Patent Application Titled “Damage Detection And Analysis Using Three-Dimensional Surface Scans” Published Online (USPTO 20220172475): Allstate Insurance Company

2022 JUN 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventor Hayman, George (Chicago, IL, US), filed on December 1, 2021, was made available online on June 2, 2022.

The assignee for this patent application is Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Existing systems for detecting damage often rely on human detection of scope of the damage and/or low-resolution photographs that provide insufficient detail of a full scope of the damage. Such insufficient detail often results in an under or over assessment of the scope of the damage, thus potentially adding to costs of repair work to address such damage. Additionally, manual detection and communication process may introduce errors and delays in an effective response to mitigate damage, as well as safety considerations for personnel going to the site of the damage for assessment thereof.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent application: “Aspects of the disclosure provide effective and efficient technical solutions that help to accurately detect and analyze damage conditions to external features of a premises based on three-dimensional scans of the premises or other types of properties. For example, three-dimensional scans of a premises may be obtained via drones or other unmanned aerial or ground vehicles that collect data for the generation of a three-dimensional map. As another example, Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) on a user device, such as a mobile computing device, may be used to scan an area of a premises and/or generate a three-dimensional map of the area based on the scan. Damage to the area may be assessed using an artificial intelligence engine.

“In accordance with one or more embodiments, a computing platform may be configured to detect damage conditions to external features of a premises. In an example embodiment, an electronic damage assessment request related to the property is received. One or more autonomous drones are dispatched to a premises associated with the damage assessment request and capture sensor data associated with a surveyed area of the property. Based on the sensor data, a three-dimensional surface scan of the surveyed area of the property is generated. Damage to the property is assessed based on the generated three-dimensional surface scan. A damage report including the assessed damage is generated and transmitted to an interactive display interface of a computing system. In some embodiments, the damage assessment request comprises location information relating to the property. A geolocation of the property is determined based on the received location information and at least one of a global positioning sensor (GPS) signal and a location beacon signal received by a positioning sensor of the one or more autonomous drones. The one or more autonomous drones is navigated to the geolocation of the property. In some embodiments, the sensor data is compared to a threshold. The threshold is at least one of a water level threshold, a humidity threshold, a surface thinness threshold, and a topographical surface variation threshold. Based on comparing the sensor data to the threshold, a triggering event associated with the surveyed area is determined. The one or more autonomous drones captures additional sensor data in at least one additional physical location associated with the surveyed area, the at least one additional physical location being different from a physical location associated with the triggering event. In some embodiments, assessing damage to the property further comprises determining at least one damage element based on the sensor data, the at least one damage element comprising any of a damage type, damage location, and estimated cost to repair. In some embodiments, the sensor data comprises one or more digital images. The damage element is determined by executing a machine learning-based image recognition operation on the one or more digital images. In some embodiments, at least one of a repair job ticket and an insurance claim is generated based on the at least one damage element and electronically submitted to a remote computing system via the at least one communication interface. In some embodiments, a user-interactive video comprising the three-dimensional surface scan and identification information for the one or more autonomous drones is generated based on sensor data and, responsive to receiving a user input via the interactive display interface, a control on the interactive display interface plays back the user-interactive video.

“In accordance with one or more embodiments, a computing platform may be configured to detect damage conditions to external features of a premises using a LIDAR scan. In an example embodiment, an electronic damage assessment request related to the property is received. The electronic damage assessment request comprises first location information. Based on second information provided by a mobile device comprising a LIDAR sensor associated with the computing platform, the mobile device is determined to be in a target spatial location corresponding to the first location information. Based on determining that the mobile device is in the target spatial location, a scan is initiated by the LIDAR sensor. Depth sensor data associated with a surveyed area of the property is received from the LIDAR sensor. Based on the depth sensor data, a three-dimensional surface scan of the surveyed area of the property is generated. Damage to the property is assessed based on the generated three-dimensional surface scan. A damage report including the assessed damage is generated and transmitted to an interactive display interface of a computing system. In some embodiments, a zoom-in area on the surveyed area of the property is determined based on the depth sensor data. Image data depicting the zoom-in area is received. Based on the depth sensor data and the image data, the three-dimensional surface scan of the surveyed area of the property is generated. In some embodiments, a machine learning-based image recognition operation is executed on the three-dimensional surface scan. At least one damage element is determined based on the executed image recognition operation, the at least one damage element comprising any of a damage type, damage location, and estimated cost to repair. In some embodiments, based on the at least one determined damage element, at least one of a repair job ticket and an insurance claim is generated and electronically submitted to a remote computing system via the at least one communication interface. In some embodiments, a virtual object is layered on the three-dimensional surface scan. In some embodiments, a sensed object on the three-dimensional surface scan is determined and removed. In some embodiments, a user-interactive video feed is generated. During the scan, a control on the interactive display interface plays back the user-interactive video feed. In some embodiments, the scan is a first scan. Responsive to receiving a user input via the interactive display interface, a second scan is initiated by the LIDAR sensor associated with the computing platform.

“These features, along with many others, are discussed in greater detail below.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for damage assessment using three-dimensional surface scans, the method comprising: at a computing platform comprising at least one processor, at least one memory, and at least one communication interface: receiving an electronic damage assessment request related to a property; causing, by the at least one processor, one or more autonomous drones to dispatch to the property associated with the electronic damage assessment request; causing, by the at least one processor, the one or more autonomous drones to capture sensor data associated with a surveyed area of the property; generating, by the at least one processor and based on the captured sensor data, a three-dimensional surface scan of the surveyed area of the property; assessing, by the at least one processor, damage to the property based on the generated three-dimensional surface scan; and transmitting, by the at least one processor, via the at least one communication interface, a damage report, including the assessed damage, to an interactive display interface of a computing system.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic damage assessment request comprises location information relating to the property, the method further comprising: determining, by the at least one processor, a geolocation of the property based on the received location information and at least one of a GPS signal and a location beacon signal received by a positioning sensor of the one or more autonomous drones; and navigating, by the at least one processor, the one or more autonomous drones to the geolocation of the property.

“3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: comparing, by the at least one processor, the sensor data to a threshold, wherein the threshold is at least one of a water level threshold, a humidity threshold, a surface thinness threshold, and a topographical surface variation threshold; determining, by the at least one processor, based on the comparing of the sensor data to the threshold, a triggering event associated with the surveyed area; and causing, by the at least one processor, the one or more autonomous drones to capture additional sensor data in at least one additional physical location associated with the surveyed area, the at least one additional physical location different from a physical location associated with the triggering event.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein assessing damage to the property further comprises determining, by the at least one processor, at least one damage element based on the sensor data, the at least one damage element comprising any of a damage type, damage location, and estimated cost to repair.

“5. The method of claim 4, wherein the sensor data comprises one or more digital images, the method further comprising determining the damage element by executing a machine learning-based image recognition operation on the one or more digital images.

“6. The method of claim 4, further comprising generating, based on the at least one damage element, and electronically submitting, by the at least one processor, to a remote computing system via the at least one communication interface, at least one of a repair job ticket and an insurance claim.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating, by the at least one processor and based on the sensor data, a user-interactive video comprising the three-dimensional surface scan and identification information for the one or more autonomous drones; and responsive to receiving a user input via the interactive display interface, causing a control on the interactive display interface to play back the user-interactive video.

“8. A computing system for damage assessment using three-dimensional surface scans, the computing system comprising at least one processor, at least one memory, and at least one communication interface, the at least one processor structured to perform operations comprising: receive an electronic damage assessment request related to a property; cause one or more autonomous drones to dispatch to the property associated with the electronic damage assessment request; cause one or more autonomous drones to capture sensor data associated with a surveyed area of the property; generate, based on the captured sensor data, a three-dimensional surface scan of the surveyed area of the property; assess damage to the property based on the generated three-dimensional surface scan; and transmit, via the at least one communication interface, a damage report including the assessed damage to an interactive display interface of a computing system.

“9. The computing system of claim 8, wherein the electronic damage assessment request comprises location information relating to the property, the operations further comprising: determine a geolocation of the property based on the received location information and at least one of a GPS signal and a location beacon signal received by a positioning sensor of the one or more autonomous drones; and navigate the one or more autonomous drones to the geolocation of the property.

“10. The computing system of claim 8, the operations further comprising: compare the sensor data to a threshold, wherein the threshold is at least one of a water level threshold, a humidity threshold, a surface thinness threshold, and a topographical surface variation threshold; determine, based on comparing the sensor data to the threshold, a triggering event associated with the surveyed area; and cause the one or more autonomous drones to capture additional sensor data in at least one additional physical location associated with the surveyed area, the at least one additional physical location different from a physical location associated with the triggering event.

“11. The computing system of claim 8, wherein assess damage to the property further comprises determine, by the at least one processor, at least one damage element based on the sensor data, the at least one damage element comprising any of a damage type, damage location, and estimated cost to repair.

“12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the sensor data comprises one or more digital images, the operations further comprising determine the damage element by executing a machine learning-based image recognition operation on the one or more digital images.

“13. The computing system of claim 11, the operations further comprising generate, based on the at least one damage element, and electronically submit, by the at least one processor, to a remote computing system via the at least one communication interface, at least one of a repair job ticket and an insurance claim.

“14. The computing system of claim 8, further comprising: generate, by the at least one processor and based on the sensor data, a user-interactive video comprising the three-dimensional surface scan and identification information for the one or more autonomous drones; and responsive to receiving a user input via the interactive display interface, cause a control on the interactive display interface to play back the user-interactive video.

“15. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed at a computing platform comprising at least one processor, at least one memory, and at least one communication interface, causing the computing platform to perform operations comprising: receiving an electronic damage assessment request related to a property; causing, by the at least one processor, one or more autonomous drones to dispatch to the property associated with the electronic damage assessment request; causing, by the at least one processor, the one or more autonomous drones to capture sensor data associated with a surveyed area of the property; generating, by the at least one processor and based on the captured sensor data, a three-dimensional surface scan of the surveyed area of the property; assessing, by the at least one processor, damage to the property based on the generated three-dimensional surface scan; and transmitting, by the at least one processor, via the at least one communication interface, a damage report including the assessed damage to an interactive display interface of a computing system.

“16. The media of claim 15, wherein the damage assessment request comprises location information relating to the property, the operations further comprising: determining, by the at least one processor, a geolocation of the property based on the received location information and at least one of a GPS signal and a location beacon signal received by a positioning sensor of the one or more autonomous drones; and navigating, by the at least one processor, the one or more autonomous drones to the geolocation of the property.

“17. The media of claim 15, the operations further comprising: comparing, by the at least one processor, the sensor data to a threshold, wherein the threshold is at least one of a water level threshold, a humidity threshold, a surface thinness threshold, and a topographical surface variation threshold; determining, by the at least one processor, based on comparing the sensor data to the threshold, a triggering event associated with the surveyed area; and causing, by the at least one processor, the one or more autonomous drones to capture additional sensor data in at least one additional physical location associated with the surveyed area, the at least one additional physical location different from a physical location associated with the triggering event.

“18. The media of claim 15, wherein assessing damage to the property further comprises determining, by the at least one processor, at least one damage element based on the sensor data, the at least one damage element comprising any of a damage type, damage location, and estimated cost to repair.”

There are additional claims. Please visit full patent to read further.

For more information, see this patent application: Hayman, George. Damage Detection And Analysis Using Three-Dimensional Surface Scans. Filed December 1, 2021 and posted June 2, 2022. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220220172475%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20220172475&RS=DN/20220172475

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