Patent ID: 7450749

Claim:
Image processing method for displaying a processed image of a three dimensional (3-D) object using a two-dimensional display means and for interacting with a surface of the displayed 3-D object comprising: constructing and displaying at least two coupled views of the surface of the 3-D object, including (i) a global 3-D view of the surface of said object and (ii) a connected local 2-D view of the surface of said object, wherein constructing and displaying of the two coupled views comprises using a flattening process to obtain a direct one-to-one mapping between the 3-D and the 2-D views, selecting a starting focus point on the surface of the said object in the global 3-D view and projecting an unfolded region around the starting focus point of the global 3-D view which is delimited as a function of a flattening distortion into the local 2-D view to form a projected surface region in the local 2-D view, wherein the projected surface region comprises a limited area dimension that avoids projection distortions, and wherein the connected local 2-D view comprises the surface view on which local interactions are performed.