Patent ID: 8285064

Claim:
Method for processing at least one image, a block being a portion of the image, a grey level being associated to each pixel of the image, a plurality of texture pattern blocks representative of a texture of the image being stored in a memory, the pixel grey levels of each texture pattern block being transformed into frequency coefficients using a predefined transform, the method comprising the following steps: a) selecting a current block in at least one part of the image; b) transforming the pixel grey levels of the current block into a current block of frequency coefficients using the predefined transform; c) building up a merger block for each stored texture pattern block, whereby a plurality of merger blocks is obtained, each frequency coefficient positioned at a defined place of each respective merger block being equal either to the frequency coefficient positioned at the same place of the current block, when said frequency coefficient of the current block complies with a criterion; or to the frequency coefficient positioned at the same place of the corresponding texture pattern block among the texture pattern blocks stored in the memory, when said frequency coefficient of the current block does not comply with said criterion; d) selecting a merger block among the plurality of merger blocks, wherein for each merger block a predefined function is computed to obtain a variation value representative of the frequency similarity between the current block and each merger block's corresponding texture patter block, and a grey level gradient between the current block and at least one block adjacent to the current block is computed, and the merger block having the smallest variation is selected; and e) replacing in the image the current block by the selected merger block.