Patent ID: 9478063
Filing Date: 2016-10-25
CPC Classification: G06F,G06K,G06T,H04N

Claim Text:
1. An image processing method for generating a first non-realistic 2D symmetric silhouette from model data that defines a 3D exterior surface corresponding to a physical reference object, the model data comprising data stored in an electronic memory that identifies a 3D position for each of plural model points on said surface, the resulting non-realistic 2D symmetric silhouette being useful in identifying an unknown physical object from imagery thereof, the method comprising the acts: identifying, with one or more hardware processors, a dominant plane P for the 3D surface defined by the model data, said identifying act comprising (a) identifying a plane tangent to said 3D surface that contains a greatest number of model points, or (b) identifying a plane tangent to said 3D surface that contains three or more of said model points and spans a largest area; determining, with one or more hardware processors, a primary reference axis about which the model data should be rotated, said primary reference axis passing through the modeled object and being perpendicular to the dominant plane P; and estimating, with one or more hardware processors, said first non-realistic 2D symmetric silhouette of the reference object based on rotation of the model data, or a viewpoint, about the primary reference axis, said estimating being based on plural depictions of the object viewed from an orbit around the object and in a plane parallel to the dominant plane P; wherein said symmetric silhouette does not match any silhouette of said physical reference object.