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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/hid/uhid.txt')
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diff --git a/Documentation/hid/uhid.txt b/Documentation/hid/uhid.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000..958fff945 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/hid/uhid.txt @@ -0,0 +1,187 @@ + UHID - User-space I/O driver support for HID subsystem + ======================================================== + +UHID allows user-space to implement HID transport drivers. Please see +hid-transport.txt for an introduction into HID transport drivers. This document +relies heavily on the definitions declared there. + +With UHID, a user-space transport driver can create kernel hid-devices for each +device connected to the user-space controlled bus. The UHID API defines the I/O +events provided from the kernel to user-space and vice versa. + +There is an example user-space application in ./samples/uhid/uhid-example.c + +The UHID API +------------ + +UHID is accessed through a character misc-device. The minor-number is allocated +dynamically so you need to rely on udev (or similar) to create the device node. +This is /dev/uhid by default. + +If a new device is detected by your HID I/O Driver and you want to register this +device with the HID subsystem, then you need to open /dev/uhid once for each +device you want to register. All further communication is done by read()'ing or +write()'ing "struct uhid_event" objects. Non-blocking operations are supported +by setting O_NONBLOCK. + +struct uhid_event { + __u32 type; + union { + struct uhid_create2_req create2; + struct uhid_output_req output; + struct uhid_input2_req input2; + ... + } u; +}; + +The "type" field contains the ID of the event. Depending on the ID different +payloads are sent. You must not split a single event across multiple read()'s or +multiple write()'s. A single event must always be sent as a whole. Furthermore, +only a single event can be sent per read() or write(). Pending data is ignored. +If you want to handle multiple events in a single syscall, then use vectored +I/O with readv()/writev(). +The "type" field defines the payload. For each type, there is a +payload-structure available in the union "u" (except for empty payloads). This +payload contains management and/or device data. + +The first thing you should do is sending an UHID_CREATE2 event. This will +register the device. UHID will respond with an UHID_START event. You can now +start sending data to and reading data from UHID. However, unless UHID sends the +UHID_OPEN event, the internally attached HID Device Driver has no user attached. +That is, you might put your device asleep unless you receive the UHID_OPEN +event. If you receive the UHID_OPEN event, you should start I/O. If the last +user closes the HID device, you will receive an UHID_CLOSE event. This may be +followed by an UHID_OPEN event again and so on. There is no need to perform +reference-counting in user-space. That is, you will never receive multiple +UHID_OPEN events without an UHID_CLOSE event. The HID subsystem performs +ref-counting for you. +You may decide to ignore UHID_OPEN/UHID_CLOSE, though. I/O is allowed even +though the device may have no users. + +If you want to send data on the interrupt channel to the HID subsystem, you send +an HID_INPUT2 event with your raw data payload. If the kernel wants to send data +on the interrupt channel to the device, you will read an UHID_OUTPUT event. +Data requests on the control channel are currently limited to GET_REPORT and +SET_REPORT (no other data reports on the control channel are defined so far). +Those requests are always synchronous. That means, the kernel sends +UHID_GET_REPORT and UHID_SET_REPORT events and requires you to forward them to +the device on the control channel. Once the device responds, you must forward +the response via UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY and UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY to the kernel. +The kernel blocks internal driver-execution during such round-trips (times out +after a hard-coded period). + +If your device disconnects, you should send an UHID_DESTROY event. This will +unregister the device. You can now send UHID_CREATE2 again to register a new +device. +If you close() the fd, the device is automatically unregistered and destroyed +internally. + +write() +------- +write() allows you to modify the state of the device and feed input data into +the kernel. The kernel will parse the event immediately and if the event ID is +not supported, it will return -EOPNOTSUPP. If the payload is invalid, then +-EINVAL is returned, otherwise, the amount of data that was read is returned and +the request was handled successfully. O_NONBLOCK does not affect write() as +writes are always handled immediately in a non-blocking fashion. Future requests +might make use of O_NONBLOCK, though. + + UHID_CREATE2: + This creates the internal HID device. No I/O is possible until you send this + event to the kernel. The payload is of type struct uhid_create2_req and + contains information about your device. You can start I/O now. + + UHID_DESTROY: + This destroys the internal HID device. No further I/O will be accepted. There + may still be pending messages that you can receive with read() but no further + UHID_INPUT events can be sent to the kernel. + You can create a new device by sending UHID_CREATE2 again. There is no need to + reopen the character device. + + UHID_INPUT2: + You must send UHID_CREATE2 before sending input to the kernel! This event + contains a data-payload. This is the raw data that you read from your device + on the interrupt channel. The kernel will parse the HID reports. + + UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY: + If you receive a UHID_GET_REPORT request you must answer with this request. + You must copy the "id" field from the request into the answer. Set the "err" + field to 0 if no error occurred or to EIO if an I/O error occurred. + If "err" is 0 then you should fill the buffer of the answer with the results + of the GET_REPORT request and set "size" correspondingly. + + UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY: + This is the SET_REPORT equivalent of UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY. Unlike GET_REPORT, + SET_REPORT never returns a data buffer, therefore, it's sufficient to set the + "id" and "err" fields correctly. + +read() +------ +read() will return a queued output report. No reaction is required to any of +them but you should handle them according to your needs. + + UHID_START: + This is sent when the HID device is started. Consider this as an answer to + UHID_CREATE2. This is always the first event that is sent. Note that this + event might not be available immediately after write(UHID_CREATE2) returns. + Device drivers might required delayed setups. + This event contains a payload of type uhid_start_req. The "dev_flags" field + describes special behaviors of a device. The following flags are defined: + UHID_DEV_NUMBERED_FEATURE_REPORTS: + UHID_DEV_NUMBERED_OUTPUT_REPORTS: + UHID_DEV_NUMBERED_INPUT_REPORTS: + Each of these flags defines whether a given report-type uses numbered + reports. If numbered reports are used for a type, all messages from + the kernel already have the report-number as prefix. Otherwise, no + prefix is added by the kernel. + For messages sent by user-space to the kernel, you must adjust the + prefixes according to these flags. + + UHID_STOP: + This is sent when the HID device is stopped. Consider this as an answer to + UHID_DESTROY. + If you didn't destroy your device via UHID_DESTROY, but the kernel sends an + UHID_STOP event, this should usually be ignored. It means that the kernel + reloaded/changed the device driver loaded on your HID device (or some other + maintenance actions happened). + You can usually ignored any UHID_STOP events safely. + + UHID_OPEN: + This is sent when the HID device is opened. That is, the data that the HID + device provides is read by some other process. You may ignore this event but + it is useful for power-management. As long as you haven't received this event + there is actually no other process that reads your data so there is no need to + send UHID_INPUT2 events to the kernel. + + UHID_CLOSE: + This is sent when there are no more processes which read the HID data. It is + the counterpart of UHID_OPEN and you may as well ignore this event. + + UHID_OUTPUT: + This is sent if the HID device driver wants to send raw data to the I/O + device on the interrupt channel. You should read the payload and forward it to + the device. The payload is of type "struct uhid_output_req". + This may be received even though you haven't received UHID_OPEN, yet. + + UHID_GET_REPORT: + This event is sent if the kernel driver wants to perform a GET_REPORT request + on the control channeld as described in the HID specs. The report-type and + report-number are available in the payload. + The kernel serializes GET_REPORT requests so there will never be two in + parallel. However, if you fail to respond with a UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY, the + request might silently time out. + Once you read a GET_REPORT request, you shall forward it to the hid device and + remember the "id" field in the payload. Once your hid device responds to the + GET_REPORT (or if it fails), you must send a UHID_GET_REPORT_REPLY to the + kernel with the exact same "id" as in the request. If the request already + timed out, the kernel will ignore the response silently. The "id" field is + never re-used, so conflicts cannot happen. + + UHID_SET_REPORT: + This is the SET_REPORT equivalent of UHID_GET_REPORT. On receipt, you shall + send a SET_REPORT request to your hid device. Once it replies, you must tell + the kernel about it via UHID_SET_REPORT_REPLY. + The same restrictions as for UHID_GET_REPORT apply. + +---------------------------------------------------- +Written 2012, David Herrmann <dh.herrmann@gmail.com> |