I am developing a Kiosk application on a Ubuntu. The front end software for the user is running on a web browser on the kiosk.

The Kiosk has a web cam attached to it which needs to run in the background and be able for someone a remotely connect to the kiosk and view the camera stream in real time, as well as tell the kiosk to start recording and stop recording. All this needs to be done remotely.

The Camera itself is going to be recording things such as the length of the line in front of the kiosk or what type of foot traffic is passing by the kiosk at certain times. Because of this, we want to be able to stream the video and record it without it interfering with the front end user experience. Basically, they need to be able to do what they need to on the Kiosk without a video window popping up and distracting them from the web page.

Ideally, the administrator will be in front of their computer, open a browser and point it to the camera feed without the need of additional software installed (other than Flash or shockwave, or something that most computers will have anyway). And then have a record and stop record button on the screen (which I can code in if the server software video software will let me start and stop the recording with a command line, php or Perl call).

Does anyone have any suggestions on what software I should be looking at using for this type of application?

The motion program might be good for that. The program comes with a built-in web server that can allow you to both control the webcam (start/stop recording; take a picture) and to view the feed in real time. It can run in the background and has no GUI (besides the web page). It can record video or take pictures when it senses motion; it can also take pictures periodically. It's a fancy little program that's very customizable and has many options!