Systems and methods for assessing a roof

• US 8,874,454 B2
• Filed: 10/07/2013
• Issued: 10/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Original Assignee: State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (State Farm)
• Inventors: Plummer, Bryan Allen, Cross, Drew
• Primary Examiner(s): Ebersman, Bruce I
• Application Number:
  US14/047,873
• Publication Number:
  US 20140278570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 386 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 15/08 Volume rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/00 Three dimensional [3D] modelling, e.g. data description of 3D objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2210/56 Particle system, point based geometry or rendering
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/012 Dimensioning, tolerancing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/00 Image analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/187 involving region growing; involving region merging; involving connected component labelling
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/204 using stereoscopic image cameras stereoscopic photography G03B35/00

Abstract

A damage assessment module operating on a computer system automatically evaluates a roof, estimating damage to the roof by analyzing a point cloud of a roof. The damage assessment module identifies individual shingles from the point cloud and detects potentially damaged areas on each of the shingles. The damage assessment module then maps the potentially damaged areas of each shingle back to the point cloud to determine which areas of the roof are damaged. Based on the estimation, the damage assessment module generates a report on the roof damage. The report may be used to determine the financial cost of the damage and/or determine whether the roof should be replaced or repaired. In addition to eliminating the need for an estimator to physically climb onto a roof for evaluation purposes, the damage assessment module improves the consistency and accuracy associated with estimating damage to a roof.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of estimating damage to a roof, the method comprising:

generating, by a processor, from a first point cloud representing a roof, a second point cloud representing a shingle, wherein generating the second point cloud representing a shingle comprises;

identifying, by a processor, a set of points, the set of points including one or more first points in the first point cloud;

determining, by a processor, a first measurement of a surface shape of the set of first points;

identifying, by a processor, one or more second points in the first point cloud;

adding, by a processor, the one or more second points to the set of first points;

determining, by a processor, a second measurement of the surface shape of the set of first and second points; and

removing, by a processor, the one or more second points from the set of first and second points when the second measurement of the surface shape exceeds a threshold,

wherein the first measurement and second measurement each relate to at least one of;

(i) curvature;

or (ii) smoothness;

the method further comprising;

comparing, by a processor, the second point cloud to a model point cloud, the model point cloud representing a model shingle;

identifying, by a processor, based on the comparison, a first set of points, correlating each point within the first set of points to a representation of a point of damage;

identifying, by a processor communicatively connected to a memory, a second set of points, the second set of points including at least one point from the first set of points, correlating the second set of points to a representation of a damaged region of the roof; and

generating and storing to the memory a report based on the second set of points for subsequent retrieval and use in estimating damage to at least part of the roof.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by a processor, a group comprising the second point cloud, the group representing a collection of shingles sharing similar characteristics.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising classifying, by a processor, the second set of points by determining a status of damage at the damaged region of the roof.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining a status of damage at said region on the roof comprises at least one of:

(i) determining whether the damaged region of the roof was misidentified as damaged;

or (ii) determining an extent of damage at the damaged region of the roof.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining, by a processor, based at least in part on the status of damage at the damaged region of the roof, whether at least a portion of the roof needs to be replaced.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein region growing segmentation is utilized to generate, from a first point cloud representing a roof, a second point cloud representing a shingle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first point cloud is updated by mapping the first set of points to the first point cloud; and

the second set of points comprises points from the updated first point cloud.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein identifying, by a processor communicatively connected to a memory, a second set of points comprises utilizing a Euclidean clustering method.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing, by a processor, the second point cloud to a model point cloud comprises utilizing an iterative closest point method to align the second point cloud and the model point cloud.

10. A tangible computer-readable medium including non-transitory computer readable instructions that, when executed at one or more processors of a system for identifying roof damage, execute a method of:

generating, from a first point cloud representing a roof, a second point cloud representing a first shingle;

comparing the second point cloud to a model point cloud, the model point cloud representing a model shingle;

identifying, based on the comparison, a first set of points;

correlating each point within the first set of points to a point of damage to the first shingle;

identifying a second set of points, the second set of points including at least one point from the first set of points,

correlating the second set of points to a damaged region of the roof; and

storing the second set of points to the memory for subsequent retrieval and use in estimating a condition of at least part of the roof,

wherein generating the second point cloud representing a first shingle comprises;

identify a set of points, the set of points including one or more first points in the first point cloud;

determining a first measurement of a surface shape of the set of first points;

identifying one or more second points in the first point cloud;

adding the one or more second points to the set of first points;

determining a second measurement of the surface shape of the set of first and second points; and

removing the one or more second points from the set of first and second points when the second measurement of the surface shape exceeds a threshold,

wherein the first measurement and second measurement each relate to at least one of;

(i) curvature;

or (ii) smoothness.

11. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed, further execute a method of classifying the second set of points by determining a status of damage at the damaged region of the roof.

12. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions, when executed, further execute a method of determining, based at least in part on the status of damage at the damaged region of the roof, whether the roof needs to be replaced.

13. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause execute a method of updating the first point cloud by mapping the first set of points to the first point cloud, wherein the second set of points includes points from the updated first point cloud.