Patent ID: 7630561

Claim:
An image processing method performed by an image processing apparatus for selecting a subset of n (where n is two or more) images representative of a test set of images, said method comprising: detecting, by a processor of said image processing apparatus, a degree of similarity between images of said test set of images, respective ones of said test set of images being divided into one or more test regions, each of which being compared with one or more reference regions in one or more other images of said test set, identifying for each respective test region a reference region that most closely corresponds thereto, measuring the similarity between an image and a reconstruction of the image from the identified reference regions; selecting, by the processor of said image processing apparatus, a subset of images comprising those n images having substantially the lowest similarity with respect to other images of said set; populating a test subset with n images from said set; detecting, by the processor of said image processing apparatus, mutual similarity between said n images in said test subset; and for each other image in said set in turn: detecting, by the processor of said image processing apparatus, a degree of similarity between each respective image and said n images in said subset; and if an image is less similar to said n images in said test subset than one of said images in said subset is to the remainder of said test subset, replacing said least dissimilar image in said subset with the one of said images.