Block-definition approaches to source coding with a fidelity criterion

We give a new variable-rate and variable-distortion coding scheme and show a coding theorem for time-discrete stationary sources with abstract alphabets and a single-letter fidelity criterion without assuming reference letters. The approach used to prove the coding theorem is then specialized to maximum-distortion coding and to fixed-rate coding and the corresponding coding theorems are proved for stationary sources. We also consider the possibility of extending the results to time-continuous sources. We still need a reference letter for fixed-rate coding