METHOD AND DEVICES FOR MULTICAST DISTRIBUTION OPTIMIZATION

摘要

Multicast information flows are distributed from a source (S) to user terminals (R) over a network including aggregation routers arranged in hierarchical levels (L1 to L4; F1 to F3; A1, A2). Once a request for a given information flow is received from a user terminal (R), a distribution path is defined through a plurality of aggregation routers (A1, A2; F1 to F3; L1 to L4). At one or more of the aggregation routers (A1, A2; F1 to F3) traversed by the information flow an information subflow is derived to be propagated also towards lower-level aggregation routers (F1 to F3; L1 to L4) that are not traversed by the information flow being distributed. Further requests for the same information flow received through an aggregation router (F1 to F3; L1 to L4) towards which the information subflow was propagated are forwarded towards an aggregation router (A1, A2; F1 to F3) where the subflow was derived.