Patent ID: 7203381

Claim:
An image processing method of increasing information content of an original image to generate a densified image, comprising: a first step of performing spatial frequency analysis or time frequency analysis for the original image to obtain frequency response as an image feature quantity; a second step of (a) preparing in advance a densified image feature database by classifying plural densified image feature quantities which are obtained from sample densified images into image feature categories based on similarity, summing the classified densified image feature quantities every image feature category into single densified image feature quantity and storing the each summed densified image feature quantity into the densified image feature database, (b) selecting the image feature category with a highest similarity with the image feature quantity obtained in the first step by comparing the image feature quantity obtained in the first step with the each densified image feature quantity stored in the densified image feature database within a frequency band where the image feature quantity in the first step has component, and (c) reading out a densified image feature quantity for the selected image feature category from the densified image feature database; and a third step of generating, by subjecting the densified image feature quantity obtained in the second step to inverse transform to the first step, the densified image.