Control Center

MOBOTIX cameras come as standard with all the functions required for automatic, event-controlled access to a control center. Access can take place via ISDN, a network or the Internet. If events occur, the cameras transmit a message to the control center computer via a network. The computer then saves the event image, creates a live image, brings it to the foreground of the monitor if necessary and sends an acoustic signal to the user.

The camera uses an IP Notify mechanism for this function which transmits a text message to an IP port on the target computer. Since several targets can be specified, a number of control stations or people can be notified at the same time.

Using the MxControlCenter software (available for download free of charge), the preferential layout, which is assigned to the camera triggering the alarm, can be automatically activated on the target computer. The preferential layout may be a site map, for example, which shows not only the camera which has triggered the alarm but also the other cameras in the building. The event images are stored in the "film strip" on the left-hand side of MxControlCenter and can also be retrieved there at a later point in time.

The IP Notify message can contain text and variables (camera name, IP address, event number, date, time, etc.) whose values are set by the camera at the time of the event. This enables MOBOTIX cameras to be integrated easily into control station and POS systems manufactured by other companies. In the case of different systems, the cameras can also transit an IP message to the POS system as well as for display to the video system (e.g., MxControlCenter).

One Camera Triggers Them All

The IP Notify mechanism described here can be used not only to send an alarm to the control center, but also to trigger other cameras to start recording simultaneously. If a camera is activated by a door contact in this type of case, for example, images are also recorded by all the cameras which receive IP Notify messages. Since a recording process which is already under way can be extended by means of event sources other than the events which prompted recording to start, the recording may be triggered by a reliable door contact, for example, and then be extended by events detected by the motion detectors or the passive IR sensors. Operating with the IP Notify mechanism, the door contact, therefore, only has to be connected to one camera. For more informationgo to ways of recording.