Communication network, method for transmitting a signal, network connecting unit and method for adjusting the bit rate of a scaled data flow

摘要

A communication network comprises a first network which permits data to be transmitted at a first bit rate and a second network which permits data to be transmitted at a second bit rate. A first terminal comprises an encoder which can generate a scaled data flow with at least two data layers from a signal to be coded. The data layers differ in their information content as regards the signal to be coded and the scaled data flow has a bit rate which is smaller than or equal to the first bit rate. A decoder is located in a second terminal and can decode a received data flow. The first and the second network are linked by a network connecting unit which can be operated so as to modify the received data flow by removing at least one data layer in such a way that the modified scaled data flow has a modified bit rate which is smaller than or equal to the second bit rate, and so as to feed the modified scaled data flow into the second network.