A system for in-time registration of images from temporally separated image acquisition sessions, the system comprising:
- first and second 3D image acquisition subsystems respectively having 3D sensors;
- a data storage subsystem including at least a memory that stores instructions for processing 3D images acquired with the first and second 3D image acquisition subsystems, and
- a processor, coupled to the data storage subsystem, that executes the instructions stored in the memory to:
- retrieve a stored three-dimensional (3D) image of a portion of a living subject acquired at a prior acquisition time by the first 3D image acquisition subsystem when positioned away from the living subject, the stored 3D image indicating a guide 3D position corresponding to a relative 3D offset between a prior subject location and a prior acquisition location computed as a function of 3D point cloud data of the surface of the living subject acquired by the first 3D image acquisition subsystem at the prior acquisition time;
- measure a live 3D position with the second 3D image acquisition system that acquires 3D data of the living subject when positioned away from the living subject, the live 3D position corresponding to a real-time relative 3D offset between a present subject location and a present acquisition location computed from real-time 3D point cloud data of the surface of the living subject being acquired by the second 3D image acquisition system;
- display in a viewfinder window of the second 3D image acquisition system, a live view being acquired of the portion of the living subject in real time;
- overlay a 3D guide on the viewfinder window during the displaying of the live view, wherein the 3D guide indicates a real-time positional offset between the live view and the stored 3D image and includes a display of a semi-transparent guide image that includes at least one of a three-dimensional mesh and key feature points, wherein the three dimensional mesh is implemented as a 3D point cloud generated from the stored 3D image and the key feature points are generated from 3D point cloud data of the stored 3D image, the semi-transparent guide image being graphically positioned on the viewfinder window to be visually correlated with the live view for assisting in real time positioning of the second 3D image acquisition system to achieve in-time registration of the live view with the semi-transparent guide image;
- and
- acquire a present 3D image of the live view portion of the living subject.