2 ZC0301 and ZC0301P Image Processor and Control Chip
4 ===================================================
14 4. Overview and features
15 5. Module dependencies
19 9. Notes for V4L2 application developers
20 10. Contact information
26 Copyright (C) 2006-2007 by Luca Risolia <luca.risolia@studio.unibo.it>
31 This software is not developed or sponsored by Z-Star Microelectronics Corp.
32 Trademarks are property of their respective owner.
37 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
38 it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
39 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
40 (at your option) any later version.
42 This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
43 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
44 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
45 GNU General Public License for more details.
47 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
48 along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
49 Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
52 4. Overview and features
53 ========================
54 This driver supports the video interface of the devices mounting the ZC0301 or
55 ZC0301P Image Processors and Control Chips.
57 The driver relies on the Video4Linux2 and USB core modules. It has been
58 designed to run properly on SMP systems as well.
60 The latest version of the ZC0301[P] driver can be found at the following URL:
61 http://www.linux-projects.org/
63 Some of the features of the driver are:
65 - full compliance with the Video4Linux2 API (see also "Notes for V4L2
66 application developers" paragraph);
67 - available mmap or read/poll methods for video streaming through isochronous
69 - automatic detection of image sensor;
70 - video format is standard JPEG;
71 - dynamic driver control thanks to various module parameters (see "Module
72 parameters" paragraph);
73 - up to 64 cameras can be handled at the same time; they can be connected and
74 disconnected from the host many times without turning off the computer, if
75 the system supports hotplugging;
78 5. Module dependencies
79 ======================
80 For it to work properly, the driver needs kernel support for Video4Linux and
83 The following options of the kernel configuration file must be enabled and
84 corresponding modules must be compiled:
94 In addition, depending on the hardware being used, the modules below are
97 # USB Host Controller Drivers
100 CONFIG_USB_UHCI_HCD=m
101 CONFIG_USB_OHCI_HCD=m
103 The ZC0301 controller also provides a built-in microphone interface. It is
104 supported by the USB Audio driver thanks to the ALSA API:
110 # Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
116 CONFIG_SND_USB_AUDIO=m
127 To use the driver, it is necessary to load the "zc0301" module into memory
128 after every other module required: "videodev", "v4l2_common", "compat_ioctl32",
129 "usbcore" and, depending on the USB host controller you have, "ehci-hcd",
130 "uhci-hcd" or "ohci-hcd".
132 Loading can be done as shown below:
134 [root@localhost home]# modprobe zc0301
136 At this point the devices should be recognized. You can invoke "dmesg" to
137 analyze kernel messages and verify that the loading process has gone well:
139 [user@localhost home]$ dmesg
144 Module parameters are listed below:
145 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
147 Type: short array (min = 0, max = 64)
149 Description: Specify V4L2 minor mode number:
150 -1 = use next available
151 n = use minor number n
152 You can specify up to 64 cameras this way.
154 video_nr=-1,2,-1 would assign minor number 2 to the second
155 registered camera and use auto for the first one and for every
158 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
160 Type: bool array (min = 0, max = 64)
162 Description: Force the application to unmap previously mapped buffer memory
163 before calling any VIDIOC_S_CROP or VIDIOC_S_FMT ioctl's. Not
164 all the applications support this feature. This parameter is
165 specific for each detected camera.
166 0 = do not force memory unmapping
167 1 = force memory unmapping (save memory)
169 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
171 Type: uint array (min = 0, max = 64)
173 Description: Timeout for a video frame in seconds. This parameter is
174 specific for each detected camera. This parameter can be
175 changed at runtime thanks to the /sys filesystem interface.
177 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
181 Description: Debugging information level, from 0 to 3:
182 0 = none (use carefully)
184 2 = significant information
185 3 = more verbose messages
186 Level 3 is useful for testing only, when only one device
187 is used at the same time. It also shows some information
188 about the hardware being detected. This module parameter can be
189 changed at runtime thanks to the /sys filesystem interface.
191 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
196 None of the names of the companies as well as their products will be mentioned
197 here. They have never collaborated with the author, so no advertising.
199 From the point of view of a driver, what unambiguously identify a device are
200 its vendor and product USB identifiers. Below is a list of known identifiers of
201 devices mounting the ZC0301 Image Processor and Control Chips:
227 The list above does not imply that all those devices work with this driver: up
228 until now only the ones that mount the following image sensors are supported;
229 kernel messages will always tell you whether this is the case:
233 PAS202BCB PixArt Imaging, Inc.
234 PB-0330 Photobit Corporation
237 9. Notes for V4L2 application developers
238 ========================================
239 This driver follows the V4L2 API specifications. In particular, it enforces two
242 - exactly one I/O method, either "mmap" or "read", is associated with each
243 file descriptor. Once it is selected, the application must close and reopen the
244 device to switch to the other I/O method;
246 - although it is not mandatory, previously mapped buffer memory should always
247 be unmapped before calling any "VIDIOC_S_CROP" or "VIDIOC_S_FMT" ioctl's.
248 The same number of buffers as before will be allocated again to match the size
249 of the new video frames, so you have to map the buffers again before any I/O
253 10. Contact information
254 =======================
255 The author may be contacted by e-mail at <luca.risolia@studio.unibo.it>.
257 GPG/PGP encrypted e-mail's are accepted. The GPG key ID of the author is
258 'FCE635A4'; the public 1024-bit key should be available at any keyserver;
259 the fingerprint is: '88E8 F32F 7244 68BA 3958 5D40 99DA 5D2A FCE6 35A4'.
264 - Information about the chip internals needed to enable the I2C protocol have
265 been taken from the documentation of the ZC030x Video4Linux1 driver written
266 by Andrew Birkett <andy@nobugs.org>;
267 - The initialization values of the ZC0301 controller connected to the PAS202BCB
268 and PB-0330 image sensors have been taken from the SPCA5XX driver maintained
269 by Michel Xhaard <mxhaard@magic.fr>;
270 - Stanislav Lechev donated one camera.