TDA2XEVM: Dumping metadata buffer to file from TIDL postproc alg link possible?

Bhargav Dave

Hi,

I'm experimenting with the semantic segmentation usecase on BIOS.

I want to dump the metadata buffer input to the alg link "Alg_tidlpostproc (A15)"

Here is the code snippet (in bold) in the AlgorithmLink_tidlpostprocProcess() function in tidlpostprocLink_algPlugin.c where I'm trying to do that:

                        /* Skip input padding */                       
                        inAddr += \                                    
                            (pAlgObj->inWidth * pLinkCreatePrms->inPad) + \                         
                                pLinkCreatePrms->inPad;                

                        /* Color Table look up */                      
                        if((SYSTEM_DF_YUV420SP_UV == pLinkCreatePrms->outDataFormat) ||         
                           (SYSTEM_DF_YUV420SP_VU == pLinkCreatePrms->outDataFormat))           
                        {
                            // Dump metadata buffer
                            Int32 metaFp = ChainsCommon_Osal_fileOpen("metadata.bin", CHAINSCOMMON_OSAL_FILEMODE_WRITE_BIN);
                            ChainsCommon_Osal_fileWrite(metaFp, inAddr,pAlgObj->inWidth*pAlgObj->inHeight);
                            ChainsCommon_Osal_fileClose(metaFp);       
                            /* For YUV format we only dump the UV plane */
                            for (ht = 0;ht < (pLinkCreatePrms->outHeight/2);ht++)                   
                            {                                          
                                for (wd = 0;wd < pLinkCreatePrms->outWidth;wd += 2)                 
                                {                                      
                                    inData = *((UInt8*)inAddr + wd);
                                    *((UInt16*)outAddr565++) = pLinkCreatePrms->colPalette565[inData];
                                }                                      
                                                                       
                                inAddr += (2 * pAlgObj->inWidth);      
                            }

When I run the use case I get the following error while I try to open the file for writing:

FILE: ERROR: Could not open FILE !!!

Is file writing on A15 supported (in the case of BIOS)? If yes, is there a way to do it?

over 8 years ago

0 kumar.desappan over 8 years ago

TI__Mastermind 22145 points

Please refer the below related thread

Regards,

Kumar.D

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to kumar.desappan

Intellectual 820 points

Hi Kumar,

I followed the instructions from that thread. In fact I am the OP of that thread :-)

However, I'm unable to open the file for writing.

One difference in what I was trying to do in the other thread is that time I'm trying to write on A15 and in the previous case it was on IPU.

Do the FATFS APIs have limitations as to which HW platforms they're supported on?

Thanks,
Bhargav

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Hello Bhargav,

Can you please share your use-case chain?

Also when you want to feed file input to algo plugin, you can use null source link, which has support for reading from file.

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

Hi Prasad,

As I already mentioned, I'm using the semSeg usecase (which is part of the SDK already).

The only change I'm making to the code is adding the file write logic in tidlpostprocLink_algPlugin.c as described in my first post.

I don't want to feed to algo plugin, just dump the metadata input to it i.e. detected class per pixel buffer.

Thanks,
Bhargav

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Bhargav,

Can you please add more prints and check which of 3 file calls is giving an error?
We have " Could not open FILE" added to all 3 functions so not sure if you getting error in open, write or close.

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

Hi Prasad,

I'm getting the error while writing the file i.e. in ChainsCommon_Osal_fileWrite() call.

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Hello Bhargav,

You should check if file is opened correctly. Can you please add check for NULL metaFp?

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

The file is opened. metaFp is not NULL.

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Bhargav,

Somehow metafp is not correct in file write function. I am copying write API code snippet and as you can see, it fails because metafp is not correct.
hndlFile = File_open(fileName, "wb");

if(hndlFile < 0)
{
retVal = SYSTEM_LINK_STATUS_EFAIL;
Vps_printf(" FILE: ERROR: Could not open FILE !!! \n");
}

1. make metafp global
2. Have code like below
fp = ChainsCommon_Osal_fileOpen(fileName,\
CHAINSCOMMON_OSAL_FILEMODE_WRITE_BIN);
UTILS_assert(-1 != fp);

Vps_printf("SRV_CALIB_UC: Writing YUV image %d to the file %s ...\n",\
cnt, fileName);

ChainsCommon_Osal_fileWrite(
fp,
(UInt8*)ChainsCommon_Osal_getVirtAddr(
(UInt32)pObj->calibrationPrm.calMatGenPrm3DSrv.inImgPtr[cnt]),
pObj->imgSize);

ChainsCommon_Osal_fileClose(fp);

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

Hi Prasad,
Indeed with the assertion check UTILS_assert(-1 != metaFp), I get a failure i.e. file open itself is failing.

I have checked that there is enough space in the SD card. Why should file open file in that case?

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

Intellectual 820 points

*fail

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Bhargav,

Not sure why its failing. If you have debugger you can step through it.
Before that try replacing ChainsCommon_Osal_fileOpen directly with fp = fopen(mmcsdFileName, "wb");

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

Hi Prasad,

Unfortunately I dont have a debugger right now so can't do that.

I'm on BIOS and not linux so shouldn't the function be File_open() and not fopen()?

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Bhargav,

Please use File_open. Sorry for missing that.
File_open(fileName, "wb");

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

Hi Prasad,

Looks like the dummy version of File_open() is being called! Can you let me know how to enable the correct version?

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

Intellectual 820 points

Looks like we can only have one FATFS_PROC_TO_USE. And since IPU is reading/writing for semSeg use case, is there a way to also use A15 for FATFS?

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Bhargav,

No, FATFS is only supported on the IPU1_0. You can use it from any other core.
You would need to send messages to IPU1_0 from A15 for file reads/write. Luckily we have similar application doing this. Please refer to apps\src\rtos\modules\network_ctrl\network_ctrl_handle_mmc_wr_proxy.c.

You need to do similar initialization from use-case and use system link to send messages to IPU from A15 to read/write file

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

Thanks for the info Prasad.

Do I need to update my use case links and chains (in chains_semSeg.txt) to add some links for this or can I simply send messages using System_linkControl()?
Also on the receiving end how do I handle this?

Sorry if these are very basic questions but I am very new with links and chains. Some kind of tutorial would also help.

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Bhargav,

Depends on what is your intent.
If you want to write to file just to test/validate something, then you can directly use system link call. But if you want to keep this as a part of use-case, you can use NULL link instead. Your use-case flow can be like below

capture/nullsrc ->algo->dup
dup->NULL
dup->further_processing.

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

HI Prasad,

My intention is to just test something, so I guess I will go with direct use of system link call just like in network_ctrl_handle_mmc_wr_proxy.c

Just wanted to know how to handle this on the receiving end i.e. on IPU

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Bhargav,

If you have not enabled network then you need to call "SystemLink_registerHandler(fileIOCmdHandler);" to register file handler with system link.
You can add this in use-case main file.
Please refer below for more details
vision_sdk\apps\src\rtos\modules\network_ctrl\network_ctrl_handle_mmc_wr.c

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

Hi Prasad,

I was able to successfully dump the metadata buffer using this scheme. Sincerely appreciate your effort in helping me!

However, I want to dump it for every frame and every 10 frames, File_open() call fails. I found that this is because of UTILS_FILE_MAX setting in links_fw/src/rtos/utils_common/src/file_api_priv.h which is set to 10.

Can I simply increase this number (to say 100 or 500)? Or is this a hard limit?

0 Prasad Jondhale over 8 years ago in reply to Bhargav Dave

TI__Mastermind 27743 points

Not sure about max number but you should close and open same file. If you are doing that i dont think UTILS_FILE_MAX will matter.
Close file using File_close and not by osal_closse, same for file write.

0 Bhargav Dave over 8 years ago in reply to Prasad Jondhale

Intellectual 820 points

Good point Prasad. But I want to dump separate files for each frame predicted classes.

I will try to increase the number and see how it goes. Even if I can dump ~100 frames that will be good.

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TDA2XEVM: Dumping metadata buffer to file from TIDL postproc alg link possible?