Patent ID: 8484223

Claim:
An image searching apparatus for searching a plurality of images, comprising: an image storing unit for storing the plurality of images; and a computer processor which implements each of the following units by executing programs stored in a memory: a search target decision unit which decides a search target image out of the plurality of images stored in the image storing unit; a search condition obtaining unit which obtains a search condition specified by a user operation; a search execution unit which executes search processing for the search target image decided by the search target decision unit using the search condition obtained by the search condition obtaining unit; a search result display control unit which displays the search result of the search execution unit on a display unit; and a determining unit which determines whether a predetermined image group is included in the plurality of images stored in the image storing unit based on metadata which is attached in advance to each of the plurality of images stored in the image storing unit, wherein the predetermined image group is an image group obtained by capturing multiple images continuously or simultaneously under a plurality of image capturing conditions, and wherein in response to determining that the predetermined image group is included in the plurality of images stored in the image storing unit, the search target decision unit identifies and sets a representative image of the predetermined image group as the search target image, and excludes images other than the representative image in the predetermined image group from the search target image and the search execution unit executes image search using the search target image decided by the search target decision unit.