With the present invention, data continuity is used at the time of converting an input image into high-quality image data with higher quality than the input image data, to obtain processing results which are more accurate and have higher precision. A class tap extracting unit (902) and prediction tap extracting unit (906) extract a class tap and prediction tap based on data continuity of multiple perimeter pixels corresponding to a pixel of interest in the input image, detected by a data continuity detecting unit (901). An image synthesizing unit (909) selectively outputs a prediction value of a first pixel of interest and a prediction value of a second pixel of interest, based on the relation between a prediction value, predicted by a pixel value predicting unit (907), of the first pixel of interest, and a second prediction value of the second pixel of interest temporally or spatially adjacent to the first pixel of interest, and the pixel value of a corresponding pixel in the input image situated at a position encompassing at least the first pixel of interest and the second pixel of interest in the temporal direction or spatial direction, which is detected by an integration property determining unit (908).