Patent ID: 7706365

Claim:
A network comprising: one or more source nodes, wherein source processes are observable at the source nodes; one or more receiver nodes, wherein receiver processes are observable at the receiver nodes; and coding nodes, allowing communication of the source processes to each receiver node, the coding nodes being connected with input links for communication of input signals to the coding nodes and output links for communication of output signals from the coding nodes, wherein the output signals are a linear combination of the input signals and wherein coefficients of the linear combination are randomly chosen, wherein the overall linear combination of source processes present in each signal in the network is specified as a vector of coefficients, each coefficient corresponding to a source process, and wherein the vector of coefficients is transmitted through the network and updated at each coding node by applying to the vector of coefficients linear combinations, wherein the linear combinations applied to the vector of coefficients are the same as the linear combinations applied to data transmitted through the network.