Patent Document ID: 20030071194
Application ID: 10217944
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A three-dimensional digital scanner comprising: a multiple view detector responsive to a broad spectrum of light, said detector being operative to develop a plurality of images of a three dimensional object to be scanned, said plurality of images being taken from a plurality of relative positions and orientations with respect to said three dimensional object, said plurality of images depicting a plurality of surface portions of said three dimensional object to be scanned; a digital processor including a computational unit said digital processor being coupled to said detector; a calibration ring comprising calibration objects integrated with an object support for inclusion in said plurality of images; said digital processor being operative to use imagery of said calibration objects to determine camera geometry relative to a reference frame; said object support being an apparatus designed to provide rotational view images of said object placed on said object support and said rotational view images being defined as images taken by relative rotation between the object and the detector; at least one source of white light for illuminating said three dimensional object for purposes of color image acquisition; at least one source of active light being projected onto the object; said digital processor being operative to use active range finding techniques to derive 3D spatial data describing the surface of said three dimensional object; said digital processor being operative to analyze said calibration objects to perform a coordinate transformation between reference coordinates and image space coordinates said coordinate transformation being used to correlate color image data, viewing angle data and 3D spatial data; such that a digital representation of said object that includes both shape and surface coloration may be developed from said data.