Network information flow-英文文献.pdfVIP

1204 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY, VOL. 46, NO. 4, JULY 2000 Network Information Flow Rudolf Ahlswede, Ning Cai, Shuo-Yen Robert Li, Senior Member, IEEE, and Raymond W. Yeung, Senior Member, IEEE Abstract—We introduce a new class of problems called network gated traffic pattern the network needs to support. In other sit- information flow which is inspired by computer network applica- uations, the graph may represent a subnetwork in a physical tions. Consider a point-to-point communication network on which network, while the set of multicast requirements may pertain to a number of information sources are to be mulitcast to certain sets of destinations. We assume that the information sources are mu- a specific application on this subnetwork, e.g., a video-confer- tually independent. The problem is to characterize the admissible ence call. coding rate region. This model subsumes all previously studied In existing computer networks, each node functions as a models along the same line. In this paper, we study the problem switch in the sense that it either relays information from an with one information source, and we have obtained a simple char- input link to an output link, or it replicates information received acterization of the admissible coding rate region. Our result can be regarded as the Max-flow Min-cut Theorem for network informa- from an input link and sends it to a certain set of output links. tion flow. Contrary to one’s intuition, our work reveals that it is in From the information-theoretic point of view, there i