Patents Assigned to Zillow Group, Inc.
  • Patent number: 10834317
    Abstract: Techniques are described for automated operations involving acquiring and analyzing information from an interior of a house, building or other structure, for use in generating and providing a representation of that interior. Such techniques may include using a user's mobile device to capture video data from multiple viewing locations (e.g., 360° video at each viewing location) within multiple rooms, and capturing data linking the multiple viewing locations (e.g.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 23, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Zillow Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Qi Shan, Alex Colburn, Li Guan, Ivaylo Boyadzhiev
  • Patent number: 10825247
    Abstract: Automated operations related to providing visual information of multiple types in an integrated manner about a building or other defined area may include generating and presenting a GUI (graphical user interface) on a client device that includes a computer model of the building's interior with one or more first types of information (e.g., in a first pane of the GUI), and simultaneously presenting other types of related information about the building interior (e.g., in additional separate GUI pane(s)) that is coordinated with the first type(s) of information being currently displayed. The computer model may be a 3D (three-dimensional) or 2.5D representation generated after the house is built and showing the actual house's interior (e.g., walls, furniture, etc.), and may be displayed to a user of a client computing device in a displayed GUI with various user-selectable controls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: Zillow Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Joshuah Vincent, Ivaylo Boyadzhiev, Romualdo Impas, Yuguang Li, Pierre Moulon
  • Patent number: 10809066
    Abstract: Techniques are described for using computing devices to perform automated operations to generate mapping information using inter-connected images of a defined area, and for using the generated mapping information in further automated manners. In at least some situations, the defined area includes an interior of a multi-room building, and the generated information includes a floor map of the building, such as from an automated analysis of multiple panorama images or other images acquired at various viewing locations within the building—in at least some such situations, the generating is further performed without having detailed information about distances from the images' viewing locations to walls or other objects in the surrounding building. The generated floor map and other mapping-related information may be used in various manners, including for controlling navigation of devices (e.g., autonomous vehicles), for display on one or more client devices in corresponding graphical user interfaces, etc.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: Zillow Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Alex Colburn, Qi Shan, Ramin Mehran, Li Guan
  • Patent number: 10708507
    Abstract: Techniques are described for using computing devices to perform automated operations to control acquisition of images in a defined area, including obtaining and using data from one or more hardware sensors on a mobile device that is acquiring the images, analyzing the sensor data (e.g., in a real-time manner) to determine the geometric orientation of the mobile device in three-dimensional (3D) space, and using that determined orientation to control the acquisition of further images by the mobile device. In some situations, the determined orientation information may be used in part to automatically generate and display a corresponding GUI (graphical user interface) that is overlaid on and augments displayed images of the environment surrounding the mobile device during the image acquisition process, so as to control the mobile device's geometric orientation in 3D space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Zillow Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Mitchell David Dawson, Li Guan, Andrew H. Otwell, Dun-Yu Hsiao
  • Patent number: 10643386
    Abstract: Techniques are described for, given two images taken at two viewing locations, generating and presenting an image transition sequence that simulates viewer movement between the viewing locations, such as without using information about relative distance between the viewing locations and other depth information to objects in an environment around the viewing locations. The start and end images for an image transition sequence may be part of panorama images acquired at the viewing locations, and generating of the image transition sequence may include selecting and using one of multiple types of transition sequences to perform rotating (e.g., from a start image's viewing direction to face toward the viewing location for the end image), zooming (e.g., to simulate moving forward), and/or blending of the end image with a modified version of the start image, with the resulting image transition sequence played as a video or other animation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2020
    Assignee: Zillow Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Yuguang Li, Li Guan
  • Patent number: 10530997
    Abstract: Automated operations may be performed involving acquiring and analyzing information from an interior of a house, building or other structure, for use in generating and providing a representation of that interior. Such operations may include using a user's mobile device to capture video data from multiple viewing locations (e.g., 360° video at each viewing location) within multiple rooms, and capturing data linking the multiple viewing locations (e.g., by recording video, acceleration and/or other data from the mobile device as the user moves between the two viewing locations), creating a panorama image for each viewing location, analyzing the linking information to model the user's travel path and determine relative positions/directions between at least some viewing locations, creating inter-panorama links in the panoramas to each of one or more other panoramas based on such determined positions/directions, and providing information to display multiple linked panorama images to represent the interior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2020
    Assignee: Zillow Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Qi Shan, Alex Colburn, Li Guan, Ivaylo Boyadzhiev
  • Patent number: 10375306
    Abstract: Techniques are described for automated operations involving capturing and analyzing information from an interior of a house, building or other structure, for use in generating and providing a representation of that interior. Such techniques may include using a user's mobile device to capture visual data from multiple viewing locations (e.g., video captured while the mobile device is rotated for some or all of a full 360 degree rotation at each viewing location) within multiple rooms, capturing data linking the multiple viewing locations, analyzing each viewing location's visual data to create a panorama image from that viewing location, analyzing the linking data to determine relative positions/directions between at least some viewing locations, creating inter-panorama links in the panoramas to each of one or more other panoramas based on such determined positions/directions, and providing information to display multiple linked panorama images to represent the interior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 6, 2019
    Assignee: Zillow Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Qi Shan, Alex Colburn, Li Guan, Ivaylo Boyadzhiev