Image processing method and apparatus

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• an interest feature index extractor extracting, using the processor, an interest feature index from an input image based on a depth sensation estimation cue existing in the image;
• an interest feature index integration map calculator calculating an interest feature index integration map by combining the extracted interest feature index and an importance of interest calculated for the depth sensation estimation cue;
• and
• a depth sensation enhancement processing unit performing discrimination processing of the image based on the interest feature index integration map,
• wherein the importance of interest is adjusted according to at least one of how much the depth sensation estimation cue affects human perception and how the interest feature index is distributed in the image.

An image processing method comprising:

• extracting, using a processor, an interest feature index from an input image based on a depth sensation estimation cue existing in the input image, the interest feature index being a probability assigned to each pixel that indicates for each pixel how saliently each of the depth sensation estimation cues is shown in the input image;
• calculating an interest feature index integration map by assigning a weight to each extracted interest feature index and multiplying each extracted interest feature index by the respective assigned weight according to an importance of interest of each depth sensation estimation cue;
• and
• performing discrimination processing of the image based on the interest feature index integration map, wherein the importance of interest is adjusted according to at least one of how much the depth sensation estimation cue affects human perception and how the interest feature index is distributed in the image.

An image processing apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• a genre mode analyzer to determine a genre mode of an image;
• a depth sensation estimation cue selector to select a depth sensation estimation cue existing in the image according to the determined genre mode;
• an interest feature index extractor to extract, using the processor, an interest feature index from the input image based on the depth sensation estimation cue selected by the depth sensation estimation cue selector;
• an interest feature index integration map calculator to calculate an interest feature index integration map according to the determined genre mode by combining the extracted interest feature index selected and an importance of interest calculated for the depth sensation estimation cue;
• and
• a depth sensation enhancement processing unit to perform discrimination processing of the image based on the interest feature index integration map.