Camio Query Links — for the fastest human review

If a gunshot or explosion were detected in a building, how could everyone — from employees to building security to public safety officials — immediately review the related video? If smoke from a forrest fire were detected by a ranger station’s camera, how could all firefighters see the fire’s progression? If a machine’s rotor in an assembly line starts wobbling, how could any personnel on the current shift see it immediately? If the planning and execution of a neighborhood robbery spans multiple homes in a neighborhood, how could residents and police review the relevant video immediately? These were just a few of the scenarios that motivated the team to create Camio Query Links from day one — to enable the fastest human review of video.

As real-time video search extends beyond automated Machine Learning to include the natural human intelligence that enables quick, at-a-glance judgements, the combination of machines and people can deliver unprecedented speed, efficiency and precision in responding to events in the real world. By enabling the instant sharing of queries (not just search results), Camio Query Links deliver unbounded flexibility and specificity in what’s able to be shared. Query Links are like database views onto the real world that require no sign-in, no authorization, and no app installations. Anyone — or any thing — with the link can successively refine searches. This query-based way of sharing video has broad implications for a wide range of video monitoring tasks.

To enable the fastest human review of private video, Camio solved three key problems via its focus on the search box:

1. speed: How can encrypted video be shared with thousands of people who can search the video immediately?
2. control: How can that immediate sharing also enable the owner to retain access control?
3. need-to-know basis: How can real-time sharing be constrained only to specific events that warrant sharing?

1speed: Sharing immediately means access in less than 2 seconds. There’s no time for authentication, app downloads, ACL administration, and file transfers. Camio instead creates a view token that grants permission to search and see only the results from a particular query. That query can even be unconstrained in time for real-time video search of the very latest events. For example, to see anyone dressed in blue that approaches the mailbox at Camio’s office from 8am April 5th and into the future, the following link works in any browser and allows search refinements within the constraints of the query:
[people in blue approaching mailbox 8am PDT April 5th 2017]
accessed via the Query Link:
https://camio.com/app/#search;q=v%3A21a24675e1hc

Use of that Query Link enforces several constraints in search refinements:

1. No search results prior to 8am PDT April 5th can be seen regardless of attempts to search or scroll to an earlier time period.
2. All queries must satisfy all constraints of the Query Link’s query, so queries like [red] fail because that’s not people in blue, and [departing] fails because that’s not approaching.
3. The continuous 24x7 timelapse video that Camio creates when nothing important is happening can’t be accessed either — only the important (aka “top”) events that match the query are included in search results — even when attempting to see everything with the query [all].

Though not displayed in the search box, the special “v:” operator in the query specifies a view token that permits access to the results with the speed and simplicity of share-via-link — without sign-in, without app downloads and without file transfers.

2control: Retaining the owner’s access control means that the owner of the video can revoke access to the shared Query Link at any time. As soon as the owner deletes the Query Link, the view token expires so that no one can use it. People that already used the Query Link may have downloaded their prior search results, but they no longer have the access required to issue new queries.

3need-to-know basis: By using the simplicity and power of the search box, Camio provides maximum flexibility and specificity in what’s being shared. The query behind a Query Link can be completely unbounded — as in specifying only a camera name with no date or label constraints, or very specific — as in limiting results to a single cameras during a short time period like [6:45pm to 11pm Liverpool]. The default search results show only important events, but the user can still use the [all] query to see the unimportant events too.

The [all] query includes even unimportant timelapse videos within the Query Link’s constraint of 6:45pm to 11pm.

Within that short time period, people can refine searches with queries like [bikes] that are still limited to the Query Link’s camera and time period constraints.

The query [bikes] remains constrained to the camera and time period boundaries of the Query Link.

Any query can become the basis of a Query Link. To create a Query Link, execute a search and then press the Share via link button in the Search Panel:

The “Share via Link” button is in the Camio Search Panel and shares the current query.

The currently active query constrains what’s shared when you generate the link:

The blue badge “all” conveys that all results matching the query will be accessible via the Query Link.

Developers can use the Camio API to create Query Links programmatically. For example, sensors or Camio Hooks can trigger the automated distribution of a Query Link to an emergency response team across organizations. The programmer creates a Query Link with an https POST and json payload that simply specifies the “text” (line 4) in the json payload like this:

POST /api/users/me/camios

The POST payload simple supplies the “text” of the query that constrains what’s to be shared.

The response describes the Query Link — inclusive of the “url” (line 25) for easy access without authentication:

The response includes the “url” field for fast sharing via link.

After the emergency response team has finished reviewing the video, the shared Query Link can be deleted with an https DELETE command:

DELETE /api/users/me/camios?view_token=s1ui6ygpwveo

Camio is all about real-time video search that connects any camera to state-of-the-art Machine Learning. But the ability for people to marshal a coordinated response instantly is just as important. Query Links are a simple way to collaborate without the friction of authentication, authorizations, app downloads, and file transfers.