Patent ID: 7079501

Claim:
A method of delivering information to multiple networked devices, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a first request for a first item of information from a first networked device, the first request requesting the first item of information to be delivered to the first networked device as an ordinary unicast packet; receiving a second request for at least a part of the first item of information from a second networked device, the second request requesting the at least a part of the first item of information to be delivered to the second networked device as an ordinary unicast packet; and forming a combined packet, in response to the first request from the first networked device and the second request from the second networked device, the combined packet comprising a reliable multicast packet including a packet header comprising a first network address used for the first networked device, a second network address used for the second networked device, and the combined packet further comprises a data payload that includes at least a part of the first item of information, for delivering the data payload to multiple networked devices, wherein the at least part of the first item of information included in the data payload being destined for reception by the first networked device in a first ordinary unicast packet, and further wherein the at least part of the first item of information included in the data payload being destined for reception by the second networked device in a second ordinary unicast packet.