Variable-Length Convolutional Coding of a Sequence of Independent Binary Symbols

The article examines the application of convolutional coding methods to the problem of compression of data produced by a binary memoryless source. As compared to a convolutional coding arrangement with a constant compression factor, a variable-compression-factor arrangement has a more reliable and stable sequential decoding procedure. For coding arrangements with a variable generating sequence, bounds are obtained for the first two moments of the number of vertices of a free-type code that can be checked by the decoding device for one message edge.