Patent ID: 8320375

Claim:
A method for distributing at least one data segment of at least one data stream to a group of nodes in a network via a multicast and/or broadcast channel, comprising: sending at least one first status message by at least one receiving node to requesting nodes of the group via the multicast and/or broadcast channel of the network, the at least one first status message including information which indicates that the at least one receiving node wishes to receive at least one data segment of the data stream; receiving at least one second status message from at least one requesting node by the at least one receiving node via the multicast and/or broadcast channel at time intervals predefined for the nodes individually, the at least one second status message including second information which indicates that the at least one requesting node wishes to receive the at least one data segment that is to be received in the data stream via the multicast and/or broadcast channel; receiving the at least one data segment by the at least one receiving node via a point-to-point transmission channel from a source node; determining by the at least one receiving node based on the at least one second status message, that at least one of the requesting nodes has indicated to the at least one receiving node a desire to receive the at least one data segment via the multicast and/or broadcast channel; sending the at least one data segment to the requesting nodes via the multicast and/or broadcast channel; receiving the at least one data segment by the requesting nodes via the multicast and/or broadcast channel.