IRIS
Intelligent Roadway Information System
Video Monitors
A video monitor is a dedicated screen which can display camera streams in real time. IRIS can quickly switch the stream and title text displayed on a video monitor, using supported protocols.
MonStream
MonStream is a full-screen video streaming application which runs on low-cost Linux computers. IRIS has a MonStream protocol driver, which can be used for video monitor control.
A computer running MonStream can be configured to stream a grid of four or more
video feeds onto a single large monitor. The only configuration required on the
MonStream computer is to grant access to the /var/lib/monstream/ directory for
the UID of the monstream process.
A controller must be configured to represent each MonStream computer. It will
need to be on a comm link using the MonStream protocol, with a timeout of 2000
ms. The comm link URI should be of the form: [ip address]:7001. Each video
monitor to be displayed should be associated with an IO pin of the controller.
For example, a quad-screen monitor would have monitors associated with pins 1
thru 4.
Configuration
Select View ➔ Video ➔ Video Monitor menu item
Each row of the table represents one video monitor.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Video monitor name |
| Notes | Location or usage text |
| Group name | Privilege group, for access control |
| Monitor num | Number for selecting and switching |
| Restricted | Flag restricting monitor to published cameras only |
| Monitor style | Style of title bar, etc |
The monitor num is used to identify monitors when selecting cameras with
a switching system.
Style
Select View ➔ Video ➔ Monitor Styles menu item
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Monitor Style | Monitor style name |
| Force aspect | Flag to preserve video aspect ratio |
| Accent | Hexadecimal RGB color of title bar |
| Font Size | Size of title bar font (points) |
| Title Bar | Flag to enable title bar |
| Auto Expand | Flag to use full screen when only one monitor is active |
Switching
There are several methods available for switching video monitors. Using any of
these methods, when a camera is assigned to a monitor num, all monitors
and flow streams with that number will be switched.
Camera Tab
On the upper-right of the Camera tab, there is a monitor num selector.
The number chosen here will be switched any time a camera is selected, either
from the map or a list.
The selector tool can also be used to change the monitor num or camera.
Keyboards
Certain camera keyboards can be used for video monitor switching.
MonStream Control
With a USB joystick and keypad, a MonStream computer can be used for switching.
Play Lists
Select View ➔ Video ➔ Play Lists menu item
Play lists can be created to cycle through related cameras. Each user can
have a personal play list, but system play lists are available to all users.
Selecting a play list on a monitor will cause the play list to automatically
switch. The interval is specified by the camera_sequence_dwell_sec
system attribute.
Catalogs
A catalog is a collection of play lists. Both play lists and catalogs can be assigned sequence numbers, so they can be used in the same way.