Patent ID: 7477359

Claim:
A method for making measurements between two 3D range data sets obtained using a 3D rangefinder device, comprising: providing a first 3D range data set; providing a second 3D range data set, wherein the second 3D range data set is a different data set from the first 3D range data set; computing a 3D transformation between the first 3D range data set and the second 3D range data set; representing the first 3D range data set as a first displayed image; representing the second 3D range data set as a second displayed image, wherein the second displayed image is a different image from the first displayed image; identifying at least a first feature within the first displayed image; identifying at least a second feature within the second displayed image; computing a measurement based on at least the first feature and the second feature utilizing the 3D transformation between the first 3D range data set and the second 3D range data set; and displaying the computed measurement within at least one of the first displayed image and the second displayed image.