Systems and methods for evaluation of object condition

• US 8,504,309 B1
• Filed: 10/28/2010
• Issued: 08/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Movie Poster Grading and Registry Company, LLC
• Original Assignee: Movie Poster Grading and Registry Company, LLC
• Inventors: Spoor, Todd Alan, Mulcahy, John Ambrose, McCrae, Scott Stanaway, Cassidy, Kevin Francis
• Primary Examiner(s): Kundu, Sujoy
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHOWDHURY, HARUN UR R
• Application Number:
  US12/914,521
• Time in Patent Office: 1,013 Days
• Field of Search: 702/34, 702/35
• US Class Current: 702/35
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/8854 Grading and classifying of flaws
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30144 Printing quality
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection

Abstract

A condition of an object is evaluated with improved uniformity as compared to conventional schemes. For example, flaw types and severities associated with flaws potentially present in a certain category of objects are predefined, along with rules for evaluating the condition of objects of the certain category based at least on the flaw types and severities. In this manner, any user, expert or not, can uniformly evaluate the condition of an object merely by identifying and inputting the flaws according to the predefined flaw types and severities. In addition, the predefined flaw types, severities, and rules can be changed by a user or otherwise at any time, and different sets of predefined flaw types, severities, and rules can be generated for each of a plurality of different categories of objects, thereby providing a fully configurable and flexible evaluation system.

Claims

1. A method for evaluating an object, the method implemented at least in part by a data processing device system, and the method comprising the steps of:

receiving input comprising indications of;

a plurality of flaws present on or in the object, a flaw type for each of the flaws, and a severity for each of the flaws;

determining weighting factors associated with the plurality of flaws, the weighting factors dependent at least on the seventies of the flaws;

determining a quality-score indicating a condition of the object based at least on at least some of the weighting factors and the flaw types for at least some of the flaws; and

storing the quality-score in a processor accessible memory device system,

wherein the severity of at least some of the flaws indicates at least a severity type for each of the at least some of the flaws, the severity type being different from the flaw type and being different from a flaw location for each of the at least some of the flaws,

wherein the method further comprises the step of determining a plurality of intermediate quality scores,

wherein each of the steps is performed at least in part by a data processing device of the data processing device system,

wherein one of the intermediate quality scores indicates a preliminary assessment of the condition of the object,

wherein the quality score is determined based at least on at least some of the weighting factors, the flaw types for at least some of the flaws, and the intermediate quality scores,

wherein a first of the intermediate quality scores is determined based at least on an assessment of damage to the object due to flaws having a particular flaw type, the particular flaw type being one of the flaw types that presents the most damage to the object as compared to the others of the flaw types,

wherein a second of the intermediate quality scores is determined based at least on the first of the intermediate quality scores and a flaw type not factored into the first of the intermediate quality scores and determined to present the next-most damage to the object after the particular flaw type, and

wherein the object is a movie poster.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of intermediate quality scores is inversely proportional to object quality.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws indicates at least the flaw location for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding flaw location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws indicates at least a flaw size for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding flaw size.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws that indicates the severity type also indicates at least a flaw size corresponding to the respective severity type for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding combination of severity type and flaw size.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws that indicates a severity type also indicates at least the flaw location, which corresponds to the respective severity type, for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding combination of severity type and flaw location.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws that indicates a severity type and a flaw size also indicates at least the flaw location, which corresponds to the respective severity type and flaw size, for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding combination of severity type, flaw size, and flaw location.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of generating a report identifying at least all of the flaws and their corresponding weighting factors, flaw types, and severities;

and storing the report in the processor-accessible memory-device system.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of associating the quality score with a word-based score;

and storing the word-based score in the processor-accessible memory-device system.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the flaw types are selected from a set of available flaw types stored in a database, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available flaw types should be changed or a new available flaw type should be added to the set of available flaw types; and

changing the existing one of the available flaw types in the database or adding the new available flaw type to the database in accordance with and in response to receiving the second input.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the weighting factors comprises retrieving the weighting factors from a database, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving second input comprising an indication that a particular one of the weighting factors in the database should be changed; and

changing the particular one of the weighting factors in accordance with and in response to receiving the second input.

12. The method of claim 3, wherein the flaw locations are selected from a set of available flaw locations stored in a database, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available flaw locations should be changed or a new available flaw location should be added to the set of available flaw locations; and

changing the existing one of the available flaw locations in the database or adding the new available flaw location to the database in accordance with and in response to receiving the second input.

13. The method of claim 4, wherein the flaw sizes are selected from a set of available flaw sizes stored in a database, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available flaw sizes should be changed or a new available flaw size should be added to the set of available flaw sizes; and

changing the existing one of the available flaw sizes in the database or adding the new available flaw size to the database in accordance with and in response to receiving the second input.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the severity types are selected from a set of available severity types stored in a database, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available severity types should be changed or a new available severity type should be added to the set of available severity types; and

changing the existing one of the available severity types in the database or adding the new available severity type to the database in accordance with and in response to receiving the second input.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the plurality of intermediate quality scores comprises determining the intermediate quality scores based upon discount factors stored in a database, and wherein the method further comprises the steps of:

receiving second input comprising an indication that one of the discount factors should be changed; and

changing the one of the discount factors in the database in accordance with and in response to receiving the second input.

16. A non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system storing processor-executable instructions, the processor-executable instructions comprising:

reception instructions configured to cause a data processing device system to receive input comprising indications of;

a plurality of flaws present on or in an object, a flaw type for each of the flaws, and a severity for each of the flaws;

weighting factor determination instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to determine weighting factors associated with the plurality of flaws, the weighting factors dependent at least on the severities of the flaws;

quality score determination instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to determine a quality-score indicating a condition of the object based at least on at least some of the weighting factors and the flaw types for at least some of the flaws; and

storage instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to store the quality-score in the non-transitory processor accessible memory device system,

wherein the severity of at least some of the flaws indicates at least a severity type for each of the at least some of the flaws, the severity type being different from the flaw type and being different from a flaw location for each of the at least some of the flaws,

wherein the quality score determination instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to determine a plurality of intermediate quality scores,

wherein one of the intermediate quality scores indicates a preliminary assessment of the condition of the object,

wherein the quality score determination instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to determine the quality score based at least on at least some of the weighting factors, the flaw types for at least some of the flaws, and the intermediate quality scores.

wherein the quality score determination instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to determine a first of the intermediate quality scores based at least on an assessment of damage to the object due to flaws having a particular flaw type, the particular flaw type being one of the flaw types that presents the most damage to the object as compared to the others of the flaw types,

wherein the quality score determination instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to determine a second of the intermediate quality scores based at least on the first of the intermediate quality scores and a flaw type not factored into the first of the intermediate quality scores and determined to present the next-most damage to the object after the particular flaw type, and

wherein the object is a movie poster.

17. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16, wherein the number of intermediate quality scores is inversely proportional to object quality.

18. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws indicates at least the flaw location for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding flaw location.

19. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws indicates at least a flaw size for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding flaw size.

20. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws that indicates the severity type also indicates at least a flaw size corresponding to the respective severity type for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding combination of severity type and flaw size.

21. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws that indicates a severity type also indicates at least the flaw location, which corresponds to the respective severity type, for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding combination of severity type and flaw location.

22. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 20, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws that indicates a severity type and a flaw size also indicates at least the flaw location, which corresponds to the respective severity type and flaw size, for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding combination of severity type, flaw size, and flaw location.

23. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16, wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise generation instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to (a) generate a report identifying at least all of the flaws and their corresponding weighting factors, flaw types, and seventies, and (b) store the report in the non-transitory processor-accessible memory-device system.

24. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16, wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to (a) associate the quality score with a word-based score, and (b) store the word-based score in the non-transitory processor-accessible memory-device system.

25. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16,

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise selection instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to select the flaw types from a set of available flaw types stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to receive second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available flaw types should be changed or a new available flaw type should be added to the set of available flaw types, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to change the existing one of the available flaw types in the database or add the new available flaw type to the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.

26. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16,

wherein the weighting factor determination instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to retrieve the weighting factors from a database,

wherein the reception instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to receive second input comprising an indication that a particular one of the weighting factors in the database should be changed, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to change the particular one of the weighting factors in accordance with and in response to the second input.

27. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 18,

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise selection instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to select the flaw locations from a set of available flaw locations stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to receive second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available flaw locations should be changed or a new available flaw location should be added to the set of available flaw locations, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to change the existing one of the available flaw locations in the database or add the new available flaw location to the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.

28. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 19,

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise selection instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to select the flaw sizes from a set of available flaw sizes stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to receive second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available flaw sizes should be changed or a new available flaw size should be added to the set of available flaw sizes, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to change the existing one of the available flaw sizes in the database or add the new available flaw size to the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.

29. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16,

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise selection instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to select the severity types from a set of available severity types stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to receive second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available severity types should be changed or a new available severity type should be added to the set of available severity types, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to change the existing one of the available severity types in the database or add the new available severity type to the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.

30. The non-transitory processor-accessible memory device system of claim 16,

wherein the quality score determination instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to determine the intermediate quality scores based upon discount factors stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions are configured to cause the data processing device system to receive second input comprising an indication that one of the discount factors should be changed, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions configured to cause the data processing device system to change the one of the discount factors in the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.

31. A system comprising:

a data processing device system; and

a processor-accessible memory device system communicatively connected to the data processing device system and storing processor-executable instructions executable by the data processing device system, wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise;

reception instructions for receiving input comprising indications of;

a plurality of flaws present on or in an object, a flaw type for each of the flaws, and a severity for each of the flaws;

weighting factor instructions for determining weighting factors associated with the plurality of flaws, the weighting factors dependent at least on the seventies of the flaws;

quality score determination instructions for determining a quality-score indicating a condition of the object based at least on at least some of the weighting factors and the flaw types for at least some of the flaws; and

storage instructions for storing the quality-score in the processor accessible memory device system,

wherein the severity of at least some of the flaws indicates at least a severity type for each of the at least some of the flaws, the severity type being different from the flaw type and being different from a flaw location for each of the at least some of the flaws,

wherein the quality score determination instructions include instructions for determining a plurality of intermediate quality scores,

wherein one of the intermediate quality scores indicates a preliminary assessment of the condition of the object,

wherein the quality score determination instructions include instructions for determining the quality score based at least on at least some of the weighting factors, the flaw types for at least some of the flaws, and the intermediate quality scores,

wherein the quality score determination instructions include instructions for determining a first of the intermediate quality scores based at least on an assessment of damage to the object due to flaws having a particular flaw type, the particular flaw type being one of the flaw types that presents the most damage to the object as compared to the others of the flaw types,

wherein the quality score determination instructions include instructions for determining a second of the intermediate quality scores based at least on the first of the intermediate quality scores and a flaw type not factored into the first of the intermediate quality scores and determined to present the next-most damage to the object after the particular flaw type, and

wherein the object is a movie poster.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the number of intermediate quality scores is inversely proportional to object quality.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws indicates at least the flaw location for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding flaw location.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws indicates at least a flaw size for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding flaw size.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws that indicates the severity type also indicates at least a flaw size corresponding to the respective severity type for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding combination of severity type and flaw size.

36. The system of claim 31, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws that indicates a severity type also indicates at least the flaw location, which corresponds to the respective severity type, for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding combination of severity type and flaw location.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein the severity of the at least some of the flaws that indicates a severity type and a flaw size also indicates at least the flaw location, which corresponds to the respective severity type and flaw size, for each of the at least some of the flaws, and wherein the weighting factors associated with the at least some of the flaws each are dependent at least on the corresponding combination of severity type, flaw size, and flaw location.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise generation instructions for generating a report identifying at least all of the flaws and their corresponding weighting factors, flaw types, and seventies, and storing the report in the processor-accessible memory-device system.

39. The system of claim 31, wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions for associating the quality score with a word-based score, and storing the word-based score in the processor-accessible memory-device system.

40. The system of claim 31,

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise selection instructions for selecting the flaw types from a set of available flaw types stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions include instructions for receiving second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available flaw types should be changed or a new available flaw type should be added to the set of available flaw types, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions for changing the existing one of the available flaw types in the database or adding the new available flaw type to the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.

41. The system of claim 31,

wherein the weighting factor determination instructions include instructions for retrieving the weighting factors from a database,

wherein the reception instructions include instructions for receiving second input comprising an indication that a particular one of the weighting factors in the database should be changed, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions for changing the particular one of the weighting factors in accordance with and in response to the second input.

42. The system of claim 33,

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise selection instructions for selecting the flaw locations from a set of available flaw locations stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions include instructions for receiving second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available flaw locations should be changed or a new available flaw location should be added to the set of available flaw locations, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions for changing the existing one of the available flaw locations in the database or adding the new available flaw location to the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.

43. The system of claim 34,

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise selection instructions for selecting the flaw sizes from a set of available flaw sizes stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions include instructions for receiving second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available flaw sizes should be changed or a new available flaw size should be added to the set of available flaw sizes, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions for changing the existing one of the available flaw sizes in the database or adding the new available flaw size to the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.

44. The system of claim 31,

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise selection instructions for selecting the severity types from a set of available severity types stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions include instructions for receiving second input comprising an indication that an existing one of the available severity types should be changed or a new available severity type should be added to the set of available severity types, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions for changing the existing one of the available severity types in the database or adding the new available severity type to the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.

45. The system of claim 31,

wherein the quality score determination instructions include instructions for determining the intermediate quality scores based upon discount factors stored in a database,

wherein the reception instructions include instructions for receiving second input comprising an indication that one of the discount factors should be changed, and

wherein the processor-executable instructions comprise instructions for changing the one of the discount factors in the database in accordance with and in response to the second input.