Apple patents video filter to smooth out blocky images
Apple has been granted a patent for a method to reduce visual artifacts in video compression. The system applies a specific filter to the boundaries of small image blocks during the decoding process to smooth out jagged edges. It determines the exact timing for this filtering based on how the video frame is being reconstructed.
In the filing’s own words
Disclosed is a method that includes receiving an image frame having a plurality of coded blocks, determining a prediction unit (PU) from the plurality of coded blocks, determining one or more motion compensation units arranged in an array within the PU, and applying a filter to one or more boundaries of the one or more motion compensation units. Also disclosed is a method that includes receiving a reference frame that includes a reference block, determining a timing for deblocking a current block, performing motion compensation on the reference frame to obtain a predicted frame that includes a predicted block, performing reconstruction on the predicted frame to obtain a reconstructed frame that includes a reconstructed PU, and applying, at the timing for deblocking the current block, a deblocking filter based on one or more parameters to the reference block, the predicted block, or the reconstructed PU.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method comprising: receiving a reference frame that comprises a reference block; determining a timing for deblocking a current block; performing motion compensation on the reference frame to obtain a predicted frame that comprises a predicted block; performing reconstruction on the predicted frame to obtain a reconstructed frame that comprises a reconstructed prediction unit (PU); and at the timing for deblocking the current block, applying a deblocking filter based on one or more parameters to at least one of: the reference block, the predicted block, or the reconstructed PU.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Reducing blockiness for codecs
- Patent number
- US12764345B2
- Application number
- 18945408
- Filed
- Nov 12, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 13, 2026
- Inventors
- 9
- Claims
- 28
Classified under
H04N 19/86 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/117 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/139 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/176 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/82 Electricity & electronicsMore from Apple 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.