Patent ID: 6483832
Filing Date: 2002-11-19
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
A method of forwarding multicast data packets across a plurality of telecommunications subnets interconnected by routers, the method comprising the steps of:providing a multicast-forwarding table at each router; receiving a multicast data packet within a subnet of the plurality of telecommunications subnets; determining a multicast IP address for the multicast data packet, wherein the multicast IP address is provided from the multicast-forwarding table of the router that receives the multicast data packet; determining a Broadcast Unknown Server associated with the multicast IP address for the multicast data packet; sending the multicast data packet to the Broadcast Unknown Server associated with the multicast IP address for the multicast data packet using a point-to-point connection; sending the multicast data packet over an inter-subnet connection from the Broadcast Unknown Server to each router associated with the multicast IP address for the multicast data packet using a point-to-point multipoint connection, at least one multicast host being connected to a subnet that is different from the subnet in which the multicast data packet was received.