[Ffmpeg-devel] Some more thoughts about libavfilter

[Michael Niedermayer]

Hi

On Mon, Jan 08, 2007 at 11:54:44PM +0100, Luca Abeni wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> as promised, I am re-reading my old libavfilter ideas, trying to
> formalize them. Here are some other (more or less confused) thoughts,
> hoping they can be useful to someone :)
> In some previous emails, I already wrote about the get_buffer(),
> push_buffer(), and release_buffer() methods that I think are needed to
> implement a filter in a "push model", and I wrote how the buffers for
> allocating frames are allocated.
> 
> I already wrote that the methods cited above get an AVFrame as a
> parameter, and after some other thinking I am convinced that AVFrames
> are the correct entities to pass between filters. I believe they contain
> all the data needed to fullfill the requirements highlighted by Michael.
> Is this ok?

if it works yes ...


> 
> The function provided by libavcodec to allocate AVFrame buffers
> (avcodec_default_get_buffer()) seems to be strictly dependent on
> AVCodecContext, so I think libavfilter has to provide its own allocation
> function for the filters. I am thinking about something like
> int av_frame_alloc_buffer(AVFrame *f, enum PixelFormat pix_fmt, int w, int h)
> wich in the simplest case could do something like
>     avpicture_alloc((AVPicture *)f, pix_fmt, w, h);
>     f->base[0] = f->data[0];
>     f->base[1] = NULL;
>     f->base[2] = NULL;
> (note that this is not calling avcodec_get_frame_defaults(), because the
> caller is responsible for initializing all the other AVframe fields (it
> might copy them from the input frame, etc...).
> 
> Then, avfilter should provide helper functions for copying frames, or
> buffers from a frame to another, or buffers from an AVPicture to an
> AVFrame, etc.
> 
> Now, regarding the problem of freeing an AVFrame buffer, I have two
> possible ideas:
> 1) reference counting (as already cited by Alexander Chemeris). We need
> a counter (does AVFrame provide a field that can be used as a reference
> conter? After a first look, I think it does not) that is increased by a
> filter (maybe through an helper function) when the filter starts using
> the buffer and is decreased when the filter does not need the buffer
> anymore. When the counter is 0, the buffer is actually freed / recycled.
> 
> 2) The "last" filter who use the AVFrame buffer is responsible for
> freeing it. Basically (assuming a "push model")
>   - every filter has to provide a release_buffer() method;
>   - when a filter F who pushed an AVFrame to its output Fout does
>     not need the AVFrame anymore it calls  Fout->release_buffer();
>   - if F provided an AVFrame buffer to an input filter Fin (which 
>     invoked F->get_buffer()) the frame is considered "needed by F" 
>     until F->release_buffer() is called on it
>   - if F did not push an AVFrame buffer to Fout (for example, consider,
>     the input frame of a rescaling filter), when F->release_buffer() is
>     invoked on such frame F can free the buffer directly
> 
> This looks complex, but in practice it is simpler than it seems (maybe I
> am just bad at describing it :)...
> 
> Simple example, using a scaling filter F:
> - when F->get_buffer() is called, F allocates the frame buffer with
> av_frame_alloc_buffer()
> - when F->push_buffer() is called, F
> 	1) calls Fout->get_frame() to get an output frame
> 	2) rescales the input frame in the output frame
> 	3) calls Fout->release_buffer() on the output frame
> - when F->release_buffer() is called, F frees the input frame
> 
> Another example, using a pad filter:
> - when F->get_buffer() is called, F calls Fout->get_buffer(),
> manipulates the data[] fields of the AVFrame as needed for padding, and
> returns the AVFrame
> - when F->push_buffer() is called, F fills the "padding borders",
> manipulates the data[] fields of the AVFrame (restoring the initial
> values), and calls Fout->push_buffer()
> - when F->release_buffer() is called, F directly calls
> Fout->release_buffer()

what if there are several Fout? (several outputs)


[...]
-- 
Michael     GnuPG fingerprint: 9FF2128B147EF6730BADF133611EC787040B0FAB

Dictatorship naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated
form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme liberty. -- Plato
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