| 摘要 |
Through the association of an unique IP address with each data stream, a single system may be used by a network card or a tuner to select multicast I P data. More particularly, a locator adapted for identifying a data stream is obtained. The locator is then mapped to an IP address. Through the use of th is mapping, a digital television receiver may obtain the appropriate locator to read the associated data stream. It is then determined whether the IP addres s corresponds to a data stream locator associated with a data stream. If this is the case, a tuner is instructed to read the data stream associated with the data stream locator. However, if the IP address does not correspond to a dat a stream locator, a network card identified by the IP address is instructed to read data from the associated network. Since each data stream may be associated with a plurality of multicast IP addresses, a multicast group address is specified to identify the appropriate multicast IP data transmitt ed in the data stream. Packets addressed to the multicast group address may the n be received by either a tuner or a network interface card.
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