Patent ID: 7046840

Claim:
An image processing method comprising: (a) analyzing a set of images containing an object and a background to identify for each image a silhouette of an object and locations in the image of pattern points in the background; (b) for each image, using the locations of the pattern points to determine a transform from three-dimensional coordinates to two-dimensional coordinates in the image; (c) transforming three-dimensional coordinates of a set of points in a candidate volume to the two-dimensional coordinates of a first of the images; (d) identifying an approximate volume of the object as containing the points that the transform maps onto the silhouette of the object in the first of the images; (e) setting a current candidate volume equal to the approximate volume; (f) transforming three-dimensional coordinates of a set of points in the current candidate volume to the two-dimensional coordinates in a next of the images; and (g) identifying the approximate volume of the object as a minimal volume containing the points that transform onto the silhouette of the object in the next of the images.