Patent ID: 6930683

Claim:
A method of operating a data processing system to generate a three-dimensional model of a space from a plurality of measured images of said space, each measured image comprising a view of said space from a corresponding viewpoint, each measured image comprising a plurality of pixels having pixel values, said method comprising: dividing said space into a plurality of voxels, each voxel being characterized by a location and an indication of an opaque color or an indication that said voxel is clear, including basing said indications upon said measured images so as to generate a first model of said space; and defining a reconstruction of said space by assigning characterizations to a set of said voxels of said first model, said set being based on at least one linked list of said voxels in which said voxels of any particular said linked list are intersected by a ray aligned to project upon a specific pixel of a specific said measured image having an association with said particular linked list, said reconstruction being characterized by an error value related to the difference between each of said measured images and a reprojection that would be produced by said set of voxels from the corresponding viewpoint as that of said measured image, said assigning including changing at least one said indication of opaque color or clear within said set of voxels, wherein changes of colors and clear values of said assigned characterizations are chosen to reduce said error value below a cutoff value.