To enable an execution of data processing to be realized at a comparatively low cost.

A data processing such as a context arithmetic decoding processing for forming a part of an MPEG specification is performed in a series of temporal processing steps S. The processing steps S(n) generate results O(n) based on result pairs [O(n-1), O(n-2),..., O(n-m)] of specified and preceding processing steps [S(n-1), S(n-2),..., S(n-m)]. The processing steps S are performed by two substeps: a preprocessing substep SA and a finishing substep SB. In the preprocessing substep SA, an intermediate result I is determined based on incomplete result pairs. In the finishing substep SB, the results O are determined based on the intermediate result I and one missing result of the closest and preceding processing stage result and the incomplete result pairs when either one of them is missing.