Disclosed is an apparatus in which there are provided a first storage unit for storing signals to which indexes are given in order to distinguish each of a plurality of signals that are to be coded; a first index computing unit for computing first indexes of non-zero signals among the signals stored in the first storage unit; a second index computing unit for computing second indexes from a base index and the first indexes; a second index storage position search unit for searching for a storage position in a second storage unit in which the second indexes are to be stored based on values of the indexes stored in the second storage unit; a second index preserving unit for preserving the second index in the second storage unit based on a storage position searched for by the second index storage position search unit; and a control unit for giving the base index to the second index computing unit and for controlling operation of the first index computing unit, the second index computing unit the second index storage position search unit, and the second index preserving unit.