Method for generating roof outlines from lateral images

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10460465-B2
Application number	US-201715693347-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2017
Priority date	Aug 31, 2017
Publication date	Oct 29, 2019
Grant date	Oct 29, 2019

Abstract

A computer system generates an outline of a roof of a structure based on a set of lateral images depicting the structure. For each image in the set of lateral images, one or more rooflines corresponding to the roof of the structure are determined. The computer system determines how the rooflines connect to one another. Based on the determination, the rooflines are connected to generate an outline of the roof.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a set of lateral photos of a structure, wherein none of the set of lateral photos depict a whole roof of the structure;
determining a set of rooflines depicted in the set of lateral photos;
wherein determining the set of rooflines includes determining, for each photo of the set of lateral photos, one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure;
determining how rooflines in the set of rooflines connect with each other; and
based on how rooflines in the set of rooflines connect with each other, generating an image of a closed polygon that has a shape that estimates the shape the whole roof would have if depicted in a top-down view of the structure.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining how rooflines connect with each other comprises determining, for each pair of photos of the set of lateral photos, a relative distance corresponding to the pair of photos.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining how rooflines connect with each other comprises determining, for each pair of photos of the set of lateral photos, a relative rotation corresponding to the pair of photos.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining how rooflines connect with each other is based in part on sensor data associated with each photo in the set of lateral photos.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the sensor data includes one or more of: azimuth, gravity vector, linear velocity, angular velocity, GPS location, rotation vector, tilt angle, and object distance.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the set of rooflines comprises determining, for each photo of the set of lateral photos, a set of intersection points.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure is based on a roof depicted in the photo.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure is based on a wall depicted in the photo.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure comprises, for at least one photo in the set of lateral photos:
determining a first line based on a roof depicted in the photo;
determining a second line based on a wall depicted in the photo;
combining the first line and the second line.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure comprises, for at least one photo in the set of lateral photos, determining the one or more lines based on one or more building elements depicted in the photo.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the set of lateral photos include a first photo captured at a first angle and a first height and a second photo captured at a second angle and a second height, wherein a portion of the roof depicted in the first photo is obscured, wherein the same portion of the roof is depicted in the second photo and is not obscured, and wherein determining the set of rooflines comprises:
determining a first line based on the first photo;
determining a second line corresponding to the obscured portion of the roof based on the second photo;
combining the first line and the second line.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising scaling each roofline in the set of rooflines.

13. A system comprising
one or more processors;
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause performance of:
receiving a set of lateral photos of a structure, wherein none of the set of lateral photos depict a whole roof of the structure;
determining a set of rooflines depicted in the set of lateral photos;
wherein determining the set of rooflines includes determining, for each photo of the set of lateral photos, one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure; determining how rooflines in the set of rooflines connect with each other; and
based on how rooflines in the set of rooflines connect with each other, generating an image of a closed polygon that has a shape that estimates the shape the whole roof would have if depicted in a top-down view of the structure.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein determining how rooflines connect with each other comprises determining, for each pair of photos of the set of lateral photos, a relative distance corresponding to the pair of photos.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein determining how rooflines connect with each other comprises determining, for each pair of photos of the set of lateral photos, a relative rotation corresponding to the pair of photos.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein determining how rooflines connect with each other is based in part on sensor data associated with each photo in the set of lateral photos.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the sensor data includes one or more of: azimuth, gravity vector, linear velocity, angular velocity, and object distance.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein determining the set of rooflines comprises determining, for each photo of the set of lateral photos, a set of intersection points.

19. The system of claim 13 wherein determining the one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure is based on a roof depicted in the photo.

20. The system of claim 13 wherein determining the one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure is based on a wall depicted in the photo.

21. The system of claim 13 wherein determining the one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure comprises, for at least one photo in the set of lateral photos:
determining a first line based on a roof depicted in the photo;
determining a second line based on a wall depicted in the photo;
combining the first line and the second line.

22. The system of claim 13 wherein determining the one or more lines that are parallel to the roof of the structure comprises, for at least one photo in the set of lateral photos, determining the one or more lines based on one or more building elements depicted in the photo.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the set of lateral photos include a first photo captured at a first angle and a first height and a second photo captured at a second angle and a second height, wherein a portion of the roof depicted in the first photo is obscured, wherein the same portion of the roof is depicted in the second photo and is not obscured, and wherein determining the set of rooflines comprises:
determining a first line based on the first photo;
determining a second line corresponding to the obscured portion of the roof based on the second photo;
combining the first line and the second line.

24. The system of claim 13 further comprising instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause scaling each roofline in the set of rooflines.

Assignees

• Hover Inc

Inventors

• Mishra Ajay
• Castillo William
• Altman A J
• Upendran Manish

Classifications

• G06T17/00 Primary

  Three-dimensional [3D] modelling for computer graphics · CPC title

• G06T7/62 Primary

  of area, perimeter, diameter or volume · CPC title

• G06T7/174

  involving the use of two or more images · CPC title

• G06T7/12

  Edge-based segmentation · CPC title

• G06T2207/10016

  Video; Image sequence · CPC title