Motion compensation for reference-constrained image reconstruction from limited data

Using a reference image (or a template) to constrain image reconstruction from limited data is becoming more and more popular in various imaging applications. However, in order for a reference/template to be a useful constraint, it has to be correctly aligned with the target image to be determined. This paper addresses this new image registration problem of registering a high-resolution image to a target image of which only limited measurements are available. We solve this problem using an intermediate image model, which expresses the target image as a combination of a generalized series (with basis constructed from a motion-dependent reference image) and a residual component. An algorithm is proposed to determine the motion parameters. Performance of the proposed method has been analyzed by computer simulations. Accurate motion compensation is demonstrated. The proposed method is expected to make image reconstruction using prior information from a reference more robust in the presence of object motion.