Incremental 3D Scan Alignment Reducing Computational Cost
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing techniques for aligning multiple three-dimensional scans are computationally expensive and memory-intensive, especially when dealing with a large number of scans, as they rely on pairwise alignment processes that scale exponentially, making them unsuitable for devices with limited processing or memory capacity.
Innovation Solution
The proposed solution combines pairwise and global alignment processes into a single collective alignment process, allowing for incremental alignment of scans, which reduces computational operations and memory resources by establishing an updated aligned set of scans as each new scan is processed, thereby scaling linearly with the number of scans.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If pairwise alignment processes are used to align multiple three-dimensional scans, then alignment accuracy is improved, but computational cost and memory consumption increase exponentially with the number of scans
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the alignment process into hierarchical levels: first performing pairwise alignment between individual scans to establish local correspondences, then performing global alignment across all scans using the accumulated correspondences. This segmentation allows the system to maintain high alignment accuracy through pairwise comparison while reducing overall computational complexity by processing scans in manageable stages rather than requiring all-pairs comparison simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary pairwise alignment between individual scans before conducting the final global alignment. By pre-establishing correspondences between pairs of scans and accumulating these partial alignments, the system prepares the data structure in advance to enable efficient global optimization. This preliminary action reduces the computational burden of the final global alignment step while maintaining accuracy.
2Measurement precision
If pairwise alignment processes are used to align multiple three-dimensional scans, then alignment accuracy is improved, but memory resources are consumed exponentially with the number of scans
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the storage requirements by maintaining correspondences in a hierarchical manner. Instead of storing all possible pairwise correspondences between N scans (which would require O(N²) memory), the system stores correspondences incrementally as scans are processed in sequence, reducing memory requirements to O(N) while still achieving accurate global alignment through the accumulated correspondence data.
3Productivity
If incremental alignment is implemented to reduce computational cost, then processing efficiency is improved, but alignment accuracy may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary pairwise alignment between individual scans before conducting the final global alignment. By pre-establishing correspondences between pairs of scans and accumulating these partial alignments, the system prepares the data structure in advance to enable efficient global optimization. This preliminary action reduces the computational burden of the final global alignment step while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms in the incremental alignment process by using the accumulated correspondences from previously processed scans to guide and constrain the alignment of new scans. The global alignment algorithm continuously refines the positioning of all scans based on feedback from multiple pairwise comparisons, ensuring that processing efficiency gains do not compromise final alignment accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are provided for incrementally aligning multiple scans of a three-dimensional subject. This can be accomplished by establishing an updated aligned set of scans as each new scan is sequentially processed and aligned with the existing scans. In such embodiments the pairwise and global alignment processes are effectively combined into a single collective alignment process. This collective alignment converges to an optimal alignment faster than the sequential pairwise alignment process that existing solutions use. The collective alignment enforces pairwise alignment between the individual scans in the aligned set of scans. This is because each scan comprising the aligned set can be aligned to the next incremental scan if any scan included in the aligned set can be aligned to the next incremental scan. The pairwise alignment between the scans comprising the aligned set is thus a known function.