Creating a scene for progeny claims adjustment

• US 10,504,190 B1
• Filed: 07/20/2018
• Issued: 12/10/2019
• 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:
  US16/041,242
• Time in Patent Office: 508 Days
• Field of Search: 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:

receiving, by a server via a website interface supported by the server, captured images of at least one room including at least one item within the at least one room that has been damaged, the captured images being received in a first resolution;

subsequent to receiving the captured images in the first resolution, receiving, by the server, the images via the website interface in a second, higher resolution;

using metadata captured with the images, stitching, by the server, the received images in the first resolution or the second resolution 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;

comparing, by the server, the generated dimensions of the at least one room to the at least one item in the at least one room that has been damaged to determine an extent of damage to the at least one item; and

generating, by the server and based on the extent of the damage, an estimated cost to repair the at least one damaged item; and

transmitting the generated estimated cost to a user.

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 determining the extent of damage to the at least one item in the at least one room that has been damaged includes comparing the received images to pre-stored images of the at least one item.

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 item in the at least one room that has been damaged 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;

determine a network condition;

responsive to determining that the network condition is at a first level, transmit the captured images from the mobile device to a server via a website interface supported by the server in a first resolution;

subsequent to transmission of the images in the first resolution, determine that the network condition is at a second level;

responsive to determining that the network condition is at a second level, transmit the captured images from the mobile device to the server via the website interface in a second, higher resolution;

receive, by the mobile device and from the server, an estimated cost to repair the at least one item, the estimated cost to repair being based, at least in part, on the captured images; and

display, on a display of the mobile device, the estimated cost to repair the at least one item.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the estimated cost to repair the at least one item is displayed via an interactive user interface.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to:

generating, based on metadata captured with the images, a scene of the at least one room.

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

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein generating the scene of the at least one room includes stitching images together to create a panoramic view of the at least one room.

12. 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 dimensions of the at least one room.

13. 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.

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