Patent ID: 6353596
Filing Date: 2002-03-05
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A cell transfer network which is made up of a plurality of nodes and transmission links interconnecting said nodes, including means for establishing at least one logical connection among a set of said nodes for effecting a transfer of a sequence of said cells from at least one sending node to at least one receiving node, said network including the improvement comprising:means for responding to a specification of a multipoint-to-multipoint multicast group using said network by specifying a single spanning tree for said multicast group, said spanning tree comprising switching nodes and links in said network connecting sending and receiving nodes in said multicast group, at least one of said switching nodes in said spanning tree established as a core node for said tree; means for responding to a request by any one of said sending nodes to send at least one sequence of said cells to receiving nodes in said multicast group via logical connections established in said spanning tree; and means for causing another switching node in said spanning tree to operate on a cell sequence from a sending node in said multicast group transmitted toward said core node so as to cause a copy of said cell sequence to be provided directly to a receiving node in a hierarchy of said spanning tree at or below a location in said hierarchy of said another switching node.