Abstract:
A method for creating a home improvement design. A ‘design board’ tool disclosed herein allows users to collect pictures of room interior spaces and other images of patterns, colors, etc., assemble them on one display screen, and then edit the images to focus on what makes each picture important from a design perspective. A completed design board can be used as the foundation for remodeling or renovating a residential space. Following the creation of a design board, a professional designer can collaborate with a homeowner by exchanging ideas until a desired design is created.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Americans spent $359 Billion on home improvement projects between 2009 and 2011. Sixty-three percent of the time, homeowners hire professionals, such as general contractors, interior designers, architects and landscaper professionals to partner in the home improvement work. What is needed is a mechanism that facilitates both the interior design process as well as interaction between a homeowner and contracting professionals. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0002]    The present system and method provides a tool that facilitates the designing of residential home improvement projects. Using a computer, a homeowner can visually integrate photographs of room interiors and images of fabric samples, paint samples and other patterns to represent the design, color and feel of a room. A ‘design board’ tool disclosed herein allows users to collect pictures, patterns, colors, etc., assemble them on one display screen, and then edit the images to focus on what makes each picture important from a design perspective. A completed design board can be used as the foundation for remodeling or renovating a residential space. Following the creation of a design board, a professional designer can collaborate with a homeowner by exchanging ideas until a desired design is created. 
         [0003]    The present design board is a tool that helps these two parties, homeowners and home improvement professionals, work together more effectively. Design boards are a unique way to visually represent proposed home improvement projects, and provide a platform for homeowners and home improvements professionals to collaborate on the design and planning of home improvement projects. 
         [0004]    In one embodiment, the present method for creating a home improvement design comprises a set of computer-implemented functions including generating a plurality of tagged images by tagging each of a plurality of images with a plurality of tags comprising metadata having attributes indicative of a space depicted in the image; displaying a plurality of the tagged images for inspection by a user; adding selected ones of the tagged images to a design board; providing a suggested image to be added to the design board; editing at least two of the images on the design board while the remaining images are displayed on the board; publishing the design board including original content by storing the design board in a database; and receiving an annotated copy of the design board, wherein the annotated copy includes modified original content. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]      FIG. 1A  is a diagram of an exemplary embodiment showing elements of the present system; 
           [0006]      FIG. 1B  is a diagram of an exemplary design board including a plurality of photos or other images; 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart showing an exemplary set of steps performed in creating a design for home improvements; 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart showing an exemplary set of steps performed in suggesting additional photos for inclusion on a design board; and 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is a diagram showing an exemplary tagged photo and associated tags. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]      FIG. 1A  is an exemplary diagram of the present system  100  for creating a design for home improvements. As shown in  FIG. 1 , in an exemplary embodiment, system  100  comprises a website  110  including an Internet server  104 , a processor  101  and associated memory  102  (which may be included in server  104 ), a database  103 , and one or more user sites  108 ,  109 , each including a computer  119  with a web browser  107  and display  127 . 
         [0011]    Database  103  includes web pages  115  (which may include a blank design board  105 ), photos  130  tagged with metadata, user data  113 , and software application programs (“applications”)  106 , for performing steps shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , described below. 
         [0012]      FIG. 1B  is a diagram of an exemplary design board  105  including a plurality of tagged photos or other images  130 . As shown in  FIG. 1B , in an exemplary embodiment, design board  105  is a page or window that provides a user with the ability to visually represent proposed home improvement projects. Users can arrange photos  130  into specific pre-designated locations  131 , for example, locations  131  on a design board  105 , as shown in  FIG. 1B . 
         [0013]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart showing an exemplary set of steps performed in creating a design for home improvements. As shown in  FIG. 2 , initially at step  201 , photos (or other images)  129  in a photo repository  111 , or stored in another source, are tagged with associated information (hereinafter referred to as Thetadata)  401 - 403  (shown in  FIG. 4 , described below) including attributes indicating some or all of the following: space (e.g., kitchen, bathroom), style (e.g., modern, traditional), size of room (e.g., square feet), cost to build, time to build, materials used, colors of materials, and brands of materials. The metadata associated with photos  129  may include multiple tags or a single tag with multiple attributes indicative of the space shown in the photo Tagged photos  130  are stored in photo repository  111  and are used in all remaining steps in the present method. 
         [0014]    At step  205 , a plurality of photos (or other images)  130  from photo repository  111  are displayed on a user&#39;s computer display  127 . At step  210 , certain ones of the displayed photos  130  are selected by the user and added to a design board  105  on user display  127 . Design board  105  is displayed on user computer display  127  in response to a user request sent from user site  109  to an Internet website, as described below. 
         [0015]    Applications  106 , which perform the method steps and other system functions described herein, are accessed via links embedded in one or more web pages  115  sent from server  104  to computer  119 . In an exemplary embodiment, applications  106  are instantiated by a user clicking on one of the links on a web page  115  displayed via computer  119  on display  127 . Clicking on a link on web page  115  initiates an API call that dynamically updates the computer  119  on the user&#39;s side. In one embodiment, application  106  is downloaded from a third-party web site, in which process the application is pushed via API to the user. Applications  106  display ‘buttons’ (not shown) or other graphical mechanisms for selecting various system functions including the user-selectable functions described herein. 
         [0016]    At step  215 , using a photo suggestion algorithm  300  (described with respect to  FIG. 3 , below), tag metadata (described with respect to  FIG. 3 , below) associated with each photo  130  is used in order to suggest similar photos. Based on the information tagged in step  201 , a suggestion for one or more additional photos to be included on the design board is made in step  215 , by displaying photos similar to the ones a user has already viewed or selected. 
         [0017]    Once a user has selected a number of photos or other images (e.g., 12 images)  130  that they like, and which best represents their ideas for a new space (kitchen, office, bedroom, bathroom, patio, etc.), they can move the photos to positions  131  of greater or lesser importance on the design board  105 , at step  220 . Moving a photo can be accomplished by tapping on it with one&#39;s finger (on a touch screen device, or clicking on it with a mouse for desktop/laptop computers) and dragging it to a desired position, where the image is dropped and switches places with the original photo, which is transferred to the original location of the photo that is replacing it. 
         [0018]    At step  225 , after a user has arranged photos in the desired locations on a design board  105 , the user can edit the photos by performing editing actions including zoom in/zoom out (i.e., enlarge a selected portion of a photo), as well as pan around any photo  130  in order to focus on the specific aspect of that photo that the user is most interested in. Editing can be performed (sequentially) on two or more of the images on the design board, while the remaining images are displayed on the board. For example, if the user has a picture of a kitchen, but is actually most interested in the sink in that kitchen, then they can zoom in on the kitchen photo so that the sink is the only thing seen in that photo on the design board  105 . The user can perform this step on any of the photos  130  visible on the display  127  at any time, as all of the photos  130  are visible at the same time on the same page/window/design board  105 , and any one of the photos may be edited while the remaining photos are displayed on the user&#39;s display  127 . 
         [0019]    Note that steps  220  and  225  may be performed repetitively, and in any order. 
         [0020]    At step  230 , once a design board  105  is set up, a user can share the design board directly with other users. In order to share a design board  130  with other users, a design board creator (using computer  119 ) invokes a ‘publish’ command, which causes the design board to be stored in user data area  113  of database  103 . A homeowner (e.g., a user at site  109 ) may share a design board  105  with a collaborating interior designer at site  108 . For example, the interior designer may retrieve the design board  105  from database repository  111 , and review and edit or otherwise modify the design board before sending it back to the original user (for example, the designer may draw on the design board and add notes onto the board, etc.). 
         [0021]    A second user (for example, an interior designer at site  108 ) may also suggest a photo  130  with a different style or color, and insert that new photo into the first user&#39;s design board  105 , which modifies the original content on the design board into new content. 
         [0022]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart showing an exemplary algorithm for suggesting additional photos for inclusion on a design board  105 .  FIG. 4  is a diagram showing an exemplary tagged photo  130  and associated tags  401 - 403 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , each photo  130  has associated therewith a “space” tag  401  (e.g., kitchen, bathroom, etc.), a “style” tag  402  (e.g., modern, traditional, etc.), and a plurality of ‘free form’ tags  403 , which are text-only, such as “white walls”, “hardwood floors”, or “bay windows”, etc.). In total, each photo has on average approximately 20 tags indicating the contents of the tagged photo  130 . 
         [0023]    As shown in  FIG. 3 , in an exemplary embodiment, in order to suggest similar photos, a photo  130  on design board  105  is selected by a user at step  305 . At step  310 , the tags  401 - 403  associated with the selected photo  130  are determined. At step  315 , a search of tagged photos  130  in repository  111  is performed to find photos with the same tags  401 ,  402 ,  403  as (or tags highly similar to) the selected photo  130 . This search process may employ open source search software such as “Elastic Search”, which initially indexes the tags associated with each of the photos  130  in repository  111 , and in performing a subsequent search, looks at the set of tags associated with the selected photo, and searches all the other photos in the database repository  111  for photos with similar tags as indexed. 
         [0024]    At step  320 , a photo  130  having identical or similar tags is located and displayed on design board  105 . For example, a first photo  130  having tags that indicate “modern”, “kitchen”, “white cabinets” and “marble counters”, is displayed on display  127  in response to a user request A second photo  130  with the tags “modern”, “kitchen”, “red cabinets” and “granite counters” is then found in repository  111  and displayed as a suggestion, since those words were identical or similar in both photos. 
         [0025]    Steps  310 - 320  may then repeated until the user has the desired photos  130  displayed on design board  105 . 
         [0026]    Certain changes may be made in the above methods and systems without departing from the scope of that which is described herein. It is to be noted that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. The elements and steps shown in the present drawings may be modified in accordance with the methods described herein, and the steps shown therein may be sequenced in other configurations without departing from the spirit of the system thus described.