Image processing method and image processing apparatus

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• an image data transceiver unit configured to transmit and receive image data;
• and
• an image processing unit,
• wherein the image processing unit
• acquires a similarity between a first region including a target pixel and a second region different from the first region including a neighboring pixel located in the vicinity of the target pixel, the regions being included in a predetermined region of the image data acquired by the image data transceiver unit,
• acquires a similarity index value as an index for evaluating a degree of abundance of the second region similar to the first region, based on the acquired similarity,
• adjusts a filter strength such that the filter strength, which indicates a degree of noise reduction in the predetermined region, decreases as the acquired similarity index value increases, and
• performs a smoothing process on the image data by smoothing the target pixel based on the adjusted filter strength, using an adaptive Non-Local Means filter capable of varying the filter strength for each predetermined region.