Patent ID: 6853650

Claim:
A communication network comprising: a first network, which permits data transmission at a first bit rate; a second network, which permits data transmission at a second bit rate; wherein the first network and the second network are such that the first bit rate and the second bit rate are different from each other; a first terminal, which is connected to the first network and which has an encoder which can generate a scaled data flow with at least two data layers from a signal to be coded, the data layers differing in their information content as regards the signal to be coded and the scaled data flow having a bit rate which is smaller than or equal to the first bit rate; a second terminal, which is connected to the second network and which has a decoder by means of which a data flow which is transmittable over the second network is decodable; and a network connecting unit, which is connected between the first and the second network and which is operable so as to receive the scaled data flow from the first network, so as to modify the received data flow, by removing at least one data layer, in such a way that the modified bit rate of the modified scaled data flow is smaller than or equal to the second bit rate, and so as to feed the modified scaled data flow into the second network, where the network connecting unit ( 18 ) further comprises; a device for gathering information on network conditions in the second network; and a device for communicating the information over a feedback channel from the network connecting unit to the first terminal wherein the first terminal is adapted to control the number of data layers generated by the encoder or to perform a subdivision of a data layer into a plurality of subscaling layers, in response to the information.