Patent ID: 8917778

Claim:
An image processing apparatus, comprising: a storage device; and at least one processor coupled to the storage device, the storage device storing software instructions for controlling the at least one processor when executed by the at least one processor, and the at least one processor is operative with the software instructions and is configured to: receive image data of program contents and genre information comprising a classification of the program contents; determine a characteristic parameter corresponding to the received genre information, the characteristic parameter indicating the strength of a filter filtering a local image obtainable by decoding encoding data, which is generated by encoding the received image data, in accordance with the received genre information, wherein the filter is a deblocking filter reducing block distortion; change the strength of the filter in accordance with the determined characteristic parameter, wherein the at least one processor is configured to change the strength of the filter by changing values of slice_alpha_c0_offset_div2 and slice_beta_offset_div2 in accordance with the determined characteristic parameter; and generate the encoding data by encoding the received image data by executing a prediction process by use of a local decoded image filtered in accordance with the changed characteristics of the filter, the at least one processor being further configured to: receive temporal information identifying a present time; and determine the characteristic parameter so as to decrease the strength of the filter in a time display area where time is displayed in the case that the temporal information falls within the range of predetermined time.