Application layer multicast system and intermediate node therefor
AssigneeNEC Corporation
InventorsWataru Itonaga, Eiichi Kondoh
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Abstract
An application-layer multicast (ALM) system allowing high-speed ALM with precise routing control and simplified configuration. The routing control and data copying are separately performed with different hardware circuits: routing controller; and data copying device. The routing control is performed on the CPU of a computer, whereas the data copying is performed on a dedicated hardware circuit. This separate structure is employed in each intermediate node in the ALM network. The data copying device communicates with the routing controller within the same segment to manage the content data to be relayed by the intermediate system using a management ID uniquely assigned to the content data within the segment.
Claims20
An application-layer multicast system for multicast content data from a sender to a plurality of receivers through an intermediate system on a unicast network based on a data request message of each of the receivers, wherein the intermediate system comprises:
- a routing controller controlling application-layer multicast routing based on the data request message at application layer;
- and
- at least one data copying device, cacti of which is made of a dedicated hardware circuit, for copying content data received from upstream to deliver each of copies of the content data to downstream based on the application-layer multicast routing,
- wherein said at least one data copying device communicates with the routing controller within the same segment to manage the content data to be relayed by the intermediate system using a management identification uniquely assigned to the content data within the segment.
An intermediate system in an application-layer multicast network for multicast content data from a sender to a plurality of receivers through the intermediate system on a unicast network based on a data request message of each of the receivers, comprises:
- a routing controller controlling application-layer multicast routing based on the data request message at application layer;
- and
- at least one data copying device, each of which is made of a dedicated hardware circuit, for copying content data received from upstream to deliver each of copies of the content data to downstream based on the application-layer multicast routing,
- wherein said at least one data copying device communicates with the routing controller within the same segment to manage the content data to be relayed by the intermediate system using a management identification uniquely assigned to the content data within the segment.
An application-layer multicast method for multicast content data from a sender to a plurality of receivers through an intermediate system on a unicast network based on a data request message of each of the receivers, wherein the intermediate system comprises:
- a routing controller controlling application-layer multicast routing based on the data request message at application layer;
- and
- a data copying device made of a dedicated hardware circuit, for copying content data received from upstream to deliver each of copies of the content data to downstream,
- said method comprising the steps of;
- at the routing controller,
- managing route information indicating a correspondence between the content data and a management identification, an upstream device address, and at least one next hop address;
- updating the route information when an update of the route information occurs;
- sending the update of the route information to the data copying device paired with the routing controller;
- and
- when receiving the content data from upstream, replacing a destination address of the content data with the management identification before sending it to the data copying device;
- at the data copying device,
- managing copy entry information indicating a correspondence between the management identification and said at least one next hop address;
- and
- copying the content data received from the routing controller and replacing a destination address of the content data with a corresponding one of said at least one next hop address before delivering.
An application-layer multicast method for multicast content data from a sender to a plurality of receivers through an intermediate system on a unicast network based on a data request message of each of the receivers, wherein the intermediate system comprises:
- a routing controller controlling application-layer multicast routing based on the data request message at application layer;
- and
- a plurality of data copying devices, each of which is made of a dedicated hardware circuit and copies content data received from upstream to deliver each of copies of the content data to downstream,
- said method comprising the steps of:
- at the routing controller,
- managing route information indicating a correspondence between the content data and the management identification, an upstream device address and at least one next hop address;
- updating the route information when an update of the route information occurs;
- sending the update of the route information to data copying devices;
- at each of the data copying devices,
- managing copy entry information indicating a correspondence between the management identification and said at least one next hop address;
- and
- copying the content data received from upstream and replacing a destination address of the content data with a corresponding one of said at least one next hop address before delivering.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.