Help Pages

Media

The Bodyguard, Virtual Defender supports three modes of security media data collection to allow maximum flexibility to fit specific user needs. As already discussed earlier, the three modes are:

• Video

• Audio, and

• Photo

Under some circumstances audio recordings are more suitable as security media, rather than video or still images. This is true because poor lighting conditions may prevent the visual modes from operating optimally. Because security media data collection is intended to provide situational awareness within the security network, it is important to provide best suited capabilities, should the need for assistance become necessary. Thus, selecting the most appropriate media for the conditions is an important part of the Bodyguard, Virtual Defender's toolkit.

Any user, regardless of their subscription level, has the ability to access the various security media recording capabilities. However, users who do not purchase cloud storage through a subscription can only store recorded media locally. This limitation precludes the sharing of this data across the network, and thus denies this user the major benefits of the Personal Security Network.

Conversely, those users who do have access to the cloud storage have the ability to perform the following security media recording functions.

1. Select to record and share the most appropriate media type that matches the local conditions.

2. Easily activate media sharing.

3. Easily change the type of media recorded to the cloud to match real-life changing conditions.

4. Manually activate on-demand local media recording using easily accessible controls.

5. Manually activate on-demand shared media recording using easily accessible controls.

6. Download media saved in the cloud to the local storage.

7. Save local media to a shared location in the cloud.

8. View or listen to the manually recorded media.

9. View or listen to the media saved locally.

10. View or listen to the media saved to the cloud.

11. Share media from local storage.

12. Share media from cloud storage.

13. Delete media from local storage.

14. Delete media from cloud storage.

Security media generated by the Bodyguard Application can be easily shared with other apps and users outside the Bodyguard Application. However, only the owner of the data has access to the sharing tools necessary to share that information. This is a design feature intended to protect each user's privacy by limiting the ability of the designated alliance members to easily disseminate someone else's security media data. Please refer to the Privacy Help section and the Privacy Policy for further discussion of privacy matters.

To access your media, select either the Audio Library, Image Library, or the Video Library item from the Main Menu. All three libraries are organized in the same way. Each library page consists of two panes. The first pane displays the collection of media stored locally, while the second pane displays the collection stored in the cloud. Swipe right to left to move from the first pane to the second pane, and swipe left to right to reverse the direction. A group of two indicator dots at the bottom of each page show which pane is currently selected. You can also tap either of these dots to move directly to the corresponding page.

At the top of each pane two yellow buttons provide access to the Date and Time Filter associated with Media Data. A single Date and Time Filter is shared by all the Media. This filter is separate from the Location Data Date and Time Filter discussed earlier, but it operates in the same way. Please refer back to the Location Help section for detailed discussion of the Date and Time Filter operation.

In addition to the Media Date and Time Filter, the global Device Filter is also accessible through the options menu. The Device Filter allows selection of media generated by a particular device. This filter is shared with the Location Data Device Filter discussed in the previous section. Please refer back to the Location Help section for more information regarding this filter.

Each row in the list of displayed media items contains the following summary:

• The associated media File Name

• The Date and Time the media file was created

• The Size of the media file in bytes

• The Duration of audio and video clips in seconds

• Or the Dimensions of image media in pixels

There are two buttons flanking each media item. The blue button is the media playback button, and the black button is the media deletion button. There is also a sharing icon to the right of the media summary text, which can be used to easily share the associated media with anyone, by means of some other Android application.

Most media interactions are similar regardless which Media Library is displayed.

For instance, when viewing local media, long pressing the media summary text opens a dialog requesting permission to share the chosen media file to the cloud where it can be viewed by members of your Alliance Network.

When viewing cloud data, the same action opens a dialog requesting permission to download the selected file to the local storage.

In all cases, the black media deletion button can be used to permanently delete the selected media file from either the local, or the cloud storage. Long pressing the delete button opens a dialog requesting permission to permanently delete all visible (filtered) media files of the particular type. That is, when viewing shared video files, for example, long pressing the black deletion button will ask for permission to delete all shared video files currently selected by the Media Date and Time, and the global Device Filters.

The Audio Library Page

The media playback button operates differently depending on the media type being displayed. When viewing locally available audio media, for example, tapping the playback button initiates playback of the selected audio clip. Tapping it again, before the clip has stopped playing, pauses it. The button's icon changes to match the current state of the playback. The playback button can be in one of three different states: (1) the Stopped state, represented by a white square; (2) the Playing state, represented by a white triangle; and (3) the Paused state, represented by the white "paused" symbol -- two short vertical bars parallel to each other. While the audio clip is in the playback mode, the text of the corresponding media summary changes its color from the normal gray to a green highlight.

Long pressing the playback button, while in the playback mode, halts the playback mode whether the clip was playing, or paused. In either case the clip returns to the Stopped state. And the corresponding text summary color reverts back to the normal gray.

Audio playback of the media stored in the cloud does not support pausing of the playback. In that case, pressing the playback button, while the playback is already rolling, simply restarts the playback from the beginning.

When audio playback is active, it is possible to leave the Audio Library Page and perform many of the other functions supported by the Application concurrently. Returning to the Audio Library Page, however, will stop the playback.

When no playback is active, tapping the big round button in the lower right corner of the page initiates recording of a locally stored or a shared audio clip. Storage location of the clip depends on which pane the recording was started from. Recordings started from the SHARED AUDIO CLIPS pane are shared to the cloud, while recordings started from the LOCAL AUDIO CLIPS are stored locally on the device. In either case, recording of audio clips continues until the same button is tapped again, or the user decides to leave the pane.

The Image Library Page

When viewing available photo image media, tapping the blue preview button opens the PHOTO PREVIEW page with the selected image displayed in the preview area.

The image may be displayed in one of the following modes:

• BEST FIT

• FIT SCREEN

• FILL SCREEN

• CENTER

The BEST FIT mode automatically scales the image without changing the image aspect ratio, such that the shortest dimension of the screen is completely fitted with either the width or the height dimension of the image. This mode typically ends up displaying black bands around the image in the dimension that doesn't perfectly fit on the screen. The advantage of this mode is that the image is scaled without distortion, and the entire image appears on the display without the need for panning the image in any direction.

The FIT SCREEN mode also automatically scales the image without changing the image aspect ratio, such that the longest dimension of the screen is completely fitted with either the width or the height dimension of the image. This mode uses every pixel of the screen to display a scaled undistorted image. However, the user may need to pan the image on the screen in at least one direction to see the whole picture.

The FILL SCREEN mode automatically scales the image and adjusts its aspect ratio in order to fit the entire image on the entire screen. This mode can be useful when the original image aspect ratio and dimensions closely match that of the screen. However, the resulting image may become very distorted if there is no close match, or when the screen orientation changes. No panning is required to see the complete image.

The CENTER mode does not scale the image, but instead just centers it on the screen. The resulting image may be completely, or only partially visible, depending on the relative resolutions of the image and the screen. Panning may be required in multiple directions to view the entire image.

To pan an image in any mode, touch and hold the image with your finger. Drag your finger in the desired direction. The image will follow underneath your finger. If the entire image is visible on the screen, the image will stop panning as soon as the leading edge of the image reaches the edge of the screen it was approaching. If the image is only partially visible on the screen, then panning will stop as soon as the trailing edge of the hidden image reaches the screen's edge, and that part of the image becomes fully visible.

Touching the screen, at any time, overlays a toolset onto the image that stays visible for at least three seconds. Toward the bottom of the page, the toolset includes a large yellow button that indicates the current display mode. Tapping this button resets all scaling and panning, applied to the image by the user, and returns the image to the default state, appropriate for the selected mode. Long pressing this button selects the next available display mode.

On the right side of the page, the toolset displays a scaling bar which can be used to scale the image to either increase or decrease relative magnification level. To change the magnification level, either tap the scaling bar, or drag it up or down as desired.

On the left side of the display, the toolset displays a magnifying glass icon. Each tap of this icon increases the magnification range from 10X to 20X to 30X, etcetera, until the maximum of 100X. Long pressing this icon restores the original magnification range.

The PHOTO PREVIEW page supports the two fingered pinch and spread gestures to control scaling of the image. The scaling follows the same rules as the magnification using the scaling bar.

When viewing the available image media in either of the two Image Library panes, tapping the big round camera button in the lower right corner of the page opens an IMAGE PREVIEW page. This page displays a live preview of the camera image and allows taking either a locally stored or a shared image snapshot. Storage location of the snapshot depends on which pane the IMAGE PREVIEW page was started from. Image clips taken from the SHARED IMAGES pane are shared to the cloud, while images taken from the LOCAL IMAGES pane are stored locally on the device.

The Video Library Page

When viewing available video media, tapping the blue preview button opens the VIDEO PREVIEW page and the selected video begins to playback in the preview area.

The VIDEO PREVIEW page is organized in a similar way as the PHOTO PREVIEW page, with the following additions.

At the bottom of the page, in the lower right corner, there is a playback button which can be used to pause and restart the video playback.

Additionally, the toolset displays a horizontal progress bar across the top of the page, which indicates the relative position of the current frame within the video timeline. Tapping the progress bar selects the video frame at that position as the current video frame. The progress bar is operational whether the video is playing or is paused.

Similarly, to the Image Library, when viewing the available video clips in either of the two Video Library panes, tapping the big round video camera button in the lower right corner of the page opens a CAMERA PREVIEW page. This page displays a live preview of the camera and allows taking either a locally stored or a shared video recording. Storage location of the video recording depends on which pane the CAMERA PREVIEW page was started from. Video recordings taken from the SHARED VIDEO CLIPS pane are shared to the cloud, while recordings taken from the LOCAL VIDEO CLIPS pane are stored locally on the device. To initiate the video recording tap the round record button in the lower right corner of the page. Tap it again to stop the recording. Leaving this page automatically stops the recording.

Each of the three media types, described on this Help page, supports a number of settings and options that allow the user to customize security media data collection to best fit their needs and budget. Please refer to the Settings Help section for details regarding those options.

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