Geomagic, Inc.

Phonak Ltd.

Tobias Gloth

Herbert Edelsbrunner

Ping Fu

G Yates Fletcher

Dmitry Nekhayev

Michael Facello

Tamas Varady

Zsolt Terek

Methods of modeling a three-dimensional surface structure include partitioning three-dimensional object data into regions of a Morse complex and generating a feature skeleton having a plurality of smooth edges and a plurality of vertices separating the regions of the Morse complex. Operations are also performed to thicken the feature skeleton by replacing the plurality of smooth edges with corresponding pairs of curves that locate longitudinal boundaries of transitions between primary regions of the feature skeleton. The thickening operations may also include replacing each of the plurality of vertices with a corresponding loop of edges, using setback-type vertex blends.

Methods, apparatus and computer program products that model three-dimensional surface structures

Methods, apparatus and computer program products provide efficient techniques for designing and printing shells of hearing-aid devices with a high degree of quality assurance and reliability and with a reduced number of manual and time consuming production steps and operations. These techniques also preferably provide hearing-aid shells having internal volumes that can approach a maximum allowable ratio of internal volume relative to external volume. These high internal volumes facilitate the inclusion of hearing-aid electrical components having higher degrees of functionality and/or the use of smaller and less conspicuous hearing-aid shells. A preferred method includes operations to generate a watertight digital model of a hearing-aid shell by thickening a three-dimensional digital model of a shell surface in a manner that eliminates self-intersections and results in a thickened model having an internal volume that is a high percentage of an external volume of the model. This thickening operation preferably includes nonuniformly thickening the digital model of a shell surface about a directed path that identifies a location of an undersurface hearing-aid vent. This directed path may be drawn on the shell surface by a technician (e.g., audiologist) or computer-aided design operator, for example. Operations are then preferably performed to generate a digital model of an undersurface hearing-aid vent in the thickened model of the shell surface, at a location proximate the directed path.

Manufacturing methods and systems for rapid production of hearing-aid shells

Methods, apparatus and computer program products provide efficient techniques for reconstructing surfaces from data point sets. These techniques include reconstructing surfaces from sets of scanned data points that have preferably undergone preprocessing operations to improve their quality by, for example, reducing noise and removing outliers. These techniques include reconstructing a dense and locally two-dimensionally distributed 3D point set (e.g., point cloud) by merging stars in two-dimensional weighted Delaunay triangulations within estimated tangent planes. The techniques include determining a plurality of stars from a plurality of points pin a 3D point set S that at least partially describes the 3D surface, by projecting the plurality of points ponto planes Tthat are each estimated to be tangent about a respective one of the plurality of points p. The plurality of stars are then merged into a digital model of the 3D surface.

Methods, apparatus and computer program products that reconstruct surfaces from data point sets

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Durham, NC, United States of America

Tobias Gloth