Patent Issued for Systems and methods for assessing property development condition (USPTO 11527061): United Services Automobile Association

2022 DEC 29 (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 Amann, Manfred (San Antonio, TX, US), Beveridge, Meredith (San Antonio, TX, US), Bitsis, Jr., Daniel Christopher (San Antonio, TX, US), Brown, Donnette Moncrief (San Antonio, TX, US), Gray, Emily Margaret (San Antonio, TX, US), Haslam, Justin Dax (San Antonio, TX, US), Kou, Qunying (San Antonio, TX, US), Maciolek, Michael J. (Boerne, TX, US), Mohs, Bobby Lawrence (San Antonio, TX, US), Philbrick, Ashley Raine (San Antonio, TX, US), Schroeder, Eric David (San Antonio, TX, US), Shipley, Brian F. (Plano, TX, US), Simpson, Robert Wiseman (Fair Oaks Ranch, TX, US), filed on March 24, 2020, was published online on December 13, 2022.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 11527061, is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for assessing property development. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to techniques to provide an assessment of development stages of a property being developed over the course of construction and to assemble a model of the property based on the assessment, even in the absence of a physical review of the property. The present disclosure also relates to user interfaces that permit a user to review a model of the property based on the assessment.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “A summary of certain embodiments disclosed herein is set forth below. It should be understood that these aspects are presented merely to provide the reader with a brief summary of these certain embodiments and that these aspects are not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Indeed, this disclosure may encompass a variety of aspects that may not be set forth below.

“In one example, a system is provided that includes an input interface configured to receive a user input identifying a property in a geographic area. The system also includes a processor configured to receive the user input identifying the property; instruct a controller of an unmanned aerial vehicle to obtain image data of the property via a flight path in the geographic area at a first time point; receive the image data of the property from the unmanned aerial vehicle; determine a development condition of the property at the first time point based on the image data; generate a development condition output; and provide the development condition output to a user via the communication circuitry.

“In one example, a method is provided that includes the steps of instructing a controller of one or more unmanned aerial vehicles to obtain image data of a property via a flight path over the property at a plurality of time points, wherein each of the plurality of time points is associated with a respective construction stage of the property; receiving the image data of the property from the one or more unmanned aerial vehicles; and rendering a model of the property based on the image data, wherein the model comprises a plurality of layers, wherein each layer of the plurality of layers is associated with the respective construction stage of the property.

“In one example, a system is provided that includes a vehicle fleet of a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles having respective vehicle controllers. The system also includes a processor configured to communicate with each controller of the vehicle fleet; schedule an individual unmanned aerial vehicle of the vehicle fleet to obtain first image data of a property via a flight path in a geographic area at a first time point, wherein the first time point is based on an estimated construction stage of the property; receive the first image data of the property from the individual unmanned aerial vehicle; determine that the construction stage is complete at the first time point based on the first image data; schedule the individual unmanned aerial vehicle or another individual unmanned aerial vehicle of the vehicle fleet to obtain second image data of the property at a second time point, wherein the second time point is selected on an estimated time to complete a subsequent construction stage of the property; validate completion of the construction stage and the subsequent construction stage based on the first image data and second image data; and provide a validation output to a user based on the validating.

“Various refinements of the features noted above may exist in relation to various aspects of the present disclosure. Further features may also be incorporated in these various aspects as well. These refinements and additional features may exist individually or in any combination. For instance, various features discussed below in relation to one or more of the illustrated embodiments may be incorporated into any of the above-described aspects of the present disclosure alone or in any combination. The brief summary presented above is intended only to familiarize the reader with certain aspects and contexts of embodiments of the present disclosure without limitation to the claimed subject matter.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system, comprising: an input interface configured to receive a user input identifying an individual property in a geographic area; communication circuitry; and a processor configured to: receive the user input identifying the property; instruct a controller of an unmanned aerial vehicle to obtain first image data of the property via a flight path in the geographic area at a first time point; receive the first image data of the property from the unmanned aerial vehicle; identify a construction stage of the property based on the first image data; receive weather data corresponding to a time period during the construction stage; determine a development condition of the property at the first time point based on a presence or absence of a construction feature of the first image data and the weather data; determine an estimated time to complete the construction stage of the property based on the development condition; schedule the unmanned aerial vehicle or another individual unmanned aerial vehicle to obtain second image data of the property at a second time point, wherein the second time point is selected based on the estimated time to complete the construction stage of the property; receive the second image data; generate a development condition output based on the second image data; and provide the development condition output to a user via the communication circuitry.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine that the development condition of the property is associated with a construction defect in the individual property based on the image data and the weather data.

“3. The system of claim 2, wherein the development condition output is an instruction to communicate an error condition to the user based on the construction defect.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to identify a construction defect in the individual property based on a comparison of the first image data and the second image data.

“5. The system of claim 4, wherein the first image data is indicative of a particular construction stage of the property and wherein the additional second image data is indicative that the property is still in the particular construction stage based on the comparison, and wherein the second time point is subsequent to the first time point by a time period greater than a threshold.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the construction feature is a protective barrier, and wherein the first image data is indicative of an absence of the protective barrier applied to the property at the first time point.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine that the development condition is a pass or does not trigger an alert based on a comparison of the first image data and the second image data.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to identify new features of development of the property based on a comparison of the first image data and the second image data.

“9. The system of claim 8, wherein the processor is configured to render a model of the property based at least in part on the first image data and the second image data, wherein the model permits addition or removal of the new features from the model based on user interaction with the model.

“10. A method, comprising: instructing a controller of one or more unmanned aerial vehicles to obtain first image data of a property via a flight path over the property at a plurality of time points, wherein each of the plurality of time points is associated with a respective construction stage of the property; receiving the first image data of the property from the one or more unmanned aerial vehicles; identifying a plurality of construction features from the first image data; determining the respective construction stage of based on the identified plurality of construction features; receiving weather data corresponding to a subset of the plurality of time points during the respective construction stage; determining a development condition of the property based on the weather data and the plurality of construction features; determining an estimated time to complete the respective construction stage of the property based on the development condition; scheduling the controller of the one or more unmanned aerial vehicles to obtain second image data of the property at an additional time point, wherein the additional time point is selected based on the estimated time to complete the respective construction stage of the property; receiving the second image data; and rendering a model of the property based on the first image data and the second image data, wherein the model comprises a plurality of layers, wherein each layer of the plurality of layers is associated with the respective construction stage of the property.

“11. The method of claim 10, comprising displaying the model on a display screen.

“12. The method of claim 10, comprising rendering a geographic site layer of the property in the model based on the first image data, wherein the first image data comprises data from a demolition or clearing construction stage.

“13. The method of claim 10, comprising rendering a framing layer of the property in the model based on the first image data, wherein the first image data comprises data from a rough framing construction stage.

“14. The method of claim 10, comprising receiving a user input to remove one or more layers of the plurality of layers and displaying the model with the one or more layers removed from the model.

“15. A system, comprising: a vehicle fleet comprising a plurality of unmanned aerial vehicles having respective vehicle controllers; a processor configured to: communicate with each controller of the vehicle fleet; schedule an individual unmanned aerial vehicle of the vehicle fleet to obtain first image data of a property via a flight path in a geographic area at a first time point; receive the first image data of the property from the individual unmanned aerial vehicle; identify a foundation feature based on the first image data; determine a construction stage of the property based on the identified foundation feature; receive weather data corresponding to the property during a time period of the construction stage; determine an estimated time to complete the construction stage based on the weather data; schedule the individual unmanned aerial vehicle or another individual unmanned aerial vehicle of the vehicle fleet to obtain second image data of the property at a second time point, wherein the second time point is selected based on the estimated time to complete the construction stage of the property; validate completion of the construction stage based on the first image data and second image data; and provide a validation output to a user based on the validating.

“16. The system of claim 15, wherein the foundation feature is concrete, and wherein the estimated time to complete the construction stage is determined based on estimating a volume of the concrete from the image data.

“17. The system of claim 15, wherein the weather data comprises an average humidity, an amount of rainfall, or both, and wherein the received weather data causes the estimated time to complete the construction stage to be adjusted upwards when the average humidity exceeds a humidity threshold, the amount of rainfall exceeds a rainfall amount threshold, or both.

“18. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to: identify a subsequent construction stage based on the second image data, wherein the second time point is within the estimated time; and wherein validating the completion of the construction stage comprises determining that the subsequent construction stage began before the construction stage was complete.

“19. The system of claim 15, wherein the foundation feature is concrete, and wherein the estimated time corresponds to a total curing time of the concrete.”

For more information, see this patent: Amann, Manfred. Systems and methods for assessing property development condition. U.S. Patent Number 11527061, filed March 24, 2020, and published online on December 13, 2022. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11527061)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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