The invention relates to a method of iterative multi-layer decoding of a multimedia communication signal, wherein persistent bits from various upper layers of the employed protocol stack are used in error correction decoding at a lower error-correction layer. The method includes saving persistent bits from successfully decoded FEC frames in memory, and using a subset of the saved bits in decoding of future frames. A smart controller is used to analyze frames for the presence and location of persistent bits, for saving thereof in memory, and for inserting saved persistent bits into a next frame at successive decoding iterations thereof.