Wireless communication system incorporating multicast addressing and method for use

In a communication system having a plurality of communication devices distributed among one or more communication zones, the communication zones being logically interconnected by one or more networking devices, a packet distribution method comprising the steps of:

• defining a range of multicast group addresses associated with a multicast core node;
• receiving a packet distribution request from a source communication device;
• selecting one of the networking devices as the multicast core node by determining a location for one or more target devices and selecting the multicast core node as a function of target device location;
• and
• selecting, from the range of multicast group addresses associated with the multicast core node, at least one multicast group address to be used for distributing packets to one or more target communication devices, wherein the source device is selected from the group of communication devices consisting of wireless and wire line communication devices, consoles, repeaters, site controllers, comparators, telephone interconnect devices, and Internet protocol telephony devices.

In a packet network communication system having a plurality of coverage zones, each coverage zone being logically connected by one or more network routing device, a method of packet distribution comprising the steps of:

• assigning a range of IP address to at least one network routing device;
• associating the at least one communication device with a coverage zone;
• receiving, from a source communication device, a call request;
• and
• establishing, in response to the call request, a multicast distribution tree having at least one network routing device selected as a rendezvous point (RP);
• wherein the RP is selected as a function of the association between at least one communication device involved in the call and a coverage zones.

In a packet network communication system having a plurality of coverage zones, each coverage zone being logically connected by one or more network routing devices and serving a plurality of communication devices, a method of call set-up comprising the steps of:

• assigning a range of IP addresses to at least one network routing device;
• associating at least one communication device with a coverage zone;
• receiving, from a source device, a call request;
• establishing, in response to the call request, a multicast distribution tree having a single network routing device selected as a rendezvous point (RP);
• wherein the RP is selected as a function of an attribute exhibited by at least one device involved in the call.