The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 22, 2005
Filed:
Apr. 14, 2000
Fausto Bernardini, Hartsdale, NY (US);
Joshua David Mittleman, Croton-on-Hudson, NY (US);
Holly E. Rushmeier, Mount Kisco, NY (US);
Claudio T. Silva, Mahwah, NJ (US);
Gabriel Taubin, Hartsdale, NY (US);
Fausto Bernardini, Hartsdale, NY (US);
Joshua David Mittleman, Croton-on-Hudson, NY (US);
Holly E. Rushmeier, Mount Kisco, NY (US);
Claudio T. Silva, Mahwah, NJ (US);
Gabriel Taubin, Hartsdale, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method and apparatus are disclosed for finding a triangle mesh that interpolates a set of points obtained from a scanning system. A ball-pivoting algorithm computes a triangle mesh interpolating a given point cloud. The disclosed ball-pivoting algorithm triangulates a set of points by 'rolling' a ball of radius r on the point cloud. The points are surface samples acquired with multiple range scans of an object. The ball-pivoting algorithm starts with a seed triangle, and pivots the ball of a given radius, r, around an edge of the triangle. During the pivoting operation, the ball revolves around the edge while keeping in contact with the edge's endpoints. The ball pivots until it touches another scan point, forming another triangle. The ball-pivoting operation continues until all reachable edges have been tried, and then starts from another seed triangle, until all scan points have been considered.