Software and method for multicasting on a network

摘要

A system for multicasting a data stream transmits portable child hosts to client computers requesting to receive the multicast. The child hosts are capable of receiving the multicast data stream and also transmitting the data stream to other clients which subsequently request reception of the multicast data stream. Methods for managing the network to minimize the bandwidth load on participating computers, and to reconfigure the network when clients join or leave the network are also disclosed. According to another aspect of the invention a system and computer readable medium is disclosed for carrying out the above method.