The DN100 digital network camera system is equipped with platform-independent networking capabilities that include hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and file transfer protocol (FTP) in the unit's network communications inventory. These features allow multiple remote users to simultaneously connect to the DN100 camera control unit for access to still images, video streams, and images saved to the DN100's PC card and FTP server.

One of the most convenient methods of remotely connecting to the DN100 camera control unit (CCU) is via an Internet browser such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. When a web browser successfully connects to the CCU via a local area network (LAN) or the Internet, an index page similar to that illustrated in Figure 1 is displayed. Three virtual rooms are accessible from this page that allow the user to view live and captured digital images as well as streaming video. An option is also available to enable the user to adjust the settings of the CCU in order to impact the appearance of the transmitted image. The Network Setting panel of the Setup menu, which is discussed in detail in the section on the Network Setting Panel Features section, can be used to enable or to disable the remote control option of the CCU.

	Interactive Java Tutorial
DN100 Internet Browser Simulation Take a test-drive with the DN100 camera control unit's Internet browser interface. This tutorial closely simulates the software features of the actual camera system.

Using the web browser interface, Room 1 (Single window with control pad; see Figure 1) provides the user with a view of the live microscope image. Room 1 is equipped with an update interval timer that determines the amount of time the browser waits before requesting the next image frame from the CCU. Valid update interval times range from 2 seconds to 10 minutes, and there is also an option to disable the image refresh. Room 1 also allows the user limited control over the CCU to adjust various properties of the image, including white balance, tone, effect, gain, and camera exposure settings. An electronic zoom is provided that enables the user to view any section of the image at up to four times the normal magnification, and arrow buttons are provided to pan over the zoomed image. The user may also draw a diagram on the image using the Pen tool. When using Room 1, it is even possible to download an image of the live view in bitmap (*.BMP) or JPEG (*.JPG) format.

In Room 2 (Dual windows (Stream Image); see Figure 1) a remote user can view a single or two live image streams simultaneously. The preview screen (Preview Screen; Figure 2) of Room 2 is updated by the CCU at a configurable interval determined by the interval timer (Interval Timer Window; illustrated in Figure 2).

When Room 2 is selected, clicking the mouse cursor on the movie strip icon (Movie Button; Figure 2) summons a pop-up stream screen (Figure 3) that displays an image updated in real-time from the DN100 CCU. Two image sizes are selectable for the stream screen from the Window Size (Figure 2) list: 320 x 240 pixels (Middle; see Figure 2) and 240 x 180 pixels (Small; see Figure 2). If the stream size is changed while the stream is being displayed, then the stream image will adjust the size accordingly.

The index page Room 3 makes it simple to access images stored on a PC card that is connected to the CCU. When the Room 3 display opens, the user is presented with a hierarchical directory tree listing of the PC card contents. Any file folder displayed in the tree can be opened by clicking with the mouse cursor. If the open folder contains image files, then the image filenames will be listed in the browser window, along with their creation times and optional comments. An example of PC card access via Room 3 is illustrated in Figure 4. Clicking an image's filename in the web browser window will launch a download box that will allow the user to select a folder and filename in order for the image file to be downloaded over the network.

The DN100 CCU is also capable of acting as an FTP server, and FTP configuration options are available from the Network Settings panel of the Setup Menu. FTP configuration options include enabling or disabling FTP access, restricting access to the FTP server by specifying a login username and password, as well as an option to configure the server for read-only access.

FTP is the most convenient method for performing mass remote retrieval of images from the DN100 FTP server or the PC card. Figure 5 illustrates an FTP session conducted via the Internet between the DN100 FTP server and a remote client PC. The view in Figure 5 contains a directory listing of the FTP server root path, where two directories consist of a path to the FTP server files and a separate path to the PC card files. Using FTP commands, it is possible to transfer a large number of image files to a remote machine for viewing or archival purposes with very little user interaction. In this manner, the DN100 may be used to create large remote image databases.