APPRATUS AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS, AND APPRATUS AND METHOD FOR RECEIVING MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS

摘要

An apparatus and a method for providing multimedia contents, and an apparatus and a method for receiving multimedia contents are provided to reduce bandwidth requests of a network and to increase the number of receiving stages of a server performing a service, thereby maximizing usage efficiency of the network. A connection confirmation unit(210) confirms whether a second multimedia data receiver receiving the same contents as contents requested from a first multimedia data receiver, through a first multicast session exists. If so, a session management unit(220) transmits a part of the requested contents by setting up a second multicast session while maintaining provision of contents through the first multimedia session.