a video surveillance system is provided for recording and executing camera operation patterns . each pattern includes a plurality of records having a camera condition field and a count field . the system reads a camera condition and writes the condition to memory in a pattern record . the system compares each new camera condition with the condition stored in memory , and records a newly read condition into a new pattern record if the new camera condition is different from the condition data stored in the most recent pattern record . otherwise , the count field is updated in the most recent pattern record by incrementing a count data therein . patterns are executed by sequentially moving the camera through the camera condition stored in the pattern records , and keeping the system at a particular condition for a duration equal to the count data of each pattern record multiplied by a predetermined time interval .