A COMMUNICATION NETWORK, COMMUNICATION ELEMENTS AND METHODS OF COMMUNICATING DATA PACKETS THEREFOR

摘要

A communication network that includes a first sub-network (101) and a second sub-network (103) each supporting separate multicast domains. A first interface network element (111) includes a multicast receiver (201) for receiving multicast data packets. A transmit translation processor (203) generates unicast data packets by replacing a multicast address of the multicast data packets by a unicast address. A unicast transmitter (207) forwards the unicast data packets to a second interface network element (113) over a unicast communication link (119). The second interface network element (113) comprises a unicast receiver and a receive translation processor (303) which generates multicast data packets by replacing a unicast address of the unicast data packets by a multicast address. The multicast data packets are then fed to the second sub-network (103).