Efficient video panoramic image stitching based on an improved selection of Harris corners and a multiple-constraint corner matching

Abstract

Video panoramic image stitching is extremely time-consuming among other challenges. We present a new algorithm: (i) Improved, self-adaptive selection of Harris corners. The successful stitching relies heavily on the accuracy of corner selection. We fragment each image into numerous regions and select corners within each region according to the normalized variance of region grayscales. Such a selection is self-adaptive and guarantees that corners are distributed proportional to region texture information. The possible clustering of corners is also avoided. (ii) Multiple-constraint corner matching. The traditional Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) algorithm is inefficient, especially when handling a large number of images with similar features. We filter out many inappropriate corners according to their position information, and then generate candidate matching pairs based on grayscales of adjacent regions around corners. Finally we apply multiple constraints on every two pairs to remove incorrectly matched pairs. By a significantly reduced number of iterations needed in RANSAC, the stitching can be performed in a much more efficient manner. Experiments demonstrate that (i) our corner matching is four times faster than normalized cross-correlation function (NCC) rough match in RANSAC and (ii) generated panoramas feature a smooth transition in overlapping image areas and satisfy real-time human visual requirements. © 2013 Zhu et al.