System and Method For Estimating Vehicle Body Damage

• Main Authors: Colarelli, III, Nicholas J, Hagerty, Alan
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 30.07.2020
• Subjects: ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDEDFOR ELSEWHERE; CALCULATING; CHECKING-DEVICES; COMPUTING; COUNTING; DATA PROCESSING SYSTEMS OR METHODS, SPECIALLY ADAPTED FORADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORYOR FORECASTING PURPOSES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; PHYSICS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE,COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL, SUPERVISORY OR FORECASTINGPURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; TESTING; TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS

A system and method of vehicle inspection in which sequences of images of vehicle body surfaces are acquired as a vehicle passes through fields of view associated with imaging sensors disposed on each lateral side of an inspection lane. The acquired sequences of images are evaluated through a software-configured processing system, either automatically or by an operator, to identify the presence of visible damage on the vehicle body surfaces. If visible damage is present, and an election is made to forward the vehicle and/or customer information to a collision repair facility for follow-up, one or more images from the sequences are selected, and communicated together with vehicle and/or customer identifying information from the processing system to the collision repair facility.