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author | Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com> | 2016-07-08 16:40:06 +0200 |
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committer | Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com> | 2016-07-08 16:59:40 +0200 |
commit | 60c2820d0f6d3497975b6488e2599f8f611d8b95 (patch) | |
tree | b3b03707c6438ea9b99cc57e847ebf517f968ab1 /Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/rw.rst | |
parent | doc-rst: remove an invalid include from the docs (diff) | |
download | linux-60c2820d0f6d3497975b6488e2599f8f611d8b95.tar.xz linux-60c2820d0f6d3497975b6488e2599f8f611d8b95.zip |
doc_rst: rename the media Sphinx suff to Documentation/media
The name of the subsystem is "media", and not "linux_tv". Also,
as we plan to add other stuff there in the future, let's
rename also the media uAPI book to media_uapi, to make it
clearer.
No functional changes.
Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/rw.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/rw.rst | 47 |
1 files changed, 47 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/rw.rst b/Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/rw.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..66ba54648c45 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/media/uapi/v4l/rw.rst @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +.. -*- coding: utf-8; mode: rst -*- + +.. _rw: + +********** +Read/Write +********** + +Input and output devices support the :ref:`read() <func-read>` and +:ref:`write() <func-write>` function, respectively, when the +``V4L2_CAP_READWRITE`` flag in the ``capabilities`` field of struct +:ref:`v4l2_capability <v4l2-capability>` returned by the +:ref:`VIDIOC_QUERYCAP` ioctl is set. + +Drivers may need the CPU to copy the data, but they may also support DMA +to or from user memory, so this I/O method is not necessarily less +efficient than other methods merely exchanging buffer pointers. It is +considered inferior though because no meta-information like frame +counters or timestamps are passed. This information is necessary to +recognize frame dropping and to synchronize with other data streams. +However this is also the simplest I/O method, requiring little or no +setup to exchange data. It permits command line stunts like this (the +vidctrl tool is fictitious): + + +.. code-block:: none + + $ vidctrl /dev/video --input=0 --format=YUYV --size=352x288 + $ dd if=/dev/video of=myimage.422 bs=202752 count=1 + +To read from the device applications use the :ref:`read() <func-read>` +function, to write the :ref:`write() <func-write>` function. Drivers +must implement one I/O method if they exchange data with applications, +but it need not be this. [1]_ When reading or writing is supported, the +driver must also support the :ref:`select() <func-select>` and +:ref:`poll() <func-poll>` function. [2]_ + +.. [1] + It would be desirable if applications could depend on drivers + supporting all I/O interfaces, but as much as the complex memory + mapping I/O can be inadequate for some devices we have no reason to + require this interface, which is most useful for simple applications + capturing still images. + +.. [2] + At the driver level :ref:`select() <func-select>` and :ref:`poll() <func-poll>` are + the same, and :ref:`select() <func-select>` is too important to be optional. |