Patent ID: 8036220

Claim:
A method performed by a packet switching device, the method comprising: maintaining, in the packet switching device, associations between (a) nearest receiving node distances and (b) prefixes or complete addresses; and for each particular packet of a plurality of packets: (a) receiving the particular packet, including a particular Time-To-Live (TTL) and a particular destination address in the header of the particular packet; (b) determining a particular nearest receiving node distance based on the particular destination address, which includes performing a lookup operation on said associations based on the particular destination address; and (c) in response to determining whether or not the particular TTL is large enough for the particular packet to reach at least one destination node based on the particular nearest receiving node distance: causing the particular packet to be forwarded if said determination was that the particular TTL is large enough for reaching at least one destination node, else causing the particular packet to be dropped; wherein each of the plurality of packets is a multicast packet; and wherein the particular nearest receiving node distance for an identifiable packet of the plurality of packets is the least of at least two different distances to at least two different intended receivers of the identifiable packet.