In a method for locating patterns of movement in a first digital video signal, wherein the first digital video signal comprising at least indirectly succeeding individual digital images is analyzed in real time, it is proposed for the locating of patterns of movement in a first digital video signal, during the occurrence of larger moving object volumes in real time, to assign at least a first location-changing foreground region in a first individual image in a predefined manner with a predefinable number of first markings, to subsequently determine the relative movement of the first markings between the first individual image and a subsequent second individual image, to subsequently associate each of the first markings with a predefinable first environment, to assign the first and/or at least one second location-changing foreground region in a predefined manner with a predefinable number of second markings, to remove the second markings disposed inside intersecting regions of a predefinable number of intersecting first environments, to subsequently determine the relative movement of the first and second markings between the second individual image and a subsequent third individual image, and to output the relative movements of the first and/or second markings as a first pattern of movement.