Researchers Submit Patent Application, “System For Generating Visualizations With Applications For Insurance And Reinsurance”, for Approval (USPTO 20240078351): Patent Application

2024 MAR 22 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventor Bavastro, Frederic (Monaco, MC), filed on November 13, 2023, was made available online on March 7, 2024.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “

“This invention is directed to a method and system for aiding in design using augmented reality and virtual reality components.

“Many design tasks have seen only incremental improvements stemming from computerization. On the one hand, computerization has ended the days of manual drafting and re-drafting of designs. On the other hand, the steps which occur before the design stage are not significantly different than they would have been without a computer. Mainly, a rough sketch is entered into a formal system which then proceeds to perform the three-dimensional modeling.

“The entry of the initial design idea into a system is a considerable obstacle. The end-user of the design software must become competent in the use of the software. Different vendors take various approaches to the design input stage, and some are more successful at simplifying the task than others. However, the task of inputting the initial model of the design is an ever-present obstacle to many users beginning work on their design.

“One area where this is apparent is interior design software. While the operation details have changed, and some features such as three-dimensional modeling are quite impressive, inevitably, the user of such design software is presented with a blank page at the start. It is up to the end-user to draft within the software the dimensions of the rooms, the placement of windows and doors, and so forth.

“These initial steps have not changed since the first interior design software packages became available for sale on the market decades ago. Many users are discouraged when facing such a blank page. Other users that persevere and attempt to use the software may inadvertently use the design tools in an unintended way, resulting in a design that is frustratingly incorrect or entirely impossible. The system will attempt to model a design that does not follow best practices, is not safe, or is not commercially feasible. Users who invest considerable time to learn design software only to find out the resulting design is ineffectual will be discouraged from using any tool in the future.

“Previous attempts to solve this problem relied on ready-made templates, which users then customize. While this solution will provide the users guidance to begin the work, it does not overcome the problems associated with learning an unfamiliar system. An additional tradeoff is that the users no longer have full flexibility in their design without first extensively customizing the provided template. This significantly decreases the benefit of the design software. Eventually, in order to be able to create a design that reflects the user’s ideas, the users must either significantly customize the starting template or re-work the design using the system input tools.

“Therefore, a need exists in the art for a system to simplify the process of entering information into a software package. The system and method should use intuitive methods for every aspect of the design process, from adding the initial input to adding details to the initial input, and finally to revising the final design.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventor’s summary information for this patent application: “An object of the present invention is to provide a designer system and method that overcomes many of the limitations of the prior art.

“A further object of the present invention is to provide a system that generates formal designs. A feature of the present invention is that several input sources are combined to arrive at a formal design. An advantage of the present invention is that no single input method is required to create a final design.

“Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for saving time during the design process. A feature of the present invention is that the method automates several design input tasks. An advantage of the present invention is that the end-user of the system can be presented with a design input in a limited amount of time.

“Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method that does not require prior knowledge of computer-aided design software. A feature of the present invention is that the software accepts input from the user in an informal way without requiring the user to learn how to manipulate the input design within the software. An advantage of the present invention is that the end-user may begin interacting with the software’s analysis tools without first learning how to input the design into the software.

“An additional object of the present invention is to provide a system and method that allows an end-user to input a design into the software without becoming familiar with the rules of design within a particular area. A feature of the present invention is that the software analyses the end-user’s input and provides feedback regarding compliance with best design practices. An advantage of the present invention is that the software highlights best design practices for the end-user as each best practice or industry standard is relevant to the end-user’s design.

“Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method of inputting a design to a computer-aided design package using intuitive mechanisms. A feature of the present invention is that an informal sketch by the user is used as the initial input of the design. An advantage of the present invention is that it obviates the need for formal input by the user.

“A further object of the present invention is to allow the end-user to sketch an informal design away from a computer. A feature of the invention is that the informal sketch may be provided to the system as a photograph of a line drawing or a scan of a sketch on paper. An advantage of the present invention is that the end-user does not have to draw the sketch on a computer screen nor does the invention require the use of a touch screen. Instead, the input occurs in a method most familiar for the end-user and the most comfortable for the end-user.

“Another object of the present invention is to provide a system that operates in any convenient form factor. A feature of the invention is that its interface is presented as a mobile application, in one embodiment. An advantage of the present invention is that designs created within the system can be worked on anywhere the end-user has access to, even a small-screen mobile device.

“A further object of the invention is to provide a three-dimensional model of the input design. A feature of the invention is that the informal input sketch by the end-user is converted to a three-dimensional model of the design. An advantage of the invention is that system converts a rough sketch into a computer-readable 3d model.

“A further object of the invention is to provide a means to confirm the three-dimensional model. A feature of the system is that in one embodiment, the system-generated 3d model is superimposed using augmented reality back on the sketch by the end-user. An advantage of the system is that the end-user can see how the 3d model corresponds to the features drawn on the initial informal sketch.

“A further object of the invention is to provide a means to refine the design throughout the process. A feature of one embodiment of the system is that previews of iterations of the design are shown to the user, and the user is provided with an opportunity to update the design. An advantage of the system is that the end-user will not waste time modeling or otherwise undertaking a detailed design that has unintended features or other errors.

“A further object of the invention is to provide an environment to finalize a design. A feature of one embodiment of the system is that all design elements can be added within the system as appropriate to the task. For example, where the system is modeling a residential property, the system includes a facility to add furniture to the 3d model. An advantage of the system is that it supports detailed designs using custom and pre-existing components.

“An additional object of the system is to facilitate the creation of a final design. A feature of the system is that it provides suggestions to the end-users on how to finalize the design. An advantage of the system is that it provides the end-users with multiple choices for feature designs and suggests certain options depending on user preferences.

“A further object of the system is to provide a means for the end-user to interact with the final design. A feature of the system is that it generates a photorealistic virtual reality review of a finalized design. An advantage of the system is that it provides a customizable virtual reality environment for the final design.

“An additional benefit of the system is that it provides manufacturers with an easy way to showcase products suitable for an end-user’s design. A feature of the invention is that it provides promotions of certain third-party products within the design environment. A benefit of the system is that it allows for additional exposure for third-party products by customers currently engaged in design tasks.

“Briefly, the present invention provides a system for designing an environment, the system comprising inputting into the system an informal two-dimensional rendering of the premises; analyzing said informal two-dimensional rendering; determining features found on the premises depicted by the two-dimensional rendering; generating a three-dimensional model of the premises; populating said three-dimensional rendering with interactive objects; and providing multiple views of the three-dimensional rendering containing interactive objects.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system for verifying insurance coverage for a premises using visualization comprises: receiving an address of a property into a central system; receiving information about at least one insurance product into the central system applicable to the premises; the central system retrieving an informal two-dimensional rendering of the premises from at least one external data store; the central system analyzing said informal two-dimensional rendering; the central system determining features found on the premises depicted by the two-dimensional rendering, wherein said features comprise walls, doors, windows, and appliances; the central system automatically generates a three-dimensional model of the premises on demand for use by an insurance provider only the two-dimensional rendering of the premises; and the central system verifies insurance coverage for the property using the three-dimensional model.

“2. The system of claim 1 wherein said retrieving an informal two-dimensional drawing comprises taking a photograph of a two-dimensional rendering of the premises and a photo of the premises.

“3. The system of claim 1 wherein each analysis step occurs in a distributed computing platform.

“4. The system of claim 1 wherein the central system analyzing said informal two-dimensional rendering occurs within an augmented reality preview of the three-dimensional model.

“5. The system of claim 1 wherein said three-dimensional model comprises interactive objects comprise virtual versions of furniture, household fixtures, and decorative items.

“6. The system of claim 1 wherein said three-dimensional rendering comprises defining windows and doors in the three-dimensional model.

“7. A system for generating formal premises designs for insurance analysis at an address comprising: the system retrieves address information and insurance information associated with the address; the system obtains initial data from at least one external data source on basis of the address information; the system receives input comprising the initial data to represent one or more premises; the system analyzes said input to generate a three-dimensional model; the system modifies the three-dimensional model using augmented reality; the system determines features found on the premises, wherein said features comprise walls, doors, windows, and appliances; the system automatically generates a final three-dimensional digital twin model of the premises; the digital twin being generated using only the initial data from at least one external data source highlighting areas relevant to insurance coverage; the system generates a photorealistic visualization of the premises; and the system provides a preview of the photorealistic visualization of the premises for purposes of verifying of insurance coverage.

“8. The system of claim 7 wherein said initial data comprises a photo of a 2-dimensional sketch on paper.

“9. The system of claim 7 wherein said initial data comprises a video of a 2-dimensional sketch on paper.

“10. The system of claim 7 wherein said initial data comprises an existing three-dimensional model as a baseline.

“11. The system of claim 7 wherein said initial data comprises importing a completed three-dimensional model.

“12. The system of claim 7 wherein system modification employs artificial intelligence to generate the three-dimensional model.

“13. The system of claim 7 wherein said final three-dimensional model is populated by one or more interactive objects.

“14. The system of claim 13 wherein said interactive objects comprise furniture and surface finishes to be customized by an end-user of the system.

“15. The system of claim 7 wherein said previewing of the photorealistic visualization occurs using augmented reality.

“16. The system of claim 7 wherein said previewing of the photorealistic visualization occurs using virtual reality.

“17. The system of claim 7 wherein said analysis of input determines a type of each room depicted on the premises.

“18. The system of claim 7 wherein said analysis of input confirms that each room depicted in the premises is a valid room.

“19. The system of claim 7 wherein said analysis requests user input to confirm proper detection of rooms within depicted premises.

“20. The system of claim 7 wherein said analysis comprises detection of doors and windows within the input design.”

For additional information on this patent application, see: Bavastro, Frederic. System For Generating Visualizations With Applications For Insurance And Reinsurance. U.S. Patent Application Number 20240078351, filed November 13, 2023 and posted March 7, 2024. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(20240078351)&db=US-PGPUB&type=ids

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