Patent Issued for Virtual Reality Visualization System With Object Recommendation Engine (USPTO 10,223,740)

2019 MAR 18 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Allstate Insurance Company (Northbrook, Illinois, United States) has been issued patent number 10,223,740, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx editors.

The patent’s inventors are Gore, Caleb Brian Slaughter (Buffalo Grove, IL); Reif, Colton J. (Winfield, IL).

This patent was filed on February 1, 2016 and was published online on March 18, 2019.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: “Virtual reality systems may provide a user with a virtual environment based on a real world environment. Virtual reality systems may provide a user interface allowing a user to interact with the virtual environment. For example, the user may manipulate electronic representations of objects in the virtual environment. Virtual reality user interfaces may be displayed on display interfaces such as user computing devices.

“Some companies offer tools that generate a virtual room and allow customers to place virtual objects in the virtual room to see how they may be arranged in the virtual room. Once a customer has configured their virtual room to their liking using products sold by the store, the customer may be able to purchase the real world counterparts to the virtual objects and install them in their home.

“When a home or other structure is damaged, homeowners may submit claims under homeowner’s insurance policies that cover the damage. As part of these claims, homeowners may seek reimbursement or replacement of damaged items and/or appliances in the home. The homeowner may fill out a claim form listing the damaged items and an insurer may evaluate the damage against the coverage of an insurance policy. The insurer may provide reimbursement in the form of a settlement, allowing the homeowner to purchase replacement items at a local retailer.

“Although existing tools may allow users to view a virtual room and place virtual objects therein, significant difficulties exist in accurately representing a real world room on a virtual reality system. Further, the user experience may suffer in instances where the system provides users an uncurated catalog of virtual objects for inclusion in the room, potentially overwhelming the user with choices. Further still, users are often unaware of the impact that the installation of new objects in a home may have on premiums associated with homeowner’s insurance policies.”

Supplementing the background information on this patent, NewsRx reporters also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Aspects of the disclosure relate to virtual reality systems (and/or augmented reality systems) that facilitate visualization of replacement and/or additional items for rebuilding a damaged room. The system may provide a virtual representation of a subject real world room. A user may select items, such as appliances and furniture, for placement in the virtual room and the system may update the virtual room to include a representation of the items. In some embodiments, the system may utilize information about the user to provide recommendations regarding items that may be placed in a virtual room. For example, the system may utilize one or more service records to identify items covered under a service associated with the user. In some embodiments, the system may apply a monetary settlement to the cost of the real world items to facilitate the replacement of damaged items.

“A virtual reality visualization system may generate a virtual room corresponding to a real world room and cause the virtual room to be displayed on a display interface. The virtual room may be generated based on information about the real world room, such as dimensions, location, objects therein, and/or other attributes of the real world room. The system may gather visual and/or sensory information from the real world room using cameras and other sensors and determine the attributes of the room based on the gathered information. For example, the system may determine a set of dimensions for the room based on image data captured by a camera of a user device.

“Insured users may submit claims for damage to objects in the room covered by a service, such as an insurance policy. Where the damage justifies replacing the object, the insurer may provide an appropriate settlement amount to the insured covering costs associated with a replacement object and/or compensating the insured for their loss. The virtual reality visualization system may receive claim information including an identification of prior objects that occupied the real world room and were subject to damage or otherwise merit replacement and an associated settlement amount.

“The virtual reality visualization system may allow users to select replacement objects from a catalog of objects and present a representation of selected objects in the virtual room. According to some aspects, the system may recommend replacement objects based on the prior objects and/or based on attributes of the user and associated insurance policies. In some embodiments, the system may recommend comparable alternative objects based on attributes of the prior objects. In other embodiments, the system may select alternative objects for inclusion in a list of recommended objects based on determining an impact that object may have on a premium for an insurance policy associated with the user. The list of recommended replacement objects may be presented to the user on the display interface to facilitate selection of replacement objects for inclusion in the virtual room.

“In some embodiments, the system may further facilitate the user’s review and selection of replacement objects by providing an indication of an impact the object may have on an insurance policy associated with the user. According to some aspects, the system may determine a change in premium associated with a replacement object.

“The virtual reality visualization system may receive user input from the user selecting one or more replacement objects, such as a recommended replacement object from the list of recommendations. The system may update the virtual room to include a virtual representation of the selected object. The user may continue selecting objects and the system may continue updating the virtual room until the user is satisfied with the state of the virtual room and the object representations therein. Thus, users may be able to virtually rebuild a room in the event of damage and may be provided with a visualization of how the real world room may look after installation of the selected replacement objects.

“The system may facilitate the purchase of the replacement objects by placing an order with a third-party for the replacement objects and may apply the balance of the settlement amount towards the purchase. Replacement objects may have an associated price, and the system may dynamically update the remaining settlement amount as the user selects and/or removes replacement objects. Once the user is satisfied with the state of the virtual room and the selected replacement objects, the system may generate and transmit an order for the selected replacement objects.

“The system may, in some embodiments, be implemented utilizing augmented reality techniques such as smart glasses that may project virtual objects onto a field of vision of a user. These techniques may create the appearance that the virtual objects are present in a real world room or other real world environment. The system may use augmented reality techniques to display the virtual representations of selected objects such that they appear to the user to be placed in the real world room, similarly to the virtual reality embodiments described above.

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

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“What is claimed is:

“1. A system comprising: a display interface in communication with a virtual reality visualization device, wherein the display interface is configured to present a graphical user interface comprising a virtual room corresponding to a real room, a settlement amount, and a recommended object listing comprising one or more recommended objects for inclusion in the virtual room; and the virtual reality visualization device, wherein the virtual reality visualization device comprises: one or more processors; a first data source configured to store room information corresponding to the real room, wherein the room information comprises dimensions of the real room and a prior object listing of one or more prior objects associated with the real room; a second data source configured to store user information corresponding to a user, wherein the user information comprises the settlement amount, wherein the settlement amount is divided into a plurality of settlement category amounts corresponding to a plurality of settlement categories; and memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the virtual reality visualization device to: generate the virtual room corresponding to the real room based at least in part on the dimensions of the real room; generate the recommended object listing comprising the one or more recommended objects based at least in part on the prior object listing, wherein each of the one or more recommended objects are associated with a respective one of the plurality of settlement categories; cause display of the virtual room, the settlement amount, and the recommended object listing on the display interface; receive first user input comprising a selection of a first recommended object of the recommended object listing from the user; update the virtual room to include a representation of the first recommended object; update the settlement amount based on a price of the first recommended object, wherein updating the settlement amount based on the price of the first recommended object comprises updating the settlement category amount for the settlement category corresponding to the first recommended object; and cause display of the updated virtual room and the updated settlement amount on the display interface.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the virtual reality visualization device to: receive second user input comprising an indication of a location in the virtual room for the first recommended object, wherein updating the virtual room to include a representation of the first recommended object comprises placing the representation of the first recommended object at the location in the virtual room.

“3. The system of claim 2, wherein the instructions further cause the virtual reality visualization device to: determine whether the first recommended object fits in the real room at the location based on the dimensions of the real room.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first data source is a digital locker database configured to store information regarding prior objects reported by the user.

“5. The system of claim 4, wherein the information regarding prior objects associated with the user is determined based on image data associated with the real room.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the recommended object listing based at least in part on the prior object listing comprises: determining an availability of a given prior object of the one or more prior objects; if the given prior object is available, adding the given prior object to the recommended object listing; and if the given prior object is not available, determining a replacement object based on attributes of the given prior object and adding the replacement object to the recommended object listing.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the recommended object listing based at least in part on the prior object listing comprises: determining one or more replacement objects associated with a given prior object of the one or more prior objects; for each of the one or more replacement objects, determining a change in premium for a service associated with the user based on attributes of a given replacement object relative to attributes of the given prior object; and selecting a first replacement object of the one or more replacement objects for inclusion in the recommended object listing based on the determined changes in premiums for the one or more replacement object.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the virtual reality visualization device to: determine a change in a premium for a service associated with the user based on the selection of the first recommended object; and cause a display of the change in premium to the user on the display interface.

“9. A method comprising: receiving, by a virtual reality visualization device, room information corresponding to a real room, wherein the room information comprises dimensions of the real room and a prior object listing of one or more prior objects associated with the real room; receiving, by the virtual reality visualization device, user information corresponding to a user, wherein the user information comprises a settlement amount that is divided into a plurality of settlement category amounts corresponding to a plurality of settlement categories; generating, by the virtual reality visualization device, a virtual room corresponding to the real room based at least in part on the dimensions of the real room; generating, by the virtual reality visualization device, a recommended object listing comprising one or more recommended objects based at least in part on the prior object listing, wherein each of the one or more recommended objects are associated with a respective one of the plurality of settlement categories; presenting the virtual room, the settlement amount, and the recommended object listing to the user via a display interface; receiving, by the virtual reality visualization device, a selection of a first recommended object of the recommended object listing from the user; updating the virtual room to include a representation of the first recommended object; and updating the settlement amount based on a price of the first recommended object, wherein updating the settlement amount based on the price of the first recommended object comprises updating the settlement category amount for the settlement category corresponding to the first recommended object.

“10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: receiving second user input comprising an indication of a location in the virtual room for the first recommended object, wherein updating the virtual room to include a representation of the first recommended object comprises placing the representation of the first recommended object at the location in the virtual room.

“11. The method of claim 9, wherein the prior object list is received from a digital locker database configured to store information regarding prior objects reported by the user of the user device.

“12. The method of claim 9, wherein generating the recommended object listing based at least in part on the prior object listing comprises: determining one or more replacement objects associated with a given prior object of the one or more prior objects; for each of the one or more replacement objects, determining a change in premium for a service associated with the user based on attributes of a given replacement object relative to attributes of the given prior object; and selecting a first replacement object of the one or more replacement objects for inclusion in the recommended object listing based on the determined changes in premiums for the one or more replacement object.

“13. The method of claim 9, further comprising: determining a change in a premium for a service associated with the user based on the selection of the first recommended object; and causing a display of the change in premium to the user.

“14. A virtual reality visualization device comprising: at least one processor; and memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the virtual reality visualization device to: receive room information corresponding to a real room, wherein the room information comprises dimensions of the real room and a prior object listing of one or more prior objects associated with the real room; receive user information corresponding to a user, wherein the user information comprises a settlement amount; generate a virtual room corresponding to the real room based at least in part on the dimensions of the real room; generate a recommended object listing comprising one or more recommended objects based at least in part on the prior object listing by: determining one or more replacement objects associated with a given prior object of the one or more prior objects for each of the one or more replacement objects, determining a change in premium for a service associated with the user based on attributes of a given replacement object relative to attributes of the given prior object; and selecting a first replacement object of the one or more replacement objects for inclusion in the recommended object listing based on the determined changes in premiums for the one or more replacement object; present the virtual room, the settlement amount, and the recommended object listing to the user; receive a selection of a first recommended object of the recommended object listing from the user; update the virtual room to include a representation of the first recommended object; and update the settlement amount based on a price of the first recommended object.

“15. The virtual reality visualization device of claim 14, wherein generating the recommended object listing based at least in part on the prior object listing comprises: determining an availability of a given prior object of the one or more prior objects; if the given prior object is available, adding the given prior object to the recommended object listing; and if the given prior object is not available, determining a replacement object based on attributes of the given prior object and adding the replacement object to the recommended object listing.

“16. The virtual reality visualization device of claim 14, wherein the settlement amount is divided into a plurality of settlement category amounts corresponding to a plurality of settlement categories, wherein each of the one or more recommended objects are associated with a respective one of the plurality of settlement categories, and wherein updating the settlement amount based on the price of the first recommended object comprises updating the settlement category amount for the settlement category corresponding to the first recommended object.”

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Gore, Caleb Brian Slaughter; Reif, Colton J. Virtual Reality Visualization System With Object Recommendation Engine. U.S. Patent Number 10,223,740, filed February 1, 2016, and published online on March 18, 2019. 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=10,223,740.PN.&OS=PN/10,223,740RS=PN/10,223,740

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