Transform and _get_serve_tf_examples_fn

General Discussion
,
#1

Hi community members,

I have a question that looks certainly stupid but I block on it.

In the classic method _get_serve_tf_examples_fn, there is something that I cannot understand.

def _get_serve_tf_examples_fn(model, tf_transform_output):
        
        # We must save the tft_layer to the model to ensure its assets are kept and tracked.
        model.tft_layer = tf_transform_output.transform_features_layer()

        @tf.function(input_signature=[tf.TensorSpec(shape=[None], dtype=tf.string, name='examples')])
        def serve_tf_examples_fn(serialized_tf_examples):
            
            # Expected input is a string which is serialized tf.Example format.
            feature_spec = tf_transform_output.raw_feature_spec()
            
            # Because input schema includes unnecessary fields like 'species' and
            # 'island', we filter feature_spec to include required keys only.
            required_feature_spec = {
                k: v for k, v in feature_spec.items() if k in _FEATURE_KEYS
            }

            parsed_features = tf.io.parse_example(serialized_tf_examples, required_feature_spec)

            # Preprocess parsed input with transform operation defined in preprocessing_fn().
            transformed_features, _ = _apply_preprocessing(parsed_features, model.tft_layer)
            
            # Run inference with ML model.
            return model(transformed_features)

        return serve_tf_examples_fn

1- the transform layer is added to the model. Ok I understand
2- the serve_tf_examples() method is called on the raw data, applies the transform layer on features, and then calls a model() on the transformed features.

But why should I create the processed features with the transform layer whereas I have added this layer to the model first?

I am certainly missing something here.

Any help is appreciated :slight_smile:

Thanks

Jerome