Data encoding and decoding using Slepian-Wolf coded nested quantization to achieve Wyner-Ziv coding

1. A method for generating compressed output data, the method comprising:

receiving input data from an information source;

applying nested lattice quantization to the input data in order to generate intermediate data, wherein the nested lattice quantization is based on a fine lattice and a coarse sublattice of the fine lattice, wherein a cell volume of the coarse sublattice minimizes an average error in estimation of the input data at a decoder given a fixed nesting ratio between the coarse sublattice and the fine lattice, wherein the decoder is configured to use side information that is correlated with the input data to perform said estimation; and

encoding the intermediate data using one or more low density parity check (LDPC) codes in order to generate compressed output data representing the input data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fine lattice is a lattice in an n-dimensional space, wherein n is greater than or equal to one.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein n equals two.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the fine lattice is a hexagonal lattice.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein said applying nested lattice quantization to the input data includes:

quantizing values of the input data with respect to the fine lattice to determine corresponding points of the fine lattice; and

determining indices for cosets of the coarse sublattice, the cosets corresponding to the fine lattice points respectively, wherein the intermediate data includes said indices.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more LDPC codes include a plurality of LDPC codes, wherein each of the LDPC codes encodes a respective bit plane of the intermediate data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of LDPC codes operate in parallel on the respective bit planes of the intermediate data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said encoding realizes an asymmetric Slepian-Wolf encoding of the intermediate data.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising: transferring the compressed output data to the decoder.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information source is a source of audio information, a source of video information, a source of image information, a source of text information, or a source of information generated by one or more sensor devices.

11. A system, comprising:

a quantization unit configured to receive signal data from an information source and to perform nested lattice quantization on the signal data in order to generate intermediate data, wherein the nested lattice quantization is based on a fine lattice and a coarse sublattice of the fine lattice, wherein a cell volume of the coarse sublattice minimizes an average error in estimation of the input data at a decoder given a fixed nesting ratio between the coarse sublattice and the fine lattice, wherein the decoder is configured to use side information that is correlated with the input data to perform said estimation; and

an encoding unit coupled to the quantization unit, wherein the encoding unit is configured to encode the intermediate data using a set of one or more low density parity check (LDPC) codes in order to generate compressed output data representing the signal data.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the fine lattice is a lattice in an n-dimensional space, wherein n is greater than one.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein n equals two.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the quantization unit is configured to perform said nested lattice quantization on the signal data by:

quantizing samples of the signal data with respect to the fine lattice to determine corresponding points of the fine lattice; and

determining indices for cosets of the coarse sublattice, the cosets corresponding respectively to the fine lattice points, wherein the intermediate data includes said indices.

15. A system for generating compressed output data, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory that stores at least program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by the one or more processors to:

perform a nested lattice quantization on received input data in order to generate intermediate data, wherein the nested lattice quantization is based on a fine lattice and a coarse sublattice of the fine lattice, wherein a cell volume of the coarse sublattice minimizes an average error in estimation of the input data at a decoder given a fixed nesting ratio between the coarse sublattice and the fine lattice, wherein the decoder is configured to use side information that is correlated with the input data to perform said estimation; and

operate on the intermediate data using one or more low density parity check (LDPC) codes in order to generate compressed output data representing the input data.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the fine lattice is a lattice in an n-dimensional space, wherein n is greater than one.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more LDPC codes include a plurality of LDPC codes, wherein the program instructions are executable by the one or more processors to operate on bit planes of the intermediate data using respective ones of the LDPC codes.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the program instructions are executable by the one or more processors to transmit the compressed output data onto a noisy channel.

19. A computer-readable memory medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by a computer system to:

quantize received input data using nested lattice quantization in order to generate intermediate data, wherein the nested lattice quantization is based on a fine lattice and a coarse sublattice of the fine lattice, wherein a cell volume of the coarse sublattice minimizes an average error in estimation of the input data at a decoder given a fixed nesting ratio between the coarse sublattice and the fine lattice, wherein the decoder is configured to use side information that is correlated with the input data to perform said estimation;

compress the intermediate data using one or more low density parity check (LDPC) codes in order to generate compressed output data representing the input data; and

store the compressed output data in a memory.

20. The memory medium of claim 19 , wherein the fine lattice is a lattice in an n-dimensional space, wherein n is greater than one.

21. The memory medium of claim 20 , wherein n equals two.

22. The memory medium of claim 20 , wherein one or more LDPC codes include a plurality of LDPC codes, wherein each of the LDPC codes operates on respective bit plane of the intermediate data.

23. An integrated circuit comprising:

first logic configured to perform nested lattice quantization on received signal data in order to generate intermediate data, wherein the nested lattice quantization is based on a fine lattice and a coarse sublattice of the fine lattice, wherein a cell volume of the coarse sublattice minimizes an average error in estimation of the input data at a decoder given a fixed nesting ratio between the coarse sublattice and the fine lattice, wherein the decoder is configured to use side information that is correlated with the input data to perform said estimation; and

second logic coupled to the first logic, wherein the second logic is configured to encode the intermediate data using a set of one or more low density parity check (LDPC) codes in order to generate compressed output data representing the signal data.

24. The integrated circuit of claim 23 , wherein the fine lattice is a lattice in an n-dimensional space, wherein n is greater than one.

25. The integrated circuit of claim 23 , wherein the integrated circuit is a programmable hardware element.