Patent ID: 7528842

Claim:
An image processing apparatus, comprising: a storage unit which holds first and second texture data; and a computation unit which identifies areas of correspondence between the first texture and the second texture, and applies a predetermined computation process to a texel inside the area of correspondence in the first texture and a texel inside the area of correspondence in the second texture; wherein the predetermined computation process is a computation related to a difference between a value related to a texel in the first texture and a value related to a texel in the second texture, the texel in the first texture and the texel in the second texture corresponding to each other in the areas of correspondence; and wherein said computation unit comprises an interpolation unit which applies linear interpolation to values related to texels in at least one texture, the interpolation unit including a subtracter, a multiplier and an adder, and wherein said interpolation unit is diverted in such a manner that at least the subtracter in said interpolation unit is used to perform the computation related to said difference.