Patent ID: 8254645

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: holding means for holding a plurality of learning dictionaries, each of the learning dictionaries corresponding to a combination of face angles indicating a direction of a face of a first face image and a face of a second face image, each learning dictionary including information related to positions of feature points which associate the first face image with the second face image; face angle estimation means for calculating a first angle and a second angle, of the combination of face angles, indicating a direction of the faces in the first and second face images; extraction means for extracting a feature amount from the first face image and the second face image; selection means for selecting a learning dictionary, of the plurality of learning dictionaries, which corresponds to the first angle and the second angle calculated by the face angle estimation means; and similarity degree estimation means for calculating a facial similarity degree between the first face image and the second face image on the basis of the feature amount extracted from the first face image and the feature amount extracted from the second face image, wherein the feature amounts extracted from the first and second face images correspond to the information related to positions of the feature points included in the selected learning dictionary.