摘要 |
A computing device in an access network is disclosed that transmits content including data blocks. For each multicast transmission over an access network, the computing device stores the data block of content currently being transmitted. As transmission of the next succeeding data block of content begins, the computing device replaces the previously stored data block of content with the next succeeding data block of content, such that the computing device continually stores and replaces successive data blocks of content in a multicast transmission. When the computing device receives from a new user device a request for the content that the computing device is already transmitting to other user devices, the computing device transmits in unicast to the requesting user device the data block of content currently being transmitted to the other user devices, which the computing device has stored. Following this unicast transmission, the computing device initiates a multicast transmission forwarding the content including the data blocks to the requesting user device.
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