Method and apparatus for displaying a calculated geometric entity within one or more 3D rangefinder data sets

1. A method for displaying a calculated geometric entity within at least one 3D range data set, comprising:

at a computer processor for rendering 3D range data as a 2D displayed image:

representing a provided first 3D range data set as at least one 2D displayed image, wherein the first 3D range data set represents physical objects of a scene;

specifying a calculated geometric entity for representing a non-physical entity, wherein the calculated geometric entity represents something other than the physical objects represented by the first 3D range data set, wherein the calculated geometric entity is not represented by the first 3D range data set, and wherein specifying at least some part of the calculated geometric entity is provided from the group consisting of: manually entering the calculated geometric entity, entering the calculated geometric entity from a computer file, automatically entering the calculated geometric entity, and combinations thereof; and

displaying the calculated geometric entity merged within the at least one 2D displayed image, wherein displaying the calculated geometric entity comprises displaying the calculated geometric entity as at least one of a calculated 2D or 3D vector, a calculated surface, a calculated volume, a trajectory, a sight line, and combinations thereof.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein representing a provided first 3D range data set as at least one 2D displayed image comprises representing, as at least one displayed image, a first 3D range data set that was obtained using a 3D rangefinder device.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein at least the first 3D range data set is provided by a 3D rangefinder device selected from the group consisting of a scanning laser rangefinder using time of flight range measurement principles, a scanning laser rangefinder using phase comparison range measurement principles, a scanning laser rangefinder using any other range measurement principles, an imaging laser rangefinder range camera using time of flight range measurement principles, an imaging laser rangefinder range camera using phase comparison range measurement principles, an imaging laser rangefinder range camera using any other range measurement principles, a triangulation rangefinder, a stereo image rangefinder, a multiple image rangefinder, any other device that acquires a multiplicity of range data points simultaneously, and any other device that acquires a multiplicity of range data points over a period of time and combinations of the above.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one displayed 2D image comprises a 2D image selected from the group consisting of a 2D range image comprising range values from the 3D rangefinder device converted to monochrome, a 2D range image comprising range values from the 3D rangefinder device converted to false color, a 2D reflectance image comprising intensity values of the rangefinding signal reflected from a physical surface and thereafter received by the 3D rangefinder device converted to monochrome, a 2D reflectance image comprising intensity values of the rangefinding signal reflected from a physical surface and thereafter received by the 3D rangefinder device converted to false color, a 2D registered color image comprising a color camera image previously registered with 3D range data, a 2D registered color image wherein the image is acquired from the same perspective as the 3D range data set, a 2D registered color image wherein the image is acquired from a different perspective than the 3D range data set, a 2D registered color image wherein the image is acquired with the same resolution as the 3D range data set, a 2D registered color image wherein the image is acquired with different resolution from the 3D range data set, a 2D image displayed in spherical projection format, a 2D image displayed in any other 3D-to-2D projection format, and a 2D registered monochrome image comprising a monochrome camera image previously registered with 3D range data.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one 2D displayed image comprises a 2D representation of a 3D image selected from the group consisting of a 3D point display, a 3D point display in orthogonal projection, a 3D point display in perspective projection, a 3D polygonal mesh, a 3D polygonal mesh in orthogonal projection, a 3D polygonal mesh in perspective projection, a 3D surface geometry display, a 3D surface geometry display in orthogonal projection, and a 3D surface geometry display in perspective projection.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of providing at least a second 2D displayed image from the first 3D range data set wherein the at least second 2D displayed image comprises a display format different than the display format of the at least one 2D displayed image; and representing the at least second 2D displayed image.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein displaying the calculated geometric entity comprises displaying the calculated geometric entity merged within at least two 2D displayed images.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the steps of providing at least a second 3D range data set; and representing the at least second 3D range data set as at least a second 2D displayed image.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein displaying the calculated geometric entity comprises the step of displaying the calculated geometric entity merged within at least one of the 2D displayed images.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein where the second 3D range data set may be obtained from the group consisting of being obtained by the same 3D rangefinder device as the first 3D range data set but obtained from a different 3D location, being obtained by the same 3D rangefinder device as the first 3D range data set from the same 3D location but obtained at a different resolution, being obtained by the same 3D rangefinder device as the first 3D range data set from the same 3D location but obtained at a different time, being obtained by a different 3D rangefinder device as the first 3D range data set and obtained at the same 3D location, being obtained by a different 3D rangefinder device as the first 3D range data set and obtained from a different 3D location, and being obtained by a different 3D rangefinder device as the first 3D range data set and obtained at a different time.

11. The method of claim 1 , implemented in a computer processor executing a suitable computer software program product therein.

12. The method of claim 1 , implemented in a suitable computer software program product embodied on computer readable tangible media.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that when executed by the processor of a computer perform steps comprising:

representing a first 3D range data set as at least one 2D displayed image, wherein the first 3D range data set represents physical objects of a scene;

specifying a calculated geometric entity for representing a non-physical entity, wherein the calculated geometric entity represents something other than the physical objects represented by the first 3D range data set, wherein the calculated geometric entity is not represented by the first 3D range data set, and wherein specifying at least some part of the calculated geometric entity is provided from the group consisting of: manually entering the calculated geometric entity, entering the calculated geometric entity from a computer file, automatically entering the calculated geometric entity, and combinations thereof; and

displaying the calculated geometric entity merged within the at least one 2D displayed image, wherein displaying the calculated geometric entity comprises displaying the calculated geometric entity as at least one of a calculated 2D or 3D vector, a calculated surface, a calculated volume, a trajectory, a sight line, and combinations thereof.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , further comprising the steps of providing at least a second 2D displayed image from the first 3D range data set wherein the at least second 2D displayed image comprises a display format different than the display format of the at least one 2D displayed image; and representing the at least second 2D displayed image.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 , further comprising the steps of providing at least a second 3D range data set; and representing the at least second 3D range data set as at least a second 2D displayed image.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein representing a first 3D range data set as at least one 2D displayed image comprises representing, as at least one 2D displayed image, a first 3D range data set that was obtained using a 3D rangefinder device.

17. An apparatus for displaying a calculated geometric entity within at least one 3D range data set, comprising:

at least one computer processor;

a computer program product executing within the at least one computer processor, wherein the computer program product further comprises at least the following software modules therein;

a first software module for providing a first 3D range data set, wherein the first 3D range data set represents physical objects of a scene;

a second software module for representing the first 3D range data set as at least one 2D displayed image;

a third software module for specifying a calculated geometric entity for representing a non-physical entity, wherein the calculated geometric entity represents something other than the physical objects represented by the first 3D range data set, wherein the calculated geometric entity is not represented by the first 3D range data set, and wherein specifying at least some part of the calculated geometric entity is provided from the group consisting of: manually entering the calculated geometric entity, entering the calculated geometric entity from a computer file, automatically entering the calculated geometric entity, and combinations thereof; and

a fourth software module for displaying the calculated geometric entity merged within the at least one 2D displayed image, wherein displaying the calculated geometric entity comprises displaying the calculated geometric entity as at least one of a calculated 2D or 3D vector, a calculated surface, a calculated volume, a trajectory, a sight line, and combinations thereof.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein displaying the calculated geometric entity comprises displaying the calculated geometric entity as at least one of a calculated 2D or 3D vector, a calculated surface, a calculated volume, a path or trajectory, a sight line, and combinations thereof.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising the steps of providing at least a second 2D displayed image from the first 3D range data set wherein the at least second 2D displayed image comprises a display format different than the display format of the at least one 2D displayed image; and representing the at least second 2D displayed image.

20. The apparatus of claim 17 , further comprising the steps of providing at least a second 3D range data set; and representing the at least second 3D range data set as at least a second 2D displayed image.

21. The apparatus of claim 17 wherein the first 3D range data set comprises a 3D range data set that was obtained using a 3D rangefinder device.