Patent ID: 7359939

Claim:
A method of managing IP multicast connections in a network having a network node and a plurality of end users so as to provide management of lost leave internet group management protocol (IGMP) messages, said method comprising the steps of: (a) at said network node, receiving an IGMP Group Join message from an end-user device serviced by said network node, said Join message indicates that the respective end-user device wishes to join a new multicast group; (b) at said network node, comparing a MAC address, obtained from the Join message, of the end-user device to another MAC address obtained from a previous Join message for which there exists an IP multicast connection to said network node thereby determining if the MAC address of the user obtained from the Join message is already in an existing or active multicast group, and therefore a connection between the network node and the end-user device still exists since the Leave message has been lost to thereby identify the Leave message which was lost and never received by the network node; (c) responsive to a match resulting from said comparing, initiating a GSQ for the group of the matching previous Join request; (d) responsive to a result of the GSQ processing indicating that a connection to the group is no longer needed, terminating the connection to the group.