Patent ID: 8917916

Claim:
A method of generating an image to simulate the output of an imaging device, the imaging device being operable to carry out a radial scan, and the method comprising: receiving an image representing an approximation of the output of the imaging device; defining a polar coordinate space in relation to said image, the polar coordinate space corresponding to a region swept by the radial scan; transforming said image from the defined polar coordinate space into a planar coordinate space to form a planar-coordinate transformed image, the planar coordinate space having two orthogonal axes, one of said axes corresponding to the radial direction of the radial scan and the other of said axes corresponding to the sweep direction of the radial scan; generating at least one visual artefact and adding said at least one visual artefact to said output image, including the step of processing at least one of individual rows and individual columns of said planar-coordinate transformed image in order to add visual artefacts to said planar-coordinate transformed image; and transforming said planar-coordinate transformed Image back into the polar coordinate space to form output image data.