Bounds on the bit rate of linear runlength codes (Corresp.)

We define a class of easily implementable suboptimum codes for runlengths of binary facsimile images which we call linear runlength codes because the number of bits we transmit for each run is approximately proportional to its length. Then, assuming the runlengths are geometrically distributed, we derive bounds on the minimum bit rate achievable by linear runlength codes of a given size.