CN111246144B

CN111246144B - MIPI CSI VIP method and device using protocol layering

Info

Publication number: CN111246144B
Application number: CN202010016197.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 何刚
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2020-01-08
Filing date: 2020-01-08
Publication date: 2022-04-08
Anticipated expiration: 2040-01-08
Also published as: CN111246144A

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and a device for realizing MIPI CSI VIP by using protocol layering, wherein the method comprises the following steps: dividing the MIPI CSI protocol into a bottom layer and an upper layer by using a pre-configured UVM layered sequence generator; the upper layer packs the image items into an independent MIPI CSI data packet by adopting a preset method according to the image sending characteristics; the upper layer is provided with an image sequence generator, and the bottom layer is provided with a camera interface image sequence generator; the image sequence generator is correspondingly provided with an image sequence, and the camera interface image sequence generator is correspondingly provided with a camera interface image sequence; the camera interface image sequence requests items from an image sequence generator through a preset key component traction port, and obtains image items; the image item is sent to the image sequencer and the image sequence is initiated. Has the advantages that: and the camera images are distributed to the MIPI CSI interface through two layers.

Description

MIPI CSI VIP method and device using protocol layering

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of MIPI CSI VIP implementation by using a protocol layer, in particular to a method and a device for MIPI CSI VIP implementation by using the protocol layer.

Background

MIPI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface) is an open standard and a specification established for Mobile application processors by the MIPI alliance. The MIPI alliance defines a set of interface standards that standardize the interfaces inside the mobile device, such as cameras, display screens, baseband, radio frequency interfaces, etc., thereby increasing design flexibility while reducing cost, design complexity, power consumption and EMI. At present, an MIPI (Mobile industry processor interface) protocol is widely used in the fields of chip development SOC (System on chip) design, particularly mobile phones, tablet computers and the like. The MIPI interface protocol can meet the unique bandwidth requirements of various subsystems. High bandwidth subsystems such as image subsystems (camera and display), storage subsystems, wireless subsystems, power management subsystems, etc., and low bandwidth subsystems such as audio, keyboard, mouse, bluetooth, etc.

Due to the wide use of the MIPI interface in chip development, as an important link of chip development, verification often requires an interface oriented to the MIPI protocol to transmit/receive data. At this time, a device capable of helping the chip to verify that the protocol data information is transmitted to or received from the interface is called MIPI VIP (Verification intelligent Property). It can be seen that the MIPI VIP has a very wide demand, and is often needed by various large SOC chip development companies.

For verifying transceiving data by an MIPI (million instructions per second) interface, VIPs (very important persons) based on various verification languages (such as E language, SPECMAN and the like) and verification methodologies (such as VMM, OVM and the like) exist in the early days, and Verilog modules are even directly adopted in some cases. With the widespread popularity and use of the SV (system verilog) language and Universal Verification Methodology (UVM), MIPI VIP based on SV & UVM has been introduced by various large toolmakers.

Common company chip verification the MIPI VIP used is a VIP package provided using the manufacturer of chip development EDA tools. Which typically comprise MIPI VIPs. However, the MIPI VIP of the tool manufacturer only performs the Packet (Packet) issuing process, and as for the Packet generation process, the user needs to implement the Packet generation process. This is very cumbersome for those users who are not familiar with the MIPI protocol. Moreover, the MIPI VIP of the tool manufacturer only opens members (members) and methods (methods) of some classes to the user, and the user often uses a callback (callback) function provided by the user to perform some intervention and expansion on the behavior and the shape of the VIP.

MIPI VIPs provided by chip EDA tool vendors often implement only the process of packet to MIPI interface timing, and do not implement the packet formation process. The user needs to package the command or data to be sent and then send the command or data to the verification object through the MIPI VIP of the tool manufacturer. It would be very inconvenient if the user was not familiar enough with the MIPI protocol.

The MIPI Interface is widely applied in two fields, one is a Camera Interface (CSI) and the other is a Display Screen Interface (DSI), and both the two interfaces are mainly related to image transmission.

An effective solution to the problems in the related art has not been proposed yet.

Disclosure of Invention

Aiming at the problems in the related art, the invention provides a method and a device for realizing MIPI CSI VIP by using protocol layering, and based on development of a System Verilog language and a UVM methodology, a user only needs to endow MIPI CSI VIP with image data frame by frame without paying attention to how images are packaged into MIPI CSI data packets and how the MIPI CSI data packets are sent to a verification object, so that the technical problems in the prior art are solved.

Therefore, the invention adopts the following specific technical scheme:

according to one aspect of the invention, a method and apparatus are provided for MIPI CSI VIP implementation using protocol layering.

The method for achieving MIPI CSI VIP by using the protocol layering comprises the following steps:

dividing the MIPI CSI protocol into a bottom layer and an upper layer by using a pre-configured UVM Layered sequence generator (layerwise sequence);

the upper layer packs the image items into an independent MIPI CSI data Packet (MIPI CSI Packet) by adopting a preset method according to the image sending characteristics;

the upper layer is provided with an Image sequence generator (Image sequence), and the bottom layer is provided with a camera interface Image sequence generator (Image2CSI sequence); the Image Sequence generator is correspondingly provided with an Image Sequence (Image Sequence), and the camera interface Image Sequence generator is correspondingly provided with a camera interface Image Sequence (Image2CSI Sequence);

the camera interface Image sequence requests an Item (Item) from the Image sequence generator through a preconfigured key component traction port (seq-Item-pull-port), and acquires the Image Item (Item);

sending the image item to the image sequence generator and starting the image sequence;

splitting the image item into separate MIPI CSI data packets according to image data, camera information content and the like contained in the camera interface image sequence;

sending the MIPI CSI data packet to a corresponding CSI driver through the camera interface image sequencer;

and the CSI driver transmits the MIPI CSI data packet to a verified object (DUT) according to the MIPI time sequence.

Further, the step of the upper layer packaging the image items into a single MIPI CSI data packet by using a preset method according to the image transmission characteristics includes:

carrying out synchronous processing on the image data of each line in the image item;

and determining the line spacing and the frame spacing of the image data after synchronous processing in a preset mode.

Further, the synchronization processing includes frame header synchronization processing, frame tail synchronization processing, line header synchronization processing, and line tail synchronization processing.

Further, the preset mode includes at least one of a timer waiting mode, an empty packet sending mode or an invalid packet mode.

Further, the format of the MIPI CSI data packet includes a packet header and load data, where the packet header includes a packet virtual channel, a packet data type, a number of load words of the packet, an ECC check value, the load data, and a CRC check value of the load data.

Further, the step of requesting an item from the image sequencer by the camera interface image sequence through a pre-configured key component pull port, and acquiring the image item includes:

instantiating the critical component pull port in a camera interface image sequencer and connecting the critical component pull port with a seq-item-export within the image sequencer at the top level of MIPI CSI VIP;

and initiating an image item request to an image sequencer in a camera interface image sequence by using a get-next-item function embedded in the key component traction port.

Further, the image items include image data, camera information, Virtual Channel (VC) information, High Dynamic Range (HDR) information, Multi-Exposure (Multi-Exposure) information, and the like.

Further, the step of splitting the image item into separate MIPI CSI packets according to image data, camera information content, and the like included in the camera interface image sequence includes:

and splitting each frame of image in the image item into a frame synchronization packet, a line synchronization packet and a line data packet.

Further, the sending mode of sending the MIPI CSI data packet to the corresponding CSI Driver (Driver) through the camera interface image sequencer includes at least one of short packet sending, long packet sending, low-speed sending, or high-speed sending.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an electronic device is provided.

The electronic device comprises a memory and a processor, the memory having stored thereon a usage protocol hierarchy implementation MIPI CSI VIP program executable on the processor, the usage protocol hierarchy implementation MIPI CSI VIP program when executed by the processor implementing the steps of:

dividing the MIPI CSI protocol into a bottom layer and an upper layer by using a pre-configured UVM layered sequence generator;

the upper layer packs the image items into an independent MIPI CSI data packet by adopting a preset method according to the image sending characteristics;

the upper layer is provided with an image sequence generator, and the bottom layer is provided with a camera interface image sequence generator; the image sequence generator is correspondingly provided with an image sequence, and the camera interface image sequence generator is correspondingly provided with a camera interface image sequence;

the camera interface image sequence requests items from the image sequence generator through a preset key component traction port, and obtains the image items;

and the CSI driver sends the MIPI CSI data packet to an object to be verified according to the MIPI time sequence.

The invention has the beneficial effects that:

1. the user can conveniently send the camera head portrait to the MIPI CSI interface of the verification object without concerning the packaging and sending processes, so that the verification environment is very simple and tidy.

2. The implementation of the MIPI CSI protocol is divided into two layers, the bottom layer is responsible for image sub-packaging and sending to a verification object, the upper layer is used for packaging the camera image into image items and sending to the bottom layer, and the implementation of MIPI CSI VIP by a user can be very convenient if the method is used.

3. The invention uses UVM layering sequence generator technology to realize that the camera images are distributed to MIPI CSI interfaces through two layers.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings needed in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a method for implementing MIPI CSI VIP using a protocol hierarchy in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an MIPI CSI VIP architecture block diagram according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

For further explanation of the various embodiments, the drawings which form a part of the disclosure and which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of operation of the embodiments, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the various embodiments and advantages of the invention, and, by reference to these figures, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which are not to scale and wherein like reference numerals generally refer to like elements.

Methods and apparatus are provided for implementing MIPI CSI VIP using protocol layering, according to embodiments of the present invention.

The present invention will now be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein methods MIPI CSI VIP are implemented using protocol layering in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, as shown in fig. 1-2.

step S101, dividing an MIPI CSI protocol into a bottom layer and an upper layer by using a pre-configured UVM layered sequence generator;

specifically, the upper layer is responsible for dispatching images of the camera, various sampling information and the like into MIPI CSI data packets according to the format of the MIPI CSI data packets, and the lower layer is responsible for sending the packets sent by the upper layer to the MIPI CSI interface according to the MIPI CSI protocol.

Step S102, the upper layer packs the image items into an independent MIPI CSI data packet by adopting a preset method according to the image sending characteristics;

specifically, the MIPI CSI data packet includes a row synchronization packet and a frame synchronization packet.

Step S103, configuring an image sequence generator on the upper layer, and configuring a camera interface image sequence generator on the bottom layer; the image sequence generator is correspondingly provided with an image sequence, and the camera interface image sequence generator is correspondingly provided with a camera interface image sequence;

step S104, the camera interface image sequence requests items from the image sequence generator through a preset key component traction port, and the image items are obtained;

specifically, the camera interface image sequencer can obtain the image items from the upper image sequencer by a traction port method; the request mechanism is a key component in the UVM methodology to pull the port means.

After the request is initiated, as long as the user starts an image sequence to the image sequence generator, an image item is sent to the image sequence of the camera interface through the traction port, and the camera interface obtains an image item.

Step S105, sending the image item to the image sequence generator and starting the image sequence;

specifically, the image item includes virtual channel information, and if the image item includes information of a high dynamic range, multiple exposures, and other cameras, the information is included with the image item.

Step S106, splitting the image item into separate MIPI CSI data packets according to image data, camera information content and the like contained in the camera interface image sequence;

step S107, the MIPI CSI data packet is sent to a corresponding CSI driver through the camera interface image sequencer;

and step S108, the CSI driver sends the MIPI CSI data packet to a verified object according to the MIPI time sequence.

In one embodiment, the step of the upper layer packing the image items into a single MIPI CSI data packet by using a preset method according to the image transmission characteristics includes:

In one embodiment, the synchronization process includes a frame header synchronization process, a frame trailer synchronization process, a line header synchronization process, and a line trailer synchronization process.

In one embodiment, the preset mode includes at least one of a timer waiting mode, an empty packet sending mode or an invalid packet mode.

In one embodiment, the format of the MIPI CSI data packet includes a packet header and payload data, the packet header including a packet virtual channel, a packet data type, a number of payload words of the packet, an ECC check value, the payload data, and a CRC check value of the payload data.

In one embodiment, the camera interface image sequence requests an item from the image sequencer through a pre-configured key component pull port, and the step of obtaining the image item includes:

In one embodiment, the image items include image data, camera information, virtual channel information, high dynamic range information, multi-exposure information, and the like.

Specifically, the virtual channel is an important content in the format of the MIPI protocol packet, and is generally used for distinguishing a plurality of cameras.

In one embodiment, the step of splitting the image item into separate MIPI CSI packets according to image data, camera information content, and the like contained in the camera interface image sequence includes:

In one embodiment, the sending manner of sending the MIPI CSI data packet to the corresponding CSI driver through the camera interface image sequencer includes at least one of short packet sending, long packet sending, low speed sending, or high speed sending.

The embodiment of the invention also provides an electronic device.

For the convenience of understanding the technical solutions of the present invention, the following detailed description will be made on the working principle or the operation mode of the present invention in the practical process.

In practical application, the method MIPI CSI VIP is very simple to use, the method MIPI CSI VIP is instantiated in a user authentication environment, then the interface of the VIP is connected with the interface of an authenticated object, and then the image sequence can be executed on the image sequence generator, if the user needs to perform special processing on the image item, for example, adding special camera information or image format, only the image item needs to be expanded into the user image item content that the user wants, and then the user image sequence is sent to the image sequence generator through the UVM reloading technology.

In summary, with the above technical solution of the present invention, a user can very conveniently send a camera image to the MIPI CSI interface of an authentication object without being concerned with the processes of packaging and sending, so that the authentication environment is very simple and neat. The implementation of the MIPI CSI protocol is divided into two layers, the bottom layer is responsible for image sub-packaging and sending to a verification object, the upper layer is used for packaging the camera image into image items and sending to the bottom layer, and the implementation of MIPI CSI VIP by a user can be very convenient if the method is used. The invention uses UVM layering sequence generator technology to realize that the camera images are distributed to MIPI CSI interfaces through two layers.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that fall within the spirit and principle of the present invention are intended to be included therein.

Claims

1. A method for using a protocol hierarchy to implement MIPI CSI VIP, the method for using a protocol hierarchy to implement MIPI CSI VIP comprising the steps of:

splitting the image item into separate MIPI CSI data packets according to image data and camera information content contained in the camera interface image sequence;

the CSI driver sends the MIPI CSI data packet to a verified object according to the MIPI time sequence;

the camera interface image sequence requests items from the image sequence generator through a pre-configured key component traction port, and the step of acquiring the image items comprises:

2. The MIPI CSI VIP method using protocol layering according to claim 1, wherein the step of the upper layer packing the image items into the separate MIPI CSI packets according to the image transmission characteristics by using a preset method comprises:

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the synchronization process comprises a frame header synchronization process, a frame trailer synchronization process, a line header synchronization process, and a line trailer synchronization process.

4. The MIPI CSI VIP method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined mode comprises at least one of a timer standby mode, an empty packet mode, or an invalid packet mode.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the format of the MIPI CSI data packet comprises a packet header and payload data, the packet header comprising a packet virtual channel, a packet data type, a number of payload words of the packet, an ECC check value, the payload data, and a CRC check value for the payload data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the image items comprise image data, camera information, virtual channel information, high dynamic range information, and multi-exposure information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of splitting the image items into separate MIPI CSI packets according to image data and camera information content contained in the camera interface image sequence comprises:

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting manner of the MIPI CSI data packets to the corresponding CSI driver through the camera interface image sequencer comprises at least one of short packet transmission, long packet transmission, low speed transmission, or high speed transmission.

9. An electronic device comprising a memory and a processor, the memory having stored thereon a usage protocol hierarchy implementation MIPI CSI VIP program operable on the processor, the usage protocol hierarchy implementation MIPI CSI VIP program when executed by the processor implementing the steps of: