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ADR 0003: Timelapse Generation Architecture

Status: Accepted

Date: 2026-01-25

Deciders: Development Team

Context

The Orpheus system needs to generate timelapse videos from camera snapshots for:

  1. Compressed visual summaries of daily activity
  2. Dashboard playback of historical camera views
  3. Wildlife behavior analysis over time

Key design questions:

  • How to schedule timelapse generation
  • Filename conventions for organization and UI display
  • Tier system for multiple lookback windows
  • Video codec selection for playback compatibility

Decision

1. Tiered Timelapse System

Multiple timelapse durations (tiers) run on different schedules:

Tier Lookback Label Typical Use
tl0 24h daily Full day review
tl1 12h tl-12h Half-day review
tl2 6h tl-6h Quarter-day review
tl3 1h hourly Recent activity
tl4 30m half-hour Short-term review
tl5 10m ten-minute Near real-time
tl6 1m one-minute Testing only

This allows the dashboard to show progressively detailed views.

2. Standardized Filename Format

Timelapse files use a structured naming convention defined in orpheus_common.storage.timelapse:

{camera_id}.{label}.{tier}.{lookback}.{YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS}.mp4

Example:

orpheus-eye-1.hourly.tl3.1h.20260125-170000.mp4

Components:

  • camera_id: Camera identifier (e.g., orpheus-eye-1)
  • label: Human-readable schedule name (e.g., daily, hourly, half-hour)
  • tier: Tier identifier for programmatic access (e.g., tl0, tl3)
  • lookback: Duration for display (e.g., 24h, 1h)
  • timestamp: Generation time in UTC

This format enables:

  • Lexicographic sorting = chronological sorting
  • Easy parsing by dashboard/UI
  • Clear identification at a glance
  • Tier-based filtering and cleanup

3. Bucket Sampling Algorithm

Rather than using all snapshots, timelapse uses bucket sampling:

  1. Divide lookback window into buckets based on sampling_interval
  2. Select one snapshot per bucket (closest to bucket center)
  3. Skip generation if < 50% of expected snapshots available

Example: 1h lookback with 5m sampling = 12 buckets, need ≥6 snapshots.

4. Storage Organization

/data/orpheus/video/timelapses/{YYYY.MM.DD}/{filename}.mp4

Example:

/data/orpheus/video/timelapses/2026.01.25/orpheus-eye-1.hourly.tl3.1h.20260125-170000.mp4

5. Interval-Based Scheduling

Each timelapse tier can run multiple times per day based on its lookback window:

  • 24h timelapse: Once at configured time (e.g., 23:00)
  • 1h timelapse: Every hour
  • 10m timelapse: Every 10 minutes

Job deduplication prevents running the same job twice in the same interval.

Consequences

Positive

  • Multiple resolution levels for different analysis needs
  • Standardized filenames enable dashboard filtering and display
  • Bucket sampling ensures consistent frame density
  • Tier system is extensible (add new tiers as needed)

Negative

  • Multiple tiers increase storage requirements
  • Complex scheduling logic for interval management
  • Job deduplication state must be maintained in memory

Neutral

  • Filename format change from simple {HH-MM}.{camera}.mp4 to structured format
  • Shared filename utilities in orpheus_common.storage.timelapse

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