Patent ID: 8452081

Claim:
A method for determining a three-dimensional model from three or more images, the method implemented at least in part by a data processing system and comprising the steps of: a) receiving three or more images, each image being captured from a different viewpoint and including a two-dimensional image together with a corresponding range map; b) designating a plurality of pairs of received images, each pair including a first image and a second image; c) for each of the designated pairs of received images: i) identifying a set of corresponding features in the two-dimensional images for the first and second digital images; ii) removing any extraneous corresponding features in the set of corresponding features responsive to the range maps for the first and second images to produce a refined set of corresponding features; iii) determining a geometrical transformation for transforming three-dimensional coordinates for the first image to three-dimensional coordinates for the second image responsive to three-dimensional coordinates for the refined set of corresponding features, the three-dimensional coordinates comprising two-dimensional pixel coordinates from the corresponding two-dimensional image together with a depth coordinate from the corresponding range map; d) determining a three-dimensional model responsive to the three or more received images and the geometrical transformations for the designated pairs of received images; and e) storing the three-dimensional model in a processor-accessible memory system.