3-D data acquisition and scene segmentation system

A 3-D data acquisition and scene segmentation system is described. For 3-D data acquisition a structured light technique based on the ratio of two intensity images is used. This technique avoids the correspondence problem, that appears in other structured light techniques, and allows the acquisition of dense range images. The calibration steps of the system are described. Measurement results with different scenes are presented and system accuracy is evaluated. Taking into account that this system allows the acquisition of a dense range image and an intensity image, registered with it, a new approach to the segmentation of 3-D scenes using both range and intensity information is proposed. The two images are segmented separately and iteratively. At each iteration, the segmentation results are combined. The segmentation proceeds until all segments are planar or no more splits are possible. A two-step merging procedure follows: first, planar surfaces that may have been split are “reconstructed”, by merging adjacent planar regions that satisfy some constraints; then, regions belonging to curved surfaces are identified and merged, using a curvature analysis along line segments delimited by edge points, combined from both images. Finally, the resulting surfaces are described, using adequate functions