Incremental image processing pipeline for matching multiple photos based on image overlap

A computer system for providing an incremental image processing pipeline for matching multiple images, the system comprising:

• a data manager module configured to receive a first collection of photographic images and one or more additional collections of photographic images, each photographic image of the first collection of photographic images and the one or more additional collections of photographic images associated with metadata, wherein the metadata includes information related to at least a time of capture, a geolocation, and a field-of-view of a scene captured via an image capturing device, and further wherein at least one of the time of capture, geolocation, or field-of-view of each photographic image is different;
• an image comparator configured to:
• cluster the photographic images in the first collection into one or more composite sets of photographic images, wherein the clustering is based on the metadata associated with each photographic image in the first collection meeting a predetermined similarity threshold;
• and
• determine an image overlap between each photographic image within each of the one or composite sets of photographic images, wherein an image overlap indicates a set of common features between a pair photographic images and includes at least a portion of an object captured in each of the photographic images of the pair;
• and
• an image compositor configured to match the pair of photographic images, for all of the photographic images within each composite set of photographic images to form one or more composite images associated with composite metadata when the image overlap exceeds a predetermined image overlap threshold;
• wherein, for each of the one or more additional collections of photographic images:
• the image comparator is further configured to determine if the additional collection is a candidate to be matched with any of the photographic images of the first collection of images, based on a metadata comparison;
• and
• the image compositor is further configured to match the additional collection to composite images from the first collection of photographic images when an image overlap exceeds the predetermined image overlap threshold.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions encoded thereon that, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a collection of photographic images, the collection of photographic images including a plurality of photographic images and each photographic image associated with a respective metadata, wherein each respective metadata includes information related to at least a field-of-view, a time of capture, and a geolocation at which its associated respective image was captured by a user, via an image capturing device, the perspective information of each respective image being different;
• comparing the associated metadata of an instant image from the collection with the associated metadata of a predetermined number of identified images from the collection, wherein the instant image is the photographic image received most recently in time and the identified images are the predetermined number of images received prior to the instant image;
• clustering the instant image and one or more of the identified images into the same of one or more composite sets of photographic images when the comparing of the associated metadata meets a predetermined metadata similarity threshold, wherein each of the one or more composite sets include the photographic images that are candidates to be matched;
• determining an image overlap between each photographic image within each of the one or composite sets, wherein a respective image overlap indicates a set of common features between a pair photographic images and includes at least a portion of an object captured in each of the photographic images of the pair;
• and
• when the image overlap exceeds a predetermined image overlap threshold:
• matching the pair of photographic images, for all of the photographic images within each composite set of photographic images to form one or more composite images associated with composite metadata.