Release Notes for MOBOTIX Camera Software

Document Info

Publisher:

MOBOTIX AG

Author:

Bernd Wilhelm
Thilo Schüller

Date:

2010-07-06

Document:

release-notes_en.html

Confidentiality:

public

Contents

These Release Notes contain a technical description of the most important changes in this software release for the MOBOTIX Q22M, M22M, D22M, M12, D12 and V12 network cameras.

Software Releases—Overview:

Release Version

Creation Date

Publishing Date

MX-V3.5.2.23.r3

2010-07-01

2010-07-06

MX-V3.5.2.23

2009-12-08

2009-12-09

MX-V3.4.5.18

2009-07-20

2009-07-23

MX-V3.4.5.10

2009-03-02

2009-03-06

MX-V3.4.5.4

2009-02-03

2009-02-04

MX-V3.4.2.16

2008-09-05

2008-09-08

MX-V3.4.0.9

2008-01-11

2008-01-28

MX-V3.4.0.7

2007-12-20

2007-12-21

MX-V3.3.2.3

2007-10-25

2007-10-31

MX-V3.3.1.7

2007-09-13

2007-09-17

MX-V3.1.0.26

2007-09-06

2007-09-14

MX-V3.1.0.21

2007-07-23

2007-07-25

MX-V3.0.8.7

2007-02-27

2007-03-30

MX-V3.0.6.33

2006-11-20


MX-V3.0.6.29

2006-10-19


MX-V3.0.6.24

2006-09-08


M22-V3.0.3.31

2006-06-27


M22-V3.0.3.26

2006-05-11


M22-V3.0.3.17

2006-03-28


Notes:

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Software Release MX-V3.5.2.23.r3 (Release) – for all M12, D12, V12, M22M D22M and Q22M Cameras

Creation Date: 2010-07-01 (originally 2009-12-08)

Publishing Date: 2010-07-06 (originally 2009-12-09)

Note on the creation and publishing dates
This version had been originally created on Dec 8, 2009, and published on Dec 9, 2009. On Jul 1, 2010, this version was recreated as MX-V3.5.2.23.r3 with an updated video motion detection; it was published on Jul 6, 2010. After installing, this versions shows a Creation Date of 2010-07-01 (see Admin Menu > System Information > Hardware and Release Information).

Enhancements and Improvements

Improved Exposure Control

This software version contains a completely redesigned Exposure Control mechanism which has made substantial improvements in the following areas:

Image Rotation by 90 and 270 Degrees

The images of non-hemispheric camera models can now also be displayed rotated by 90 or 270 degrees. The setting for the image rotation can be made in the Setup Menu > General Image Settings dialog. This dialog also allows to selectively pivot the 4:3 aspect ratio of the rotated image so that the aspect ratio of the resulting image is either 4:3 or 3:4 as desired. With a 3:4 aspect ratio, the complete image content is visible because of a 1 to 1 width-to-height relationship, but when the aspect ration is not pivoted with the image rotation, the camera only shows a centered section of the rotated image.

Note:
This setting will lead to slightly reduced frame rate and slightly lower image quality compared to the original image since the camera needs to convert the image. The difference between the original image and the converted one is about equal to the image resulting from distortion correction for L11/L22 lenses compared to the original image.

Other Improvements in Image Settings

Improvements to Data Storage

Extended Hemispheric Functionality

The functionality of Hemispheric camera models, i.e. cameras equipped with an L11 lens (Fisheye), has been changed and extended as follows:

Improved Connections to ExtIOs

Extended LED Signaling

The signaling of the camera LEDs had been expanded to include two new settings for the Main Switch in the Admin Menu > LED Setup dialog:

New MxPEG ActiveX Control V1.6.2.3

Other Enhancements and Improvements

Bugfixes

Known Limitations

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Software Release MX-V3.4.5.18 (Release) – for all M12, D12, V12, M22M D22M and Q22M Cameras

Creation Date: 2009-07-20

Publishing Date: 2009-07-23

Caution: You can use this software version for all MOBOTIX cameras M12, D12, V12, M22M, D22M and Q22M! Make sure that you never install a software with a lower version than 3.4.5.4 on a Q22M!

Enhancements and Improvements

Improved Support of Windows File Servers with CIFS

Recording to Flash Devices Can Also Use Storage Limits

When recording to MxFFS-formatted Flash media, it had not been possible set storage limits for storage size, keep time and number of sequences. MxFFS always used the complete available storage capacity. This software version fully supports the storage limits when storing on MxFFS-formatted Flash media. For example, you can set up continuous recording, but only keep the last 30 minutes of the recording if the workers council has asked to do so.

Other Improvements

Bugfixes

Known Issues

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Software Release MX-V3.4.5.10 (Release) – for all M12, D12, V12, M22M D22M and Q22M Cameras

Creation Date: 2009-03-02

Publishing Date: 2009-03-06

Caution: You can use this software version for all MOBOTIX cameras M12, D12, V12, M22M, D22M and Q22M! Make sure that you never install a software with a lower version than 3.4.5.4 on a Q22M!

Enhancements and Improvements

Enhanced Q22M Features

Other Improvements

Bugfixes

Known Issues

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Software Release MX-V3.4.5.4 (Release) – for all M12, D12, V12, M22M D22M and Q22M Cameras

Creation Date: 2009-02-03

Publishing Date: 2009-02-04

Caution: You can use this software version for all MOBOTIX cameras M12, D12, V12, M22M, D22M and Q22M! Make sure that you never install a software with a lower version on a Q22M!

Enhancements and Improvements

Additional and Expanded Q22M Image Display Modes

The Q22M models with L11 lens (fisheye) now feature additional image display modes. You can set these modes using the Display Modes Quick Control:

Additional information:

Full Image Storage

With this release, the cameras can always store the full image - regardless of what the live image stream is showing. This ensures that the recording always contains the full image even though the operator used the vPTZ features to zoom into the image in order to examine a specific detail of the image. This is especially interesting for the Q22M models, which rely strongly on the vPTZ features in the live image. This means that you can use the vPTZ features to pan, tilt and zoom the live image, while the camera is recording full images at 1 fps in MEGA or QXGA resolution. Thanks to the advanced distortion correction features of MxControlCenter (MxCC) and MxEasy, you can still play back and examine the recorded full images of Q22M cameras normally, i.e. without distortion. Open the Setup > Recording dialog and activate the Full Image Recording option to use this feature. Besides other parameters, this dialog also allows setting the desired resolution.

Please observe the following hints:

Enhanced Configuration Options for MxEasy Alarm Planner

When using the cameras together with MxEasy and its Alarm Planner feature, you can set time ranges for recording with totally different recording settings. It is now possible to set a surveillance camera in a store during opening hours to record continuously with 1 to 2 fps while using event-triggered recording with maximum frame rate and activated Video Motion detection and PIR sensor for detecting events.

Exposure Windows Adapted to vPTZ Features

When setting the exposure windows, e.g. by using the Exposure Control Quick Control, the camera now has two different modes:

Video Motion Detection—Enhancements and Improvements

Note: Since this feature has seen numerous changes and improvements as well as extensive testing, we cannot guarantee that the video motion windows will always behave as before. Make sure that you check the triggering of the video motion windows after uploading this software and adjust the settings, if required.

This feature has been enhanced and improved as outlined in the following:

ExtIO: Now Supports Ethernet Connections

From this software version on, you can connect the MOBOTIX ExtIO with the cameras using either a USB or an Ethernet cable. Open the Admin Menu > Manage Hardware Expansions dialog to activate the ExtIO and to set its IP address. Once connected to the camera, operation of the ExtIO is the same, regardless of how the ExtIO has been connected.

Notes:

Enhancements to the HTTP API for vPTZ Control

With the expanded vPTZ features of the camera, it is now possible to control these features using the MOBOTIX camera's HTTP API. For more information on this topic, see the Online help of the camera on the The HTTP API page.

VoIP/SIP Enhancements

This area has been enhanced and improved in the following ways:

New Features and Key Assignments When Using Video SIP

When making video phone calls, the camera can display a legend for the available functions that are assigned to the phone keys (DTMF). Note that you can also use the features if the legend is not visible.

General features of the menus

You can display these additional key assignments on the screen of a softphone or video SIP phone:

Other Improvements

Bugfixes

Known Issues

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Software Release MX-V3.4.2.16 (Release) – for all M12, D12, V12, M22M and D22M Cameras

Creation Date: 2008-09-05

Publishing Date: 2008-09-08

Caution: This version and all previous versions must not be installed on Q22M cameras!

Enhancements and Improvements

Virtual PTZ for all Cameras

With this version, all MOBOTIX cameras provide digital pan, tilt and zoom functions, which operate like a "virtual PTZ" (Pan Tilt Zoom). You can control the PTZ features with a joystick or the mouse if the ActiveX component or MxControlCenter are used. In MxControlCenter, open the Options > <Camera Name (IP address)> tab and select MxProtocol as type in the PTZ/Rotor Control group box. Version 1.8 and higher of the MxControlCenter automatically set the MxProtocol type when adding MOBOTIX cameras. When using a web browser without ActiveX component, you can control the PTZ using mouse clicks for pan/tilt commands. The mouse wheel controls the zoom (max. 8x zoom level).

ExtIO Support

From this software version on, you can connect the MOBOTIX ExtIO with the cameras using a USB cable. The ExtIO expands the functionality of the MOBOTIX cameras by a powerful audio unit with microphone and speaker, a passive infrared motion detector, a temperature sensor and more signal inputs/outputs. The two keys on the unit allow easily implementing door communication solutions.

Event Storage on SD Cards

This feature provides recording on SD cards that can be inserted and changed by the user. The camera can use SD cards with a storage capacity of up to 16 GB. When recording to Flash storage devices (SD cards, internal Flash storage of R camera models or USB devices), the camera will only use the MOBOTIX Flash file system MxFFS, which has been designed especially for this purpose. MxFFS guarantees optimum performance and reliability. To activate the video storage on SD cards, open the Admin Menu > Storage on External File Server / Flash Device dialog.

Make sure that you understand the following hints before you use this feature:

Camera Features of the D12D-180° "Panorama"

The D12D-180° ("Panorama") provides the new 180° View, which can be selected either using the Camera Selection Quick Control or in Setup Menu > General Image Settings > Camera Selection. This view provides an image consisting of the two images delivered by the L22 lenses in which the camera has corrected the lens distortion and which are merged in the center of the image. Before using this view, you should first adjust the two images into one 180° view:

A note on exposure

Improved Event Download

The download of recorded video data has been expanded and improved. You can now download video data up to 8 GB in one tar file from the camera. This is also valid for video that has been stored on Flash devices (SD cards, USB devices).

Make sure that you understand the following hints before you use this feature:

Negated Event Logic

The Event Logic feature now also allows combining negated events.

Example:

To define negated events, open the Event Logic dialog and set Order of Occurrence to A -> !B.

Improved Noise Filter

Open the General Image Settings dialog and activate the Noise Suppression option to use the improved two-stage noise filter, which is engaged when illumination drops below 2.6 lux.

Improved Day/Night Switching

When using the Day/Night switch of DNight models, the selected switching threshold (illumination in lux) will be used with better precision than before, even when switching from the night to the day sensor.

Changed Camera Dialogs with Fixed Buttons

The buttons of the web-based user interface Set, Factory, Restore, Close and More, which are present in most of the dialogs, are now always visible at the bottom of the browser windows and are not influenced by scrolling the dialog contents.

SIP Enhancements

Note on SIP video:

A SIP connection on a 100 MBit network can create image noise on some video phones (e.g. Grandstream). If this is the case, you can reduce the speed of the MOBOTIX camera's network interface to 10 MBit/s (Admin Menu > Ethernet Interface, Ethernet Parameters section)

Other Improvements

Bugfixes

Known Issues

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Software Release MX-V3.4.0.9 – for all M12, D12, V12, M22M and D22M Cameras

Creation Date: 2008-01-11

Publishing Date: 2008-01-28

Enhancements and Improvements

Bugfixes

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Software Release MX-V3.4.0.7 – for all M12, D12, V12, M22M and D22M Cameras

Creation Date: 2007-12-20

Publishing Date: 2007-12-21

Enhancements and Improvements

3 Megapixel Image Format and Additional TV Image Formats

This software version can generate images in 3 Megapixel resolution (QXGA, 2048x1536 pixels). This resolution can be used for live video and for recording one image sensor. It is most useful on cameras with 3 Megapixel sensors (factory IP addresses 10.3.x.x and higher). If you need dual images from a dual camera, the maximum resolution of each image sensor is limited to MEGA (1280x960 pixels). You can select QXGA resolution using either the Resolution Quick Control in the camera's Live screen or in the Setup Menu > General Image Settings dialog.

The following new standard image formats are available with this version:

Recording to Flash Devices

This feature allows using recording on non-volatile storage media, i.e. either the factory-integrated Flash storage in the camera or a USB storage device (stick or harddisk)! For this purpose, the MOBOTIX MxFFS file system has been developed, which guarantees optimum performance and high reliability. You can select one of these new storage methods—just like when storing to an external file server—in the Admin Menu > Storage on External File Server / Flash Device dialog.

Make sure that you understand the following hints before you use this feature:

Custom Image Sections and Sizes

This feature allows defining an image section of any size as well as the desired resolution of that image section! To do so, set the next higher image resolution that completely contains the desired resolution, e.g. XGA. Next, draw a rectangle over the desired image section ([Shift]-click, then click) and select Resolution > Custom Size in the Quick Controls of the Live screen to use the current setting. As an alternative, you can also use the Setup Menu > General Image Settings dialog to configure this feature.

When using graphical means to define the image section, a [Shift]-click, [Ctrl]-click (instead of [Shift]-click, click) will draw a rectangle that always has the same ratio of width to height as the currently displayed image.

Using this method, you can create image sections with any desired ratio of width to height—even squares are possible.

Improved Settings of the Video Motion (VM) Windows

The following additional parameters, which control the triggering behavior can be added to the definitions of every VM window (the sequence of the parameters is of no importance any more):

Example:

0,540,380,200,200,a=25,am=80,s=5

Improved Video Codec for SIP Transmissions to Video Phones

Since the basic codec settings have been further optimized, the camera can now easier establish SIP video connections to video phones.

Improved Error Notification

The file server tests when storing video on an external file server can now be started with a delay after rebooting the camera. This allows adjusting a nightly camera reboot to a reboot of a NAS system used for recording, for example. Use the Startup Delay parameter in the Admin Menu > Storage Failure Detection dialog to configure this feature.

The new Admin Menu > Error Notification dialog provides several options for getting notifications on errors that are detected within the different systems of the camera by e-mail, FTP or network messages as well as sound and visual means. In addition, you can define notifications, which the camera sends in case of unexpected reboots (i.e. reboots not triggered by the user).

Improved Multiwatcher

The Multiwatcher configuration dialog now opens the camera list in a separate window. In addition, the camera immediately verifies the camera user name and password information.

State of the Signal Output After Rebooting Can Be Set

When configuring the signal output of the camera, you can now set a default state (On or Off) after a camera reboot. Previously, the signal output had always been set to Off after rebooting.

Bugfixes

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Software Release MX-V3.3.2.3 – for all M12, D12, V12, M22M and D22M Cameras

Creation Date: 2007-10-25

Publishing Date: 2007-10-31

Enhancements and Improvements

Video Motion Improvements

The triggering of VM windows will be influenced less by image sensor noise that may be present due to low light conditions.

CAUTION:

In cameras with an IP address lower than 10.3.x.x, this change may lead to a changed (lower) number of events. Please make sure that you explicitly check the behavior of the VM detection feature!

New "Zoom to Rectangle" Feature

Besides the existing zoom features that are accessible via the camera's 1x Zoom, 2x Zoom, 4x Zoom softbuttons and the Zoom Quick Controls above the live image (Zoom (right) and Zoom (left) for Dual models), you can now use the new Zoom to Rectangle feature to adjust the camera zoom to a graphically defined rectangle in the live image. To define the rectangle, simply [Shift]-click into the image to set the start point, then click again into the image to set the second corner of the rectangle diagonally across, and the camera will display a yellow frame where you clicked. If you open the Zoom Quick Control and select the Zoom to Rectangle function, the camera will proportionally scale the image so as to fit it into the rectangle that you just defined. The current zoom level is displayed in the lower right corner of the image, provided that the message symbols have not been switched off.

Improved Preview Features

When generating preview image e.g. for devices with limited bandwidth, the camera can now produce two new formats besides the existing PDA format with 160×120pixels, which can be pulled using the HTTP API:

Weather Station

For the weather stations of Rheinhardt System- und Messelektronik GmbH and Davis Instruments, new variables have been added, which allow displaying additional information from the weather stations in the camera's images.

Locking the Default View

Using the Set Default View softbutton sets a default position and zoom setting for a zoomed image, which is then reproduced by clicking on the Load Default View softbutton. You can now lock this default view in Setup Menu > General Image Settings by setting Zoom Lock > Lock Default View; without the Image Settings right in Admin Menu > Group Access Control Lists, this default view cannot be changed.

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Software Release MX-V3.3.1.7 – only for M22, D22!

Creation Date: 2007-09-13

Publishing Date: 2007-09-18

Enhancements and Improvements

Video Motion Improvements

The triggering of VM windows will be influenced less by image sensor noise that may be present due to low light conditions.

CAUTION:

In cameras with an IP address lower than 10.3.x.x, this change may lead to a changed (lower) number of events. Please make sure that you explicitly check the behavior of the VM detection feature!

Support of MOBOTIX CamIO Expansion Box for M22

This version is required to activate and control a CamIO expansion box connected to an M22 camera. Open the Admin Menu > Manage Hardware Expansions dialog to activate a MOBOTIX CamIO. Open www.mobotix.com, Services > Manuals section to find more information on the features and how to set up a MOBOTIX CamIO in the CamIO user manual.

Caution: This software has been released only for M22 and D22 cameras!
Make sure that you are using software version 3.1.0.26 for M12 and D12 cameras.

Improved MxPEG Codec 2.0

The camera implementation of the MOBOTIX MxPEG video codec has been redesigned and improved, effectively avoiding the "MxPEG tiling effects", which appeared in the live and recorded images under certain circumstances. In addition, the new codec has an improved performance when the camera records "normal" movement in the image (up to 30% of the pixels), resulting in slightly improved image rates.

IMPORTANT:
The actual encoding and storage schemes of the detected and transferred MxPEG tiles remain unchanged. Existing applications that obtain and decode an MxPEG stream from the camera will continue to work as before!

IP-Level Access Control

The new Admin Menu > IP-Level Access Control dialog allows granting or denying access based on rules that define the IP address/subnets you would like to control. Using this method, you can easily prevent access to the camera for specific parts of a network while granting access for other subnets or specific IP addresses.

Web Server Intrusion Detection

The new Intrusion Detection Settings section in the Admin Menu > Web Server dialog provides several options for detecting and preventing unauthorized access to the camera. For instance, you can set up the camera to send an e-mail to an administrator, place a call or send a network message to another computer if one IP address attempts to log on to the camera unsuccessfully five times.

When sending an e-mail, the camera will automatically attach the web server log file. If the e-mail profile used for sending the e-mail already has a defined attachment, this attachment will be replaced by the web server log file.

If IP-Level Access Control has been set up, the camera can automatically block the IP address, from which the unsuccessful logins had been attempted.

New Image Resolutions

This software release provides the following new image resolutions:

In addition, the D1-PAL (768x576) image format is now created from the entire image and not only from a partial image.

New Zoom Settings

Besides the know zoom settings of x2 and x4, the camera now offers the x1.6 and x3.2 zoom settings.

Enhanced Settings for Image Quality and Frame Rate

The image quality is now set using one of these three settings:

You can set the image quality either via the Image Quality Quick Control or in the Setup Menu > General Image Settings dialog. The image quality setting mainly controls if every pixel of the image sensor is used or if several pixels are combined into one, early in the image generation process within the camera.

Exposure Programs

The Setup Menu > Exposure Settings dialog allows settings different Exposure Programs in the Exposure Time section. These programs control whether the camera will use shorter or longer exposure times when lighting conditions are poor. Shorter exposure times (programs -1, -2) reduce motion blur, but can lead to increased image noise. Longer exposure times (programs +1, +2) reduce the image noise, but can lead to increased motion blur. The application at hand determines which exposure program is best for the situation.

Image Programs

In order to improve support of different application scenarios, the following Image Programs can be set using the corresponding Quick Control above the Live image.

Selecting an image program will open a new window, which automatically performs a number of different settings that lead to the desired image quality and frame rate. Besides setting the image quality, the camera will also set the appropriate exposure programs, MxPEG settings, JPEG quality and other parameters. The popup dialog contains a list of all settings that will be changed when selecting an image program; you can choose whether or not to proceed with these settings.

The Fast and Security Application image programs put a higher priority on a higher image rate and reduced motion blur by using shorter exposure times than in the standard program. On the other hand, the High Quality and Webcam image programs put a higher priority on a higher image quality and reduced image noise by using longer exposure times than in the standard program.

Further Changes in the "Setup Menu > Exposure Settings" Dialog

Apart from the changes already described above, the following items have changed in the Setup Menu > Exposure Settings dialog.

Improved Structure of the Quick Control Entries

All entries of the Quick Controls (pulldown lists above the live image of the camera in the browser) have been reworked and regrouped.

Time Zones Completed

The Admin Menu > Time and Date dialog now allows selecting from all relevant time zones:

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Software Release MX-V3.1.0.26 – only for M12 and D12!

Creation Date: 2007-09-06

Publishing Date: 2007-09-17

Enhancements and Improvements

Support of MOBOTIX CamIO Expansion Box for M12

This version is required to activate and control a CamIO expansion box connected to an M12 camera. Open the Admin Menu > Manage Hardware Expansions dialog to activate a MOBOTIX CamIO. Open www.mobotix.com, Services > Manuals section to find more information on the features and how to set up a MOBOTIX CamIO in the CamIO user manual.

Caution: This software can only be used on M12 and D12 cameras and will not run on M22 or D22 cameras with an IP address of 10.3.x.x!
Make sure that you are using software version 3.3.1.7 for M22 and D22 cameras.

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Software Release MX-V3.1.0.21 (M22, M12, D12, D22)

Creation Date: 2007-07-23

Publishing Date: 2007-07-25

Enhancements and Improvements

Support for Active Directory Service (ADS) by Integrating CIFS

This enhancement allows using a Windows domain controller login or an Active Directory Service (ADS) for external video recording on a file server. The Admin Menu > Event Storage on external file server dialog has to be set to Remote CIFS File Server (instead of Remote SMB File Server). The user has to be a fully qualified domain user. This enhancement also resulted in a redesign of the corresponding camera dialog.

In addition, using CIFS instead of SMB also solves a well-known problem that exists when recording images to a Linux Samba server using the SMB protocol (see below under Bugfixes).

Encrypted Connection Using https/SSL

To use SSL/TLS, open the Admin Menu > Web Server dialog, activate Enable HTTPS, save the configuration to flash and restart (reboot) the camera. The camera can now be accessed via SSL so that all the web pages and camera images are encrypted before being transferred. Use https://<camera IP> instead of http://<camera IP> in the URL to load the camera's web page in the browser and ensure encrypted communication.

Multiwatcher (Reduced-Bandwidth Access to Multiple Cameras via Internet)

Open the Multiwatcher using the new Multiwatcher softbutton; it replaces the Event Watcher. The Multiwatcher enables the simultaneous viewing and surveillance of multiple cameras. It displays the live image of the camera, the last event image and a list of alarms for each camera added. The configuration also supports password-protected cameras. The Multiwatcher allows simple access to and thus viewing of multiple cameras, that may, for instance, be in a network behind a Firewall or NAT-Router, without requiring that all of these cameras be accessible from or visible from the Internet. Only the camera that is to function as the Multiwatcher needs to be configured to be accessible from the Internet. This camera will function as a Proxy camera and obtains the live images, event images and event information from all other cameras and forwards them to your browser in the Multiwatcher of that camera. Using the new Preview mode images is also implemented in the camera, thus ensuring that only a small amount of uplink bandwidth from your network is used. All images shown in the Multiwatcher are reduced to PDA resolution by the cameras themselves.

Streaming FTP

Regular FTP transmission allowed for a maximum of only one image per minute. his new function allows transferring several camera images per minute via FTP - almost as if in a smooth stream (hence the name: FTP Streaming). This means that an image on a website can be updated at short intervals. Open Admin Menu > FTP Profiles and click on More to activate and set a profile and update interval in the Streaming FTP section. This dialog also allows setting an illumination threshold, which stops FTP streaming if illumination falls below the selected value. If this value is exceeded again, the camera will resume transmission.

Enhancements to the Video Telephony Features (SIP Video)

The following enhancements have been implemented in the Admin Menu > VoIP Settings dialog:

General Improvements to VoIP

MxPEG Streaming with Optional Full Image JPEG Frames (I-Frames)

You can use the MxPEG codec of the camera when retrieving the video stream from the camera. This video stream has been optimized and usually contains no JPEG full images (I frames). Now, however, a full image can be sent periodically by adding the new iframerefresh=[n] parameter when calling the faststream.jpg CGI script; n is set to the interval in seconds before a full image is sent.

Example for obtaining one I-Frame every 5 seconds:

http://<camera-IP>/control/faststream.jpg?iframerefresh=5

Individual Zoom/Pan-Settings for Each Image Sensor in the Camera

You can now set different zoom levels and panning positions for different lenses. The zoom level can be adjusted/set in two different ways:

Clicking directly in the image when the zoom level is greater than 1x changes the pan position of the visible image section.

New Time Zones Added and Dialog Improved

Preview Mode

The addition of a new Preview mode provides a method for displaying camera images and saving bandwidth at the same time. Image size is fixed at 160x120 pixels when the camera shows the image of one sensor and 320x160 pixels for two image sensors. Open the Admin Menu > Language and Start Page dialog to activate/deactivate this feature. This mode only affects the display of the live images in the browser or in MxControlCenter. The resolution of images that are stored to an external file server, for example, remain unchanged.

Enhancements to the HTTP API

Getting Preview Images

The HTTP API has been expanded to include the preview parameter for accessing the live and alarm images. This method pulls the images from a camera at a reduced preview size of 160x120 pixels, regardless of the current size/resolution set in the camera, thereby drastically reducing bandwidth.

Examples:
http://<camera-IP>/cgi-bin/image.jpg?preview
http://<camera-IP>/control/faststream.jpg?preview
http://<camera IP>/control/event.jpg?preview

Triggering of a VoIP/SIP Phone Call by the Camera

The camera CGI program <camera IP>/control/rcontrol has been expanded by the following additional features:
- voipphone
- voipcall
- voiphangup
- voiprestart
This means that you can trigger VoIP/SIP phone calls from the camera using the HTTP API. The VoIP address, which is to be called, can be added as additional parameter or by using a VoIP profile already defined in the camera.

Lens Focusing Aid

The focus of some camera lenses can be adjusted by the users. In order to simplify focusing the lens(es), the camera can display a bar that shows how well the lens has been focused: A green bar displays the maximum focus obtained since the function was activated and a red bar displays the current focus. Activate the Focusing Aid parameter in the Quick Controls in the Live screen.

Note: The focus adjustment only affects the currently selected camera image sensor.

Other Changes

Video Motion Definitions (VM): “Sensitivity” Removed

The Sensitivity parameter of the video motion window definitions is not available any more. When defining video motion windows, the following parameters are used (max. area is optional):

Lens, x, y, width, height, area (0..99%)[, max. area (0..99%)]

Bugfixes

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Software Release MX-V3.0.8.7 (M22, M12, D12, D22)

Creation Date: 2007-02-27

Publishing Date: 2007-03-30

Enhancements and Improvements

Bonjour Service Integrated for Simple Camera Discovery

This service (also called Zeroconf) automatically finds and displays MOBOTIX cameras in MxControlCenter (from version 1.4.x) and in web browsers that support Bonjour. This service has been activated in all new MOBOTIX cameras. After updating a camera with older software to version 3.0.8.7, the Bonjour service is deactivated by default (only if you did not reset the network settings to factory defaults). Open the Admin Menu > Ethernet Interface dialog if you would like to activate (or deactivate) Bonjour. The so-called Link Local Address assigned by the Bonjour service is displayed in the Camera Status dialog box in the Network section.

New Time Zones

You can now use the following additional time zones in MOBOTIX cameras:

Video Motion Window (VM) With Reduced Error Rates

Thanks to a new post-filtering system, false alarms from VM windows have been further reduced.

Improved Video Motion (VM) Night Mode

By factory default, Video Motion Night Mode (disables video motion detection if illumination falls below the selected value) is now deactivated. If video motion detection has been activated, low illumination will not deactivate VM detection by default.

Sensor Configuration for Special D12 Models in Quick Installation Wizard

When configuring D12 models with lenses that have not been factory-installed, you can use the corresponding Quick Installation pages to set the image sensors.

Improved Frame Rates for D12 Models

When using D12 models in dual image mode, the camera now reaches half the frame rate of single image mode, provided both image sensors are using the same exposure time. When using different exposure times, the camera will reach one third of the frame rate of single image mode.

Video Motion Mode "Minefield" Changed

The default values of the "Minefield" VM mode have been changed from 35/10 (sensitivity/area) to 20/25. To activate this mode, the Video Motion Definitions (VM) text field may only contain the entry 0,minefield (right image sensor) or 1,minefield (left image sensor); the remaining parameters of the VM windows apply accordingly.

Bugfixes

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Software Release MX-V3.0.6.33 (M22, M12, D12)

Creation Date: 2006-11-20

Enhancements and Improvements

New Localized Software Versions Available

This version is now available in German, English, French, Spanish and Italian.

Improved Handling of DHCP for V12 Vandalism Cameras

When setting a MOBOTIX V12 to DHCP, the camera will automatically announce its current IP address on the loudspeaker after rebooting. This feature can be disabled in the Loudspeaker and Microphone dialog.

Improved Day/Night Switching of Night Models

The maximum switching delay has been increased from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. Day/night switching has also been changed to be more reliable when switching back to the day lens if illumination is sufficient.

Improved Internal Settings of "Automatic WB" Color Profile

The internal settings of the Automatic WB (white balance) default color profile have be changed to prevent the camera from delivering faulty colors when very bright colors are in the image.

New MxPEG ActiveX Control V1.2.19

The ActiveX control for fast display of MxPEG streams in Internet Explorer has been updated to version 1.2.19. This version shows a small MxPEG logo when switching from the Player to the Live screen, which is briefly displayed in the lower left corner of the image. This version only contains some minor changes and bugfixes, which are only relevant if you are using the ActiveX control in your own application.

Bugfixes

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Software Release MX-V3.0.6.29 (M22, M12, D12)

Creation Date: 2006-10-19

Important Notes

Enhancements and Improvements

Updated "Loudspeaker and Speaker" dialog with Line-In support for M12/D12

The layout of this dialog has been redesigned. On M12/D12 cameras, you can activate "Line In" as an optional input for audio signals from an external microphone. This option also allows setting three different levels of sensitivity for audio input.

New MxPEG ActiveX Control V1.2.18

The ActiveX control for fast display of MxPEG streams in Internet Explorer has been updated to version 1.2.18. This version shows a small MxPEG logo when switching from the Player to the Live screen. The logo is displayed is briefly visible in the lower left corner. This version only contains some minor changes and bugfixes, which are only relevant if you are using the ActiveX control in your own application.

Bugfixes

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Software Release MX-V3.0.6.24 (M22M)

Creation Date: 2006-09-08

Important Notes

For a detailed description of all differences in the hard- and software, please refer to chapter 1.4 of the M12 Camera User Manual Part 1.
Please download the manual from http://www.mobotix.com/eng/support/manuals.

The following list describes the new features, enhancements, improvements and bugfixes as compared to the software release 2.2.3.18 of the MOBOTIX M10/D10 cameras and 3.0.3.31 of the MOBOTIX M22 cameras.

New Features and Enhancements

As compared to the software 2.2.3.18 of the MOBOTIX M10/D10 cameras, the following new features have been added to the software:

These features were partly also available in the 3.0.3.x M22 software versions; see the corresponding release notes below.
In addition to the features of software release 3.0.3.31 of the M22, the following features are new:

High Frame Rate—up to 30 fps VGA (in M22 from 3.0.3.17)

The new MOBOTIX M12/D12 cameras can deliver up to 30 images per second in VGA resolution. Click on the "Fast Mode (30 fps)" button to set all required options (see description further down).

Additional Display Modes

The Quick Controls above the live image contain the new "Display Mode" item with the "Event in Picture ", "Picture in Zoom" and "Panorama" modes.

Event in Picture (in M22 from 3.0.3.17)

Displays the last event image in the bottom right corner of the current live image.

Image in Zoom (in M22 from 3.0.3.17)

When the image has been zoomed (2x, 4x), this mode shows an overview image in the bottom right corner of the current live image. Clicking into the full image with the (left) mouse button will move the center of the zoomed image to the desired position.

Panorama—Only Available for D12 Cameras and Development Kits!

This display mode is only available for D12 and DevKit cameras. It shows a dual image (both sensors) with the current resolution and a smaller overview image in the bottom right corner. The overview image does not change, regardless of zoom actions. As opposed to the regular dual image mode (Both), the digital zoom accepts only one center position and zooms in/out using this position as center. This feature is thus different from the dual image mode and provides a digital pan/tilt feature. You can set the new zoom center (=panning/tilting) either by clicking into the panorama image or into the overview image in the bottom right corner.

Simplified Camera Handling

"Download and save image to local computer" button for storing the live image

This button stores the current live image from the camera as a JPG file. The proposed name consists of the camera name and a timestamp.

Fast Mode (30 fps) (in M22 from 3.0.3.17)

Click on this softbutton to configure the camera for delivering the maximum frame rate of 30 fps with VGA resolution. The dialog lists all required settings; click on Yes to use the proposed settings.

Quality Mode (in M22 from 3.0.3.17)

Click on this softbutton to configure the camera for delivering optimum image using the MxPEG video codec.

VoIP with support for SIP video

The "VoIP Settings" dialog now also allows transmitting the video signal when using SIP telephony. SIP video is using the H.263 video codec. This allows using softphones (eyeBeam, ...) to establish SIP audio/video connections to the camera either directly over the LAN or via SIP providers.

Event download to USB stick

When downloading events, a USB stick can now also serve as download target.
CAUTION: The M12/D12 cameras do not have a USB Master connector. In order to use a USB stick, you need an adapter D Sub 15 HD to USB master. The corresponding camera manual part 1 contains detailed information and the pin-out of the D Sub 15 HD connector.

Additional Settings in the Ethernet Interface Dialog

If required, you can select different Link Speed and Duplex settings.

Improvements

Bugfixes

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Software Release M22-V3.0.3.31

Creation Date: 2006-06-27

New Features

Speaker Icon on the Player Screen

The Player screen now has a speaker icon that can be used to toggle the sound recorded by the camera on or off—provided that you are using Internet Explorer on a Windows computer.

Enhancements and Improvements

* Security Patch Prevents Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) *

This patch prevents Cross-Site Scripting, i.e. the camera will not execute JavaScript code it has received via manipulated URLs.

Improvements of the Expanded Softbuttons

"Fast Mode (30 fps)" Softbutton

The frequency of the power supply will be left unchanged, i.e. it will not be set to 50 Hz as before. The dialog now contains a hint that the camera can deliver 25 frames per second (fps) at 50 Hz or 30 fps at 60 Hz.

"Best Image" Softbutton

The softbutton uses slightly changed values than before. Likewise, it now opens a dialog, which shows all configuration changes, allowing you to approve or cancel the changes.

Bugfixes

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Software Release M22-V3.0.3.26

Creation Date: 2006-05-11

New Features

Additional Quick Controls and Expanded Softbuttons

"Microphone Sensitivity" Quick Control Menu

Allows setting three different levels of sensitivity for the camera microphone.

"Speaker Volume" Quick Control Dialog

Allows setting all volume levels for the camera speaker and can play back the camera sound files on the speaker.

"Speaker" Icon

This new button allows activating/deactivating the audio channel from the camera microphone, provided you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer on a Windows computer.

"High-Quality Image" Icon

Allows configuring the camera to deliver the best image quality.

Enhancements and Improvements

Master/Slave (Configuration and Help Pages)

Behavior of the Expanded Softbuttons (Arm & Record, Audio On, Fast Mode, Quality Mode)

VoIP Improvements

Other Improvements

Bugfixes

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Software M22-V3.0.3.17

Creation Date: 2006-03-28

Notes:

The following list describes the new features, enhancements, improvements and bugfixes as compared to the software release V2.2.2.17 of the MOBOTIX M10/D10 cameras.

Revised Model Feature Matrix

The difference in the software features of the Basic, Web, IT and Secure models have been revised and partly changed. The following list contains the most important changes:

Open http://www.mobotix.com/products > Feature Overview to find a detailed list of the differences between the individual models.

New Features and Enhancements

As compared to the software 2.2.2.17 of the MOBOTIX M10/D10 cameras, the following new features have been added to the software:

High Frame Rate—up to 30 fps VGA

The new MOBOTIX M22 camera can deliver up to 30 frames per second in VGA resolution. Click on the "Fast Mode (30 fps)" button to set all required options (see description further down).

Additional Display Modes

The Quick Controls above the live image contain the new "Display Mode" item with the "EiP" and "PiZ" modes.

EiP (Event in Picture)

Displays the last event image in the bottom right corner of the current live image.

PiZ (Picture in Zoom)

When the image has been zoomed (2x, 4x), this mode shows an overview image in the bottom right corner of the current live image. Clicking into the full image with the (left) mouse button will move the center of the zoomed image to the desired position.

Simplified Camera Operation—Expanded Softbuttons and Audio Icon

New softbuttons and icons have been added, which are aimed at facilitating crucial configuration tasks. Using these softbuttons can automatically carry out several configuration settings, which would otherwise involve making the settings manually in several dialogs. The settings are shown in a separate dialog, which also allows storing the settings permanently.

"Arm & Record" Softbutton

This softbutton can set are configuration parameters required to arm the camera's event control, including the video motion detection and set the Event Recording mode. If the camera detects a video motion (VM) event, it will store the event as an MxPEG stream.

"Audio On" Softbutton

This softbutton will transmit the audio channel from the camera microphone to the computer's sound system, provided you are using Microsoft Internet Explorer on a Windows computer.

Fast Mode (30 fps)

Click on this softbutton to configure the camera for delivering the maximum frame rate of 30 fps with VGA resolution. The dialog lists all required settings; click on Yes to use the proposed settings.

Quality Mode

Click on this softbutton to configure the camera for delivering optimum image using the MxPEG video codec.

Master/Slave Feature and Custom Signals

Master/Slave Feature

This feature allows to control the arming of cameras in a MOBOTIX camera network (the so-called "Slave" cameras) from one special camera, the "Master" camera. In other words, the Slave cameras will always be armed, if the Master camera is armed. The arming state will be synchronized as set in the General Event Settings dialog and in the Action and Messaging dialogs.

Open Setup Menu > General Event Settings to configure the Master/Slave settings as required.

Custom Signals

The Custom Signals allow accessing the physical signal input of one camera that is connected to the alarm system, from any other camera of the MOBOTIX camera network. The status of the signal input of the Master camera can be used by the other cameras to control individual arming settings.

The Custom Signals are also configured in the General Event Settings dialog.

Scheduled Access Control by the Supervisor

The new Supervisor user allows limiting access to the MOBOTIX camera for any user groups (even the admins group) according to a global rule (for all groups) or individual group rules.
A typical example would be scheduled access control for camera administrators to prevent misuse of their administration privileges where access to otherwise blocked video/audio data is concerned. In such a scenario, the Supervisor would limit the access of the admins group to a specific time once a week week, during which the administrators would be accompanied by a trusted employee.

Improvements

Bugfixes

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