Abstract

Abstract—This paper focuses on a new framework for scalable coding of information based on principles derived from common information of two dependent random variables. In the conventional successive refinement setting, the encoder generates two layers of information called the base layer and the enhancement layer. The first decoder, which receives only the base layer, produces a coarse reconstruction of the source, whereas the second decoder, which receives both the layers, uses the enhancement layer to refine the information further leading to a finer reconstruction. It is popularly known that asymptotic rate-distortion optimality at both the decoders is possible if and only if the source-distortion pair is successively refinable. However when the source is not successively refinable under the given distortion metric, it is impossible to achieve ratedistortion optimality at both the layers simultaneously. For this