Patent ID: 8369258

Claim:
A network switch module comprising: a memory partitioned among a plurality of virtual routers (VRs); a plurality of processors partitioned among the plurality of VRs; and wherein each VR of the plurality of VRs maintains a data structure in the memory, the data structure including information relating to a set of multicast sessions being handled by the VR and including: a first pointer for each multicast session in the set of multicast sessions; at least one chain of one or more blocks of second pointers, in which each first pointer points to one chain of one or more blocks of second pointers, and in which each second pointer corresponds to an outbound interface (OIF) of the VR participating in the multicast session defined by the first pointer and defines how many times packets associated with the multicast session are to be replicated; and one or more transmit control blocks (TCBs) representing data structures configured to store control information relevant to processing or routing packets, in which each second pointer points to a TCB of the one or more TCBs, in which each TCB of the one or more TCBs identifies the OIF out which packets of the multicast session are transmitted from the VR.