Patent ID: 7760230

Claim:
A method of managing data storage in a video surveillance system that monitors a physical environment, comprising the computer-implemented steps of: receiving user input that specifies a plurality of rules; wherein each rule of the plurality of rules is associated with (a) an event type and (b) storage information that indicates at least one of (1) where to store or (2) how to store video data that is associated with events, of the event type, that occur in or around the physical environment; wherein a first rule of the plurality of rules is associated with a first event type and a second rule of the plurality of rules is associated with a second event type that is different than the first event type; receiving video data; detecting that a particular event occurred in or around the physical environment; in response to detecting the particular event, determining a particular event type for the particular event, identifying a particular rule, of the plurality of rules, that is associated with the particular event type, reading storage information associated with the particular rule, and storing video data, captured by the video surveillance system and associated with the particular event, in accordance with the storage information; wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.