Patent · US Expired

Method for shared multicast interface in a multi-partition environment

US6327621A · kind A · utility

26Cited by
20References
31Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 25, 1998
Grant dateDec 4, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 25, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L12/1836
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method in a computing network environment for host partition computers to share a multicast communication adapter connected to a local area network. Each host partition sends information identifying the host application as well as a multicast addressing protocol to the shared multicast communication adapter. The communication adapter registers the information and directs inbound multicast packets from the LAN to the appropriate host partition application. In a preferred embodiment, the communication adapter registers the information according to the IP multicast address. In a preferred embodiment, a counter is employed in the communication adapter to maintain a count of the number of host applications that are registered. The invention further provides a method for un-registering a host partition application.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.