COMedia IPC98 User Manual

IPC98

Network Camera Module

w/ remote snap shot

IPC98

Network Camera Module

User’s Guide

Rev 1

Jul 27, 2009

Rm 802, Nan Fung Ctr, Castle Peak Rd, Tsuen Wan, NT, Hong Kong

Tel：[phone] Fax：[phone]

Email:

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[e-mail] http://www.comedia.com.hk

IPC98

Network Camera Module

w/ remote snap shot

Table Of Contents

Chapter 1 : Introduction

1.1 Features........................................................................................................................................ 3

1.2 System Requirements..................................................................................................................3

Chapter 2 : Hardware Installation

2.1 Hardware and Connection Description.........................................................................................4

2.2 Hardware Installation .................................................................................................................... 4

Chapter 3 : Set up the Camera Module

3.1 Searching Program CAM_EZ SEARCH ....................................................................................... 5

3.2 System Login ................................................................................................................................ 6

3.3 Live View.......................................................................................................................................6

Chapter 4 : Operating the Remote Camera

4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 8

4.2 Using within the Local Network.....................................................................................................8

4.3 Using the internet.......................................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 5 : Advanced Setting

5.1 Administration Setting................................................................................................................. 11

5.2 Network Setting...........................................................................................................................11

5.3 Server Setting ............................................................................................................................. 12

5.4 Event Trigger............................................................................................................................... 13

5.5 Firmware Update......................................................................................................................... 13

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Network Camera Module

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Chapter 1 :Introduction

This is a cost effective network camera solution for
consumer market. It integrates the JPEG codec, Ethernet
MAC and embedded TCP/IP networking that supports
DDNS, DHCP and acts as a HTTP se rver. It serves a
special function of remote snap shot. Using any internet
browser which supports image display, one can get the
still image from the camera to the remote device. No
special plug-in software is required.

1.1 Features

z Build-in 2Meg CMOS sensor, lens included
z JPEG compression for still picture of 1600x1200
z Network support

 TCP/IP
 DNS/DDNS/DHCP

 HTTP/PPPoE/FTP/SMTP

z Working individually without PC connected
z Motion detect to store image in SD card (optional) or send image to email or FTP
z User friendly, camera search program is provided
z Plastic case is available for the module

1.2 System Requirements

Real time image view PC system

1. CPU：Intel Pentium 4 1.6GHz or above

2. Memory：128MB (recommend 256MB)above

3. Operate system：Windows 2000 or Windows XP

4. Browser：Microsoft IE 6.0 or above

5. Hard disk requirements：at least 10MB capacity or above

6. Network：possess 10/100Mbps Ethernet LAN port connect ability

IPC98

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Chapter 2: Hardware Installation

6.1 Hardware and Connection Description

IPC98

Network Camera Module

w/ remote snap shot

SD Card holder

(Optional)

Figure1: Main Board Layout

RJ45 – connect to LAN

To Sensor Board

Power – DC5V

Reset

Status LED

2.2 Hardware Installation

1. Plug the Ethernet cable into the LAN port as shown in figure1.

2. Plug the other end of the Ethernet cable into available LAN connection d evices, such a s Hub, Router,

ADSL modem and so on.

3. Plug in power connector, you will see status LED blinking three times, then off. It is now initializing

the system, (probably 5 seconds). If it succeeded, status LED will flash once per second.

Please make sure that you use the right power adapter of 5VDC output for IP camera. A non-approved
power will damage the camera.

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Chapter 3: Set up the camera module

3.1 Searching the camera in the network using CAM_EZ SEARCH

Before the camera can run on the network, you need to assign an IP address for the camera. First of
all, run CAM_EZ SEARCH after the camera is plugged in the LAN. CAM_EZ Search is a search tool
which is used to find all the IP cameras on the LAN. When running CAM_EZ Search, PC will send
broadcast package to the LAN. After the camera responds, all the cameras’ name will be displayed on
the dialog box. Click the desired camera, and it will display the related settings, then change the
settings accordingly, such as IP address, rename IP camera and so on.

Operation steps:

1. Start and run CAM_EZ SEARCH application program.

Modify IPC98’s IP and relevant settings, as figure
below.
By default, the camera is set at DHCP mode, that
means your local network will assign the IP address.
You can use as it is or change to other known address.
Here is the explanation of different fields.

- Name: user can define his preferable name

- IP: address assigned by the LAN.

- Subnet mask: usually setup 255.255.255.0

- GateWay: network’s default gateway

- HTTP Port: Http communication port, preset 80.

2. If you want to change the IP and other settings, click Static option. Fill in the IP address, and then

click “submit” to save the changes.

3. After a few seconds, click “update” again to update the IPC98’s list. I PC98 will u pdate a useable IP

address.

4. Double click the camera name, and it will launch Internet Explorer and start the camera operation.

3.2 System login

System login is used to recognize the user, check the legal user to enter. This system provides two
levels of management modes: Administer and general user.

There are 2 ways to start the operation:
Method 1: Using the search tool,

double-click IPC98’s name.
Method 2: Start IE, type in IPC98 IP

address, press the “enter”
E.g.
IPC98’s IP address 192.168.1.140,
type http//192.168.1.140

Note: Some browsers may not
support this feature. Use IE6 or
above.

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Network Camera Module

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3.3 Live view

After entering the system login page, type user name and password to view IPCAM live image. If you
are the first time to start IPC98, you have to modify the IE security settings. (Please follow the system
login instruction to operate) or it will appear a warning window and it then leads to web page incorrect
display.
After configuring the security settings for the first time, no need to configure again in the future.

Step 1、Modify IE security setting property

There are two varieties for configuring the security settings.

Method1:

1. Open internet explorer “tool”>>”Internet options” >> “security”>> select “Internet area”>>
select “custom level”.

2. Modify and check following options
a. “Download unsigned ActiveX controls” select “prompt”
b. “Initialize unsigned ActiveX controls and script” click “enable”
c. ”Run ActiveX controls and plug ins ”click “enable”
d. “Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting” click “enable”

3. Click “OK”

(Notice: If ”Download unsigned ActiveX controls” and “Initialize and script ActiveX controls are not
marked as “safe”, you cannot click “enable”, otherwise some unknown unsigned ActiveX controls will
lead your PC to infect virus or be attacked by hackers).

Method 2
Open the IE browser, select “tool”>> “Internet Options”>> “Security”, Then select “trusted sites”, as
below.

After selected “trusted sites”, enter “trusted sites” box. Un-select “Require server verification (https:) for
all sites in this zone”, then add IP98’s web address. Click “Add” and then click “OK” to finish the
settings.

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Back to IPC98 system login web page, enter “user name” and “password”

Step 2、Type in user’s name and password. Default name is “icam”, password is “1234”
Step 3.、Click “Submit”. If the user name and password are correct, it will enter live preview page as

shown below.

3.3.1 Image Setup

Resolution and working environment can be
changed on the left hand column.
After selection, click “Submit” to take effect.

Resolution: Video output resolution, selectable
320x240 or 640x480. Default is 320x240.
Frequency: Power line frequency. It can be set to
60Hz, 50Hz or outdoor. Change to outdoor when
the camera is used in outdoor.

Enable or disable the date time and frame rate
display by clicking the OSD on-off.

If the date time is found to be incorrect, you need to go to advanced setting pages and check the
correct NTP server for update.
Note that the video frame rate (fps) may change all the time, depends on the network traffic status.

Now, the network camera is working for local preview or remote snap shot. Refer to the following
chapter for detail operation.

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C

hapter 4: Operating the Remote Camera

4.1 Introduction

The key feature of IPC98 network camera is it works like a remote digital camera. Assume you
have placed the camera IPC98 miles away, and now, you want to take a real time snap and see
what the camera is “seeing”, using any PC browser or cell-phone which supports internet
connection, you can get the photo anytime, anywhere.

email

LAN

Snap shot

FTP

Video
streaming

Local storage

4.2 Using within the local network

First of all, you need to know the IP address of the camera. Please refer to Chapter 3 for details.

4.2.1 PC/Notebook. Assume you have the machine connected to network, no matter it is wired or
wireless, by using any web browser, simply type in “

http://cam_ip_address/image.jpg “, then you can

get the photo display in the browser. Note that the image size is 1 60 0x1200, it may take some time to
download it from the camera. You can then save it to your PC memory as you download other image
file from the web.

IPC98

Local
monitor

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IPC98

Network Camera Module

w/ remote snap shot

4.2.2 Cell phone with wifi: Here is an example using iPhone. Assume you have wireless router within
the area. Make sure your iPhone is connected to the wifi network. Use Safari, type in

http://cam_ip_address/image.jpg and you can download the photo to your iPhone. Since the photo is

of size 1600x1200, the iPhone may not be able to display the complete image, you need to scroll by
your finger. You can book mark it for later use.
Note: There is no need to have any plugin installed in your iPhone to do this function. However, there is
some freewares for iPhone which perform similar function. You can find it out youself.

4.2.3 PDA or sma rtpho ne with network connection: Similar to iPhone. Open the web browser, type in

http://cam_ip_address/image.jpg and you can get the photo.

4.3 Using the Internet

The operation is the same as in the Intranet. However, a public IP addre ss is needed and knowledge to
setup the router is also required before you can manipulate without problem.
Below is an example of getting the public IP address and setting up a wireless router.

4.3.1 Log in to the router, open the status of WAN, you will find the detail list which shows status of

your network connection. Check the IP address. Note that it is different from your local address
which starts with 192. xxx.xxx.xxx.

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IPC98

Network Camera Module

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4.3.2 Find the Virtual Server page and add the http server of address with IPC98 ha s been assign ed.

Click “save” to enable the service.

In some other routers, it may call Port Forwarding. If so, the Port will be 80 and Forward to the address
of IPC98 has been assigned.

Note: If you are experienced in network setup, you may already have the port 80 used, you can
rename the IPC98 port to other number, such as 8080. If so, you need to add http1 port to the above
example and enable the forwarding too.

4.3.3 Now, you are ready to get photo using internet connection by PC or by cell phone which is

internet ready. Refer to 4.2.1. Instead of local network IP address, now, you use public IP
address and get the photo as below.

4.3.4 For iPhone or other PDA phone user, we recommend you to access remote camera thru local

wireless network instead of cellphone 3G network to save connection fee.

4.3.5 To remember the camera address easier, we suggest you to apply the Dynamic DNS from

dyndns.com such that there is no need to memorize the long figures. Please refer to the
advance setting chapter follows.

4.3.6 Please also note that the IP address may be changed by the internet service provider.

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IPC98

Network Camera Module

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Chapter 5: Advanced Setting

This chapter explains the advanced settings about IPC98 including:

z Admin - Administration setting
z Network - Network setting
z Server - Server setting
z Trigger - Event trigger
z Update - System update

Click the name in the title bar to enter.

5.1 Administration setting

This section is to configure IPC98’s name,
administrator’s name, password and general user’s
name and password.
Administrator can operate the all functions and
configurations supported by IPC98,
General user can only enter live view, cannot enter the
setting page. This is to prevent wrong setting by visitors.

5.1.1 Camera Name

Configure IPC98’s name. When you have multi cameras in the network, you use this name to identify
different cameras.

5.1.2 General user

In case you allow other people to access your IPC98, you can provide them the general user name
and password so that the settings will not be changed accidentally.
Steps to configure General user’s name and password:

1. User name: type in this IPC98’s name

2. Old password: input old password

3. New password: input new password

4. Check the new password: input the new password again

5. Click the “Submit” button to finish the configuration

5.1.3 Administrator

Steps to configure administrator’s name and password.

1. User name: type in this IPC98’s enter name

2. Old password: input old password

3. New password: input new password

4. Check the new password: input the new password again

5. Click “OK” to finish the configuration

5.2 Network setting

This page to modify IP camera’s network connection properties, which includes:

 IP Assignment
 PPPOE setting
 DNS Server setting

5.2.1 IP Assignment: Methods of getting an IP
including dynamic IP supported by ISP or fixed IP
supported by network administrator.
IP Assignment includes: Static, DHCP and PPPOE.
DHCP and PPPOE are Dynamic IP.
If you choose static, you have to input:

IP address: fixed IP supported by network

administrator.
Subnet address: preset 255.255.255.0
MAC address: media access control (set before

out of the factory)
Gateway: set as default gateway
Click “Submit” to update the configuration

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If choose dynamic distribution, no extra configuration needed, it just requires the server item to assign
DHCP Server address

If choose PPPoE, just type in the correct name and password

5.2.2 PPPoE

This configuration is under the specified PPPoE IP assignment. Simply input the user name and
password provided by your ISP.
Input the correct name and password, and then click “Submit” to finish the configuration
(Notice: The IP address is assigned by ISP every time the camera connected to the net. Thus the IP
address may vary from time to time. Use router to connect PPPoE or DDNS is recommended, so as to
avoid unknown address of IPC98.)

5.2.3 HTTP Server

This is to assign the port number through HTTP Protocol connect the web server which built in IPC98,
port default 80. However, one can assign other port number if he is familiar with t he network operation.

5.2.4 DNS Server configuration

This is to assign the DNS server’s IP address. You can get this from your Internet service provider.
The ISP will provide at least 2 DNS addresses. If connection to DNS1 failed, it will connect to DNS2
automatically.

5.3 Server Setting

This page includes all the settings related to different serve r s.

5.3.1 Mail server: It is used for emailing the photos when there is motion detect. Put your smtp mail
server info here, normally like this: “smtp.your_mail_server.com”. You can refer to the email account
setting as in Outlook or other email program. Make sure you enter the account ID and password
accordingly if the email smtp server needs authorization.

5.3.2 FTP server: It is used to store photos in remote
FTP server , i nstead of IPC98 if there is motion dete ct.
If you do not have FTP server, just leave it blank.

5.3.3 DDNS server

If you are not using a fix IP address, this DDNS
server may be useful. DDNS means dynamic domain
name service. Since ISP may change your IP
address any time, you need to check every time when
you access IPC98 remotely. Therefore DDNS
provides the service to give you the domain name,
and it will find out the updated IP address for this
name automatically. In this way, you do not need to
know what exactly the IP address the IPC98 is using. One of the DDNS service suppliers is dyndns.org.
You can apply the service online. Once you obtained service, input here the domain name, login name
and password. Then click “Submit” to update the settings.

5.3.4 NTP server setting

NTP server is Net Time Protocol sever. It provides the accurate time for display and photo files info.
Simply pull down the menu to select the right time zone and click “Submit” to finish the configuration
If you find the date time in the Live View video incorrect, it implies that the NTP server is incorrect and
you may try other by clicking “learn more”.

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IPC98

Network Camera Module

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5.4 Event T rigger

IPC98 provides motion detect function and this is one of the important features of IPC98. If motion
detect function is activated, it will take a photo, and
then store it on board memory and send to the remote
devices. This page is for the settings of event trigger.

5.4.1 Event: Set the MD on or off, by clicking the dial.
If MD is set, enter the level of sensitivity. 2 areas can
be set for monitor and different sensitivity. This area is
set at Live View window, to be described next
paragraph.

5.4.2 Trigger: When there is a trigger, which means
the image changes bigger than the level set, it works
according to the settings: save the photo in board
memory card, mail the image or save it in FTP.

5.4.3 Shutter time: In order to prevent sending the images too frequently, you can set longer interval
here.

Note: 1. Your IPC98 may not have the SD card built in, as it is an optional part.

2. The image will be sent to the email address or FTP serve r which is set in Serve r page

3. If the address of email or FTP is set incorrectly, no image will be sent.

5.4.4 Setting the motion detect area

After you have enabled the motion detect, go to Live
View page, and then point the mouse to the video.

1. Left click once, then right once.

2. A dialog box will pop up, select motion_detect, and
select 1 or 2.

3. Use the mouse to draw a rectangle in the place
where you want to monitor.

4. Release the mouse and wait a second

5. A rectangle will come up in the window.

6. There will be 2 rectangle outlines if both motion
detect are set. Red is for MD 1 and green for MD2.

5.5 System update------ --software update

IPC98 supports online firmware upgrade. So it is easy
for users or installers to upgrade the system remotely.
There is no need to unplug the camera for firmware
maintenance.
Current software version: It will display automatically
Click “Browser” to select the file to be sent
Click “Submit” to take effective. You need to wait for a
while when it is updating.
The system will reboot in about 1 minute. Re-login is
required after reboot.

(Notice: Make sure IPC98 is not power off during
upgrade, otherwise it will be damaged and you need
to send it back to factory to fix.)

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