System and method for image registration using nonparametric priors and statistical learning techniques

A system for image recognition, comprising:

• receiving first image information;
• receiving second image information;
• automatically selecting a preferred learned joint intensity distribution from among a library of learned joint intensity distributions;
• generating a displacement field both (i) maximizing the statistical dependency between an intensity distribution of the first and second image information and (ii) minimizing the distance to a learned joint intensity distribution;
• and
• using the generated displacement field to transform an image structure from the first image information to an image structure of the second image information.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a program storage device readable by the computer system, embodying a program of instructions executable by the processor to perform method steps for image registration, the method comprising:
• receiving first image information;
• receiving second image information;
• automatically selecting a preferred learned joint intensity distribution from among a library of learned joint intensity distributions;
• generating a displacement field both (i) maximizing the statistical dependency between an intensity distribution of the first and second image information and (ii) minimizing the distance to a learned joint intensity distribution;
• and
• using the generated displacement field to transform an image structure from the first image information to an image structure of the second image information.