Patent ID: 8626925

Claim:
A method for processing multicast requests on a computer network, comprising: receiving, at a proxy server, registration of a plurality of non-multicast nodes that do not process multicast messages, wherein at least one non-multicast node is a multicast node configured to or notified not to process multicast messages; receiving, at the proxy server, a request for a service from a requestor via multicast; identifying, at the proxy server, among the plurality of non-multicast nodes one or more providers of the requested service; and sending the request from the proxy server, not using multicast, to the one or more providers without sending the request to other non-multicast nodes on the computer network, wherein the proxy server sends the request, which was previously multicast, such that at least one of the one or more providers responds to the request although the one or more providers comprise non-multicast nodes that do not process multicast messages.