Patent ID: 7289501

Claim:
A method for performing multicast in an Ethernet passive optical network which includes a central node and at least one remote node, wherein downstream data from the central node is broadcast through the passive optical coupler to the remote nodes, and wherein upstream data from a remote node is transmitted through the passive optical coupler to the central node in a unicast manner, the method comprising: selecting a common multicast logic link ID (LLID) to represent a number of remote nodes that comprise a multicast group; upon receiving a multicast message destined to the multicast group, sending the multicast message along with the multicast LLID for the multicast group, whereby the multicast message is broadcast through the passive optical coupler in the downstream direction, and whereby each remote node belonging to the multicast group can receive the multicast message by matching the multicast LLID; and forming a virtual local area network (VLAN) based on a multicast group, wherein each remote node within the VLAN is capable of broadcasting to every other remote node within the VLAN by sending a message with the corresponding multicast LLID, and wherein any remote node outside the VLAN is precluded from receiving the message.