Image processing method and apparatus thereof

Abstract

In case of an image region having a property of abrupt changes in luminance and tint, even when a region made up of pixels having luminance values and tint levels similar to those of one point designated by the user is extracted as a correction region with reference to the user designated point, it is difficult to extract a region to be corrected without omission. To solve this problem, a user instruction indicating a point inside or near an image region which is to undergo correction is input, and a plurality of origin pixels corresponding to start points of region expansion are set in a region which includes the input point and has a predetermined size. The region expansion is executed from each origin pixel, and a correction region is decided according to the result of the region expansion.

1 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . An image processing apparatus comprising:
 an obtaining section configured to obtain first coordinates on image data instructed by pressing an operational button, and second coordinates on the image data instructed by releasing the operational button;   a calculating section configured to calculate a distance between the first and second coordinates obtained by the obtaining section;   a comparing section configured to compare the calculated distance with a predetermined threshold value; and   a determining section configured to determine that region designation using the first and second coordinates is performed in a case where a comparison result indicates that the distance is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value, and to determine that one-point designation is performed in a case where the comparison result indicates that the distance is less than the predetermined threshold value.   
     
     
         17 . The apparatus according to  claim 16 , wherein the predetermined threshold value is determined in accordance with a display resolution of a device which displays the image data. 
     
     
         18 . An image processing method comprising using a processor to perform steps including:
 obtaining first coordinates on image data instructed by pressing an operational button, and second coordinates on the image data instructed by releasing the operational button;   calculating a distance between the first and second coordinates obtained in the obtaining step;   comparing the calculated distance with a predetermined threshold value;   determining that region designation using the first and second coordinates is performed in a case where a comparison result indicates that the distance is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value; and   determining that one-point designation is performed in a case where the comparison result indicates that the distance is less than the predetermined threshold value.   
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a computer-executable program for causing a computer to perform an image processing method, the method comprising:
 obtaining first coordinates of image data instructed by pressing an operational button, and second coordinates of the image data instructed by releasing the operational button;   calculating a distance between the first and second coordinates obtained in the obtaining step;   comparing the calculated distance with a predetermined threshold value;   determining that region designation using the first and second coordinates is performed in a case where a comparison result indicates that the distance is equal to or greater than the predetermined threshold value; and   determining that one-point designation is performed in a case where the comparison result indicates that the distance is less than the predetermined threshold value.