A method of scanning an oral cavity including: acquiring, using an intraoral scanner (IOS) head, without changing a position of the IOS head, a first image of a first region of interest (ROI) and a second image of a second ROI where the first and the second ROIs are of different portions of a dental arch of the oral cavity and do not overlap; reconstructing depth information for the first and the second ROI; and generating a single model of the dental arch by combing the depth information.

Disclosed are a scanner system and a method for recording surface geometry and surface color of an object where both surface geometry information and surface color information for a block of the image sensor pixels at least partly from one 2D image recorded by the color image sensor. A particular application is within dentistry, particularly for intraoral scanning.

A dental scanning system includes an illumination unit including a light source configured to illuminate the dental object; a detector unit including a sensor configured to receive a plurality of two-dimensional images in response to the illumination of the dental object; a processor configured to generate a processed data by processing one or more of the plurality of two-dimensional images, wherein a three-dimensional digital representation of the dental object is generated based on the processed data; a wireless network unit configured to wirelessly connect the dental scanning system to a network comprising a plurality of network elements including at least one network element configured to receive the processed data; and a network operation module including a session module configured to establish the scanning session by operationally connecting, via the wireless network unit, the dental scanning system with one or more network elements.

Calibrating an intraoral scanner includes obtaining reference data of a reference three-dimensional (3D) representation of a calibration object and obtaining, based on the intraoral scanner being used by a user to scan the 3D calibration object, and from one or more device to real-world coordinate transformations of two-dimensional (2D) images of the 3D calibration object, measurement data. Calibrating the intraoral scanner further includes aligning the measurement data to the reference data to obtain alignment data and updating, based on the alignment data, said one or more transformations.

An apparatus for dental imaging comprises a light source for generating light, an optics system for focusing the light, and a probe head. The light source, the optics system and the probe head are arranged such that the light passes through the optics system, passes through the probe head, and exits the probe head. The optics system is configured such that chief rays of the light before entering the probe head are divergent to each other, wherein an angle defined by a marginal ray of an outermost beam of the light is complementary to an angle defined by an extreme off-axis chief ray of the light with respect to the optical axis.

A device for determining the surface topology and associated color of a structure, such as a teeth segment, includes a scanner for providing depth data for points along a two-dimensional array substantially orthogonal to the depth direction, and an image acquisition means for providing color data for each of the points of the array, while the spatial disposition of the device with respect to the structure is maintained substantially unchanged. A processor combines the color data and depth data for each point in the array, thereby providing a three-dimensional color virtual model of the surface of the structure. A corresponding method for determining the surface topology and associate color of a structure is also provided.

An apparatus for intraoral scanning includes an elongate handheld wand that has a probe. One or more light projectors and two or more cameras are disposed within the probe. The light projectors each has a pattern generating optical element, which may use diffraction or refraction to form a light pattern. Each camera may be configured to focus between 1 mm and 30 mm from a lens that is farthest from the camera sensor. Other applications are also described.

An apparatus includes a probe and a light source configured to output light. The apparatus includes a light focusing assembly comprising an image space lens, an object space lens and a focus changing assembly between the image space lens and the object space lens. The focus changing assembly is configured to focus the light to a plurality of external focal planes to illuminate a patient's teeth, wherein at least a portion of the focus changing assembly is located at a back focal length of the object space lens. The apparatus includes a detector to measure characteristics of incident light returning from an illuminated patient's teeth and a processor coupled to the detector and configured to generate data representative of a topography of the patient's teeth based on the one or more measured characteristics of the incident light.

Disclosed are a scanner system and a method for recording surface geometry and surface color of an object where both surface geometry information and surface color information for a block of the image sensor pixels at least partly from one 2D image recorded by the color image sensor. A particular application is within dentistry, particularly for intraoral scanning.

The present disclosure provides computing device implemented methods, computing device readable media, and systems for motion compensation in a three dimensional scan. Motion compensation can include receiving three-dimensional (3D) scans of a dentition, estimating a motion trajectory from one scan to another, and calculating a corrected scan by compensating for the motion trajectory. Estimating the motion trajectory can include one or more of: registering a scan to another scan and determining whether an amount of movement between the scans is within a registration threshold; determining an optical flow based on local motion between consecutive two-dimensional (2D) images taken during the scan, estimating and improving a motion trajectory of a point in the scan using the optical flow; and estimating an amount of motion of a 3D scanner during the scan as a rigid body transformation based on input from a position tracking device.