Ray tracking for intraoral 3d scanner

A computer readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a series of images generated by one or more cameras of an intraoral scanner, each image including at least a portion of a pattern projected by one or more structured light projectors of the intraoral scanner onto an intraoral three-dimensional surface;
• running a correspondence algorithm to compute respective three-dimensional positions of a plurality of features of the pattern on the intraoral three-dimensional surface, as captured in the series of images;
• identifying the computed three-dimensional position of a detected feature of the pattern as corresponding to a particular projector ray r, in at least a subset of the series of images;
• and
• tracking the particular projector ray r across the series of images.

A method comprising:

• receiving a series of images generated by one or more cameras of an intraoral scanner, each image including at least a portion of a pattern projected by one or more structured light projectors of the intraoral scanner onto the intraoral three-dimensional surface;
• running a correspondence algorithm to compute respective three-dimensional positions of a plurality of features of the pattern on the intraoral three-dimensional surface, as captured in the series of images;
• identifying the computed three-dimensional position of a detected feature of the pattern as corresponding to a particular projector ray r, in at least a subset of the series of images;
• and
• tracking the particular projector ray r across the series of images to determine the three-dimensional position of the detected feature of the pattern in the series of images.