Patent ID: 7792984

Claim:
A method for multicast distribution of bulk data comprising: receiving, by a router, a multicast message on a selected multicast address, the multicast message including a list of target receivers of a data distribution and a multicast address of the distribution; forwarding the multicast message by the router to a subnet associated with the router; joining, by the router, a given receiver to a multicast group associated with the multicast address if the given receiver is included in the list of target receivers, wherein the given receiver in the set of potential target receivers is selectively joined to the multicast group having the multicast address of the distribution in response to the list of target receivers; receiving, by the router, the data distribution on the multicast address included in the message; in response to receiving the data distribution by the router, determining by the router whether any receiver, which is connected to the subnet, is a member of the multicast group; forwarding the data distribution by the router to the subnet only if at least one receiver, which is connected to the subnet, is a member of the multicast group, wherein a receiver is not joined to the multicast group having the multicast address in the message if the receiver is not included in the list of target receivers; and wherein a receiver is joined to the multicast group having the multicast address in the message if the receiver is included in the list of target receivers.