  This work considers a Gaussian interference channel with processing energy
cost, which explicitly takes into account the energy expended for processing
when each transmitter is on. With processing overhead, bursty transmission at
each transmitter generally becomes more advantageous. Assuming on-off states do
not carry information, for a two-user Z-interference channel, the new regime of
very strong interference is identified and shown to be enlarged compared with
the conventional one. With the interfered receiver listening when its own
transmitter is silent, for a wide range of cross-link power gains, one can
either achieve or get close to the interference-free upper bound on sum rate.
