USB Camera is in use by _cmiodalassistants

Since updating to Catalina 10.15.6, my Logitech USB camera sometimes will not turn on when joining a Zoom, Webex, etc. It appears that the below process is using the camera, or at least it is causing a conflict:

❯ sudo lsof | grep VDC

Password:

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants cwd DIR 1,7 704 2 /

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 811664 1152921500312103948 /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/Resources/VDCAssistant

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 28512 4342586 /Library/Preferences/Logging/.plist-cache.QmFUw6Br

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 102032 1152921500312287619 /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBHostFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBLib.bundle/Contents/MacOS/IOUSBLib

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 28719488 1152921500311902375 /usr/share/icu/icudt64l.dat

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 1107632 1152921500312287755 /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonVADriver2.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AMDRadeonVADriver2

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 26807760 1152921500312287880 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelKBLGraphicsVADriver.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleIntelKBLGraphicsVADriver

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 46256 1152921500312288408 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelCFLGraphicsVAME.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleIntelCFLGraphicsVAME

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 1568368 1152921500311885621 /usr/lib/dyld

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants 0r CHR 3,2 0t0 310 /dev/null

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants 1u CHR 3,2 0t0 310 /dev/null

VDCAssist 298 _cmiodalassistants 2u CHR 3,2 0t0 310 /dev/null

ps -p 298

PID TTY TIME CMD

298 ?? 1:22.11 /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/Resource

After I killed 298 (sudo kill 298), the camera worked in Zoom. However, I do see that process re-spawned under a new pid:

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants cwd DIR 1,7 704 2 /

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 811664 1152921500312103948 /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreMediaIO.framework/Versions/A/Resources/VDC.plugin/Contents/Resources/VDCAssistant

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 28512 4342586 /Library/Preferences/Logging/.plist-cache.QmFUw6Br

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 102032 1152921500312287619 /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBHostFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/IOUSBLib.bundle/Contents/MacOS/IOUSBLib

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 28719488 1152921500311902375 /usr/share/icu/icudt64l.dat

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 1107632 1152921500312287755 /System/Library/Extensions/AMDRadeonVADriver2.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AMDRadeonVADriver2

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 26807760 1152921500312287880 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelKBLGraphicsVADriver.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleIntelKBLGraphicsVADriver

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 46256 1152921500312288408 /System/Library/Extensions/AppleIntelCFLGraphicsVAME.bundle/Contents/MacOS/AppleIntelCFLGraphicsVAME

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants txt REG 1,7 1568368 1152921500311885621 /usr/lib/dyld

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants 0r CHR 3,2 0t0 310 /dev/null

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants 1u CHR 3,2 0t0 310 /dev/null

VDCAssist 17075 _cmiodalassistants 2u CHR 3,2 0t0 310 /dev/null

This happens intermittently, but when it does happen it requires either a reboot or manually killing the process to allow apps to access the camera.

What is _cmiodalassistants? Is it part of the OS, or is it something that could possibly be disabled?

Below are my system specs.

MacBook Pro (2018)

Catalina 10.15.6 (have not installed the supplemental update yet)

Radeon Pro 560X + Intel UHD Graphics 630