NetflixPatent applicationCameras & imagingInterest 3/10

Netflix patents video filter that smooths blocky edges unevenly

Patent drawing from the official filing.

Netflix describes a method for cleaning up video images by adjusting pixels along the edges where compressed data blocks meet. The system measures how sharp or smooth these edges are and changes a different number of pixels on each side to reduce visible square artifacts.

Why it mattersThis improves the visual quality of streamed video by making compression artifacts less noticeable to viewers.

In the filing’s own words

Techniques for improved deblocking filtering are disclosed. The techniques include receiving a first block and a second block of a first image; performing, based on sample values on one or more sides of a block boundary between the first block and the second block, one or more evaluations relative to one or more thresholds; determining, based on the one or more evaluations, a first number of samples to modify on a first side of the block boundary, wherein the first number is different from a second number of samples to modify on a second side of the block boundary; and performing, based on the first number of samples and the second number of samples, asymmetrical deblocking filtering on the first image to generate a second image.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A computer-implemented method for deblocking filtering, the method comprising: receiving a first block and a second block of a first image; performing, based on sample values on one or more sides of a block boundary between the first block and the second block, one or more evaluations relative to one or more thresholds, wherein the one or more evaluations comprise two or more second derivatives for two or more lines of the first image; determining, based on the one or more evaluations, a first number of samples to modify on a first side of the block boundary, wherein the first number is different from a second number of samples to modify on a second side of the block boundary; and performing, based on the first number of samples and the second number of samples, asymmetrical deblocking filtering on the first image to generate a second image.

Facts

Company: Netflix (NETFLIX, INC.)
Official title: TECHNIQUES FOR IMPROVED DEBLOCKING FILTERING
Publication number: US20260303878A1
Application number: 19372021
Filed: Oct 28, 2025
Published: Oct 1, 2026
Inventors: 1
Claims: 20

Classified under

H04N 19/86 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/117 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/132 Electricity & electronicsH04N 19/80 Electricity & electronics

Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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.