Method and apparatus for obtaining photogrammetric data to estimate impact severity
View Patent ↗In one embodiment, the present invention includes a computer-implemented method to collect information to determine damage to a vehicle involved in a collision using photogrammetric techniques. When determined, this vehicle damage information, which may be in the form of crush measurement information such as a crush damage profile, can be displayed in a computer-generated view of the subject vehicle with a crush damage profile and used to estimate the impact severity. In some embodiments, based on the photogrammetric information derived, a direction of any shifting of the vehicle's components may be obtained and used along with other information to estimate a principal direction of force (PDOF) for one or more vehicles involved in the collision. Still further embodiments may be used to generate and/or audit repair estimates based at least in part on the photogrammetric information.
1. An article comprising a non transitory machine-readable storage medium including instructions that enable a system to:
compare a crush damage pattern of a vehicle involved in an accident to entries in a database corresponding to crush damage patterns of vehicles from unrelated accidents, the database to dynamically add entries from additional unrelated accidents, wherein the crush damage pattern is based on a photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle, the photogrammetric analysis to:
receive, in the system, a plurality of images of the vehicle;
evaluate, in the system, the plurality of images for pose estimate information and store a pose estimate for each of the plurality of images;
refine the stored pose estimate for each of the plurality of images via a bundle adjustment;
determine, in the system, a location of damage points for the vehicle via triangulation using the plurality of images; and
generate, in the system, a crush damage pattern for the vehicle using the location of damage points;
select one or more of the entries of the database based on similarity to the crush damage pattern and a direction of impact;
generate a report of expected vehicle component damage for the vehicle based on actual damage information for the selected one or more entries of the database; and
store the report for later use.
2. The article of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further enable the system to determine at least one component of the vehicle to be repaired or replaced.
3. The article of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further enable the system to compare a repair estimate associated with the vehicle to the report.
4. The article of claim 3 , wherein the instructions further enable the system to flag a component listed for repair or replacement in the repair estimate if the component is not in the report of expected vehicle damage.
5. The article of claim 3 , wherein the instructions further enable the system to flag a component not listed for repair or replacement in the repair estimate if the component is in the report of expected vehicle component damage.
6. The article of claim 3 , wherein the instructions further enable the system to report to a user that the repair estimate is within a threshold level of the expected vehicle component damage based on the comparison.
7. The article of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further enable the system to insert an entry in the database, the entry including information regarding the vehicle and the accident.
8. A method comprising:
comparing, in a computer system, a crush damage pattern of a vehicle involved in an accident to entries in a database corresponding to crush damage patterns of vehicles from unrelated accidents, the database to dynamically add entries from additional unrelated accidents, wherein the crush damage pattern is based on a photogrammetric analysis of the vehicle, the photogrammetric analysis to:
receive, in the computer system, a plurality of images of the vehicle;
evaluate, in the computer system, the plurality of images for pose estimate information and store a pose estimate for each of the plurality of images;
refine the stored pose estimate for each of the plurality of images via a bundle adjustment;
determine, in the computer system, a location of damage points for the vehicle via triangulation using the plurality of images; and
generate, in the computer system, a crush damage pattern for the vehicle using the location of damage points;
selecting, in the computer system, one or more of the entries based on similarity to the crush damage pattern and a direction of impact;
generating, in the computer system, a report of expected vehicle component damage for the vehicle based on actual damage information for the selected one or more entries; and
storing, in the computer system, the report for later use.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising comparing a repair estimate associated with the vehicle to the report and flagging a component listed for repair or replacement in the repair estimate if the component is not in the report of expected vehicle damage.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising flagging a component not listed for repair or replacement in the repair estimate if the component is in the report of expected vehicle component damage.
11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising reporting to a user that the repair estimate is within a threshold level of the expected vehicle component damage based on the comparison.
12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising inserting an entry in the database, the entry including information regarding the vehicle and the accident.