Virtual circuit manager for multicast messaging
US5511168A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 1, 1993 |
| Grant date | Apr 23, 1996 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 1, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L2012/5619
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A multicast connection arrangement is provided by which a source node may establish multicast virtual circuits to a group of destination nodes of an arbitrary-topology network using a single procedure, and may subsequently modify those circuits, i.e., add or delete destination nodes, with a single, related procedure. The arrangement includes a multicast setup packet for opening the multicast virtual circuits, the packet containing a multicast identifier field, a virtual circuit field and a destination field identifying a list of desired destination node addresses. The multicast setup packet may be also used to add destination nodes to the circuits while a multicast delete packet is used to delete nodes from the circuits. When adding nodes to the multicast virtual circuits, a topology analysis process is provided to prevent the formation of an unstable network topology.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.