Lower bounds on almost-separating binary codes

Separating codes have been used in many areas as diverse as automata synthesis, technical diagnosis and traitor tracing schemes. In this paper, we study a weak version of separating codes called almost separating codes. More precisely, we derive lower bounds on the rate of almost separating codes. From the main result it is seen that the lower bounds on the rate for almost separating codes are greater than the currently known lower bounds for ordinary separating codes. Moreover, we also show how almost separating codes can be used to construct a family of fingerprinting codes.