Image processing apparatus and image processing method

Abstract

To reduce the time for searching a similar image area to the first image area to speed up image coding, an image processing apparatus 100 includes: a range block processing section 51 to calculate a contrast value of a range block constituting an image; a domain block processing section 52 to calculate contrast values of a plurality of domain blocks; a contrast value judging section 53 to compare the contrast values of the domain blocks to the contrast value of the range block so as to specify a similar domain block candidate; and a coding processing section 54 to search the domain block similar to the range block out of the domain block candidates and to code a relation information of the searched domain block to the range block.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional constitution of an image processing apparatus which is exemplified as an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the image processing apparatus regarding fractal image coding processing; and

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional constitution of an image forming apparatus of a variation 1.

Claims

1. An image processing apparatus comprising: a first image area obtaining section to obtain a first image area of a predetermined shape from an image;a second image area obtaining section to obtain second image areas of a same shape as the first image area from the image;a first contrast value calculating section to calculate a contrast value of the first image area obtained by the first image area obtaining section;a second contrast value calculating section to calculate contrast values of the second image areas obtained by the second image area obtaining section; andan image coding section to search the second image area similar to the first image area based on the contrast value of the first image area and the contrast values of the second image areas, and to code relation information of the searched similar second image area with respect to the first image area.

2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first image area is a range block of fractal coding and the second image areas are domain blocks of fractal coding.

3. An image processing method comprising: obtaining a first image area of a predetermined shape from an image;calculating a contrast value of the first image area;obtaining second image areas of a same shape as the first image area from the image;calculating contrast values of the second image areas; andsearching the second image area similar to the first image area based on the contrast value of the first image area and the contrast values of the second image areas, and coding relation information of the searched similar second image area with respect to the first image area.

4. The image processing method according to claim 3, wherein the first image area is a range block of fractal coding, and the second image area is a domain block of fractal coding.

5. A computer-readable medium storing a program which causes a computer to execute the processing of: obtaining a first image area of a predetermined shape from an image;calculating a contrast value of the first image area;obtaining second image areas of a same shape as the first image area from the image;calculating contrast values of the second image areas; andsearching the second image area similar to the first image area based on the contrast value of the first image area and the contrast values of the second image areas, and coding relation information of the searched similar second image area with respect to the first image area.

6. The computer readable medium according to claim 5, wherein the first image area is a range block of fractal coding, and the second image area is a domain block of fractal coding.