Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Image processing apparatus
- Patent Title (中): 图像处理装置
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Application No.: US09129079Application Date: 1998-08-05
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Publication No.: US06516099B1Publication Date: 2003-02-04
- Inventor: Allan Joseph Davison , Jane Haslam , Alexander Ralph Lyons , Simon Michael Rowe , Richard Ian Taylor
- Applicant: Allan Joseph Davison , Jane Haslam , Alexander Ralph Lyons , Simon Michael Rowe , Richard Ian Taylor
- Priority: GB9716502 19970805; GB9716504 19970805; GB9716514 19970805; GB9716517 19970805
- Main IPC: G06K936
- IPC: G06K936

Abstract:
In an apparatus and method for creating a three-dimensional model of an object, images of the object taken from different, unknown positions are processed to identify the points in the images which correspond to the same point on the actual object (that is “matching” points), the matching points are used to determine the relative positions from which the images were taken, and the matching points and calculated positions are used to calculate points in a three-dimensional space representing points on the object. A number of different techniques are used to identify the matching points, and a number of solutions are calculated and tested for the relative positions, the solution which is consistent with the largest number of matching points being selected. In one matching technique, edges in an image are identified by first identifying corner points in the image and then identifying edges between the corner points on the basis of edge orientation values of pixels, the edges are processed in strength order to remove cross-overs, the images sub-divided into regions by connecting points at the ends of the edges on the basis of the edge strengths, and matching points within corresponding regions in two or more images are identified.
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