Patent ID: 7626985

Claim:
A method of replicating multicast datagrams in a network device, said method comprising: determining by a memory management unit whether a scheduled outgoing datagram stored in a main memory is a multicast (MC) packet; when the scheduled outgoing datagram type is the MC datagram: performing a lookup of a replicate count table to determine a copy count value that represents a number of copies that have been generated to duplicate a particular packet and writing the copy count value to a copy count register; populating a count field based on a number of equal cost paths for each Internet Protocol (IP) route for the packet; randomly choosing one of the equal cost paths for the packet; sending the outgoing datagram to the egress port from the main memory along with the copy count value and route information for the chosen equal cost path; changing the copy count value in the copy count register; modifying a VLAN identifier of the outgoing datagram if necessary based on the copy count value; and forwarding the outgoing datagram from the egress port.