Roughly how camera sensor drivers work

I am trying to write a MIPI CSI-2 camera sensor driver for an embedded Linux image. Of course, there are tons of driver source codes on the Github etc. but I am having a hard time understanding how camera sensor work *in terms of programming.* I think it would be helpful for everyone if someone ***roughly*** explains step by step how a driver works with a camera sensor. I would be very happy if you could clarify topic of setting registers with I2C. I'm talking about an explanation as abstract as a flow-chart. Thank you everybody who interested in.