| 摘要 |
<p>The present invention relates to a multicast transmission method which is capable of realizing a multicast function while maintaining the independence of multiple nodes (1) concurrently with minimizing the traffic on a communication network (2). In the multicast transmission method according to this invention, a data transmitting node (NODE#n), in which a multicast transmission request occurs, adds a multicast address to a data send message and then broadcasts the data send message plus multicast address to all the nodes (S2), while each of the nodes receiving the multicast address refers to its own multicast table (3) to decide whether or not a multicast address coincident with the received multicast address exists in the multicast table (S5). If the same multicast address exists, the node (NODE#m) makes a request for the transmission of data responding to the multicast transmission request toward the data transmitting node (NODE#n) through the use of a basic communication function, so that the data is transmitted from the data transmitting node to the node making the data transmission request (S6). This invention is applicable to communication networks employing a protocol such as TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). <IMAGE> <IMAGE></p> |
