Order independent image compositing

Abstract

Image compositing is defined as the assembling of two or more overlapping images into a single image. Recently, a morphological image compositing algorithm was proposed that automatically positions seam lines along salient image structures. This algorithm requires that all images used in the compositing procedure be held in computer memory. Hence, when composing large images such as satellite imagery acquired over a large region, the maximal capacity of random access memory of 32 bit computers is rapidly exceeded. In this paper, we present a parallel algorithm producing the same results whilst requiring only one input image at a time to be held in memory. The algorithm is illustrated for the automatic production of pan-European mosaics of Landsat images. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.