Importance

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Abstract

The invention features a method of generating a three-dimensional topography of a property of an object, by (a) generating digital data points at a plurality of sample points on the surface of the object, each digital data point including a property value and a position value corresponding to a particular sample point; (b) assigning each digital data point to one of a plurality of discrete compartments based on the position value of the data point, each compartment corresponding to a unique location on the object and containing zero, one, or more digital data points; (c) determining a quality value for each of the compartments based on the quality of the digital data points assigned to that compartment, and assigning to each compartment a code representing the quality value; (d) generating and assigning new digital data points to each compartment having a code indicating an unacceptable quality value, the new data points corresponding to sample points on the object at a location corresponding to the compartment; (e) determining a new quality value for each compartment to which new digital data points have been assigned and assigning to each compartment a code representing the new quality value; (f) repeating step (d) until all compartments are assigned a code indicating an acceptable quality value; and (g) generating from the digital data points and new digital data points a three-dimensional topography representing the property of the object.

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First Claim