Intrusion Events

Overview

Intrusion events cover all perimeter and zone-based detections: someone entering a defined zone, crossing a tripwire, loitering, or parking illegally. All intrusion events have category == "intrusion".

The SDK routes these events through ViewtronEvent() like any other category. Your on_event callback receives the parsed object with all common methods available.

Event Types

Multiple classes handle intrusion events. IPC cameras (v1.x) and NVRs (v2.0) use different smartType values and XML structures, but the SDK gives them the same interface.

IPC v1.x Classes

Class	smartType	Description
IntrusionDetection	PEA	Perimeter intrusion — someone enters a defined zone, or crosses a tripwire
IntrusionEntry	AOIENTRY	Area of interest — entry into a zone
IntrusionExit	AOILEAVE	Area of interest — exit from a zone
LoiteringDetection	LOITER	Person loitering in a zone beyond a time threshold
IllegalParking	PVD	Parking violation detection

PEA handles both intrusion zones and tripwire line crossings on IPC cameras. The XML contains either a \<perimeter> block (zone intrusion) or a \<tripwire> block (line crossing), but the SDK class is the same.

NVR v2.0 Classes

Class	smartType	Description
RegionIntrusion	regionIntrusion	Perimeter / zone intrusion
LineCrossing	lineCrossing	Tripwire / line crossing

NVR v2.0 separates intrusion and line crossing into distinct smartTypes, unlike IPC which uses PEA for both.

Common Properties

All intrusion event objects share these methods. IPC classes inherit from APIpost; NVR classes inherit from APIpostV2. The interface is the same.

Method	Returns	Description
get_alarm_type()	str	Raw smartType value (e.g., "PEA", "regionIntrusion", "lineCrossing")
get_alarm_description()	str	Human-readable name (e.g., "Line Crossing / Intrusion", "Perimeter Intrusion")
get_target_types()	dict	IPC only — target type mapping from the camera (e.g., "1,2,4" = person, car, bike)
get_ip_cam()	str	Camera device name
get_time_stamp_formatted()	str	Formatted timestamp (e.g., "2026-04-09 15:30:45")
get_time_stamp()	str	Unix timestamp as string, for use in filenames
source_image_exists()	bool	True if an overview/scene image is included
target_image_exists()	bool	True if a target crop image is included
get_source_image_bytes()	bytes or None	Overview image as decoded JPEG bytes
get_target_image_bytes()	bytes or None	Target crop as decoded JPEG bytes
get_channel_id()	str	NVR v2.0 only — channel number (e.g., "1")

Alarm Description Values

smartType	get_alarm_description() returns
PEA	"Line Crossing / Intrusion"
AOIENTRY	"Intrusion Zone Entry"
AOILEAVE	"Intrusion Zone Exit"
LOITER	"Loitering Detection"
PVD	"Illegal Parking"
regionIntrusion	"Perimeter Intrusion"
lineCrossing	"Line Crossing"

IPC vs NVR Comparison

Feature	IPC v1.x	NVR v2.0
Alarm types	PEA, AOIENTRY, AOILEAVE, LOITER, PVD	regionIntrusion, lineCrossing
Target type	Numeric ID in XML — 1=person, 2=car, 4=bike	String in targetListInfo — "person", "car"
Event ID	In \<perimeter> / \<tripwire> XML block	In \<eventInfo> block
Status	SMART_START, PROCEDURE, SMART_STOP	Not used
Boundary type	Implicit — \<perimeter> or \<tripwire> block present	Explicit — "area" or "tripwire" in eventInfo
Channel ID	Not available	get_channel_id() returns channel number
Device IP / MAC	Not available	Parsed from \<deviceInfo>

Note on status: IPC v1.x events include a status field in the raw XML (SMART_START when the detection begins, PROCEDURE while ongoing, SMART_STOP when it ends). The SDK does not expose this as a method — it is available in the raw XML if you need it.

Code Examples

Basic Intrusion Handling

from viewtron import ViewtronServer

def handle_event(event, client_ip):
    if event.category == "intrusion":
        alarm = event.get_alarm_description()
        camera = event.get_ip_cam()
        timestamp = event.get_time_stamp_formatted()
        print(f"[{timestamp}] {alarm} on {camera}")

server = ViewtronServer(port=5050, on_event=handle_event)
server.serve_forever()

Filtering by Alarm Type

def handle_event(event, client_ip):
    if event.category == "intrusion":
        alarm_type = event.get_alarm_type()

        if alarm_type in ("PEA", "regionIntrusion"):
            print("Zone intrusion detected")
        elif alarm_type == "lineCrossing":
            print("Line crossing detected")
        elif alarm_type == "LOITER":
            print("Loitering detected")
        elif alarm_type == "AOIENTRY":
            print("Zone entry detected")
        elif alarm_type == "AOILEAVE":
            print("Zone exit detected")
        elif alarm_type == "PVD":
            print("Illegal parking detected")

Saving Images

def handle_event(event, client_ip):
    if event.category == "intrusion":
        if event.source_image_exists():
            timestamp = event.get_time_stamp()
            with open(f"intrusion_{timestamp}.jpg", "wb") as f:
                f.write(event.get_source_image_bytes())

        if event.target_image_exists():
            timestamp = event.get_time_stamp()
            with open(f"intrusion_target_{timestamp}.jpg", "wb") as f:
                f.write(event.get_target_image_bytes())

Combined with Other Event Types

def handle_event(event, client_ip):
    if event.category == "lpr":
        print(f"Plate: {event.get_plate_number()}")
    elif event.category == "intrusion":
        print(f"Intrusion: {event.get_alarm_description()}")
    elif event.category == "face":
        print(f"Face detected")

Related Pages

• ViewtronEvent — common properties and category routing
• Images — working with event images
• API Reference: Intrusion/Perimeter Detection — raw XML endpoint documentation, detection zone configuration