This article describes how a Tattile camera can be connected to BVMS. We recommend keeping the Tattile camera documentation and BVMS configuration manual at hand to fine tune the system configuration to the specific needs of your project

Configuration:

This article helps you to configure three aspects:

• Match list configuration: the Tattile cameras can load a license plate match list from an FTP server. This article describes how you can enable an FTP server on the BVMS management server and use this as a source of the license plate match list.
• Camera configuration: the Tattile camera itself requires specific settings before it can be added to BVMS.
• BVMS Configuration: adding the Tattile camera to BVMS.

Check list configuration

Tattile cameras can have up to two check lists: A and B. This article helps you to configure check list A based on an FTP server running on the BVMS management server. The article is written based on Windows Server 2019 but can also be used Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2012 R2 as they look and feel similar.

Step-by-step guide

1. Setting up an FTP server on the BVMS management server

Open the Internet Information Services Manager and add an FTP site to the local server.

You can give the FTP site an arbitrary name. The physical path needs to be accessible for a user with both read and write access on the file system as well as via the FTP site.

The FTP site should not be configured with SSL. The other settings can be adjusted based on the security-level of the installation. The security-level can be increased by applying, for example, IP filtering on the FTP site or in the Windows Firewall. This way, only configured cameras can access the FTP site.

The FTP site uses Basic authentication. This means that the FTP authentication uses the Windows authentication mechanisms in the background. Users (cameras) should only have read access on the FTP site. This prevents unauthorized modifications of the match list.

Use the computer manager to create a special user, for example, "ftp_user". This user should have read and write access on the FTP site folder and on the file system.

Create a file in the FTP site, for example, BlackList.txt using Notepad. Save the file using UTF8 encoding:

The contents of the file should match the following format:
License plate; Country;Comments
Please be aware that the Country identifier always consists of three letters.
### can be used as a wildcard and represents all countries

Test if you can open the file using your favorite browser by entering the FTP address: ftp://ftpuser:password@x.x.x.x:21/BlackList.txt. The username and password dialogue should not pop-up and you should have direct access to the content of the BlackList.txt file.

Info
title Info
At the end of the .txt file there must be a new empty line. Otherwise the last plate number won’t be loaded.

1.1. Synchronizing the check list in the camera with the FTP server

Plate Reader => Check List => Check List A
You should enable check list A and configure the List Location as FTP. The FTP IP should match the location of the IP address from the BVMS management server. The File Name should match the name of the file storing the check list.

When you click Reload List, the List Loaded message should appear, including the number of license plates you have put on the list.
Multiple cameras can point to the same check list. The checklist can also be generated by an external application that writes the file considering the required format.

1.2. Configure match list management from BVMS Operator Client

BVMS operators can manage the check list from the BVMS Operator Client. The user account the operator uses to login to Windows needs to have read and write access to the file that the FTP server hosts. You can achieve this by creating a new shared folder or by using the existing (hidden) shared folder. In the example below we use an existing (hidden) share folder: c$.
Use the BVMS configuration client to open the resource manager

Add a new resource, in our case, an external application.

The external application launched notepad.exe and points to the location of the check list using an argument.

Add the external application to the BVMS logical tree. This way operators can access it when they want to adjust the check list. Of course you can also put the external application in a folder.

2. Camera configuration

The Tattile camera can handle one admin connection simultaneously. As a result, you can add one camera to one BVMS system.

2.1. Add user

System => HTTP Users
Change the default usernames and passwords or add an additional admin user that BVMS can use to login to the camera.

2.2. Configure communication protocol

System => Protocols => VRC
BVMS communicates with the Tattile cameras using a secured protocol (VRCS). Configure the VRC server settings as indicated in the image below.

System => Network
Configure the IP address from the BVMS management server in the Static hosts section. The Names must state BvmsLpr_Server (case sensitive).

If the Names does not match BvmsLpr_Server, in this dialog or in the events / action settings, the BVMS management server will not receive events from the Tattile camera.

2.3 Configure event and action settings

Plate Reader => Events Actions
The Tattile camera has several events and actions. We use two events: Ocr Read and Match On List A. Configure the Template Message for these events by clicking on the image.

You should configure both events in the same way using the example below. The Server name/IP must state BvmsLpr_Server.

The Text Value should state:

Apply the changes.
Plate Reader => Events Actions => Template Configuration (Config, bottom of the page)
Additionally, you need to upload a template message. Click the Upload Page and load the file C:\ProgramFiles\Bosch\VMS\Appdata\LPR_Event_Template.txt on systems where the BVMS configuration client is installed.

2.4. Configure separator plate

Optionally you can configure a separator plate for specific countries. This determines how the detected license plates are written into the BVMS logbook. The camera user manual contains more information.

3. BVMS configuration

The BVMS configuration manual also describes how to add LPR devices to the BVMS configuration.

3.1. Add LPR camera

Add an LPR device by right clicking on the LPR devices node.

3.2. Add video (RTSP) camera

Some Tattile cameras also have a video output (Not possible for the basic family). You can add these cameras to the Video Streaming Gateway (VSG) configuration as an RSTP camera.

Use the rstp://x.x.x.x without authentication to load the video stream into BVMS.

3.3. Configure LPR events

You can use the Events and Alarms tab in the BVMS configuration client to configure the events and alarms. BVMS receives License plate detected (Ocr read) and License plate identified (Match On List A) from the camera.

We recommend to configure an alarm on the License plate identified event and store the License plate detected event in the BVMS logbook.

3.4. Allow only users in the "Admin" group to manage license plates

Some user groups might not be allowed to edit the check list. You can remove the rights by de-selecting the node in the logical tree on the User groups tab in the BVMS configuration client.

4 Operation

Alarms from the camera are processed using the normal BVMS alarm management. The check list can be easily edited by an operator by dragging and dropping the Manage License Plates application into an image pane, editing the file, and saving it (either by CTRL+S or by clicking File / Save).

4.1 Alarm Handling

If the License plate identified or License plated detected events are configured to trigger alarms, the following information will be displayed in an alarm:

• The standard BVMS alarm information as timestamp, event type, alarm title, triggering device, etc.
• The license plate itself
• The country identified (DEU for Germany, etc.)

4.2 Investigation / Reporting

With the LPR events License plate identified and License plate detected stored in the BVMS logbook, it is possible to solve use cases as "When did a car enter and leave the premises".
Open the logbook search in the Operator Client, define a search filter for the License Plate detected or License Plate identified event and run the search, if you want to get an overview of all detected plates. If you look for a specific number plate, you can additionally enter the license plate in the Text Data field.

The results are listed below and can be exported using the Save results button.