Patent ID: 8565140

Claim:
A method for managing multicast traffic through a switch operating in the layer 2 of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) model, characterized in that a router that has received from specific equipment, which can be a host or another router, a request for a specific multicast traffic, sends to a switch, connected to the network interface of said router through which said router has received said request, a message containing an identification of said specific equipment and a specification of said specific multicast traffic; and in that when said switch receives through one of its ports data carrying multicast traffic, said switch, based on the destination and origin addresses of said data carrying multicast traffic, and based on said identification of the specific equipment and on said specification of the specific multicast traffic which said router has sent to said switch by means of said message, deduces if said data carries said specific traffic which has been requested by said specific equipment, and said switch decides through which of its ports it transmits said data; wherein said specification of the specific multicast traffic comprises information as to the sources the traffic of which has been requested by said specific equipment; wherein said router stores in specific records, for each of its network interfaces and for each equipment and multicast group, information as to the sources the traffic of which has been requested by said equipment; said switch stores in corresponding specific records, for each equipment and multicast group, the information as to the sources the traffic of which has been requested by said equipment; and said specific records of the switch are updated when such switch receives one of said messages sent by said router; and wherein said messages sent by said router to said switch separately contain, for each specific equipment: included sources list of a multicast group, indicating that said specific equipment wishes to receive the traffic sent by said included sources; excluded sources lists of a multicast group, indicating that said specific equipment wishes to receive the traffic sent by all the sources of said multicast group except said excluded sources; and said specific records stored in said router and in said switch separately contain, for each specific equipment and multicast group, the data of said included sources and the data of said excluded sources.