VMView

For Remote Control, authorized personnel will be supplied with a Windows program called VmView, that easily installs on all versions of Windows. VmView was expressly written to manage multiple camera systems running the VM95 software. Username and password protection is easily setup so that access to the cameras can be controlled. The interface is easy to understand and in just a few minutes, one can connect to a camera station and watch live video. VmView starts up in ‘View’ mode, which does not interrupt the Web Cam operation. If the authorized user needs to, he/she can enter ‘Full Control Mode’ and perform the required monitoring. As mentioned above, during the Full Control Mode, Web Cam mode is halted temporarily, but resumes as soon as the remote user logs off or goes inactive. One can easily ‘View’ many different camera stations at the same time, each camera having its own window. With a single mouse click, a remote user can open up multiple camera stations, watching all of them at the same time, and not break any of them out of their Web Cam Mode.

A useful feature built into VmView, and not available in browser based camera control programs, is the automatic record capability. All images that a remote user receives are (if enabled) automatically saved on his/her computer in standard JPEG format. These recorded images can be played back, studied and printed at a later time when needed.

24/7 Security Monitoring

VM95 can be programmed to record the video images continuously, 24 hours a day, at rates up to 2 images per second. These video images are recorded independently of VM95 and even when a remote user takes full control, the system continues recording, providing an accurate documentation of all activity carried out by the camera station. Accessing the video images is done though the VmView program. The intuitive interface allows one to quickly jump to any time in the past 5 days and start watching the video. Different playback rates are available to make the search more efficient

Below is a screen shot of the VmView in the Full Control mode:

Screen shot of the VmView Windows program that allows authorized remote internet users to control the camera station.

All video and digital images that are received by VmView can be automatically saved to the remote user’s hard disk.  The ‘Playback’ screen of VmView is shown in the following screen shot.

In addition to recording and playing back the images that have been viewed by the remote user, one can also browse through the archives of the video images that are recorded continuously every few seconds at the camera station.  The following screen shot shows the Archive Playback screen:

Screen shot of VmView showing the archive playback screen. The video archives at the camera station can save up to the last five days of continuously recorded video images.

The EVS camera system has 2 fundamentally different modes of operation: Web Cam Mode, and Remote Control Mode. The most frequently used mode will be Web Cam Mode. The activities carried out in Web Cam Mode include:

• Automatically moving to preprogrammed positions
• Capturing, labeling and archiving the images at programmed intervals and resolutions
• Uploading the desired imagery to the web in the form of individual images
• Preparing Wide angle composite panoramic views and uploading them to the Internet
• Preparing slideshows of current images and uploading them
• Maintenance of image space utilization, respecting allotted disk space limits
• Maintaining a permanent archive of images at the Website
• Preparing slideshows of the permanently archived images and upload them

Web Cam Mode is programmed using the scheduling functions of VM95 as discussed above. VM95 normally is in Web Cam mode when there are no remote users logged on controlling the system. When remote users log on requesting Full Control, the scheduled activities stops, and VM95 waits for commands from the remote user. If there is no activity for 3 minutes, or the remote user logs off, the scheduled activities resume.
When Web Cam mode is active, authorized remote users can ‘spy’ (passively watch) on the camera, watching real time video as it goes through its scheduled activities. The number of remote users that can control and spy on the camera system depends on the internet connection present at the camera station and on Internet traffic. With DSL, the more users, the slower the system responds. Up to 10 remote users can be supported simultaneously while maintaining a respectable refresh rate (1 image per second).

Remote Control Mode is used by authorized personnel and allows remote users anywhere on the Internet to either take full control of the system or to watch passively. The 'full control' remote user will have the capability to pan, tilt, and zoom all while watching live video at rates of 1-4 frames per second, depending on Internet traffic, connection speeds and resolution of the images. When in this mode, the Web Cam Mode is temporarily suspended, meaning that the web page imagery will not be updated until the (full control) remote user(s) have disconnected. Web Cam mode will automatically resume after 3 minutes of inactivity. Note that, if a weather station is attached to the system, weather data and graphs will continue to be updated even while a remote user is full control, effectively sharing the Internet connection with VM95 and the remote control user.