Patent ID: 6216167
Filing Date: 2001-04-10
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
A method of forwarding multicast data through a network device, the method comprising the steps of:receiving data at a first port of an input/output (I/O) card;determining a multicast group identifier corresponding to the data;transferring the data and the multicast group identifier to a switching card;the switching card performing the steps of indexing into a first set of correlation data with the multicast group identifier to identify a set of egress forwarding paths that lead to input/output (I/O) cards having members of a multicast group corresponding to the multicast group identifier; and forwarding the data and the multicast group identifier to one or more I/O cards via the set of egress forwarding paths identified; andthe one or more I/O cards performing the steps of indexing into a second set of correlation data with the multicast group identifier to identify a set of ports on the I/O card associated with the multicast group identifier, and forwarding the data to each of the ports in the set of ports identified.