Patent ID: 8040569

Claim:
An image processing apparatus for executing a correction process on an image including a plurality of pixels each of which includes signal values corresponding to a plurality of colors, comprising at least a processor and memory, said processor and memory functioning as: a setting unit constructed to set an image area in the image including a process-target pixel; a first generating unit constructed to generate, for each pixel included in the image area, a brightness value from the signal values; a deciding unit constructed to decide a replacing pixel out of the pixels included in the image area based on the brightness value of each pixel included in the image area; a second generating unit constructed to generate replacing signal values based on the signal values only of the process-target pixel and of the replacing pixel; a replacing unit constructed to replace the signal values of the process-target pixel with the replacing signal values; and a correcting unit constructed to determine whether or not the brightness value of the process-target pixel is larger than a first threshold or smaller than a second threshold which is smaller than the first threshold, and correct the signal values of the process-target pixel based on the determination, such that the signal values of the process-target pixel are corrected to values indicating “white” when it is determined that the brightness value of the process-target pixel is larger than the first threshold, and the signal values of the process-target pixel are corrected to values indicating “black” when it is determined that the brightness value of the process-target pixel is smaller than the second threshold.