Methods, apparatus and computer readable medium for seamless internet protocol multicast connectivity in unified networks

A computerized device for seamless Internet Protocol (IP) multicast stream transfer, the computerized device comprising:

• a memory;
• a processor;
• an interconnection mechanism coupling the memory and the processor;
• wherein the memory stores instructions that when executed on the processor causes the processor to:
• receive a report from a first Access Point (AP) in reply to a query from said first AP in response to a request from a roaming mobile unit to associate with said first AP, said report identifying a roaming mobile unit that has roamed from a first Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) to a second
• VLAN, the report further identifying the first VLAN as a VLAN that the roaming mobile unit has roamed from, the roaming mobile unit being a member of a mobility Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), the roaming mobile unit receiving a multicast stream as part of a multicast group from a multicast server in the mobility VLAN;
• updating a first multicast forwarding database (MFDB) to include an entry for the roaming mobile unit;
• forward the report to a first mobility switch in the first VLAN over a mobility tunnel constructed to the first mobility switch in the first VLAN;
• said first mobility switch updating a second MFDB at the VLAN server mobility switch to include said mobility tunnel constructed to the VLAN server mobility switch and forwarding the report from the VLAN server mobility switch to a multicast router in the mobility VLAN;
• receive the multicast stream over the mobility tunnel from the first mobility switch in the first VLAN;
• and
• forward the multicast stream toward the roaming mobile unit in the second VLAN so that transfer of the multicast stream from the first VLAN to the second VLAN is seamless.

A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer programming logic that when executed on a processor in a computerized device provides seamless Internet Protocol (IP) multicast stream transfer, the computer readable medium comprising:

• instructions for receiving a report from a first Access Point (AP) in reply to a query from said first AP in response to a request from a roaming mobile unit to associated with said first AP, said report identifying a roaming mobile unit that has roamed from a first Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) to a second VLAN, the report further identifying the first VLAN as a VLAN that the roaming mobile unit has roamed from, the roaming mobile unit being member of a mobility VLAN, the roaming mobile unit receiving a multicast stream as part of a multicast group from a multicast server in the mobility VLAN;
• instructions for updating a first multicast forwarding database (MFDB) to include an entry for the roaming mobile unit;
• instructions for forwarding the report to a first mobility switch in the first VLAN over a mobility tunnel constructed to the first mobility switch in the first VLAN;
• said first mobility switch updating a second MFDB at the VLAN server mobility switch to include said mobility tunnel constructed to the VLAN server mobility switch and forwarding the report from the VLAN server mobility switch to a multicast router in the mobility VLAN;
• instructions for receiving the multicast stream over the mobility tunnel from the first mobility switch in the first VLAN;
• and
• instructions for forwarding the multicast stream toward the roaming mobile unit in the second VLAN so that transfer of the multicast stream from the first VLAN to the second VLAN is seamless.