Patent ID: 7876753

Claim:
A system for distributing multi-cast data traffic comprising: a multi-cast data source; a plurality of multi-cast data destinations units, each destination unit coupled to plural rings networks; and a data distribution network communicatively connecting the multi-cast data source to the plurality of multi-cast data destinations, the data distribution network comprising a first ring network communicatively connecting the multi-cast data source to a first one of the plurality of multi-cast data destinations, connecting each one of the plurality of multi-cast data destinations to a subsequent one the plurality of multi-cast data destinations, and connecting a last one of the plurality of multi-cast data destinations to the multi-cast data source, and a second ring network communicatively connecting the multi-cast data source to the last one of the plurality of multi-cast data destinations, connecting each one of the plurality of multi-cast data destinations to a previous one the plurality of multi-cast data destinations, and connecting the first one of the plurality of multi-cast data destinations to the multicast data source, wherein data flows in different directions in the first and second ring networks; a conversion unit for converting multi-cast data in a first format on the first ring network to multi-cast data in a second format on the second ring network.