On overflow and underflow problems in buffer-instrumented variable-length coding of fixed- rate memoryless sources (Corresp.)

Abstract

It is well-known that variable-length coding schemes can be employed in entropy encoding of finite-alphabet sources. To transmit these codes over a synchronous channel, however, requires a buffer. Since in practice this buffer is of finite size, it is subject to both overflow and undertow. The buffer behavior is studied with particular application to Huffman coding of the outputs of an optimum uniform-threshold quantizer driven by a memoryless Gaussian source. Fairly general upper and lower bounds on the average terminal time are developed. Under certain conditions, the tightness of these bounds is verified, and asymptotic formulas are developed. As an example, an encoding scheme employing Huffman codes in conjunction with uniform quantization of memoryless Gaussian sources is considered, and the buffer behavior as a function of the buffer size and output rate is studied.