Invariant of a Pair of Non-Coplanar Conics in Space: Definition, Geometric Interpretation and Computation

The joint invariants of a pair of coplanar conics has been widely used in recent vision literature. In this paper, the algebraic invariant of a pair of non-coplanar conics in space is concerned. The algebraic invariant of a pair of non-coplanar conics is first derived from the invariant algebra of a pair of quaternary quadratic forms by using the dual representation of space conics. Then, this algebraic invariant is geometrically interpreted in terms of cross-ratios. Finally, an analytical procedure for projective reconstruction of a space conic from two uncalibrated images is developed and the correspondence conditions of the conics between two views are also explicited