[BACKEND] External phone camera management

[nicolas-rabault]

What is this PR about

In this PR we try to use the web interface to link local network devices cameras to feed the dataset.

How do we plan to do it

In the camera configuration dropdown, add a special camera option called "Phone".

This option must:

• Always be visible
• Be selectable multiple times

When a "Phone" camera is added:

1. 🔍 Determine frontend base address:

   • If the user accesses the frontend via localhost or 127.0.0.1, detect the machine's local network IP address (e.g., 192.168.x.x).
   • Use this local network address for any mobile connections (QR code, streaming).
   • If the user is already on a LAN or public address, reuse it as-is.

2. 🔐 Enable HTTPS locally (required for camera access on phones):

   • If the frontend is running locally (e.g., in development), enable HTTPS using:
     • A self-signed certificate (auto-generated if needed)
     • Or use mkcert to generate a trusted local certificate
   • Make sure the frontend is reachable via https://<local_ip>:<port> over Wi-Fi

3. 🌐 Setup a WebRTC streaming endpoint on the backend:

   • Create a unique WebRTC session for each "Phone" camera.
   • This endpoint accepts incoming WebRTC video streams from phones.

4. 📱 Generate a mobile streaming link with QR code:

   • Generate a URL: [https://<local_ip>:<port>]/remote_cam/[webrtc_id]
   • This page allows the phone to:
     • Select its camera using getUserMedia
     • Stream the video to the backend using WebRTC

5. 🖥️ Frontend UI behavior:

   • While no stream is active, show the QR code in place of the camera feed preview.
   • Once the phone connects and starts streaming to the backend:
     • Show the live video preview in the miniature card on the dashboard

6. 🔁 Stream routing from phone to frontend:

   • Phone streams video → Backend via WebRTC
   • Backend forwards (relays or rebroadcasts) the video to the frontend
   • Use either:
     • A WebRTC relay to forward the stream to the desktop browser
     • Or transcode into MJPEG or low-latency HLS/WebSocket for frontend preview
   • Keep latency low and reuse existing libraries where possible

Implementation constraints:

• Use existing libraries for:
  • WebRTC signaling
  • QR code generation
  • Local HTTPS (e.g., mkcert, selfsigned, flask-tls)
• Support multiple simultaneous phone camera streams
• Keep code modular and simple

Optional:

• Expire inactive sessions
• Show connection status and stream quality

Related PRs

• Frontend PR: [FRONTEND] External phone camera management jurmy24/leLab-space#3

[cursor]

Bug: Placeholder Script Committed

The file scripts/start_webrtc_backend.py was accidentally committed as an incomplete or placeholder file, containing only a single space character. It should either be removed or properly implemented.

scripts/start_webrtc_backend.py#L1-L1

leLab/scripts/start_webrtc_backend.py

Line 1 in 0ac38c1

Fix in Cursor

---

Bug: Incorrect Uvicorn Launch for Phone Camera Demo

The scripts/start_phone_camera_demo.py script incorrectly launches uvicorn with app.main:app instead of app.main:main_app. The main_app object (defined in app/main.py) is the FastAPI application wrapped with Socket.IO to provide WebRTC signaling capabilities, which are essential for phone camera support. By using app.main:app, the script starts the plain FastAPI app, which lacks this crucial WebRTC functionality, rendering the phone camera features non-functional.

scripts/start_phone_camera_demo.py#L43-L52

leLab/scripts/start_phone_camera_demo.py

Lines 43 to 52 in 0ac38c1

	# Start backend with SSL certificates
	backend_cmd = [
	"uvicorn",
	"app.main:app",
	"--host", "0.0.0.0",
	"--port", "8000",
	"--ssl-keyfile", "certs/key.pem",
	"--ssl-certfile", "certs/cert.pem",
	"--reload"
	]

Fix in Cursor

---

Bug: WebRTC Cleanup Task Not Triggered

The start_cleanup_task() function is defined but never called, preventing the cleanup of expired WebRTC sessions. This leads to memory leaks as session data accumulates indefinitely in active_sessions, session_clients, active_streams, and stream_buffers.

app/webrtc_signaling.py#L335-L341

leLab/app/webrtc_signaling.py

Lines 335 to 341 in 0ac38c1

	# Periodic cleanup task
	async def start_cleanup_task():
	"""Start periodic cleanup of expired sessions"""
	import asyncio
	while True:
	await asyncio.sleep(300) # Check every 5 minutes
	await cleanup_expired_sessions()

Fix in Cursor

---

BugBot free trial expires on July 22, 2025
You have used $0.00 of your $50.00 spend limit so far. Manage your spend limit in the Cursor dashboard.

Was this report helpful? Give feedback by reacting with 👍 or 👎

[nicolas-rabault]

@jurmy24 @DavidLMS I worked on implementing this very interesting feature, which was the main focus of our hackathon.
I managed to build a dedicated camera configuration interface for recording, and successfully generated a QR code on the miniature. Scanning it with a phone opens an HTTPS page that is trying to starts streaming the phone’s camera to the backend via WebRTC.
However, I'm still facing some connection issues that I haven’t been able to resolve.
Could you have a look.