Incremental segmentation of point cloud

An apparatus for segmentation of a point cloud, comprising a processor further comprising:

• a receiving unit configured to receive a first frame of point cloud from a sensor;
• a segmenting unit configured to segment the first frame of point cloud using a segmentation algorithm to obtain a first set of point clusters representing a segmentation result for the first frame of point cloud, wherein each of the first set of point clusters is represented using one of a first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models, wherein each Signatured Gaussian Mixture Model comprises a signature representing properties of a respective point cluster;
• the receiving unit further configured to receive a second frame of point cloud from the sensor;
• a mapping unit configured to map the first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models to the second frame of point cloud according to a coordinate transformation based on their coordinate information;
• a determining unit configured to determine points within the second frame of point cloud which do not belong to the mapped first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models;
• the segmenting unit further configured to segment the points within the second frame of point cloud which do not belong to the mapped first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models using the segmentation algorithm to obtain a second set of point clusters, wherein each of the second set of point clusters is represented using one of a second set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models;
• and
• a generating unit configured to generate a segmentation result for the second frame of point cloud by combining the first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models and the second set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models, wherein the generating unit is configured to generate the segmentation result by:
• comparing a signature of each of the first set of signatured Gaussian Mixture Models with a signature of each of the second set of signatured Gaussian Mixture Models;
• and
• merging the first set of signatured Gaussian Mixture Models and the second set of signatured Gaussian Mixture Models based on the comparison.

An apparatus for segmentation of a point cloud, comprising:

• a memory with computer executable instructions stored therein;
• and
• a processor, coupled to the memory and configured to:
• receive a first frame of point cloud from a sensor;
• segment the first frame of point cloud using a segmentation algorithm to obtain a first set of point clusters representing a segmentation result for the first frame of point cloud, wherein each of the first set of point clusters is represented using one of a first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models, wherein each Signatured Gaussian Mixture Model comprises a signature representing properties of a respective point cluster;
• receive a second frame of point cloud from the sensor;
• map the first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models to the second frame of point cloud according to a coordinate transformation based on their coordinate information;
• determine points within the second frame of point cloud which do not belong to the mapped first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models;
• segment the points within the second frame of point cloud which do not belong to the mapped first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models using the segmentation algorithm to obtain a second set of point clusters, wherein each of the second set of point clusters is represented using one of a second set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models;
• and
• generate a segmentation result for the second frame of point cloud by combining the first set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models and the second set of Signatured Gaussian Mixture Models by:
• comparing a signature of each of the first set of signatured Gaussian Mixture Models with a signature of each of the second set of signatured Gaussian Mixture Models;
• and
• merging the first set of signatured Gaussian Mixture Models and the second set of signatured Gaussian Mixture Models based on the comparison.