Sliding-block joint source/noisy-channel coding theorems

Sliding-block codes are nonblock coding structures consisting of discrete-time time-invariant possibly nonlinear filters. They are equivalent to time-invariant trellis codes. The coupling of Forney's rigorization of Shannon's random-coding/typical-sequence approach to block coding theorems with the strong Rohlin-Kakutani Theorem of ergodic theory is used to obtain a sliding-block coding theorem for ergodic sources and discrete memoryless noisy channels. Combining this result with a theorem on sliding-block source coding with a fidelity criterion yields a sliding-block information transmission theorem. Thus, the basic existence theorems of information theory hold for stationary nonblock structures, as well as for block codes.