Timeline navigation in a video management system

Abstract

A video management system may be configured to process a plurality of video streams to create timestamped bookmarks using metadata based on one or more predetermined conditions. A graphical user inter

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure generally relates to video management systems and video surveillance systems. Also disclosed are computer-implemented video management methods for video surveillance systems, and a graphical user interface for a video management system. BACKGROUND Modern video surveillance systems have evolved into highly complex and often heterogeneous systems comprising a large number of different peripheral devices and computer hardware elements that are tied together via a networked infrastructure, and controlled by means of advanced management software. One important component of modern video surveillance systems is a video recording and processing system that allows video streams from one or more video cameras to be received, stored and processed. A video management system (VMS), also known as video management software or a video management server, is a component or sub-system of a video surveillance system. The VMS typically provides various video management services, such as one or more of the following: collecting one or more video streams from one or more video cameras, storing the received one or more video streams to a storage device and providing an interface to view the received one or more live video streams and / or to access one or more stored video streams. Moreover, it is generally desirable that surveillance systems and, in particular, VMSs are versatile and can be used in different types of applications which may impose different demands or requirements to processing and displaying received video streams supplied by the one or more video cameras. Moreover, the demands and requirements imposed in a surveillance system may change over time. A particular challenge to video surveillance systems and the VMS subsystem is how to allow a user to quickly evaluate whether a particular event has occurred. This could be for example trespassing, break-in attempt, accident or other undesirable events. Especially in situations where video streams of a surveillance area are continuously displayed or stored, it can be very time consuming to go through the surveillance material to find out if / when an event occurred. SUMMARY It is an object of at least some aspect described in the present disclosure to solve one or more of the problems identified above and / or other problems associated with existing video surveillance systems, or at least to provide an alternative to known systems. A first aspect of this disclosure relates to a video management system (VMS) comprising a recording server configured for receiving and storing a plurality of video streams and associated metadata streams, each video stream being supplied by, or associated with, respective ones of a plurality of video cameras; - a processing unit configured to receive the respective video streams and associated metadata streams via a data communication interface; wherein said processing unit is configured to: create timestamped bookmarks in the video stream of each of the cameras such that the video streams comprise one or more bookmarked sequences based on one or more predetermined conditions; a display comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) configured to present one or more of the plurality of video stream sequences to a user. The metadata stream associated with each video stream may comprise timestamps, i.e. a digital record of time, together with corresponding metadata associated with the video camera in question. This allows for time synchronization of the video streams and metadata streams received at the VMS. In this way, by automatically creating synchronized timestamped sequences in the video streams that are bookmarked based on the occurrence of a predetermined condition, the user will be able to go evaluate the video streams in a more efficient manner. Timestamps associated with metadata “frames” and timestamps associated with video frames may be separate such that a time synchronization is necessary in order to relate the frames to each other. During time synchronization a given frame is related to a relevant frame from the other stream, i.e. for a given video frame a relevant metadata frame is coupled to it or for a given metadata frame a relevant video frame is coupled to it. The relevant video frame may be the one having a timestamp at or before the timestamp of a given metadata frame. Likewise, the relevant metadata frame may be the one having a timestamp at or before the timestamp of a given video frame. In some instances, the relevant frame is more appropriately chosen as the frame having a timestamp that is later than the timestamp of the given frame. Thus, the relevant frame may not be the frame having a timestamp closest to the timestamp of the given frame from the other stream. For example, it may be more suitable in a given scenario to relate a given frame from one stream to a frame from another stream having a timestamp at or before the timestamp of the given frame even though the frame that is closest in time is one having a later time stamp compared to that of the given frame. In some cases, the timestamps of the frames in the metadata stream match the timestamps of the frames in the video stream exactly. This may occur when the metadata is generated based on an analysis as is well known to a skilled person. It may also occur when the metadata and video originate from the same source. However, when the video streams and the metadata streams originate from independent, although associated, sources, the frames will have entirely independent timestamps, e.g. a GPS device associated with a video camera may only be providing the position each second, whereas the associated video camera may be providing 25 video frames per second. Each video camera may further be associated with multiple metadata streams, which may each originate from an independent, but associated, source such that the associated metadata streams may comprise multiple sets of timestamps. Metadata may be obtained from different sources. Field-of-view (FOV) data is also metadata, i.e. data that describes and gives information about other data. The FOV data used in the determination of an adjusted FOV may for example be obtained from a driver, or from a setting, such as a default setting, or as metadata in a metadata stream associated with a video stream. The adjusted FOV may for example be determined using a default setting of the lens and / or using image sensor information obtained from a driver. In some embodiments, the FOV data is obtained, entirely or partially, by the VMS as a metadata stream supplied by, or associated with, the video camera from which the respective video stream was acquired. The position of a respective camera may be obtained from a camera-associated GPS unit or device. The determined adjusted FOV may be added to the metadata stream for the respective camera, and may be stored as part of the metadata stream. The determined adjusted FOV may be stored in a metadata stream of its own. Each video camera in the plurality of video cameras may be associated with multiple metadata streams. In some embodiments, the video streams are continuous video streams, and the recording server is configured to continuously store the video streams. It will be appreciated that if there is enough storage space on the recording server to continuously record video streams received from a plurality of video cameras, it will be very time consuming to manually view the stored video material, and by bookmarking sequences in the video streams for easy access by the end user, the evaluation of the video streams will be more efficient. In some embodiments, the GUI is further configured to present the user with one or more navigation options to move between sequences for a selected video stream. The GUI can present the user with various navigation options such as buttons, arrows or the like, for moving between the bookmarked sequences in a video stream. In some embodiments, the navigation options comprises one or more user-activatable buttons configured to move the selected video stream to the next or previous sequence when activated. The navigation option presented in the GUI may be for example a left and right arrow or a “next” and “previous” button for moving to the next or previous sequence in the video stream. In some embodiments, the navigation options comprises a navigable list of stored sequences for the selected video stream, allowing the user to jump to an arbitrary sequence. Additionally, or alternatively, to arrows or “next” and “previous” buttons, the user may be presented with a list of the stored bookmarked sequences, allowing the user to jump to any desired sequence. In some embodiments the navigation options are ranked based on a user selected configuration. In some embodiments, the VMS further comprises an event server configured to receive an event notification from a monitoring service notifying an event. An event server may be configured to pair information about an event, for example a detected motion, or a detection of a fire alarm signal with other data such as e.g. video or audio from the property being monitored. In some embodiments, the event server is a license plate recognition (LPR) server, and the event notification is a detected license plate. In some embodiments, the plurality of video cameras comprises one or more movable video cameras and one or more stationary video cameras. The surveillance system may be configured according to the needs of the user, such that it may involve any number of stationary cameras, as well as any number of movable cameras. In some embodiments, the recording server is configured to exclusively store video stream data in a pre-determined time interval around the event. It may be desirable to only store video stream data that should potentially be reviewed, rather than continuously store all video stream data, for example if there is limited storage space. In some embodiments, the processing unit is part of the one or more video cameras, and the video stream is analyzed for predetermined conditions and sequences are bookmarked and timestamped by the processing unit in the camera before sending the stream to the recording server. Many modern cameras have built in processors, making it possible to evaluate the video streams before sending to the recording server, such that the video streams are received at the recording server ready to be evaluated by the user, without having to run analysis software on the video streams on the recording server. In some embodiments, the predetermined condition is a trigger event selected from one or more of detected motion, temperature level, noise level, alarm, security instance, metadata, sensor input from a related sensor. The trigger event may be chosen depending on the surveillance system use. For example, if the surveillance system is used in a commercial setting such as a store, the trigger event may be detected motion inside the store after closing, while if the surveillance system is for a warehouse, the trigger event may be chosen to be a rise in temperature level or a fire alarm. In some embodiments, the GUI is further configured to overlay one or more of the metadata streams on the display when presenting the video streams to the user. The metadata streams may be overlaid on the display of the video stream. For example, in the case where the trigger event is a temperature change, the metadata comes from an associated temperature sensor. Here, the measured temperature data may be overlaid on the video stream. In this way, when the user reviews the video stream, the metadata responsible for the creating of a bookmarked sequence, will be readily apparent to the user when reviewing the video stream. As used in this disclosure, metadata may be any data associated with the video streams, such as descriptive metadata, structural metadata, administrative metadata, reference metadata, and / or statistical metadata. This list is not exhaustive, i.e. any data associated with the video streams may be considered metadata. In some embodiments, metadata may for example be insights about the video stream, gained from an analysis of the video stream. For example, in the case where the VMS is set up to detect motion, bookmarked time stamped sequences may be automatically generated so that navigation between these events of interest is made easier for the user. In this case, the time stamped bookmarks can be considered to be metadata. In another example, license plate recognition, or similar analytic tool installed at the camera or at a server of the VMS may generate the metadata on which the bookmarks are created. In another aspect, this disclosure relates to a video surveillance system comprising: - a plurality of streaming devices in a surveillance area and configured to generate respective data streams; and - a video management system (VMS) according to embodiments of the first aspect. In some embodiments, the plurality of streaming devices comprises one or more stationary or movable video cameras, microphones, temperature sensors and / or motion detectors. In another aspect, this disclosure relates to a computer-implemented video management method for a video management system (VMS), comprising the steps of: a) receiving, at a video management system, a plurality of video streams and associated metadata streams, each video stream being supplied by, or associated with, respective ones of a plurality of video cameras; b) creating one or more timestamped bookmarked sequences in the plurality of video streams based on one or more predetermined conditions; c) providing a graphical user interface (GUI) and display, to a user via the GUI, the video stream of a selected camera; d) displaying, via the GUI, navigation options to the user allowing the user to move between the sequences. In another aspect, disclosed herein is a graphical user interface (GUI) for a video management system, the GUI comprising: one or more video stream windows for displaying a video stream, each of the video stream windows comprising a displayed timeline; and - one or more navigation options for moving between bookmarked sequences of the video streams. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The above and other aspects will be apparent and elucidated from the embodiments described in the following with reference to the drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary video surveillance system in accordance with this disclosure. FIGS. 2A and 2B schematically show swim lane diagrams that illustrate the sharing of data to and from the VMS. FIG. 3 illustrates in schematic form an exemplary graphical user interface of a VMS for the video surveillance system of FIG. 1. DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary surveillance system 10. The surveillance system 10 comprises a plurality of streaming devices 100a, 100b, 100c, 100d communicatively connected to a video management system (VMS) 300 via respective wired or wireless communication links or connections 200. Some embodiments of the surveillance system 10 may comprise a mix of streaming devices, such as e.g. microphones 100b, motion detectors 100d, movable video cameras and stationary video cameras, for example at least one movable video camera 100c and one or more stationary video cameras 100a. Other embodiments may exclusively comprise one or more movable video camera(s) and no stationary video cameras and possibly one or more microphones 100b and / or one or more motion detectors 100d, while yet other embodiments exclusively comprise stationary video cameras and possibly one or more microphones 100b and / or motion detectors 100d. A surveillance system 10 may comprise other sensors, movable or stationary, than those depicted in fig. 1. The stationary streaming devices, such as stationary video cameras 100a, stationary microphones 100b, and / or stationary motion detectors 100d are, when present, typically distributed across a predetermined area or space where surveillance is desired. The number and position / location of the stationary streaming devices of the video surveillance system 10 as well as the type of streaming device comprised therein may be selected based on factors such as a level of surveillance desired, a size of the surveillance area or facility and / or the complexity of the layout of the surveillance area or facility. The movable video camera(s) 100c has a Field of view (FOV) and the stationary video cameras 100a have respective FOVs (not shown). The FOV is the open, observable area of the camera in question as schematically illustrated by a pie-shaped outline 110c. The skilled person will appreciate that different types of video cameras may have different FOVs for example caused by different optical properties of camera lenses. In the present specification, the term “movable” as a property of a video camera means the camera can be moved, i.e. is geographically dynamic, while carrying out video recording and / or live video streaming. The video recording and / or live video streaming is often carried out during active operation of the video surveillance system 10. The movable video camera is for example displaced along a certain path or trail of the surveillance area. A stationary video camera is typically fixed to a stationary object, like a building wall or a pole in the surveillance area. The movable video camera 100c may travel along a path or trail of the surveillance area via mounting to any suitable support structure of various types of vehicles for example motorized vehicles like cars, trucks, busses, trains, motorcycles etc. The movable video camera 100c may be moved along the path or trail of the surveillance area by being mounted on, or worn by, a person via a suitable support like a belt etc. The person may for example be a police officer, bus driver, fireman etc. In the latter situation the movable video camera 100c travels through the surveillance area when the person walks or runs. Alternatively, the movable video camera 100c may be transported or moved via the vehicle’s travel when the person wearing the movable video camera 100c is a driver or passenger of the vehicle. The stationary video cameras 100a, 100b may be mounted on, or fixed to, various kinds of stationary structures like factory or office buildings, train stations, support structures arranged at traffic roads or junctions etc. The movable video camera(s) may be conventional portable video camera(s) known as such in the art of video surveillance. It will be appreciated that the video surveillance system 10 typically includes a plurality of movable video cameras of the same type and / or different types. Different types of movable video cameras of the video surveillance system 10 may for example be tailored to specific operation schemes and placements, e.g. fixed to a truck or on-person fixations. The movable video cameras of different types may be configured to supply video streams of different resolution, in different formats or outputting additional metadata associated with the video stream. Examples of functions of the movable video cameras may include one or more of the following: video streaming, in particular live streaming, and / or video recording and audio streaming and / or audio recording. The video live streaming and / or video recording may be carried out in visible wavelength ranges and / or in infrared wavelength ranges, such as near-infrared wavelength ranges. The moveable video camera(s) and stationary video cameras may comprise various control functions such as pan, tilt or zoom, image processing capabilities, motion detection, etc. The respective data streams from streaming devices 100a, 100b, 100c, 100d are associated with respective metadata streams. The metadata stream may be a separate stream from the associated data stream but originating from either the same streaming device or another device mounted in an appropriate manner relative to the streaming device. The metadata stream associated with each data stream preferably includes time stamps together with corresponding position data associated with the streaming device in question. This property allows time synchronization of the data streams and metadata streams at the VMS. The respective geolocations of the stationary video cameras 100a, the microphones 100b, the motion detectors 100d, and those of the one or more movable video cameras 100c may be derived from the position data supplied by a device associated GPS unit or GPS device. The associated GPS unit or GPS device of a movable or stationary video camera may be built into the video camera as schematically illustrated by GPS device 102c of the movable video camera 100c, or may fixed to a vehicle or person carrying the movable video camera in question. The stationary video cameras 100a, the microphones 100b, the motion detectors 100d, as well as the one or more movable video cameras 100c are often communicatively connected to the video management system (VMS) 300 as mentioned above for example connected via a local area network 200 or in any other suitable manner, e.g. via point-to-point wired and / or wireless connections, or the like. For example, any stationary streaming devices may be connected to the VMS via an Ethernet connection. Movable streaming devices, such as the one or more movable video cameras 100c may often be wirelessly connected to the VMS 300 for example through a wireless network like Wi-Fi, a 4G and / or 5G network. However, one or more movable streaming devices, such as movable video cameras 100c, may alternatively be configured to record the data stream during active operation where the movable streaming device moves in or through the surveillance area. In the latter scenario, the data stream may be transferred to, or off-loaded at, a recording server 350 of the VMS 300 at the time of return to an associated station. In the latter use case, the data stream may be offloaded at regular time intervals for example when a camera user or camera vehicle such as a bus driver or police officer returns to the station. The skilled person will understand that some exemplary video surveillance systems may include additional sensors providing sensor signals and / or media streams different from video streams, such as audio signals, radar signals, Lidar signals, etc. The VMS 300 is preferably configured to store the received data streams in the recording server 350. The VMS 300 provides an interface 360 for accessing live data streams as well as the previously discussed added metadata, and to access data streams with respective metadata stored in the recording server 350. The interface 360 may implement different types of interfaces. For example, the interface may provide an application interface, e.g. in the form of a software development kit and / or one or more communication protocols, such as a suitable messaging protocol, e.g. SOAP, XML, etc. Accordingly, the interface may operate as a gateway to different types of systems. The VMS may be configured to implement various types of processing of received live data streams and / or stored and retrieved data streams for example object detection, object recognition, motion detection etc. The recording server 350 may comprise a media database or other suitable storage device for storing media content. The VMS may include a user interface client (UI client) 400, for example configured to provide a graphical user interface, displayed on a suitable user screen or screens of the VMS 300. The graphical user interface enables users to view live data streams and / or stored data streams and / or to control operation of one or more of the stationary streaming devices and / or control operation of the one or more movable streaming devices, such as movable video cameras 100c. The content and structure of data items displayed through the user interface may be configurable by the operator via control buttons etc. The user interface may comprise a map component integrated in VMS. The map component is utilized to build or provide a geo-map of at least a part of the surveillance area for presentation on the user screen. The map component may be configure to provide a geo-map overview of the respective positions of the plurality of streaming devices. The VMS 300 may be embodied as one or more software program(s) comprising respective computer executable instructions configured for execution on a suitable data processing system, e.g. by one or more server computers. The data processing system implementing the VMS is typically arranged remote from the one or more movable streaming devices as the latter often travel over a large geographical area for example through a route or trail comprising various streets, roads and facilities. The route or trail may cover a city neighborhood or even an entire city. The data streams from the movable streaming device(s) may be transmitted to the VMS 300 over wireless public or other wireless communications networks. Alternatively, the movable streaming device(s) of the video surveillance system 10 may move in relative proximity to a locally arranged on-site VMS 300 for example in a manufacturing facility, residential or office buildings, shopping center etc. The VMS 300 may comprise one or more streaming device drivers 310, such as camera drivers, for providing interfaces to respective types of stationary and movable streaming devices, such as stationary or movable video cameras. Different types of streaming devices may provide their respective data streams in different formats, e.g. using different encoding schemes and / or different network protocols. Similarly, different cameras may provide different interfaces for camera control such as zoom, or pan. Accordingly, the VMS 300 may include a plurality of different device drivers, such as different camera drivers 310 configured to cooperate with respective types of streaming devices. In particular, the device drivers 310 may implement one or more suitable network protocols and / or other communications standards for transmitting data between movable and stationary streaming devices and / or other peripheral devices and data processing systems. Examples of such protocols and standards include the Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) standard and the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP). The device drivers 310 may further be configured to add one time stamp to each instance of data 101, such as each frame of a received video stream, so as to ensure that the data streams, which are stored and subsequently supplied by the VMS 300, include a uniform time stamp. The added time stamp will also be referred to as a canonical time stamp. The canonical time stamp is indicative of the time of receipt, by the VMS 300, of the respective data streams from the respective stationary and movable streaming devices. The camera drivers thus provide uniformly time-stamped input data streams 311, each time-stamped input data stream 311 corresponding to a respective one of the received data streams. The VMS 300 comprises a recording server 320. The recording server may be embodied as a software program module executed by a suitable data processing system, e.g. by one or more server computers. The recording server receives the inputted data streams 311 originating from the respective stationary and movable streaming devices through the corresponding device drivers 310. The recording server stores the received inputted data streams in a suitable media storage device, such as a suitable media database. It will be appreciated that the recording server 350 may be part of the VMS 300 or it may be separate from, but communicatively coupled to the VMS. The recording server 350 may be implemented as any suitable mass storage device, such as one or more hard disks or the like. The storing of the received input data streams is also referred to as recording the received input data streams. The recording server may receive additional data such as the previously discussed metadata stream. The VMS 300 may store the generated metadata in a suitable metadata repository 340, such as a suitable metadata database, which may be separate from or integrated into the recording server 350. To this end, the VMS 300 may include an index server 330. The index server may be embodied as a software program module executed by a suitable data processing system, e.g. by one or more server computers. The index server may receive metadata and store the received metadata in the metadata repository 340. The index server may further index the stored metadata so as to allow faster subsequent search and retrieval of stored metadata. The VMS 300 may further comprise an event server 480, which is configured to receive an event notification from a monitoring service notifying of an event. An event may be e.g. a triggered alarm, the detection of a motion, etc. The event server 480 is configured to receive event notifications, such as an alarm, from a monitoring service of an event at a property being monitored. An event may be reported by any type of streaming device, for example any one or more of the microphone 100b, motion detector 100d, movable video camera 100c, and stationary video camera 100a from which the VMS 300 receives respective data streams and metadata streams. An event server 340 may be configured to pair information about an event with other data such as e.g. video or audio from the property being monitored. Further, the event server 340, or another component of the VMS, may assign a priority to an event, e.g. a fire alarm may be given a higher priority than an event recorded by a motion detector. In FIG. 2A is illustrated how a plurality of streaming devices 100a, 100b, 100c, 100d and any associated devices, e.g. a GPS device, generate respective timestamped data streams and timestamped metadata streams. The data streams may for example comprise one or more of: video stream(s) from movable and / or stationary cameras, audio stream(s) from movable and / or stationary microphones, data stream(s) from any of a variety of monitoring devices, such as motion detectors, alarms, or any other associated sensor. The data streams and metadata streams are provided to a VMS 300 as disclosed herein. Each streaming device of the plurality of streaming devices may comprise, or be associated with, a position detecting device configured to provide position metadata related to each of the respective data streams. The VMS 300 may comprise a User Interface (UI) client, which provides the necessary instructions for display of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) on a display 450 receiving data from the UI client. Either the streaming device, or the VMS 300 is configured to create timestamped bookmarked sequences based on predetermined conditions. The predetermined condition may for example be a trigger event initiated by an associated streaming device 100a. The trigger event could be for example a motion detection, a temperature level, noise level, alarm, security instance, metadata, sensor input from a related sensor the like. In this case, the VMS 300 is configured to create a bookmarked sequence around the event. The duration of the sequence may be set automatically, or by user preference. For example, when a trigger event is detected, the VMS 300 may automatically create a bookmarked sequence starting from for example 60 seconds before the trigger event, and continuing for example 300 seconds after the trigger event. The length of the saved sequence around the trigger event may be predefined in the software, or be specified by the user when setting up the system. In this way, when the user reviews the video stream footage, they will be able to navigate to the sequence of interest easily and quickly, and will be able to see both the triggering event and aftermath of the event in the recorded video stream. In some systems with limited storage, a continuous stream of data may be sent from a streaming device 100a to the recording server 350, but only a short sequence is continuously saved, for example 5 seconds. In this case, when a trigger event is detected, the recording server 350 can be configured to continue saving the data stream. In this way, the user will always have access to 5 seconds of data before the trigger event, as well as the data stream after the trigger event. The VMS 300 may act as a subsystem within a video surveillance system. In FIG. 2B is illustrated in detail how the VMS 300 receives and shares data. Each column shown corresponds to the elements shown and described in connection with FIG. 2A. A plurality of streaming devices 100a, 100b, 100c, 100d record data streams. Together with metadata streams generated by components within each streaming device or by one or more associated devices, the data streams are transferred to the VMS 300. As illustrated by the dashed lines around the “create bookmarked sequences” boxes, either the streaming device, if it has the capability, or the VMS 300, is configured to create timestamped bookmarked sequences based on predetermined conditions. The VMS receives the data and metadata streams and, in response to a trigger event, selects a streaming device out of the plurality of streaming devices, where the selected streaming device is associated with the trigger event. The data streams may be played back in a GUI on a display 450 connected to the VMS 300, see also FIG. 3. In the GUI, metadata information, or information associated with a second streaming device 100b may further be overlaid on the video stream data coming from streaming device 100a, such as information relating to one or more of the data streams, e.g. the data stream originating from the selected streaming device. FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary schematic graphical user interface (GUI) 600 according to embodiments of this disclosure. The GUI 600 is generated and displayed by the VMS. The GUI 600 may be displayed on a suitable screen. The GUI comprises one or more video stream windows 610, 611 configured to display the video stream from an associated streaming device. The video stream windows 610, 611 comprise a displayed timeline 630, which the user may use to navigate the video stream. The GUI 600 further comprises navigation options allowing the user to move between bookmarked sequences. The bookmarked sequences may be displayed in the form of a list 615. Navigation options may also include back and forward buttons 606, for example in the form of arrows. Using the back and forward buttons 606, the user can navigate to the next or previous bookmarked sequence of the video stream. The bookmarked sequences may also be displayed on the timeline 630, for example in the form of an icon or a still frame from the video stream, corresponding to the timestamp of a trigger event. The video stream window 610, 611 may also comprise an overlay 650 of associated metadata. For example, in the case where the metadata is temperature data from a temperature sensor, a heat map may be overlaid on the video stream. A variety of modifications of the teachings herein may be realized. Generally, modifications may be designed according to the needs of a user, designer, manufacturer or other similarly interested party. The modifications may be intended to meet a particular standard of performance considered important by that party. When introducing elements of the present invention or the embodiment(s) thereof, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. Similarly, the adjective “another,” when used to introduce an element, is intended to mean one or more elements. The terms “including” and “having” are intended to be inclusive such that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. As used herein, the term “exemplary” is not intended to imply a superlative example. Rather, “exemplary” refers to an embodiment that is one of many possible embodiments. While the invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications will be appreciated by those skilled in the art to adapt a particular instrument, situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A video management system (VMS) comprising:- a recording server configured for receiving and storing a plurality of video streams and associated metadata streams, each video stream being supplied by, or associated with, respective ones of a plurality of video cameras;a processing unit configured to receive the respective video streams and associated metadata streams via a data communication interface, said processing unit configured to:create timestamped bookmarks in the video streams of each of the cameras such that the video streams comprise one or more bookmarked sequences based on one or more predetermined conditions;- a display comprising a graphical user interface (GUI) configured to present one or more of the plurality of video stream sequences to a user, wherein the GUI is further configured to present the user with one or more navigation options to move between sequences for a selected video stream.

2. A video management system (VMS) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the video streams are continuous video streams, and the recording server is configured to continuously store the video streams.

3. A video management system (VMS) according to the previous claim, wherein the navigation options comprises one or more user-activatable buttons configured to move the selected video stream to the next or previous sequence when activated.

4. A video management system (VMS) according to claim 3, wherein the navigation options comprises a navigable list of stored sequences for the selected video stream, allowing the user to jump to an arbitrary sequence.

5. A video management system (VMS) according to claim 3, wherein the navigation options are ranked based on a user selected configuration.

6. A video management system (VMS) according to any of the preceding claims, the VMS further comprising an event server configured to receive an event notification from a monitoring service notifying an event.

7. A video management system (VMS) according to claim 6, wherein the event server is a license plate recognition (LPR) server, and the event notification is a detected license plate.

8. A video management system (VMS) according to any of the preceding claims wherein the plurality of video cameras comprises one or more movable video cameras and one or more stationary video cameras.

9. A video management system (VMS) according to any one or more of claims 6-8 wherein the recording server is configured to exclusively store video stream data in a pre-determined time interval around the event.

10. A video management system (VMS) according to any of the preceding claims wherein the processing unit is part of the one or more video cameras, and the video stream is analyzed for predetermined conditions and divided into sequences by the processing unit in the camera before sending the stream to the recording server.

11. A video management system (VMS) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the predetermined condition is a trigger event selected from one or more of detected motion, temperature level, noise level, alarm, security instance, metadata, sensor input from a related sensor.

12. A video management system (VMS) according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the GUI is further configured to overlay one or more of the metadata streams on the display when presenting the video streams to the user.

13. A video surveillance system comprising:a plurality of streaming devices in a surveillance area and configured to generate respective data streams; and- a video management system (VMS) according to any of claims 1-12.

14. The video surveillance system according to the preceding claim, wherein the plurality of streaming devices comprises one or more stationary or movable video cameras, microphones, temperature sensors or motion detectors.

15. A computer-implemented video management method for a video management system (VMS), comprising the steps of:a) receiving, at a video management system, a plurality of video streams and associated metadata streams, each video stream being supplied by, or associated with, respective ones of a plurality of video cameras;b) creating one or more timestamped bookmarked sequences in the plurality of video streams based on one or more predetermined conditions;c) providing a graphical user interface (GUI) and displaying, to a user via the GUI, the video stream of a selected camera;d) displaying, via the GUI, navigation options to the user allowing the user to move between the sequences.

16. The computer-implemented video management method of the previous claim, wherein the predetermined condition is a trigger event selected from one or more of detected motion, temperature level, noise level, alarm, security instance, metadata or sensor input from a related sensor.

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