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:
Apr. 04, 2006
Filed:
May. 21, 2002
G. Yates Fletcher, Cary, NC (US);
Tobias Gloth, Durham, NC (US);
Herbert Edelsbrunner, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Ping Fu, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
G. Yates Fletcher, Cary, NC (US);
Tobias Gloth, Durham, NC (US);
Herbert Edelsbrunner, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Ping Fu, Chapel Hill, NC (US);
Geomagic, Inc., Durham, NC (US);
Abstract
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.