Patent ID: 8175407

Claim:
An image processing method for clustering image data per pixel using a computer, the method comprising: a first attribution determining step of comparing, by setting predefined clusters in a descending order of the number of pixels belonging thereto as objects, a first distance that is the distance between a feature vector of a processing object pixel and a representative feature vector of an object cluster with a first threshold, and storing the processing object pixel in a memory as a pixel belonging to the object cluster when determining that the first distance is less than or equal to the first threshold; a second attribution determining step of comparing, when it is determined in said first attribution determining step that there are no clusters for which the first distance is less than or equal to the first threshold, a second distance that is a minimum value among distances between the feature vector of the processing object pixel and respective representative feature vectors of the predefined clusters with a second threshold, and storing the processing object pixel in the memory as a pixel belonging to a cluster corresponding to the second distance when the second distance is less than or equal to the second threshold; and a third attribution determining step of defining a new cluster when the processing object pixel has not been stored as a pixel belonging to any of the predefined clusters in said first attribution determining step and said second attribution determining step, and storing the processing object pixel in the memory as a pixel belonging to the new cluster.