A Unified Statistical and Information Theoretic Framework for Multi-modal Image Registration

We formulate and interpret several multi-modal registration methods inthe context of a unified statistical and information theoretic framework. A unified interpretation clarifies the implicit assumptionsof each method yielding a better understanding of their relativestrengths and weaknesses. Additionally, we discuss a generativestatistical model from which we derive a novel analysis tool, the"auto-information function", as a means of assessing and exploiting thecommon spatial dependencies inherent in multi-modal imagery. Weanalytically derive useful properties of the "auto-information" aswell as verify them empirically on multi-modal imagery. Among theuseful aspects of the "auto-information function" is that it canbe computed from imaging modalities independently and it allows one todecompose the search space of registration problems