Notes ICM532B / TV-8532A camera chip (Biolux microscope and other webcams)

Opmerkingen/Notes ICM532B / TV-8532A camera chip (Biolux microscope and other webcams))

Main Index, webcam info, Info, links, documents, Camera info, Progress, Download, To Do list

Goal for this page is to collect data about the icm532b/tv8532 single chip camera 
and to write a SANE Vidcam backend for this device.
At the moment the isochronous mode is not yet supported by libusb and SANEI sane_usb
so its holding up the development of the backend. In the libusb mailinglist archive
you can find some emails about the isochronous mode api and some routines from
Mac Cody. I have patched them in my libusb and sanei_usb files but need to do a
lot more to get the device working.
Furthermore the development of a stable driver for this chip is not easy although 
there is a datasheet of this device.
At the moment the driver from  Michel Xhaard (spca50x kernel module) is
the best choice to use (AFAIK 11012005).

Info, links, documents

1. Chip info:
   IC-MEDIA ICM532B single chip camera, TRANSVISION TV-8532A single chip camera
2. Webcam manufactuers:
   Meade-Bresser (Biolux 654), Ezonics, Terratec
3. INFO:
   SANE,
   ICM532 single chip camera	      
4. Webcam kernel module: 
   spca50x kernel module, 
5. Mailinglist
   Icm532-develop mailinglist
6. Driver plans history:
   Michel Xhaard, spca50x kernel module, version 20050109 or later,
   Tomas Groth 23-06-2004 spca532 (spca50x)kernel module see onion2.jpg picture last update version 04012005
   Driver from Mike Strecke (26122004)
   See page from  Fabio and Takafumo for some first "alpha" views (juni 2004).
   Fabio Di Niro, ICM532 kernel module (homepage), ICM532 kernel module (project page)
   Takafumo Mizuno, module for NetBSD
   Greg Apessos on ICM532B
   Michael Still on ICM532B

With the program sane-find-scanner -v -v (used as root, SANE-Backends 1.0.14 or higher),
some ICM532 chip webcams can be detected,

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ICM532 Vidcam

Biolux 654 microscope vid = 0x0923, pid = 0x010f
Picture microscope:   biolux654.jpg  biolux-654.jpg
Supplier info:   lidl.jpeg (oem is Meade, model Biolux STLE 1024x)
usb log MicrOcular:   usb-log-biolux654.txt
Interface usb 1.1, Optical Resolution max 352 x 288 pixels, Image Data Color: 24 bits per pixel
Other webcams with same chip and same usb vendor and product id
Ezonics EZCam USB II (uvt8532)
Picture webcam:   ezc2usb220.jpg
In this webcam, three different chipsets are used, check the label to see which type or check with, 
lsusb -v, sane-find-scanner -v -v
1. CPIA (Conexant), 2. OV511 (OV6620) and 3. ICM532 (UVT8532)
Ezonics EZCam USB III
TerraCam USB
Picture webcam:   TerraCam-usb.jpg
In this webcam, three different chipsets are used, check the label to see which type or check with, 
lsusb -v, sane-find-scanner -v -v
1. CPIA, 2. OV511 and 3. ICM532 (UTV8532)
Data Plus Supplies Ltd, 
Stick Webcam,  Mini cam on flexible stick designed for laptops 
iConcepts Desktop, 
Mini WebCam, mini desktop webcam
Tucan PenCam
Che-ez! Webbie (NH Japan Holdings Ltd.) 
SNAKE EYE SI-8480/8481
PC CAM CP03(global sources) 
WEB Camera PBC0006(persol) 
Clipcam (ANMO)
Micro Innovations ic70c
Nextech
Webcams with same chip but with different usb vendor and product id
LabTec webcam vid = 0x046d, pid = 0x0921 
Logitech QuickCam Express vid = 0x046d, pid = 0x0920
Veo Stingray vid = 0x0545, pid = 0x8333
Veo Stingray vid = 0x0545, pid = 0x808b ??
chip info
TV-8532A includes a TV-102A CIF Image Sensor
ICM532B  includes a ICM-102B CIF Image Sensor

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Progress

28-09-2006 .. 28-09-2006 .. Check for the isochronous mode also the patches from this site:
libusb_augment.c .h
24-04-2004 .. 30-08-2004 .. libusb-devel mailinglist archive 2004, checking the emails
from Mac Cody about his patch/routine for isochronous mode.
24-06-2004 Switched from fixed (not stabilized) voltage PSU to a variable voltage
PSU so light from the light bulb (Biolux) can be better regulated, so
better scans are possible and interference from the 50 Hz unregulated
transformer is reduced.

23-06-2004 Test done with kernel module spca532-23062004.tar.bz2 from Tomas Groth
with Biolux 654, see onion2.jpg,light on, 40x, frontend xcam

18-06-2004 Test done with kernel module version 0.2 from Fabio Di Niro with
Biolux 654, see onion1.jpg,light on, 40x, frontend xcam.

14-03-2004 .. 08-09-2004 .. Working on skeleton files see download.

28-02-2004 .. 23-05-2004 .. Working on interface to xcam frontend see screenshot
(icmedia1-screenshot.png), for xcam.c file see SANE CVS path: sane/experimental/sane-frontends/xcam.c

24-01-2004 .. 09-09-2004 .. Working on patch (isochronous transfers) for files sanei_usb.h and sanei_usb.c,
working on files icmedia1.c, icmedia1.h, icmedia1.conf, icmedia1.desc, icmedia1.txt, sane-icmedia1.man,
patched the following files (add new backend name etc), configure, backend/Makefile.in, doc/Makefile.in, backend/dll.conf.
tools/hotplug/libsane.usermap

24-12-2003 .. 24-06-2004 .. Check usb traffic (icmedia1.txt).

08-12-2003 .. 22-12-2003 Patch for check-usb-chip.c v 0.2, placed in cvs (check-usb-chip.diff)

10-12-2003 Answer from IC Media: Linux driver will not be supported for this product.

24-11-2003 Start of webpage, some test done (lsusb -v, sane-find-scanner -v -v,
xcam, xawtv, gtkam, gphoto2, no linux driver yet).

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Download
27-09-2004 See Downloads page 
	
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TO DO list
13-09-2004 Overview of blocks block-overview-sept-2004

1. Libusb isochronous read routine.
2. Log some more usb traffic (with sniff-usb 1.8), format output (perl skipe4.pl < <usblogfile> > <usblogshort>) and check usb traffic. 
3. Update icmedia1.txt file with more USB commands info.
4. Use parts of the spca5xx kernel module for the support for this usb bridge.

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