gstreamer/docs/design/part-clocks.txt

Clocks
------

To synchronize the different elements, the GstPipeline is responsible for
selecting and distributing a global GstClock for all the elements in it.

This selection happens whenever an element is added or removed from the 
pipeline. Whever the clock changes in a pipeline, a message is posted on
the bus signaling the new clock to the application.

The GstClock returns a monotonically increasing time with the method 
_get_time(). Its accuracy and base time depends on the specific clock 
implementation but time is always expessed in nanoseconds. Since the
baseline of the clock is undefined, the clock time returned is not
meaningfull in itself, what matters are the deltas between two clock
times.
The time reported by the clock is called the absolute time.


Time in GStreamer
-----------------

The absolute time is used to calculate the stream time. The stream time
is defined as follows:

 - If the pipeline is NULL/READY, the stream time is undefined.
 - In PAUSED, the stream time remains at the time when it was last 
   PAUSED. When the stream is PAUSED for the first time, the stream time
   is 0. 
 - In PLAYING, the stream time is the delta between the absolute time
   and the base time. The base time is defined as the absolute time minus
   the stream time at the time when the pipeline is set to PLAYING.
 - after a seek, the stream time is set to seek time.

The stream time is completely managed by the GstPipeline object using the
GstClock absolute time.


Timestamps
----------

Timestamps on buffers are always expressed in stream time. This means that
all elements that require synchronizing to the clock need to be aware of
the clock base time in order to know the absolute time of the timestamp.
Converting a timestamp (in stream time) to absolute time is performed using
the following formula:

    AT = BT + ST               where: AT = absolute time
                                      BT = base time
                                      ST = stream time

The pipeline base time is propagated to all the element during the PAUSED
to PLAYING state change. All elements are therefore able to convert the 
stream time to the absolute time. It is possible to specify an aditional
delay to the base time to compensate for the delay it takes to perform
the state change.


Clock features
--------------

The clock supports periodic and single shot clock notifications both
synchronous and asynchronous.

One first needs to create a GstClockID for the periodic or single shot
notification using _clock_new_single_shot_id() or _clock_new_periodic_id().

To perform a blocking wait for the specific time of the GstClockID use the
gst_clock_id_wait(). To receive a callback when the specific time is reached
in the clock use gst_clock_id_wait_async(). Both these calls can be interrupted
with the gst_clock_id_unschedule() call. If the blocking wait is unscheduled
a return value of GST_CLOCK_UNSCHEDULED is returned.

The async callbacks can happen from any thread, either provided by the
core or from a streaming thread. The application should be prepared for this.

A GstClockID that has been unscheduled cannot be used again for any wait
operation. 

It is possible to perform a blocking wait on the same ID from multiple 
threads. However, registering the same ID for multiple async notifications is 
not possible, the callback will only be called once.

None of the wait operations unref the GstClockID, the application is 
responsible for unreffing the ids itself. This holds for both periodic and
single shot notifications. 

These clock operations do not operate on the stream time, so the callbacks
will also occur when not in PLAYING state as if the clock just keeps on 
running.


Clock implementations
---------------------

The GStreamer core provides a GstSystemClock based on the system time. 
Asynchronous callbacks are scheduled from an internal thread.

Clock implementors are encouraged to subclass this systemclock as it
implements the async notification.

Subclasses can however override all of the important methods for sync and
async notifications to implement their own callback methods or blocking
wait operations.