NVIDIA Tegra Linux Driver Package Development Guide

Third generation mobile phone standard/technology, based on standards defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

A standard for 3GP format for CDMA-based phones (3GPP2) and container format with filename extension (.3gp).

Simplified version of MPEG-4 Part 14 (.mp4) container format.

3rd Generation Partnership Project. A collaboration among telecommunications associations to define globally applicable third generation (3G) mobile phone system specifications. For more information, see http://www.3gpp.org.

Platform Programming Protocol, developed by NVIDIA for client-server communications between PC and device.

4 x CIF (704 x 576), Common International Format (CIF) for horizontal and vertical resolutions of YCbCr.

Advanced Audio Distribution Profile. For streaming stereo or mono audio from one device to another over Bluetooth. For more information, see http://www.atheros.com/.

Advanced Audio Coding. A lossy compression and encoding standard for digital audio.

Advanced Audio Coding-Low Complexity. A standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio.

Advanced Audio Coding Plus, or aacPlus. Same as High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC), which extends the Low Complexity AAC (AAC LC) optimized for low-bit rate applications such as streaming audio.

Application Binary Interface. A low-level interface between applications and other applications or the operating system.

Android Debug Bridge. A client-server tool for managing an emulator instance or Android-based device. For more information, see http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/adb.html.

Advanced Direct Memory Access.

Adaptive DPCM (differential pulse-code modulation).

Advanced Encryption Standard.

Automatic gain control.

Advanced Linux Sound Architecture.

Adaptive multi-rate. An audio data compression scheme optimized for speech coding.

Adaptive multi-rate (AMR) narrow band.

Adaptive multi-rate wide band.

In Android, “Application Not Responding” error.

In camera, advanced noise reduction.

Application Processor. An application processor is a computer that processes data (as opposed to one that controls data flow, like a database server). The Tegra® series application processors offer low power, high performance ARM® processors that handle 2D, 3D, audio, and high-definition (HD) video data streams. These decoding and encoding functionalities are provided by a set of interfaces including multiple memory, storage, video, audio, and peripheral interfaces.

Advanced Video Coding.

Audio Video Interleave. A multimedia container format, special-case Resource Interchange File Format (RIFF) file that can contain both audio and video data; this format enables synchronous audio-with-video playback. For more information, see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms779631(VS.85).aspx.

Container format for AMR-WB speech encoding with filename extension (.awb).

NVIDIA® Boot Configuration Table.

Boot Information Table. The status table created by the boot ROM in the Internal RAM (IRAM) when it executes.

A graphics operation that combines several bitmap patterns into one, typically using a raster operator.

Bytes per pixel, used to specify pixel depth (color depth).

Bits per pixel, used to specify pixel depth (color depth).

Wireless standard for data exchange over short distances. For more information, see http://www.bluetooth.com/English/Pages/default.aspx.

Bit Sliced Arithmetic Coding. An MPEG-4 standard (ISO/IEC 14496-3 subpart 4) for scalable audio coding.

Utility providing small versions of common UNIX utilities in a single executable. For more information, see http://www.busybox.net.

Context-adaptive binary arithmetic coding. A type of entropy coding used in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video encoding.

USB Communications Device Class.

Code division multiple access. Channel access method for radio communication.

NVIDIA customer engineer.

C for Graphics. A high-level shading language for programming vertex and pixel shaders, created by NVIDIA Corporation.

Common International Format (352 x 288), standardizes horizontal/vertical resolutions for video.

A transition from the companion CPU cluster to the main CPU cluster or the reverse. Triggered automatically by the Tegra-specific CPUquiet driver or manually via sysfs.

NVIDIA Color Management System display technology. Tegra BSP includes software enabling you to calibrate and tune CMS.

Specifies how color is represented, such as YUV, RGB, or gray scale.

A framework for dynamically adjusting the number of CPU cores active within an SMP cluster-based on workload. Comprises the core framework, pluggable governors, and a Tegra-specific low level driver. Replaces Auto-Hotplug from earlier releases.

Microsoft Direct3D Mobile technologies.

Debug communications channel.

Discrete cosine transform. A Fourier-related transform similar to the discrete Fourier transform (DFT), but using only real numbers.

Device driver interface for Windows CE.

NVIDIA® Driver Development Kit.

This feature is slated to be removed at a later release. Developers should begin to remove dependencies on this feature in preparation for its eventual removal.

Board with NVIDIA® Tegra® processor used to do engineering work, which is typically focused on firmware/software development. Development boards have a user manual but may or may not include detailed documents, like schematics.

A tree-structure data format that represents information about the devices on a board.

Dynamic frequency scaling.

Obsolete. See PRISM. Dynamic Image-based Display Intensity Modulation, which has been renamed pixel rendering intensity and saturation management (PRISM) since CES 2012.

Codec by DivX, Inc., that uses lossy MPEG-4 Part 2 compression to compress lengthy video into small sizes with high visual quality and is often used for “ripping”. For more information, see http://www.divx.com.

Microsoft DirectX Media Object. For more information, see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms783356.aspx.

In H.264, Decode Picture Buffer.

Dynamic range compression.

Display Serial Interface a communication protocol specification by the Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) Alliance for reducing cost of displays in mobile devices.

Digital video broadcasting—handheld.

Digital video broadcasting—terrestrial.

Dynamic voltage frequency scaling.

Dynamic voltage scaling.

Enhanced AAC+. Combines HE-AAC v1 (or AAC+) coupled with Parametric Stereo to 3GPP.

NVIDIA® Embedded Controller Interface. Communication interface between NVIDIA® Tegra® processor and an embedded controller (EC) for netbook/smartbook applications.

Electrical Design Point. The amount of current that a regulator must supply to handle the current consumed by the worst-case load (e.g. a CPU running a stress test).

Embedded-Systems Graphics Library. For OpenGL ES.

Embedded MMC. Developed by JEDEC and MMCA for embedded flash memory applications.

Microsoft supports definition of additional driver-specific escape codes, starting at an ESCAPECODEBASE of decimal value 100,000. So an NVIDIA-defined escape code whose value is 7 is actually 100007. (100000 + 7 = 100007)

Exchangeable image file format. A specification for digital camera image file formats.

Second extended file system for the Linux kernel, designed to replace the extended file system (ext).

Third extended file system. A journaling file system often used by the Linux kernel, the default file system for some distributions.

Fourth extended file system. A journaling file system often used by the Linux kernel. It is the successor to Ext3.

Default boot loader for Tegra BSP devices, except for devices used with Nvidia Vibrante. This customizable boot loader runs on AVP to initialize the CPU, after which it runs on CPU and starts the OS. The Fastboot boot loader supports the Fastboot protocol. In addition to booting the device, this boot loader can interact with NvFlash to flash binary images on appropriate storage media.

Host software supporting the Fastboot protocol for updating flash file systems and unsigned partition images for Android-based devices. It is used for the second stage in two-stage downloads to Tegra devices.

A Google protocol for updating the flash file system in Android devices. The update is from a host over a USB connection. For more information, see http://source.android.com/index.html.

Applies to: This definition applies to Tegra 4/T11x devices.

Includes one or more of the four CPUs running at a higher operating frequency and with greater power consumption. For Tegra e devices, see G cluster.

Adobe multimedia platform enabling animation and interactivity on Web pages. For more information, see http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer.

Flexible macroblock ordering. Technique for restructuring the ordering of the representation of the fundamental regions in pictures, known as macroblocks. FMO is also referred to as slice groups and arbitrary slice ordering (ASO).

In photography, field of view.

Applies to: This definition applies to Tegra 3 devices.

Includes one or more of the four CPUs running at a higher operating frequency and with greater power consumption. G reflects the use of G transistors for a block of high performance hardware logic in Tegra 3 devices. For Tegra 4/T11x devices, see FCPU cluster.

OpenGL Shading Language. A high level, C-language shading language.

General purpose input/output. This is a generic pin on a chip whose behavior can be controlled with software.

Global positioning system.

Graphics processing unit.

A video codec standard for low-bit rate compressed format videoconferencing, designed by the ITU-T in a project ending in 1995/1996. For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.263.

A standard for video compression, also known as MPEG-4 Part 10, or AVC (for Advanced Video Coding). For more information, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC.

Host Controller Interface. The software connection between a host OS and a Bluetooth controller.

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection. Digital copy protection technology developed by Intel Corporation to protect digital audio and video content as it travels across connections. For more information, see http://www.digital-cp.com.

High-Definition Multimedia Interface. A compact audio/video connector interface used to connect HDMI-enabled digital audio devices for transmitting uncompressed digital streams. NVIDIA® Tegra® Board Support Package (BSP) incorporates support for HDMI® technology.

Human interface device. A computer device that receives human input and may deliver output.

High-speed MultiMediaCard (MMC).

Hypertext transfer protocol. A client-server communications protocol used for hyperlinked text documents on the Internet.

Inter-Integrated Circuit. A serial computer bus used to attach low-speed peripherals to an embedded system or cell phone.

Inter-IC Sound (or Integrated Interchip Sound). A serial bus interface standard for connecting to digital audio devices.

Metadata container typically used with MP3 formatted content.

Infinite impulse response, a property of signal processing systems.

Terrestrial Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting.

File extension for NVIDIA® Image Signal Processing pipeline (.isp) configuration files.

Independent software vendor.

Method for compressing photographic images. For more information, see http://www.jpeg.org.

Joint Test Action Group (JTAG). Common term used for the IEEE 1149.1 standard “Standard Test Access Port and Boundary-Scan Architecture” for testing printed circuit boards. In embedded development, in-circuit emulators use JTAG as a transport mechanism to provide a way into the embedded system for debugging.

Linux kernel configuration files, which are present in almost each directory. Kconfig syntax is documented in the Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt file.

Liquid crystal display.

Low power, or low power filter bank.

Link Management Protocol. Controls the radio link between 2 Bluetooth devices.

Applies to: This definition applies to Tegra 3 devices.

Includes CPU 0 running at a lower operating frequency and with lower power consumption. LP reflects the use of LP transistors for a block of low power hardware logic in Tegra 3 devices. For Tegra 4/T11x devices, see SCPU cluster.

Multimedia MPEG-4 container format file extension (.m4a), first popularized by Apple to assure presence of audio/video content as distinguished from .mp4 files which may or may not have video content.

Multimedia MPEG-4 container format file extension (.m4b) for audio book and podcast files. Typically contain metadata for chapters, images, and hyperlinks.

An instant messaging program based on Ajax and libpurple free/open source library. For more information, see http://www.meebo.com and http://www.pidgin.im.

Musical instrument digital interface. For synchronization of electronic musical instrument and computer communications of digital data events (such as for pitch and volume) in real time.

Modular input/output. Enables adding peripheral cards to laser printers. For more information, see http://www.hp.com/.

MIPI Alliance along with its Battery Interface working group devised the first complete battery communication interface standard for mobile devices. For more information on the MIPI BIF specification, see http://www.mipi.org/specifications/battery-interface. Tegra 4i (T14x) releases introduced support for MIPI BIF.

Wireless display connection certification. Miracast devices use a Wi-Fi connection to stream audio and video content from one device (source) to another (sink) wirelessly. (Formerly called Wi-Fi Display.)

Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) are video formats where video frames/ interlaced fields in digital video is compressed separately as a JPEG image.

Multilevel cell. Flash memory that stores more than one bit per cell by using voltage levels.

MultiMediaCard. Removable solid-state memory card for use in mobile devices. For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MultiMediaCard.

File format for QuickTime that functions as a multimedia container file containing one or multiple tracks that stores audio, video, effects, or text.

High-density MLC NAND Flash combined with MMC controller.

MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3. Also the container format or filename extension (.mp3) for MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 files.

Container format or filename extension (.mp4) for MPEG-4 Part 14 files.

Generic coding standard for movies, which specifies a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio compression (audio data compression).

MPEG-4 Part 2 video compression technology. A DCT compression standard belonging to the MPEG-4 ISO/IEC standard (ISO/IEC 14496-2). For more information, see http://www.mpeg.org.

Multi-purpose input output. This is a type of pin-mux pad that can be configured as GPIO or SFIO.

Mass storage device class. USB Implementers Forum computing communications protocols for the Universal Serial Bus (USB). For more information, see http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/usb_msc_overview_1.2.pdf.

Mass storage device.

Microsoft Developer Network. For more information, see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx.

Memory technology device, used by Linux to interact with flash memory.

Multiview Video Coding (MVC), amends H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard to enable encoding simultaneously from multiple cameras using a single video stream.

Type of flash memory, typically used in USB devices and memory cards.

Android toolset enabling embedded components to use native code in Android applications. For more information, see http://developer.android.com/sdk/ndk/overview.html.

Provides rental-by-mail of digital video content as well as Internet streaming on demand. For more information, see https://www.netflix.com.

Network File System, an open standard protocol.

NVIDIA® Platform Programming Protocol (includes 3P server and 3P client).

NVIDIA® Boot Library.

A Python script for producing blob files for updating hidden partitions, like for boot loader or microboot. OTA or Fastboot uses these blobs to perform the updates.

NVIDIA® Driver Development Kit.

This is the mode in which Tegra chips are provided from NVIDIA. In this mode, fuses can still be programmed via recovery mode. Boot configuration tables (BCTs) and boot loaders are signed with a key of all 0's, but are not encrypted.

Host-side application that sends binary images to Tegra devices that are in Tegra recovery mode. Fastboot uses those images to flash the device. NvFlash communicates with devices over USB or wireless connections.

NVIDIA® Resource Manager.

NVIDIA application for producing blob objects for flashing ODM secure mode devices. The NvFlash tool uses these blobs to flash devices.

NVIDIA® Secure Interface.

OEM adaptation layer for Windows CE.

Original design or device manufacturer.

This is the mode in which ODMs ship products without stringent security mechanisms; however, in this mode, fuses can no longer be programmed. As in NVIDIA production mode, boot configuration tables (BCTs) and boot loaders are signed with a key of all 0's and not encrypted. This mode is sometimes called ODM production mode.

This is the mode in which ODMs ship products with strict security measures in force. Fuses cannot be programmed, and all boot configuration tables (BCTs), boot loaders, and microboots must be signed and encrypted with the secure boot key (SBK).

Original equipment manufacturer.

Container for Vorbis audio-only files. For more information, see http://xiph.org.

Container for Vorbis codec. For more information, see http://xiph.org.

A free/open source, lossy audio codec (Vorbis) and its container (Ogg). For more information, see http://xiph.org.

Early file format for embedding video into Ogg. Use of this format is currently discouraged by Xiph. For more information, see http://xiph.org.

Open NAND Flash Interface, an industry workgroup that build, design-in, or enable NAND Flash memory.

Free cross-platform audio API (resembling OpenGL API style) for efficient rendering of multichannel three dimensional positional audio.

A subset of OpenGL 3D graphics API designed for embedded systems, defined by the Khronos Group. For more information, see http://www.khronos.org.

A set of APIs for handheld games and media applications providing a cross-platform abstraction layer for other “open” media technologies. For more information, see http://www.khronos.org.

Open Sound Library for Embedded Systems. A royalty-free, cross-platform, hardware-accelerated audio API for 2D and 3D audio. For more information, see http://www.khronos.org.

An application programming interface that provides abstractions for routines especially useful for computer graphics, video, and sound, defined by the Khronos Group. For more information, see http://www.khronos.org.

OpenMAX Integration Layer. Provides an abstraction layer API between a media framework, such as DirectShow, and a set of multimedia components, such as audio and video codecs. For more information, see http://www.khronos.org.

A standard API for hardware-accelerated 2D vector graphics, defined by the Khronos Group. For more information, see http://www.khronos.org.

Over-the-air or wireless.

Personal area networking. A Bluetooth profile. For more information, see http://www.atheros.com.

Pulse-code modulation.

Number of bits per pixel (bpp).

The baseboard board, other boards, and VCM that that support a particular VCM.

Power-management IC.

Power Management Unit.

Tool that simplifies including cryptographic and SSL/TLS capabilities in (embedded) products. For more information, see https://polarssl.org.

NVIDIA® Pixel Rendering Intensity and Saturation Management (PRISM) display technology (formerly known as DIDIM). To save battery life, PRISM separates color and backlight intensity while preserving fidelity, so the amount of backlighting needed is reduced without making images appear dim.

Qualcomm Code Excited Linear Prediction, also known as Qualcomm PureVoice. Speech codec that increases the speech quality of the IS-96A codec used in CDMA. For more information, see http://www.qualcomm.com/qct.

Quantization Parameter.

Default boot loader for Tegra devices for NVIDIA Vibrante. This boot loader is optimized for embedded/automotive use. The Quickboot boot loader does not support the Fastboot protocol.

Apple multimedia framework for digital multimedia, text, animation, etc., playback/streaming. For more information, see http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download.

USB recovery mode, which is a boot mode. Tegra devices transition to RCM when the boot ROM detects certain error conditions or when certain platform buttons are pressed. This is mode is used to perform system image updates.

Request for Comments.

Radio Interface Layer.

Remote NDIS. A specification for network devices on buses such as USB. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/network/NDIS/rmNDIS.mspx.

Random Number Generator. A computational device, implemented in hardware, that is designed to generate a sequence of numbers that lacks any pattern.

Real-time transport protocol for delivering A/V content over the Internet.

Real time streaming protocol allowing clients to issue transport commands and control a streaming media server remotely.

Sub-band codec. For breaking signals into different frequency bands to encode them independently.

Spectral band replication.

The physical key on the keypad.

Synchronous Connection Oriented link. For a mono, PCM audio channel.

Applies to: This definition applies to Tegra 4/T11x devices.

Includes CPU 0 running at a lower operating frequency and with lower power consumption. For Tegra 3 devices, see LP cluster.

Secure Digital card. Non-volatile memory card. For more information, see http://www.sdcard.org/home.

Secure Digital High Capacity. For more information, see http://www.sdcard.org/home.

Secure Digital Host Controller Interface.

Secure Digital Input Output. SD card combined with an I/O device. For more information, see http://www.sdcard.org/home.

Synchronous dynamic random access memory.

Session Description Protocol, an IETF Proposed Standard that describes streaming communication sessions to announce and invite the session and to negotiate parameters.

A common term used to refer to a boot loader that uses enhanced security, such as asymmetric encryption (public key encryption). For more information, see the Windows CE 6.0 Technical Article “Secure Download Boot Loader in Windows Embedded CE” at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb643805.aspx.

Special function input output. This term is a category of roles that MPIO pads can be configured with.

Cross-platform media-streaming server (freeware), developed by Nullsoft, which enables Internet radio network creation. For more information, see http://www.shoutcast.com.

Session Initiation Protocol. Signaling protocol from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) used to control multimedia communication sessions for voice and video over Internet protocol (VoIP).

Simple link interface. A high-performance data acquisition standard where data will be collected and stored by computers at both ends of the link. For more information, see http://hsi.web.cern.ch/HSI/s-link.

Single-level cell. Flash memory that stores one bit per cell.

Symmetric multiprocessing.

Short Message Service. Allows sending short text messages between mobile telephone devices.

Signal-to-noise ratio.

Sorenson codec used in Apple's QuickTime and in Adobe Flash. For more information, see http://www.sorensonmedia.com.

System-on-chip, which integrates computer components and other electronics into a single integrated circuit or chip. Also SoC.

Sony/Philips Digital Interface.

Serial Peripheral Interface bus. A full-duplex mode, synchronous serial data link.

Small, low-power flash memory that uses a serial interface (usually SPI) for sequential data access.

Sample rate conversion.

Unique, per-chip Secure Storage Key used to protect customer-defined data. Typically a 128-bit key computed from the following fuse settings:

∙ 128-bit customer-programmed SBK.

∙ 32-bit customer-programmed Device Key (DK).

∙ 64-bit NVIDIA-programmed Unique ID (UID), which is different for every chip.

Media framework new in Android 2.2. For more information see http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-2.2-highlights.html#PlatformTechnologies.

The world’s first mobile super chip. The families of Tegra chipsets for mobile devices include:

Total harmonic distortion.

Trusted Little Kernel.

Universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter. Computer hardware that translates data between parallel and serial forms, usually used for computer or peripheral device serial communications over a serial port.

Das U-Boot, a free (GNU GPL software) bootstrap loader for embedded systems. For more information, see http://www.denx.de/wiki/U-Boot.

Supported Linux operating system by certain Tegra-based development products. For the specific Ubuntu version supported, see your Release Notes. For more information about Ubuntu, see http://www.ubuntu.com.

Update Image Partition.

Universal serial bus. A standard that allows connections of many peripherals via a standardized interface socket. For more information, see http://www.usb.org.

Linux usbnet driver. For more information, see http://www.linux-usb.org/usbnet/.

Update Staging Partition.

Voice activation detection.

An OpenGL extension for faster rendering of triangles.

Common name of the SMPTE 421M video codec standard from Microsoft. For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/howto/articles/vc1techoverview.aspx.

Visual Computing Modules (VCM). Used in NVIDIA Vibrante products.

Voice-over-Internet protocol. Transmits voice through the Internet or other packet-switched networks.

A free/open source, lossy audio codec (Vorbis). For more information, see http://xiph.org.

TrueMotion VP6 video codec developed by On2 Technologies used in broadcasting, as well as by Adobe Flash and Flash Video files. For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VP6.

Video Protection Region. New feature in Tegra 4 (T11x) releases provides a carveout heap with no CPU read access between the hardware video decoder and the display, thereby providing hardware-level pixel protection.

Microsoft and IBM waveform audio format for storing audio bitstreams.

Wired Equivalent Privacy. Secures IEEE 802.11 wireless networks.

The underlying peer-to-peer connection mechanism used by Miracast.

Obsolete term. See Miracast.

Microsoft Windows Media Audio technologies. Also the compressed audio file format (.wma).

Microsoft Window Media Audio lossless audio codec, provides duplication of original audio so that no data are lost.

Microsoft Windows Media Audio Professional technologies.

Low bit rate mode of Microsoft Windows Media Audio Professional technologies.

Microsoft Windows Media Video technologies. Also the compressed video file format (.wmv).

Wi-Fi Protected Access. Certified security for wireless computer networks.

Free video codec library based on the MPEG-4 standard. Xvid uses MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile (ASP) compression with video encoded with MPEG-4 ASP video, and so can be decoded by all MPEG-4 ASP-based decoders. For more information, see http://www.xvid.org.

Yet Another Flash File System. The first file system designed for NAND flash.

A color space. Y stands for the luma (brightness) component, and U and V are the chrominance (color) components.

Conventional (but not required) name for the uncompressed kernel boot image file in Linux. bzImage is the compressed or “big” zImage file for systems requiring the kernel image to be under a certain size.