Multi-resolution reconstruction of 3-D image with modified temporal unwrapping algorithm

The reconstruction of the object surface with inherently discontinuous regions or the scene consisting of isolated components is usually a difficult problem by using standard phase unwrapping technique. To recover the range data of such a surface, Huntley and Saldner recently proposed a temporal phase unwrapping procedure (H-S algorithm). In this paper, we present an enhanced scheme for temporal unwrapping in order to increase the efficiency of this procedure. We also propose a method for the determination of initial condition for this modified recursive scheme. Furthermore, the computational complexity of both H-S algorithm and our approach are thoroughly analyzed. Experiments with two typical categories of surfaces, i.e., the free-form surface and a step-like surface, are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.