VITERBI DECODING APPARATUS AND VITERBI DECODING METHOD

In a Viterbi decoding apparatus, deterioration in error correcting capability before and after a terminated code is controlled. A termination timing detection unit (103) detects a termination timing of a Viterbi code, a compulsion generation unit (105) generates a compulsion value so as to pass a specific path at the termination timing and timings before and after the termination timing, and the compulsion value is set on a traceback pointer (106). Therefore, even when the decoding state of a code before termination is degraded, decoding of a next code can be carried out without being affected by the degradation, thereby improving error correcting capability.