Patent ID: 8380003

Claim:
A method of comparing an object to a corresponding object description, the method comprising: a) providing a real-space representation R of said object based on said object description; b) providing substantially incomplete Fourier-space magnitude data of said object by performing a diffraction measurement on said object; c) computing a wavelet-space representation W of said real-space representation R; d) dividing basis wavelets of said wavelet-space representation into a first set W 1 having coefficients a 1 and a second set W 2 having coefficients a 2 ; e) computing a wavelet-space representation of an initial estimate; f) iteratively refining said estimate one or more times to provide a final estimate, wherein coefficients of wavelets in said set W 1 are held fixed and coefficients of wavelets in said set W 2 are allowed to vary as agreement between said Fourier-space magnitude data and a Fourier-space representation of said estimate is sought; and g) comparing said final estimate to said object description, and providing results of said comparison as an output.