Patent ID: 8213347
Filing Date: 2012-07-03
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of managing multicast Internet Protocol (IP) flows, the method comprising: identifying a multicast IP flow at an interface of a network device using information from a packet header; for any newly identified multicast IP flow, if flow-specific services are required for the newly identified multicast IP flow, then creating for the newly identified multicast IP flow at least one new first transmit control block (TCB), which includes one or more attributes relating to flow-specific services required by the newly identified multicast IP flow; and if flow-specific services are not required by the newly identified multicast IP flow, then using for the newly identified multicast IP flow a default second TCB, which excludes any attributes relating to flow-specific services and which includes one or more attributes related to a virtual interface (VI) serving as an outbound interface (OIF) for the newly identified multicast IP flow.