Method and apparatus for requesting multicast, processing and assisting multicast request

A method, in an Any Source Multicast ASM-based multicast source, for requesting to transmit multicast data, wherein, said method comprises:

• generating a unicasting multicast transmission request which indicates at least one multicast address;
• transmitting said multicast transmission request to a Rendezvous Point RP corresponding to said at least one multicast address;
• and
• receiving, at the ASM-based multicast source, a multicast request response from the RP, the multicast request response indicating whether the multicast source can transmit multicast data to said at least one multicast address, the response generated based on said multicast transmission request and remaining multicast forwarding resources in said RP.

A method, in an Any Source Multicast ASM-based multicast source, for requesting to transmit multicast data, wherein, said method comprises:

• generating a multicasting multicast transmission request which indicates a multicast address, representing that the multicast source requests to transmit multicast data to the multicast address;
• transmitting the multicasting multicast transmission request to a Rendezvous Point RP corresponding to the multicast address;
• and
• receiving, at the ASM-based multicast source, a multicast request response from the RP, the multicast request response indicating whether the multicast source can transmit multicast data to said multicast address, the response generated based on said multicast transmission request and remaining multicast forwarding resources in said RP.

A apparatus in an Any Source Multicast ASM-based multicast source, for requesting to transmit multicast data, wherein, said apparatus comprises:

• a generating means, for generating a unicasting multicast transmission request, which indicates at least one multicast address;
• a transmitting means, for transmitting said multicast transmission request to a Rendezvous Point RP corresponding to said at least one multicast address;
• and
• receiving means for receiving a multicast request response from the RP, the multicast request response indicating whether the multicast source can transmit multicast data to said at least one multicast address, the response generated based on said multicast transmission request and remaining multicast forwarding resources in said RP.

A apparatus in an Any Source Multicast ASM-based multicast source, for requesting to transmit multicast data, wherein, said fourth apparatus comprises:

• a generating means, for generating a multicasting multicast transmission request which indicates a multicast address, representing that the multicast source requests to transmit multicast data to the multicast address;
• a transmitting means, for transmitting the multicast request of multicast to the multicast address, the multicast address being an address of a Rendezvous Point RP;
• and
• receiving means for receiving at the multicast source, a multicast request response from the RP, the multicast request response indicating whether the multicast source can transmit multicast data to said multicast address, the response generated based on said multicast transmission request and remaining multicast forwarding resources in said RP.