Multicast with proactive forward error correction

A method for a receiver to receive a multicast transmission of blocks of data packets from a multicasting sender, the method comprising:

• insuring to a probability ρ that the receiver will receive enough data packets and repair packets to recover the data packets of a block no later than a deadline time by estimating the end-to-end loss of packets from the sender to the receiver;
• and
• initiating proactive forward error correction with the sender to compensate for the estimated loss of packets and to meet the deadline time with a probability not less than ρ, the proactive forward error correction causing the sender to send previously-unsent repair packets for the block.

Apparatus comprising a computer-readable storage medium tangibly embodying program instructions for managing a multicasting transmission of data, the apparatus comprising instructions operable for causing a programmable processor to:

• multicast blocks of data to a plurality of receivers, the blocks including a first block and a second block, the first block comprising k1≧1 data packets, the transmission of the first block comprising an initial transmission of the k1 data packets and h1≧0 repair packets and one or more subsequent transmissions of additional repair packets in response to repair requests, wherein any of the data packets and repair packets provide sufficient information to recover the k1 data packets;
• and
• a second block comprising k2≧1 data packets, the transmission of the second block comprising an initial transmission of the k2 data packets and h2≧0 repair packets, wherein any of the data packets and the repair packets of the second block provide sufficient information to recover the k2 data packets of the second block and either or both k2 and h2 differ from k1 and h1, respectively.

Apparatus comprising a computer-readable storage medium tangibly embodying program instructions for managing the receipt of data, the apparatus comprising instructions operable for causing a programmable processor to:

• insure to a probability p that the receiver will receive enough data packets and repair packets to recover the data packets of a block no later than a deadline time by estimating the end-to-end loss of packets from the sender to the receiver;
• and
• initiating proactive forward error correction with the sender to compensate for the estimated loss of packets and to meet the deadline time with a probability not less than p, the proactive forward error correction causing the sender to send previously-unsent repair packets for the block.