Patent ID: 6990340

Claim:
A communication system comprising a first network including a switching node for transmitting a non-bandwidth-compressed signal and a second network including a switching node for transmitting a bandwidth-compressed signal, said switching node of said first network including a transcoder for performing a conversion between the bandwidth-compressed signal and the non-bandwidth-compressed signal, said switching node of said first network being operable in one of a first mode for transmitting the non-bandwidth compressed signal by inserting said transcoder to convert the bandwidth compressed signal into the non-bandwidth-compressed signal and a second mode for transmitting the bandwidth-compressed signal by by-passing said transcoder, said switching node of said first network including means for inserting said transcoder in said second mode by inquiring of said switching node of said second network about a setting information of said transcoder and setting said transcoder on the basis of a response from said switching node of said second network.