Patent Issued for System and method for analyzing an integrity of a roof covering (USPTO 11308600): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 MAY 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Haefli, Eric (Bloomington, IL, US), filed on August 18, 2020, was published online on April 19, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11308600, is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “During storms, gusts of wind can blow loose shingles off a roof. However, because roof shingles are arranged to overlap, identifying loose shingles in the absence of a powerful wind can be difficult because secure shingles overlapping loose shingles can lay flat on the course of roofing below and not be readily apparent to be loose by visual inspection alone.

“Moreover, identifying loose shingles through the process of tugging individual shingles is tedious, inefficient, and potentially harmful to the shingles themselves. For example, tugging an individual shingle may crack or break the shingle, damage the seal connecting the shingle to the roof deck or waterproofing layer, or produce similar effects to surrounding shingles due to their overlapping pattern.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

“In one embodiment, a computer implemented method for analyzing an integrity of a roof covering is provided. The method may include identifying one or more roof sections of a structure; directing an airflow over one or more discontinuous roof covering materials of the roof section; observing a respective lift for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials; determining a discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials based on the respective lift; generating an overall roof integrity rating based on one or more discontinuous roof covering material adhesion scores; and/or providing the overall roof integrity rating to a user of a computing device.

“In another embodiment, computer device for analyzing an integrity of a roof covering is provided. The computer device may include an imaging unit configured to observe a respective lift for each of one or more discontinuous roof covering materials of one or more roof sections of a structure while an airflow is directed over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials. The computer device may further include one or more processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors. The one or more memories may include non-transitory computer executable instructions stored therein that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer device to identify the one or more roof sections; obtain the respective lift for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials from the imaging unit; determine a discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials based on the respective lift; generate an overall roof integrity rating based on one or more discontinuous roof covering material adhesion scores; and/or provide an overall roof integrity rating to a user of a computing device.

“In yet another embodiment, a device for analyzing an integrity of a roof covering is provided. The device may include an airflow unit configured to generate an airflow over one or more discontinuous roof covering materials of one or more roof sections of a structure. The device may further include an imaging unit configured to observe the respective lift for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials while the airflow is directed over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials. The device may further include one or more processors and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors. The one or more memories may include non-transitory computer executable instructions stored therein that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to control the airflow from the airflow unit; obtain the respective lift for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials from the imaging unit; and/or determine a discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials based on the respective lift.

“The figures depict various aspects of the present invention for purposes of illustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments of the structures and methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing from the principles of the invention described herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer implemented method for analyzing an integrity of a roof covering, the method comprising: identifying, by one or more processors, one or more roof sections of a structure; directing, by an airflow device, an airflow over one or more discontinuous roof covering materials of the one or more roof sections; observing, by an imaging unit, a respective lift for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials; generating, by the one or more processors, an overall roof integrity rating based on the respective lift of one or more of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials; and providing, by the one or more processors, the overall roof integrity rating to a user of a computing device.

“2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials include: (i) asphalt shingles, (ii) metal panels, (iii) metal shingles, (iv) stone-coated steel panels, (v) slate panels, (vi) rubber slate panels, (vii) clay tiles, (viii) concrete tiles, or (ix) cedar shakes.

“3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein directing the airflow over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials further comprises determining at least one of: (i) an angle relative to the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials to direct the airflow over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials or (ii) a distance from the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials to direct the airflow over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials.

“4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, by the one or more processors, a discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials based on the respective lift, wherein the discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials indicates a seal quality for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials.

“5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein determining the discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials includes assessing at least one of: (i) a curvature of a respective discontinuous roof covering material of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials, (ii) a smoothness of the respective discontinuous roof covering material, or (iii) the seal quality of the respective discontinuous roof covering material.

“6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: creating, by the one or more processors, a plurality of discontinuous roof covering material adhesion scores based on the respective lift of one or more of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials; updating, by the one or more processors, an aspect of an insurance policy based on the overall roof integrity rating; and determining, by the one or more processors, eligibility of the structure for coverage under the insurance policy based on the overall roof integrity rating, wherein the overall roof integrity rating is based on the plurality of discontinuous roof covering material adhesion scores.

“7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the overall roof integrity rating indicates at least one of: (i) an adhesion of the roof covering to itself, or (ii) an adhesion of the roof covering to a roof deck.

“8. A computer device for analyzing an integrity of a roof covering, the computer device comprising: an imaging unit configured to observe a respective lift for each of one or more discontinuous roof covering materials of one or more roof sections of a structure while an airflow is directed over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials; one or more processors; and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories including non-transitory computer executable instructions stored therein that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer device to: identify the one or more roof sections; obtain the respective lift for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials from the imaging unit; generate an overall roof integrity rating based on the respective lift of one or more of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials; and provide the overall roof integrity rating to a user of a computing device.

“9. The computer device of claim 8, wherein the computer device comprises the computing device, and wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions that cause the computer device to provide the overall roof integrity rating to the user of the computing device cause the computer device to present the overall roof integrity rating via a display of the computing device.

“10. The computer device of claim 8, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computer device to determine at least one of the following: (i) an angle relative to the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials to direct the airflow over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials, or (ii) a distance from the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials to direct the airflow over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials.

“11. The computer device of claim 8, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the computer device to: determine a discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials based on the respective lift, the discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials indicating a seal quality for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials.

“12. The computer device of claim 11, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions that cause the computer device to determine the discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials further cause the computer device to assess at least one of: (i) a curvature of a respective discontinuous roof covering material of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials, (ii) a smoothness of the respective discontinuous roof covering material, or (iii) the seal quality of the respective discontinuous roof covering material.

“13. The computer device of claim 8, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions that cause the computer device to determine the discontinuous roof covering material adhesion score for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials further cause the computer device to: create a plurality of discontinuous roof covering material adhesion scores based on the respective lift of one or more of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials; update an aspect of an insurance policy based on the overall roof integrity rating; and determine eligibility of the structure for coverage under the insurance policy based on the overall roof integrity rating, wherein the overall roof integrity rating is based on the plurality of discontinuous roof covering material adhesion scores.

“14. The computer device of claim 8, wherein the overall roof integrity rating indicates at least one of: (i) an adhesion of the roof covering to itself, or (ii) an adhesion of the roof covering to a roof deck.

“15. A device for analyzing an integrity of a roof covering, the device comprising: an airflow unit configured to generate an airflow over one or more discontinuous roof covering materials of one or more roof sections of a structure; an imaging unit configured to observe the respective lift for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials while the airflow is directed over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials; one or more processors; and one or more memories coupled to the one or more processors, the one or more memories including non-transitory computer executable instructions stored therein that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to: control the airflow from the airflow unit, obtain the respective lift for each of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials from the imaging unit, and generate an overall roof integrity rating based on the respective lift of one or more of the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials.

“16. The device of claim 15, wherein the device is configured to test one or more types of discontinuous roof covering materials, including: (i) asphalt shingles, (ii) metal panels, (iii) metal shingles, (iv) stone-coated steel panels, (v) slate panels, (vi) rubber slate panels, (vii) clay tiles, (viii) concrete tiles, or (ix) cedar shakes.

“17. The device of claim 15, wherein the non-transitory computer executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the device to determine at least one of the following: (i) an angle relative to the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials for the airflow unit to direct the airflow over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials, or (ii) a distance from the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials for the airflow unit to direct the airflow over the one or more discontinuous roof covering materials.”

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

For more information, see this patent: Haefli, Eric. System and method for analyzing an integrity of a roof covering. U.S. Patent Number 11308600, filed August 18, 2020, and published online on April 19, 2022. 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=11308600.PN.&OS=PN/11308600RS=PN/11308600

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