Opinion ID: 6495291
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: A method of deblocking a reconstructed video

Text: frame, comprising: identifying a boundary between two blocks of the reconstructed video frame; determining the level of detail of the recon- structed video frame across a region in which the block boundary is located, wherein the region includes pixels from multiple rows and multiple columns of the reconstructed video frame that encompass pixels immediately adjacent to at least two sides of the block boundary and includes at least one pixel that is not immediately ad- jacent to the block boundary; selecting a filter to apply to predetermined pixels on either side of the block boundary based upon the determined level of detail. ’651 patent, claim 1. The dispute in this appeal relates to the second method step, which requires “determining the level of detail of the reconstructed video frame.” Id. The specification discloses the following formula for calculating the level of detail in several of the embodiments of the ’651 patent: where i is the number of rows in the region and j is the number of columns in the region. Id. at col. 3, ll. 46–57. Case: 21-1931 Document: 40 Page: 4 Filed: 06/27/2022 4 NETFLIX, INC. v. DIVX, LLC That calculation is commonly referred to as the “sum of absolute differences” or “SAD” calculation. See id. at col. 8, ll. 61–63. As applied to a particular region having a horizontal block boundary, the SAD calculation would require determining the absolute difference between each pair of vertically adjacent pixels and summing those differences. 1 Id. at col. 9, ll. 6–10. What results is a measure that approximates the level of variation among pairs of adjacent pixels within the region of interest. The SAD calculation is explicitly recited in dependent claims 2 and 4 of the ’651 patent. Those claims recite: