Patent · US Expired

Multicast over unicast in a network

US8204055B2 · kind B2 · utility

6Cited by
11References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 6, 2004
Grant dateJun 19, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 18, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04W4/08
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method is described for receiving a multicast in user devices in a network issuing a request to join a multicast group, identifying multicast data packets associated with the multicast group, monitoring transmissions of the multicast data packets to determine whether the identified multicast data packets are being transmitted in an already established unicast session and establishing a unicast session and processing multicast data packets if an already established unicast session does not exist A method is described for receiving a multicast transmission in user devices in a network establishing a unicast session with a dedicated terminal, identifying multicast data packets associated with a multicast group, monitoring transmissions of the multicast data packets and processing the multicast data packets by the dedicated terminal. Additonally, an apparatus is described for accepting a request to join a multicast group, for identifying multicast data packets associated with the multicast group, establishing a unicast session, for encapsulating said multicast data packets in a unicast frame and for forwarding the unicast frame via the unicast session.

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