Patent ID: 9646424
Date: 2017-05-09
CPC Classifications: G01S,G06T

Claim:
1. A method for displaying a three-dimensional surface, the method comprising: using an electro-optical sensor to generate a plurality of images of a physical surface; generating the three-dimensional surface from the plurality of images, using a multiray intersection of image coordinates on the physical surface and a photogrammetric bundle adjustment algorithm; associating a covariance matrix with a first point on the three-dimensional surface; forming an ellipsoid, the ellipsoid comprising three major axes, each major axis having a length proportional to the square root of an eigenvalue of the covariance matrix, and being parallel to an eigenvector of the covariance matrix; displaying a two-dimensional plane projection of the three-dimensional surface, a brightness of each point of the two-dimensional plane projection of the three-dimensional surface corresponding to an average intensity of corresponding points in the images; and displaying a two-dimensional plane projection of the ellipsoid at the first point, wherein the covariance matrix is a sample covariance of points on the three-dimensional surface in a region around the first point, the sample covariance C being given by wherein x