media: dtv-core.rst: explain how to get DVBv5 statistics

It is not trivial to implement the logic that collects DVBv5
statistics. As we're seein lately too many implementations
that are not quite right when reviewing patchsets, add a
detailed explanation, adding a few examples about the right
thing to be done.

Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab@s-opensource.com>

1 files changed, 279 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/media/kapi/dtv-core.rst b/Documentation/media/kapi/dtv-core.rst
index ff86bf0abeae..bec7875a7e2e 100644
--- a/Documentation/media/kapi/dtv-core.rst
+++ b/Documentation/media/kapi/dtv-core.rst
@@ -74,6 +74,285 @@ part of their handler for :c:type:`device_driver`.\ ``resume()``.
 
 A few other optional functions are provided to handle some special cases.
 
+Digital TV Frontend statistics
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+Introduction
+^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+Digital TV frontends provide a range of
+:ref:`statistics <frontend-stat-properties>` meant to help tuning the device
+and measuring the quality of service.
+
+For each statistics measurement, the driver should set the type of scale used,
+or ``FE_SCALE_NOT_AVAILABLE`` if the statistics is not available on a given
+time. Drivers should also provide the number of statistics for each type.
+that's usually 1 for most video standards [#f1]_.
+
+Drivers should initialize each statistic counters with length and
+scale at its init code. For example, if the frontend provides signal
+strength, it should have, on its init code::
+
+	struct dtv_frontend_properties *c = &state->fe.dtv_property_cache;
+
+	c->strength.len = 1;
+	c->strength.stat[0].scale = FE_SCALE_NOT_AVAILABLE;
+
+And, when the statistics got updated, set the scale::
+
+	c->strength.stat[0].scale = FE_SCALE_DECIBEL;
+	c->strength.stat[0].uvalue = strength;
+
+.. [#f1] For ISDB-T, it may provide both a global statistics and a per-layer
+   set of statistics. On such cases, len should be equal to 4. The first
+   value corresponds to the global stat; the other ones to each layer, e. g.:
+
+   - c->cnr.stat[0] for global S/N carrier ratio,
+   - c->cnr.stat[1] for Layer A S/N carrier ratio,
+   - c->cnr.stat[2] for layer B S/N carrier ratio,
+   - c->cnr.stat[3] for layer C S/N carrier ratio.
+
+.. note:: Please prefer to use ``FE_SCALE_DECIBEL`` instead of
+   ``FE_SCALE_RELATIVE`` for signal strength and CNR measurements.
+
+Groups of statistics
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+There are several groups of statistics currently supported:
+
+Signal strength (:ref:`DTV-STAT-SIGNAL-STRENGTH`)
+  - Measures the signal strength level at the analog part of the tuner or
+    demod.
+
+  - Typically obtained from the gain applied to the tuner and/or frontend
+    in order to detect the carrier. When no carrier is detected, the gain is
+    at the maximum value (so, strength is on its minimal).
+
+  - As the gain is visible through the set of registers that adjust the gain,
+    typically, this statistics is always available [#f2]_.
+
+  - Drivers should try to make it available all the times, as this statistics
+    can be used when adjusting an antenna position and to check for troubles
+    at the cabling.
+
+  .. [#f2] On a few devices, the gain keeps floating if no carrier.
+     On such devices, strength report should check first if carrier is
+     detected at the tuner (``FE_HAS_CARRIER``, see :c:type:`fe_status`),
+     and otherwise return the lowest possible value.
+
+Carrier Signal to Noise ratio (:ref:`DTV-STAT-CNR`)
+  - Signal to Noise ratio for the main carrier.
+
+  - Signal to Noise measurement depends on the device. On some hardware, is
+    available when the main carrier is detected. On those hardware, CNR
+    measurement usually comes from the tuner (e. g. after ``FE_HAS_CARRIER``,
+    see :c:type:`fe_status`).
+
+    On other devices, it requires inner FEC decoding,
+    as the frontend measures it indirectly from other parameters (e. g. after
+    ``FE_HAS_VITERBI``, see :c:type:`fe_status`).
+
+    Having it available after inner FEC is more common.
+
+Bit counts post-FEC (:ref:`DTV-STAT-POST-ERROR-BIT-COUNT` and :ref:`DTV-STAT-POST-TOTAL-BIT-COUNT`)
+  - Those counters measure the number of bits and bit errors errors after
+    the forward error correction (FEC) on the inner coding block
+    (after Viterbi, LDPC or other inner code).
+
+  - Due to its nature, those statistics depend on full coding lock
+    (e. g. after ``FE_HAS_SYNC`` or after ``FE_HAS_LOCK``,
+    see :c:type:`fe_status`).
+
+Bit counts pre-FEC (:ref:`DTV-STAT-PRE-ERROR-BIT-COUNT` and :ref:`DTV-STAT-PRE-TOTAL-BIT-COUNT`)
+  - Those counters measure the number of bits and bit errors errors before
+    the forward error correction (FEC) on the inner coding block
+    (before Viterbi, LDPC or other inner code).
+
+  - Not all frontends provide this kind of statistics.
+
+  - Due to its nature, those statistics depend on inner coding lock (e. g.
+    after ``FE_HAS_VITERBI``, see :c:type:`fe_status`).
+
+Block counts (:ref:`DTV-STAT-ERROR-BLOCK-COUNT` and :ref:`DTV-STAT-TOTAL-BLOCK-COUNT`)
+  - Those counters measure the number of blocks and block errors errors after
+    the forward error correction (FEC) on the inner coding block
+    (before Viterbi, LDPC or other inner code).
+
+  - Due to its nature, those statistics depend on full coding lock
+    (e. g. after ``FE_HAS_SYNC`` or after
+    ``FE_HAS_LOCK``, see :c:type:`fe_status`).
+
+.. note:: All counters should be monotonically increased as they're
+   collected from the hardware.
+
+A typical example of the logic that handle status and statistics is::
+
+	static int foo_get_status_and_stats(struct dvb_frontend *fe)
+	{
+		struct foo_state *state = fe->demodulator_priv;
+		struct dtv_frontend_properties *c = &fe->dtv_property_cache;
+
+		int rc;
+		enum fe_status *status;
+
+		/* Both status and strength are always available */
+		rc = foo_read_status(fe, &status);
+		if (rc < 0)
+			return rc;
+
+		rc = foo_read_strength(fe);
+		if (rc < 0)
+			return rc;
+
+		/* Check if CNR is available */
+		if (!(fe->status & FE_HAS_CARRIER))
+			return 0;
+
+		rc = foo_read_cnr(fe);
+		if (rc < 0)
+			return rc;
+
+		/* Check if pre-BER stats are available */
+		if (!(fe->status & FE_HAS_VITERBI))
+			return 0;
+
+		rc = foo_get_pre_ber(fe);
+		if (rc < 0)
+			return rc;
+
+		/* Check if post-BER stats are available */
+		if (!(fe->status & FE_HAS_SYNC))
+			return 0;
+
+		rc = foo_get_post_ber(fe);
+		if (rc < 0)
+			return rc;
+	}
+
+	static const struct dvb_frontend_ops ops = {
+		/* ... */
+		.read_status = foo_get_status_and_stats,
+	};
+
+Statistics collect
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+On almost all frontend hardware, the bit and byte counts are stored by
+the hardware after a certain amount of time or after the total bit/block
+counter reaches a certain value (usually programable), for example, on
+every 1000 ms or after receiving 1,000,000 bits.
+
+So, if you read the registers too soon, you'll end by reading the same
+value as in the previous reading, causing the monotonic value to be
+incremented too often.
+
+Drivers should take the responsibility to avoid too often reads. That
+can be done using two approaches:
+
+if the driver have a bit that indicates when a collected data is ready
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+Driver should check such bit before making the statistics available.
+
+An example of such behavior can be found at this code snippet (adapted
+from mb86a20s driver's logic)::
+
+	static int foo_get_pre_ber(struct dvb_frontend *fe)
+	{
+		struct foo_state *state = fe->demodulator_priv;
+		struct dtv_frontend_properties *c = &fe->dtv_property_cache;
+		int rc, bit_error;
+
+		/* Check if the BER measures are already available */
+		rc = foo_read_u8(state, 0x54);
+		if (rc < 0)
+			return rc;
+
+		if (!rc)
+			return 0;
+
+		/* Read Bit Error Count */
+		bit_error = foo_read_u32(state, 0x55);
+		if (bit_error < 0)
+			return bit_error;
+
+		/* Read Total Bit Count */
+		rc = foo_read_u32(state, 0x51);
+		if (rc < 0)
+			return rc;
+
+		c->pre_bit_error.stat[0].scale = FE_SCALE_COUNTER;
+		c->pre_bit_error.stat[0].uvalue += bit_error;
+		c->pre_bit_count.stat[0].scale = FE_SCALE_COUNTER;
+		c->pre_bit_count.stat[0].uvalue += rc;
+
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+If the driver doesn't provide a statistics available check bit
+%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
+
+A few devices, however, may not provide a way to check if the stats are
+available (or the way to check it is unknown). They may not even provide
+a way to directly read the total number of bits or blocks.
+
+On those devices, the driver need to ensure that it won't be reading from
+the register too often and/or estimate the total number of bits/blocks.
+
+On such drivers, a typical routine to get statistics would be like
+(adapted from dib8000 driver's logic)::
+
+	struct foo_state {
+		/* ... */
+
+		unsigned long per_jiffies_stats;
+	}
+
+	static int foo_get_pre_ber(struct dvb_frontend *fe)
+	{
+		struct foo_state *state = fe->demodulator_priv;
+		struct dtv_frontend_properties *c = &fe->dtv_property_cache;
+		int rc, bit_error;
+		u64 bits;
+
+		/* Check if time for stats was elapsed */
+		if (!time_after(jiffies, state->per_jiffies_stats))
+			return 0;
+
+		/* Next stat should be collected in 1000 ms */
+		state->per_jiffies_stats = jiffies + msecs_to_jiffies(1000);
+
+		/* Read Bit Error Count */
+		bit_error = foo_read_u32(state, 0x55);
+		if (bit_error < 0)
+			return bit_error;
+
+		/*
+		 * On this particular frontend, there's no register that
+		 * would provide the number of bits per 1000ms sample. So,
+		 * some function would calculate it based on DTV properties
+		 */
+		bits = get_number_of_bits_per_1000ms(fe);
+
+		c->pre_bit_error.stat[0].scale = FE_SCALE_COUNTER;
+		c->pre_bit_error.stat[0].uvalue += bit_error;
+		c->pre_bit_count.stat[0].scale = FE_SCALE_COUNTER;
+		c->pre_bit_count.stat[0].uvalue += bits;
+
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+Please notice that, on both cases, we're getting the statistics using the
+:c:type:`dvb_frontend_ops` ``.read_status`` callback. The rationale is that
+the frontend core will automatically call this function periodically
+(usually, 3 times per second, when the frontend is locked).
+
+That warrants that we won't miss to collect a counter and increment the
+monotonic stats at the right time.
+
+Digital TV Frontend functions and types
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
 .. kernel-doc:: drivers/media/dvb-core/dvb_frontend.h