1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, a method of processing an image, and a computer-readable recording medium for detecting an abnormal area from an intraluminal image acquired by imaging the inside of a lumen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, endoscopes are widely used as one type of medical observation device that is introduced inside a body of an examinee such as a patient so as to observe the inside of a lumen in the body. In addition, recently, an eating-type endoscope (capsule endoscope) is developed which has an imaging device and a communication device that transmits image data imaged by the imaging device outside the body in a wireless manner and the like within a capsule-type casing. Since observation and diagnosis using an image of the inside of the lumen (intraluminal image) that is imaged by such a medical observation device require an abundance of experience, a medical diagnosis supporting function that supports the diagnosis of a doctor is demanded. As one of image recognition technologies realizing such a function, there is suggested a technology for displaying an image to be focused for diagnosis by automatically detecting an abnormal area (lesion area) such as a bleeding site from the intraluminal image.
For example, in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-192880, technology is disclosed in which clustering is performed by mapping pixel values of pixels positioned inside an image or an averaged pixel value into a feature space that is based on color information, and data of which a Euclid distance from the cluster of a normal mucous membrane area is a predetermined value or more is detected as an abnormal area.