and pipeline
handlers, a set of mandatory and optional features the driver has to support
has been defined.
Mandatory Requirements
----------------------
The sensor driver is assumed to be fully compliant with the V4L2 specification.
For RAW sensors, the sensor driver shall support the following V4L2 controls:
* `V4L2_CID_ANALOGUE_GAIN`_
* `V4L2_CID_EXPOSURE`_
* `V4L2_CID_HBLANK`_
* `V4L2_CID_PIXEL_RATE`_
* `V4L2_CID_VBLANK`_
.. _V4L2_CID_ANALOGUE_GAIN: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/ext-ctrls-image-source.html
.. _V4L2_CID_EXPOSURE: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/control.html
.. _V4L2_CID_HBLANK: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/ext-ctrls-image-source.html
.. _V4L2_CID_PIXEL_RATE: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/ext-ctrls-image-process.html
.. _V4L2_CID_VBLANK: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/ext-ctrls-image-source.html
The ``ANALOGUE_GAIN`` control units are sensor-specific. libcamera requires
a sensor-specific CameraSensorHelper implementation to translate between the
sensor specific ``gain code`` and the analogue ``gain value`` expressed as an
absolute number as defined by ``controls::AnalogueGain``.
While V4L2 doesn't specify a unit for the ``EXPOSURE`` control, libcamera
requires it to be expressed as a number of image lines. Camera sensor drivers
that do not comply with this requirement will need to be adapted or will produce
incorrect results.
The ``HBLANK``, ``PIXEL_RATE`` and ``VBLANK`` controls are used to compute the
sensor output timings.
Optional Requirements
---------------------
The sensor driver should support the following V4L2 controls:
* `V4L2_CID_CAMERA_ORIENTATION`_
* `V4L2_CID_CAMERA_SENSOR_ROTATION`_
.. _V4L2_CID_CAMERA_ORIENTATION: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/ext-ctrls-camera.html
.. _V4L2_CID_CAMERA_SENSOR_ROTATION: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/ext-ctrls-camera.html
The controls are used to register the camera location and rotation.
The sensor driver should implement support for the V4L2 Selection API,
specifically it should implement support for the
`VIDIOC_SUBDEV_G_SELECTION`_ ioctl with support for the following selection
targets:
.. _VIDIOC_SUBDEV_G_SELECTION: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/vidioc-subdev-g-selection.html#c.V4L.VIDIOC_SUBDEV_G_SELECTION
* `V4L2_SEL_TGT_CROP_BOUNDS`_ to report the readable pixel array area size
* `V4L2_SEL_TGT_CROP_DEFAULT`_ to report the active pixel array area size
* `V4L2_SEL_TGT_CROP`_ to report the analogue selection rectangle
Support for the selection API is scheduled to become a mandatory feature in
the near future.
.. _V4L2_SEL_TGT_CROP_BOUNDS: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/v4l2-selection-targets.html
.. _V4L2_SEL_TGT_CROP_DEFAULT: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/v4l2-selection-targets.html
.. _V4L2_SEL_TGT_CROP: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/userspace-api/media/v4l/v4l2-selection-targets.html