Patent ID: 7612896

Claim:
A computer enabled method of measuring the three-dimensional volume of an interior cavity, said interior cavity having a first edge at a position in said interior cavity and a second edge positioned opposite said first edge, comprising the steps of: positioning an optical device at a first position at the first edge of the interior cavity, collecting a first optical slice of data that represents a partial volume of the interior cavity using said optical device positioned at said first edge of the interior cavity, moving said optical device to additional incremental positions between the first edge and the second edge within the interior cavity, collecting additional optical slices of data that represent a partial volume of the interior cavity using said optical device positioned at said incremental positions between the first edge and the second edge within the interior cavity, and using the computer to combine said first optical slice of data and said additional optical slices of data to calculate of the three-dimensional volume of the interior cavity and provide a computer output determination of the three-dimensional volume of said interior cavity.