Creating a scene for property claims adjustment

• US 10,062,120 B1
• Filed: 03/25/2016
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Allstate Insurance Company (Allstate Corporation)
• Inventors: Patel, Jay A., Brandmaier, Jennifer A., Faga, Mark E., Gillespie, James, Horn, Roger, Hughes, Stephen, Ismaili, Alinawaz, Koza, Daniel, Loo, William, Lowry, Francis
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Edward
• Application Number:
  US15/080,777
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 382103, 705 4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10012 Stereo images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/593 from stereo images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/60 Analysis of geometric attributes
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/97 Determining parameters from multiple pictures depth or shape recovery from multiple images G06T7/55; stereo camera calibration G06T7/85
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2628 Alteration of picture size, shape, position or orientation, e.g. zooming, rotation, rolling, perspective, translation

Abstract

Methods and apparatus provide for an automated system for analyzing damage to insured property. A server may receive images of a scene (e.g., a room, house, apartment, etc.) from a user at a mobile device. The server may analyze the images to create a holistic view of the scene. The server and/or mobile device may be able to generate dimensions of the scene and compare those dimensions to the dimensions of a damaged property at the scene to determine the extent of damage to the property. The server may also be able to detect gaps between images as it creates the holistic view of the scene.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying, by a mobile device, a user interface including instructions for capturing images of damaged property for use in an insurance claim;

capturing, by the mobile device, images of at least one room, the images including at least one item within the at least one room that has been damaged and the images being captured in accordance with the instructions displayed on the user interface of the mobile device;

uploading, from the mobile device and to a server via a website interface supported by the server, the captured images of the at least one room;

receiving, by the server, the captured images of the at least one room from the mobile device;

storing the received captured images by the server;

using metadata captured by the mobile device, stitching, by the server, the received images together to generate a scene of the at least one room;

generating, by the server, dimensions of the at least one room based on the generated scene of the at least one room; and

comparing, by the server, the generated dimensions of the at least one room to the at least one damaged item in the at least one room to determine an extent of the damage to the at least one damaged item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the scene is a panoramic view of the at least one room.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the generating the scene of the at least one room includes creating, by the server, a three-dimensional view of the at least one room.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device provides an overlay of rulers at a display screen for measuring the dimensions of the at least one room.

5. The method of claim 1, further including:

detecting, by the server and based on captured metadata, gaps between received images.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the extent of the damage to the at least one damaged item includes determining dimensions of the damage.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program instructions stored thereon that when executed by a processor, cause at least one computing device to:

display, by a mobile device a user interface including instructions for capturing images of damaged property for use in an insurance claim;

capture, by the mobile device, images of at least one room, the images including at least one item within the at least one room that has been damaged and the images being captured in accordance with the instructions displayed on the user interface of the mobile device;

transmit, from the mobile device and to a server via a website interface supported by the server, the captured images of the at least one room;

receive, by the server, the captured images of the at least one room from the mobile device;

store the received captured images by the server;

using metadata captured by the mobile device, stitching, by the server, the received images together to generate a scene of the at least one room;

generate dimensions of the at least one room based on the generated scene of the at least one room; and

compare the generated dimensions of the at least one room to the at least one damaged item in the at least one room to determine an extent of the damage to the at least one damaged item.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, the scene is a panoramic view of the at least one room.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein generating the scene of the at least one room includes creating a three-dimensional view of the at least one room.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the mobile device provides an overlay of rulers at a display screen for measuring the dimensions of the at least one room.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to:

detect, based on the captured metadata, gaps between received images.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein determining the extent of the damage includes determining dimensions of the damage.

13. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus at least to;

receive, via a website interface supported by the apparatus, captured images of at least one room, the captured images including at least one item that has been damaged within the at least one room;

store the received images by the apparatus;

using metadata captured by a mobile device, stitching, by the apparatus, the received images to generate a scene of the at least one room;

generate, by the apparatus, dimensions of the at least one room based on the generated scene of the at least one room generated from the received images of the at least one room; and

compare the generated dimensions of the at least one room to the at least one damaged item in the at least one room to determine an extent of the damage to the at least one damaged item.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the scene is a panoramic view of the at least one room.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the generating the scene of the at least one room includes creating a three-dimensional view of the at least one room.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the images are captured by a mobile device and wherein the mobile device includes:

at least a second processor; and

at least a second memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the at least a second processor, cause the processor to;

display a user interface including instructions for capturing images of damaged property; and

capture the images of the at least one room including the at least one item within the at least one room that has been damaged and the images being captured in accordance with the instructions displayed on the user interface of the mobile device.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the mobile device provides an overlay of rulers at a display screen for measuring the dimensions of the at least one room.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the apparatus to detect, based on the captured metadata, gaps between the received images.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein determining the extent of the damage includes determining dimensions of the damage.