Patent ID: 7760909

Claim:
A tracking and registration method for spatially locating and tracking an object using a camera array having at least two cameras, and for registering a spatial position of the object with an acquired, stored data set containing image data related to surface portions of the object, comprising: monitoring, via the camera array, a spatial position of trackable markers attached to the object for movement with the object, whereby the spatial position of the object corresponds to the spatial position of said markers; producing video recordings of a surface of the object via the camera array; identifying surface portions of the object in the video recordings and correlating, with computer assistance, the identified surface portions with corresponding surface portions in the stored data set; and based on the spatial position of the trackable markers and the correlation of surface portions of the object with corresponding surface portions in the stored data set, registering the spatial position of the identified surface portions of the object with corresponding surface portions of the data set.