Patent ID: 8401126

Claim:
A viterbi decoding apparatus for decoding convolution codes, comprising: a path memory unit that stores one of two paths toward respective transition states of a convolution code, as a selected path, for a plurality of continuous time points, the path memory unit comprising: a first memory comprising at least a first sub-area for storing a first high-order transition state and a second sub-area for storing a first low-order transition state; and a second memory comprising at least a third sub-area for storing a second high-order transition state and a fourth sub-area for storing a second low-order transition state; a tracing unit configured to trace a selected path stored in the path memory unit in a reversed-time direction, thereby decoding a convolution code at respective time points; and a control unit configured to control: a writing process at the first memory at a first time point such that both the first sub-area and the second sub-area are subject to writing; and a reading process at the second memory at a second time point such that one of the third sub-area or the fourth sub-area is subject to reading while the other one of the third sub-area or the fourth sub-area is not subject to reading, wherein the first time point is later in time than the second time point.