IMAGE PROCESSING APPARATUS, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM, AND PROGRAM FOR PERFORMING MOTION VECTOR SEARCH PROCESSING

An image processing apparatus, comprising a first motion vector detecting unit for searching for a motion vector in a fixed search range on the basis of image data of the input current frame and image data of the previous frame, a second motion vector detecting unit for setting a search range for performing the motion vector search according to the previously detected motion vector and for performing a motion vector search within the set search range on the basis of the image data of the current frame and the image data of the previous frame, and a selecting unit for selecting a process with the first motion vector detecting unit and a process with the second motion vector detecting unit.