Patent ID: 7647549

Claim:
A method for transmitting transcoded multimedia data from a first communication appliance to a second communication appliance via a communication network which connects the first and second communication appliances, wherein the method is performed in the first communication appliance and comprises: receiving from the second communication appliance a request for the multimedia data, wherein the request includes a number of descriptors characterizing the request; retrieving the multimedia data from a digital data storage unit which stores the multimedia data; determining a coding parameter for transcoding of the multimedia data, wherein the coding parameter is determined in accordance with the request; transcoding the retrieved multimedia data in accordance with the coding parameter; and transmitting the transcoded multimedia data to the second communication appliance; wherein the step of determining a coding parameter comprises: analyzing the descriptors characterizing the request being processed; comparing the result of the analysis with the descriptors of other requests processed earlier; according to the result of the comparison, designating whether the request being processed is an identical request, or a similar request or a new request, wherein an identical request is identical to a request processed earlier, in the sense that the two requests have the same request descriptors; a similar request is similar to a request processed earlier, in the sense that the two requests have at least one request descriptor in common; a new request is new compared with the requests processed earlier, wherein, when the request being processed is designated as a similar request, the coding parameter is determined based on at least one previously-determined coding parameter that has already been determined earlier according to the at least one request descriptor in common with the earlier request, wherein the coding parameter is determined according to at least one descriptor characterizing the request being processed and which is not in common with the earlier request, and wherein the at least one request descriptor in common with the earlier request comprises at least one of a characteristic of the second communication appliance, a characteristic of the communication network, and a preference of a user issuing the request in terms of presentation of the data.