diff --git a/drivers/media/Makefile b/drivers/media/Makefile
index e608bbc..b08f091 100644
--- a/drivers/media/Makefile
+++ b/drivers/media/Makefile
@@ -2,7 +2,8 @@
 # Makefile for the kernel multimedia device drivers.
 #
 
-media-objs	:= media-device.o media-devnode.o media-entity.o
+media-objs	:= media-device.o media-devnode.o media-entity.o \
+		   media-dev-allocator.o
 
 #
 # I2C drivers should come before other drivers, otherwise they'll fail
diff --git a/drivers/media/media-dev-allocator.c b/drivers/media/media-dev-allocator.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8c3a5f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drivers/media/media-dev-allocator.c
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+/*
+ * media-devkref.c - Media Controller Device Allocator API
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2016 Shuah Khan <shuahkh@osg.samsung.com>
+ * Copyright (c) 2016 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
+ *
+ * This file is released under the GPLv2.
+ * Credits: Suggested by Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>
+ */
+
+/*
+ * This file adds Media Controller Device Instance with
+ * Kref support. A system wide global media device list
+ * is managed and each  media device is refcounted. The
+ * last put on the media device releases the media device
+ * instance.
+*/
+
+#include <linux/slab.h>
+#include <linux/kref.h>
+#include <media/media-device.h>
+
+static LIST_HEAD(media_device_list);
+static LIST_HEAD(media_device_to_delete_list);
+static DEFINE_MUTEX(media_device_lock);
+
+struct media_device_instance {
+	struct media_device mdev;
+	struct list_head list;
+	struct device *dev;
+	struct kref refcount;
+	bool to_delete; /* should be set when devnode is deleted */
+};
+
+static struct media_device *__media_device_get(struct device *dev,
+					       bool allocate, bool get_kref)
+{
+	struct media_device_instance *mdi;
+
+	mutex_lock(&media_device_lock);
+
+	list_for_each_entry(mdi, &media_device_list, list) {
+		if (mdi->dev == dev) {
+			if (get_kref) {
+				kref_get(&mdi->refcount);
+				pr_debug("%s: mdev=%p\n", __func__, &mdi->mdev);
+			}
+			goto done;
+		}
+	}
+
+	if (!allocate) {
+		mdi = NULL;
+		goto done;
+	}
+
+	mdi = kzalloc(sizeof(*mdi), GFP_KERNEL);
+	if (!mdi)
+		goto done;
+
+	mdi->dev = dev;
+	kref_init(&mdi->refcount);
+	list_add_tail(&mdi->list, &media_device_list);
+	pr_debug("%s: mdev=%p\n", __func__, &mdi->mdev);
+
+done:
+	mutex_unlock(&media_device_lock);
+
+	return mdi ? &mdi->mdev : NULL;
+}
+
+struct media_device *media_device_get(struct device *dev)
+{
+	pr_debug("%s\n", __func__);
+	return __media_device_get(dev, true, true);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(media_device_get);
+
+/* Don't increment kref - this is a search and find */
+struct media_device *media_device_find(struct device *dev)
+{
+	pr_debug("%s\n", __func__);
+	return __media_device_get(dev, false, false);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(media_device_find);
+
+/* don't allocate - increment kref if one is found */
+struct media_device *media_device_get_ref(struct device *dev)
+{
+	pr_debug("%s\n", __func__);
+	return __media_device_get(dev, false, true);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(media_device_get_ref);
+
+static void media_device_instance_release(struct kref *kref)
+{
+	struct media_device_instance *mdi =
+		container_of(kref, struct media_device_instance, refcount);
+
+	pr_debug("%s: mdev=%p\n", __func__, &mdi->mdev);
+
+	list_del(&mdi->list);
+	kfree(mdi);
+}
+
+void media_device_put(struct device *dev)
+{
+	struct media_device_instance *mdi;
+
+	mutex_lock(&media_device_lock);
+	/* search first in the media_device_list */
+	list_for_each_entry(mdi, &media_device_list, list) {
+		if (mdi->dev == dev) {
+			pr_debug("%s: mdev=%p\n", __func__, &mdi->mdev);
+			kref_put(&mdi->refcount, media_device_instance_release);
+			goto done;
+		}
+		pr_debug("%s: media_device_list mdev=%p\n", __func__,
+			&mdi->mdev);
+	}
+	/* search in the media_device_to_delete_list */
+	list_for_each_entry(mdi, &media_device_to_delete_list, list) {
+		if (mdi->dev == dev) {
+			pr_debug("%s: mdev=%p\n", __func__, &mdi->mdev);
+			kref_put(&mdi->refcount,
+				 media_device_instance_release);
+			goto done;
+		}
+		pr_debug("%s: media_device_to_delete_list mdev=%p\n", __func__,
+			&mdi->mdev);
+	}
+done:
+	mutex_unlock(&media_device_lock);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(media_device_put);
+
+void media_device_set_to_delete_state(struct device *dev)
+{
+	struct media_device_instance *mdi;
+
+	mutex_lock(&media_device_lock);
+	list_for_each_entry(mdi, &media_device_list, list) {
+		if (mdi->dev == dev) {
+			pr_debug("%s: mdev=%p\n", __func__, &mdi->mdev);
+			mdi->to_delete = true;
+			list_move_tail(&mdi->list,
+				       &media_device_to_delete_list);
+			goto done;
+		}
+	}
+done:
+	mutex_unlock(&media_device_lock);
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(media_device_set_to_delete_state);
diff --git a/include/media/media-dev-allocator.h b/include/media/media-dev-allocator.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6003bad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/media/media-dev-allocator.h
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+/*
+ * media-devkref.c - Media Controller Device Allocator API
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2016 Shuah Khan <shuahkh@osg.samsung.com>
+ * Copyright (c) 2016 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
+ *
+ * This file is released under the GPLv2.
+ * Credits: Suggested by Laurent Pinchart <laurent.pinchart@ideasonboard.com>
+ */
+
+/*
+ * This file adds Media Controller Device Instance with Kref support.
+ * A system wide global media device list is managed and each media
+ * device is refcounted. The last put on the media device releases
+ * the media device instance.
+*/
+
+#ifndef _MEDIA_DEV_ALLOCTOR_H
+#define _MEDIA_DEV_ALLOCTOR_H
+
+#ifdef CONFIG_MEDIA_CONTROLLER
+/**
+ * DOC: Media Controller Device Allocator API
+ * There are known problems with media device life time management. When media
+ * device is released while an media ioctl is in progress, ioctls fail with
+ * use-after-free errors and kernel hangs in some cases.
+ *
+ * Media Device can be in any the following states:
+ *
+ * - Allocated
+ * - Registered (could be tied to more than one driver)
+ * - Unregistered, not in use (media device file is not open)
+ * - Unregistered, in use (media device file is not open)
+ * - Released
+ *
+ * When media device belongs to  more than one driver, registrations should be
+ * refcounted to avoid unregistering when one of the drivers does unregister.
+ * A refcount field in the struct media_device covers this case. Unregister on
+ * a Media Allocator media device is a kref_put() call. The media device should
+ * be unregistered only when the last unregister occurs.
+ *
+ * When a media device is in use when it is unregistered, it should not be
+ * released until the application exits when it detects the unregistered
+ * status. Media device that is in use when it is unregistered is moved to
+ * to_delete_list. When the last unregister occurs, media device is unregistered
+ * and becomes an unregistered, still allocated device. Unregister marks the
+ * device to be deleted.
+ *
+ * When media device belongs to more than one driver, as both drivers could be
+ * unbound/bound, driver should not end up getting stale media device that is
+ * on its way out. Moving the unregistered media device to to_delete_list helps
+ * this case as well.
+ */
+/**
+ * media_device_get() - Allocate and return global media device
+ *
+ * @mdev
+ *
+ * This interface should be called to allocate media device. A new media
+ * device instance is created and added to the system wide media device
+ * instance list. If media device instance exists, media_device_get()
+ * increments the reference count and returns the media device. When
+ * more than one driver control the media device, the first driver to
+ * probe will allocate and the second driver when it calls media_device_get()
+ * it will get a reference.
+ *
+ */
+struct media_device *media_device_get(struct device *dev);
+/**
+ * media_device_get_ref() - Get reference to an allocated and registered
+ *			    media device.
+ *
+ * @mdev
+ *
+ * This interface should be called to get a reference to an allocated media
+ * device. media_open() ioctl should call this to hold a reference to ensure
+ * the media device will not be released until the media_release() does a put
+ * on it.
+ */
+struct media_device *media_device_get_ref(struct device *dev);
+/**
+ * media_device_find() - Find an allocated and registered media device.
+ *
+ * @mdev
+ *
+ * This interface should be called to find a media device. This will not
+ * incremnet the reference count.
+ */
+struct media_device *media_device_find(struct device *dev);
+/**
+ * media_device_put() - Release refcounted media device. Calls kref_put()
+ *
+ * @mdev
+ *
+ * This interface should be called to decrement refcount.
+ */
+void media_device_put(struct device *dev);
+/**
+ * media_device_set_to_delete_state() - Set the state to be deleted.
+ *
+ * @mdev
+ *
+ * This interface is used to not release the media device under from
+ * an active ioctl if unregister happens.
+ */
+void media_device_set_to_delete_state(struct device *dev);
+#else
+static inline struct media_device *media_device_get(struct device *dev)
+			{ return NULL; }
+static inline struct media_device *media_device_get_ref(struct device *dev);
+static inline struct media_device *media_device_find(struct device *dev)
+			{ return NULL; }
+static inline void media_device_put(struct device *dev) { }
+static inline void media_device_set_to_delete_state(struct device *dev) { }
+#endif /* CONFIG_MEDIA_CONTROLLER */
+#endif
