Patent ID: 8402474

Claim:
A message sending method, comprising: receiving from an external user's communication device, an Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) v3 message for requesting a plurality of content service systems to provide a plurality of requested programs, wherein the IGMP v3 message comprises first address information of the plurality of requested programs, wherein each of the plurality of requested programs is identified with a combination of an S address and a G address within the first address information, the S address indicates an Internet Protocol (IP) address of a source of a corresponding requested program and the G address indicates a group IP address of the corresponding requested program; separating the received IGMP v3 message into a plurality of IGMP v3 sub-messages, wherein each of the plurality of IGMP v3 sub-messages is encapsulated with second address information from the first address information, wherein the second address information in each of the plurality of IGMP v3 sub-messages identifies a corresponding one or more requested programs from the plurality of requested programs, all of the corresponding one or more requested programs identified by the second address information in each of the plurality of IGMP v3 sub-messages are to be provided by only one corresponding content service system from the plurality of content service systems; and sending each of the plurality of IGMP v3 sub-messages only to the corresponding content service system.