Patent ID: 7675870

Claim:
An IP-TV (Internet Protocol Television) broadcasting service system using a physical layer multicast switch, the system comprising: a head-end which converts an Ethernet signal to a virtual concatenation group (VCG) signal comprising n virtual concatenated (VC-n) signals of a SDH/SONET (synchronous digital hierarchy/synchronous optical network); a multicast switch which multicasts the VCG signal in a physical layer, wherein the multicast switch includes: n input ports receiving the VC-n signals; n multiplexer output ports coupled to the input ports such that the multiplexer output ports are enabled to output selectively chosen VC-n signals; an n-bit register coupled to the multiplexer output ports that sends a register value signal to the multiplexer output ports to output the selectively chosen VC-n signals; and a decoder coupled to multiplexer output ports and coupled to the n-bit register that controls the selection of the chosen VC-n signals from the multiplexer output ports from the decoder on m-input addresses A 1 through Am; and a tail-end which receives the multicasted VCG signal through an STM-N (Synchronous Transmission Module level n) optical link and restores the VCG signal to the Ethernet signal.