Patent ID: 7444422

Claim:
A method, executed by a router, for processing multicast data that is associated with a multicast group and transmitted to a port of a line card of the router, comprising the sequential steps of: receiving multicast data for which state information is unknown because there is no specific identification in memory of at least one port associated with a destination of the multicast data; determining that a data path within the router does not include, in memory, forwarding information for the multicast data which specifically identifies at least one port associated with a destination of the multicast data; broadcasting the multicast data from each port of the router that could possibly be associated with a destination of the multicast data; and subsequent to broadcasting the multicast data, determining via a control path which ports of the router are actually associated with a destination of the multicast data, and storing a specific indication of those ports in the memory of the data path, whereby the multicast data is forwarded from the router even if the multicast data is dropped in the control path.