Patent ID: 7936941

Claim:
An image processing apparatus, comprising: image data inputting means for inputting image data; edge strength calculating means comprising a processor operable to execute program modules for calculating an edge strength along a specific direction based on a difference of level between a concerned pixel of said inputted image data and a pixel disposed in vicinity of said concerned pixel; filter processing means comprising a processor operable to execute program modules for determining a filter based on said edge strength along said specific direction calculated by said edge strength calculating means, carrying out filter processing on pixel data, and selectively performing noise reduction and edge enhancement by way of said filter; edge enhancement signal generating means for generating an edge enhancement signal based on said pixel data on which said filter processing has been carried out; and image correcting means for correcting said inputted image data based on said edge enhancement signal, wherein said filter processing means is operative to calculate a preliminary value by multiplying said edge strength along said specific direction by a gradient coefficient and adding an image quality adjusting value to be used for adjusting image quality to the multiplication result, to compare said preliminary value with a predetermined upper limit and a predetermined lower limit, to determine, as a weighting coefficient, said upper limit if said preliminary value is greater than said upper limit, said lower limit if said preliminary value is less than said lower limit, and said preliminary value if said preliminary value is not greater than said upper limit nor less than said lower limit, and to selectively perform noise reduction and edge enhancement by carrying out weighted addition using said weighting coefficient on data of said concerned pixel.