Multicast packet processing apparatus and method

摘要

A multicast packet forwarding apparatus and method that can combine an internal processor of a multicast packet processor into a forwarding unit and a packet duplicator in order to minimize delay in the processing time of a forwarder and a packet transmitter. In the apparatus, a packet receiver is adapted to receive unicast and multicast packets. A forwarding unit has a unicast forwarder for forwarding a unicast packet to a destination when the packet receiver receives the unicast packet, and a multicast forwarder for multicasting a multicast packet to respective output interfaces when the packet receiver receives the multicast packet. A packet duplicator is adapted to convert the multicast packet output from the multicast forwarder into a several unicast packets. A packet dispatcher is adapted to reintroduce the unicast packets converted by the packet duplicator to the forwarding unit again. A scheduler serves to port-schedule packets output via the forwarding unit and duplicated packets according to a scheduling policy.