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Readme for Linux device driver for the OmniVision OV511 USB to camera bridge IC
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Author: Mark McClelland
Homepage: http://alpha.dyndns.org/ov511

INTRODUCTION:

This is a driver for the OV511, a USB-only chip used in many "webcam" devices.
Any camera using the OV511/OV511+ and the OV6620/OV7610/20/20AE should work.
Video capture devices that use the Philips SAA7111A decoder also work. It 
supports streaming and capture of color or monochrome video via the Video4Linux
API. Most V4L apps are compatible with it. Most resolutions with a width and
height that are a multiple of 8 are supported.

If you need more information, please visit the OV511 homepage at the above URL.

WHAT YOU NEED:

- If you want to help with the development, get the chip's specification docs at
  http://www.ovt.com/omniusbp.html

- A Video4Linux compatible frame grabber program (I recommend vidcat and xawtv)
    vidcat is part of the w3cam package:  http://www.hdk-berlin.de/~rasca/w3cam/
    xawtv is available at:  http://www.in-berlin.de/User/kraxel/xawtv.html

HOW TO USE IT:

Note: These are simplified instructions. For complete instructions see:
        http://alpha.dyndns.org/ov511/install.html

You must have first compiled USB support, support for your specific USB host
controller (UHCI or OHCI), and Video4Linux support for your kernel (I recommend
making them modules.) Make sure "Enforce bandwidth allocation" is NOT enabled.

Next, (as root):

        modprobe usbcore
        modprobe usb-uhci  <OR>  modprobe usb-ohci
        modprobe videodev
        modprobe ov511

If it is not already there (it usually is), create the video device:

        mknod /dev/video0 c 81 0

Optionally, symlink /dev/video to /dev/video0

You will have to set permissions on this device to allow you to read/write
from it:

        chmod 666 /dev/video
        chmod 666 /dev/video0 (if necessary)
        
Now you are ready to run a video app! Both vidcat and xawtv work well for me
at 640x480.
        
[Using vidcat:]

        vidcat -s 640x480 -p c > test.jpg
        xview test.jpg
        
[Using xawtv:]

From the main xawtv directory:

        make clean
        ./configure
        make
        make install

Now you should be able to run xawtv. Right click for the options dialog. 

MODULE PARAMETERS:

  You can set these with:  insmod ov511 NAME=VALUE
  There is currently no way to set these on a per-camera basis.

  NAME: autobright
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 1
  DESC: Brightness is normally under automatic control and can't be set
        manually by the video app. Set to 0 for manual control.

  NAME: autogain
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 1
  DESC: Auto Gain Control enable. This feature is not yet implemented.

  NAME: autoexp
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 1
  DESC: Auto Exposure Control enable. This feature is not yet implemented.

  NAME: debug
  TYPE: integer (0-6)
  DEFAULT: 3
  DESC: Sets the threshold for printing debug messages. The higher the value,
        the more is printed. The levels are cumulative, and are as follows:
          0=no debug messages
          1=init/detection/unload and other significant messages
          2=some warning messages
          3=config/control function calls
          4=most function calls and data parsing messages
          5=highly repetitive mesgs

  NAME: fix_rgb_offset
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0
  DESC: Some people have reported that the blue component of the image is one
        or so lines higher than the red component. This is only apparent in 
        images with white objects on black backgrounds at 640x480. Setting this
        to 1 will realign the color planes correctly. NOTE: You will likely
        need a fast (500 MHz) CPU.

  NAME: snapshot
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0
  DESC: Set to 1 to enable snapshot mode. read()/VIDIOCSYNC will block until
        the snapshot button is pressed. Note: enabling this mode disables
        /proc/video/ov511/<minor#>/button

  NAME: force_rgb       (Deprecated; may be removed in the future)
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0
  DESC: Force image to be read in RGB instead of BGR. This option allow
        programs that expect RGB data (e.g. gqcam) to work with this driver. If
        your colors look VERY wrong, you may want to change this.

  NAME: cams
  TYPE: integer (1-4 for OV511, 1-31 for OV511+)
  DEFAULT: 1
  DESC: Number of cameras allowed to stream simultaneously on a single bus.
        Values higher than 1 reduce the data rate of each camera, allowing two
        or more to be used at once. If you have a complicated setup involving
        both OV511 and OV511+ cameras, trial-and-error may be necessary for
        finding the optimum setting.

  NAME: compress
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0
  DESC: Set this to 1 to turn on the camera's compression engine. This can
        potentially increase the frame rate at the expense of quality, if you
        have a fast CPU. You must load the proper compression module for your
        camera before starting your application (ov511_decomp or ov518_decomp).

  NAME: testpat
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0
  DESC: This configures the camera's sensor to transmit a colored test-pattern
        instead of an image. This does not work correctly yet.

  NAME: dumppix
  TYPE: integer (0-2)
  DEFAULT: 0
  DESC: Dumps raw pixel data and skips post-processing and format conversion.
        It is for debugging purposes only. Options are:
                0: Disable (default)
                1: Dump raw data from camera, excluding headers and trailers
                2: Dumps data exactly as received from camera

  NAME: led
  TYPE: integer (0-2)
  DEFAULT: 1 (Always on)
  DESC: Controls whether the LED (the little light) on the front of the camera
        is always off (0), always on (1), or only on when driver is open (2).
        This is not supported with the OV511, and might only work with certain
        cameras (ones that actually have the LED wired to the control pin, and
        not just hard-wired to be on all the time).

  NAME: dump_bridge
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0
  DESC: Dumps the bridge (OV511[+] or OV518[+]) register values to the system
        log. Only useful for serious debugging/development purposes.

  NAME: dump_sensor
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0
  DESC: Dumps the sensor register values to the system log. Only useful for
        serious debugging/development purposes.

  NAME: printph
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0
  DESC: Setting this to 1 will dump the first 12 bytes of each isoc frame. This
        is only useful if you are trying to debug problems with the isoc data
        stream (i.e.: camera initializes, but vidcat hangs until Ctrl-C). Be
        warned that this dumps a large number of messages to your kernel log.

  NAME: phy, phuv, pvy, pvuv, qhy, qhuv, qvy, qvuv
  TYPE: integer (0-63 for phy and phuv, 0-255 for rest)
  DEFAULT: OV511 default values
  DESC: These are registers 70h - 77h of the OV511, which control the
        prediction ranges and quantization thresholds of the compressor, for
        the Y and UV channels in the horizontal and vertical directions. See
        the OV511 or OV511+ data sheet for more detailed descriptions. These
        normally do not need to be changed.

  NAME: lightfreq
  TYPE: integer (0, 50, or 60)
  DEFAULT: 0 (use sensor default)
  DESC: Sets the sensor to match your lighting frequency. This can reduce the
        appearance of "banding", i.e. horizontal lines or waves of light and
        dark that are often caused by artificial lighting. Valid values are:
                0 - Use default (depends on sensor, most likely 60 Hz)
                50 - For European and Asian 50 Hz power
                60 - For American 60 Hz power

  NAME: bandingfilter
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0 (off)
        or stabilizes the "banding" caused by some artificial light sources
        (especially fluorescent). You might have to set lightfreq correctly for
        this to work right. As an added bonus, this sometimes makes it

  NAME: fastset
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0 (off)
  DESC: Allows picture settings (brightness, contrast, color, and hue) to take
        effect immediately, even in the middle of a frame. This reduces the
        time to change settings, but can ruin frames during the change. Only
        affects OmniVision sensors.

  NAME: force_palette
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0 (off)
  DESC: Forces the palette (color format) to a specific value. If an
        application requests a different palette, it will be rejected, thereby
        forcing it to try others until it succeeds. This is useful for forcing
        greyscale mode with a color camera, for example. Supported modes are:
                0                           (Allows all the following formats)
                1   VIDEO_PALETTE_GREY      (Linear greyscale)
                3   VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB565    (565 16 bit RGB)
                4   VIDEO_PALETTE_RGB24     (24bit RGB)
                7   VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV422    (YUV422 capture)
                8   VIDEO_PALETTE_YUYV      (YUV422 capture; same as 7)
                10  VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV420    (YUV 4:2:0 Planar)
                13  VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV422P   (YUV 4:2:2 Planar)
                15  VIDEO_PALETTE_YUV420P   (YUV 4:2:0 Planar, same as 10)

  NAME: backlight
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0 (off)
  DESC: Setting this flag changes the exposure algorithm for OmniVision sensors
        such that objects in the camera's view (i.e. your head) can be clearly
        seen when they are illuminated from behind. It reduces or eliminates
        the sensor's auto-exposure function, so it should only be used when
        needed. Additionally, it is only supported with the OV6620 and OV7620.

  NAME: unit_video
  TYPE: Up to 16 comma-separated integers
  DEFAULT: 0,0,0... (automatically assign the next available minor(s))
  DESC: You can specify up to 16 minor numbers to be assigned to ov511 devices.
        For example, "unit_video=1,3" will make the driver use /dev/video1 and
        /dev/video3 for the first two devices it detects. Additional devices
        will be assigned automatically starting at the first available device
        node (/dev/video0 in this case). Note that you cannot specify 0 as a
        minor number. This feature requires kernel version 2.4.5 or higher.

  NAME: remove_zeros
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0 (do not skip any incoming data)
  DESC: Setting this to 1 will remove zero-padding from incoming data. This
        will compensate for the blocks of corruption that can appear when the
        camera cannot keep up with the speed of the USB bus (eg. at low frame
        resolutions). This feature is always enabled when compression is on.

  NAME: mirror
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0 (off)
  DESC: Setting this to 1 will reverse ("mirror") the image horizontally. This
        might be necessary if your camera has a custom lens assembly. This has
        no effect with video capture devices.

  NAME: ov518_color
  TYPE: integer (Boolean)
  DEFAULT: 0 (off)
  DESC: Enable OV518 color support. This is off by default since it doesn't
        work most of the time. If you want to try it, you must also load
        ov518_decomp with the "nouv=0" parameter. If you get improper colors or
        diagonal lines through the image, restart your video app and try again.
        Repeat as necessary.

WORKING FEATURES:
 o Color streaming/capture at most widths and heights that are multiples of 8.
 o RGB24, RGB565, YUV420/YUV420P, YUV422/YUYV, and YUV422P color
 o Monochrome (use force_palette=1 to enable)
 o Setting/getting of saturation, contrast, brightness, and hue (only some of
   them work the OV7620 and OV7620AE)
 o /proc status reporting
 o SAA7111A video capture support at 320x240 and 640x480
 o Compression support
 o SMP compatibility

HOW TO CONTACT ME:

You can email me at mark@alpha.dyndns.org . Please prefix the subject line
with "OV511: " so that I am certain to notice your message.

CREDITS:

The code is based in no small part on the CPiA driver by Johannes Erdfelt,
Randy Dunlap, and others. Big thanks to them for their pioneering work on that
and the USB stack. Thanks to Bret Wallach for getting camera reg IO, ISOC, and
image capture working. Thanks to Orion Sky Lawlor, Kevin Moore, and Claudio
Matsuoka for their work as well.