Patent ID: 6965883
Filing Date: 2005-11-15
Classification: G06Q,H04L,H04M,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for calculating a cost of receiving multicast data from a selected multicast session, a multicast network including at least one multicast service, each multicast service including at least one multicast session, comprising: receiving a request to establish a connection to the selected multicast session, the request including a start time for the connection and an end time for the connection; storing the start time for the connection and the end time for the connection; and after termination of the connection, calculating the cost of receiving the multicast data, wherein the multicast network utilizes a multicast protocol, and wherein when a selected multicast service that includes the selected multicast session receives a multicast message from a sender, the multicast protocol sends the multicast message to said at least one multicast session associated with the selected multicast service.