diff --git a/drivers/staging/comedi/comedi_fops.c b/drivers/staging/comedi/comedi_fops.c
index 0161f94cd7599d1f22afd9b9b142b669cffda5dc..368dbc90da3bfde3c1a8e6204979dc3da51e82ea 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/comedi/comedi_fops.c
+++ b/drivers/staging/comedi/comedi_fops.c
@@ -375,6 +375,14 @@ unsigned comedi_get_subdevice_runflags(struct comedi_subdevice *s)
 }
 EXPORT_SYMBOL(comedi_get_subdevice_runflags);
 
+bool comedi_is_subdevice_running(struct comedi_subdevice *s)
+{
+	unsigned runflags = comedi_get_subdevice_runflags(s);
+
+	return (runflags & SRF_RUNNING) ? true : false;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(comedi_is_subdevice_running);
+
 /*
    This function restores a subdevice to an idle state.
  */
diff --git a/drivers/staging/comedi/comedidev.h b/drivers/staging/comedi/comedidev.h
index 2bbb7c951fdfe4308354795e3de421e1c4e939b7..791030d2d8b4fb9c3e027f004e6b68c6ba8fece4 100644
--- a/drivers/staging/comedi/comedidev.h
+++ b/drivers/staging/comedi/comedidev.h
@@ -362,6 +362,8 @@ enum subdevice_runflags {
 	SRF_RUNNING = 0x08000000
 };
 
+bool comedi_is_subdevice_running(struct comedi_subdevice *s);
+
 int comedi_check_chanlist(struct comedi_subdevice *s,
 			  int n,
 			  unsigned int *chanlist);