Patent ID: 7474673

Claim:
A system for providing telecommunication service between a plurality of users, comprising: a first network operable to communicate media in at least one encoding format; a second network operable to communicate media in at least one encoding format; a gateway, operable to: receive a call setup message from the first network, the call setup message signaling for a media channel for transporting media between a first device and a second device; identify a first encoding format for the media communicated with the first network; determine a second encoding format for the media communicated with the second network; if the first encoding format and the second encoding format are different: determine whether a count included in the call setup message is greater than a predetermined value, wherein the count indicates a number of transcoding points on the media channel; in response to determining that the count is greater than the predetermined value, reject the call setup message; and in response to determining that the count is not greater than the predetermined value: increment the count; identify a remote element to receive the call setup message; and transmit the call setup message to the remote element.