# US 11,906,294 B2 · Alignment apparatus, alignment system, alignment method, and recording medium > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,906,294 B2 - Document ID: US11906294B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/373,878 - Filed: 2021-07-13 - Published: 2022-02-03 - Granted: 2024-02-20 - Earliest claimed: 2020-07-28 - Assignees: Ricoh Company, Ltd. - Applicants: Satoshi Nakamura - Inventors: Satoshi Nakamura - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11906294B2 ## CPC - G01B 11/24: for measuring contours or curvatures - G01B 21/20: for measuring contours or curvatures, e.g. determining profile - G01B 21/04: by measuring coordinates of points - G06T 7/33: using feature-based methods - G06T 7/35: using statistical methods - G06T 7/50: Depth or shape recovery - A61B 5/0042: {for the brain} - A61B 5/055: involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging - G06T 2207/10012: Stereo images - G06T 2207/10028: Range image; Depth image; 3D point clouds - G06T 2207/10088: Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] - G06T 2207/30196: Human being; Person - G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL - A61B: DIAGNOSIS; SURGERY; IDENTIFICATION (usefulness limited to only animals A61D) ## Abstract An apparatus, system, method, and a control program on a recording medium are provided, each of which: acquires first point cloud data, and second point cloud data different from the first point cloud data; sets a plurality of search start positions each used for alignment form the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data; searches, for each of one or more of the plurality of search start positions, a solution candidate for coordinate transformation from the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data, to generate a plurality of solution candidates; and determines a final solution, from the plurality of solution candidates. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An alignment apparatus comprising circuitry configured to: acquire first point cloud data and second point cloud data, the second point cloud data being different from the first point cloud data; set a plurality of search start positions; search for a respective solution candidate with respect to each of the plurality of search start positions to generate a plurality of solution candidates, each of the plurality of solution candidates corresponding to a respective coordinate transformation from the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data; and determine a final solution for alignment from the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data based on the plurality of solution candidates. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to performs statistical processing on the one or more of the plurality of solution candidates based on values of an objective function corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of solution candidates. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The alignment apparatus of claim 2, wherein the circuitry is configured to perform the statistical processing including determining a first solution candidate among the plurality of solution candidates to correspond to the final solution based on the first solution candidate having a first value of the objective function that appears most frequently among values of the objective function corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of solution candidates. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The alignment apparatus of claim 2, wherein the circuitry is configured to: extract a predetermined number of solution candidates from among the plurality of solution candidates; and determine the final solution including performing the statistical processing the predetermined number of solution candidates. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The alignment apparatus of claim 4, wherein the circuitry is configured to extracts the predetermined number of solution candidates; in ascending order of a respective value of the objective function corresponding to each of the predetermined number of solution candidates. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to determine a second solution candidate among the plurality of solution candidates to correspond to the final solution based on the second solution candidate having a highest appearance frequency among the plurality of solution candidates. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to set the plurality of search start positions including shifting a position of the first point cloud data by a random value. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to set the plurality of search start positions including shifting position of the first point cloud data by a predetermined offset value. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a memory that stores the first point cloud data and the second point cloud data, wherein the circuitry is configured to acquire the first point cloud data and the second point cloud data by reading out the first point cloud data and the second point cloud data from the memory. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to acquires the first point cloud data and the second point cloud data from one or more three-dimensional measuring devices that measure the first point cloud data and the second point cloud data. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to: acquire first reference point data corresponding to a plurality of reference points for the first point cloud data in a first coordinate system; acquire second reference point data corresponding to a plurality of reference points for the second point cloud data in a second coordinate system; determine a coordinate transformation for alignment from the first reference point data to the second reference point data; and determine the final solution using the coordinate transformation. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The alignment apparatus of claim 11, wherein the circuitry is configured to: perform statistical processing on the one or more of the plurality of solution candidates based on values of an objective function corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of solution candidates to determine a third solution candidate among the plurality of solution candidates; and determine the final solution including multiplying the third solution candidate by the coordinate transformation. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The alignment apparatus of claim 11, wherein the circuitry is configured to set the plurality of search start positions based on the coordinate transformation. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to display a result of the alignment from the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data on a display. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of solution candidates corresponds to a respective candidate displacement vector and a respective candidate rotation matrix. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The alignment apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to search for the respective solution candidate with respect to each of the plurality of search start positions such that the respective solution candidate minimizes an objective function. ### Claim 17 An alignment system comprising circuitry configured to: acquire first point cloud data and second point cloud data, the second point cloud data being different from the first point cloud data; set a plurality of search start positions; search for a respective solution candidate with respect to each of the plurality of search start positions to generate a plurality of solution candidates, each of the plurality of solution candidates corresponding to a respective coordinate transformation from the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data; and determine a final solution for alignment from the first point cloud to the second point cloud data based on the plurality of solution candidates. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The alignment system of claim 17, further comprising: one or more three-dimensional measuring devices configured to measure the first cloud point data and the second cloud point data, wherein the circuitry is configured to acquire the first cloud point data and the second cloud point data from the one or more three-dimensional measuring devices. ### Claim 19 An alignment method comprising: acquiring first point cloud data and second point cloud data, the second point cloud data being different from the first point cloud data; setting a plurality of search start positions; searching for a respective solution candidate with respect to each of the plurality of search start positions to generate a plurality of solution candidates, each of the plurality of solution candidates corresponding to a respective coordinate transformation from the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data; and determining a final solution for alignment from the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data based on the plurality of solution candidates. ### Claim 20 A non-transitory recording medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform an alignment method comprising: acquiring first point cloud data and second point cloud data, the second point cloud data being different from the first point cloud data; setting a plurality of search start positions; searching for a respective solution candidate with respect to each of the plurality of search start positions to generate a plurality of solution candidates, each of the plurality of solution candidate corresponding to a respective coordinate transformation from the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data; and determining a final solution for alignment from the first point cloud data to the second point cloud data based on the plurality of solution candidates.