Patent ID: 8401274

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising one or more computers comprising: a display portion; a height input portion configured to input height information about an object to be photographed, the height information indicating the heights of the object in correspondence with respective portions of a corresponding image of the object, and being in association with respective tone values of a corresponding image in correspondence with these portions, a setting portion configured to set data for image processing in a setting mode; and a driving processing portion configured to receive an input image and processes the input image based on data which has been preliminarily set by the setting portion; wherein the setting portion comprises: a set-image display portion configured to display, on the display portion, a first image acquired by photographing the object in the setting mode, a threshold-value reception portion configured to receive threshold-value data about the height, according to inputs from the outside, the threshold-value reception portion comprising a density-plane creation portion configured to detect portions of the first image which have a larger tone value compared to an average tone value in the peripheral area, based on the tone values of the respective portions and the inputs from the outside and, further, to create a curved plane passing through the detected portions, and further comprising a plane threshold-value reception portion configured to receive the threshold-value data based on the height information corresponding to the portions through which the curved plane passes, and a first detection portion configured to detect, from the first image, a first partial image having only height information larger or smaller than height information of the curved plane specified by the threshold-value data, based on the height information inputted by the height input portion in the setting mode, and based on the threshold-value data received by the threshold-value reception portion, and the driving processing portion comprises a driving-image display portion configured to receive a second image acquired by photographing the object in the driving mode and configured to display it on the display portion, and a second detection portion configured to detect, from the second image, a second partial image having only height information larger or smaller than height information of the curved plane specified by the threshold-value data, based on the height information inputted by the height input portion in the driving mode, and based on the threshold-value data received by the threshold-value reception portion in the setting mode.