Patent ID: 7792996

Claim:
A method for handling multicast messages in an access domain, the method comprising steps of: receiving at an access edge node a multicast message from a service provider domain; identifying at the access edge node a service agent corresponding to the service provider domain; modifying at the access edge node a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) Tag field of the received multicast message so as to correspond to the identified service agent; forwarding from the access node to an access node of the access domain, the access node serving a user domain, the modified multicast message over the access domain; receiving the modified multicast message at the access node; identifying at the access node at least one service binding corresponding to the service agent indicated in the VLAN Tag field; for each service binding identified, adapting at the access node the VLAN Tag field so as to correspond to a local VLAN information; and forwarding from the access node the adapted multicast message on a user port corresponding to the service binding; wherein the service binding is created at the access edge node, the service binding ruling data traffic between the user domain and the service provider domain by committing the access node and the access edge node in a manner of managing data traffic therebetween over the access domain, the service binding being related to one of the service agents of the access edge node, and service binding information being stored at the access edge node and at the access node.