Universal Joint Image Clustering and Registration Using Multivariate Information Measures

We consider the problem of universal joint clustering and registration of images. Image clustering focuses on grouping similar images, while image registration refers to the task of aligning copies of an image that have been subject to rigid-body transformations, such as rotations and translations. We first study registering two images using maximum mutual information and prove its asymptotic optimality. We then show the shortcomings of pairwise registration in multi-image registration, and design an asymptotically optimal algorithm based on multi-information. Further, we define a novel multivariate information functional to perform joint clustering and registration of images, and prove consistency of the algorithm. Finally, we consider registration and clustering of numerous limited-resolution images, defining algorithms that are order-optimal in scaling of number of pixels in each image with the number of images.