Creating a scene for property claims adjustment

• US 9,824,397 B1
• Filed: 10/23/2013
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• 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:
  US14/061,438
• Time in Patent Office: 1,490 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:

receiving, by a mobile device, a property damage application;

initiating operation of the property damage application on the mobile device;

displaying, by the 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;

transmitting, from the mobile device and to a server, the captured images of the at least one room;

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

storing the received images by the server;

using metadata captured by the mobile device, combining, by the server, the received images to generate a scene of the at least one room, wherein the combining the received images includes stitching, by the server, the received images together to generate the scene of the at least one room, the scene being a panoramic view 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 generated from the received images 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 mobile device provides an overlay of rulers at a display screen for measuring the dimensions of the at least one room.

3. The method of claim 1, 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, further including:

detecting, by the server, gaps between received images.

5. 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.

6. 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:

receive, by a mobile device, a property damage application;

initiate operation of the property damage application on the mobile device;

display, by the 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, the captured images of the at least one room;

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

store the received images by the server;

using metadata captured by the mobile device, combining, by the server, the received images to generate a scene of the at least one room, the combining the received images including stitching the received images together to generate the scene of the at least one room, the scene being a panoramic view 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 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.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the mobile device provides an overlay of rulers at a display screen for measuring the dimensions of the at least one room.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein generating the scene of the at least one room includes creating a three-dimensional view of the at least one room.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, further including instructions that, when executed, cause the at least one computing device to:

detect gaps between received images.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein determining the extent of the damage includes determining dimensions of the damage.

11. 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, by a mobile device, a property damage application;

initiate operation of the property damage application on the mobile device;

display, by the 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, the captured images of the at least one room;

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

store the received images by the apparatus;

using metadata captured by the mobile device, combining, by the server, the received images to generate a scene of the at least one room, wherein the combining the received images includes stitching the received images together to generate the scene of the at least one room, the scene being a panoramic view of the at least one room;

generate, by the server, 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.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the mobile device provides an overlay of rulers at a display screen for measuring the dimensions of the at least one room.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the apparatus to detect gaps between the received images.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein determining the extent of the damage includes determining dimensions of the damage.