Patent ID: 6693907
Filing Date: 2004-02-17
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A method of operation at a receiver in a multicast data distribution group, said method comprising:receiving at said receiver a plurality of multicast data packets of a multicast session, wherein each one of said packets includes a retransmission count within a retransmission count field, said retransmission count being indicative of the number of times the respective packet has been retransmitted; in response to receipt of each one of said plurality of multicast data packets adding to a retransmission counter said retransmission count contained within the respective retransmission count field to produce a retransmission counter value in the event the respective received packet is a retransmitted packet and the respective received packet is identified within the receiver as a missing packet; and generating a loss value indicative of a reception characteristic of said receiver as a function of said retransmission counter value.