Patent ID: 8457376

Claim:
An image processing apparatus for processing a set of time-series images of an image-capturing target that are captured in chronological order, the image processing apparatus comprising: an image selecting unit that selects, in chronological order, a target image to be processed from among images constituting the set of time-series images; an identification criterion creating unit that creates an identification criterion so as to enable identification of a specific region in the target image to be processed; a feature data calculating unit that calculates a feature data for each pixel or for each small region in the target image to be processed; and a specific region identifying unit that, based on the feature data calculated for each pixel or for each small region, identifies a specific region in the target image to be processed by using the identification criterion, wherein the identification criterion creating unit creates the identification criterion based on a feature data of the specific region in such an image that has been already selected as the target image to be processed by the image selecting unit and that has been already subjected to identification by the specific region identifying unit.