blob: dd9f9c1ee5881e6431e3c055905354316b333f47 [file] [log] [blame]
page.title=Output streams and cropping
@jd:body
<!--
Copyright 2013 The Android Open Source Project
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
-->
<div id="qv-wrapper">
<div id="qv">
<h2>In this document</h2>
<ol id="auto-toc">
</ol>
</div>
</div>
<h2 id="output-stream">Output streams</h2>
<p> Unlike the old camera subsystem, which has 3-4 different ways of producing data
from the camera (ANativeWindow-based preview operations, preview callbacks,
video callbacks, and takePicture callbacks), the new subsystem operates solely
on the ANativeWindow-based pipeline for all resolutions and output formats.
Multiple such streams can be configured at once, to send a single frame to many
targets such as the GPU, the video encoder, RenderScript, or app-visible buffers
(RAW Bayer, processed YUV buffers, or JPEG-encoded buffers).</p>
<p>As an optimization, these output streams must be configured ahead of time, and
only a limited number may exist at once. This allows for pre-allocation of
memory buffers and configuration of the camera hardware, so that when requests
are submitted with multiple or varying output pipelines listed, there won't be
delays or latency in fulfilling the request.</p>
<p>To support backwards compatibility with the current camera API, at least 3
simultaneous YUV output streams must be supported, plus one JPEG stream. This is
required for video snapshot support with the application also receiving YUV
buffers:</p>
<ul>
<li>One stream to the GPU/SurfaceView (opaque YUV format) for preview</li>
<li>One stream to the video encoder (opaque YUV format) for recording</li>
<li>One stream to the application (known YUV format) for preview frame callbacks</li>
<li>One stream to the application (JPEG) for video snapshots.</li>
</ul>
<p>The exact requirements are still being defined since the corresponding API
isn't yet finalized.</p>
<h2>Cropping</h2>
<p>Cropping of the full pixel array (for digital zoom and other use cases where a
smaller FOV is desirable) is communicated through the ANDROID_SCALER_CROP_REGION
setting. This is a per-request setting, and can change on a per-request basis,
which is critical for implementing smooth digital zoom.</p>
<p>The region is defined as a rectangle (x, y, width, height), with (x, y)
describing the top-left corner of the rectangle. The rectangle is defined on the
coordinate system of the sensor active pixel array, with (0,0) being the
top-left pixel of the active pixel array. Therefore, the width and height cannot
be larger than the dimensions reported in the ANDROID_SENSOR_ACTIVE_PIXEL_ARRAY
static info field. The minimum allowed width and height are reported by the HAL
through the ANDROID_SCALER_MAX_DIGITAL_ZOOM static info field, which describes
the maximum supported zoom factor. Therefore, the minimum crop region width and
height are:</p>
<pre>
{width, height} =
{ floor(ANDROID_SENSOR_ACTIVE_PIXEL_ARRAY[0] /
ANDROID_SCALER_MAX_DIGITAL_ZOOM),
floor(ANDROID_SENSOR_ACTIVE_PIXEL_ARRAY[1] /
ANDROID_SCALER_MAX_DIGITAL_ZOOM) }
</pre>
<p>If the crop region needs to fulfill specific requirements (for example, it needs
to start on even coordinates, and its width/height needs to be even), the HAL
must do the necessary rounding and write out the final crop region used in the
output result metadata. Similarly, if the HAL implements video stabilization, it
must adjust the result crop region to describe the region actually included in
the output after video stabilization is applied. In general, a camera-using
application must be able to determine the field of view it is receiving based on
the crop region, the dimensions of the image sensor, and the lens focal length.</p>
<p>Since the crop region applies to all streams, which may have different aspect
ratios than the crop region, the exact sensor region used for each stream may be
smaller than the crop region. Specifically, each stream should maintain square
pixels and its aspect ratio by minimally further cropping the defined crop
region. If the stream's aspect ratio is wider than the crop region, the stream
should be further cropped vertically, and if the stream's aspect ratio is
narrower than the crop region, the stream should be further cropped
horizontally.</p>
<p>In all cases, the stream crop must be centered within the full crop region, and
each stream is only either cropped horizontally or vertical relative to the full
crop region, never both.</p>
<p>For example, if two streams are defined, a 640x480 stream (4:3 aspect), and a
1280x720 stream (16:9 aspect), below demonstrates the expected output regions
for each stream for a few sample crop regions, on a hypothetical 3 MP (2000 x
1500 pixel array) sensor.</p>
</p>
Crop region: (500, 375, 1000, 750) (4:3 aspect ratio)<br/>
640x480 stream crop: (500, 375, 1000, 750) (equal to crop region)<br/>
1280x720 stream crop: (500, 469, 1000, 562)
</p>
<img src="images/crop-region-43-ratio.png" alt="crop-region-43-ratio" id="figure1" />
<p class="img-caption">
<strong>Figure 1.</strong> 4:3 aspect ratio
</p>
<p>Crop region: (500, 375, 1333, 750) (16:9 aspect ratio)<br/>
640x480 stream crop: (666, 375, 1000, 750)<br/>
1280x720 stream crop: (500, 375, 1333, 750) (equal to crop region)
</p>
<img src="images/crop-region-169-ratio.png" alt="crop-region-169-ratio" id="figure2" />
<p class="img-caption">
<strong>Figure 2.</strong> 16:9 aspect ratio
</p>
<p>Crop region: (500, 375, 750, 750) (1:1 aspect ratio)<br/>
640x480 stream crop: (500, 469, 750, 562)<br/>
1280x720 stream crop: (500, 543, 750, 414)
</p>
<img src="images/crop-region-11-ratio.png" alt="crop-region-11-ratio" id="figure3" />
<p class="img-caption">
<strong>Figure 3.</strong> 1:1 aspect ratio
</p>
<p>
And a final example, a 1024x1024 square aspect ratio stream instead of the 480p
stream:<br/>
Crop region: (500, 375, 1000, 750) (4:3 aspect ratio)<br/>
1024x1024 stream crop: (625, 375, 750, 750)<br/>
1280x720 stream crop: (500, 469, 1000, 562)
</p>
<img src="images/crop-region-43-square-ratio.png" alt="crop-region-43-square-ratio" id="figure4" />
<p class="img-caption">
<strong>Figure 4.</strong> 4:3 aspect ratio, square
</p>
<h2 id="reprocessing">Reprocessing</h2>
<p> Additional support for raw image files is provided by reprocessing support for RAW Bayer
data. This support allows the camera pipeline to process a previously captured
RAW buffer and metadata (an entire frame that was recorded previously), to
produce a new rendered YUV or JPEG output.</p>