Patent ID: 8224076

Claim:
An image processing method for reducing a ringing artifact in an input image, said image processing method comprising: selecting, from among a plurality of pixels included in the input image, a candidate for a noise pixel included in the ringing artifact, using luminance values of the plurality of pixels; judging whether or not the candidate selected in said selecting is the noise pixel based on whether or not a chrominance value of the candidate is included in a chrominance range corresponding to a comparison target region which is a part of the input image; and filtering the noise pixel which has been judged in said judging, wherein said judging includes using, as a chrominance range corresponding to the comparison target region, chrominance values ranging from an upper limit value through a lower limit value, the upper limit value being a sum of a first offset value and a maximum chrominance value of chrominance values of pixels, among the plurality of pixels, located in the comparison target region, and the lower limit value being a difference calculated by subtracting a second offset value from a minimum chrominance value of the chrominance values of the pixels, among the plurality of pixels, located in the comparison target region.