Optimal buffer control for variable-rate lossy compression

In many lossy data compression systems, such as the one for HDTV, the data stream generated by the source coder has a variable rate, while the channel on which the data is to be transmitted operates in a fixed-rate manner. This necessitates the use of a buffer and a buffer control scheme whereby parameters of the compression system are adjusted based on the state of the buffer, to avoid overflow and at the same time to maintain adequate performance in terms of average distortion. We study a simple model and derive asymptotically optimal control scheme in the regime of large buffer size.