IMAGE CAPTURING AND AUTOMATIC LABELING SYSTEM

• US 20150103170A1
• Filed: 10/11/2013
• Published: 04/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CCC Intelligent Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: CCC Information Services, Inc.
• Inventors: Nelson, Ronald, Fitzgerald, Sean
• Granted Patent: US 10,319,035 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/148
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/51 Translation evaluation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00209 Transmitting or receiving image data, e.g. facsimile data, via a computer, e.g. using e-mail, a computer network, the internet, I-fax
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32128 attached to the image data, e.g. file header, transmitted message header, information on the same page or in the same computer file as the image for information embedded in the image H04N1/32144
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3205 of identification information, e.g. name or ID code H04N2201/3209 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources

Abstract

A vehicle image capture and labeling system operates to enable a user to capture vehicle photos, pictures, and/or images that are automatically labeled, i.e., annotated. In particular, the captured vehicle photos, pictures, or images are automatically labeled with certain vehicle identifier information, like a vehicle identification number (VIN), and pose information, that identifies a portion or view of the vehicle depicted within the image of the vehicle. The vehicle images may also be automatically labeled with one or more other image attributes or indicia, such as geospatial information corresponding to a location at which the photo or image was captured (e.g., global positioning system (GPS) data), time and date of image capture data, etc. The captured vehicle image and its label(s) may then be stored and used by other applications such as vehicle insurance claim applications, automobile repair estimate applications, etc.

Claims

1. A method of recording damage to a vehicle, the method comprising:

presenting, at a user interface of a mobile computing device, a plurality of user controls, wherein each user control corresponds to (i) a respective portion of the vehicle, and (ii) a pre-assigned identifier of the respective portion of the vehicle;

receiving, at the user interface of the mobile computing device, a selection of a particular user control included in the plurality of user controls;

launching an image capturing system of the mobile computing device;

obtain an image captured by the image capturing system; and

causing the captured image and an indication of one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image to be transmitted to a data storage system that is configured to store information corresponding to vehicle damage, the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image including the pre-assigned identifier corresponding to the particular user control.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

capturing the image comprises capturing the image and the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image corresponding to a time of capture, the one or more attributes further including at least one of;

the time of capture and a date of capture of the captured image, a geospatial location at which the image was captured, or a vehicle identification number (VIN) of the vehicle; and

causing the captured image and the indication of the one or more attributes to be transmitted to the data storage system comprises causing the captured image and the indication of one or more attributes including the pre-assigned identifier and at least one other attribute to be transmitted to the data storage system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting, at the user interface, the plurality of user controls comprises presenting, at the user interface, at least one natural language translation of at least one pre-assigned identifier of at least one user control.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one respective natural language translation includes a particular respective natural language translation of the pre-assigned identifier corresponding to the particular user control, and wherein the method further comprises displaying, on the user interface, an indication of the captured image associated with the particular natural language translation.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising receiving a definition of at least one of the at least one natural language translation via the user interface of the mobile computing device.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising transmitting the definition of the at least one of the at least one natural language translation to the data storage system for storage.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the plurality of user controls corresponding to the plurality of respective portions of the vehicle comprises presenting a specific user control corresponding to a portion of the vehicle displaying a vehicle identification number (VIN) of the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein presenting the plurality of user controls corresponding to the plurality of respective portions of the vehicle further comprises presenting at least one other user control respectively corresponding to at least one other portion of the vehicle, the at least one other portion of the vehicle including at least one of:

a left front area of the vehicle;

a center front area of the vehicle;

a right front area of the vehicle;

a right fender of the vehicle;

a right side or T-bone area of the vehicle;

a right rear quarter post of the vehicle;

a right rear area of the vehicle;

a center rear area of the vehicle;

a left rear area of the vehicle;

a left rear quarter post of the vehicle;

a left side or T-bone area of the vehicle;

a left fender of the vehicle;

a hood of the vehicle;

a roof of the vehicle;

a door plate mounted on the vehicle;

an odometer of the vehicle;

a dash plate mounted on the vehicle;

a license plate of the vehicle;

another exterior portion of the vehicle;

or

at least a portion of an interior of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

receiving the selection of the particular user control included in the plurality of user controls comprises receiving a selection of two or more particular user controls included in the plurality of user controls;

capturing the image comprises capturing two or more images respectively corresponding to the two or more particular user controls; and

causing the captured image and the indication of the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image to be transmitted to the data storage system comprises causing the two or more captured images and indications of respective one or more attributes corresponding to each of the two or more captured images to be transmitted to the data storage system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving, at the user interface of the mobile computing device, a selection of a particular user control included in the plurality of user controls includes receiving a voice command and, using a processor, decoding the voice command as being associated with a particular user control to determine the selection of the particular user control.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is at least partially performed by a processor of the mobile computing device executing computer-executable instructions stored on a tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of the mobile computing device and further comprising:

receiving the computer-executable instructions via a communication interface of the mobile computing device; and

storing the computer-executable instructions on the tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of the mobile computing device.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the captured image and the indication of the pre-assigned identifier corresponding to the particular user control to be transmitted to the data storage system comprises causing the captured image and metadata identifying the respective portion of the vehicle to be transmitted to the data storage system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein causing the captured image and the indication of the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image to be transmitted to the data storage system comprises causing the captured image and the indication of the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image to be transmitted to the data storage system using a wireless communication interface of the mobile computing device.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining the plurality of pre-assigned identifiers via a communication interface of the mobile computing device, wherein the plurality of pre-assigned identifiers is provided by the data storage system, and wherein the communication interface of the mobile computing device is connected, via a communication channel, to the data storage system or to another computing device.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a user indication specifying a least a portion of the plurality of user controls that are to be presented for selection at the user interface.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an estimate of a repair cost of the vehicle based on the captured image and the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image.

17. A system for recording damage to a vehicle, the system comprising:

a image attribute capturer, the image attribute capturer comprising one or more tangible, non-transitory memories storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the system to;

present, at a user interface, a plurality of user controls, wherein each user control corresponds to (i) a respective portion of the vehicle, and (ii) a pre-assigned identifier of the respective portion of the vehicle;

receive, at the user interface, a selection of a particular user control included in the plurality of user controls; and

cause a captured image and an indication of one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image to be transmitted to a data storage system that is configured to store information corresponding to vehicle damage, the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image including the pre-assigned identifier corresponding to the particular user control.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a communicative connection to an imaging apparatus, and wherein the captured image is captured by the imaging apparatus.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the image attribute capturer includes further computer-executable instructions stored on the one or more tangible, non-transitory memories that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:

obtain one or more other attributes corresponding to the captured image, the one or more other attributes including at least one of;

an indication of the time of capture and a date of capture of the captured image, an indication of a geospatial location at which the image was captured, or an indication of a vehicle identification number (VIN) of the vehicle.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising means for obtaining the one or more other attributes.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the means for obtaining the one or more other attributes includes at least one of:

a communicative connection to a Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) device;

a communicative connection to a clock;

or

a communicative connection to an image processing device configured to determine the VIN of the vehicle from an image corresponding to the VIN displayed on the vehicle.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions are downloaded from the data storage system via the communications interface for storage in the one or more tangible, non-transitory memories.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein each pre-assigned identifier comprises metadata identifying the respective portion of the vehicle.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the plurality of pre-assigned identifiers is provided by the data storage system.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the data storage system is in communicative connection with at least one other system, the at least one other system is configured to perform a function, and the function includes at least one of:

generate vehicle damage appraisals, generate insurance claims for vehicles, generate vehicle repair estimates, or store information corresponding to vehicle repairs.

27. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to generate a vehicle damage appraisal based on the captured image and the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image.

28. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to generate an estimate of a cost to repair the vehicle based on the captured image and the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image.

29. The system of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to generate an insurance claim corresponding to the vehicle based on the captured image and the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image.

30. The system of claim 17, wherein the plurality of respective portions of the vehicle includes more than one of:

a particular portion of the vehicle on which a vehicle identification number (VIN) of the vehicle is displayed;

a left front area of the vehicle;

a center front area of the vehicle;

a right front area of the vehicle;

a right fender of the vehicle;

a right side or T-bone area of the vehicle;

a right rear quarter post of the vehicle;

a right rear area of the vehicle;

a center rear area of the vehicle;

a left rear area of the vehicle;

a left rear quarter post of the vehicle;

a left side or T-bone area of the vehicle;

a left fender of the vehicle;

a hood of the vehicle;

a roof of the vehicle;

a door plate mounted on the vehicle;

an odometer of the vehicle;

a dash plate mounted on the vehicle;

a license plate of the vehicle;

another exterior portion of the vehicle;

or

at least a portion of an interior of the vehicle.

31. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the plurality of user controls presented on the user interface is selected, by a user of the system, to be presented on the user interface.

32. The system of claim 17, wherein the captured image is indicated, at the user interface, as corresponding to a natural language translation of the pre-assigned identifier corresponding to the particular user control.

33. The system of claim 17, wherein the image attribute capturer, the user interface, and the one or more processors are included in a mobile communications device, and wherein the captured image and the indication of the one or more attributes are caused to be transmitted to the data storage system via a wireless communications interface of the mobile communications device.

34. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one user control of the plurality of user controls includes a respective natural language translation of the pre-assigned identifier corresponding to the at least one user control.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the at least one respective natural language translation is provided by the data storage system.

36. The system of claim 34,

wherein the at least one respective natural language translation comprises a plurality of respective natural language translations;

and

wherein at least one of the plurality of respective natural language translations is defined via the user interface and at least another one of the plurality of respective natural language translations is provided by the data storage system.

37. The system of claim 17, wherein the image attribute capturer when executed by one or more processors, causes the system to receive, at the user interface, a selection of a particular user control included in the plurality of user controls by receiving a voice command and, using the one or more processors, decoding the voice command as being associated with a particular user control to determine the selection of the particular user control.

26. The system of claim 26, wherein the function performed by the at least one other system is based on a set of rules, and wherein at least a portion of the set of rules is based on at least one of the captured image or the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image.

38. A method of creating an electronic image of a subject, the method comprising:

presenting, via a user interface of a mobile computing device having a computer processor, a plurality of user controls, wherein each of the plurality of user controls corresponds to a respective portion of a subject;

receiving, via the user interface of the mobile computing device interacting with the computer processor, a selection of a particular user control included in the plurality of user controls;

launching, using the computer processor, an image capturing system on the mobile computing device;

receiving, using the computer processor, an electronic image captured by the image capturing system; and

causing, using the computer processor, the captured electronic image and an indication of one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image to be stored in a data storage system the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image including a pre-assigned identifier corresponding to the particular user control.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein receiving the electronic image comprises receiving image data for the electronic image and the one or more attributes corresponding to the captured image at a time of capture, the one or more attributes further including at least one of:

the time of day of capture of the captured image, a date of capture of the captured image, or a geospatial location at which the image at which the image was captured; and

causing the captured image and the indication of the one or more attributes to be stored in the data storage system comprises causing the captured image and the indication of the one or more attributes including the pre-assigned identifier and at least one other attribute to be stored in the data storage system.