DATA COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, ROUTER AND METHOD FOR ROUTEING DATA

摘要

A data communication system (100), which is capable of supporting multicast data delivery, comprises a router (110) for routeing at least one data packet between two or more networks (116, 118). The router (110) comprises a processor (210) to receive and decode at least one multicast data packet and translate a multicast address of the decoded at least one multicast data packet into one or more unicast addresses. In this manner, the provision of a processor to translate a multicast address of the decoded at least one multicast data packet into one or more unicast addresses allows a simple unicast-capable host to receive and deal with multicast addressed packets in contrast to requiring all hosts being multicast-capable. Furthermore, it allows reuse of legacy equipment (i.e. unicast-only hosts can still be used in a multicast environment).