Patent ID: 7672325

Claim:
A method of distributing an Internet Group Membership Protocol version 3 (IGMPv3) General Membership Query (GMQ) Report message processing load, comprising: receiving a GMQ with an IGMPv3 host; extracting, with the IGMPv3 host, a <max 13 records> variable from the GMQ; deriving with the IGMPv3 host, a max records number from the <max 13 records> variable; determining, with the IGMPv3 host, a number of current-state Group Records; computing, with the IGMPv3 host, a required number of timers to respond to the GMQ by dividing the number of current-state Group Records by the max records number; starting, with the IQMPv3 host, the required number of timers, wherein each timer has a random interval before expiration; and sending, with the IGMPv3 host, a Report message upon expiration of each timer, the Report message containing up to the max 13 records number of the current-state Group Records.