Packet distribution system and packet distribution method

A relay peripheral terminal for relaying a packet transmitted from a distribution node via a communication device in response to a request from a terminal to a relay destination peripheral terminal that becomes a relay destination, characterized in comprising:

• data acquiring means for decapsulating the packet encapsulated by said communication device, thereby to acquire a data of a payload part;
• outputting means for outputting the data acquired by said data acquiring means to a predetermined reproduction function;
• and
• relay processing means for, based upon header information being contained in said decapsulated packet and identification information of said relay destination peripheral terminal reported from said terminal, re-encapsulating said decapsulated packet and relaying said decapsulated packet as has been re-encapsulated to said relay destination peripheral terminal.

A packet distribution method, characterized in comprising:

• a selecting step of causing a terminal to select a relay peripheral terminal for relaying a packet, and a relay destination peripheral terminal that becomes a relay destination of said relay peripheral terminal from among a plurality of peripheral terminals;
• a header processing step of changing a destination of a header of the packet transmitted from a distribution node in response to a request from said terminal to an address of said relay destination peripheral terminal based upon identification information including information reported by said terminal, said information being associated with at least addresses of said relay destination peripheral terminal and said relay peripheral terminal, encapsulating this packet, and giving an external header including the address of said relay peripheral terminal;
• a data acquiring step of decapsulating the packet encapsulated in said header processing step, thereby to acquire a data of a payload part;
• an outputting step of outputting the data acquired in said data acquiring step to a predetermined reproduction function;
• and
• a relay processing step of re-encapsulating said decapsulated packet and relaying it to said relay destination peripheral terminal from header information being contained in said decapsulated packet and the identification information of said relay destination peripheral terminal reported from said terminal.