1 : An image enlarging apparatus comprising: a linear interpolation unit for enlarging an input image by linear interpolation to generate an interpolated image; a high-resolution patch generating unit for performing high-resolution conversion on each of a plurality of patches respectively forming parts of the interpolated image, to generate a high-resolution patch; a pattern identification unit for identifying a pattern of a local region in the input image which corresponds to each patch in the interpolated image, to output a selection code; a coefficient data storage unit for storing a plurality of coefficient data respectively corresponding to a plurality of values which can be assumed by the selection code; and a coefficient data reading unit for reading a coefficient data corresponding to the selection code, from among the plurality of coefficient data stored in said coefficient data storage unit; wherein said high-resolution patch generating unit generates the high-resolution patch using the coefficient data read from said coefficient data storage unit; and said pattern identification unit comprises: a comparison code generating unit for using an average value of pixel values of pixels in the local region or the pixel value of the pixel positioned at a center of the local region as a reference value, comparing the pixel values of a plurality of peripheral pixels other than the pixel positioned at the center of the local region with the reference value, and generating comparison codes indicating results of the comparison; and a selection code generating unit for generating the selection code based on the comparison codes generated for the plurality of peripheral pixels in the local region.