*Bookmarks

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How To Article | HTA-20201130-TP-01 VDG Sense | Operator | Bookmarks Open

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Introduction

A bookmark is a user-generated event which can be used to flag moments of particular interest for a specific camera accompanied by a user defined text. In VDG Sense bookmarks are always assigned to a specific camera and date and time. Using Sense Search or the Timeline bookmarks can be searched for. Instead of ploughing through many hours of video, a simple search query to find events for a camera is enough. Bookmarks can be used to flag moments in both live or recorded video data.

Generated bookmark events are visible in the Event Panel  (eventValue = <username>: <comment>) and in the Timeline panel. It is possible to filter out Bookmarks from the Event panel by deselecting them in the “Enabled Events” options.

Retention

Like other events, when the retention time of the video data has been reached, the recorded footage and the associated events (including Bookmarks) on that date/time will be removed. If the data has been tagged however, the bookmarks will stay available as long as the tag is not released. For more information about video tagging, click here.

Use cases examples

Live – Suspicious event
Operator in control room (or somewhere else) sees something happening on a ‘live’ camera which need further analysis. For instance; ‘Suspicious behaviour of person near shop’.  The operator wants to ‘bookmark’ the video so he can find this event quickly if it is needed later on.

Playback – Incident marking
An operator is reviewing earlier recorded data, and sees something that’s noteworthy, but does not have any other system generated event. For instance, a person uses a personal ID to pass someone else through a security door. The operator can bookmark the event as an incident.

Searching – Reviewing bookmarks
An operator wants to search earlier made bookmarks. He can use the Search layout to select a camera and find all existing bookmarks for that device, or can add the name of the operator who created the bookmark, or part of the comment that was added with the bookmark.

For instance;

• ‘All bookmarks on camera “Lobby” between 12:00 and 18:00’

• Bookmarks made by user “JohnDoe” on any device

• Bookmarks on camera “Parking Front” containing the word “Suspicious” in comment

Creating Bookmarks

Bookmarks can be generated in both Live and Playback video. To create a bookmark, a Live Control panel, Playback Control panel or Timeline panel is required. Select a Live or Playback video panel and click the “Add Bookmark” button.

Live mode

Live control panel

Playback control panel

Timeline panel

Add bookmark dialog

When the “Add Bookmark” button is clicked, the “Add bookmark” dialog will appear.

This dialog contains the following components:

Preview image for bookmark

Information about bookmark

• Camera name

• Server

• Date

• Time

• Current operator

Comment field
An optional field to place a comment for the bookmark. This has a limit of 200 characters.

Click save to create the new bookmark. When a bookmark has been created, an event will be fired which can be seen in the Event Panel and in the Timeline panel.

Bookmark with Viewer Macro

The “Add Bookmark” dialog can also be automatically opened using the viewer macro action “Show Bookmark Dialog”. An active user can than add a comment and save the bookmark. To use this viewer macro action, it is required that a panel is selected. Below are a few scenarios that can help explain how to configure this macro action.

Scenario 1

We have a dedicated layout with a video panel showing Camera 01. In case of an alarm signal, we want this layout opened and the bookmark dialog shown.

The following macro action should be configured:

1. (Optional) Select the correct monitor on which the layout is displayed

Viewer -> Select monitor -> [Monitor number]

1. Switch to the dedicated alarm layout

Viewer -> Switch Layout -> [Your Layout]

1. Select the video panel on the layout

Viewer -> Select Panel -> [Your panel]

1. Open the bookmark dialog

Viewer -> Show Bookmark Dialog

Scenario 2

In this scenario, we have an empty panel, and we want to use the action “Select Device From Event” to dynamically fill the panel with the event related to the macro signal. This way, we are not chained to a specific device in the macro.

The following macro action should be configured:

1. (Optional) Select the correct monitor on which the layout is displayed

Viewer -> Select monitor -> [Monitor number]

1. Switch to the dedicated alarm layout

Viewer -> Switch Layout -> [Your Layout]

1. Select the video panel on the layout

Viewer -> Select Panel -> [Your Panel]

1. Place the event device in the panel

Viewer -> Select Device from Event

1. Open the bookmark dialog

Viewer -> Show Bookmark Dialog

Searching bookmarks

Created bookmarks are generated as a new event with the event type “Bookmark” and as value “<operator>: <comment>. Bookmarks can be found using Sense Search. To search for bookmarks, select the  “Events” subtab, and select the “Bookmark” event type. You can use any of the event values to filter the search results.

For example, in the image below, we search for bookmarks created on the camera “Bicycle Lane – East” between 13:00 and 17:00 with the comment containing the word “Alarm”.

By keeping the “Event Text” field empty, we can see all created bookmarks on this device in the given timeframe.