Method of and a system for lightening the signaling load of a multicast protocol applied to a network of terminals using a transmission medium that does not support mutual listening between terminals
US7248598B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Jun 17, 2002 |
| Grant date | Jul 24, 2007 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 11, 2025 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L12/1836
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The invention concerns the transmission of data packets in multicast mode, in which method the packets are sent from a sending end of a physical transmission medium and received by terminals at a receiving end of said medium. It finds a typical application in networks whose terminals cannot listen to each other, which is the case in satellite networks, for example, whereas management implies sending a query message to the terminals in order to determine the presence of an active group of terminals as a function of the reception of a response message from a terminal of said group. A signal is then sent to the terminals from the sending end, preferably the returned response, to indicate reception of a response message from a terminal of the group of terminals, so that terminals that have not sent a response message can act accordingly, in particular by interrupting their own process for sending a response. The method can be integrated transparently into the IGMP and the RFC 1112 standard that governs multicast transmission of data packets. A system for implementing the management method is also provided, and possibly integrated into a router.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.