Patent Issued for Siding Evaluation Apparatus And Method (USPTO 10,628,939)

2020 APR 01 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 10,628,939, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Madey, Taryn M. (Apex, NC); Gibson, Sharon (Carlock, IL); Mast, Joshua M. (Bloomington, IL); Tofte, Nathan L. (Downs, IL); Turner, Chad Junior (Normal, IL).

This patent was filed on May 3, 2018 and was published online on May 4, 2020.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Siding is a common building covering, frequently used in wood-framed buildings to protect against water. Over time, ordinary weathering and other damage may degrade the integrity of building siding, which may then require repair or replacement. Insurers may photograph damaged building siding to make a record of its condition for claims adjustment and repairs. It is also possible to use measurements of lengths of portions of the building siding derived from an image to determine size of the building siding. For example, the methods described in Mauer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,885,916, may be used to identify a siding product using measurements derived from an image. Such measurements require a reference object of known length within the image. Additionally, because siding is typically installed upon the exterior of buildings, lighting conditions in which such photographs are captured can vary substantially over the course of seasons, days, or hours. This has been considered acceptable because the photographs had previously been used for reference only, and human adjusters attempt to take into consideration such changes in lighting conditions when reviewing the photographs. Such variation in lighting, exposure, and camera characteristics would be problematic if automatic processing were applied to such images, however.

“In an unrelated field, color charts are used by professionals in entertainment, advertising, photography, and fine art industries. Color charts provide a set of known color patches for comparison against observed colors. Color charts frequently also provide scales of known length and dimensions for reference of distances within the image. In addition to determine size measurements of objects in captured images, color charts are typically used to check color calibration in reproductions of images or to allow a photographer to adjust camera settings prior to image capture, which may include adjusting parameters to obtain a desired color temperature and white balance. In order to use color charts for measuring objects or determining colors within an image, however, the color chart must be photographed with the image. This is typically performed by holding the color chart near an object of interest when the image is captured. This method may require an additional person to hold the color chart, however, which may further interfere with lighting conditions (e.g., by blocking light sources or by reflection).”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “The present application discloses a siding evaluation apparatus, system, and method for use in identifying a characteristic of building siding. According to an aspect of the invention disclosed herein, the siding evaluation apparatus may comprise a color chart holder and means for removably attaching the siding evaluation apparatus to a first portion of the building siding. The means for removably attaching the siding evaluation apparatus may include using at least one of pressure or friction to hold the siding evaluation apparatus in place relative to the first portion of the building siding. The color may be adapted to hold a color chart in a manner such that the color chart and a second portion of the building siding are simultaneously visible when the siding evaluation apparatus is attached to the first portion of the building siding. In some embodiments, the color chart holder may include the color chart. Alternatively, the color chart holder may include one or more hooks or other connectors to connect to one or more of a color chart or a color chart case containing a color chart. Thus, the color chart may be removable from the color chart holder or may be integrally disposed within the color chart holder in a manner not adapted for removal.

“In some embodiments, the means for removably attaching the siding evaluation apparatus to the first portion of the building siding may include a protrusion or a clip. The protrusion may be adapted to be removably inserted between rows of siding to hold the siding evaluation apparatus in place by friction or pressure. The protrusion may further include a tapered portion that is tapered to be thinner at the end of the protrusion away from the color chart holder, viz. the end of the protrusion that is inserted between the rows of siding. The tapered portion of the protrusion may have a thin end away from the color chart holder that has a thickness less than 2 millimeters and a thick end nearer the color chart holder that has a thickness greater than 2 millimeters. The clip may be adapted to receive the first portion of the building siding to hold the siding evaluation apparatus in place by friction or pressure. The clip may receive a portion of a seam of the building siding and may apply pressure to the seam to removably secure the siding evaluation apparatus. The clip may include a gap between 0.3 and 3 millimeters into which the first portion of the building siding is received.

“The siding evaluation apparatus may be constructed as a single piece or may be formed of multiple pieces. When formed of multiple pieces, the siding evaluation apparatus may further be configured to allow the position of the color chart holder to be adjusted relative to the means for removably attaching the siding evaluation apparatus to the first portion of the building siding. Thus, the siding evaluation apparatus may further comprise an adjustable connector disposed between the means for removably attaching the siding evaluation apparatus to the first portion of the building siding and the color chart holder. The adjustable component may be adapted to rotate, slide, or otherwise adjust the position of the color chart holder in relation to the position of the means for removably attaching the siding evaluation apparatus to the first portion of the building siding. Thereby, the position of the color chart holder may be adjusted to display the color chart substantially parallel to the second portion of the building siding by adjusting the position of the adjustable connector between the color chart holder and the connecting portion. Whether formed as one solid piece or multiple pieces, however, any or all parts of the siding evaluation apparatus may be formed of any convenient material, such as synthetic plastics, rubbers, or solid resins.

“According to a further aspect of the invention disclosed herein, the system may comprise the following: a siding evaluation apparatus adapted to removably attach to a first portion of the building siding and further adapted to hold a color chart for display in proximity to the first portion of the building siding a color chart; an image capture device positioned to capture an image of the color chart; and a computing device communicatively connected to the image capture device, including one or more processors and a module stored in a program memory of the computing device that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to: receive a digital image of the color chart and a second portion of the siding from the image capture device, and determine a characteristic of the building siding based upon the received digital image. The siding evaluation apparatus may be any of the embodiments of the siding evaluation apparatus as described herein. The program memory may further store executable instructions that cause the one or more processors to adjust a color profile of the digital image based upon the one or more known reference areas of the color chart.

“According to a further aspect of the invention disclosed herein, the method may comprise the following: removably attaching a siding evaluation apparatus to a first portion of the building siding; capturing an image of the color chart and a second portion of the building siding using an image capture device; determining a profile for the image based upon a portion of the captured image corresponding to at least a portion of the color chart using one or more processors; and determining a characteristic of the building siding based upon the captured image and the determined profile using one or more processors. The siding evaluation apparatus may include a color chart holder adapted to hold a color chart and a connecting portion adapted to hold the siding evaluation apparatus in place by one or more connectors. The siding evaluation apparatus may also be any of the embodiments of the siding evaluation apparatus as described herein. Determining the characteristic of the building siding may include determining one or more of the following: a size associated with the building siding, a condition of the building siding, an age of the building siding, or damage to the building siding. The method may further include adjusting the position of the color chart holder to display the color chart substantially parallel to the second portion of the building siding by adjusting the position of an adjustable connector between the color chart holder and the connecting portion.

“Additional aspects or embodiments of the invention are described herein. The siding evaluation apparatus, system, or method may include additional, fewer, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A system for identifying a characteristic of building siding, comprising: a siding evaluation apparatus adapted to removably attach to the building siding and further adapted to hold a color chart for display in proximity to the building siding, wherein the siding evaluation apparatus includes a component adapted to removably attach to the building siding by one or more of the following: a protrusion adapted to be removably inserted between rows of siding to hold the siding evaluation apparatus in place or a clip adapted to receive the building siding to hold the siding evaluation apparatus in place; an image capture device positioned to capture an image of the color chart; and a computing device communicatively connected to the image capture device, including one or more processors and a module stored in a program memory of the computing device that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing device to: receive a digital image of the color chart and the building siding from the image capture device; and determine a characteristic of the building siding based upon the received digital image.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein: the color chart includes one or more known reference areas; and module further causes the computing device to adjust a color profile of the digital image based upon the one or more known reference areas of the color chart.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the color chart is removably connected to the siding evaluation apparatus.

“4. A method for identifying a characteristic of building siding, comprising: removably attaching a siding evaluation apparatus to the building siding, wherein the siding evaluation apparatus includes a color chart holder adapted to hold a color chart and a connection portion adapted to hold the siding evaluation apparatus in place by one or more connectors, the one or more connectors including at least one of the following: a protrusion adapted to be removably inserted between rows of siding to hold the siding evaluation apparatus in place or a clip adapted to receive the building siding to hold the siding evaluation apparatus in place; capturing an image of the color chart and the building siding using an image capture device; and determining, by one or more processors, a characteristic of the building siding based upon the captured image.

“5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more connectors include the protrusion, and wherein the protrusion includes a tapered portion that is tapered to be thinner at the end of the protrusion away from the color chart holder and wherein the tapered portion has a thin end away from the color chart holder with a thickness less than 2 millimeters and a thick end nearer the color chart holder with a thickness greater than 2 millimeters.

“6. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more connectors include the clip, and wherein the clip receives a portion of a seam of the building siding and wherein the clip includes a gap between 0.3 millimeters and 3 millimeters into which the portion of the seam is received.

“7. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the characteristic of the building siding includes determining at least one of the following: a size associated with the building siding, a condition of the building siding, an age of the building siding, or damage to the building siding.

“8. The method of claim 4, further comprising: adjusting the position of the color chart holder to display the color chart substantially parallel to the building siding by adjusting the position of an adjustable connector between the color chart holder and the connecting portion.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the siding evaluation apparatus includes the protrusion adapted to be removably inserted between rows of siding.

“10. The system of claim 9, wherein the protrusion includes a tapered portion that is tapered to be thinner at an end of the protrusion extending away from the color chart holder.

“11. The system of claim 10, wherein: the tapered portion has a thin end away from the color chart holder and a thick end nearer the color chart holder; the thin end has a thickness less than 2 millimeters; and the thick end has a thickness greater than 2 millimeters.

“12. The system of claim 1, wherein the siding evaluation apparatus includes the clip adapted to receive the building siding.

“13. The system of claim 12, wherein the clip is adapted to receive a portion of a seam of the building siding.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein the clip includes a gap between 0.3 and 3 millimeters into which the portion of the seam of the building siding is received.

“15. The system of claim 1, wherein the siding evaluation apparatus includes a color chart holder to hold the color chart, such color chart holder including one or more hooks to connect to one or more of the color chart or a color chart case containing the color chart.

“16. The system of claim 1, wherein the siding evaluation apparatus further comprises an adjustable connector disposed between the component adapted to removably attach to the building siding and the color chart holder, which adjustable connector is adapted to rotate or slide the color chart holder in relation to the position of the component adapted to removably attach to the building siding.

“17. The system of claim 1, wherein the siding evaluation apparatus includes both the protrusion adapted to be removably inserted between rows of siding and the clip adapted to receive the building siding.

“18. The method of claim 4, wherein the color chart holder includes one or more hooks to connect to one or more of the color chart or a color chart case containing the color chart.

“19. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the characteristic of the building siding based upon the captured image includes: determining one or more known reference areas of the color chart within the captured image; adjusting a color profile of the captured image based upon the one or more known reference areas of the color chart; and determining the characteristic of the building siding based upon the captured image and the adjusted color profile of the captured image.

“20. The method of claim 4, wherein the siding evaluation apparatus further comprises an adjustable connector disposed between the color chart holder and the connection portion of the siding evaluation apparatus, which adjustable connector is adapted to rotate or slide the color chart holder in relation to the position of the connection portion of the siding evaluation apparatus.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Madey, Taryn M.; Gibson, Sharon; Mast, Joshua M.; Tofte, Nathan L.; Turner, Chad Junior. Siding Evaluation Apparatus And Method. U.S. Patent Number 10,628,939, filed May 3, 2018, and published online on May 4, 2020. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,628,939.PN.&OS=PN/10,628,939RS=PN/10,628,939

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