Method and system for assessing damage to infrastructure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11676258-B1
Application number	US-202016831401-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 26, 2020
Priority date	Oct 9, 2014
Publication date	Jun 13, 2023
Grant date	Jun 13, 2023

Abstract

A method and system may survey a property using aerial images captured from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a manned aerial vehicle (MAV) or from a satellite device. The method may include identifying a commercial property for a UAV to perform surveillance, and directing the UAV to hover over the commercial property and capture aerial images at predetermined time intervals. Furthermore, the method may include receiving the aerial images of the commercial property captured at the predetermined time intervals, detecting a surveillance event at the commercial property, generating a surveillance alert, and transmitting the surveillance alert to an electronic device associated with an owner of the commercial property.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for surveying a property using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the method comprising:
identifying, by one or more processors on a computing device, a commercial property for the UAV to perform surveillance;
directing, by the one or more processors, the UAV to hover over the commercial property and capture, via an imaging device, aerial images at predetermined time intervals;
receiving, by the one or more processors, the aerial images of the commercial property captured at the predetermined time intervals;
determining, by the one or more processors, a damage severity level for the commercial property based on the aerial images;
generating, by the one or more processors, a surveillance alert;
transmitting, by the one or more processors, the surveillance alert to an electronic device associated with an authorized user associated with the commercial property; and
upon receiving and authenticating user login information to confirm that a user of the electronic device is the authorized user associated with the commercial property, transmitting, by the one or more processors, a property display web page to the electronic device, the property display web page including a damage severity level indicator displayed overlaying the aerial images of the commercial property.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising directing, by the one or more processors, the UAV to one or more locations for capturing the aerial images.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising filtering, by the one or more processors, the aerial images to remove portions which do not depict the commercial property.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
aggregating, by the one or more processors, the aerial images to generate a three dimensional display of the commercial property; and
transmitting, by the one or more processors, the three dimensional display of the commercial property to the electronic device associated with the owner of the commercial property.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the property display web page further includes real-time aerial images of the commercial property.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining, by the one or more processors, a predetermined period of time for updating the property display page; and
when the predetermined period of time has elapsed:
receiving, at the one or more processors, one or more new real-time aerial images of the commercial property;
updating, by the one or more processors, the property display page with the new real-time aerial images; and
transmitting, by the one or more processors, the updated property display page to the electronic device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surveillance alert includes at least one of: an email, a short message service (SMS) message, or an automated voice recording.

8. A system for surveying a property using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the system comprising:
a communication network; and
one or more computing devices communicatively coupled to the communication network, each of the one or more computing devices having a memory and one or more processors and at least one of the computing devices configured to:
identify a commercial property for the UAV to perform surveillance;
direct the UAV to hover over the commercial property and capture, via an imaging device, aerial images at predetermined time intervals;
receive, via the communication network, the aerial images of the commercial property captured at the predetermined time intervals;
determine a damage severity level for the commercial property based on the aerial images;
generate a surveillance alert;
transmit, over the communication network, the surveillance alert to an electronic device associated with an authorized user associated with the commercial property;
upon receiving and authenticating user login information to confirm that a user of the electronic device is the authorized user associated with the commercial property, transmit, over the communication network, a property display web page to the electronic device, the property display web page including a damage severity level indicator displayed overlaying real-time aerial images of the commercial property.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to direct the UAV to one or more locations for capturing the aerial images.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to filter the aerial images to remove portions which do not depict the commercial property.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to:
aggregate the aerial images to generate a three dimensional display of the commercial property; and
transmit, over the communication network, the three dimensional display of the commercial property to the electronic device associated with the owner of the commercial property.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to:
determine a predetermined period of time for updating the property display page; and
when the predetermined period of time has elapsed:
receive one or more new real-time aerial images of the commercial property;
update the property display page with the new real-time aerial images; and
transmit, over the communication network, the updated property display page to the electronic device.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the surveillance alert includes at least one of: an email, a short message service (SMS) message, or an automated voice recording.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable memory storing executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
identify a commercial property for a UAV to perform surveillance;
direct the UAV to hover over the commercial property and capture, via an imaging device, aerial images at predetermined time intervals;
receive, via the communication network, the aerial images of the commercial property captured at the predetermined time intervals;
determine a damage severity level for the commercial property based on the aerial images;
generate a surveillance alert;
transmit the surveillance alert to an electronic device associated with an authorized user associated with the commercial property; and
upon receiving and authenticating user login information to confirm that a user of the electronic device is the authorized user associated with the commercial property, transmit a property display web page to the electronic device, the property display web page including a damage severity level indicator displayed overlaying the aerial images of the commercial property.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to direct the UAV to one or more locations for capturing the aerial images.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to filter the aerial images to remove portions which do not depict the commercial property.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 14 , wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
aggregate the aerial images to generate a three dimensional display of the commercial property; and
transmit, over the communication network, the three dimensional display of the commercial property to the electronic device associated with the owner of the commercial property.

Assignees

• State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co

Inventors

• Harvey Brian N
• Tofte Nathan L
• Schmidgall Roger D
• Aviles Michael Jeffrey
• Pott Kyle
• Grant Rosemarie Geier
• Haefli Eric
• Jacob Michael Shawn

Classifications

• G06T7/62

  of area, perimeter, diameter or volume · CPC title

• G06V10/44

  Local feature extraction by analysis of parts of the pattern, e.g. by detecting edges, contours, loops, corners, strokes or intersections; Connectivity analysis, e.g. of connected components · CPC title

• G06T7/0002

  Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection · CPC title

• G06T2207/10016

  Video; Image sequence · CPC title

• G06T2207/10028

  Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds · CPC title