Patent Issued for Systems and methods for employing augmented reality in appraisal and assessment operations (USPTO 11282286): United Services Automobile Association

2022 APR 13 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Alexandria, Virginia, NewsRx journalists report that a patent by the inventors Brown, Donna Moncrief (San Antonio, TX, US), Chavez, Carlos J P (San Antonio, TX, US), James, David (San Antonio, TX, US), Richardson, Andrea (San Antonio, TX, US), Santos, Victoria A. (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on February 9, 2021, was published online on March 22, 2022.

The patent’s assignee for patent number 11282286 is United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The present disclosure relates generally to using augmented reality to assist in various appraisal and assessment operations. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to adjusting visualizations depicted via an electronic display to assist in appraisal and adjustment operations.

“This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it may be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.

“Claims adjusters and appraisers may encounter a variety of types of damages when visiting properties. To assist claims adjusters and appraisers in effectively identifying damage at a property and assessing a value for the damage, supervisors may provide feedback to the claims adjusters and appraisers after the adjuster or appraiser provides a report indicative of the adjuster’s or appraiser’s assessment. To better prepare the adjusters and appraisers to perform their job tasks, it may be desirable to train these individuals before performing adjustment and appraisal services on actual property damage.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “One or more specific embodiments will be described below. In an effort to provide a concise description of these embodiments, not all features of an actual implementation are described in the specification. It should be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, as in any engineering or design project, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers’ specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which may vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it should be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of design, fabrication, and manufacture for those of ordinary skill having the benefit of this disclosure.

“When introducing elements of various embodiments of the present disclosure, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean that there are one or more of the elements. The terms “comprising,” “including,” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements other than the listed elements. Additionally, it should be understood that references to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” of the present disclosure are not intended to be interpreted as excluding the existence of additional embodiments that also incorporate the recited features.

“Training operations for claims adjusters and appraisers may typically involve reviewing documentation and mockups created in a classroom setting to inform adjusters and appraisers of how to assess certain situations. As can be appreciated, the fixed nature of the documentation and mockups limits the experience that the training appraiser may have when learning how to appraise a property. That is, appraisal operations may include evaluating different types of properties to determine the current value of the properties. In the same manner, adjusters may determine an amount of value lost or a cost for replacement of a property that suffered damage caused by a variety of sources (e.g., wind, hail, flood). Although documentation and images may assist appraisers and adjusters in learning what each type of property or property damage may look like, it may be difficult to apply the knowledge gained from evaluating certain images to assessing a structure that does not look like the image used for training.

“With the foregoing in mind, in some embodiments, an augmented reality system may retrieve data from various databases and overlay visualizations on real images, as viewed by a user, via a transparent electronic display. That is, when performing certain training scenarios, the augmented reality system may overlay damage visualizations to various objects, appliances, fixtures, and the like in a structure (e.g., building) to train the user in appraising or assessing (e.g., for adjustment purposes) damage to various objects. For instance, when performing a training exercise, the augmented reality system may project fire damage to a wall to determine how the appraiser or adjuster may assess the projected damage.

“In some embodiments, the augmented reality system may provide a checklist visualization to assist the appraiser, adjuster, or any individual in acquiring images related to acquiring an appraisal. The checklist visualization may point to or outline various objects detected as potential hazards.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. An augmented reality structural assessment system, comprising: a display device; at least one sensor configured to acquire image data associated with a structure; a processor configured to: receive the image data, wherein the image data represents one or more portions of the structure; receive motion data representative of a number of steps traversed by a user about the structure; determine one or more dimensions of one or more portions of the structure based on the motion data; generate a visualization of a scenario related to structural damage to the one or more portions of the structure of the image data; present the visualization to a user via the display device such that the visualization is configured to augment a view of the structure presented via the display device to include the one or more dimensions; receive data comprising one or more assessments of damage made by the user corresponding to the scenario, the image data, and the one or more dimensions; store the data regarding one or more assessments of the damage in a storage component; and generate a policy quote based in part on the one or more assessments.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: generate a plurality of visualizations representative of one or more property lines associated with the structure; and present the plurality of visualizations with the visualization via the display device.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the visualization comprises a simulation of a disruptive event having occurred in the structure.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the visualization comprises imagery of a leak or a flood in the structure.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to: receive topography information related to a land surrounding the structure; and generate a set of visualizations to augment the view of the structure based on the topography information.

“6. The system of claim 5, wherein the topography information comprises an indication of a location of a flood plain with respect to the structure.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the visualization depicts an expected water level in the structure based on a simulated flood scenario.

“8. The system of claim 1, comprising one or more dimensional sensors configured to acquire additional data regarding the one or more dimensions of the structure.

“9. The system of claim 1, comprising one or more motion sensors configured to capture additional data indicative of one or more gestures of the user.

“10. The system of claim 1, comprising one or more image sensors configured to receive additional image data representing one or more objects in the structure, wherein the processor is configured to recognize the one or more objects based on the additional image data and one or more images stored in a database.

“11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more objects are associated with a potential hazard.

“12. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to determine one or more conditions of the one or more objects based on the additional image data and the one or more images stored in the database.

“13. A method, comprising: receiving, via a processor, one or more scenarios related to damage to a structure based on image data associated with one or more portions of the structure; receiving, via the processor, motion data representative of a number of steps traversed by a user about the structure; determining, via the processor, a floorplan associated with the structure based on the motion data; generating, via the processor, a set of visualizations based on the one or more scenarios and the floorplan; presenting, via the processor, the set of visualizations on a display device, wherein the set of visualizations is configured to be overlaid on the image data representing the one or more portions of the structure, and wherein the image data corresponds to a real-time view of the one or more portions of the structure, and wherein the set of visualizations is related to structural damage on the one or more portions of the structure; receiving, via the processor, data comprising one or more assessments of damage corresponding to the one or more portions of the structure and the structural damage; and storing, via the processor, the data in a storage component.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein the data comprises one or more objects to be overlaid on the image data.

“15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more objects comprises an arrow, a circle, or both.

“16. The method of claim 13, comprising: receiving, via the processor, additional image data associated with the one or more portions of the structure, wherein the additional image data is acquired prior to the image data; and overlaying, via the processor, the additional image data on the image data.

“17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, is configured to cause the processor to: receive image data associated with one or more portions of a structure via an image sensor; receive motion data representative of a number of steps traversed by a user about the structure; determine one or more dimensions of the one or more portions of the structure based on the motion data; generate a set of visualizations based on a scenario related to damage to the one or more portions of the structure; present the set of visualizations on a display device, wherein the set of visualizations comprises an augmented view of the structure with the damage presented via the display device to include the one or more dimensions; receive data comprising one or more assessments of damage corresponding to the one or more portions of the structure and the damage; and determine a repair cost of the damage based on the one or more assessments.

“18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, is configured to cause the processor to: receive additional image data associated with the one or more portions of the structures, wherein the additional image data is acquired prior to the image data; and overlay the additional image data on the image data.

“19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, is configured to cause the processor to generate a plurality of insurance policy quotes to cover the structure based on the repair cost.

“20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, is configured to cause the processor to determine a diminished value for the structure based on the repair cost.”

For additional information on this patent, see: Brown, Donna Moncrief. Systems and methods for employing augmented reality in appraisal and assessment operations. U.S. Patent Number 11282286, filed February 9, 2021, and published online on March 22, 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=11282286.PN.&OS=PN/11282286RS=PN/11282286

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