IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, LEARNING DEVICE, LEARNING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To predict an image with higher image quality by acquiring information indicative of a continuous region which is present around an attentional pixel. SOLUTION: A prediction tap extraction section 61 extracts from first image data a prediction tap used for predictive calculation for predicting the attentional pixel of second image data, a matching position acquisition section 65 acquires a matching position representing a position at which a matching block most similar to a reference block is present from a matching range representing a range in which a plurality of pixels constituting a first image are present, and a direction class sorting section 66 sorts the pixel of interest into one of a plurality of direction classes on the basis of the matching position. A coefficient ROM 67 outputs a prediction coefficient corresponding to the direction class of the pixel of interest from among prediction coefficients calculated beforehand by learning, and a predictive calculation section 68 predicts the attentional pixel in the second image data by predictive calculation using the output prediction coefficient and a plurality of pixels constituting the extracted prediction tap. COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT