Interfaces

Interfaces

This section is for setting up the user interfaces generated by BeoLiving Intelligence.

The main features that can be configured are:

  • The subset of resources and macros that appear for each zone.
  • Virtual resources, which provide a friendly way for interacting with some systems.
  • Sources and features of A/V products.
  • Lists of favorite channels and radio stations.
  • Access to IP cameras in the home.
  • Users which can access the system, and access restrictions.

The user interfaces generated from this configuration can be accessed in several ways:

  • On mobile devices via BeoLiving App.
  • On the Web Panel, using any web browser.
  • On Bang & Olufsen NetworkLink TVs.
  • On externalcontrollers interfacing with BeoLiving Intelligence via the Home Integration Protocol.

Synchronizing BeoLiving App: BeoLiving App will automatically update its user interface to reflect changes in the saved configuration. This means that BeoLiving App will not reflect configuration changes in real time, but will update as soon as a configuration is saved.

User management

Installer (admin)

There is always a user called admin which is reserved for the installer. The admin user has access for setting up BeoLiving Intelligence, and also for accessing all zones via web or mobile interfaces.

Only the password for admin can be changed here.

End users

Other users may be defined to allow acces to user interfaces for the home owners, kids, etc.

The options for end users are:

  • User management access, when selected, allows this user to add or edit other users. This option should be set for the home owner, but not for the kids or guests.
  • Controller should normally be selected, and allows the user to acces BeoLiving Intelligence via mobile devices (BeoLiving App). When disabled, the only access for that user is via the web panel.
  • Zone access provides a list of zones which the user has access to. For example, kids should not have access via their mobile apps into the main bedroom.

Network cameras setup

In this section you can add the configuration for several network cameras.

The optional user name and password are used for basic HTTP authentication to the camera.

You must provide a base URL onto which all commands will be appended. For example, http://192.168.1.37/axis-cgi/.

You must then provide commands for obtaining video and images both in high and low resolution. For example, mjpg/video.cgi for the high resolution video feed.

All commands will be appended to the base url provided.

Other optional commands can be provided for cameras with pan/tilt/zoom control.

Raw edit option

Entering all these fields into edit-boxes may be time consuming.

By pressing the Raw edit button, you are provided with a text representation of all the fields. Here you can copy/paste, or edit in your favorite text editor.

More important, you can copy all the text and then paste it when setting up other similar cameras.

Zone resource filtering

In this section, for each zone you can check and reorder the available resources that will be shown to the user.

You have the option to hide unneeded resources in order to reduce clutter. This is important for providing a good experience to the user. Remember that, in day-to-day use, easy access to a few functions is more desirable than accessing everything possible.

Options for buttons and macros

Macros and buttons, which are represented as buttons on the user interfaces, have further options:

  • Compact will produce a half-width button. Two such buttons together will appear side by side.
  • On camera view will also display this button / macro next to the IP camera images in that zone. For example, you may want to have an All lights ON and All lights OFF macro available next to the video feed.
  • Confirm should be enabled for buttons which should not be pressed accidentally (for example, Vacation mode, or Shades down). When selected, a confirmation is required from the user.

B&O products configuration

For each A/V product, there are some basic options, plus the list of sources you wish to present to the user.

Product options:

  • Name: you can rename the product here.
  • Address: uneditable product address.
  • Force IP Address: sets product IP address (not recommended).
  • Beo4 navigation: whether the product is set up for the old Beo4 navigation, or the new navigation with cursor keys and SELECT.

Sources

For each NetworkLink product, available sources are discovered and added automatically.

In case of inconsistencies in the source list, sources can be queried directly from the product by clicking on the Force synchronization with product button.

Hide sources you won’t be using in order to reduce clutter in the resulting user interfaces.

The information to provide for each source is the following:

  • Source: This is the source type.
  • Name: This is name of the discovered source.
  • UI type: This is an indication to the mobile application on what type of user interface is needed for operating the product. Choose the type that most suits your specific source or set-top box.
  • Favourites list: This allows to select one of the favourite lists defined in the Favourites section. If something other than “None” is selected, mobile applications will show a favourites button for this source allowing channel/station selection.

Favourites

This screen allows the definition of lists of favourite TV channels and radio stations. Favourite lists can then be associated to one or more sources.

The mobile application will show channel/station logos to the user for easy channel selection, based on the selected favourite list.

Favourite lists are identified by a name. This name will show up in the sources configuration section for each source.

For each favourite list a global delay and end command can be set that will affect each favourite command. The end command will be added at the end of each favourite command sequence and can be one of PLAY or SELECT. The global delay will be added between all digits (CIFFER) and between digits and the end command for each favourite command.

Also, a delay on source selection can be set. This delay that will be added before the first digit of each favorite command, but only if the source was effectively selected.

For each channel/station in a list, the following information should be provided:

  • Caption: a short description for the favourite.
  • Path: the full URL of the logo image to show. It must point to a valid image as mobile applications will use it periodically to retrieve the logo. It can be set manually or using the logo picker.
  • Command: the command to be executed once the logo is selected in mobile applications. Valid commands consist of one or more of the following elements, separated by a plus sign (+), which can be omitted in case of contiguous ciffers:
    • The digits CIFFER_0 to CIFFER_9, optionally shortened as 0 to 9.
    • Delay: Nms where N is a positive number indicating a delay in milliseconds.
    • PLAY or SELECT ending the sequence.
    • MENU.
    • CNTL_REWIND, CNTL_WIND, CNTL_STEP_UP and CNTL_STEP_DW, optionally shortened as GREEN, YELLOW, BLUE and RED respectively.

    For example:

    • CIFFER_1+Delay: 200ms+CIFFER_3+PLAY, or using the abbreviated form: 1+Delay: 200ms+3+PLAY.
    • 12, with the global delay set to 100ms and global end command set to SELECT, is the same as 1+Delay: 100ms+2+Delay: 100ms+SELECT without global settings.

Logo picker

The logo picker shows as a pop-up window for selecting logos from the B&O repository. It shows up by clicking the search button next to the path field or by clicking on the logo itself.

Available logos are shown in groups of 50. The most convenient way to search for a channel is by using the filter. Typing a search string will immediately restrict the channels displayed to only the matching entries. For example, typing music will show the channels that contain the word “music” in its name.

Clicking on a logo will close the picker window and complete the path and command fields, and show the selected logo. The caption will be also updated except if it was edited explicitly: if the caption was empty, or it was the exact name from the previous selection, it will be updated with the name of the new selected channel; in other cases, the caption was edited and will be unmodified.

Note: The logo picker is only available if your browser has an Internet connection available. Also, the complete list of channels must be retrieved the first time; this may take some seconds on a slow connection.