On the capacity of the cognitive interference channel with a common cognitive message

In this paper the cognitive interference channel with a common message, a variation of the classical cognitive interference channel in which the cognitive message is decoded at both receivers, is studied. For this channel model new outer and inner bounds are developed as well as new capacity results for both the discrete memoryless and the Gaussian case. The outer bounds are derived using bounding techniques originally developed by Sato for the classical interference channel and Nair and El Gamal for the broadcast channel. A general inner bound is obtained combining rate-splitting, superposition coding and binning. Inner and outer bounds are shown to coincide in the “very strong interference” and the “primary decodes cognitive” regimes. The first regime consists of channels in which there is no loss of optimality in having both receivers decode both messages while in the latter regime interference pre-cancellation at the cognitive receiver achieves capacity. Capacity for the Gaussian channel is shown to within a constant additive gap and a constant multiplicative factor.