Traditionally, hidden zones have been crudely implemented by applying a permanent mask to the front of the camera - often a piece of tape on the lens! IndigoVision's new privacy zones feature helps balance peoples' right to privacy against the need to implement surveillance.

The Privacy Zones feature is implemented in 'Control Center', IndigoVision's enterprise video and alarm management software, which allows viewing of live and recorded video from any camera on the network and is at the heart of the company's integrated end-to-end IP video solution. The privacy zones feature blocks out areas of video to avoid viewing data/images that are irrelevant or intrusive.

Many CCTV applications demand the use of privacy zones which ensure during normal viewing that certain areas of a scene can be blocked out to protect individuals' personal privacy. However, authorised personnel may sometimes need to view the whole scene, including these hidden areas, and record the scene for evidential purposes. A typical application would be to protect toilet areas in prison cells from being viewed by general security staff to give occupants a level of privacy. However, this can result in prisoners undertaking illegal activity in the vicinity of the toilet. To counteract this, it may be deemed justified by the organisation to allow a senior officer to 'look through' the privacy zones in both live view and on recordings in order to deter this activity or to prepare evidence.

The new privacy zones feature has been successfully deployed as part of an integrated IndigoVision IP video system in a police custody suite where a number of holding cells are continuously monitored, together with the booking desks, charging area, finger-printing and building corridors. Two-way intercom audio and the I/O for a cell call button are also transmitted over the IP network. When a cell call is initiated by a prisoner, the video is automatically displayed on a designated 'Control Center' workstation, together with a map identifying the location of the call. The operator can then hold a two-way conversation over the network with the prisoner. Recording of the video and audio in the custody suite is achieved with IndigoVision's network video recorders (NVRs), both of which can be exported for evidential purposes using sophisticated encryption and watermarking techniques to ensure the material is tamper-proof.