EFFICIENT MEDIAN FILTER AND METHOD THEREFOR

An efficient method and apparatus of median filtering includes a memory circuit (305) for holding a list of N data samples (109). A grading circuit (309, 321, 313, 311) identifies a first data sample of the N data samples that has a first metric with a magnitude less than or equal to (N-1)/2, and a second metric with a magnitude greater than or equal to (N-1)/2. The first metric is indicative of a quantity of data samples, exclusive of the first data sample, that have a magnitude less than a magnitude of the first data sample. The second metric is indicative of a quantity of data samples, exclusive of the first data sample, that have a magnitude less than or equal to the magnitude of the first data sample.