Patent ID: 8891019

Claim:
An image processing apparatus comprising: a central processing hardware unit including first layer summary data generation means for, out of images extracted with a first frequency from the images making up a moving image content, generating first layer summary data of a first size before registering said first layer summary data to a database; second layer summary data generation means for, out of images extracted with a second frequency higher than said first frequency from the images making up said moving image content, generating second layer summary data of a second size smaller than said first size; first search means for, based on said first layer summary data generated by said first layer summary data generation means, searching said database for a corresponding moving image content; second search means for, based on said second layer summary data generated by said second layer summary data generation means, searching the moving image contents retrieved by said first search means for a corresponding moving image content; and compression means for connecting different regions between the moving image content retrieved by said second search means on the one hand and the moving image content from which said first layer summary data is generated by said first layer summary data generation means on the other hand, so as to delete either of the contents for moving image content data compression.