An Image Registration Framework for Discontinuous Mappings Along Cracks

A novel crack capable image registration framework is proposed. The approach is designed for registration problems suffering from cracks, gaps, or holes. The approach enables discontinuous transformation fields and also features an automatically computed crack indicator function and therefore does not require a pre-segmentation. The new approach is a generalization of the commonly used variational image registration approach. New contributions are an additional dissipation term in the overall energy, a proper balancing of different ingredients, and a joint optimization for both, the crack indicator function and the transformation. Results for histological serial sectioning of marmoset brain images demonstrate the potential of the approach and its superiority as compared to a standard registration.