Patent ID: 8503531

Claim:
A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a computer-executable program which, when executed by a processor, performs an image processing method comprising: detecting, by block matching, respective block motion vectors of a block including a subject pixel and a plurality of blocks adjacent to the block including the subject pixel; calculating a difference between pixel values of a pixel on a first field and a pixel on a second field, these pixels being used to generate the subject pixel, based on each of the detected block motion vectors; generating first auxiliary information for the pixel on the first field and second auxiliary information for the pixel in the second field, the first auxiliary information comprising a first code representing a direction of an edge for the pixel of the first field, and the second auxiliary information comprising a second code representing a direction of an edge for the pixel of the second field; selecting, as a pixel motion vector of the subject pixel, one of the block motion vectors that minimizes the difference between the first field pixel values and second field pixel values, based on at least the first and second auxiliary information; and generating the subject pixel using the pixel on the first field and the pixel on the second field, based on the selected pixel motion vector, wherein the selecting comprises: computing, for the block motion vectors, metrics of difference between the first and second auxiliary information; identifying one of the block motion vectors as a candidate motion vector; determining whether the difference metric associated with the candidate motion vector falls below a threshold value; and selecting the candidate motion vector as the pixel motion vector of the subject pixel, when the difference metric falls below the threshold value.