Patent ID: 8542981

Claim:
A method for annotating a video recording of an incident, comprising: a closed circuit television (CCTV) camera monitoring a secure area; a plurality of investigators investigating a crime or accident in the secure area by reviewing recorded video footage from the CCTV camera of the crime or accident in the secure area; recording a first voice annotation from a first investigator of the plurality of investigators describing events occurring in the recorded video footage of the crime or accident; overlaying the first voice annotation over the recorded video footage, such that the first voice annotation is synchronized with the events occurring in the recorded video footage of the incident; recording at least a second voice annotation from a respective at least second investigator of the plurality of investigators investigating the crime or accident while playing back the recorded video footage in synchronization with the first voice annotation; overlaying the second voice annotation over the recorded video footage and first annotation, such that the second voice annotation is synchronized with the events occurring in the recorded video footage of the incident; assigning the first and at least second voice annotation to a hierarchy based upon at least one of a reviewer's rank, a stage in the investigation and a content of the annotation; and playing back the first and at least second voice annotations in accordance with the hierarchy where each of the first and at least second voice annotations in the hierarchy are played back individually in synchronism with the recorded video footage.