Method and apparatus for removing unwanted points from point clouds

A processing system comprising:

• a memory comprising computer readable instructions;
• and
• a processing device for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions controlling the processing device to perform operations for removing an unwanted point from a point cloud of an environment, the operations comprising:
• grouping points of the point cloud based on a frequency of occurrence of the points relative to a vertical axis defined for the environment;
• identifying a first set of points of the point cloud corresponding to an upper boundary of the environment based at least in part on the frequency of occurrence;
• identifying a second set of points of the point cloud corresponding to a lower boundary of the environment based at least in part on the frequency of occurrence;
• and
• generating a revised point cloud, the revised point cloud comprising points that form the upper boundary, points that form the lower boundary, and points between the upper boundary and the lower boundary, wherein the revised point cloud excludes points above the upper boundary and points below the lower boundary.

A system comprising:

• a three-dimensional (3D) coordinate measurement device to capture a point cloud of an environment;
• and
• a processing system communicatively coupled to the 3D coordinate measurement device, the processing system comprising:
• a memory comprising computer readable instructions;
• and
• a processing device for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions controlling the processing device to perform operations for removing an unwanted point from the point cloud of the environment, the operations comprising:
• grouping points of the point cloud based on a frequency of occurrence of the points relative to a vertical axis defined for the environment;
• identifying a first set of points of the point cloud corresponding to an upper boundary of the environment based at least in part on the frequency of occurrence;
• identifying a second set of points of the point cloud corresponding to a lower boundary of the environment based at least in part on the frequency of occurrence;
• and
• generating a revised point cloud, the revised point cloud comprising points that form the upper boundary, points that form the lower boundary, and points between the upper boundary and the lower boundary, wherein the revised point cloud excludes points above the upper boundary and points below the lower boundary.