Patent ID: 7555140

Claim:
A method executing image processing of image data with object information, said object information is associated with said image data and indicates a location of a major object on an image that is based on said image data, said method comprising: determining an emphasis region by using said object information, said emphasis region is to become the basis of an image analysis; analyzing said image data on the basis of said emphasis region; executing image processing of said image data based on the result of analysis; and dividing an image that is based on said image data into plural regions, wherein said emphasis region is determined from among said plural regions, and the plural regions other than said emphasis region are general regions, wherein said determining the emphasis region includes: obtaining region image characteristic values for each of said emphasis region and the plural regions other than said emphasis region based on said result of analysis; and generating an image characteristic value for the entire image by increasingly weighting the region image characteristic values in said plural regions as the regions become closer to said emphasis region, wherein the image processing of said image data is executed by using said generated image characteristic value.