Apparatus and method for eliminating impulse interference

1. A method for eliminating impulse interference, comprising:

a) detecting whether impulse interference exists in an input signal according to a predetermined condition, and generating an impulse interference eliminating request when having detected that the input signal satisfies the predetermined condition;

b) in response to the impulse interference eliminating request, performing an impulse interference eliminating process on the input signal to generate an output signal; and

c) selectively adjusting the predetermined condition according to an output signal quality index associated with the output signal,

wherein an impulse interference eliminating unit generates the output signal,

wherein the output signal quality index comprises a packet error rate of the output signal, and

wherein step (b) comprises:

comparing the packet error rate with a first error rate threshold and a second error rate threshold, respectively, the first error rate threshold being higher than the second error rate threshold;

increasing the predetermined condition for detecting whether impulse interference exists when the packet error rate is higher than the first error rate threshold; and

lowering the predetermined condition for detecting whether impulse interference exists when the packet error rate is lower than the second error rate threshold.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (a) comprises:

detecting whether an impulse characteristic occurs in a waveform of the input signal;

detecting whether signal strength of the input signal is higher than a strength threshold; and

determining that the input signal satisfies the predetermined condition according to a detection result indicating that the impulse characteristic occurs in the waveform of the input signal and the signal strength of the input signal is higher than the strength threshold; and

step (c) comprises:

selectively adjusting the strength threshold according to the output signal quality index.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the impulse interference eliminating process performed on the input signal in step (b) is a Reed-Solomon error correction process.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein step (c) comprises generating one packet error rate of the output signal for each of N periods, N being an integer and greater than 1, and step (c) further comprises:

comparing the N packet error rates with a first error rate threshold and a second error rate threshold, respectively, to generate a first value M 1 and a second value M 2 ; wherein, the first error rate threshold is higher than the second error rate threshold, M 1 and M 2 are integers between 0 and N, and in the N packet error rates, M 1 packet error rates are higher than the first error rate threshold and M 2 packet error rates are lower than the second error rate threshold;

comparing the first value M 1 with the second value M 2 to generate a value comparison result;

increasing the predetermined condition used for detecting whether impulse interference exists if the value comparison result indicates that the first value M 1 is greater than the second value M 2 ; and

lowering the predetermined condition used for detecting whether impulse interference exists if the value comparison result indicates that the first value M 1 is smaller than or equal to the second value M 2 .

5. A method for eliminating impulse interference, comprising:

a) detecting whether impulse interference exists in an input signal according to a predetermined condition, and generating an impulse interference eliminating request when having detected that the input signal satisfies the predetermined condition;

b) in response to the impulse interference eliminating request, performing an impulse interference eliminating process on the input signal to generate an output signal; and

c) selectively adjusting the predetermined condition according to an output signal quality index associated with the output signal,

wherein an impulse interference eliminating unit generates the output signal,

wherein the output signal quality index comprises a packet error rate of the output signal,

wherein step (c) comprises generating one packet error rate of the output signal for each of N periods, N being an integer and greater than 1, and step (c) further comprises:

comparing the N packet error rates with a first error rate threshold and a second error rate threshold, respectively, to generate a first value M 1 and a second value M 2 ; wherein, the first error rate threshold is higher than the second error rate threshold, M 1 and M 2 are integers between 0 and N, and in the N packet error rates, M 1 packet error rates are higher than the first error rate threshold and M 2 packet error rates are lower than the second error rate threshold;

comparing the first value M 1 with the second value M 2 to generate a value comparison result;

increasing the predetermined condition used for detecting whether impulse interference exists if the value comparison result indicates that the first value M 1 is greater than the second value M 2 ; and

lowering the predetermined condition used for detecting whether impulse interference exists if the value comparison result indicates that the first value M 1 is smaller than or equal to the second value M 2 .

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein step (a) comprises:

detecting whether an impulse characteristic occurs in a waveform of the input signal;

detecting whether signal strength of the input signal is higher than a strength threshold; and

determining that the input signal satisfies the predetermined condition according to a detection result indicating that the impulse characteristic occurs in the waveform of the input signal and the signal strength of the input signal is higher than the strength threshold; and

step (c) comprises:

selectively adjusting the strength threshold according to the output signal quality index.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the impulse interference eliminating process performed on the input signal in step (b) is a Reed-Solomon error correction process.

8. The method according to claim 5 , wherein step (c) comprises generating one packet error rate of the output signal for each of N periods, N being an integer and greater than 1, and step (c) further comprises:

comparing the N packet error rates with a first error rate threshold and a second error rate threshold, respectively, to generate a first value M 1 and a second value M 2 ; wherein, the first error rate threshold is higher than the second error rate threshold, M 1 and M 2 are integers between 0 and N, and in the N packet error rates, M 1 packet error rates are higher than the first error rate threshold and M 2 packet error rates are lower than the second error rate threshold;

comparing the first value M 1 with the second value M 2 to generate a value comparison result;

increasing the predetermined condition used for detecting whether impulse interference exists if the value comparison result indicates that the first value M 1 is greater than the second value M 2 ; and

lowering the predetermined condition used for detecting whether impulse interference exists if the value comparison result indicates that the first value M 1 is smaller than or equal to the second value M 2 .