Alarm Server

[zmf]

Hi,

I know this isn't entirely a Zone Minder question but I was hoping that someone here would be able to point me in the correct direction. I recently purchased a new CCTV camera. It's a rebrand (probably of a rebrand, of a rebrand, of a rebrand, that's been rebranded). I think it claims to be a TD-9585S3, which appears to be made by TVT. Anyway, while setting it up, I noticed a configuration option "Alarm Server", which allows one to enter an IP, a port and enable a heartbeat. What I was wondering is, is the protocol specified (or at least written down) anywhere? I've run some packet traces and from what I can see, on a motion even, it connects to the socket, gives a HTTP PUT command and sends a chunk of XML. Periodically, at the handshake interval, it just connects to the socket and drops a chunk of XML.

I see someone had a crack at writing a server https://github.com/toxuin/alarmserver.

Just curious really:

What is "Alarm Server"? Who invented it? Is it even vaguely standardised? Widely support?

I basically came across it in the config, wondered what it is and want to see if it can do anything useful for me.

Thanks in advance.