Delivery of multicast data

A gateway node for delivering IP multicast data in a network, comprising:

• a receiver for receiving instructions from client terminals to subscribe to a multicast channel;
• a processor operatively connected to the receiver and configured to generate a Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) message to a streaming server to request multicast packets encapsulated within unicast wrappers, the request including details of a multicast destination address and a unicast destination address of the gateway node;
• and
• a transmitter operatively connected to the processor and configured to send the request towards the streaming server.

A signal handling component of a Broadcast/Multicast Service Center (BM-SC), comprising:

• a receiver for receiving instructions from a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) to set up multicast streaming delivery to a multicast destination address;
• a processor operatively connected to the receiver and configured to generate a request to a Mobile TV server component of the BM-SC for multicast packets encapsulated within unicast wrappers to be sent to the GGSN, the request including details of a multicast destination address and the unicast destination address of the GGSN;
• and
• a transmitter operatively connected to the processor and configured to send the request towards the Mobile TV server.

A media server for delivering multicast streaming media data, comprising:

• a receiver for receiving a Real Time Streaming Media (RTSP) request to send multicast packets encapsulated within unicast wrappers towards a gateway node, the request including details of a multicast destination address, and of a unicast destination address of the gateway node;
• a processor configured to encode the media data in multicast packets and encapsulate the multicast packets within unicast wrappers as unicast packets;
• and
• a transmitter configured to send the unicast packets towards the gateway node.