JP2002329100A - Vehicle repair cost estimation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system facilitating a user or the like to recognize an accurate damaged portion on a vehicle having had an accident. SOLUTION: This system is provided with a storage unit to store a vehicle attribute data by each vehicle type and parts data by each vehicle type, an input unit to designate the damaged parts of the vehicle, a display unit to display vehicle image data corresponding to the damaged state of the vehicle, and a control unit to calculate the vehicle repair cost based on the damaged parts designated by the input unit and also to prepare the repair cost estimation data including vehicle image data displayed in the display unit.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for estimating an accident vehicle or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a system for estimating a repair cost of an accident vehicle, there is a system in which an operator selects and specifies a damage range using list data of parts and illustration data of the vehicle.

[0003] For example, by inputting a damage start point (collision point) and an end point (damage point farthest from the collision point) with a mouse or the like on an illustration of a car outer panel displayed on a display device. A computer device that determines a part (part) located between the start point and the end point as a damaged part is conceivable.

[0004] Further, it is also possible to consider a computer device which estimates data of a site where damage has spread (impact is transmitted) by inputting data on a damage start point, an impact force, and a collision direction, and determines these as damaged sites. it can.

[0005]

The vehicle is made of various materials,
Although it is composed of parts with different strengths, the impact force is absorbed by deforming the structural material in places where the structural strength is weak, and in the places where the structural strength is strong, without deforming the structural material The impact force is transmitted to the structural material. In recent years, there is a vehicle in which an impact absorbing member is disposed in a part of the structure in order to protect a cabin (passenger's riding space) at the time of an accident by utilizing such a property.

However, the conventional repair cost estimating system does not consider such a form of damage propagation, and simply recognizes a damaged portion as the further away from the collision location, the smaller the impact. . Therefore,
In some cases, an accurate estimation cannot be made in accordance with the actual vehicle, and an estimation process that lacks reliability may be performed. In addition, quotation documents are usually prepared by the repair shop, and repairs are started after the non-life insurance company approves the prepared quotation documents, but for insurers, vehicle repairs that require advanced expertise are required. Checking the cost estimate documents required considerable effort.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a system in which a user or the like can easily recognize an accurate damaged portion of a vehicle in which an accident has occurred.

[0008]

The present invention employs the following means in order to solve the above-mentioned problems. A first invention displays storage means for storing vehicle attribute data for each type of vehicle and component data for each type of vehicle, specifying means for specifying a damaged part of the vehicle, and vehicle image data corresponding to a damage state of the vehicle. Display means, and estimate data creation means for calculating vehicle repair cost based on the damaged part designated by the designation means and creating repair cost estimate data including vehicle image data displayed on the display means. It is characterized by having.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, the storage means further stores impact transmission data of each part for each type of vehicle, and stores an impact input point, an impact degree, and an impact input direction with respect to a target vehicle. And a shock state input means for inputting the shock state.
The apparatus further comprises a damaged component determining unit that determines a damaged component based on the impact status data from the impact status input unit and the impact transmission data in the storage unit.

[0010] In a third aspect based on the first or second aspect, the display means displays an internal damage state of the vehicle. In a fourth aspect based on the third aspect, the display means displays skeleton data of the vehicle.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in any one of the first to fourth aspects, the display means has a photographing mode for extracting vehicle image data displayed on the display means as image data viewed from a predetermined direction. It is characterized by the following.

It should be noted that the use of the term "part" in this specification refers to a group of parts having a certain degree of association with one part of a vehicle. A certain unit may be a group of parts close to one part, or a group of parts related to repairing one part (for example, a group of parts that are detached when one part is repaired). (A group including necessary parts). In addition, one part may be used as one part.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of a system and a method for recognizing damaged parts of an accident vehicle according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The accident vehicle damaged part recognition system according to the present embodiment has a personal computer 20 as shown in FIG.
(Hereinafter referred to as a PC), an auxiliary storage device 3 connected to the PC 20 through an input / output interface 4, an input device 2 including a keyboard or a mouse, a trackball, a touch pad, and the like, and a digital still camera 1
A display device 8 connected to the PC 20 through the input / output interface 7; a printing device 9;
And other output devices.

Here, as the auxiliary storage device 3 connected to the PC 20 through the input / output interface 4, a floppy (registered trademark) disk device, a hard disk or an optical disk device can be used. The auxiliary storage device 3
Corresponds to the storage means.

As the input device 2, an OCR, an OMR, a barcode reader, a digitizer, an image scanner, a voice recognition device, and the like can be connected in addition to the keyboard. In addition, as the output device, a plotting device 10 and a multimedia processing device 11 can be connected in addition to the display device 8 and the like. Further, the communication device 12 can be connected to another terminal device 16 through a communication line. it can. The input device 2 corresponds to the designation means and the impact state input means, and the display device 8 and the display 13 connected to the display device 8 correspond to the display means.

The system according to the present embodiment also includes a device for capturing image data of the vehicle to be repaired. As a device that captures image data of the vehicle to be repaired, in addition to the digital still camera 1, an optical sensor having a light emitting unit, a light receiving optical unit, and a photoelectric conversion unit can be used. here,
For the light emitting portions of these optical sensors, a tungsten lamp, a halogen lamp, a fluorescent lamp, or the like is used for continuous light, and a xenon lamp is used for intermittent light. As a light receiving optical system, an ITV camera using a vidicon, a silicon vidicon, a carnicon, a semiconductor sensor, a MOS type, a CC
A D-type fixed camera is used, and the photoelectric conversion unit is formed by an imaging tube, a solid-state imaging tube element, a photoelectric conversion element, and the like.

Note that, in addition to the digital still camera 1 as a device for capturing image data of the repaired vehicle, a moving image capturing camera is used to rotate the vehicle to be repaired mounted on a turntable by one rotation from a fixed direction. A still image corresponding to a predetermined direction may be extracted from a captured moving image and used.

The PC 20 comprises a main storage device 6 (hard disk, ROM, RAM (hereinafter, referred to as memory)) and a central processing unit 5 (hereinafter, referred to as CPU).
The PC 20 that determines the damaged portion of the accident vehicle and makes a repair estimate is stored in the memory 6 under the control of the OS.
Alternatively, a program cached in the auxiliary storage device 3 is started to execute a predetermined task (process). The PC 20 can also perform a multitask that executes a plurality of tasks virtually and simultaneously in parallel.

A part of the functions of the PC 20 is provided with a function of a memory management device. That is, the memory management device also has a function of converting a logical address on the memory 6 specified by a process for reading or writing into a physical address indicating the address of a physical page to be actually read from or written to the memory 6. ing.

Next, the CPU 5 constituting the PC 20 main body
Is an arithmetic unit 5b that performs four arithmetic operations, logical operations, and the like on given data, and an instruction that is fetched from the memory 6 to the CPU 5 based on the address of the instruction unit 6a to be executed, decodes the contents of the instruction, and A control device 5a for issuing an operation instruction to another device.

As shown in FIG. 1, the control device 5a issues an input control command to the input device 2 or the like, issues a memory 6 control command to the memory 6, and issues a Issue an output control command.

The command input from the input device 2 or the like is first transferred to the memory 6, where
The data and the command are selected from the given command, and the selected data and the command are transferred to the control device 5a of the CPU 5.

Here, the image data captured by the digital still camera 1 and transferred to the memory 6 through the input / output interface 4 or the repaired vehicle data input from the input device 2 such as a keyboard is stored in the data section of the memory 6. 6b. Note that the PC 20 corresponds to a damaged part determination unit.

By the way, in the data section 6b, for each vehicle (each vehicle type), contour data viewed (captured) from each direction of the vehicle is stored in advance. For example, the 360-degree omnidirectional data is divided into 12 parts, and the data section 6b stores the contour data of the vehicle viewed from each direction. In addition, as these contour data, CAD data or wire frame data may be prepared for each vehicle type, and may be projected from each direction to be contour data. Further, the contour data of the vehicle may be exemplified by contour data of a vehicle outer shape and contour data of a vehicle internal structure, and further may be image data representing the vehicle outer shape and the vehicle internal structure in detail.

The data section 6b also stores the area of each outer panel for each vehicle. The data section 6b stores vehicle specification data and parts data, repair manual data, paint color data, paint method data, etc., which correspond to each vehicle type and correspond to the grade of each vehicle type.

The data section 6b stores a data group of vehicle parts prices and labor costs required for parts replacement or repair, as well as a damaged portion of the vehicle due to repair and replacement or repair due to damage. Data corresponding to parts is stored as vehicle attribute data. Further, the data section 6
b also stores wage data required for sheet metal repair corresponding to each operation.

These data stored in the data section 6b can be ranked respectively. For example, a new genuine part has the highest rank and a good part etc. has a middle rank in the parts to be replaced. In addition to the rank, used genuine parts can be stored as the lowest rank.

[0029] Thereby, at the time of estimation, options can be provided, and information can be disclosed and selected by the user.
It is also possible to increase the frequency of use of the used parts network and to propose recycling promotion.

The data stored in the data section 6b includes past repaired vehicle data, past repaired vehicle damage data obtained from this data, and parts used in the past repaired vehicle. Vehicle image data for searching for a damaged part of the repaired vehicle based on the data and the damaged part data of the repaired vehicle in the past is included as vehicle attribute data.

The control unit 5a decodes the repaired vehicle data and image data of the accident vehicle and the command transferred from the memory 6 and gives necessary operation instructions to the arithmetic unit 5b. Then, the arithmetic unit 5b performs an operation such as a logical operation on the given repaired vehicle data, image data, and command.

Next, the processing in the PC 20 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First,
The operator uses the input device 2 to input vehicle data such as the type, model, year, classification, and number of the accident vehicle on the screen 50 displayed on the display 13 (step 101, FIG. 2). Then, the control device 5a reads the image data 51 of the vehicle type corresponding to the input vehicle data from the auxiliary storage device 3, and displays the screen 50 including the vehicle image data display section 52 on which the vehicle image data 51 is displayed on the display. 13 (step 102, FIG. 3). The screen 50 also displays a damage input direction designation section 55 for designating an input direction of damage (impact), in which the vehicle is divided into 12 parts in all directions on a plane.

Next, the controller 5a determines which direction has been designated by the input device 2 in the damage input direction designation section 55 (step 103). Here, it is assumed that the 11 o'clock direction is specified.

Thereafter, the control device 5a displays the height designation section 60 in the vehicle image data display section 52, and determines what damage position height is designated (step 104, FIG. 4). Here, it is assumed that the height of the middle row is specified.

Next, the control device 5a displays a plane image of the vehicle on the screen 50, and determines how much impact force is specified by the input device 2 (step 105). When the control device 5a determines the impact force, the degree of damage can be determined based on the length of the vector input on the screen 50 as shown in FIG. Also, as shown in FIG.
Specifying the degree of damage by marking several points on the plane image of the vehicle by clicking the mouse and making the line connecting these points the same as the apparent damage propagation line of the accident vehicle You can also.

As shown in FIG. 6, it is preferable that the operator designates the vector to a certain length and, at the same time, displays the damage deformation of the vehicle outer shape in accordance with the impact force in a vehicle image. Then, since the operator can easily recognize the damage shape of the external shape of the collision location of the accident vehicle by appearance, the deformation becomes the same as the external shape deformation of the actual accident vehicle while adjusting the vector length. If the vector length at the time is determined, the impact force can be easily specified.

Further, image data of the accident vehicle taken in from the digital still camera 1 may be processed to designate an impact force. That is, the outline of the vehicle is traced from the image data of the accident vehicle, the outline shape is compared with a regular outline shape stored in advance, and the degree of deformation is recognized based on a difference in coordinate values. The value of the impact force.

Next, the control device 5a determines whether or not there is another damaged portion (shock input portion) (step 10).
6). When another damaged part is pointed out by the operator's instruction, the control device 5a repeats the processing from step 103. At this time, as shown in FIG.
Above, a plurality of damage information will be displayed. Here, the third damage situation is being input, and the vector ~
A vector represents the input direction of each lesion.
That is, the vector indicates the damage direction at 1 o'clock, the vector indicates the damage direction at 11 o'clock, and the vector indicates the damage direction at 9 o'clock.

If there is no other damaged portion in step 106, the control device 5a determines the damaged portion and the degree of damage of the damaged portion (step 107). Auxiliary storage device 3
Stores the shock transmission data of each part based on the strength, material, structure, etc. of the part for each vehicle type, so that the control device 5a can use the shock transmission data to determine the damage situation according to the vehicle type. Can be recognized. That is, the shock transmission data stored in the auxiliary storage device 3 is set as an index value for a standard part.

For example, an index such as "1.2" is set for a component having a higher strength than a standard component because the impact is transmitted more easily. If the shock transmission of the standard part is “50%”, “1.2 ×
By "0.5 = 0.6", a 60% impact is transmitted to the subsequent component. In addition, it can be said that this part absorbs a shock by 40%.

For a component having a strength lower than that of a standard component by adopting a mesh structure or the like, the impact is more absorbed, and an index such as "0.8" is set.
If the shock transmission of the standard part is “45%”, 36% of the shock is transmitted to the subsequent part by “0.8 × 0.45 = 0.36”. This part absorbs 64 percent of the impact.

Note that the shock transmission data of the standard part itself,
The index set for each part for each vehicle type is determined in advance by analyzing collision test data and the like performed for each vehicle type, but based on new collision test data and accumulated data of accidents, etc. Can be updated.

Then, the control device 5a determines the shock input direction,
Based on the impact situation data such as the impact position and impact force including the impact height, and the indices set for each of the above-mentioned components, the damaged part and the extent of damage are determined according to the vehicle type. FIG. 7 shows a screen display panel 52a including a vehicle image data 51 indicating a degree of damage to a vehicle outer panel and an internal frame damage degree display unit 52b including a vehicle image data 57 indicating a degree of damage to a vehicle internal skeleton. This is the state displayed at 50. The outer plate damage degree display section 52a includes a damaged part 51a (red) with a large damage degree and a medium damaged part 51b.
(Yellow) and the slightly damaged portion 51c (blue) are displayed in different colors. In addition, the damaged portion 57a (red) having a large damage degree is displayed on the internal skeleton damage degree display portion 52b.
And the small damaged portion 57b (yellow) are displayed in different colors (step 108).

FIGS. 8 to 10 show a mode in which the damage location and the degree of damage of the vehicle are displayed in the internal skeleton damage degree display section 52b, mainly on the vehicle image data of the internal skeleton. In the internal skeleton damage degree display section 52b in FIG. 8, the large damage part 57a (red), the medium damage part 57b (yellow), and the small damage part 57c (blue) are colored. It is displayed separately. It can be recognized from the image of FIG. 8 that the impact at the time of the collision has been transmitted to the left center pillar. FIGS. 9 and 10 show a state in which the control device 5a determines a repair method for each damaged portion.
“a” (front bumper) indicates that the component is to be replaced, with the damaged portion 57a separated from other portions (step 109).

Here, photographing (pseudo photographing) during the estimation processing for photographing a photograph attached to the estimation data.
The mode will be described mainly with reference to the flowchart in FIG. The control device 5a changes the screen 50 to the photographing mode screen as shown in FIG. 12 when there is a photographing instruction by the operator during the estimation processing as shown in FIGS. 8 to 10 (step 201). (Step 202).

Then, by appropriately clicking various icons on the photographing mode screen 50 with a mouse, the operator can arbitrarily change the direction of the vehicle image on the screen 50, enlarge and reduce the size of the image, and perform the enlargement / reduction. A photograph is taken as a vehicle image accurately representing the state (step 203). At the time of photographing, by clicking the shutter icon on the screen 50, the vehicle image displayed at that time is stored in the memory 6 in the BMP format. Thereafter, the control device 5a displays a list of the photographing data stored in the memory 6 on the screen 50 (step 20).
4, FIG. 13), and return to the processing of step 201.

Returning to the description of the flowchart shown in FIG. After the processing of step 109, the control device 5a
According to the method of repairing each damaged part (part), referring to the part data and the like of the auxiliary storage device 3 based on whether the part is replaced or repaired, the part price and the labor cost are added, and the vehicle repair cost is reduced. The calculation and the detailed estimation data are displayed on the screen 50 (step 110). At this time, if there are a plurality of damaged parts and there is a redundantly extracted part, the redundant part is deleted, calculated and displayed.

If the user approves the use of the rebuilt parts for vehicle repair, the control device 5a
It is checked whether or not the rebuilt parts corresponding to the replacement parts are in stock, and the detailed data of the repair cost estimate including the rebuilt parts is displayed on the screen 50. Further, when estimating the repair cost, a list of parts and operations belonging to the damaged part can be displayed on a screen, and the operator can select an appropriate item from the list and correct the estimate.

Then, the control device 5a calculates the repair procedure of the estimated vehicle, creates a repair manual, prints the repair cost estimate and the repair manual, and ends the process (step 111). In preparing the repair cost estimate, the photographing data of the vehicle image described above is also printed and attached to the estimate. Alternatively, the photographing data may be captured and printed in the form of the quote. In addition, FIG.
This is an example showing the estimated contents when there is only one damaged part,
FIG. 15 is an example showing the estimation contents when there are a plurality of (three) damaged parts.

As described above, according to the accident vehicle damaged part recognition system and the recognition method of the present embodiment, since the shock transmission data (damage propagation data) is set for each component of each vehicle type, the impact on the vehicle is Input direction, input height,
By simply designating the impact situation data such as the impact force, it is possible to easily recognize the damaged portion accurately for each vehicle type.

A vehicle image representing an accurate damage state according to the shock transmission data can be stored so as to be arbitrarily photographed from an accurate direction and attached to an estimate document. Users such as the insurance company and the vehicle owner can be easily and easily recognized.

[0052]

According to the present invention, it is possible to allow a user or the like to easily recognize an accurate damaged portion of a vehicle in which an accident has occurred.

[0053]

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 digital still camera 2 input device 3 auxiliary storage device 4 input / output interface 5 central processing unit (CPU) 5a control device 5b arithmetic unit 6 main storage device (memory) 6a command unit 6b data unit 8 display device 9 printing device 12 communication device 13 display 20 personal computer

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[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] August 1, 2001 (2001.8.1)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Correction target item name] Brief description of drawings

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a vehicle repair cost estimation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on a display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on a display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a screen configuration during an estimation process displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a screen configuration in a shooting mode displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a screen configuration in a shooting mode displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a screen configuration of an estimate content displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a screen configuration of estimation contents displayed on the display device in the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an exemplary flowchart for explaining a processing procedure of a computer in the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is an exemplary flowchart for explaining the processing steps of a computer in the embodiment.

[Description of Signs] 2 Input device 3 Auxiliary storage device 5 Central processing unit 6 Main storage device 8 Display device 12 Communication device 13 Display 20 Personal computer

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A storage means for storing vehicle attribute data for each vehicle type and component data for each vehicle type; a specifying means for specifying a damaged part of the vehicle; Means for calculating a vehicle repair cost based on the damaged part designated by the designation means, and estimate data creation means for creating repair cost estimate data including the vehicle image data displayed on the display means. A vehicle repair cost estimation system, characterized in that: 2. The impact means according to claim 1, wherein said storage means further stores impact transmission data of each part for each vehicle type, and sets an impact state with respect to a target vehicle based on an impact input point, an impact degree, and an impact input direction. It is provided with a situation input means, wherein the designation means has a damaged component determination means for determining a damaged component based on the impact situation data from the impact situation input means and the impact transmission data of the storage means. The vehicle repair cost estimation system according to claim 1. 3. The vehicle repair cost estimation system according to claim 1, wherein said display means displays a state of internal damage of the vehicle. 4. The vehicle repair cost estimation system according to claim 3, wherein said display means displays vehicle skeleton data. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said display means has a photographing mode for extracting vehicle image data displayed on said display means as image data viewed from a predetermined direction.
4. The vehicle repair cost estimation system according to any one of 4.