Reuse Your Old Smartphone: Automatic Surveillance Camera Application

The life cycle of a smartphone is decreasing rapidly, which leads to a lot of electronic waste and causes damages to the environment. Home security has also become an important concern due to the frequent occurrences of burglaries and home accidents. Surveillance cameras are commonly deployed to improve home security. This paper presents the design of an automatic surveillance camera application called iEye. It aims to reuse components of an old smartphone including the camera, sensors, and microphone to automatically monitor users’ home security. iEye is a cross-platform application, which contains a Java application as a server, and an Android app installed on old smartphones as cameras, and installed on the user’s smartphone or personal computer as a viewer, respectively. It turns an old smartphone into a home security camera, supporting real-time streaming such that users can see live video of their home on their smartphones anywhere and anytime. iEye also allows users to define abnormal events based on its detection components, namely motion detection, face recognition, human detection, and light detection. Upon an abnormal event, the camera video will be recorded and the user will also be immediately notified by email. iEye is particularly suitable for solitary elderly, working parents, and pet keepers. It also helps to reduce electronic waste.