METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMAGE COMBINATION USING A PARALLAX-BASED TECHNIQUE

A system for generating three-dimensional mosaics from a plurality of input images representing an imaged scene. The plurality input images contain at least two images of a single scene, where at least two of the images have overlapping regions. The system combines the images using a parallax-based approach that generates a three-dimensional mosaic comprising an image mosaic representing a panoramic view of the scene and a shape mosaic representing the three dimensional geometry of the scene. Specifically, in one embodiment, the system registers the input images along a parametric surface within the imaged scene and derives translation vectors useful in aligning the images into a two-dimensional image mosaic. Once registered, the system generates a shape mosaic representing objects within the scene.