Alignment and mosaicing of non-overlapping images

Abstract

Image alignment and mosaicing are usually performed on a set of overlapping images, using features in the area of overlap for alignment and for seamless stitching. Without image overlap current methods are helpless, and this is the case we address in this paper. So if a traveler wants to create a panoramic mosaic of a scene from pictures he has taken, but realizes back home that his pictures do not overlap, there is still hope. The proposed process has three stages: (i) Images are extrapolated beyond their original boundaries, hoping that the extrapolated areas will cover the gaps between them. This extrapolation becomes more blurred as we move away from the original image. (ii) The extrapolated images are aligned and their relative positions recovered. (iii) The gaps between the images are inpainted to create a seamless mosaic image.