Just add a camera: how and why to integrate video surveillance

How to make a demanded product (instead of the next “bicycle”) in the market driven by competitors? There are many ways: copy the original and offer cheaper, improve the quality, promote the brand, bring after-sales support etc. to a new level. In some cases, kil-feature helps - a special and / or unique product / service feature. And we know examples when the feature becomes video surveillance.

So historically, video surveillance refers to the area of ​​security. In fact, this industry is much broader - from monitoring pets to services based on complex, distributed systems integrated with the Internet of Things technology.
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With the help of Ivideon create completely different products that stand out from the competition - not only safe, but in general in any industry. Today we will show you some memorable solutions (no, we’ll not build a camera inside a person yet).

Structure and integration possibilities

Not everyone can be interested in this part of the article - here we will focus on the tools that we provide for creating new products. If you want to immediately see the description of implementations and features, go to the next chapter.

Somewhere between IP cameras to control the perimeter of the house and a video surveillance system with video analytics based on a neural network that recognizes faces in a crowd with 100% accuracy, there are dozens of VSaaS (video surveillance as a service) application scenarios.

The formula for video surveillance support in the product is as follows: you offer something that is interesting in real time to see your customers.

So, there is a certain business that wants to show itself to the whole world, but simple video surveillance does not suit it. I want to be able to do everything: independently connect and disconnect cameras, change tariff plans, manage settings, change the quality and schedule of recording, change the parameters that are simply not in standard functions at a subtle level.

After receiving several requests, we made the Open API, allowing any partner to create new products. With the help of the Open API, you can create your own alternative to your Ivideon personal account - export videos by request, configure a regular event by time, customize any system interface components to your needs (pictures, buttons, appearance, style, and so on).

In general, the API gives:

• connection of third-party billing / payment operations;
• user authorization in the service system;
• video server setup;
• development of third-party applications and modules (including sensor connections, etc.);
• embedding video on the site.

In parallel with the API, the development of our integration components of the SDK, which are responsible for reproducing, went on: Web SDK and Mobile SDK. The Ivideon SDK is a development toolkit with which you can develop a complete solution that is equivalent in functionality to the Ivideon application.

What can you create with such a toolkit? Let's look at examples.

Smart home systems

Perhaps the camera for home surveillance - this is one of the first functions of a smart home. For example, someone calls you at the door, the camera responds and records, and then sends you an event notification.

Among our customers there are several companies involved in smart home technology. For example, in the USA there is a team that develops a system that allows you to open a garage or a separate room, passing one-time generated code access to third parties.

Your home itself will take the parcel for you while you are away: the courier arrives with cargo, receives a one-time code that opens the garage, puts the parcel there, after which the door closes and is locked.

This system lacked the most important thing - video surveillance. What if the courier steals a bike from the garage? Ideally, it was necessary to see that the courier came, took the package and left, without taking anything with him. To do this, you can publish the event in the application directly at the right time, and at the same time record a video. You can also keep a live broadcast all the time right in the mobile application. Such a system is easy to implement with the help of a suitable microcontroller and any camera with Ivideon on board.

Last year, OBLO Living , a home automation company that developed systems based on the ZigBee and Z-wave standards, connected to Ivideon. Devices operating under these protocols can become repeaters, that is, transmit information independently of the controller up to a distance of 25 meters.

OBLO offers a client application for Android / iOS and cloud services (including Ivideon) in combination with its own home devices (central gateway, gate opening sensor, sockets, sensors for doors and windows, rheostat, water leakage sensor, etc. ). The OBLO gateway controls lighting, security systems, power consumption and other aspects of a home automation system.

OBLO, like Ivideon, supports the IF This Then That service (IFTTT). The central gateway combines ZigBee, Z-Wave, and IP home automation protocols, using NFC to quickly connect various devices. It is able to control and interact with all Z-Wave devices, and this is more than 1,700 Z-Wave products (switches, temperature sensors, electronic blinds and many other devices).

The company provides service to telecom operators who want to introduce the “smart home” service by their smart home subscribers. Having a mobile SDK client allows third-party developers to create applications for integration with OBLO solutions.

With the help of Ivideon, OBLO users can monitor home security and access the camera, watch live broadcasts or archive recordings (in unlimited amounts).



Resident of the Skolkovo IT cluster, Iridium ( iRidium ) plans to provide Ivideon support in its application for automation systems and IoT devices. The product is designed to combine disparate controlled devices into a single automated system with centralized management. The application works as part of an ecosystem consisting of an API, an SDK for developing software modules for connecting devices, a cloud-based “module store” with embedded monetization, an automation controller application, and a customization / visualization application.

ACS: GuardSaas and RusGuard

GuardSaaS, an online service for access control and time tracking, integrated with Ivideon. What happened: the integration provides the ability to quickly view the video, tied to events at a place and time directly from GuardSaaS. At the same time, GuardSaaS does not connect to cameras directly and does not store video on its server, but receives a video stream directly from a video surveillance system. It turns out quickly, simply and securely record such incidents as:

• cloning, falsification and unauthorized use of access identifiers;
• theft of property, unauthorized access and entry of unauthorized persons into the territory of the protected object;
• falsification of marks on arrival or departure from work and other controversial situations in the maintenance of records of working time and the formation of the final timesheet.

The RusGuard ACS integration module with the Ivideon service works in a similar way. The service system allows you to view online video and archives from cameras, as well as set up system responses (video recording of any ACS events) with the possibility of their associated viewing directly from the logs.

Wireless baby monitor

In fact, this is a whole series of Philips cameras, adapted for monitoring the child. There are all the standard features of any camera with the Ivideon service - viewing on a smartphone / tablet, an encrypted connection (excludes the invasion of perverts, spying on children), IR illumination, voice communication, etc. But there are differences added to the application:

• wireless baby monitor continuously transmits audio stream, even when the smartphone is locked, installed in the docking station or charging - you can always hear the child;
• Sensors with baby monitors transmit the current temperature and humidity level to the smartphone application. A humidity sensor, for example, helps to detect excessive dryness of the air, which can irritate the throat. The app also warns of too high or low temperatures.

iSKI - application for skiers and snowboarders

The program group with the prefix "iSKI" includes individual applications for almost all European ski countries: iSKI Austria, iSKI Swiss, iSKI France, iSKI Italia (Czech, Slovakia, Suomi, Deutschland, Slovenija and more). iSKI show not only the condition of the snow, but also a list of restaurants in the mountains and a scheme of resorts, as well as other useful information - useful when you need to quickly find the phone number of a ski school or something like that.

For Russia, too, there is an application that even includes miniature ski points of the country with one or two tracks. iSKI offers a number of sections where you can find out the weather for the near future in the valley and the mountains, the condition of the snow cover, including data on artificial snow, to see data on the work of the tracks and lifts. You are also given information about equipment rental and its cost. The map of the ski resort is attached, which you can save to your phone. There is a functional GPS-tracking descent from the mountain. At the same time, access to the Internet is not needed - it works in offline mode (except for broadcasting from cameras). All applications are free.

Now, almost every ski resort is equipped with a camera showing the situation on the slope. To view the cameras remotely through the application, we provided iSKI with our SDK, and now everyone can see through the application not only the weather forecast, the thickness of the snow cover and the number of open lifts, but also video directly from the slope.

Analytics and education systems

We are now actively developing the direction when video surveillance via the Internet is offered under the brand of partners. It is possible that you use some product, within which there is a part of our service - for example, many IP Webcam users do not know that this application works through Ivideon. Not in all cases, you can directly say which company uses the Ivideon service, but we will give a general description of the cases.

Suppose you get an education remotely, and you process all the lectures at home, but you still have to take exams. At the same time, exams can be taken with the help of video surveillance systems. In the presence of a proctor, a computer test of the student’s knowledge occurs. First there is an identification, for example, a demonstration of a passport. Then there is the issuance of assignments, interviewing with a specific person. The teacher is in the process of broadcasting video from the webcam and from the screen. The record is stored for some time in the cloud and in case of any disputable issues is provided to the parties to the conflict.

In schools (and some offices), cameras provide a visual assessment of the appearance and general standards of behavior. In some institutions there are standards of communication (a classic example: teacher - student). On-line video surveillance service integrated into analytical systems allows you to quickly and visually assess the behavior of people.

Where to go

We have previously integrated with corporate and business applications (ACS, OPS, cash registers), but the development of the API allows us to add video analytics to video surveillance - a huge amount of space for introducing new features. But we will tell about this another time.

If you are a developer and want to integrate the Ivideon service into your application, you can access us through this form .

Business owners are invited here - a choice of 26 business objects.

Just take a camera for home - look at the store (there is an opportunity to take a camera for a week for a test, if you want - for details on the link ).