Patent ID: 8867827

Claim:
A method of defining a voxel-based image or a point cloud using two-dimensional (2D) images of a scene, comprising: establishing one or more camera parameters for first and second digital cameras each having pixels; performing a calibration of the first and second digital cameras based on the one or more camera parameters of the first and second digital cameras; registering the first and second digital cameras relative to a reference coordinate system to sub-pixel resolution; simultaneously capturing with the first and second digital cameras respective initial first and second 2D images of the scene; rectifying the initial first and second 2D images to sub-pixel resolution using photogrammetric triangulation to form rectified first and second 2D images; stereo-matching the rectified first and second 2D images to form sub-pixel-resolution, stereo-matched first and second 2D images; defining first and second regions of interest (ROIs) of the sub-pixel-resolution, stereo-matched first and second 2D images; inverse mapping the first and second ROIs to their corresponding initial first and second 2D images to sub-pixel resolution to find (x, y) positions and red, green and blue (RGB) color values for pixels in each of the first and second ROIs, thereby defining sub-pixel-resolution, first and second ROIs; using the sub-pixel-resolution first and second ROIs to form a sub-pixel-resolution disparity map that relates distance information in the scene relative to the reference coordinate system; and performing a spatial intersection of the sub-pixel-resolution first and second ROIs using the sub-pixel-resolution disparity map to define either a voxel-based image or a point cloud in the first digital camera.