A single high resolution frame is obtained from a plurality of frames
sampled from moving image data, regardless of movement of a subject
included in the frames. Patches are provided in a plurality of frames
including a reference frame and other frames. The patches are moved
and/or deformed, and correspondent relationships are estimated for each
frame. The other frames are coordinate converted based on the estimated
correspondent relationships. Correlative values, which represent the
degrees of correlation between the other frames and the reference frame,
are calculated. The number of regions within the patches is changed, and
the correlative values are calculated in the same manner. A synthesized
frame is generated from the plurality of frames based on the
correspondent relationship, which was estimated for the number of regions
that yields the maximal correlation.