Generalization of Mrs. Gerber's Lemma

Mrs. Gerber's Lemma (MGL) hinges on the convexity of $H(p*H^{-1}(u))$, where $H(u)$ is the binary entropy function. In this work, we prove that $H(p*f(u))$ is convex in $u$ for every $p\in [0,1]$ provided $H(f(u))$ is convex in $u$, where $f(u) : (a, b) \to [0, \frac12]$. Moreover, our result subsumes MGL and simplifies the original proof. We show that the generalized MGL can be applied in binary broadcast channel to simplify some discussion.Comment: Accepted by Communications in Information and System

On the inner and outer bounds of 3-receiver broadcast channels with 2-degraded message sets

We consider a broadcast channel with 3 receivers and 2 messages (M0, M1) where two of the three receivers need to decode messages (M0, M1) while the remaining one just needs to decode the message M0. We study the best known inner and outer bounds under this setting, in an attempt to find the deficiencies with the current techniques of establishing the bounds. We produce a simple example where we are able to explicitly evaluate the inner bound and show that it differs from the general outer bound. For a class of channels where the general inner and outer bounds differ, we use a new argument to show that the inner bound is tight.Comment: 5 pages

On The Capacity of Broadcast Channels With Degraded Message Sets and Message Cognition Under Different Secrecy Constraints

This paper considers a three-receiver broadcast channel with degraded message sets and message cognition. The model consists of a common message for all three receivers, a private common message for only two receivers and two additional private messages for these two receivers, such that each receiver is only interested in one message, while being fully cognizant of the other one. First, this model is investigated without any secrecy constraints, where the capacity region is established, showing that the straightforward extension of the K\"orner and Marton inner bound to the investigated scenario is optimal. In particular, this agrees with Nair and Wang's result, which states that the idea of indirect decoding - introduced to improve the K\"orner and Marton inner bound - does not provide a better region for this scenario. Further, some secrecy constraints are introduced by letting the private messages to be confidential ones. Two different secrecy criteria are considered: joint secrecy and individual secrecy. For both criteria, a general achievable rate region is provided. Moreover, the joint and individual secrecy capacity regions are established, if the two legitimate receivers are more capable than the eavesdropper. The established capacity regions indicate that the individual secrecy criterion can provide a larger capacity region as compared to the joint one, because each cognizant message can be used as a secret key for the other individual message. Further, the joint secrecy capacity is established for a more general class of more capable channels, where only one of the two legitimate receivers is more capable than the eavesdropper. This was done by showing that principle of indirect decoding introduced by Nair and El Gamal is optimal for this class of channels. This result is in contrast with the nonsecrecy case, where the indirect decoding does not provide any gain

Individual Secrecy for the Broadcast Channel

This paper studies the problem of secure communication over broadcast channels under the individual secrecy constraints. That is, the transmitter wants to send two independent messages to two legitimate receivers in the presence of an eavesdropper, while keeping the eavesdropper ignorant of each message (i.e., the information leakage from each message to the eavesdropper is made vanishing). Building upon Carleial-Hellman's secrecy coding, Wyner's secrecy coding, the frameworks of superposition coding and Marton's coding together with techniques such as rate splitting and indirect decoding, achievable rate regions are developed. The proposed regions are compared with those satisfying joint secrecy and without secrecy constraints, and the individual secrecy capacity regions for special cases are characterized. In particular, capacity region for the deterministic case is established, and for the Gaussian model, a constant gap (i.e., 0.5 bits within the individual secrecy capacity region) result is obtained. Overall, when compared with the joint secrecy constraint, the results allow for trading-off secrecy level and throughput in the system.Comment: 49 pages, 13 figures, this paper was presented in part at IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory, Hong Kong, Jun. 201

On 3-receiver broadcast channels with 2-degraded message sets

Abstract — We consider a broadcast channel with 3 receivers and 2 messages (M0, M1) where two of the three receivers need to decode messages (M0, M1) while the remaining one just needs to decode the message M0. We study the best known inner and outer bounds under this setting, in an attempt to find the deficiencies with the current techniques of establishing the bounds. We produce a simple example where we are able to explicitly evaluate the inner bound and show that it differs from the general outer bound. For a class of channels where the general inner and outer bounds differ, we use a new argument to show that the inner bound is tight. I