Sony patents video filter that smooths color edges in images
Sony has been granted a patent for a specific method to clean up blocky artifacts in digital video. The system decides when to apply a smoothing filter to color pixels by checking specific rows and columns near the edges of image blocks.
In the filing’s own words
A decision unit decides whether or not a deblocking filter is applied to color difference components of pixels belonging to a line orthogonal to a block boundary in two adjacent blocks adjacent to each other sandwiching the block boundary of the decoded image, by using color difference components of pixels belonging to a line identical to a line used to decide whether or not the deblocking filter is applied to luminance components of the pixels belonging to the line orthogonal to the block boundary. The filtering unit applies the deblocking to the color difference components of the pixels for which it is decided that the deblocking filter is applied. The present technology can be applied to, for example, a case where encoding and decoding of an image are performed.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An image processing device comprising: a decoder configured to decode a bitstream to generate a decoded image; processing circuitry configured to, in a case where a chroma format is a 422 format, decide whether or not a deblocking filter is applied to chroma pixels neighboring a vertical block boundary of 4 pixels by using chroma pixels belonging to first and fourth horizontal lines within the vertical block boundary and to, in a case where a chroma format is a 444 format, decide whether or not the deblocking filter is applied to chroma pixels neighboring a vertical block boundary of 4 pixels by using chroma pixels belonging to the first and fourth horizontal lines within the vertical block boundary and decide whether or not the deblocking filter is applied to chroma pixels neighboring a horizontal block boundary of 4 pixels by using chroma pixels belonging to first and fourth vertical lines within the horizontal block boundary; and a filter configured to apply the deblocking to the chroma pixels for which it is decided by the processing circuitry that the deblocking filter is applied.
Facts
- Company
- Sony (Sony Group Corporation)
- Official title
- Image processing device and image processing method
- Patent number
- US12739372B2
- Application number
- 19032947
- Filed
- Jan 21, 2025
- Granted
- Sep 15, 2026
- Inventors
- 1
- Claims
- 12
Classified under
H04N 19/117 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/176 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/186 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/80 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/86 Electricity & electronicsMore from Sony in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.