Robust and accurate registration of images with unknown relative orientation and exposure

Nowadays, low-cost digital cameras embedded in mobile phones are becoming the main source of visual information. Nevertheless, its use is restricted to simple store and forward applications due to the limitations in the spatial resolution and dynamic range of those cameras. A registration algorithm is proposed to allow image mosaicing and therefore to increase camera applications. It is able to find the geometric relation between any image in the set, lacking any prior knowledge of the relative position and exposure of any image in the set, and working on low-overlapping pairs. It also deals with partial occlusions. The registration algorithm is based on the use of Zernike moments and RANSAC robust fitting to guarantee stability, and KLT tracker to provide accuracy. Besides, a radiometric compensation stage allows the development of a completely automatic and seamless mosaicing system.