Automatic building assessment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9082015-B2
Application number	US-201313839634-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Jul 14, 2015
Grant date	Jul 14, 2015

Abstract

Disclosed systems and methods automatically assess buildings and structures. A device may receive one or more images of a structure, such as a building or portion of the building, and then label and extract relevant data. The device may then train a system to automatically assess other data describing similar buildings or structures based on the labeled and extracted data. After training, the device may then automatically assess new data, and the assessment results may be sent directly to a client or to an agent for review and/or processing.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method in a computing device having a processor for automatically assessing a building structure, the method comprising:
automatically receiving, using the processor, a first set of captured data points describing a first plurality of building structures;
automatically extracting, using the processor, feature data describing physical characteristics of the first plurality of building structures;
automatically training, using the processor, a building structure classification system based on the extracted feature data;
automatically verifying, using the processor, the training of the building structure classification system using data points describing one or more additional building structures having known characteristics;
automatically receiving, using the processor, a second set of captured data points describing a particular building structure, wherein the second set of captured data points includes a plurality of separately captured sets of data points;
automatically classifying, using the processor, at least a portion of the second set of captured data points based on the building structure classification system and further based on one or more classification rules limiting categories of the feature data used in classifying the second set of captured data points, wherein classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points includes determining a classification indicating the structural condition of a feature of the particular building structure; and
automatically outputting, using the processor, one or more results of classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
displaying the one or more results of classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points overlaid on one or more images of the building structure.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein displaying the one or more results of classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points is performed in real time as a user scans portions of the image.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second set of captured data points corresponds to a portion of one or more images of the building structure being reviewed by a user.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the classification evaluates at least one of the age, type, construction, condition, or pre-existing damage of the building structure.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the building structure is assessed as part of at least one of: an insurance claim assessment, an insurance underwriting process, structural analysis, building code enforcement, estimation, appraisal and assessment, or remodeling.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including non-transitory computer readable instruction to be executed on one or more processors of a system for automatically assessing a building structure, the instructions when executed causing the one or more processors to:
receive a first set of captured data points describing a first plurality of building structures;
extract feature data describing physical characteristics of the first plurality of building structures;
train a building structure classification system based on the extracted feature data;
verify the training of the building structure classification system using data points describing one or more additional building structures having known characteristics;
receive a second set of captured data points describing a particular building structure, wherein the second set of captured data points includes a plurality of separately captured sets of data points;
classify at least a portion of the second set of captured data points based on the building structure classification system and further based on one or more classification rules limiting categories of the feature data used in classifying the second set of captured data points, wherein classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points includes determining a classification indicating the structural condition of a feature of the particular building structure; and
output one or more results of classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the instructions when executed further cause the one or more processors to:
display the one or more results of classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points overlaid on one or more images of the building structure.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 wherein displaying the one or more results of classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points is performed in real time as a user scans portions of the image.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein the second set of captured data points corresponds to a portion of the one or more images of the building structure being reviewed by a user.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein classifying at least a portion of the second set of captured data points based on the building structure classification system comprises evaluating at least one of the age, type, construction, condition, or pre-existing damage of the building structure.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the building structure is assessed as part of an insurance claim assessment.

13. A device operative to assess a building structure, the device comprising:
one or more processors;
a memory unit coupled to the one or more processors and storing executable instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the device to:
receive a first set of captured data points describing a first plurality of building structures;
extract feature data describing physical characteristics of the first plurality of building structures;
train a building structure classification system based on the extracted feature data;
verify the training of the building structure classification system using data points describing one or more additional building structures having known characteristics;
receive a second set of captured data points describing a particular building structure, wherein the second set of captured data points includes a plurality of separately captured sets of data points;
classify at least a portion of the second set of captured data points based on the building structure classification system and further based on one or more classification rules limiting categories of the feature data used in classifying the second set of captured data points, wherein classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points includes determining a classification indicating the structural condition of a feature of the particular building structure; and
output one or more results of classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the executable instructions stored in the memory unit, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the device to:
display the one or more results of classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points overlaid on one or more images of the building structure.

15. The device of claim 13 wherein displaying the one or more results of classifying the at least a portion of the second set of captured data points is performed in real time as a user scans portions of the image.

Assignees

• State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co

Inventors

• Christopulos Nicholas U
• Maurer Jonathan D
• Tofte Nathan L
• Schmidgall Roger D
• Freeman James M

Classifications

• G06F2218/12

  Classification; Matching · CPC title

• G06F18/2413

  based on distances to training or reference patterns · CPC title

• G06F18/241

  relating to the classification model, e.g. parametric or non-parametric approaches · CPC title

• G06F18/2431

  Multiple classes · CPC title

• G06F18/243

  relating to the number of classes · CPC title