Patent ID: 7983205

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a first membership request from a first subscriber device via a network switch coupled to a first interface of a network device, wherein the membership request specifies a first multicast group; mapping the first membership request to a second interface of the network device, wherein the second interface is different from the first interface; receiving a second membership request from a second subscriber device via the network switch for the first multicast group on the first interface; mapping the second membership request to the second interface; receiving a third membership request from a third subscriber device via the network switch for a second multicast group on the first interface, wherein the second multicast group is different from the first multicast group; mapping the third membership request to a third interface of the network device, wherein the third interface is different from the first interface and the second interface; sending a single multicast stream associated with the first multicast group to the network switch on the second interface of the network device for both the first subscriber device and the second subscriber device; and sending a single multicast stream associated with the second multicast group to the network switch on the third interface of the network device for the third subscriber device.