Patent ID: 8306048

Claim:
A method for sending multicast data from a source to a plurality of receivers in a multicast group, comprising: providing an existing multicast distribution tree; building a new data multicast distribution tree for sending the multicast data to the plurality of receivers if an amount of bandwidth required to send the multicast data reaches a predefined threshold that is associated with a bandwidth requirement for sending the multicast data, wherein the predefined threshold is defined based on a desired level of service, wherein the new data multicast distribution tree defines a path for delivering the multicast data to the plurality of receivers; and sending the multicast data to the plurality of receivers over an existing multicast distribution tree if the amount of bandwidth required to send the multicast data falls below the predefined threshold, wherein the new multicast distribution tree and the existing multicast distribution tree are implemented to carry multicast traffic only, and control traffic is carried along a default multicast distribution tree, wherein the default multicast distribution tree and the existing multicast distribution tree are different.