IMPULSE NOISE REDUCTION APPARATUS AND METHOD

An apparatus and method of reducing impulse noise using a median filter involve selecting a pixel of median.sub.-- value from a plurality of pixels, comparing a reference range, determined by adding or subtracting an offset value to or from the selected median.sub.-- value, with a mid.sub.-- pixel among the plurality of pixels, to determine whether the input image signal has impulse noise and generate a noise coefficient depending on the presence of impulse noise, calculating a correlation between the luminance component of a pixel and the color component thereof depending on the noise coefficient, and cross-fading the pixel of median.sub.-- value and the mid.sub.-- pixel depending on the correlation.