Change log of version 2.2.14.1

Upgrade information from installations earlier then WinCC OA 3.18 / vimaccOA 2.2.10.26 > IPC protocols / ConfigNG

Based on the project experiences over the last decade, the internal runtime database of vimaccOA (named “vimacc Config”) has been general re-engineered for better runtime performance and system stability – also results in an overall improvement of the redundancy features of vimaccOA.

Reworking the IPC protocols of the “vimacc Config” harms, first time ever, the compatible with earlier versions of vimaccOA - NOT the compatible with any version of WinCC OA. Because of this any upgrade of distributed vimaccOA installations, from versions earlier then 2.2.10.26, needs additional plannings to keep operations without any general downtime. Please contact the WinCC OA VIDEO experts for further information and support (keyword “vimacc ConfigNG”).

Upgrade information from installations earlier then WinCC OA 3.20 P01 / vimaccOA 2.2.14.1 > Config Heap Improvement

Caused by the rework of the IPC protocols of the “vimacc Config” (see “ConfigNG” above) the heap memory usage of any vimacc processes increased significantly. With the release 2.2.14.1 of vimacc there has been performant several improvements regarding this topic. As a result of this, the format of some data structures changed from UTF-16 to UTF-8, which results in a incompatibility between a new Config Client (any vimacc process) and an old Config Server (AccVimaccConfig, AccVimaccSlave & AccVimaccConfigProxy).

To avoid any system downtime during an update it’s absolutely crucial to update the Config Servers first, before updating Config Clients. The update should be performed as follows:

  1. vimacc Config Server: hosts actively running AccVimaccConfig
  2. vimacc Config Proxy or Config Slaves: hosts actively running AccVimaccConfigSlave, AccVimaccConfigProxy
  3. hosts running other vimacc processes, like AccVimaccDisplay

Please contact the WinCC OA VIDEO experts for further information and support.

Additional information regarding feature “Stream cloning”

The feature of “Stream cloning” (introduced in vimaccOA 2.2.10.30) needs an update of the internal feature lists in vimaccOA. Please contact support for further guidance for activation of this feature.

New Features (compared to vimaccOA 2.2.10.36)

  • Layout Sensitive Bandwidth Management - When configuring special “quality tags” (like low, medium, high) to several streams of a camera, the vimacc Workstation and DisplayServer are automatically switching the streams based on the given grid layout. This allows reduction of network bandwidth and CPU load for decoding, if in a layout many streams are viewed, so that the high quality (e.g. Full-HD) are not needed to be displayed. The quality tags are handled per video dialog within a grid, based on the dialog size, based on the following rules:
    • 1 dialog = "high"
    • 2-6 dialogs = "medium,high"
    • >6 dialogs = "low,medium"
    • >12 dialogs = "low"
    • Spots always (like big dialog in the 11+1 grid) = "medium,high"
  • Privacy Zone editing - As the VIDEO AddOn supports the generation of privacy zones on the client side (VideoEWO, vimacc Workstation & DisplayServer) during visualization of video streams since 3.19, it’s new with 3.20 also supporting the configuration of these zone in a graphical way.
  • Overlays: SVG editor - Since 3.19 the VIDEO AddOn supports the visualization freestyle overlays, based on SVGs, during the display of video streams. New with WinCC OA 3.20 there has been added a graphical SVG editor, for the configuration of the overlays.
  • PlaybackProxy - When using network segmentation, e.g. for separation of Video Clients from Recording Servers, the PlaybackProxy helps to reduce the list of open ports between network segments, relaying the connections. Please consult the WinCC OA VIDEO experts for further information and support.
  • Update of Crypto Tokens to 3072 Bit - The generation of crypto tokens for IPC communication and stream encryption has been enhanced to 3072 Bit. These only harms fresh installations without any existing keys. If you plan to switch crypto tokens in a current installation, please consult the WinCC OA VIDEO experts for further information and support.
  • Enhanced features in vimacc Workstations - Several enhanced features have been enabled for the vimacc Workstation, like
    • access to Scenarios, Sequences, Bookmarks & Protections tabs
    • generating stream snapshots as PNG, JPG or PDF reports for single or all opened video stream
    • image display settings (like brightness, saturation, etc.)
    • video analytics of recorded video streams (AI based possible, with consulting)
    • export of playbacks

Changelog (compared to vimaccOA 2.2.10.36)

  • vimacc-Core:
    • When switching grid layouts in AccVimaccDisplay or AccVimaccWindows any hidden streams are now paused for decoding, which saves CPU usage.
    • Internal protocol sockets optimized regarding reconnect handling.
    • If more than 3 reconnects occur within 5 seconds, delay the next reconnect by 10 seconds. This not only reduces the load, but also guarantees that the 'Network Interruption' logo will eventually be displayed, which was not the case otherwise.
    • Setup improved with new images giving information about the version to be installed.
    • Fix in Decoder classes for H.264, that ensures in addition to the SEI header, an AUD header can also appear in the stream before the SPS and PPS; This occurred with an AXIS M2036-LE bullet camera.
    • Fixing issues in Config protocol in redundancy handling of AccVimaccConfigSlave and AccVimaccConfigProxy, which results in orphaned values in some cases.
    • Fixed crash in AccVimaccWorkstation and AccVimaccDisplay when displaying decoded video frame (occurring under Debian 11 & Debian 12).
    • Several improvements regarding the time-line handling, when requesting playback time-line information from WinCC OA, including logging improvements for better support options.
    • Update of application icons with support for higher resolutions and other small image changes, caused by CI changes.
    • Integrating mechanism of 'Accellence Generic Access Tokens' used for restricted offline access to information in the vimacc Commander. This allows improved remote support options, in case when a remote session is not possible.
    • Improvement of handling for Annex-B start codes in h2.64 and h.265.
    • Fix for AccVimaccConfigSlave and AccVimaccConfigProxy for correct connection handling in cases when the machine going to hibernate.
    • Fixing memory leaks in handling of crypto tokens for stream encryption.
    • Removal of Redist 2013 dependencies and 32bit binaries from Windows setup.
    • Update of used QT version to 5.15.12.