Patent ID: 6937239

Claim:
A method of orientating a space curve defined by digital data corresponding to an image, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a predefined space curve, wherein the space curve has two endpoints and is adapted to have one of two directions, either a forward direction proceeding along the space curve from an initial endpoint to a terminating endpoint or a reverse direction proceeding along the space curve from the terminating endpoint to the initial endpoint; selecting a desired direction to act as a reference for orientating the space curve received in said receiving step; generating a first vector having a direction which is the same as the selected desired direction; generating at least one second vector, each second vector having a corresponding direction representative of and derived from a corresponding characteristic of the space curve; comparing the first and second vectors; determining, based on a result of said comparing step, a direction of the space curve, wherein the determined direction of the space curve is one of two directions, either the forward or the reverse direction, that is closest in direction to the selected desired direction; and orientating the direction of the space curve to the determined direction.