Information Spectrum Approach to Overflow Probability of Variable-Length Codes with Conditional Cost Function

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the overflow probability of variable-length codes with unequal costs for general sources, using information-spectrum methods to determine the optimal overflow threshold.

Contribution

It introduces a novel analysis of overflow probability for variable-length codes with conditional costs using information-spectrum techniques, applicable to general sources.

Findings

Derived the infimum of achievable overflow threshold.

Established bounds on overflow probability.

Validated the approach for general sources.

Abstract

Lossless variable-length source coding with unequal cost function is considered for general sources. In this problem, the codeword cost instead of codeword length is important. The infimum of average codeword cost has already been determined for general sources. We consider the overflow probability of codeword cost and determine the infimum of achievable overflow threshold. Our analysis is on the basis of information-spectrum methods and hence valid through the general source.