DYNAMIC OPTIMIZATION IN RELIABLE MULTICAST PROTOCOL

摘要

The number of repair head stations within a given TTL distance of each other is minimized in a dense topological arrangement of receiver stations. Receiver stations located close together in a computer network dynamically form a multicast repair tree by a plurality of receiver stations choosing a repair head station from among the closely located receiver stations. Each receiver station notices other repair head stations. Each receiver station notices the repair head stations by reading all of the HELLO messages and the HA messages arriving at that station after the messages are transmitted by repair head stations. Each receiver station then determines the number of member stations served by each head station by reading the TOTAL MEMBER COUNT field of the Hello Message or the DIRECT MEMBER COUNT field of the HA Message. The receiver station then reaffiliates with the repair head station having the largest number of member stations, and which is also within a given TTL distance of the receiver station. Alternatively, the affiliation change is initiated by a repair head station. In both cases, the number of repair head stations is reduced as repair groups of different repair head stations are consolidated.