Patent US 6,556,783

A topological panorama camera has a track or other system upon which a linescan camera can move in one, two or three dimensions while recording the image of an object. The path, speed, acceleration, scan rate and direction of the linescan camera can be controlled, as can the path, speed, acceleration and direction of the object. A pattern is projected onto an object of arbitrary shape and is imaged by the topological panorama camera in one or more passes. The image of the pattern received by the camera is analyzed to determine the exterior shape of the object.