Would it be possible to add-in Custom Attributes into the Zone Motion Controller App (or does anyone have a suggestion for a “work around”?). Object detection on my IP Cameras shows up under Custom Attributes and the IP Cameras are treated as motion detectors and appear as such in the Zone Motion Controller App. However, Custom Attributes are currently not an option in ZMC. The use case would be the trigger motion would be “Amazon truck” and the subsequent zone would be “person”. My IPCs are very good at identifying truck types, but very poor at picking up for example, “Amazon person” since the logo on the uniform is tough to pick up. If ZMC could use Motion Detector Custom Attributes, then if an “Amazon truck” is detected, and a “person” is detected at the front door within a certain time afterwards, then an announcement could be made such as “Amazon package has been delivered” (along with a possible Pushover notification).
Unfortunately, rapid package delivery notification has become much more of an issue as package theft has become so common due to the increase in deliveries due to COVID-19. Recently, neighborhood cameras have caught packages being stolen within 5-10 minutes of delivery. Thieves are apparently following delivery trucks around and stealing packages soon after delivery but before anyone at home notices that a delivery has been made.
If you have access to the driver code for your IP cameras (and know what you're doing), you could expose your desired event as a "standard" motion attribute, then you can use ZMC as-is. If you don't want to (or can't) do that, here's probably the second-best option:
Create a virtual motion sensor
Create a rule with a "custom attribute" trigger for the IP camera attribute in question, then in your actions do something like this:
IF (CustomAttributeName is ValueForPackage) THEN
active() on Virtual Motion Sensor
ELSE
inactive() on Virtual Motion Sensor
END-IF
What I mean by those active() and inactive things are custom commands. For that action, choose the custom command feature in Rule Machine, find your device, and choose the appropriate command. Obviously CustomAttributeName is ValueForPackage will also need to be a conditional that represents what you're really looking for, which I don't know since I don't have your device or know anything about its setup.
A third alternative is a custom app that would basically do what this rule does, "translating" the events into a virtual motion sensor device. I can't speak for staff but would guess that it's unlikely that custom attributes will be added to ZMC for use as motion sensors, so one of the above is probably what you'll have to do.
The second option is what I was already doing in RM and it works well. I just thought it would be “cleaner” if the Custom Attribute became an option in ZMC. Right now, I have it set up so that it can identify the delivery service (Amazon, FedEx, UPS, DHL or USPS) and which door the package was delivered to (Front Door, Back Door, or Side Gate). Each is announced over Alexa for when we are at home, and via Pushover notification for when we are not. Probably overkill, but its nice if you are expecting a certain package from a particular service. Results in lots of virtual contact switches so I just wanted to simplify given my system (Camect) is great at ID’ing vehicle logos, not good at uniforms, and is not yet capable of identifying packages.
Thanks for your input! I really appreciate all the help I’ve received from this community.
