Patent ID: 7796611

Claim:
A method for enabling efficient bandwidth utilization of a multipoint network service over a network that includes a plurality of network elements (NEs), comprising the steps of a) setting up a full connectivity between all NEs of the plurality of NEs; and, b) providing the multipoint network service between all of the NEs of the plurality of NEs using said full connectivity, whereby data packets of the multipoint network service are transmitted from one NE that serves as a source NE to at least one other NE that serves as an edge NE via at least one of a direct connection and an intermediate NE, and whereby data packets that need to be flooded are not replicated at said source NE, wherein said step of setting up full connectivity includes establishing a first plurality of point-to-multipoint connections between the source NE and more than one edge NEs, and wherein the step of establishing a first plurality of point-to-multipoint connections between the source NE and the more than one edge NEs includes configuring the intermediate NE in a path of each said point-to-multipoint connection to perform an operation on said data packet selected from the group consisting of a forward operation, a replicate-drop-and-forward operation and a replicate-and-forward operation.