Patent ID: 7738675

Claim:
A decoding apparatus, comprising: a decoding section for decoding input encoded data; an output section for outputting data decoded by the decoding section, in accordance with an output control signal; a plurality of copyright information detection sections for detecting different types of copyright information from the data decoded by the decoding section and each outputting the detected copyright information; an output control section for outputting the output control signal in accordance with the copyright information detected by at least one of the plurality of copyright information detection sections; and a detection control section for controlling the plurality of copyright information detection sections so that at least one of the plurality of copyright information detection sections has a period of time in which the at least one copyright information detection section does not perform process, wherein the detection control section controls the plurality of copyright information detection sections so that at least one of the plurality of copyright information detection sections does not perform process that requires an amount of computation equal to or greater than an amount of computation defined by the difference between a certain amount of computation and an amount of computation allocated to the at least one copyright information detection section.