Image capture system for property damage assessment

• US 9,846,915 B2
• Filed: 03/24/2016
• Issued: 12/19/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Conduent Business Services, LLC (Conduent, Inc.)
• Inventors: Howe, Richard L., Raburn, Valerie J., Bernal, Edgar A., Shreve, Matthew Adam, Paul, Peter, Kompalli, Pramod Sankar
• Primary Examiner(s): WOLDEMARIAM, AKLILU K
• Application Number:
  US15/079,144
• Publication Number:
  US 20170270612A1
• Time in Patent Office: 635 Days
• Field of Search: 382100, 382190, 382199, 382203, 705 2, 705 3, 705 4, 705 7, 705 38, 705 39, 705 40, 705301, 705313, 705314
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0278 Product appraisal
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/17 taken from planes or by drones
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/176 Urban or other man-made structures

Abstract

A system for capturing property damage images includes an imaging device and a knowledge base of property damage incident types. The knowledge base also includes, for each category, one or more image acquisition parameters that are associated with the category. A processor receives a property damage incident type for a property damage claim that is associated with a property that reportedly experienced an incident, retrieves from the knowledge base one or more image acquisition parameters that are associated with the received incident type, and uses the one or more applicable image acquisition parameters to automatically cause the imaging device to capture digital images of the property using the retrieved one or more image acquisition parameters.

Claims

1. A system for capturing property damage images, the system comprising:

a data storage facility containing a knowledge base of property damage incident types and, for each incident type, one or more image acquisition parameters that are associated with the incident type;

an imaging device mounted to an aerial drone;

a processing device having one or more communications components configured to communicate with the data storage facility and the imaging device; and

a computer-readable medium containing programming instructions that are configured to, when executed, cause the computer processor to;

receive an incident type for a property damage claim of a property related to an incident,

access the data storage facility and retrieve from the knowledge base one or more image acquisition parameters that are associated with the received property damage incident type,

use the one or more image acquisition parameters to automatically cause the imaging device to capture digital images of the property using the retrieved one or more image acquisition parameters, wherein the one or more image acquisition parameters comprise a flight path for the aerial drone,

automatically process a plurality of the digital images captured by the imaging device to identify at least one digital image that depicts property damage that corresponds to the incident type by;

extracting from the knowledge base one or more image quality criteria that are associated with the received property damage incident type, and

automatically detecting the at least one digital image having one or more characteristics that satisfy the one or more image quality criteria, and

upon identification of the at least one digital image that depicts property damage that corresponds to the incident type, adjust the flight path for the aerial drone based on one or more of the identified at least one digital image.

2. The system of claim 1:

further comprising a brightness sensor, and programming instructions that are configured to cause the processing device to receive a light level that is detected by the brightness sensor, and

wherein the retrieved one or more image acquisition parameters include or more of the following;

a command that determines whether to operate a flash that is associated with the imaging device,

a setting that determines a size for an adjustable aperture of the optical path in the imaging device,

a speed setting that determines a speed with which a shutter of the imaging device will open or close, or

an ISO setting that determines a sensitivity of the imaging device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the knowledge base further comprises image acquisition guidance data;

the system further comprises a user interface that is in communication with the processing device; and

the system further comprises additional programming instructions that are configured to cause the processing device to;

retrieve from the knowledge base image acquisition guidance applicable to capturing one or more images associated with the incident type; and

display the image acquisition guidance on the user interface.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the system further comprises a user interface that is in communication with the processing device;

the system further comprises additional programming instructions that are configured to cause the processing device to;

receive, via the user interface, a camera setting,

cause the imaging device to capture a plurality of additional digital images of the property using the camera setting,

automatically process the plurality of additional digital images to identify at least one digital image that depicts property damage that corresponds to the incident type,

identify an updated image acquisition parameter corresponding to one or more camera settings used when the imaging device captured at least one digital image that depicts property damage that corresponds to the incident type, and

save the updated image acquisition parameter to the knowledge base.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the system further comprises a user interface that is in communication with the processing device;

the system further comprises additional programming instructions that are configured to cause the processing device to;

prompt a user to enter, via the user interface, voice or text commentary while the imaging device is capturing a plurality of digital images of the property, and

save the plurality of digital images to a digital file with annotations corresponding to the commentary.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the system further comprises a user interface that is in communication with the processing device;

the system further comprises additional programming instructions that are configured to cause the processing device to;

prompt a user to enter, via the user interface, voice or text commentary while the imaging device is capturing a plurality of digital images of the property, and

process the commentary and the captured digital images to identify an updated image acquisition parameter,

save the updated image acquisition parameter to the knowledge base.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the knowledge base comprises, for each property damage incident type, one or more associated image quality criteria; and

the instructions further comprise instructions to pre-screen the captured digital images to identify one or more images that qualify for use in a property damage claim assessment by;

accessing the knowledge base and extracting one or more image quality criteria that are associated with the received property damage incident type,

processing the captured digital images to identify one or more digital images having characteristics that satisfy the one or more image quality criteria, and

selecting the identified one or more digital images as the one or more images that qualify for use in the property damage claim assessment.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising additional programming instructions that are configured to cause the processing device to:

save the one or more images that qualify for use in the property damage claim assessment to the knowledge base; and

discard any of the captured images that do not qualify for use in the property damage claim assessment.

9. The system of claim 7, further comprising additional programming instructions that are configured to cause the processing device to:

use the characteristics to identify an updated image acquisition parameter; and

save the updated image acquisition parameter to the knowledge base.

10. A method of capturing property damage images, the system comprising:

by a processing device, executing programming instructions that cause the processing device to;

receive a property damage incident type for a property damage claim of a property related to an incident,

access a data storage facility containing a knowledge base of property damage incident types and, for each incident type, one or more image acquisition parameters that are associated with the incident type,

retrieve, from the knowledge base, one or more image acquisition parameters that are associated with the received property damage incident type, wherein the one or more image acquisition parameters comprise a flight path for an aerial drone,

cause an imaging device mounted to the aerial drone to use the one or more image acquisition parameters to automatically capture digital images of the property,

automatically process a plurality of the digital images captured by the imaging device to identify at least one digital image that depicts property damage that corresponds to the incident type by;

extracting, from the data storage facility, one or more image quality criteria that are associated with the received property damage incident type;

automatically detecting the at least one digital image having one or more characteristics that satisfy the one or more image quality criteria, and

upon identification of the at least one digital image that depicts property damage that corresponds to the incident type, adjust a flight path of the aerial drone based on one or more of the identified at least digital image.

11. The method of claim 10:

further comprising receiving a light level from a brightness sensor; and

wherein the retrieved one or more image acquisition parameters comprise one or more of the following;

a command that determines whether to operate a flash that is associated with the imaging device,

a setting that determines a size for an adjustable aperture of the optical path in the imaging device,

a speed setting that determines a speed with which a shutter of the imaging device will open or close, or

an ISO setting that determines a sensitivity of the imaging device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the knowledge base further comprises image acquisition guidance data; and

the method further comprises, by the processing device;

retrieving, from the knowledge base, image acquisition guidance applicable to capturing one or more images associated with the category; and

displaying the image acquisition guidance on a user interface.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising, by the processing device:

receiving a revised camera setting;

causing the imaging device to capture a plurality of additional digital images of the property using the revised camera setting;

automatically processing the plurality of additional digital images to identify at least one digital image that depicts property damage that corresponds to the incident type;

identifying an updated image acquisition parameter corresponding to one or more camera settings used when the imaging device captured the at least one digital image that depicts the property damage that corresponds to the incident type; and

saving the updated image acquisition parameter to the knowledge base.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising, by the processing device:

prompting a user to enter, via a user interface, voice or text commentary while the imaging device is capturing a plurality of digital images of the property; and

saving the plurality of digital images to a digital file with annotations corresponding to the commentary.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising, by the processing device:

prompting a user to enter, via the user interface, voice or text commentary while the imaging device is capturing a plurality of digital images of the property;

processing the commentary and the captured digital images to identify an updated image acquisition parameter; and

saving the updated image acquisition parameter to the knowledge base.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein:

the knowledge base comprises, for each property damage incident type, one or more associated image quality criteria; and

the method further comprises, by the processing device;

pre-screening the captured digital images to identify one or more images that qualify for use in a property damage claim assessment by;

accessing the knowledge base and extracting one or more image quality criteria that are associated with the received property damage incident type,

processing the captured digital images to identify one or more digital images having characteristics that satisfy the one or more image quality criteria, and

selecting the identified one or more digital images as the one or more images that qualify for use in the property damage claim assessment.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising, by the processing device:

saving the one or more images that qualify for use in the property damage claim assessment to the knowledge base; and

discarding any of the captured images that do not qualify for use in the property damage claim assessment.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising, by the processing device:

using the characteristics to identify an updated image acquisition parameter; and

saving the updated image acquisition parameter to the knowledge base.