Image processing apparatus and method

An image processing method, comprising:

• performing an operation on an input image to generate gradient magnitudes and gradient angles associated with a plurality of input pixels of the input image;
• generating a plurality of interpolation angles and a plurality of directional confidence values according to the gradient magnitudes and the gradient angles associated with the input pixels;
• performing directional interpolation on the input image according to the interpolation angles, so as to generate a first image with an image resolution different from that of the input image;
• and
• performing interpolation on the input image to generate a second image, and blending the first image and the second image into an output image according to weights of the first image and the second image associated with the directional confidence values, wherein the resolution of the second image is the same as that of the first image.

An image processing apparatus, comprising:

• a gradient calculation unit configured to perform an operation on an input image to generate gradient magnitudes and gradient angles associated with a plurality of input pixels of the input image;
• a direction determining unit configured to generate a plurality of interpolation angles according to the gradient magnitudes and the gradient angles associated with the input pixels;
• and
• a directional interpolation unit configured to associate a first interpolation angle of the interpolation angles with a first angular interval of a plurality of angular intervals and select the input pixels within a sampling window as a plurality of directional interpolation input pixels, and to selectively perform low-pass filtering on the directional interpolation input pixels according to the first angular interval, and then to generate a pixel value of a first pixel according to pixel values of the processed directional interpolation input pixels, wherein the first pixel is associated with the first interpolation angle and is one of the pixels in the first image.