Patent ID: 8559444

Claim:
A system comprising: a network layer device that receives a plurality of multicasting protocol messages identifying a multicast stream from a respective plurality of subscriber devices; and a data link layer device comprising an Ethernet switch that stores a control object, wherein the network layer device and the data link layer device communicate with each other via an Ethernet network, and the multicast stream comprises a plurality of Internet Protocol (IP) packets, wherein the network layer device sends one or more control messages to the data link layer device via an Ethernet control channel in response to the multicasting protocol messages, the control messages of the Ethernet control channel comprising dedicated IP packets encapsulated in Ethernet frames to configure the control object stored by the data link layer device, wherein, separate from the control messages, the network layer device sends the IP packets of the multicast stream encapsulated within Ethernet frames to the data link layer device, and wherein the data link layer device receives the multicast stream from the network layer device, and replicates and forwards the multicast stream to the subscriber devices in accordance with the configuration of the control object.