US Patent 7545417 Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and image processing program

An image processing apparatus includes an image capturing unit configured to capture temporally sequential images; a calculating unit configured to calculate weights of a plurality of luminance distributions; a classifying unit configured to classify a temporal change state of the luminance of one or a plurality of pixels into a plurality of classes; a class transition determining unit configured to determine temporal transition of the luminance change state; a reference luminance value updating unit configured to update a reference luminance value of the one or the plurality of pixels; a change-of-luminance detecting unit configured to detect whether the luminance of the one or the plurality of pixels has changed; and a detected change storing unit configured to store information to identify a position of the one or the plurality of pixels in the image where a change has occurred and information about the time when the change occurred.