Patent ID: 6900802

Claim:
A method of determining local relative z-ordering information, the method comprising: (a) obtaining a first image frame and second image frame containing digital image data; (b) dividing the first image frame and second image frame into segments, wherein a first segment overlaps a second segment in at least one of said image frames; (c) matching segments of the first image frame to the second image frame, and matching segments of the second image frame to the first image frame; and (d) comparing an overlapped condition between the first and second segments in one of said image frames with newly visible portions in the other of said image frames to determine relative z-ordering between the first and second segments; and (e) breaking any cyclical relationships wherein the cyclical relationships are broken by: (a) obtaining a sequence of segments which share a cyclical z-ordering relationship; and (b) canceling the weakest relationships between segments until the cyclical relationship is broken.