Seems to be the same:
public static function deSerializeFilter($pq_filter)
{
// value of $pq_filter: {"mode":"AND","data":[{"dataIndx":"name","value":"test","condition":"contain","dataType":"string","cbFn":""}]}
$filterObj = json_decode(json_encode($pq_filter), FALSE);
// value of $filterObj: {"mode":"AND","data":[{"dataIndx":"name","value":"test","condition":"contain","dataType":"string","cbFn":""}]}
...