Lookup Table Hough Transform for Real Time Range Image Segmentation and Featureless Co-Registration

The paper addresses range image segmentation, particularly of data recorded by range cameras, such as the Microsoft Kinect and the Mesa Swissranger SR4000. These devices record range images at video frame rates and allow for acquisition of 3-dimensional measurement sequences that can be used for 3D reconstruction of indoor environments from moving platforms. The role of segmentation is twofold. First the necessary image co-registration can be based on corresponding segments, instead of corresponding point features (which is common practice currently). Secondly, the segments can be used during subsequent object modelling. By realisising that planar regions in disparity images can be modelled as linear functions of the image coordinates, having integer values for both domain and range, the paper introduces a lookup table based implementation of local Hough transform, allowing to obtain good segmentation results at high speeds.