CODEWITHSUNDEEP
windowsdriverwebcamwrapper
user1804964
user1804964

Reputation: 51

Access webcam from multiple applications simultaneously

The problem background - there are two different windows applications that are trying to access webcam on the computer at the same time. Currently, only one application is able to access to it. I want to be able to allow both applications to simultaneously access the webcam. A common example of my problem is, skype and yahoo messenger trying to access the webcam on the computer at the same time.

I found a few softwares (manycam.com, http://www.splitcamera.com/) that allow this on windows. But I am not sure how they implemented it. I want to write the code myself to achieve this since my code needs to be integrated with other APIs.

I appreciate if anyone can shed light on how to write a device wrapper to achieve this.

Upvotes: 5

Views: 7421

Answers (1)

SomeWittyUsername
SomeWittyUsername

Reputation: 18348

The kernel camera driver registers several OS-defined callbacks. One of the callbacks is used for the output stream. Dedicated Windows applications have an interface to this stream - you'll need to do some reading on this subject, it's not something that can be covered in scope of SO. You need a component that will be layered in between the client applications and the camera driver. This component should intercept your camera driver output and duplicate it for the registered clients. This can be achieved either in kernel (filter driver) or in user mode (preferable). http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff557573%28v=vs.85%29.aspx is a good place to start.

Note: this functionality might be already supported by your camera software (though I think the chances are very slim) and in this case you should dig into the corresponding documentation.

Upvotes: 4

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