Patent ID: 6928656

Claim:
A method for transporting Internet Protocol data over a subscriber television system including a headend, a transmission network, and a plurality of Home Communication Terminals, with at least one Home Communications Terminal authorized for receiving the Internet Protocol data, comprising the steps of: receiving at the headend a request for an Internet Protocol connection from the authorized Home Communication Terminal; assigning at the headend an Internet Protocol address to the authorized Home Terminal for the duration of the Internet Protocol connection; establishing a subnet connection for transporting the Internet Protocol data from a server in the headend to an external network, wherein the external network is different from the transmission network, comprising the steps of: determining bandwidth of the subnet connection; communicating to the external network a group of IP addresses associated with the server; establishing a route for the Internet Protocol data from the authorized Home Communications Terminal to the server and from the server to the authorized Home Communications Terminal over the transmission, wherein at least a portion of the route for the Internet Protocol data is adapted to carry a plurality of IP datagrams destined for a plurality of non-multicast IP addresses; transmitting from the headend to the authorized Home Communications Terminal the route for the Internet Protocol connection; communicating between the authorized Home Communications Terminal and the external network via the route and the subnet connection; and releasing the route and assigned Internet Protocol address upon termination of the Internet Protocol connection.