Patent ID: 7911946

Claim:
A method for managing a data stream encoded according to a digital transmission protocol and configured for broadcasting to a consumer network device within a broadband communications network, the method comprising: encapsulating a message relating to the data stream within a transport layer data packet, the transport layer data packet having a destination port number field associated therewith; creating a destination port number value within the destination port number field, the destination port number value associated with a predetermined parameter of the digital transmission protocol; and based on the destination port number value, forwarding the transport layer data packet to the consumer network device according to a network layer protocol, wherein when the forwarded message is received by the consumer network device, the consumer network device is caused to process the data stream based on the message, and caused to establish an application layer communication socket based on the destination port number value, the application layer communication socket usable to receive further messages associated with the predetermined parameter of the digital transmission protocol, wherein the destination port number value is within a predetermined private port range, wherein the predetermined private port range is determined by a prefix of the destination port number value, wherein the prefix comprises a first three bits of the destination port value when the predetermined parameter comprises a MPEG program identifier (“PID”) value.