Methods and apparatus for transmitting multicast traffic in a data network

A method comprising:

• receiving in a router a first request for a first type of multicast traffic in a first multicast routing protocol, the first request corresponding to a first plurality of hosts,
• receiving in the router a second request for the first type of multicast traffic in the first multicast routing protocol, the second request corresponding to a second plurality of hosts,
• associating in the router the first type of multicast traffic with a second type of multicast traffic based on information in the first request,
• associating in the router the first type of multicast traffic with a third type of multicast traffic based on information in the second request,
• transmitting from the router using a second multicast routing protocol requests for the first, second and third types of multicast traffic,
• receiving in the router the first, second and third types of multicast traffic, the received first, second and third types of multicast traffic comprising first, second and third IP packets, respectively,
• modifying in the router one or both of the IP source address and the IP multicast destination address of some or all of the second IP packets so that the IP source address and the IP multicast destination address of some or all of the second IP packets are the same as the first IP packets of the first type of multicast traffic and transmitting the first IP packets and the modified second IP packets toward the first plurality of hosts, and
• modifying in the router one or both of the IP source address and the IP multicast destination address of some or all of the third IP packets so that the IP source address and the IP multicast destination address of some or all of the third IP packets are the same as the first IP packets of the first type of multicast traffic, transmitting the first IP packets and the modified third IP packets toward the second plurality of hosts.

A method comprising:

• an application generating in a host a first request for a first type of multicast traffic,
• associating in the host the first type of multicast traffic with a second type of multicast traffic,
• generating in the host a second request for the second type of multicast traffic,
• transmitting from the host the first and second requests,
• receiving in the host the first and second types of multicast traffic comprising first and second IP packets, respectively;
• and
• modifying in the host one or both of the IP source address and the IP multicast destination address of some or all of the second IP packets so that the IP source address and the IP multicast destination address of some or all of the second IP packets are the same as the first IP packets of the first type of multicast traffic and transmitting the first IP packets and the modified second IP packets to the application requesting the first type of multicast traffic.

A method comprising:

• an application generating in a host a first request for a first type of multicast traffic,
• transmitting from the host the first request,
• receiving in the host the first type of multicast traffic comprising first IP packets,
• associating in the host the first type of multicast traffic with a second type of multicast traffic based on information in at least one of the first IP packets,
• generating in the host a second request for the second type of multicast traffic,
• transmitting from the host second request,
• receiving in the host the second type of multicast traffic comprising second IP packets;
• and
• modifying in the host one or both of the IP source address and the IP multicast destination address of some or all of the second IP packets so that the IP source address and the IP multicast destination address of some or all of the second IP packets are the same as the first IP packets of the first type of multicast traffic and transmitting the first IP packets and the modified second IP packets to the application requesting the first type of multicast traffic.