Patent ID: 8503726

Claim:
An image processing apparatus for generating a contour image in which the contour of an object included in an input image is emphasized, the image processing apparatus comprising: an edge extracting unit configured to extract edges from an input image to generate an edge image; a foreground processing unit configured to acquire a difference in background of the input image using a background image registered in advance and to extract a foreground including an object; a mask unit configured to generate a masked edge image obtained by eliminating, from an edge image generated by the edge extracting unit, edges in a region other than a foreground region specified by a foreground extracted by the foreground processing unit; a synthesis unit configured to synthesize the masked edge image generated by the mask unit and a foreground boundary image constructed of the boundary of a foreground region specified by a foreground extracted by the foreground processing unit so as to generate the contour image; and an output unit configured to output the contour image.