Patent ID: 7876756

Claim:
A packet transmitting method that determines a transfer destination of an explicit multicast packet containing a destination list in which addresses of a plurality of destination nodes are written based on the destination list, the packet transmitting method comprising: a group classification step of a first node classifying a destination node from among the plurality of destination nodes whose address is written in the destination list into a unicast destination group and a link level multicast destination group, the unicast destination group for unicast to a next hop node, the link level multicast destination group for link level multicast to the next hop node; a transmitting step of the first node transmitting the explicit multicast packet by the unicast or the link level multicast in accordance with a classification by the group classification step; and a reverse transfer inhibition step of a second node, on receiving the explicit multicast packet by the link level multicast, transferring the packet only to a distribution-unperformed destination node whose address is written in the destination list contained in the packet, the distribution-unperformed destination node being located on the side of an interface of the second node other than an interface that received the packet.